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Effective intercultural communication is a vital skill for international managers and domestic managers of multicultural work forces. Because we have learned that miscommunication is much more likely to occur among people from different countries or racial backgrounds than among those from similar backgrounds, we try to be alert to how culture is reflected in communication-in particular by developing cultural sensitivity and an awareness of potential sources of cultural noise in the communication process. A successful international manager is thus attuned to these variables and is flexible enough to adjust his or her communication style to best address the intended receivers: that is, to do it their way.
Cultural variables and the manner in which culture is communicated underlie the processes of negotiation and decision making. How do people around the world negotiate-what are their expectations and their approach to negotiations? What is the importance of understanding negotiation and decision-making processes in other countries? Chapter will address these questions and make suggestions for the international manager to handle these important tasks.
Managers communicate both through action and inaction. Therefore, to keep open the lines of communication, feedback, and trust, managers must follow through with action on what has been discussed and then agreed upon-typically a contract, which is probably the most important formal business communication. Unfortunately, the issue of contract follow-through is a particularly sensitive one across cultures because of the different interpretations regarding what constitutes a contract (perhaps a handshake, perhaps a full legal document) and what actions should result. Trust, future communications, and future business are based on such interpretations, and it is up to the manager to understand them and to follow through on them.
The management of cross-cultural communication depends largely on a manager's personal abilities and behavior. Those behaviors that researchers indicate to be most important to intercultural communication effectiveness (ICE) are listed here, as reviewed by Ruben:
I. Respect (conveyed through eye contact, body posture, voice tone, and pitch)
2. Interaction posture (the ability to respond to others in a descriptive,
nonevaluative, and nonjudgmental way)
3. Orientation to knowledge (recognizing that one's knowledge, perception, and beliefs are valid only for oneself and not for everyone else)
4. Empathy
5. Interaction management
6. Tolerance for ambiguity
7. Other-oriented role behavior (one's capacity to be flexible and to adopt different roles for the sake of greater group cohesion and group communication)69
Whether at home or abroad, certain personal capabilities facilitate effective intercultural communication; these abilities can help the expatriate to adapt to the host country and enable productive working relations to develop in the long term. Researchers have established a relationship between personality traits and behaviors and the ability to adapt to the host-country's cultural environment.70 What is seldom pointed out, however, is that communication is the mediating factor between those behaviors and the relative level of adaptation the expatriate achieves. The communication process facilitates cross-cultural adaptation-through this process, expatriates learn the dominant communication patterns of the host society. Therefore, we can link those personality factors shown by research to ease adaptation with those necessary for effective intercultural communication.
Kim has consolidated the research findings of these characteristics into two categories: (1. openness-traits such as open-mindedness, tolerance for ambiguity, and extrovertedness; and (2. resilience-traits such as having an internal locus of control, persistence, a tolerance of ambiguity, and resourcefulness.71 These personality factors, along with the expatriate's cultural and racial identity and the level of preparedness for change, comprise that person's potential for adaptation. The level of preparedness can be improved by the manager before his or her assignment by gathering information about the host country's verbal and nonverbal communication patterns and norms of behavior. Kim incorporates these factors in a communication model of cross-cultural adaptation. Exhibit 4-9 shows the major variables affecting the level of communication competence achieved between the host and the expatriate. These are the adaptive predisposition of the expatriate and the conditions of receptivity and conformity to pressure in the host environment. These factors affect the process of personal and social communication, and, ultimately, the adaptation outcome. Explains Kim: Three aspects of strangers' adaptive change-increased functional fitness, psychological health, and intercultural identity-have been identified as direct consequences of prolonged communication-adaptation experiences in the host society. In Chapter 10, we will point out areas where the firm has responsibility to improve the employee and managerial ability to adapt.
In identifying personal and behavioral specifics that facilitate ICE, however, we cannot lose sight of the whole picture. We must remember the basic principle of contingency management, that is, that managers operate in a system of many interacting variables in a dynamic context. Studies show that situational factors- such as the physical environment, time constraints, degree of structure, feelings of boredom or overwork, anonymity, and so forth-are strong influences on inter cultura communication competence.
