Discuss about the Cross-Cultural Business Communication.
The potential to communicate, arrange and successfully work with people from different cultures is essential to worldwide business. Cross-cultural communication focuses at how individuals from other cultures comprehend each other and work effectively together. Being an absolute cross-cultural communicator that requires to be abiding by the norms, customs, values and beliefs of a very different culture, being competent to identify how these are represented by both verbal and nonverbal communication and victoriously absorb this information into the communication. Business is stretching worldwide (Jacobs 2012). However, many companies are going intercontinental. Recruitment, sales, management, marketing and environment of the workplace are overblown by cultures within the organization. Thus, it is crucial to note that organizations do not need to be global to have divergent cultures within it (Wild, Wild and Han 2014).
This essay discusses about the business decorum cross culturally and how effectively one can make his first impression setting up a business cross-cultural. It also focuses on the areas of potential intercultural miscommunication are explained through a cultural framework.
Each culture is dissimilar, and has various approach of etiquette. Daily deals are adrift through misinterpretation, even among comparatively alike cultures. These misinterpretations need not be enormous to have an outcome on the business; a faulty first impression can leave the person in front or the customer with an inferior feeling. Signifying the correct etiquette can help keep this away and preserve a considerable deal of time and money being wasted (Washington, Okoro and Thomas 2012).
Japanese etiquette in relation with business in operation is not distinct like politeness, vulnerability and good manners are the support of business protocol among Japanese just as the business protocol in Europe or in the United States. The chief contrast is that Japanese professional protocol is further fixed especially in an initial meeting when the trading of the disreputable business card of Japanese is mostly ceremonial. There are definite features of the business etiquettes of Japanese like for instance business clothing which are very customary in comparison to profession in the United States and Europe and in definite situations the majority of particularly when implementing business with an organization where an administrative or superior manager has lately passed away where one should be very delicate. For overseas organizations executives though, etiquettes of business at Japan in 2004 is not that differ from that of Germany, France or the United Kingdom and while vastly differ on the exterior from that of United States business protocol, it is not that divergent once one get to understand the people they are dealing with (Okoro 2012).
There are certain key features of Business etiquette in Japan like the business card, which is necessary have for doing business in Japan. They always prefer to present their business card with both hands and they expect the person in front will accept that with respect also with using their both hands and then say thank you. They never entertain writing notes on the business cards. These business cards must be shown respect and should never being played with. Then comes the attire the etiquettes must be getting less formal but the attire for business is fixed. For men they never allow them to have beard or has head shaven. On the other hand, women in Japan are very fashion conscious but still much company never allow wearing jewelries, very short skirts or high heels in shoes (Dunn 2013).
For both men and women their attire is not complete without the business card (Alston 2012). Then regarding business meetings, it is found that there is always a telephonic confirmation before one to two hours for a scheduled meeting, they prefer to get the information 1 hour before any meeting if, and there are chances of being late. They prefer if the client/ employ has a set plan for the meeting like the agenda, during a meeting Japanese prefer notes taking as it indicates that one is interested in the meeting and so taking everything down (Gesteland 2012). Then they look for the personal habits one have like one should now blow the nose in public, one should not grab the hand of the host at the time of first meeting, Japanese men should not be patted on their back or shoulder, derogatory remarks should be avoided. Lastly, they prefer smiling faces that have the willingness to learn and they entertain being questioned about their customer’s company (Martin and Chaney 2012).
Apart from all these to make a favorable first impression, Emily should be considerate and never be pretentious of being someone else. Showing respect to the business card is the most important thing she should keep in mind. If she is going out for dinner then she must try to eat what she can and being good with chopsticks before she goes as the Japanese value this highly. As she is coming from a different culture and place so, she can bring a small gift that should not be expensive in any way, and for her first meeting she can give this present. A more timid, formal attitude, especially at the origin of a business relationship, it is preferable to be received when doing business in Japan. Emily must treat senior executives with a more marked respect than to the younger ones in the group with whom she will be interacting.
