International Business Communications - Assignment Example

International Business Communications TASK ONE Introduction International business essentially has to do with business activities that are conducted across two or more nations. Owing to globalisation, such international business based activities have increased. It is therefore quite important for business entrepreneurs to be able to discuss the different dynamics that govern business talk in different nations around the globe. Each nation in the world has its own distinct culture. In continents such as Africa, Asia and Latin America, the different nations each have different tribes that each has a different culture. Assessment in terms of Time, Eye Contact, Small Talk, Silence, Teams, Formality/Informality, and Difficult People and Situations, British There are different ways in which business people operate in difficult cultures. In European nations such as Britain, business proceedings tend to be extremely formal. However, it can be hard for a foreign business partner to tell what his or her British partners may be feeling because the British tend to obscure any facial signs of either discontent or satisfaction (Samovar, Porter and McDaniel 2009). Business meetings are held quite often in British organizations in order to ensure that all workers understand what is necessary while also assessing progress. In such meetings, punctuality is extremely important. Attending a meeting late is perceived as unprofessional behavior which casts suspicion about the true business capabilities of the late business official. It is also important for business people to maintain eye contact with their partners in order to show that they are credible. If credibility is doubted, it could result in slowed communications between the two partners because of doubts that may arise. In business meetings in Britain, there is just a modicum of small talk. The small talk does not consist of chats about family members of the business partners but about peripheral subjects regarding the subject of business (Tihanyi, Griffith and Russell 2005). Silence may or may not occur during business meetings. Moreover, when it does, it is important for participants not to rush to fill in the silence. Teamwork is something that is at present being encouraged in many British organizations in order to take advantage of the conditions availed by globalization. In most business meetings in Britain, interruptions are not common, or even allowed, unless there is a serious issue that requires the immediate attention of the business participants (Forey and Lockwood 2010). In business meetings, conflicts are dealt with by discussing issues without necessarily having to raise one’s voice. Poland In Poland, there are many cultural tendencies that are identical to those of Northern European as well as southern European nations. Just as is the case with Britain, punctuality is a valuable characteristic. The Poles themselves may not observe constant punctuality; but they expect any foreigners who are seeking to conduct business in their nation to observe punctuality. There are different rules for junior workers and senior members of organizations. Senior executives in any organization are seemingly allowed to be less punctual to meetings than their junior counterparts or any foreign business partners. In Poland, as well as some other nations such as France, there is a window of just 15 minutes after the scheduled arrival date in which the foreign partners or junior workers are allowed to arrive to meetings. Small talk in Poland is viewed as being an essential part of the beginning of meetings (Kirkman, Lowe, and Gibson 2006). The business partners first have to establish some modicum of relationship before launching into more serious matters and small talk is an essential part of the process of relationship building. In many Polish business meetings, moments of silence are not entirely unknown though they may be unusual. The silence may cause foreign business officials to think that their Polish business partners are quite distant; however, this is not the intention. Silent periods are merely indicators that the Polish business people are considering the options. The silence is not a tactic being used to force the foreign business officials to provide an immediate answer or engage in superfluous talk. Moreover, when conflicts occur, the Polish business people will be quite vocal and expressive of their own views. In a nation such as Poland or even other eastern European nations, there have been types of work organization that have been created since communism was destroyed in the 1990s. This means that the experience with notions such as the importance of teamwork in organizations is a relatively new concept that is still in the process of taking root. Malaysia In Malaysia, the concept of punctuality, though often stressed upon, is not something that has been seriously adopted. It is not uncommon for business meetings to start later than their planned times, or extend far beyond the time planned for stopping. Foreign business partners have to take into account the fact that there could be such delays. Business meetings also often have a lot of small talk at the beginning. Being too eager to make agreements of business deals is perceived as being impatient and pushy as even business partners first have to take time and create a kinship between themselves (House, Hanges, Javidan, Dorfman, and Gupta 2004). Silence is one central aspect of Malaysian communication. Malaysian business people often pause before answering any question so as to show that they have given the question enough thought before answering. Answering a proposal too quickly gives the impression of thoughtlessness in Malaysian families. It is quite easy for business people from other nations who do not understand the concept of ‘face’ to unintentionally cause conflict. In Malaysia, it is vital for all people involved in business discussion to ‘save face’ even though only the ideas of one group can be implemented. Insulting a business partner, or criticizing his or her business suggestions- even if they are inadequate, can cause the loss of face. Malaysians go to great extents to avoid such situations as causing someone to lose face can even result in actual fights. The only way to save the ‘face’ of others even if their ideas are not accepted is by communicating non-verbally when seeking to refuse an offer or permitting the other individual to save their pride even as they get out of the situation (Nes, Solberg and Silkoset 2007). Teamwork is a common and practiced concept in many Malaysian businesses as the society even supports group identity or family interests over personal identity. France In France, punctuality is not as strict as it is in Scandinavian nations such as Sweden. Moreover, it is still considered as a serious issue for any foreign business officials who are interested in doing business in France. Small talk is not common in France