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McGraw-Hill/Irwin
Copyright © 2011 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Background on Culture:
Questions for Discussion
• What is “culture”?
• What kinds of factors have influenced national
cultures?
• How have the Internet and increasing global
trade affected cultural differences?
• Why are people able to do business across
different cultures? What do businesspeople have
in common the world over?
• What is ethnocentrism and how does it impair
cross-cultural business relations?
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Different Meanings of Body Language
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The body (bowing, standing)
The head
The hands
A smile
A handshake
Others you know of?
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Factors of Human Relationships
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Time
Space
Odors
Frankness
Intimacy
Values
Expression of Emotion
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Values and Communication:
Edward T. Hall High-Context versus LowContext
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Low Context
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Straightforward, verbal
American, German, Scandinavian (Northern
Europe), Swiss, and Finnish
High Context
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Non-verbal elements
French, Japanese, Indian, British, Irish, Arabic
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Values and Communication:
Geert Hofstede
1. Power Distance (high if authoritarian
hierarchy)
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5.
Individualism vs. Collectivism
Masculinity vs. Femininity
Uncertainty Avoidance
Long-Term vs. Short-Term Orientation
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Values and Communication:
Richard D. Lewis
• Linear-Actives,
– Stresses planning, do one thing at a time
– Germans, Swiss
• Multi-Actives,
– Multi-tasking
– Italians, Latin Americans, Arabians
• Reactives
– Listen, move with caution
– Chinese, Japanese, Finnish
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Problems of Language
• Lack of Language Equivalency
• Difficulties with English
– Multiple meanings of words
– Two-word verbs
– Culturally derived words/phrases
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Examples of Language Inequivalencies:
Words with No English Counterparts
• Deroulement (French): an unfolding, how
things happen
• Fahrvergnugen (German): joy of driving
• Makulit (Filipino): from a root word that
means “repetitive”; refers to a type of pest or
stubborn person
• Ringi (Japanese): reaching a decision via a
document circulated to all employees
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Sample US Colloquialisms to Avoid
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burn your bridges
– making it impossible to
retreat.
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cold turkey
– the unpleasant physical
and mental effects
someone suffers when
they suddenly stop
taking drugs T
• pull no punches
– This expression comes
from boxing, where to pull
one's punches means “to
hit less hard than one can.”
This idiom, too, has been
applied more generally, as
in “They decided to pull
their punches during these
delicate negotiations.”
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Advice for Communicating
Cross-Culturally
• Do your research.
• Know yourself and your company.
• Be aware—and wary—of stereotypes
(generalizations).
• Adapt your English to your audience.
• Be open to change.
• Google Translate.
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Tutorial
• Critical Thinking Exercises, pg 516
• All questions, group work