Communicating 

Across Cultures
by Carol Kinsey Goman

Communicating across cultures is challenging. Each culture has set rules that its members take
for granted. Few of us are aware of our own cultural biases because cultural imprinting is begun
at a very early age. And while some of a culture's knowledge, rules, beliefs, values, phobias, and
anxieties are taught explicitly, most of the information is absorbed subconsciously.

The challenge for multinational communication has never been greater. Worldwide business
organizations have discovered that intercultural communication is a subject of importance—not
just because of increased globalization, but also because their domestic workforce is growing
more and more diverse, ethnically and culturally.

We are all individuals, and no two people belonging to the same culture are guaranteed to
respond in exactly the same way. However, generalizations are valid to the extent that they
provide clues on what you will most likely encounter when dealing with members of a
particular culture.

High-Context vs. Low-Context

All international communication is influenced by cultural differences. Even the choice of
communication medium can have cultural overtones. The determining factor may not be the
degree of industrialization, but rather whether the country falls into a high-context or low-
context culture.
High-context cultures (Mediterranean, Slav, Central European, Latin American, African, Arab,
Asian, American-Indian) leave much of the message unspecified, to be understood through
context, nonverbal cues, and between-the-lines interpretation of what is actually said. By
contrast, low-context cultures (most Germanic and English-speaking countries) expect
messages to be explicit and specific.

Sequential vs. Synchronic

Some cultures think of time sequentially, as a linear commodity to "spend," "save," or "waste."
Other cultures view time synchronically, as a constant flow to be experienced in the moment,
and as a force that cannot be contained or controlled.

In sequential cultures (like North American, English, German, Swedish, and Dutch),

businesspeople give full attention to one agenda item after another.
In synchronic cultures (including South America, southern Europe and Asia) the flow of time is
viewed as a sort of circle, with the past, present, and future all interrelated. This viewpoint
influences how organizations in those cultures approach deadlines, strategic thinking,
investments, developing talent from within, and the concept of "long-term" planning.
Orientation to the past, present, and future is another aspect of time in which cultures differ.
Americans believe that the individual can influence the future by personal effort, but since
there are too many variables in the distant future, we favor a short-term view. Synchronistic
cultures’ context is to understand the present and prepare for the future. Any important
relationship is a durable bond that goes back and forward in time, and it is often viewed as
grossly disloyal not to favor friends and relatives in business dealings.

Affective vs. Neutral

In international business practices, reason and emotion both play a role. Which of these
dominates depends upon whether we are  affective (readily showing emotions) or
emotionally neutral in our approach. Members of neutral cultures do not telegraph their
feelings, but keep them carefully controlled and subdued. In cultures with high affect, people
show their feelings plainly by laughing, smiling, grimacing, scowling, and sometimes crying,
shouting, or walking out of the room.
This doesn't mean that people in neutral cultures are cold or unfeeling, but in the course of
normal business activities, neutral cultures are more careful to monitor the amount of emotion
they display. Emotional reactions were found to be least acceptable in Japan, Indonesia, the
U.K., Norway, and the Netherlands and most accepted in Italy, France, the U.S., and Singapore.

Reason and emotion are part of all human communication. When expressing ourselves, we look
to others for confirmation of our ideas and feelings. If our approach is highly emotional, we are
seeking a direct emotional response: "I feel the same way." If our approach is highly neutral, we
want an indirect response: "I agree with your thoughts on this."

It's easy for people from neutral cultures to sympathize with the Dutch manager and his
frustration over trying to reason with "that excitable Italian." After all, an idea either works or it
doesn't work, and the way to test the validity of an idea is through trial and observation. That
just makes sense—doesn't it? Well, not necessarily to the Italian who felt the issue was deeply
personal and who viewed any "rational argument" as totally irrelevant!

When it comes to communication, what's proper and correct in one culture may be ineffective
or even offensive in another. In reality, no culture is right or wrong, better or worse—just
different. In today's global business community, there is no single best approach to
communicating with one another. The key to cross-cultural success is to develop an
understanding of, and a deep respect for, the differences.
Source:https://www.asme.org/engineering-topics/articles/business-
communication/communicating-across-cultures

Comprehension Questions

1. How does each of the items in the following contrasting pairs differ from the other?

a. High-context vs. low context

The differentiation between high and low context cultures is meant to highlight differences in
how cultures communicate. High-context cultures will use communication that focuses on
underlying context, meaning, and tone in the message, and not just the words themselves.

b. Sequential vs. synchronic

c. Affective vs. neutral

2. What does the author recommend that we do to be successful in cross-cultural

communication?
What is Globalization Anyway?
By Alex Gray (World Economic Forum, 2017)

If globalization is facing a fundamental threat, perhaps now is a good time to remind ourselves
of exactly what it is.

