© 2006 Prentice Hall 4-1

CROSS CULTURE COMMUNICATIONPRESENTED BY: MANISH G BADLANI

(130210125002)Production department

What is Culture???• Provides patterns of

acceptable behavior & beliefs.

• May be based on….–Nationality–Race and Religion–Historical Roots–…All of the Above

Cross–Cultural Communication

• Skills needed to operationally carry out the attitudes and knowledge conducive to culturally competent pharmacy practice.

• It is of paramount importance that pharmacists understand the role culture plays in communication and are able to study and utilize appropriate forms of communication in interacting with patients.

• “Health care professionals assume a special responsibility in assuring that they understand their patients in order to treat them effectively.”

Cross–Cultural Communication• Possessing a positive attitude toward cultural competence as

well as a desire to be culturally competent is a necessity. The practitioner must also have awareness of their own culture, their own biases and their own communication style.

• Second, knowledge is needed. To be culturally sensitive it is important for the practitioner to understand what it takes to be an effective member of specific cultures.

• Finally, assuring practitioners have the skills to behave with patients in a way that promotes acceptance and effective medical compliance is the next step. Awareness, knowledge, emotional growth and skills are all needed to develop effective cross-cultural interactions.

• Without any one of these components there is likely to be failure.

Culture is like an Iceberg.

Most of it is UNDER the

water of awareness

BEHAVIORBELIEFS

VALUES AND

THOUGHTPATTERNS

8

Cross-Cultural Behavior Model

Communicationabout

Innovation

Consequences

StrategicOpinion

Leadership

AdoptionTendency

CognitiveSearch

ChangeAgent

Adoption

Propensityto Change

Evaluationof

Innovation

CognitiveDistortion

Cultural Lifestyle

9

Cross-Cultural Behavior Model • The key variable of the model is

propensity to change, which is a function of three constructs:

– cultural lifestyle

– change agents

– communication about the innovation

10

Cultural Dimension Scores for 12 countries

UncertaintyAvoidance

Individualism

Power Distance Masculinity1000 0

100 100

50 50

50 50

JapanFrance

MexicoBrazil

Germany

Netherlands

U.S.AGreat Britain

Arab Countries

West Africa

Indonesia

Hong Kong

Japan

Arab CountriesMexico

Brazil

France

Germany

Great Britain

U.S.ANetherlands

Hong KongWest Africa

Indonesia

11

Cross-Cultural Training• Cultural training programs

should include:– culture-specific information– general cultural information on

values, practices, and assumptions– self-specific information that

identifies one’s own cultural paradigm

12

Cross-Cultural Training (cont.)

• Additional forms of training include:– mentoring– area studies programs– cultural assimilator programs, in

which trainees must respond to scenarios of specific situations in a particular country

– sensitivity training– field experience

13

Tips for Making Culture Work for Business Success

• Embrace local culture• Build relationships• Employ locals to gain cultural knowledge• Help employees understand you• Adapt products and practices to local markets• Coordinate by region

Chapter 4 14Prentice Hall 2003

Cultural Context and its Effects on Communication(Exhibit 4-5)

High Japan Middle East

Latin AmericaAfrica Mediterranean England

France North America

Scandinavia Germany

Switzerland

high context/implicit

low context/explicitLow Low HighExplicitness of communication

Cont

ext

Some Cultural Scenarios

Japan China

India Mexico

Chapter 4 17Prentice Hall 2003

Differences between Japanese and American Communication Styles

(Exhibit 4-8)

• Japanese Ningensei Style of Communication• Indirect verbal and nonverbal communication• Relationship communication• Discourages confrontational strategies• Strategically ambiguous communication• Delayed feedback• Patient, longer term negotiators• Uses fewer words

• U.S. Adversarial Style of Communication• More direct verbal and nonverbal communication• More task communication• Confrontational strategies more acceptable• Prefers more to-the-point communication• More immediate feedback• Shorter term negotiators• Favors verbosity

Chapter 4 18Prentice Hall 2003

Differences Between Japanese and American Communication Styles

(Contd.)

• Distrustful of skilful verbal communicators• Group orientation• Cautious, tentative• Complementary communicators• Softer, heartlike logic• Sympathetic, empathetic, complex use of pathos• Expresses and decodes complex relational strategies and nuances

• Exalts verbal eloquence• More individualistic orientation• More assertive, self-assured• More publicly critical communicators• Harder, analytic logic preferred• Favors logos, reason• Expresses and decodes complex logos, cognitive nuances

Chapter 4 19Prentice Hall 2003

Differences Between Japanese and American Communication Styles

(Contd.)