It is this interdependence of many variabls, in fact, that makes it difficult for intercultural researchers to isolate and identify factors for success. Although managers try to understand and control up front as many factors as possible that will lead to management effectiveness, often they only find out what works from the results of their decisions.
Timely and effective feedback channels can also be set up to assess a firm's general communication about the progression of its business and its general management principles. The best means to get accurate feedback is through face-to-face interaction because this allows the manager to hear, see, and sense immediately how a message is being interpreted. When visual feedback on important issues is not possible or appropriate, it is a good idea to use several means of attaining feedback, in particular, employing third parties.
Decoding is the process of translating the received symbols into the interpreted message. The main causes of incongruence are (I) the receiver misinterprets the message, (2. the receiver encodes his or her return message incorrectly, or (3. the sender misinterprets the feedback. Two-way communication is thus essential for important issues so that successive efforts can be made until an understanding has been achieved. Asking other colleagues to help interpret what is going on is often a good way to break a cycle of miscommunication.
Perhaps the most important means to avoiding miscommunication is to practice careful decoding by improving one's listening and observation skills. A good listener practices projective listening, or empathetic listening-listening without interruption or evaluation to the full message of the speaker, attempting to recognize the feelings behind the words and nonverbal cues, and understanding the speaker's perspective.
At the IvINC level, avenues of communication and feedback among parent companies and subsidiaries can be kept open through telephone calls, regular meetings and visits, reports, and plans-all of which facilitate cooperation, performance control, and the smooth running of the company. Communication among far-flung operations can be best managed by setting up feedback systems and liaison people. The headquarters people should maintain considerable flexibility in cooperating with local managers and allowing them to deal with the local context as they see fit.
The type of medium chosen for the message depends on the nature of the message, its level of importance, the context and expectations of the receiver, the timing involved, and the need for personal interaction, among other factors. Typical media include e-mail, letters or memos, reports, meetings, telephone calls, teleconferences, videoconfererices, or face-to-face conversations. The secret is to find out how communication is transmitted in the local organization-how much is downward verus upward or vertical versus horizontal, how the grapevine works, and so on. In addition, cultural variables discussed earlier need to be considered: whether the receiver is from a high- or low-context culture, whether he or she is used to explicit or implicit communication, and what speed and routing of messages will be most effective.
For the most part, it is best to use face-to-face interaction for relationship building or for other important transactions, particularly in intercultural communications, because of the lack of familiarity between parties. Personal interactions give the manager the opportunity to get immediate verbal and visual feedback and to make rapid adjustments in the communication process.
International dealings are often long-distance, of course, limiting the opportunity for face-to-face communication. However, personal rapport can be established or enhanced through telephone calls or videoconferencing and through trusted contacts. Modern electronic media can be used to break down communication barriers by reducing waiting periods for information, clarifying issues, and allowing instant consultation. Global telecommunications and computer networks are changing the face of cross-cultural communication through the faster dissemination of information within the receiving organization. Ford of Europe uses videoconferencing for engineers in Britain and Germany to consult about quality problems. Through the television screen, they examine one another's engineering diagrams and usually find a solution that gets the factory moving again in a short time.
In translating his or her intended meaning into symbols for cross-cultural cornmunication, the sender must use words, pictures, or gestures that are appropriate to the receiver's frame of reference. Of course, language training is invaluable, but senders should also avoid idioms and regional sayings (such as go fly a kite or foot the bill) in a translation, or even in English when speaking to a non- American who knows little English.
