Expert answer:Discussion
Expert answer:Discuss the role of social media in global business communication. Discuss the noise that might arise if a manager texts employees in the company he has started up in China (or another country). How have you witnessed the impact of social media in your place of work? Has it been a positive or negative impact?Must be original and in your own words…..no references. The professor does not want any references.
unitiii_study_guide_intercultural_management.pdf
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UNIT III STUDY GUIDE
Communicating Across Cultures
Course Learning Outcomes for Unit III
Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to:
3. Describe the necessary steps involved with developing international business strategies.
3.1 Identify the cultural variables in the communication process and what factors can cause noise.
3.2 Explain the complexities of communicating globally.
4. Examine the influence of culture on strategic choice.
4.1 Develop an awareness of differences in non-verbal behaviors, context, and attitudes and how
they affect cross-cultural communication.
4.2 Discuss how to successfully manage cross-cultural communication.
Reading Assignment
Chapter 4:
Communicating Across Cultures
Unit Lesson
Communication occurs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We communicate nonverbally and verbally every day
of our lives. Verbal communication refers to anything we say or write, it consists of words, either spoken or
written. Non-verbal communication relates to everything else in our lives; the way we talk, the manner in
which we express our ideas, our facial expressions, and our body language. Nonverbal communication is very
important in the business world, especially when working with people of different cultures. In early 2013, the
United Nations issued a report claiming, “Out of the world’s estimated 7 billion people, 6 billion have access to
mobile phones. Far fewer—only 4.5 billion people—have access to working toilets” (Wang, 2013, para 2).
Take a moment and reflect on the impact that type of access has on a culture. Within the last quarter century,
the connectedness of peoples from different cultures has skyrocketed. After the Arab Spring and overthrow of
several Middle Eastern governments, the power of instant communication has raised the level of concern and
opportunity for every business and government.
The communication process occurs every time we speak with others. When we speak with ourselves, we call
the process intrapersonal communication, but when we speak with others, we call that process interpersonal
communication. The following discussion is about interpersonal communication as we communicate in the
business world. There are seven components in the communication process: sender, receiver, message,
feedback, channel, noise, and situation.
The first component of the communication process is the sender, which refers to the person or organization
initiating the communication. In other words, the person or organization getting a message to someone else
or to a group of people or to another organization is the sender. For example, as a corporation conducts
business, the manager will send messages to trading partners or investors or to employees. Also, when
setting up a subsidiary in another country, messages are sent about plans for building the organization, public
relations work, and hiring employees.
Messages are sent through various media, and the sender has an obligation to ensure that all messages,
verbal and nonverbal, are carefully thought out. This is essential in the corporate world and even more so
when communicating globally. It is the foundation on which managers build credibility and trust.
Managers should create an organization culture in which employees trust him or her and, in return, the
manager trusts employees. Managers also have to build trust in the community in which the organization
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is located. A mutual respect for each other can lead to successful trading among
corporations
locally
UNIT
x STUDY GUIDE
and globally.
Title
The second component of communication is the receiver, the person or persons receiving the messages.
When managers receive messages from stakeholders, they have an obligation to ensure they understand and
do not misinterpret those messages. To receive messages successfully, managers have to understand the
cultures within which they operate. They have to learn about the various dimensions you explored in the
previous units.
While the sender has the obligation to encode messages so that they are clearly understood, the receiver
also has an obligation to decode the messages without misinterpretation. The term paralanguage refers to
“verbal and nonverbal aspects of speech that influence meaning, including tone, intensity, pausing, and even
silence” (McLean, 2015, para 1). Deresky (2014) agrees upon the importance of knowing about paralanguage
when communicating across cultures. Depending on the country or culture, nonverbal communication may
take precedence over verbal communication, and messages could be misinterpreted if the sender is unaware
of these cultural differences.
Several barriers to effective communication can arise because of a lack of understanding of culture. One
barrier that often arises is the language barrier. Managers must learn the languages or have interpreters
capable of providing the manager with excellent service. Another barrier that sometimes separates cultures is
the concept of time. Being on time for a meeting is considered of ultimate importance in some cultures while
other cultures do not place the same emphasis on arriving on time.
