Understanding Cross-cultural Management

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Understanding Cross-cultural Management

• CHAPTER 18
• DEVELOPING INTERCULTURAL RELATIONSHIPS
• Concept 18.1 Becoming a competent intercultural
  communicator

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Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC)

• Defined by Kim (1991) as
• the overall internal ability of an individual
  to manage key challenging features of
  intercultural communication namely cultural
  differences and unfamiliarity, inter-group
  posture, and the accompanying experience of
  stress
• What is needed to engage in this process?
• information and actions necessary
• the motivation
• the skills to actually perform effectively /
  appropriately

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A Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity
The Ethnocentric stages The Ethnocentric stages The Ethnocentric stages The Ethnorelative stages The Ethnorelative stages The Ethnorelative stages
DENIAL DEFENCE MINIMIZATION ACCEPTANCE ADAPTATION INTEGRATION
Isolation Separation Denigration Superiority Reversal Physical Universalism Transcendent Universalism Respect for Behavioural Difference Respect for Value Difference Empathy Pluralism Contextual Evaluation Constructive Marginality
Table 18.1 A Developmental Model of
Intercultural Sensitivity Source Bennett (1998),
p. 29
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A Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity
Figure 18.1 Kolbs learning cycle Source Kolb
(1984), p. 33 (adapted)
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The cognitive component of ICC

• Knowledge of the people from the other culture(s)
  involved
• their values, beliefs and expectations, knowledge
  of the language they use
• the communicative strategies they tend to employ
• This entails being cognitively flexible
• able to receive and process feedback
• able to take a perspective, to differentiate
  between describing, interpreting and evaluating
  behaviour.
• willing and able to move beyond ethnocentrism

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The affective component of ICC

• Anxiety and uncertainty management theory
  (Gudykunst, 2002)
• If high state of anxiety
• reliance on simplistic information gt cannot
  communicate effectively
• unable to explain or predict the attitudes,
  behaviour or feelings of others
• If low anxiety and uncertainty
• may not be motivated to communicate
• may predict too eagerly and inaccurately - the
  behaviour of others.

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Mindfulness

• Entails our thinking about our communication and
  continually working at changing what we do in
  order to become more effective
• Mindfulness (Langer,1990) includes
• making more categories/distinctions when
  categorizing others
• being aware of more than one perspective
• focussing on the process of communication
• being mindful of our own behaviour as well as the
  situation

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Empathy

• One key aspect of the affective component is
  empathy, defined by Casse (1981, p. 139) as
• ..the ability to see and understand how other
  people construct reality
• When interacting with others, we not only listen
  to what people say but we try to work out what
  people are actually feeling and thinking
• Empathy is the ability to put oneself in the
  shoes of the other, to try and discern their
  thoughts behind their words and actions

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Levels of awareness

• A high degree of empathy a high degree of
  awareness
• Hanveys proposed levels of awareness which can
  be attained during the competence development
  process
• He argues that believability is necessary if
  one group or individual is to accept the other
• This believability can be achieved only at
  levels3 4

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Levels of awareness
LEVEL INFORMATION MODE INTERPRETATION
Level I Awareness of superficial or visible cultural traits -- stereotypes Tourism, textbooks Unbelievable, i.e. exotic bizarre
Level II Awareness of significant and subtle cultural traits that contrast markedly with ones own Culture conflict situations Unbelievable, i.e. frustrating irrational
Level III Awareness of significant and subtle cultural traits that contrast markedly with ones own Intellectual analysis Believable, cognitively
Level IV Awareness of how another culture feels from the standpoint of the insider Cultural immersion living the culture Believable because of subjective familiarity
Table 18.2 Levels of awareness Source Hanvey
(1986), p.20
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The behavioural component of ICC

• How the cognitive/affective components are
  enacted
• For Spitsberg (2000), behavioural competence is
  not the behaviour, but the way it is evaluated
• appropriacy does the behaviour stroke with
  norms/expectations of relationship?
• effectiveness does the behaviour achieve valued
  goals or rewards relative to costs and
  alternatives
• Behaviour deemed as competent may be accidental
  or seen as incompetent elsewhere
• Competent behaviour must have a clear and
  appropriate rationale behind the behaviour

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The ethical component of ICC

• Can we make moral judgements across cultures
  while being aware that moral principles of
  behaviour can be culture-bound and may vary
  across cultures?
• Gudykunst Kim (2002) distinguish two
  approaches
• an analytical one (being committed to a specific
  view of what morality is) does not allow
  ethical judgements
• a normative one (i.e. knowing what should be
  done) allows ethical judgements on behaviour
  itself and/or on the person(s) displaying the
  behaviour

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Normative and analytical approach

• If normative approach used, making payments to
  company officials to ensure that a tender is
  accepted may well be regarded as unacceptable
• If analytical approach taken those paying
  gratuities may see it as a necessary evil since
  those expecting gratuities are seen as not
  knowing any better
• Gudykunst and Kim (2002) argue that we should
  withhold any ethical judgements when interacting
  with those from another culture until we have
  clearly described their behaviour and examined
  various interpretations

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Geestelands ethical strategies

• Never assume that a bribe of some sort is a
  prerequisite show moral courage and say no,
  citing corporate policy
• There may be other, ethical ways of responding to
  unethical demands, e.g.
• making a public donation to a worthy cause
• creating jobs locally so that the honour falls on
  the decision-makers
• Such manoeuvres depend on knowledge of how a
  culture works and underlying values

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Is there a meta-ethic?

• Is the cross-cultural arena an ethical void?
• When we make ethical judgements, we either use
  our own cultural standards as a framework of
  reference or those of the other culture
• This means, however, that the ethical premises of
  one culture are necessarily subordinated to those
  of another no meta-ethic to embrace both sets of
  premises

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Is there a meta-ethic?

• Example of a meta-ethic proposed by Martin,
  Flores Nakayama (2001) with three principles
• The humanness principle respect for all, empathy
  and identification with others.
• The dialogic principle stresses the centrality
  of human relationships and mutual support we must
  give
• The principle of speaking with and to instead
  of for and about
• Key factor learning to understand oneself and
  others when engaging with others

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A third culture?

• Casrnir (1999) advocates third-culture building -
  would allow a shared system of values to emerge.
• Cross-cultural encounters are not just a question
  of trying to achieve outcomes, but also
  developing standards/methods for achieving those
  outcomes.
• The relationship developed in these encounters
  could enable a process whereby a third culture
  emerges.
• This is a framework designed to ensure enduring
  adaptation and survival shared value systems and
  increasing interdependence.

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Building a third culture
Figure 18.2 A dialogic communication model of
third-culture building Source Casrnir (1999) 109
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Conclusion dynamic cultural interaction

• The dialogic nature of third-culture building
  reflects
• The notion of transcultural competence
• reconciling seemingly opposing values
• developing a dynamic equilibrium
• integrating values through synergy
• The dynamic process of intercultural interaction
• the cultures are defined through own
  characteristics
• AND through their interaction with each other
• The notion of crisis transformation
• collaborative dialogue which enables
  transformations at personal, social and
  structural level