Literal translation, then, is a limited answer to language differences. Even among English-speaking countries, words may have different meanings-as experienced by a U.S. banker in Australia after a business dinner. To show appreciation, he said he was full (interpreted by his hosts as drunk); as the silence spread at the table, he tried to correct himself by saying he was stuffed (a word used locally only in a sexual context).66 Ways to avoid such problems are to speak slowly and clearly, avoid long sentences and colloquial expressions, and explain things in several different ways and through several media, if possible.67 However, even though English is in common use around the world for business transactions, the manager's efforts to speak the local language will greatly improve the climate. Sometimes people from other cultures resent the assumption by English- speaking executives that everyone else will speak English.
Language translation is only part of the encoding process; the message also is expressed in nonveibal language. In the encoding process, the sender must ensure congruence between the nonverbal and the verbal message. In encoding a message, therefore, it is useful to be as objective as possible and not to rely on personal interpretations. To further clarify their message, managers can hand out written summaries of verbal presentations and use visual aids-graphs or pictures. A good general guide is to move slowly, wait, and take cues from the receivers.
When acting as a sender, a manager must make it a point to know the receiver and to encode the message in a form that will most likely be understood as intended. On the manager's part, this requires an awareness of his or her own cultural baggage and how it affects the communication process. In other words, what kinds of behaviors does the message imply, and how will they be perceived by the receiver? The way to anticipate the most likely meaning that the receiver will attach to the message is to internalize honest cultural empathy with that person. What is the cultural background-the societal, economic, and organizational context-in which this communication is taking place? What are this person's expectations regarding the situation, what are the two parties' relative positions, and what might develop from this communication? What kinds of transactions and behaviors is this person used to? Cultural sensitivity (discussed in Chapter 3. is really just a matter of understanding the other person, the context, and how the person will respond to the context.
Steps toward effective intercultural communication include the development of cultural sensitivity, careful encoding, selective transmission, careful decoding, and appropriate follow-up actions.
Using the Internet as a global medium for communication has enabled companies of all sizes to quickly develop a presence in many markets around the world; in fact, it has enabled them to go global. However, their global reach cannot alone translate into global business. Those companies are learning that they have to adapt their e-commerce and their enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications to regional idiosyncracies beyond translation or content management issues: Even asking for a name or e-mail address can incur resistance in many countries where people do not like to give out personal information.59 While communication over the Internet is clearly not as personal as face-to-face cross-cultural communication, those transactions must still be regionalized and personalized to adjust to differences in language, culture, local laws, and business models, as well as differences in the level of development in the local telecommunications infrastructure. And yet, if the Internet is a global medium for communication, why do so many U.S. companies treat the Web as a U.S.-centric phenomenon? Giving preference to some geographic regions, languages, and cultures is a short-sighted business decision that will result in diminished brand equity, market share, profits and
global leadership.6 In fact, with an annual predicted growth rate of 70 percent in non-English language sites and usage, this would put English-language sites in the minority somewhere around 2002_2003.61
It seems essential, then, that a global online strategy must also be multilocal. The impersonal nature of the Web must somehow be adapted to local cultures in order to establish relationships and create customer loyalty Effective technological communication requires even more cultural sensitivity than face-to-face communication, because of the inability to assess reactions and get feedback, or even to retain contact in many cases. It is still people, after all, who respond to and interact with other people through the medium of the Internet, and those people interpret and respond according to their own languages and cultures as well as local business practices and expectations. In Europe,-for example, there are significant differences in business cultures and e-business technology, which have slowed e-business progress there. However, some companies are making progress in pan-European integration services, such as leEurope, which aims to cross language, currency and cultural barriers. leEurope is building a set of services to help companies tie their back-end e-business systems together across European boundaries through a series of mergers involving regional e-business integrators in more than a dozen countries.
One global company which has successfully added a multilocal on-line strategy to its long-established bricks and mortar facilities is Manheim Auctions, Inc., featured in the accompanying E-Biz Box.
Communication in organizations varies according to where and how it originates, the channels and the speed at which it flows, whether it is formal or informal, and so forth. The type of organizational structure, the staffing policies, and the leadership style will affect the nature of an organization's information system.