The third component in the communication process is the message. A message is comprised of ideas that
move from the sender to the receiver. The fourth component is feedback, which is also a message and is a
result of a message. The message and feedback components work hand-in-hand. After the message is sent,
feedback usually occurs. Feedback consists of messages sent from the receiver back to the sender. In the
past, someone sending a message by mail might have waited several days for feedback. With today’s
technology, especially the advent of e-mail and social media, feedback is often immediate.
If the message is delivered in person, cultural differences in how we view kinesics might be problematic.
Kinesics refers to the way we move our bodies as we communicate, how we stand or sit, how we move our
hands and feet whether standing or sitting, and whether we make eye contact. The way we communicate
kinetically can earn us friends or enemies when we interact with other cultures.
Other forms of nonverbal communication may affect messages. Our choice of words and the way we use
words can have different meanings depending on the situation, the audience, and the content. Exhibit 4.2
on page 114 of the textbook presents several examples of how cultural differences affect messages
(Deresky, 2014).
Mangers should understand whether a culture is high-context (indirect) or low-context direct). Many times,
business deals are negotiated over dinner or in less formal circumstances. In high-context cultures, the
negotiations may develop slowly while in low-context cultures, there is more urgency about completing the
deal. If a manager tries to hurry things up in a high-context culture, he or she may not be successful.
Managers who are aware of the differences between high and low-context cultures will know which channel
will be most successful.
The fifth component is the channel. There is no way you can get a message from your brain to another
person with the use of a channel. Using one, or all of the five senses are ways in which we get our messages
across to others. Sometimes we can see and hear the person who is sending the message. Other times we
can only hear the person. We also use sight in order to read messages that are sent to us or when we send
out written communication. At times we receive non-verbal messages through taste, touch, and smell.
The sixth component is noise. Noise consists of distractions that occur during the communication process.
There are three types of noise; external, internal, and semantic. External noise occurs when we hear or see
things that distract us from the message. A loud sound in the corridor can distract the sender or listener as
that person turns to locate where the sound is coming from. We may smell something burning and are
distracted from the message because we want to know if there is a fire.
BBA 2551, Intercultural Management
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Internal noise occurs when our feelings and emotions take over. If you are concerned
about aGUIDE
loved one at
UNIT x STUDY
home, you may stop listening to the message. If one of your trading partners is
speaking at a meeting, your
Title
thoughts may wander because your son or daughter may be ill that day. You will miss that portion of the
message and, unless it is a written message, you may not be able to retrieve the information
Semantic noise is about words. A message may contain words that delight or upset you so much that you
stop listening to the message and focus on those specific words. If a message in the meeting you are
attending will result in negative outcomes for your company, you may stop listening to the speaker and
concentrate on how to fix things so that your company does not suffer.
In many countries of the world, like China, Japan, Italy, and even in the United States, cultures can have
negative feelings about numbers. That noise can prohibit some from following through on negotiations or from
attending meetings. In some Western cultures, some people view Friday the 13th as a day of bad luck and
prefer not to do business on that day. In some Eastern cultures, the number four is similar to the word death
and is often avoided (Skurie, 2013). A person may not attend a meeting because it is on the fourth floor.
The seventh component of communication is the situation. Both our verbal and non-verbal communications
change depending on where we are, who is present, and why we are there.
References
Deresky, H. (2014). International management: Managing across borders and cultures (8th ed.). Boston, MA:
Pearson.
McLean, S. (2015). Business communication for success [Website]. Retrieved from
http://catalog.flatworldknowledge.com/bookhub/15?e=mclean-ch11_s02.
Skurie, J. (2013). Superstitious numbers around the world. National Geographic. Retrieved from
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/09/130913-friday-luck-lucky-superstition-13/.
Wang, Y. (March 25, 2013). More people have cell phones than toilets, U.N. study shows. Time. Retrieved
from http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/03/25/more-people-have-cell-phones-than-toilets-u-n-studyshows/
Suggested Reading
The articles below are suggested readings or resources that can provide further information on intercultural
management.
What’s A-O.K. in the U.S.A. Is Lewd and Worthless Beyond. (1996, August 18). New York Times. Retrieved
from http://www.nytimes.com/1996/08/18/weekinreview/what-s-a-ok-in-the-usa-is-lewd-andworthless-beyond.html.
Moran, G. (2013, April 10). How to avoid cultural missteps when doing business with other countries
[Website]. Retrieved from http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/226286.
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