1

Understand Cultural Differences

• Cultural differences have huge impacts in the business world– International business dealings– Working locally with an international work force

• Culture profoundly affects how people communicate– And communication is the basis of all business

activities

• The Silent Language– Culture is often outside of people’s conscious

awareness

2

What is Culture?

• How does it impact business activities?• How can cultural differences hamper

international business?• How can an understanding of cultural

differences improve international business?

3

What is Culture?

• A lens – a frame of reference– Through which we view and interpret human

interaction• 90% of communication is nonverbal

– Nonverbal communication is heavily culturally influenced

4

Key Concepts

• Speed: fast and slow messages• Context• Space• Time• Information Flow• Interfacing

5

Fast and slow messages

• How quickly is the meaning of a message understood?– Art is slow; a cartoon is fast– Television is faster than print

• Messages are sent and received at different speeds depending upon culture

• People are messages– How long does it take to “know” a person?

6

Context

• How much of the relevant information is in the message, and how much is already understood by sender and receiver?

• High context situations– a message can contain lots of meaning

without much information content• Low context situations

– The message must contain all relevant information

7

Space

• Territoriality– What space and how much of it is “mine”?– Size and location of an office

• Personal space– How close is too close?– This is very culturally dependent

8

Time

• How people view time is very culturally dependent

• Monochromatic vs. polychromatic– How many things are done at once?

• One thing: monochromatic• Many: polychromatic

9

Time

• Polychronic cultures– Lots of information is present– Very tolerant of interruptions– Very fluid and flexible

• Monochronic cultures– Compartmentalized– Schedules and agendas very important

10

Time: Orientation to Past, Present and Future

• Cultures differ in the importance they place on past, present and future– For example: in some cultures, current

proposals must be positioned in terms of their historical relationships

• Respect given to age and seniority is also relevant here

11

Time as Communication

• Time-related behavior “says” a lot– But it’s all different by culture

• Examples of time as communication– How far ahead are appointments scheduled?– How much importance is placed on a

schedule?– How is waiting time interpreted?– What does setting end dates imply?

12

Time as Communication

• Other cultures– Schedule and agendas are viewed as goals,

not binding– Promptness is not as important as completing

a human interaction• As a result, interruptions will delay appointments

– Forcing someone to wait is not intended as an insult

13

Information Flow

• How fast does information make its way through an organization?

• In highly networked, high context cultures– Very fast– Information is not “hoarded”

• In other cultures– Information flow is slow because communication is

more compartmentalized• Email is changing this, but…

– Email is a low-information-content medium

14

Context

• Low context cultures– US and Canadian– Northern European

• High context cultures– Mediterranean (Arab, Greek, Southern

European)– Japanese– African– Latin American

15

Space

• Territoriality– What space and how much of it is “mine”?– Size and location of an office

• US: Executives have large, isolated spaces• Japan: Executives often don’t have private offices

• Personal space– How close is too close?– This is very culturally dependent– North American, North European

• Don’t get too close!

– Mediterranean, Latin, African: close

16

Time

• How do monochromatics view polychronicism?– Chaotic– Noisy– Inefficient (is anything getting done?– Creates anxiety

• How do polychromatics view monochronicism?– Slow, sterile, boring, uncreative– Creates frustrations

17

Time: Orientation to Past, Present and Future

• Cultures differ in the importance they place on past, present and future

• US culture is very present and near-future oriented

• In some cultures (German, French) historical context is very important

• Some Asian, Arab cultures are very past-oriented

18

Time as Communication

• Highly scheduled cultures– North America, Northern European– Lots of importance placed on punctuality– Time communicates importance– Poor schedule adherence

• Interpreted as arrogance or incompetence

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Interfacing

• What happens when different cultures meet?• Least difficult interfacing

– Low context to low context– Germans and Americans– Canadians and Scandinavians

• Most difficulty– High context to low context– High context to high context

20

So What Do You Do?

• Don’t judge culture– No culture is more or less valuable or efficient

than any other• Understand your own cultural framework• Be interested – study – the cultures you work

with• Move slowly and softly

– Ask, listen, observe• Be brave and have fun!