as French citizens usually prefer to keep their family life and professional life very separate. It is believed that his preserves the necessary formality in the workplace. Any small talk will inevitably be centered on subjects concerning the business subject. Silence is rare in meetings and may cause feelings of discomfort among business partners. In times of conflict, it is best for business partners to remain professional. In most cases, French business people will make decision in private so as to avoid confrontations caused by disgruntled people. Spain Spain has a culture that greatly prizes punctuality on the part of foreign officials. Being on time is something that gives a good impression even though the Spanish partners may not keep time themselves. Small talk is another accepted part of business meetings in Spain. Just as the Malaysians, the Spaniards can only enter business relationships with people they already have a relationship based on trust with. In as far as silence is concerned, it can cause confusion because it may be an indication of different things. In Spain, silence may mean dissent, or simply that the business partners are taking time to consider all their options. Translators will be able to communicate this to foreign clients. Moreover, conflicts are common in Spain, though they are not always considered to result from conflict. In Spain, though the people are quite warm and accepting, they can easily get offended due to the pride o Spaniards which is considered as an acceptable quality. This means that there will be many opportunities for misinterpretations. The way to avoid such incidences is by directly avoiding conflict. Germany Germany is probably the most formal society in the northern region of Europe. In Germany, business partners will arrive at the scheduled meeting place before the agreed upon time. Being late is something that can cost actual business partnerships. Germany also does not have a relationship-oriented culture; which means that small talk is seen as being irrelevant. The formal atmosphere in Germany does not allow for jokes or other subjects unrelated to business. Silence rarely occurs as it is an indication of confusion in German culture. Germans esteem directness over diplomacy, and feel that personal emotions cannot be allowed to stop the truth from being expressed. As Germans are usually direct communicators, German business people will loudly express themselves. This might be alarming for people from cultures in which loud voices indicate anger (Ralston, Holt, Terpstra, and Kai-Cheng 2008). Germans are also accustomed to interruptions if the other party feels that the real subject is being ignored. It is therefore important for foreign business people to understand that it is important to keep loudly expressing their opinions even when there is additional shouting. Russia Russia, just as Germany, has a culture that greatly values punctuality. However, Russians are slightly less formal than Germans. Russian business executives will expect foreign business partners to be on time even though they themselves may not be on time. Just as is the case with German culture, small talk is kept to the bare minimum in Russia when a business meeting is at hand. In Russia, even an action like smiling in a business meeting may not be viewed as being good for a formal occasion. Silence is not something that is uncommon in business meetings because it is something that Russians have gotten accustomed to. The uncertainty that Russians have existed in for entire decades has caused them to develop a culture that is not surprised by any issues. Russians can easily adapt to new laws and thus can accept the presence of other business partners better than is the case in other nations. Disagreements in business meetings are quite rare. However, when they do happen, they can get physical quickly and so are often avoided by maintaining politeness during all business negotiations. The importance of learning about different business cultures in international business All over the world, culture affects how business people think about commercial operations that they engage in. Being cognisant of the cultural attitudes in the areas in which they invest can help business people to be able to communicate effectively. Some cultures, like those of Britain, Australia, and Germany tend to put a high significance on any words that are spoken (Carte 2008). Other cultures, such as those in many Asian and Arab cultures, on the other hand, will emphasise more on a conversation’s context rather than on what was said. Ignoring issues to do with the importance of culture in foreign business operations can cost an organisation greatly because it will result in miscommunication. Conclusion Disruptions in internal business communication can result if employees have different expectations, goals, and processes. Knowing the different issues that concern culture will help business partners to be able to foresee potential challenges and deal with them before they can compromise the business in any way. Business entrepreneurs who have workers from foreign nations also have to consider how best to deal with their foreign-based workers as they may have different cultural interpretations of different things. For example, the introduction of new business ideas or information has to be effected with consideration to how it will be received. If the workers are no accustomed to dealing with new ideas on their own, it is likely that the project could fail because the workers will not know how to implement all the new regulations. TASK TWO According to Brewer and Venaik (2011) organisational and national cultural disparities that may exist between the workers of multinational corporations have the potential to affect how they interact with each other either in a positive or negative way. Such differences can prove to be disruptive to the organisation’s effectiveness in meeting its objectives. This means that managers have to find ways of generating constructive corporate cultures for their organisations. When business partners create a corporate culture that is quite helpful to the employees, it results in more job satisfaction rates among the workers, and more effective business operations. Moreover, this is not easily achieved. Employees from different geographical regions are socialised in different ways in aspects concerning the development of organisational cultures (Lewis 2008). On their first collective meeting, therefore, if the organisational heads have not been careful to ensure that they have created programs that offer cooperation and mutual understanding, the employees may experience the lack of a general basis from which to communicate. There are different theories that seek to explain the complexities that exist between different cultures and how they affect business organisations. Theories of international business in issues to do with culture The Globe Theory The term ‘Global Leadership and Organisational