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Multicultural Communication Skills
• Geert Hofstede defined “Culture is the collective
programming of the mind which distinguishes
the members of one group from another”
five different dimensionsPower Distance
Individualism versus Collectivism
Achievement versus nurturing
Uncertainty avoidance
Long-term versus Short-term Orientation
Result of study•
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West Africa and China considered as high power distance while
US and Netherlands considered as low power distance countries.
Most of the Asian countries are collectivism while US is more
related with the individualism.
Germany and Hong Kong are much concerned about
achievement while Russia and Netherlands are having the
attitude of nurturing.
Countries like US and Hong Kong are having low while France
and Russia are high on uncertainty avoidance.
Countries like US and France are having short term orientation
while China and Hong Kong are having long term orientation.
Impact of multi culture
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Organizational behavioral
Product Designs and features
Marketing channels
Standards or quality of the products
Advertisements
Importance of Communication in Multicultural
Environment
– To improve the interpersonal communication
skills
– Proper handling of the team members
– To increase the contribution, not only for the
managers but also from the subordinates
Non verbal communication has been classified by
Argyle as follows• Kinesics- It shows the boy language and differs in multi
cultures.
• Proxemics- It refers the ways by which individual
maintain the distance during the process of
communication.
• Appearance- The fashion and styles also differ in multi
cultures.
• Eye contact- The use of eyes during the communication
is important for an effective communication, but its
duration and styles are specific for different cultures.
• Symbolism- The numerical numbers, symbols, colors are
also act as a passive non –verbal communication and
give a certain message in different cultures.
Multicultural Examples•
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Asian – less inclined to kinesics , Europeans are more
Chinese finds uncomfortable – shaking hands
German keeps a greater distance while talking
Americans are less concerned – distance
Dressing style- South-East Asia & Europeans
Eye contact- Prefer in Western culture while unfavorable
in Asian countries
Some more examples• Color• Chinese give money in red envelop- specially in new
year
• Red-Lucky color, Pink and Yellow- represent happiness
• Number-8: Luckiest number
• Black, white and blue- Death or sadness
• Blue- Warmth in Holland, Death in Iran, Coldness in
Sweden, Purity in India
• 13 Number- Lucky in Jewish societies, Bad luck in
Christians
Effective Communication techniques1.
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Select topic content according to the culture of that region or
country
US- Business Dinner or Lunch is preferred
China- Arts and Pictures, Personal query regarding health or
family matters are not discussed
The intensity of the silence during the communication is also
decided according to the prevalent culture.
Accepted in Japan- Thought full ness
US- Appreciated
The intensity of the interruption during the communication is also
decided according to the culture.
Accepted in Arab Countries
Not Accepted in Americans
• The intensity of the humor also varies in different
cultures. For instance, in Japan it is not
appreciated but in western countries it makes
rapport between the senders and receivers.
Developing the cultural fluency
Dr. Linda Beamer proposed a model for cultural
fluency consisting five different levels• Acknowledging cultural diversity
• Organizing the information according to
stereotypes
• Participation with aim to challenge the
stereotypes
• Analyze the communication
• Generating fluent messages from others cultures
Crisis Management
The Institute of Crisis Management defines
a crisis as ‘a significant business
disruption which stimulates extensive
news media coverage. The resulting public
scrutiny will affect the organization’s
normal operations and also could have a
political, legal, financial, and governmental
impact on its business
Types of the Crisis
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Natural Disasters
Industrial Accidents
Perception of public
Presence of Conflicts
Plan or product failure
Criminal events
On the basis of the warning period, crisis can be divided
into following categories-
• Sudden crisis- The appearance of these
crises is sudden with out any warning.
• Bhopal Gas tragedy at Madhya Pradesh in
1984 at Union Carbide India Limited
pesticide plant, Bhopal, caused the death
of thousand of people due the poisonous
gas. Terrorism attack on the Taj Hotel at
Mumbai, 2009.
Attack on Taj- 26/11
• Bhopal Gas Tragedy- Madhya Pradesh
• Attack – 9/11
• Pesticide found in cold drinks
• Pesticide found in Cold Drinks-
• Bird Flu hits Asian Market
• Smoldering crisis- This may be defined as
“ any serious problem which is not
generally known within or without the
company , which may generate negative
news coverage if or when it goes ‘public’
and could result in more than a
predetermined amount in fines, penalties,
legal damage and other costs”.
Crisis Management: 4 Stages
Prodromal Crisis Stage
Acute Crisis Stage
Warning—precursor
Symptom —precrisis
Point of no return
Crisis has occurred
Learning
Chronic Crisis Stage
Crisis Resolution Stage
The firm recovers
Lingering on—perhaps
indefinitely; period of selfdoubt and self-analysis
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Strategies to deal with the Crisis
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Execution of the team
Prepare with the concrete plan
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What to do at the time of crisis
To whom make the contact at crisis
Important contact numbers of the employees those can be
useful in an emergency
Schedule of the meeting to generate possible alternatives
to handle the crisis, list of the employees is ready who will
call upon in the meeting
Planning procedure is not too rigid, it should be flexible
enough to meet out the particular situation
Strategies to deal with the Crisis
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Resolving the crisis
Communication in Crisis Management
External Communication
Key points are prepared well in advance before
informing to the media or at news conference and
always possess the honesty while giving the answers
of the queries.
Handling the queries based on the informations which
are relevant and according to the strategy used to
solve the crisis and don’t indulge very defensive or
provoke while handling the queries.
The news also published in the local or nationalized
news paper with the aim to inform all the concerned,
care should be taken for the subject matter published.
Don’t need to disclose the legal issues to the media at
first, but make sure for with deal of these issues
properly.
Internal Communication
 Crisis causes physiological and psychological stress on
the employees, based on the type of its occurrence and
intensity of the damage.
• Impact of the crisis may be in the form of decrease in
employee’s efficiency, decrease organizational
productivity, increased absenteeism, decrease morale,
and protest by strikes, lockouts.
• The management must realize the feelings of the
employees and communicate effectively about the
causes of the crisis, its solution and strategy to solve it
so that employees can understand the whole scene and
feel themselves safe for any kind of injuries or negative
impacts.
Principles of the Crisis Management
• Prepare well and be experienced
• Proceed as a team
• Stakeholder should be communicated
effectively
• Reduce the impact of the crisis
• Risk
A course of action or inaction taken
under conditions of uncertainty which
exposes the risk taker to possible
loss, or gain to reach a desired
outcome
An undesirable situation or
circumstance that is likely to cause a
harm or a loss
• Risk is all around us
To live is to risk dying
To laugh is to risk appearing the Fool
To hope is to risk despair
To love is to risk not being loved inreturn
• Types of the risks• Risk can differentiated based on the following
parametersSource
Amount of information
Personal
Insurability
Ability to control the risk
Constraints
• Source- Based on the source risk can be categories into following• Internal risk- This type of the risk is related with the internal factors
of organization, such as staff efficiency, working capital, investment.
• External risk- Beyond the control of the organization such as, market
condition, customer preference, economic condition, government
rules.
• Amount of information- Risk can be divided into known or unknown
risk. When all the informations are available about the particular
situation, it is known risk and when it is difficult to predict the
outcome then it is known as unknown risk.
• Insurability- Some of the risk contain the chance of the profit or loss
and it is insurable while other risk can be in the form of loss only
such as property loss.
Risk management process-
• Risk management process consisting
following steps• Management planning for risk
• Identify the risk
• Qualitative and quantitative analysis
• Risk response planning
• Risk control