Additional reading cross cultural business communication

Read the following information and give careful consideration to a problem. Discuss the main points with your teacher or among each other. What information do you consider to be useful in your future occupation? Prove your arguments.

Text I. What is Culture?

The question is often asked – “What is culture? How can it be defined and what does it do?”

By way of answering the question a set of quotes has been compiled which hopefully gives some sort of indication as to what culture actually is.

• Mankind, We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know each other.

The Quran, 49:13

• Culture is a thin but very important veneer that you must be careful not to scratch. People from different cultures are basically the same and respond in the same way. However, make sure that you understand their basic customs and show an interest and willingness to learn the differences between your cultures.

Mike Wills

• Culture is the way in which a group of people solves problems and reconciles dilemmas.

E. Schein

• Culture is the fabric of meaning in terms of which human beings interpret their experience and guide their action.

Clifford Geertz

• Culture is a little like dropping an Alka-Seltzer into a glass-you don't see it, but somehow it does something.

Hans Magnus Enzensberger

• I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be stuffed. I want the cultures of all the lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible. But I refuse to be blown off my feet by any.

Mahatma Gandhi

• If man is to survive, he will have learned to take a delight in the essential differences between men and between cultures. He will learn that differences in ideas and attitudes are a delight, part of life's exciting variety, not something to fear.

Gene Roddenberry

• On a group of theories one can found a school; but on a group of values one can found a culture, a civilization, a new way of living together among men.

Ignazio Silone

• A culture may be conceived as a network of beliefs and purposes in which any string in the net pulls and is pulled by the others, thus perpetually changing the configuration of the whole.

Jacques Barzun

• Culture is the name for what people are interested in, their thoughts, their models, the books they read and the speeches they hear, their table-talk, gossip, controversies, historical sense and scientific training, the values they appreciate, the quality of life they admire. All communities have a culture. It is the climate of their civilization.

Walter Lippmann

• Culture means control over nature.

Johan Huizinga

• Culture is roughly anything we do and the monkeys don't.

Lord Raglan

Text II. Cross Cultural Communication Skills

Within the business context, cross cultural communication refers to interpersonal communication and interaction across different cultures. This has become an important issue in our age of globalization and internationalization. Effective cross cultural communication is concerned with overcoming cultural differences across nationality, religion, borders, culture and behavior.

Cross cultural communication is critical to the business world. The diversity of people in cities and countries means an element of cross cultural communication will always be needed whether it is between staff, colleagues, customers or clients. Awareness of cultural differences can favorably impact the success of a business. Improved staff interaction, better customer relations and effective client management are all areas that will reap benefits through cross cultural understanding.

Although cross cultural communication competency can only be truly achieved through cross cultural awareness training, language acquisition, foreign travel and cultural immersion there are some guidelines that can enhance your cross cultural communication skills.

• Listening Skills

Although emphasis usually lies on being a competent speaker, listening is a key skill that many business personnel do not exercise enough. For cross cultural communication, attentive listening is critical to be able to understand meanings, read between the lines and enable to empathise with the speaker.

• Speaking Skills

Listening and speaking must work in tandem for effective cross cultural communication. Speaking well is not about accent, use of grammar and vocabulary or having the gift of the gab. Rather, cross cultural communication is enhanced through positive speech such as encouragement, affirmation, recognition and phrasing requests clearly or expressing opinions sensitively.

• Observation

Large amounts of cross cultural information can be read in people's dress, body language, interaction and behaviour. Be aware of differences with your own culture and try to understand the roots of behaviours. Asking questions expands your cross cultural knowledge.

• Patience

Man has been created differently and we need to recognise and understand that sometimes cross cultural differences are annoying and frustrating. In these situations patience is definitely a virtue. Through patience respect is won and cross cultural understanding is enhanced.

• Flexibility

Flexibility, adaptability and open-mindedness are the route to successful cross cultural communication. Understanding, embracing and addressing cross cultural differences leads to the breaking of cultural barriers which results in better lines of communication, mutual trust and creative thinking.

Following these five cross cultural communication needs will allow for improved lines of communication, better cross cultural awareness and more successful cross cultural relationships.