Intercultural Business Communication Robert Gibson OXTORD UNIVERSITY PRESS OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS Great Clarendon Street, Oxford 0x2 6 d p Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dares Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offices in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam o x f o r d and o x f o r d En g l is h are registered trade marks of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries © Comelsen & Oxford University Press GmbH & Co. 2000 First published by Comelsen & Oxford University Press GmbH & Co as Studium Kompakt: Intercultural Business Communication by Robert Gibson. The moral rights of the author have been asserted Database right Oxford University Press (maker) This international edition was first published in 2002 and is not available in Germany and Austria. 2010 2009 10 9 8 7 6 5 No unauthorized photocopying All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the ELT Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer Any websites referred to in this publication are in the public domain and their addresses are provided by Oxford University Press for information only. Oxford University Press disclaims any responsibility for the content ISBN-13: 978 o 19 442180 5 Printed in China CONTENTS Acknowledgements Introduction How to use Intercultural Business Communication The intercultural challenge Why is intercultural communication important? Business organization and culture Synergy effects What is intercultural communication? Culture Types of culture Intercultural communication Barriers to intercultural communication Attitude Perception Stereotypes Interpretation Culture shock Dealing with difference Successful international managers Cultural learning Managing diversity Cultural dimensions Survey of research Hall Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck Hofstede Trompenaars vi Contents Non-verbal communication 27 Body language (kinesics) 28 Eye contact (oculistics) 29 Touch (haptics) 30 Body distance (proxemics) 30 Paralanguage 31 Turn-taking 32 Communication style 32 Context 32 Directness 34 Person and task 36 Time (chronemics) 37 Polychronic and monochronic 37 Linear, cyclical, and event-related 38 Past, present, and future 39 Space 40 Power 43 Individual and group 44 Individualism 45 Universalism and particularism 46 Uncertainty 48 Male and female 49 Nature 50 3 Business communication 53 Managing people 53 A good manager 53 The role of the manager 54 Organizational structure 58 Negotiating 60 A good negotiator 60 What is negotiation? 60 Culture and negotiation 61 Meetings 63 Contracts 65 Socializing 66 Giving presentations 70 A good presentation 70 Types of presentation 71 Culture and presentations 71 Coping with an international audience 73 Contents vii Advertising 74 Content 74 Language 75 Visuals 76 Colours 78 Applying for a job 79 4 Cultures 83 Your culture 83 Interfaces 85 Team 90 Motivation 90 Communication style 90 Problem solving 91 5 Going further 95 Intercultural training 95 Training methods 95 Sources of further information 97 Glossary 99 Recommended reading 101 Bibliography 103 Index of exercises and critical incidents 107 Dimensions 107 Cultures 107 Index 109 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many of the ideas discussed in this book originate from leading figures in the field. As will soon become clear some sources dominate—they include Edward Hall, who has been active from the late 1950s, Geert Hofstede, famous for his groundbreaking quantitative studies, as well as Fons Trompenaars, who has done so much to popularize the subject. Thanks must also go to the interculturalists in SIETAR (the Society for Intercultural Education, Training and Research) and ENCoDE (the European Network for Communication Development in Business and Education) who have so generously shared their ideas at numerous congresses and workshops. I am also indebted to the students at Ingolstadt School of Business and its inter­ national partner institutions, as well as to Interkulturelle Management Beratung Dr. Gnann, and my colleagues at Siemens. Robert Gibson The author and publisher are grateful to those who have given permission to reproduce the following extracts and adaptations of copyright material: Automotive News Europe for permission to reproduce ‘Culture clash at D/C worse than expected’ by Dorothee Ostle, Automotive News