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Chapter 2 :
Cross-Cultural Communication
Cross-Cultural Communication
Four Chapter Objectives:
1.
2.
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4.
DEFINE communication; examine examples of
verbal communication style; explain importance
of message interpretation
ANALYZE common downward and upward
communication flows of international
communication
EXAMINE language, perception, culture of
communication; nonverbal barriers to effective
international communication
PRESENT steps to overcome international
communication problems
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Overall Communication
Process
Communication: The process of
transferring meanings from sender to
receiver.
 On surface, appears straightforward.
However, a great many problems can
result in failure to transfer meanings
correctly.
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Communication Process
Sender
(meaning)
encoding
Medium
Decoding
Receiver
(interpretation)
feedback
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Verbal Communication Styles
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Another major difference in the communication
process is that some countries use very explicit
(exact and precise) communication and others are
highly implicit (not plainly expressed or implied).
One way of examining the ways in which individuals
convey information is by looking at their
communication styles. As noted by Hall, context
plays a key role in explaining many communication
differences
Context is information that surrounds a
communication and helps convey the message.
Context plays a key role in explaining many
communication differences
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High context society
Message are highly coded and implicit
Receiver’s have to interpret what the message
means by correctly filtering through what is
being said and the way which the message is
being conveyed.
Ex: Japan and Arab countries
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
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Low context society
Message is explicit
Speaker says precisely what he or she
means
Ex : USA, Germany
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Verbal Communication
Styles
1. Implicit and Explicit
2. Indirect and Direct Styles
3. Elaborate and Succinct Styles
4. Contextual and Personal Styles
5. Affective and Instrumental Styles
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Implicit & Explicit
Messages often highly coded and
implicit in high-context society (e.g.,
Japan, many Arab countries)
 Messages often explicit and speaker
says precisely what s/he means in
low context society (e.g., U.S. and
Canada)

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Implicit communications
(example)

Implicit
Ex : Japanese managers are intentionally
ambiguous when it comes to assigning
responsibility for tasks, and foreigners who
come to Japan to do business often are
frustrated by their inability to figure out who
is responsible for making the final decision.
(Ouchi, Theory Z)
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Explicit communications
(example)
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In the United States, managers are
taught to say exactly what they mean.
Objectives often are set forth in
quantitative terms, and the date for
their accomplishment is firmly
established. (ex : all overtime will be
eliminated by 1 July of this year.)
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Indirect and Direct Styles
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High-context cultures: messages implicit
and indirect; voice intonation, timing, facial
expressions play important roles in
conveying information. Ex : Japan, Arabs,
Latin Americas
Low-context cultures: people often meet
only to accomplish objectives; tend to be
direct and focused in communications. (Ex :
US, Germans)
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Elaborate and Succinct
Styles

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Three degrees of communication quantity—
elaborating, exacting, succinct
Elaborating style most popular in high- context
cultures with moderate degree of uncertainty
avoidance
Exacting style focuses on precision and use of
right amount of words to convey message; more
common in low-context, low-uncertainty-avoidance
cultures
Succinct style more common in high-context
cultures with considerable uncertainty avoidance
where people say few words and allow
understatements, pauses, and silence to convey
meaning.
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Contextual and Personal
Styles
Contextual style focuses on speaker
and relationship of parties; often
associated with high power distance,
collective, high-context cultures
 Personal style focuses on speaker
and reduction of barriers between
parties; more popular in low-powerdistance, individualistic, low-context
cultures
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Affective and Instrumental
Styles
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Affective style common in collective, highcontext cultures; characterized by language
requiring listener to note what is
said/observe how message is presented;
meaning often nonverbal; requires receiver
to use intuitive skills to decipher message
Instrumental style: goal oriented, focuses
on sender who clearly lets other know what
s/he wants other to know; more commonly
found in individualistic, low-context cultures
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Communication flow
1. Upward communication flow
2. Downward communication flow
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Communication Flows