Behaviour Effectiveness’ or GLOBE is a theory that was formed after an11-year research study that involved 170 researchers from 62 nations was conducted to study the significance of culture in organisation. The GLOBE study came up with nine cultural dimensions (Merkin 2006). These include uncertainty avoidance, or the level to which community members try to evade uncertainty by depending on established social practices, assertiveness, or the extent to which people in any culture are confrontational, assertive, antagonistic, and straightforward, collectivism, or the extent to which a community’s practices promote the collective distribution of assets through collective action in contrast to individual distribution, and power distance, or the extent to which community members feel that power is unequally distributed (Deresky 2010). The GLOBE theory underlines factors such as gender egalitarianism, or the level to which a culture plays down gender role disparities, future orientation, or the level to which community members participate in future-oriented behaviours like investing, planning, and delaying gratification, the second definition of collectivism, or the degree to which community members convey loyalty, pride, and cohesiveness within their groups, families, and organisations, humane orientation, or the degree to which a culture encourages its community members to be caring to others, and performance orientation, or the level to which a culture rewards its members for implementing performance improvement (Lewis 2005). The GLOBE theory’s scales that assess power distance, uncertainty avoidance, and collectivism dimensions were actually generated to reflect the aspects addressed by the Hofstede theory. Geert Hofstede’s Theory Geert Hofstede, a Dutch psychologist, studied the effect of culture on the behaviour of various individuals. He believed that citizens from different cultures would have problems communicating. He also believed that the problems that crop up due to miscommunication between citizens who come from different cultures tended to centre on some five actors. These include individualism/collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity/feminism, long term/short term orientation and power distance. According to Hofstede, all these factors elucidate the differences between countries and individuals. Fons Trompenaars Fons Trompenaars is describes culture as the method used by a human group to resolve its problems (Hofstede 2010). Trompenaars modified Geert Hofstede’s model and came up with the Charles Hampden-Turner theory with 7 aspects of cultural differentiation. These seven included individualism/communitarianism, universalism/particularism, specific/diffuse, affective/neutral, achievement/ascription, internal/external control, and sequential/synchronic. Trompenaars was interested in managing complexity in diverse business environments, which is something that is something quite significant in the present day’s globalised business settings. He was also interested in the management of a workforce’s cultural differences, which would give an organisation considerable competitive advantage. The Similar Factors in all Three Theories The Low vs. High Power Distance factor has to do with the level of inequality or equality between workers holding junior and senior positions in a society. The nations that have high power distance indexes such as Malaysia and nations in the Middle East will likely support organisations in which there are little if any significant upward mobility of its citizens, as the culture tends to support the existence of autocratic relations. On the other hand, nations such as Denmark and Norway, which have a low power distance index, tend to support the existence of organisations that observe many workers rights and support the progress of individual employees into higher positions of prominence within the organisation or even outside it. The Individualism vs. Collectivism factor, on the other hand, has to do with the extent to which a particular community’s members will be able to define themselves. A High Individualism culture, such as that of nations such as Britain, tends to support its citizens to develop of their own personalities and follow their own paths of life. Such a culture is also marked by the presence of numerous loose relationships (Wang and Nayir 2009). A culture that supports low individualism on the other hand, expects its members to act in the interests of the group. Many nations such as Malaysia and Japan support low individualism in business organisations that operate within their borders. In the aspect of Masculinity vs. Feminity, cultures that have a high masculinity ranking will support the portrayal of characteristics such as ambition and the acquisition of power which tend to be identified as being primarily male (Zutshi and Tan 2009). Nations which have such cultures include those in Latin America, Asia, and the Middle East. In organisations that are situated in any of these regions, there will be a high gender differentiation in which the male workers will be given higher positions within the organisation while female workers are left to contend with the junior positions. In contrast, in nations such as the United States where there is low gender differentiation, the workers in organisations will be encouraged to embrace both male and female-identified qualities such as compassion even while seeking to progress to better positions. In the factor of Low vs. High Uncertainty Avoidance, cultures with high uncertainty avoidance have little if any tolerance for ambiguity among its citizens. This means that even in organisations located in such nations, workers are not likely to be encouraged to develop their personal potentials if those potentials are too different from what is accepted as the status quo. On the other hand, cultures which have low uncertainty avoidance are quite tolerant of ambiguity of disparities among the objectives of workers. When international business people are able to understand the different facets that determine correct communication in different cultures around the globe, they will then be able to navigate across cultural differences and conduct successful business operations. Each culture has different norms that determine communication between business partners. It is very important for trust to be forged whenever businesses seek to establish foreign subsidiaries. Blending different cultures can reinforce the corporate identity of workers within an organisation. References Brewer, P. & Venaik, S. (2011) ‘Individualism-collectivism in Hofstede and GLOBE’, Journal of International Business Studies, vol. 42, no. 3, pp. 436-445. Carte, P. (2008) Bridging the culture gap: a practical guide to international business communication, London, Kogan Page Deresky, H. (2010) International management: managing across borders and cultures, London, Pearson  Forey, G. & Lockwood, J. 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