WEEK 1
(Lecture 1 &Chapter 1+2– Verluyten)
CHAPTER 1 – Verluyten
What is Culture?
Culture = Values and Practices that are acquired and shared by people in a group (Key
attribute: Shared with other members of the group).
Artefacts of culture =Anything you can see (Skin colour, symbols, language, rituals,
clothes, colours, etc.) Gives you an idea of the culture
Norms and Values =The behaviour of people
Basic Assumptions =What do you genially belief what is good/ bad/ right/ wrong ?
Culture = Nation State ?
Many modern nation states are themselves culturally varied.
Arguments in favour of using country membership as a primary cultural group:
A convenient number (good and easy for surveys etc ~200 Countries)
Clear membership (clear defined borders)
A clearly defined societal framework (legal, political, educational, economical)
Empirical evidence (result of the work of many researchers)
Ecological Fallacy: Error of ascribing characteristics of groups to all individuals belonging to
that group (may lead to a form of racism).
Culture = Language?
The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis: The (native) language we use shapes the way in which we view
and categorize the world, including deep-seated cognitive categorization related to the way
we view space
potentially strong relation between language and culture
Subcultures
Dimensions, having influence on and defining the unique human being and its personal
behaviour makes you different from other people of the same country!
- Continent
- Country
- Ethnic
- Regional
- Urban/rural
- Religion
- Social class
- Gender
- Age
- Profession
- Hobby
CHAPTER 2 – Verluyten
Don’t rely on your own SRC – Take cultural differences into consideration!
SRC =Rely on a set of norms, stored in your mind, that will guide your decision.
Problem: The frame of reference of one person may be different from yours (Different
norms, values and habits).
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, Now more than ever, economic success means doing business internationally and globally.
Situations where you have to exchange ideas and emotions and bring your cultural
background and frame of reference to the venue, appear almost everywhere nowadays.
Contact Hypothesis (Allport, 1954): More contact between cultural groups lead to better
understanding.
Need intercultural training, before dealing with intercultural situations.
Cost of failure (returning home prematurely) is likely to be higher than the cost of a
fully-fledged intercultural training program.
The more you learn about a culture, the less likely you misinterpret words and deeds
of the other culture.
- Having contact with people from other cultures
- Buy and sell abroad (negotiations and contracts)
- Represent your country at international conferences/ meetings
- Welcome foreign visitors to your country or company
- Market and adapt goods or services internationally
- Work as an expatriate
- Getting into a joint venture or a merger
- Better integrate migrant workers
Attribution
Attributing a meaning, ascribing an interpretation to what people around you say and do
(Within own or in different cultures).
Attribution Mistakes: Ascribe to the other person’s words or deeds a meaning which does not
correspond to the intended meaning.
Normally increases when there is an increase in the cultural differences.
Reversibility of attribution errors: Person B may get a mistaken impression of A (Loud &
Pushy), while A may get the reverse mistaken impression of B (Cold & Distance).
Transitivity of attribution errors:The impression person B gets from A, might be the same
person C gets from B and vice versa.
A Distant B Distant C
A Pushy B Pushy C
LECUTURE NOTES
Programming
Learning what is right for us to do.
Programmed through upbringing, socialisation, norms and Ind
values ivi
du
3 Levels of Programming: al
Individual: Personal Preferences Cultural
Cultural: Food on a plate, knife on the right side etc.
Human Nature: Must eat food to survive. Human Nature
Hall’s Model
Why do we have different cultural behaviours
High and low context communication
Monochronic and polychromic time
Personal space
Fast and slow messages
Fast and slow information
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, Action chains: What behaviour do you expect to happen after you have done something?
Kluckhohn’s Model
Is you culture dominating or living in harmony with the nature?
Subjegation harmony Dominant
Past (= History is important respect and learn from it), Present or Future (= What can we do
now to get good results in the future?) orientated?
Doing or being (= it’s about the process not the result) cultures?