Europe 22 November 1999. © Crain Communications Ltd. Blackwell Publishers for permission to reproduce an extract from Inter­ cultural Communication by Ron Scollon and S. Wong Scollon, 1995. Nicholas Brealey Publishing for permission to reproduce extracts from Riding the Waves o f Culture 2nd Ed. by F. Trompenaars and C. Hampden- Turner (1998); from When Cultures Collide by R. Lewis (1996); and from Breaking Through Culture Shock by E. Marx (1999). Dennis Clackworthy and Siemens for permission to reproduce ‘Business determinants and cultural determinants’ and ‘A road map to cultural competency’ by Dennis Clackworthy (Siemens Review 2/94). Nicholas Coleridge for permission to reproduce ‘We have ways of making you work’ by Nicholas Coleridge, Sunday Telegraphy August 1998. Acknowledgements Doubleday, a division of Random House Inc. for permission to reproduce an extract from Beyond Culture by Edward T. Hall, copyright © 1976, 1981 by Edward T. Hall. Faber and Faber Ltd. For permission to reproduce an extract from ‘Little Gidding’ from Four Quartets by T. S. Eliot. From Collected Poems 1909-1962. Geert Hofstede for permission to reproduce extracts from Cultures and Organizations by Geert Hofstede © Geert Hofstede. Institut far Auslandsbeziehungen e.V. for permission to reproduce ‘The Peach and the Coconut Model’ by Susanne M. Zaninelli, adapted from Interkulturelle Kommunikation und Interkulturelles Training. Intercultural Press for permission to reproduce an extract from The Art o f Crossing Cultures and an extract from Cross Cultural Dialogues by Craig Storti. Kogan Page for permission to reproduce an extract from Managing Cultural Diversity at Work by Khizar Humayun Ansari and June Jackson (1995). The McGraw-Hill Companies for permission to reproduce ‘Office Space’ from Doing Business Internationally by T. Brake et al. (Irwin Professional Publishing, 1995). Nihon Keizai Shimbun for permission to reproduce an extract from 16 Ways to Avoid Saying No by Masaaki Imai © 1981 Masaaki Imai. All rights reserved. Pearson Education for permission to reproduce an extract from Managing Cultural Differencesby Lisa Hoecklin (1995) and from Negotiating by Philip O’Connor, Adrian Pilbeam, and Fiona Scott-Barrett. Procter and Gamble for permission to reproduce the Procter and Gamble Statement on Diversity. Routledge for permission to reproduce an extract from Culture Shock by Adrian Furnham and Stephen Bochner. Sage Publications for permission to reproduce an extract from Intercultural Communication by Fred E. Jandt, and an extract from Harry Triandis in Cross Cultural Perspectives on Learning edited by Richard W. Brislin, Stephen Bochner, and Walter J. Lonner (eds.) © 1975 Sage Publications Inc. SIETAR for permission to reproduce an extract from N. Garratt-Gnann et al. in Images, Cultures and Communications by Cruzeby et. al. and extracts from Managing Intercultural Negotiations by P. Casse and S. Deol; extracts from Marie-Therese Claes and M. Pauwels in Heritage and Progress: from the Past to the Future in Intercultural Understanding edited by D. Lynch and Acknowledgements A. Pilbeam; an extract from ‘Teaming with trouble - Konfliktpoteniale in deutsch-amerikanischen Teams’ by H. Robinson and R. Wuebbeler, SIETAR Deutschland Newsletter 1/2000; an extract from ‘The uneasy road to successful cross-border co-operations and mergers’ by M. Fischer, SIETAR Europa Newsletter 1/2000. Franz K. Stanzel for kind permission to reproduce the ‘Volkertafel’ from Europder. Ein imagologischer Essay, Heidelberg, C. Winter, second edition 1998, p. 15, where a detailed historical analysis of the origin of the characteristics attributed to the ten European nations can also be found. Wirtschaftsverlag Carl Ueberreuter GmbH for permission to reproduce an extract from Wirtschaftspartner zwischen Wunsch und Wirklichkeit by Reisach, Tauber and Yaun © Wirtschaftsverlag Carl Ueberreuter GmbH, 60439 Frankfurt am Main, Germany. All rights reserved. Although every effort has been made to trace and contact copyright holders before publication, this has not been possible in some cases. We apologize for any apparent infringement of copyright and if notified, the publisher will be pleased to rectify any errors or omissions at the earliest opportunity. INTRODUCTION ‘Intercultural communicatioi has become one of the ‘hottest’ labels of our times, but more and more people are becoming aware of the fact