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Leading management and communication providers
Working Across Borders
Developing Successful
Intercultural Communication
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• Who made the borders (barriers)?
Personal and cultural constructions
• How can we break down the barriers?
Effective intercultural understanding and
communication
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Who made the barriers?
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There are truths this side
of the Pyrénées
that are falsehoods
on the other.”
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The scary alien on the other side of
the border
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Stereotypes (Scare-o-types) ignore
individuals
Stereotypes are ways we
generalise (patterns and
repeated) behaviour. Usually,
different (negative) behaviour
Personality
to ourselves.
Behaviour / Action
Situation
Culture
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Personality and Culture
Do cultures affect personality?
Are some people / cultures more ………
Relationship
Task
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Unpeeling the personal layers
Personality
(Is it separate or part of culture?)
Think
Sensation
ME
Intuition
Feeling
“Am I rational
analytical thinker
and is that the kind of
culture I come from
OR
Am I a synthetic
intuitive thinker?”
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Individuals are like icebergs
Words and
Expressions
Personality
Clothes
Ethics and morality
Feelings
Experiences
Tastes
Memories
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Unpeeling the groups layers
Group culture
Behaviour
Rituals
Beliefs &
Values
Symbols
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Culture is like an iceberg
Language
Food
Appearance
Communication style
Beliefs
Values
Attitudes
Perceptions
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Personal and cultural factors
That make personal and the culture Kaleidoscopes
Laws
History
Traditions
Food
Perceptions
Memories
Philosophy
ME
Religion
Senses
Geography
Race
Communication
Relationships
Preferences
Climate &
weather
Language
Education
Contacts
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What we see,
hear and evaluate are
filtered by
our own perceptions
and
understanding of the
world.
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How can we break down the barriers?
Work towards common and shared
objectives.
Build relationships through effective
communication.
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Build relationships -develop rapport
Support
Loyalty
Talk
Respect
Trust
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What is the level of rapport best
for contact? (Professional or social)
Seduction
Hot
Cosily warm
Warm
Empathy
Understanding
Lukewarm
Neutral
Cool
Cold
Sufferance
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Language and communication across
borders
Personality
Situation
Speaker
Audience
Relationship
Cultural variations
Barriers
Socio-linguistic
Type & style
Media
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Many cultural (hidden) influences impact on
effective cross-border communication
• Approaches to completing tasks (taskrelationship dimensions)
• Attitude to time
• How we see things
• Communication styles
• Language and linguistic variations
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How we see things
Which 6 characteristics would you like to find in an ideal work
colleague?
Be from the same culture and speak the same language!
Humour
Diplomacy
Willingness to compromise
Modesty
Sense of fair play
Pragmatism
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The trouble with the British
Humour
May be seen as unprofessional in a business context
Modesty
May be taken at face value, seen as lack of expertise
Diplomacy
May be seen as being dishonest or too indirect
Willingness to compromise
May be seen as lack of conviction
Pragmatism
May be seen as lack of intellect & logic
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How we see and interpret things Perception
“Never
assume the
obvious is
true” William Saffire
Be open to
different
interpretations
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Language helps us think, interpret
things and decide on meaning
“The limits of my language, means the limits
of my world”
Ludwig Wittgenstein
“He gave man speech, and speech created
thought. Which is the measure of the
universe.”
Prometheus Unbound, Shelley
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“I think, therefore I am.”
René Descartes
If Shakespeare had been a Frenchman
“To be or not to be, that is the question.
But the question is badly formulated.”
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Language and communication style
I know you believe
you understand
what you think I said,
but I am not sure
you realise that what
you heard
is NOT what I meant
WHY?
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• Words used
• The way the message is sent &
received
• Understanding cross-cultural
processes and procedures
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Words used and word choice
French - English
Eventual
• Actual
• Agenda
• Sensible
• Assist
•
(possible)
(now, at present)
(diary)
(sensitive)
(participate)
Japanese - English
•
Maybe
(NO)
Swedish - English
Protocol
• Personnel
• Insulate
• House
•
(minutes - meeting)
(personal)
(isolate)
(building)
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The way the message was sent and
received
• Personality of the voice
Stomach, heart or brain
• Music
Intonation, stress, rhythm, pacing and pausing
• Body language
Hand and body movement, eye contact
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Understanding the process
(to reduce misunderstanding & misinterpreting the process)
• Silence
Agreement?
Thinking internally?
Nothing to say?
• Listening without interrupting (passive/active)
Respectful?
Help the communication process?(support,
check & clarify)
• Choice of words - ‘the lagom line’
nice -lovely - great - fantastic - amazing
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• Limitation of words available
‘paint a a black & white
picture’ (mother tongue - translation)
OK
Also
Get (få)
• Language context (High - Low)
Precise, direct,
logical, blunt,
definitive and
transparent
Indirect, circuitous,
evasive, tactical,
ambiguous,opaque,
even evasive
• Emotional expressiveness (juntelagen)
Contained and Neutral
Embarrassment and
stress from show of
emotions
• Consensual
agreement
Emotional and Expressive
Few inhibitions
Hierarchical
power
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Reduce borders and
break down barriers
•
•
•
•
•
Avoid assumptions.
Have self-awareness (prejudices and stereotypes)
Listen carefully and show empathy.
Be patient, be humble and be flexible.
Tolerate and accommodate differences (perception, reality and
•
•
Relax, be open and honest - build trust and relationships.
Do not assume that what you communicate (say, write, etc.) is
understood in the way you meant.
Do your homework - know the differences that matter (be
•
•
outcome).
aware, collect information, analyse)
Each situation is separate - interpersonal and intercultural
factors affect communication.
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To know,
yet to think that you do not know is best.
Not to know,
yet to think that you know will lead to difficulty.
It is by being alive to difficulty that you can avoid
it.
Lao Tzu
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