Individualism or Collectivism?
Is space private or public? (Would you let a good friend/stranger into your bedroom?)
Human nature (=Theory X&Y, do we believe in the good of people or do we think people
cannot be trusted?)
Hofstede’s Model
Power Distance
Individualism
Masculinity vs. Femininity
Uncertainty Avoidance
Long-term Orientation (= Past, present & future orientated)
From cultural Clash to Synergy
Synergy = Truly understand how to work together and how to use the best from each culture
to get the best result possible!
Look beyond borders to, grow beyond ordinary solutions and reach the extraordinary.
Stages:
- Cultural Avoidance: Ignore the problem.
- Cultural Dominance: People must adopt to you.
- Cultural Accommodation: Try to adopt to others’.
- Cultural Compromise: Half of yours, half of theirs.
- Cultural Synergy: Address all view points, recognise underlying assumptions, consider
alternatives.
WEEK 2
(Lecture 2 & Chapter 3+8+9 – Verluyten& Chapter 1+2 - Adler)
CHAPTER 3 – Verluyten
Time =Psychological construct in our mind (1 hour does not always feel like 1 hour)
Experiencing time: Basic human cognitive mechanism & culture-specific
Time Dimension
Microscopic (Seconds, minutes)
Macroscopic (Weeks, months, years, centuries)
Conversational Structure
Backchannelling: Feedback signals the listener provides to the speaker in a conversation
in order to communicate that he/she (the listener) is listening and basically understands
what the speaker is saying.
- Universal (Exists in every culture)
- Differences in Backchannelling between cultures may lead misunderstanding.
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, Turn Taking (Wait for a moment of silence) vs. Interrupting
Tolerance of Silence
How much time do we have before providing an answer?
A long silence can be interpreted the wrong way (negatively)
- Company drop their prices or lose the deal completely
Punctuality
Time lag: Time between the stated time and the time an event is really to start.
- Hora Mexicana: Time lag is tolerated
- Hora Americana: Punctuality is expected
Temporal structure of a negotiation
Getting Acquainted (Get to know each other)
- Guanxi (Chinese for ‘webs’, ‘networks’)
- Depending on the culture of your business partner it can take years of getting to
know each other and building trust, before you can close the first deal.
Negotiating and Consulting
- Two basic ways to structure the timing of the negotiation process:
‘Zooming in’: Start with the general idea and then gradually move towards closer
detail. more typical for Japanese and Chinese culture
Ringi-sho: A document that everybody in the decision-making hierarchy has
to sign.
Japanese negotiating style: spiralling around the issuer rather than going to
the core problem in a straight line (preserving face and harmony)
Emphasis on process: do things the ‘right way’
‘Zooming out’: Start with the details (Price, Payment, Delivery terms, Warranty,
tec.) and then work your way up to the general agreement. more typical for
western cultures.
Deciding
- Formality of the contract depends on the country.
- Decision making in western cultures
- Direction taking in Asian cultures
- Social Ostracism (being excluded from society)
Implementing the Decision
- Closure = Finishing off a task that was started
- A deadline for a task or an event has zero built-in flexibility in some cultures (Us,
Switzerland) and flexibility extending to infinity in other (Hopi)
Short vs. long term Orientation
Confucius: Stresses the importance of the family as the prototype for society n(harmony,
dignity, etc) and virtuous behaviour such as working hard, patience, perseverance and
moderation.
Chinese Calue Survey (CVS) – Bond: Similar values to Confucius.
- Asian Cultures: Long-term
- Hofstede: Correlation between Long-term cultures and Confucian values and
economic growth
Emphasize on increasing market share rather than profit Comp. Advantage
Long-term Orientation Short-term Orientation
Persistence, Perseverance Personal steadiness and stability
Ordering relation by status and observing this Protecting your face
order
Having a sense of shame Reciprocation of greeting, favours and gifts
Thrift Respect for tradition
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