Transcript IBU 321: Cross Cultural Communications

Cross Cultural Communication
Chapter 6
Feelings &
Relationships
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Learning Outcomes
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Relationship between people:
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Affective Vs Neutral (reason and emotion)
Direct emotional response
Indirect emotional response
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Affective Vs Neutral Cultures
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Neutral Cultures :
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Affective Cultures :
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Emotions are held in check
people do not telegraph their feelings but keep them
carefully controlled and subdued.
Feelings are controlled, but irrepressible joy or grief
communicated loudly.
Emotions are openly and naturally expressed.
People show their feelings plainly by laughing, smiling,
grimacing, scowling and gesturing
They attempt to find immediate outlets to their feelings.
Feelings are amplified
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Affective Vs Neutral Cultures
Exercise - I
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How would you behave, if you feel
upset about something at work?
Would you express your feelings
openly?
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Affective Vs Neutral Cultures
Exercise - I
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Fig. 6.1 shows the relative position of countries on
the extent to which exhibiting emotion is acceptable.
Least acceptable in Ethiopia and Japan ( score of
close to 80% on the neutral orientation)
Considerable variation between European countries.
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Austria most neutral (59%)
Italy ( 33%)
France (30%)
There is no general pattern by continent.
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Emotional responses
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In expressing ourselves we try to find confirmation of our
thoughts and feelings in the response of our audience
Direct emotional response
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Indirect emotional response
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Highly emotional approach
We are part of the process – “I have the same feelings as you on
this subject.”
Neutral approach
We are not directly involved in the process – “Because I agree with
your reasoning and proposition. I give you my support.”
On both occasions approval is being sought, but different paths
are being used to this end.
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Degree of affectivity in different cultures
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The amount of visible “emoting” is a major difference between
cultures
Norms about acceptable level of vehemence differ among
cultures.
Americans tend to be on the expressive side
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In smaller countries like Sweden, Denmark, Norway etc.
experiences are different
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Quick informal and cordial relationships
Friendships tend to start early in life and last many years
Need to be effusive with relative strangers is much less
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Degree of affectivity in different cultures
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People with norms of emotional neutrality dismiss anger, delight
or intensity in the workplace as “unprofessional”.
Key issues :
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Should emotion be exhibited in business relations?
Should it be separated from reasoning processes lest it corrupt
them?
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Americans tend to exhibit emotion, yet separate it from objective
and rational decisions
Italians and south European nations tend to exhibit and not to
separate it
Dutch and Swedes not to exhibit and to separate
There is nothing “good” or “bad” about these differences.
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Intercultural Communication
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Differences between affective and neutral approaches create
many problems in intercultural communication setting.
Key instruments :
 Language
 Body language
Communication is the exchange of information, be it words,
emotions or ideas. Information in turn, is the carrier of
meaning.
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Verbal Communication
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Western society has predominantly verbal culture. They
communicate is with paper, film and conversation.
Fig. 6.2 shows styles of verbal communication
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For Anglo-Saxons, when A stops, B starts. It is not polite to
interrupt.
In Latin Culture, B will frequently interrupt A and vice-versa to
show keen interest in conversation
The pattern of silent communication for oriental languages disturbs
the westerner.
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Moment of silence is interpreted as failure to communicate which is a
wrong perception.
Silence could a mark of respect to other person, if time is taken to
process the information without talking.
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Verbal Communication
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Tone of voice
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Fig. 6.3 shows typical patterns for Anglo-Saxon, Latin and oriental
languages
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For some neutral societies, ups and down in speech suggest that
speaker is not serious.
In Latin societies this “exaggerated” shows keen interest in the matter
Oriental societies have more of monotonous style : self-controlled, it
shows respect.
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The spoken word
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Higher the position of a person, the lower and flatter would be their voice.
More than 300 million people understand English, but in different
countries it is used quite differently in different contexts with serious
differences in the meanings of individual words.
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Non – Verbal Communication
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Research shows at least 75% communication is non-verbal.
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In western societies, eye-contact is crucial to confirm the interest,
but amount differs sharply from society to society.
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In USA eye-contact between strangers is supposed to last for split
second.
Cultures differ on following aspects of Non-Verbal Communication:
 Facial expression
 Eye-contact
 Posture
 Clothing
 Physical distance between persons
 Touching
 Gestures
 Body-movement
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Reconciling Neutral and Affective Cultures
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Overtly neutral or affective (expressive) cultures have
problems in doing business with each other
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The neutral person may be accused of being ice-cold with no
heart
The affective person may be seen as out of control and
inconsistent
It is important to recognize the differences and not to make
judgments based on emotions or the lack of them.
Power of reconciliation can be shown if we see what
happens when seemingly opposite values are disconnected.
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Test Yourself
In a meeting you feel very insulted because your business counterpart tells
you that your proposal is insane. What is your response?
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I will not show that they have hurt/insulted me, because that would seen as sign of
weakness and would make me more vulnerable in future.
I will not show that I am hurt because that would spoil our relationship. This will
allow me later to tell the counterpart that how much I was hurt by their comment
so that they might learn from it. I rather show my emotions when they have more
chance to improve our relationship.
I will show clearly that I am insulted so that my counterpart gets the message. I
believe the clarity of my message will allow me to be able to control even greater
emotional upset in the future
I will show clearly that I am insulted so that my counterpart gets the message. If
business partners can not behave themselves they have to bear the consequences.
Indicate with “1”the approach you prefer with “2”your second choice.
Similarly indicate with “1”the approach you believe would be favored by your
closest colleague at work, and “2” the approach you believe would be their
second choice.
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Test Yourself
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Answer “1” indicates that you prefer to be neutral and reject
affectivity in response
Answer “4” clearly reflects a preference for emotional outbursts
regardless of their consequences of the relationship.
Answer “2” supports the neutral point of departure in order to
show emotions more effectively in the future.
Answer “3” takes an expressive point of departure in order to
stabilize future emotional interactions.
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Practical tips for doing business in neutral
and affective cultures
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Table 1 / Pg.79 shows the differences in these two
cultures
Table 2 / Pg. 79 shows tips for doing business with :
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Neutrals ( for affectives)
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Affectives ( for neutrals)
Table 3 / Pg.80 shows when managing / being
managed in Neutral and affective Cultures
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