A brave new Workplace, part 2: Cross-Cultural Communication

Nowadays, with immigration rising, trade barriers falling, and the good old Internet stirring it all up, we are really becoming to live – and work - in a global village. Our “brave new multicultural workplace” has become a mosaic of people from different ethnic and linguistic background. Culture provides us with ways of thinking—ways of seeing, hearing, and interpreting the world. For instance, when we converse with a colleague from a different culture, words or gestures may mean different things… Or, perhaps the person we’re communicating with is from a different class from us, or has a very different lifestyle… All of these subtleties can hinder our ability to get our message across effectively.

Let’s look at “a few” of the (many) aspects of cross-cultural communication that relate to the Message, to the Tone and Non-Verbal Cues, and to other Diverse or Intangible elements, and let’s see how these may influence the way people of different cultures perceive what’s being communicated.

The Message…

Before looking at the conversation “message” itself, it is useful to first understand the concept of Low- and High-Context culture. Low-context cultures – like Anglos, Germanics and Scandinavians – rely more on content rather than on context, which make them value the written word over spoken statements. Conversely, high-context cultures – like Japanese, Arabs and the French – infer information from the context of a message rather than from its content, thus making them rely heavily on nonverbal signs while preferring indirectness, politeness and ambiguity.

For example, Japanese may find Westerners to be offensively blunt while Westerners find Japanese to be secretive and unforthcoming with information. Similarly, French can feel that Germans insult their intelligence by explaining the obvious, while Germans can feel that French provide no clear sense of direction when discussion contentious topics.

The Non-Verbal…

In terms of non-verbal communication, its importance is not only huge for interpersonal interaction, but it’s multiplied across cultures, especially when different languages are involved in the conversation. Because behavior is a strong manifestation of our cultural background, non-verbal elements of a conversation will be interpreted very differently by people from diverse cultures. Some of these non-verbal dimensions that we should pay attention to include:

1. General appearance and dress code,
2. Posture, gesture and touch,
3. Facial expression, eye contact, and
4. Tone.

For example: bowing shows rank in Japan, slouching is impolite in most Northern European countries, having his hands in pocket is disrespectful in Turkey, and sitting with our legs crossed is insulting in Ghana and Turkey. A brief and firm handshake is the “acceptable, self-confident way of doing it” for North-Americans whereas the correct manner for most Africans countries is a “limp and much longer-lasting” handshake. As per facial expressions and eye contact, we note that whereas most Mediterranean Latinos and Arabs exaggerate sadness or grief, most Asians will, on the other hand, suppress facial expression as much as possible and avoid eye contact as a sign of respect.

Other intangible factors…

There are several other less tangible factors that may also affect how people from different culture perceive and interpret what’s being communicated to them. These may include:

1. The perception of time and personal space,
2. The authority and power distance,
3. The relative importance of individualism versus collectivism, and
4. The disclosure and uncertainty avoidance, etc. 

For example, in some countries like China and Japan, being on time is important and being late is considered an insult, whereas punctuality isn’t as significant or imperative for South-Americans, for Indians and for people from the Middle-East. In “high power distance” countries such as India, bypassing a superior is considered insubordination, whereas, in “lower power distance” countries like in North America and Northern Europe, differences in people’s status is less important and bypassing a superior is usually not such a big deal. And in individualist cultures, self-determination is valued and demonstrating initiative or being a “self-made man” is admirable, whereas collectivist cultures expect people to identify with and to work well in groups, to be loyal and compliant. While Anglo cultures tend to be individualist, many of the Asian cultures are collectivist.

So What?

Finally, one of the biggest and most obvious barriers to written and spoken communication is language itself. The people communicating may speak different languages; The language being used is not the first language for one or more people involved in the communication; Or the people communicating speak the same language, but are from different regions and therefore have different dialects and/or unique subtleties.

We should keep in mind that this “brave new global workplace” brings a wide spectrum of cultural and linguistic nuances, all of which affect the way we communicate. In case of doubt, we should thread carefully… perhaps ask about the differences that we notice, and encourage questions about the culture of our counterpart. It’s also useful to make sure that our questions are curious, not judgmental, resentful or otherwise negative. And let’s always keep an open-minded and be patient, repeating what we understand and confirming meanings, providing suggestions and acknowledging a mutual understanding.

What do you think?

- Patrick