Abstract
Globalization is a constantly occurring phenomenon that permeates all parts of life, most notably business communications. Over the course of business operations, managers should expect, anticipate and prepare for having to do work abroad. Working abroad means interacting with a moderately or highly different culture than the home country. As if domestic business interactions were not difficult enough, throwing cultural and language barriers into the mix creates even more strain. Business and human resource managers can curb these effects by becoming interculturally sensitive and adopting an ethno-relativist view of other cultures. This paper will explain how managers can become cultural competent and ensure effective intercultural business communication. The paper will also touch on typical United States business protocols for intercultural communication, some of the location barriers when doing business, dealing with a collectivist culture as a good example and the risks of not being culturally sensitive when doing business operations.
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"Cultural Communication".
Keywords: intercultural communication, manager, human resources, collectivism, individualism, ethnocentrism, diversity
Human resource managers that operate within a global economy must effectively communicate with people that hail from different places and are of different cultural backgrounds. Therefore, they must adapt to these cultural differences within the workplace for effective communication, business operations and most importantly, respect of the diverse people and cultures that make up a country. United States businesses and their communications operations have protocols that instruct on how to communicate with individuals from different cultures. Taking an approach of ethno-relativism as opposed to ethnocentrism is the best route for human resource and general business managers to take when doing intercultural business. The globalization of each world economy shows no signs of slowing down; managers must be able to get with the program or risk being left behind and losing out on business deals because of the reluctance to engage with or rejection of different cultures.
Intercultural communication has and is an important part of business and business communication practice. Doing businesses in global markets is something that many businesses can fail at because they are unaware or ignorant of its importance. There is a multitude of protocol and strategies that businesses adopt in order to alleviate the risk of losing out on business deals because of cultural ignorance. There are reasons that businesses have intercultural communication practices: growth in international trade over the past three decade; a business owner or employee may find himself or herself working for a firm that is owned by another firm overseas, something that is most common in banking, utilities and transportation; finally, due to globalization and immigration, it is increasingly likely that a person will work with someone of a different culture that is U.S.-born or someone who is not native-born at all. Whether or not the reasons for intercultural and international businesses are deliberate, businesses’ leaders and managers are responsible for being culturally competent and sensitive.
There are several barriers that exist between the domestic country in which a business operates and a foreign country. Language, culture, currency, social mores and norms and values are just a few obstacles that businesses must overcome. However, each of these are pervasive and important parts of an individual’s identity, even if they are not easily understood by those outside of that culture. When there is an appreciation for differences, there is room to get over the hump of difficulty that comes with working on an intercultural environment. There are typical U.S. business protocols that are involved with intercultural communication with businesses, like nonverbal behaviors. Handshakes, professional dress, gifts, abiding by personal space and interpersonal gestures are all methods of nonverbal communication that can greatly differ across nation-state lines. In some countries, like China and Indonesia, it is customary for two men to walk and hold hands as it is a sign of close friendship. Businesspeople in Muslim countries should not cross their legs with one ankle over another at the risk of revealing the sole of a shoe to the other, a cultural taboo. Customary greetings in the United States are a hug or a handshake between businesspeople, but in Japan the bow is customary. The tight grip in the United State suggests confidence, but elsewhere that might come off as aggressive.
These protocols create challenges when businesspeople are unware of them or ignorant to them entirely. This can be prevented by taking the time to develop interculturally sensitive managers. This begins with the awareness that at some point, corporations should expect to do some overseas work. Good intercultural communicators avoid ethnocentrism, are non-defensive about their homeland and have a genuine curiosity about other parts of the world. Good intercultural managers are nonjudgmental and can view the rest of the world with an open mind and objectivity. To speak of collectivist cultures, these cultures place much emphasis on their interactions with others, such as family and peer groups. A person’s identity is heavily dependent on his or her role within a group, like family, friends or work. The survival of that group depends on every individual’s well-being. Interdependence and working cohesively is very important.
Managers can level the playing field by being aware of the differences between that collectivist country and the individualist culture of the United States. Having those within that culture assume important roles within a team or a business deal is how a manager can show respect for that culture and how social groups operate. The collectivist culture individual should have access to opportunities to demonstrate their work and should have a helping hand in making business go smoothly.
Decreasing the potential misunderstandings between different cultures and locations first starts with accepting the changes that are happening in the world marketplace and the competitive nature of that marketplace, the ones both home and abroad. International and intercultural business is to be expected and managers should fall in line accordingly. While business leaders are not expected to completely immerse themselves in another culture, there should be some learning and sort of business acumen when doing international business relations. It offers insight into local culture that businesspeople would otherwise not know or not care to research. Managing diversity is every manager’s challenge and responsibility. Without the proper steps taken to make intercultural business go as smoothly as possible, managers risk coming off as ethnocentric, culturally insensitive and generally ignorant to anything outside of his or her home country. Managers are not expected to know everything, so those with more cultural expertise can be consulted in ensuring proper communication, but ultimately the manager must lead the charge of getting themselves and everyone else on board.
- Hynes, G. E. (2011). Managerial communication: strategies and applications. New York: McGraw-Hill.
- Individualist or Collectivist. (n.d.). Retrieved January 29, 2017, from http://www2.pacific.edu/sis/culture/pub/1.2.4-_activity_-_individual.htm