How globalization works

In simple terms, globalization is the process by which people and goods move easily across
borders. Principally, it's an economic concept – the integration of markets, trade and
investments with few barriers to slow the flow of products and services between nations. There
is also a cultural element, as ideas and traditions are traded and assimilated.

Globalization has brought many benefits to many people. But not to everyone.

Storm in a coffee cup

To help explain the economic side of globalization, let's take a look at the well-known coffee
chain Starbucks.

The first Starbucks outlet opened its doors in 1971 in the city of Seattle. Today it has 15,000
stores in 50 countries. These days you can find a Starbucks anywhere, whether Australia,
Cambodia, Chile or Dubai. It's what you might call a truly globalized company.

And for many suppliers and jobseekers, not to mention coffee-drinkers, this was a good thing.
The company was purchasing 247 million kilograms of unroasted coffee from 29 countries.
Through its stores and purchases, it provided jobs and income for hundreds of thousands of
people all over the world.

But then disaster struck. In 2012, Starbucks made headlines after a Reuters
investigation showed that the chain hadn't paid much tax to the UK government, despite having
almost a thousand coffee shops in the country and earning millions of pounds in profit there.

As a multinational company, Starbucks was able to use complex accounting rules that enabled it
to have profit earned in one country taxed in another. Because the latter country had a lower
tax rate, Starbucks benefited. Ultimately, the British public missed out, as the government was
raising less tax to spend on improving their well-being.

How did globalization happen?

We might think of globalization as a relatively new phenomenon, but it’s been around for
centuries.

One example is the Silk Road, when trade spread rapidly between China and Europe via an
overland route. Merchants carried goods for trade back and forth, trading silk as well as gems
and spices and, of course, coffee. (In fact, the habit of drinking coffee in a social setting
originates from a Turkish custom, an example of how globalization can spread culture across
borders.)

What drives it?

Globalization has speeded up enormously over the last half-century, thanks to great leaps in
technology.

The internet has revolutionized connectivity and communication, and helped people share their
ideas much more widely, just as the invention of the printing press did in the 15th century. The
advent of email made communication faster than ever.

The invention of enormous container ships helped too. In fact, improvements in transport
generally – faster ships, trains and airplanes – have allowed us to move around the globe much
more easily.

What's good about it?

Globalization has led to many millions of people being lifted out of poverty.

For example, when a company like Starbucks buys coffee from farmers in Rwanda, it is
providing a livelihood and a benefit to the community as a whole. A multinational company's
presence overseas contributes to those local economies because the company will invest in
local resources, products and services. Socially responsible corporations may even invest in
medical and educational facilities.

Globalization has not only allowed nations to trade with each other, but also to cooperate with
each other as never before. Take the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, for instance, where
195 countries all agreed to work towards reducing their carbon emissions for the greater global
good.
This chart, however, shows that global attitudes towards globalizing forces aren't all that good.
It shows that, in fact, in all but a couple of countries polled, people believe life was better in the
old days.

What's bad about it?

While some areas have flourished, others have floundered as jobs and commerce move
elsewhere. Steel companies in the UK, for example, once thrived, providing work for hundreds
of thousands of people. But when China began producing cheaper steel, steel plants in the UK
closed down and thousands of jobs were lost.

Every step forward in technology brings with it new dangers. Computers have vastly improved
our lives, but cyber criminals steal millions of pounds a year. Global wealth has skyrocketed, but
so has global warming.

While many have been lifted out of poverty, not everybody has benefited. Many argue that
globalization operates mostly in the interests of the richest countries, with most of the world's
collective profits flowing back to them and into the pockets of those who already own the most.

Although globalization is helping to create more wealth in developing countries, it is not helping
to close the gap between the world's poorest and richest nations. Leading charity Oxfam says
that when corporations such as Starbucks can legally avoid paying tax, the global inequality
crisis worsens.

Basically, done wisely (in the words of the International Monetary Fund) globalization could
lead to "unparalleled peace and prosperity". Done poorly, "to disaster".

Source: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/01/what-is-globalization-explainer/

Comprehension Questions:

1. What do the following words mean? Use context clues from the text to determine the
meaning of the words.

a. Enabled

b. Enormously

c. Flourished

d. Floundered
 2. What does the experience of Starbucks tell the readers about globalization?

3. What are the driving forces behind globalization?

4. What are the benefits of globalization?

5. What are the negative effects of globalization?

Comprehension Questions

1. How does each of the items in the following contrasting pairs differ from the other?

a. High-context vs. low context

b. Sequential vs. synchronic

c. Affective vs. neutral

2. What does the author recommend that we do to be successful in cross-cultural

communication?