Culture
coherent, learned, shared view of a group of people about the life's concerns that ranks what is important, furnishes attitudes about what things
... [Show More] are appropriate, and dictates behavior.
Key words for intercultural business communications
attitudes, behavior, values
Projected cognitive similarity
assuming you know the perceptions, judgements, attitudes, and values of another person because you believe they are just like your own
Stereotypes
mental representations of other peoples and cultures that fit into specific "prejudged" behavior patterns
Are all stereotypes bad?
No- they allow us to have some basic understanding of another culture
But if we categorize too quickly, that gets bad
Prototype Point of View
examine another person initially using some things previously learned from "stereotyped" information but the prototype approach allows flexibility, allows the viewer to leave the room for differences in individuals
High Context culture definition
rely on nonverbal and situational cues as well as spoken or written words in communication. message "behind what is spoken"
High context culture details
-indirect approach
-aware of minor details
-setting
-rank of individuals at the meeting
-nonverbal messages
-things that are NOT said
Low context cultures
rely on the words spoken in a message to deliver and understand communicated information
low context culture details
-very direct
-getting to the point quickly
-ordinarily trust language to what it says
-say what they mean
-avoids hidden meaning
example of low context cultures
USA, Canada, New Zealand, Australia,
examples of high context cultures
South and Central America, Africa, Southern Europe, Middle East, Asia
high-context culture variables
-establish trust
-value personal relations and goodwill
-agreement by general trust
-negotiations slow and ritualistic
-will not directly say no
low-context culture variables
-get down to business first
-value expertise and performance
-agreement by specific, legalistic contract
-negotiations as efficient as possible
-will directly say no
false cognates
words that appear similar but are different in meaning
-gift in English is present but in German its poison
words with similar syllables but sound different
Coca Cola in English and Chinese are very different
business words with varying difference in meeting
director in US has a lot of power but in China it could be different or not as much power
Ethnocentric Staffing
the primary language used for a multinational business will be the same no matter its many offices locations
Polycentric staffing
managers are hired from their host countries
Genocentric Staffing
person hired as manager in the HQ location or a subsidiary's location be the best person for the job regardless of national, cultural, and/or legitimate background
-least ethnocentric
Numbers and dates
can have the opposite appearance from what we see in the United States
-comma and decimal points reversed
-same thing with the layout of dates can be changed around
Idioms
do not literally state what they mean
examples of idioms
break a leg
its the general rule of thumb
overuse of sports and war terms
in US Business, we overuse these terms
-ball park figure
-having a price war [Show Less]