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M4 Summary chapter 2-14 Intercultural Skills
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Intercultural skills summary
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Intercultural Skills - VerluytenChapter 2 Basic mechanisms:
SRC, attribution
2.1 SRC, the Self Reference Criterion
When you need to decide which course of action is appropriate in a given situation, you will
rely on a set of norms, a frame of reference that will guide your decisions. A frame of
reference can be seen as a set of expectations. It is supported with your own Self Reference
Criteria (SRC): people will not look past their own norms.
If people are not open to the possibility of observing that things are different this can result in
problems in intercultural situations. You should be able to place yourself in the other person
and look at it from a different perspective.
2.2 Attribution
Attribution in this book means: attributing a meaning, ascribing an interpretation to what
people around you say and do.
Even in your own culture, we sometimes make attribution mistakes: we ascribe a meaning to
the other person’s words or deeds that does not correspond to the intended meaning.
The danger of attribution mistakes is much higher between individuals who are more
different from each other, such as individuals belonging to different cultures and if they rely
on their own SRC. No one is immune against attribution mistakes, we can lower the risk of
making attribution errors by knowing and understanding how the interpretative frameworks in
other cultures differ from our own, and become aware of what is considered normal,
unmarked behavior in other cultures.
Something that is normal in your culture can be insulting in another culture.
2.3 Reversibility and transitivity of attributions
Attribution errors are reversible: Person A would get a mistaken impression of person B,
while B may get the reverse mistaken impression of A.
Attribution errors are also transitive: which impression will the Westerner get from the
Japanese, who is standing so far from him, avoids eye contact and is speaking so softly?
The same as the Arab will get from the Westerner, i.e. cold and aloof. And conversely, the
Japanese will feel that the Westerner is pushy and loud, just what the Westerner was
thinking of the Arab.
Chapter 3 Time
Time is not a physical feature of an objective world but a psychological construct in our mind.
Think of spending an hour in a waiting room or dining with your friends, it doesn’t feel like the
same length of time.
Experiencing time is an extremely basic human cognitive mechanism, yet at the same time it
is culture-specific.
,At the same time, normative temporal awareness (= what is considered the normal length of
a conversation or a speech, for instance) is acquired through socialization and is culture-
specific.
The time dimension as it relates to human beings range from what we might call
‘microscopic’ (seconds, minutes) to ‘macroscopic’ (weeks, months, years, centuries)
3.1 Temporal structure of a conversation
There are 3 mechanisms that play a role in conversational structure: back channelling, turn-
taking and tolerance of silence.
3.1.1 Back Channelling
Backchannelling refers to the feedback signals the listener provides to the speaker in a
conversation in order to communicate that he (the listener) is listening and basically
understands what the speaker is saying.
It is universal. It exists in every culture. It can be done through nodding your head, saying
‘mm’ or ‘yes’ etc.
The frequency with which people emit these signals is culture-specific, as well as the way in
which backchannelling is carried out.
It is not learned consciously, nor are people in a given culture aware of their own behavior in
this respect. The choice of frequency in any given culture is arbitrary and seemingly trivial,
this can all lead to miscommunications.
Some people expect more backchanneling signals and this can lead to someone attributing
it as ‘inattention’
Different countries also have different backchannelling styles which can lead to
miscommunication.
3.1.2 Turn taking
Turn-taking mechanisms are largely unconscious. It is only seldom called explicitly.
There are 2 basic options for person B to take his turn:
- Person B may wait for a moment of silence in A’s discourse to take turns (that does not
necessarily mean that A was really finished talking)
- Person B may interrupt A in the middle of a word or sentence
The role of non-cultural factors such as language proficiency and technical expertise
also plays a role in the frequency with which participants take turns.
Some countries will interrupt someone in the middle of a sentence and this can be seen
as rude but not in every country.
3.1.3 Tolerance of silence
The tolerance of silence in a conversation is culture specific.
In Western countries the amount of silence that is tolerated is small, they will fill up the
silence with ‘uuh’ if they don’t know the answer.
When talking to someone that doesn’t respond directly the Westerners will fill this period of
silence. The other person can feel that he is arrogant and doesn’t allow me to think and reply
,wile the Westerner will thing that the other person is dumb and unable to answer the
question.
In Asia silence is valued positively.
There is also something as communication apprehension, a certain fear to speak in public,
meetings or face-to face. This will differ per culture as well
3.2 Punctuality
In some cultures there may be a time lag(tijdsverschil) between the stated time and the time
an event is really to start or take place.
In the US, Switzerland and many south-east asian countries don’t have a time lag.
In Belgium it is acceptable to arrive 15 minutes later and in France even 30 min.
“ Hora Mexicana” → time lag is tolerated
“Hora Americana” → punctuality is expected
The temporal framework is rarely made explicit in a specific culture.
The way an event is structured can also differ per culture, think of a dinner party. There are 3
basic subparts:
1. Pre Dinner Talk And Drinks
2. The Dinner Itself
3. After-dinner conversation and drinks
The average duration of each of the subparts varies depending on the culture and some
subparts may be absent.
The time differences have no mathematical precision and situation factors play a major role.
You have to be aware of stereotypes.
3.3 Temporal structure of a negotiation
The process of business negotiations can be decomposed in to 4 basic subcomponents:
The importance and duration of each of the subparts are depending on the culture
1. Getting Acquainted With The Other Party
The way this happens and the duration is depending on the culture. Latin American,
Asian (guanxi= networks/web in china) and African countries:
Building trust is essential in a business relationship and may take a long time.
Sometimes being acquainted with the other is more important than rules and
regulations in getting things done.
American and dutch:
A few sentences such as ‘did you have a nice flight?’ and they start discussing
business.
2. Negotiating And Consulting
There are (at least) two basic ways to structure the timing of the negotiation process:
, Zooming in: start with the general idea and then gradually move toward closer detail
(Japanese and chinese culture) Face-saving and harmony are important
Zooming out: start with the details and work your way up to the general agreement
(Western culture)
These two are incompatible, and the different views on how to start the negotiation process
may cause irritation and frustration between Japanese and Western negotiators.
The (long) time Japanese take to decide is caused by a combination of at least 4 factors:
- Japanese negotiating style: spiraling around the issue rather than going to the core
problem in a straight line, because of the need for saving face and preserving
harmony
- The emphasis on process as against result: in japan, doing things ‘the right way’ is
as important as achieving results and subsequent evaluation may focus more on the
process than on the results that were obtained, such as achieving targets or goals
- The consultation process: in Japanese companies is more extensive than in the
West.
A new proposal will be discussed at many levels of the hierarchy in the company, and
gradually a consensus will be built where everyone’s opinion is considered and if
possible taken into account.
When a manager formulates a proposition, this will be discussed informally, often
after work and everybody’s concerns should be taken into consideration in order to
produce a document (ringi-sho) that everyone has to sign which reflects a decision to
be taken.
This processes stats at the bottom of the decision-making
hierarchy.
- Japanese perfectionism and the process of incremental improvements
(kaizen)
3. Deciding
In cultures or groups where trust is high: a handshake or an oral promise
A written contract does not have the same value in other cultures as in the West
Arab world and asia: a contract may be seen as marking the end of the first stage in
business dealings, not the final agreement. If the situation changes it is expected that
(parts of) the contract can be modified or renegotiated
Japan: contracts are more informal than and the agreement between the negotiating
parties is based on ‘goodwill’
4. Implementing The Decision
in Western culture: implementing must start as soon as possible and must be completed
speedily
Japan: can take place at the speed of light once the decision is reached, the decision
can take a long time tho
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