The psychologist Dr Geert Hofstede publishes Hofstede’s six dimensions of culture at the end of 1970. Since then this has become recognized worldwide as the norm for understanding the differences among cultures. He studied people working in IBM from more than 50 countries (Eringa et al. 2015). At first she came up with four aspects that distinguished one culture from another but later, he added other two aspects in collaboration with Drs Michael H. Bond and Michael Minkov. The six features of this model are as follows:-
The areas of potential cross-cultural miscommunication can be discussed using in model where the PDI cites to the height of inequality that prevails and is embraced among people those have power or those who are without it. So a high PDI score means that the society accepts the different, vertical power distributions where the peoples understands their places in the system whereas, a low score means that the power that has been shared and scatters are not accepted by the people in the society (Hofstede 2013). IDV states to the power of the bonds that individuals have with others inside the company. Thus, a high score in IDV means the interpersonal connection is weak and so they avoid taking responsibilities for the actions and results of others. MAS refers that how the distributions of respective roles are overlapped less and so in masculine dominating societies men are suppose to act assertively whereas in female oriented societies there the overlap of roles occur and fairness is perceived as morality (Borker 2012).
The space between the values of men and women is huge in Japan and Austria, with the MAS scores of 95 and 79 respectively. UAI defines how well the people can deal with anxiety people in low UAI scoring countries are more loosen, open or comprehensive. PRA is also called the long-term orientation where the point to which individual needs to describe the unaccountable and is highly associated to devoutness and patriotism. Lastly, IVR which is very new says that high score allows or inspires free indulgence in peoples inner drives and emotions. In addition, low score indicates suppressing those indulgences where the social norms are stricter (Minkov and Hofstede 2012).
Emily should use this model and avoid causing any kind of offence being in a different culture. However to have a successful meeting she must evaluate her approach, decisions and provide with a much needed confidence boost working in an oversea country. Emily must further get herself familiarize with at least some of the basics of the culture of Japan, show awareness to her gestures and postures, to avoid any kind of miscommunication she must focus on the cues that she can get when interaction with them.
To conclude this report, it can be said that cross-cultural communication as found is the way in which people comprehend each other’s behavior and work effectually. As business are growing worldwide and so there are individuals from different culture who are working together under one, roof. Emily who is visiting Japan for an interview so that she can enlarge her business must keep in mind the business etiquettes that the Japanese likes like respecting the business card, punctuality, attire as well as general personal habits. As she is from a very different country, she must avoid miscommunication and so the cultural framework of Hofstede is discussed where the psychologist Dr Geert Hofstede has explained six of the aspects of the cross-cultural communication and paying attention to it Emily can actually adjust to increase the success of her meeting with manager called Mr.Hamasaki.
References
Alston, J.P., 2012. Intelligent Businessman’s Guide to Japan. Tuttle Publishing.
Borker, D.R., 2012. Accounting, culture, and emerging economies: IFRS in the BRIC countries. Journal of Business & Economics Research (Online), 10(5), p.313.
Dunn, C.D., 2013. Speaking politely, kindly, and beautifully: Ideologies of politeness in Japanese business etiquette training.
Eringa, K., Caudron, L.N., Rieck, K., Xie, F. and Gerhardt, T., 2015. How relevant are Hofstede’s dimensions for inter-cultural studies? A replication of Hofstede’s research among current international business students. Research in Hospitality Management, 5(2), pp.187-198.
Gesteland, R.R., 2012. Cross-cultural business behavior: a guide for global management. Copenhagen Business School Press DK.
Hofstede, G., 2013. Hierarchical power distance in forty countries. Organizations Alike and Unlike, ed. CJ Lammers and DJ Hickson (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1979), pp.97-119.
Jacobs, A., 2012. Cross-cultural communication. Noordhoff.
Martin, J.S. and Chaney, L.H., 2012. Global Business Etiquette: A Guide to International Communication and Customs: A Guide to International Communication and Customs. ABC-CLIO.
Minkov, M. and Hofstede, G., 2012. Hofstede’s fifth dimension: New evidence from the World Values Survey. Journal of cross-cultural psychology, 43(1), pp.3-14.
Okoro, E., 2012. Cross-cultural etiquette and communication in global business: Toward a strategic framework for managing corporate expansion. International journal of business and management, 7(16), p.130.
Washington, M.C., Okoro, E.A. and Thomas, O., 2012. Intercultural communication in global business: An analysis of benefits and challenges. The International Business & Economics Research Journal (Online), 11(2), p.217.
Wild, J.J., Wild, K.L. and Han, J.C., 2014. International business. Pearson Education Limited.
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