As an international manager, it is useful to know where and how information originates and the speed at which it flows, both internally and externally. In centralized organizational structures, as in South America, most information originates from top managers. Workers take less responsibility to keep managers informed than in a typical company in the United States, where delegation resuits in information flowing from the staff to the managers. In a decision-making system where many people are involved, such as the ringi system (a consultative, bottom-up approval system) in Japan there is a systematic pattern for information flow that the expatriate needs to understand.
Context also affects information flow. In high-context cultures (such as in the Middle East), information spreads rapidly and freely because of the constant close contact and the implicit ties among people and organizations. Information flow is often informal. In low-context cultures (such as Germany or the United States), information is controlled and focused, and thus it does not flow so freely. Compartmentalized roles and office layouts stifle information channels; information sources tend to be more formal.
It is crucial for an expatriate manager to find out how to tap into a firm's informal sources of information. In Japan, employees usually have a drink together on the way home from work, and this becomes an essential source of information. However, such communication networks are based on long-term relationships in Japan (and in other high-context cultures). The same information may not be readily available to outsiders. A considerable barrier in Japan separates strangers from familiar friends, a situation that discourages communication.
Americans are more open and talk freely about almost anything, whereas Japanese will disclose little about their inner thoughts or private issues. Americans are willing to have a wide public self, disclosing their inner reactions verbally and physically. In contrast, the Japanese prefer to keep their responses largely to their private self. The Japanese expose only a small portion of their thoughts; they reduce, according to Barniund, the unpredictability and emotional intensity of personal encounters. Barnlund depicts this difference diagrammatically, as shown in Exhibit 4-6, which illustrates the cultural clash between the public and private selves in intercultural communication between Americans and Japanese. The plus and minus signs indicate the areas of agreement or disagreement (respectively) resulting when each party forces its cultural norms of communication on the other. In the American style, the American's cultural norms of explicit communication impose on the Japanese by invading the person's private self. The Japanese style of implicit communication causes a negative reaction from the American because of what is perceived as too much formality and ambiguity, which wastes time.
Cultural variables in information systems and context underlie the many differences in communication style between Japanese and Americans. Exhibit 4-7 shows some specific differences. The Japanese ningensei (human being- ness) style of communication refers to their preference for humanity, reciprocity, a receiver orientation, and an underlying distrust of words and analytic logic. The Japanese believe that true intentions are not readily revealed in words or contracts, but are in fact masked by them. In contrast to the typical American's verbal agility and explicitness, Japanese behaviors and communications are directed to defend and give face for everyone concerned; to do so they avoid public disagreements at all costs. In cross-cultural negotiations this last point is essential.
The speed with which we try to use information systems is another key variable that needs attention to avoid misinterpretation and conflict. Americans expect to give and receive information very quickly and clearly, moving through details and stages in a linear fashion to the conclusion. They usually use various media for fast messages-letters giving all the facts and plans up front, faxes, and familiar relationships. In contrast, the French use the slower message channels of deep relationships, culture, and sometimes mediators to exchange information. A French written communication will be tentative, with subsequent letters slowly building up to a new proposal. In fact, the French preference for written communication, even for informal interactions, echoes the formality of their relationships-and results in a slowing down of message transmission that often seems unnecessary to Americans. Jean-Louis Reynal, a plant manager at Citroen, explains that it wouldn't be too much of an exaggeration to say that, until they are written, untilthey are entrusted to the blackboard, the notepad, or the flip chart, ideas have no reality for the French manager. You could even say that writing is an indispensable aid to 'being' for us.
In short, it behooves Americans to realize that, because most of the world exchanges information through slower message media, it is wise to schedule more time for transactions, develop patience, and learn to get at needed information in more subtle ways-after building rapport and taking time to observe the local system for exchanging information.
We have seen that cross-cultural misinterpretation can result from noise in the actual transmission of the message-the choice or speed of media. Interpreting the meaning of a message can thus be as much a function of the transmission channel (or medium) as it is of examining the message itself.