Downward Communication
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Transmission of information from manager to
subordinate
Primary purpose of manager-initiated
communication is to convey
orders/information
Managers use this channel for instructions
and performance feedback. This will let the
worker know what is to be done and how
well they are doing.
The channel facilitates flow of information to
those who need it for operational purposes
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In Asian countries, downward communication is
less direct than in the United States. Orders
tend to be implicit in nature.
One study found that US managers basically
used downward communication for work-related
matters and beyond business matters. Ex : US
managers felt that it was proper to look into
matters such as how much an individual drinks
at lunch, whether the person uses profanity in
workplace, and how active the individual is in
recruiting others to join the company.
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Upward Communication
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Is the transfer of information from subordinate to
superior
Purposes: provide feedback, ask questions, obtain
assistance from higher level management.
In recent years a call for more upward communication in
U.S.
In Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore upward
communication has long been fact of life. These
countries have extensively used suggestion systems
and quality circles to get employee input and are always
available to listen to their people’s concerns.
Outside Asian countries, upward communication not as
popular. Ex : South America- many managers believe
that employee should follow orders and not ask a lot of
questions. Germans managers also make much less
use
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Communication Epigrams
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Suggestions for Intercultural Communication
1.
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4.
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6.
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10.
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Use most common words with most common meanings
Select words with few alternative meanings
Strictly follow rules of grammar
Speak with clear breaks between words
Avoid using esoteric or culturally biased words
Avoid use of slang
Don’t use words or expressions requiring listener to form
mental images
Avoid Mimic cultural flavor of non-native speaker’s
language
Paraphrase and repeat basic ideas continually
At end, test how well other understand by asking him/her
to paraphrase
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Types of conversation in selected
countries
Country
Appropriate topic
Inappropriate topic
Austria
Cars, skiing, music
Money, religion, divorce
France
Music, books, sports,
theater
Prices of items, person’s
work, income, age
Germany
Travel abroad, hobbies, World war II, questions about
soccer, int. politics
personal life
Great
Britain
History, gardening,
architecture
Politics, money, prices
Japan
History, culture, art
World war II, government
policies that help to exclude
foreign competition
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Communication Barriers
1.
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Language barriers
- knowledge of the home country’s language ( the
language used at the HQ of the MNC) is important
for personnel placed in a foreign assignment.
- MNCs now prescribe English as the common
language for internal communication, so that
managers can easily convey information to their
counterparts in other geographically dispersed
locales but language training continues to lag in
many areas.
- Recently, written communication has been getting
increased attention, because poor writing is proving
to be a greater barrier than poor talking.
- Translation of information from one language to
another also become a problem in many MNCs.
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2. Cultural barriers
 Be careful not to use generalized statements about
benefits, compensation, pay cycles, holidays, policies
in worldwide communication
 Most of world uses metric system so include
converted weights and measures in all
communications
 Even in English-speaking countries, words may have
different meanings. Ex : In US it is common practice
when constructing a bad news letter to start out “with
a pleasant, relevant, neutral and transitional buffer
statement, give the reasons for the unfavorable news
before presenting the bad news”
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
Cultural barriers (continued)
Letterhead and paper sizes differ
worldwide
 Dollars aren’t unique to U.S. Also
Australian, Bermudian, Canadian,
Hong Kong, Taiwanese, and New
Zealand dollars. Clarify which dollar.

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3. Perception barriers
 Perception: a person’s view of reality
 Ex : Hong Kong hoteliers who have
begun buying US properties, because
they have the perception that if they
can offer the same top quality hotel
service as back home, they can
dominate their US markets.
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
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Advertising Messages: countless advertising blunders
when words are misinterpreted by others
Ex : Ford introduced a low cost truck – “Fiera” into
some Spanish speaking countries. The name meant
“ugly old woman” in Spanish and did not encourage
sales.
Ex : One laundry detergent company certainly wishes
now that it had contacted a few locals before it initiated
its promotional campaign in the Middle East. All of the
company’s advertisement's pictured soiled clothes on
the left, its box of soap in the middle and clean clothes
on the right. – misinterpret by the consumer.
Soiled
27 clothes
soap
Clean
clothes
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How others “see” us: May be different
than we think.
 Ex : Perception of foreigners who
reside in the US. Most Americans see
themselves as extremely friendly,
outgoing and kind and they believe
that others also see them in this way.

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Cultural differences can cause misinterpretations both
in how others see expatriate manager and in how the
latter see themselves.
Ex : US managers doing business in Austria often
misinterpret the fact that local businesspeople always
address them in formal terms. Us may view this as
meaning that they are not friends or are not liked but in
fact this formalism is the way that Austrians always
conduct business. The informal, first name approach
used in the US is not the style of the Austrians.
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4. Nonverbal communication
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Transfer of meaning through means such as body language and use of
physical space
Chromatics
• Use of color to communicate messages. Sad/Bad – white or black
Kinesics
• Study of communication through body movement and facial expression
• Eye contact
• Posture
• Gestures (different meaning)
Ex : when one communicates verbally with someone in the US, it is
good manners to look the other person in the eye. (eye contact)
Ex : It is common for US to relax and put their feet up on a chair or
desk (posture) when they are engaged in prolonged negotiations
or meetings, but this is insulting behavior in the Middle East.
Ex : In US, putting the thumb and index finger together to form “O” is
the sign of okay, In Japan – sign for money, In Southern France –
the sign means zero/worthless (gestures)
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Proxemics
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Study of way people use physical space to
convey messages
Ex : In US there are 4 distances people use in
communicating on a face to face basis.
• Intimate distance used for very confidential
communications (18”)
• Personal distance used for talking with
family/close friends (18” to 4’)
• Social distance used to handle most business
transactions (4’ to 8’)
• Public distance used when calling across
room or giving talk to group (8’-10’)
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Office layout is another good example of proxemics.
Ex : In the US, the more important the manager, the
larger the office and often a secretary screens the
visitors and keeps away those whom the manager
does not wish to see. (prefer more privacy company to
European managers)
In Japan, most managers do not have large offices,
and even if they do, they spend a great deal of time of
it and with the employees. A Japanese manager’s
staying in his office would be viewed as a sign of
distrust or anger toward the group.
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Chronemics: the way time is used in
a culture.
 two types:

Monochronic time schedule: things
done in linear fashion
 Polychronic time schedule: people do
several things at same time and place
higher value on personal involvement
than on getting things done on time
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Communication Effectiveness
Improve feedback systems
- between HQ and subsidiaries. (personal and
impersonal feedback system)
 Language training
- help to alleviate such complicated communication
problems and communication become more effective.
- written communication also is extremely important in
achieving effectiveness.
 Cultural training
- understanding other’s culture.
 Flexibility and cooperation
- each party must be prepared to give a little.

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