Communication in International Business Management - Essay Example

HRM issues: Communication in international business management Human resource management (HRM) is one of the vital areas of businesswhich can make or break the business. The strategies developed by the HR department for the effective utilization of the manpower of an organization has significant role in the development of the organization. Many organizations fail to excel in the market because of the poor HRM strategies, even though they have competent workforce. On the other hand many other organizations excel in the market because of the smart HRM strategies even though their workforce is incompetent. Even though man material and machine are some of the essential resources needed for an organization, mobilization or effective utilization of these resources is possible only with the help of the human resources. Cross cultural business or international business is growing day by day because of the huge popularity of the globalization, liberalization and privatization policies. All the countries realized the importance of foreign direct investments in their economic growth. Many of the big organizations which faced saturation in their home country are currently trying to exploit the opportunities in international market and as a result of that international business is growing rapidly today. The growth of international business brought many new challenges to organizations and the communication problem is one among them. Human resource management department is responsible for formulating necessary strategies needed to avoid communication problems in international business. Culture and communication plays a vital role in international business and hence the training given to an employee/ manager before an overseas assignment must target cultural and communicational differences between the native country of the employee and the target country. When organizations move into foreign markets they must adapt to communication, culture and human resource issues. Domestic business and international businesses have more differences than similarities. It is easy to start a business in the home country whereas it is difficult to establish a business in a foreign country because of the difficulties in communicating with different stakeholders in the foreign country. This paper briefly analyses different communication problems faced by companies while engage in international business and the HRM strategies needed to overcome it. Before the establishment of business in another country, the entrepreneur must know some basic facts about the target country. The political, social, cultural, legal and economical aspects of the target country could be entirely different from that of his home country. For example, suppose an American company is trying to establish a business unit in China. China is a communist country whereas America is a democratic country. English is the official language of America whereas that of China is Mandarin. The Chinese economy is developing at a much faster rate than that of America. Human rights and freedom of expression are less valued topics in China whereas these things are extremely important in America. There are many other areas in which America and China vary drastically and the HRM strategies should account for all these differences before establishing a business unit in China. David A Victor (2009) has proposed his famous LESCANT model for knowing more about the communication issues in international business. According to him Language, Environment, Social organizations, Contexting, Authority, Nonverbal communication means, Time concepts etc of different countries are different (Victor) In America, English is the official language whereas in China, it is Mandarin. The importance of language in the communication process cannot be neglected while formulating HRM strategies in international context. If communication is the body of an organization, then language is the blood of it. In an organizational set up, communication can take place between the organization and the employees, organization and the customers, organization and the stakeholders etc. The views and opinions of each party can be communicated properly if both the parties don’t have a language barrier. Both the parties must understand clearly what others are trying to communicate or convince. For domestic business, the American company need not concentrate much on the development of language skills whereas in international business, it should give more focus to the learning of the language of the target country. For example, if Microsoft wants to establish a unit in China, the employees deputized to China for such purposes should learn the Chinese language well. If Microsoft is going to establish a business unit in India, learning of Hindi language is essential for the employees deputized to India. In short, the HRM department of an organization should give proper training to the employees to learn more about the languages of the target country, if that organization is planning to establish business in another country. “Whenever two parties negotiate, the entire process occurs under two umbrella contexts, environmental and immediate” (Phatak & Habib). The business environments in different countries are different. For example, Indian business environment and the American business environment are entirely different. Climatically, India is a hot country whereas America is a cold country. India is a heavily populated country whereas America is not that much heavily populated. Infrastructure facilities like transportation, energy, water etc are limited in India compared to America. Internet and computer technologies may not be the same in India and America. Recreational facilities in India may also have lot of differences. All these parameters can heavily influence the communication channels. In short, before sending some employees to India, an American firm should give them proper training about the environmental conditions in India in order to help them to adapt with the communication channels in India. Social organizations in different countries can be different. In China, social organizations are less whereas in India and America, it is large in number. In China, religion is prohibited whereas in India and America, all the religions can operate without fear. In other words, the influence of religion in social matters is more in India and America compared to China. While operating in China, American should never engage in any religious activities whereas in India, they may not face such restrictions. Before sending American employees to the overseas countries, an American firm should make them aware of the social or religious factors in the target country. “Communication can be seen as being high or low in contexting” (Victor). It is not necessary that two parties in a communication process may have similar level of knowledge about a particular topic. When the communication occurs between two different cultures, the knowledge gap could be even more. In other words, one party always dominates in a communication process because of his higher contexting abilities compared to the second party. Americans, Chinese and Indians may have different levels of contexting or levels of knowledge. The HRM managers should make the employees aware of the contexting levels of the people in the target country before sending them for the international assignments. “The view of authority in a given society affects communication in the business environment significantly as it shapes the view of how a message will be received based on the relative status or rank of the message's sender to its receiver” (Victor). Authority and power are the two sides of the same coin. Both these entities cannot be differentiated. In the absence of power, no leaders or mangers can execute their work properly. The authority levels in different countries are different and hence the management styles will also be different in different countries. For example, in China autocratic administration is prevailing whereas in India, it is democratic. In other words, the management styles in India could be more democratic in nature compared to that in China. In the communication process also, the differences in authority levels may be reflected. For example, the Chinese may use non-diplomatic words in their communications with others whereas in India, people may use diplomacy at the first place in the communication process. The HRM managers