• Avoids decision making in public• Makes decision in private venues, away from public eye• Decisions via ringi and nemawashi (complete consensus process)• Uses go-betweens for decision making• Understatement and hesitation in verbal and nonverbal communication

• Frequent decision making in public• Frequent decisions in public at negotiating tables• Decisions by majority rule and public compromise is more commonplace• More extensive use of direct person-to-person, player-to-player

interaction for decisions• May publicly speak in superlatives, exaggerations, nonverbal projection

Chapter 4 20Prentice Hall 2003

Differences Between Japanese and American Communication Styles

(Contd.)

• Uses qualifiers, tentative, humility as communicator• Receiver/listening-centered• Inferred meanings, looks beyond words to nuances, nonverbal

communication• Shy, reserved communicators• Distaste for purely business transactions• Mixes social and business communication

• Favors fewer qualifiers, more ego-centered• More speaker- and message-centered• More face-value meaning, more denotative• More publicly self-assertive• Prefers to “get down to business” or “nitty gritty”• Tends to keep business negotiating more separated from social

communication

Chapter 4 21Prentice Hall 2003

Differences Between Japanese and American Communication Styles

(Contd.)

• Utilizes matomari or “hints” for achieving group adjustments and saving face in negotiating

• Practices haragei or belly logic and communication

• More directly verbalizes management’s preference at negotiating tables• Practices more linear, discursive, analytical logic; greater reverence for

cognitive than for affective

JAPANTo help her American Company establish a presence in Japan, Mrs. Torres wants to hire a local interpreter who can advise her on business customs. Ms. Tomari has superb qualifications on paper, but when Mrs. Torres tries to probe about her experience, Ms. Tomari just says, “I will do my best. I will try very hard.” She never gives details about any of the previous positions she has held. Mrs. Torres begins to wonder if Ms. Tamari's résumé is inflated.

CHINAStan Williams wants to negotiate a joint venture between his American firm and a Beijing-based company. He asks Tung-Sen Lee if the Chinese people have enough discretionary income to afford his product. Mr. Lee is silent for a time, and then says, “Your product is good. People in the West must like it.” Stan smiles, pleased that Mr. Lee recognizes the quality of his product, and he leaves a contract for Mr. Lee to sign. Weeks later, Stan still hasn’t heard anything. If China is going to be so inefficient, he wonders if his company should try to do business there.

INDIAGloria Johnson is proud of her participatory management style. Assigned in Bombay on behalf of her U.S.-based company, she is careful not to give orders but to ask for suggestions. But the employees rarely suggest anything. Even a formal suggestion system she established does not work. Worse still, she doesn’t sense the respect and camaraderie that she felt at the plant she managed in Texas. Perhaps the people in India just are not ready for a woman boss.

MEXICOAlan Caldwell is a U.S. sales representative in Mexico City. He makes appointments with Senõr Lopez and is careful to be on time, but his host is frequently late. To save time, Alan tries to get right to business, his host wants to talk about sightseeing and about Alan’s family. Even worse, the meetings are interrupted constantly with phone calls, long conversations with other people, and even customers’ children who come into the office. Alan’s first report to his home office is very negative. He hasn’t yet made a sale. Perhaps Mexico just isn’t the right place to do business.

Chapter 4 26Prentice Hall 2003

Behaviors Most Important to Intercultural Communication Effectiveness

(as reviewed by Ruben)

• Respect (conveyed through eye contact, body posture, voice tone and pitch)

• Interaction posture (the ability to respond to others in a descriptive, nonevaluative, and nonjudgmental way)

• Orientation to knowledge (recognizing that one’s knowledge, perception, and beliefs are valid only for oneself and not for everyone else)

• Empathy• Interaction management• Tolerance for ambiguity• Other-oriented role behavior (one’s capacity to be flexible and to adopt

different roles for the sake of greater group cohesion and group communication

Chapter 4 27Prentice Hall 2003

Personality Factors For Effective Intercultural Communication(as reviewed by Kim)

• Openness – traits such as open-mindedness, tolerance for ambiguity, and extrovertedness

• Resilience – traits such as having an internal locus of control, persistence, a tolerance of ambiguity, and resourcefulness

Good Intercultural Communicators Are….

• Aware values & behaviors not always “right.”

• Flexible & open to change.

And…..• Sensitive to verbal

& nonverbal behavior.

• Aware of values, beliefs, practices of other cultures.

• Sensitive to differences within cultures.

HIGH CONTEXT VS. LOW CONTEXTCULTURES

High-Context Cultures• Infer information from

message context, rather than from content.

• Prefer indirectness, politeness & ambiguity.

• Convey little information explicitly.

• Rely heavily on nonverbal signs.

• Asian• Latin American• Middle Eastern

Low-Context Cultures• Rely more on content rather than on context.• Explicitly spell out

information.• Value directness.• See indirectness as

manipulative.• Value written word more than

oral statements.

• European• Scandinavian• North American

Thank You

Questions?