should account for these differences in authority levels while formulating training programs for the employees for doing international business. Non verbal communication has a vital role in communication process. Many people have the illusion that language is the most vital entity in a communication process because of their perception that most of the information exchanged in a communication process is through verbal means. However, many studies have shown that the amount of information communicated through nonverbal means is always higher than the amount of information communicated through verbal means. “Much of nonverbal communication may be broken down into six areas: dress; kinesics, or body language; oculesics, or eye contact; haptics, or touching behaviour; proxemics, or the use of body space; and paralanguage” (Victor). Gestures, facial expressions, and body languages can play vital roles in communication process. Non-verbal communication means would be different h in different countries. For example, Indians hold their hands together in a particular way and say “namasthe” to greet others whereas Chinese people bow their heads in front of others in order to mark their respect. Americans and Europeans shake hands for conveying warm regards. In short, nonverbal methods have lot of significance in the communication process and it is necessary for the HRM managers to make their employees aware of the nonverbal communication means of the target country, before sending them for the international business. Temporal conception means the understanding of time. The concept of time can be classified into two categories; Monochronic time (M-time) and Polychronic time (P-time) (Victor, 2009). M-time means doing one thing at a particular time whereas P-time means doing many things at a time. Americans are monochromic in nature whereas Indians are polychromic in nature. Human relationships are more valued by the people who believe in P-time concepts whereas such relationships are less valued by the people who believe in M-time concepts. In other words, Americans give less importance to relationships in business deals whereas Indians are very much interested in building relationships. The awareness about these differences in temporal concepts in different cultures will be helpful for the employees who are going for international assignments. “Education, social standing, religion, personality, belief structure, past experience, affection shown in the home, and a myriad of other factors will affect human behaviour and culture” (Encina). Educational levels in different countries can be different. Education is one of the major requirements for proper communication. It is difficult for two people to communicate each other effectively, if they have different levels of education. In international business also educational level plays a major role in the communication process. For example, most of the Americans are highly educated people whereas same thing cannot be said about the Indian or Chinese people. So, while formulating HRM strategies for foreign countries, HRM managers should account for the educational levels also in the target country. The US people enjoy much freedom because of democracy in their country whereas Chinese people are not enjoying freedom very much. So the work force from America who enjoyed substantial freedom in their domestic country, may find it difficulties in countries like China. Americans give more emphasize to leisure activities whereas Chinese are ready to work like machines. These differences in attitude towards life and profession will definitely reflect in the communication process. “Communication is not just speaking, writing or gesticulating. It's more than the transmission of information” (Effective Business Communication). A mere passing of information from one source to another is a passive communication where as in an active communication the person who passes the information will ensure that the passed information is correctly interpreted and the necessary follow up action has been undertaken. For example, most of the receptionists or office secretaries convey the information they received to the superiors and then forget about it. This is a kind of passive communication procedure. On the other hand, if the secretary ensures that the superior reacted properly to the information passed, then it can be referred as an active communication. In international business, passive communication has no roles whereas active communication has major roles to play. Communication is successful only when the intended result is achieved. “The effectiveness of communication is heavily dependent on the choice of recipient, the clarity of the message and the effectiveness if the communication medium” (The importance of communication) Communicational means should be straight forward and clear, especially in international business. The person who sends and receives the information should not be confused with the content of the information communicated. “If you have something to say don't cloak it in vagueness or insinuation. Realize that such remarks won't get anything solved, and are liable to make things worse for everyone, including you”(Bacal). Communication is intended for certain purposes and in order achieves or fulfils purposes these purposes, no unclear elements should be involved in it. For example, in international business between America and China, two parties of different cultures may often communicate each other for negotiating something. They would have used a common language (In most of the cases English) for communicating each other. The Chinese person may not understand the intentions of the American, if he has poor knowledge in English. Then same thing may happen to the American also if their medium of communication happens to be Mandarin. Thus, the purpose of the communication may not be served if both the parties do not possess same knowledge and expertise in the communication channels used. We are living in a globalized world at present. The problems occurred in Africa can affect America or Asia at present because of the interconnection between countries and economies. In most of the organizations, instead of domestic workforce, diverse workforces are working. For example, Dubai is the business hub of Middle East and we can see people from all over the world working together there. It is difficult for an organization in Dubai to manage this extremely diverse workforce because of the problems in implementing an effective communication channel in the organization. In an organization in Dubai, there can be Chinese, Indians, Pakistanis, Sri Lankans, Filipinos, Americans, and the British, all have different cultures and languages. Most of the drivers working in these organizations are from Pakistan and Bangladesh like countries and they have poor English language whereas the managers are from countries like England or America. It is difficult for the American or British manager working in these companies to communicate something to their drivers. In such organizations, the HRM managers should implement training programs to improve the language skills of its employees under a common language platform. To conclude, communication problems can cause major challenges in human resource management, especially in international business environment. Communication channels or mediums are different in different countries. Languages, environment, verbal and nonverbal means, culture, technology, attitudes of people, educational levels of people, economy of the countries etc are different in different countries. All these parameters can affect the communication channels one way or other in cross cultural business. Effective or active communication is important for the success of business in international set ups. Human resource management team should prepare or train their employees properly before giving international assignments to them. Works Cited 1. Bacal, Robert, “Improve Communication By Eliminating Insinuation”. 2009. Web. 07 March 2011. 2. Encina, Gregorio Billikopf, “Cultural Differences? Or, are we really that different? 2007. Web. 07 March 2011. 3. “Effective Business Communication”. Web. 07 March 2011. 4. Phatak Arvind V. & Habib, Mohammed M. The Dynamics of International Business Negotiations”. 1996. Web. 07 March 2011. 5. “The Importance of Communication In Small Business”. 2008. Web. 07 March 2011. 6. Victor, David A. (2009) Cross-Cultural/International Communication Web. 07 march 2011. Read More