Franck BRULHART Lecturer University of Aix-Marseille AGEFA PME [e-mail]

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Franck BRULHARTLecturerUniversity of
Aix-Marseille AGEFA PMEfranck.brulhart_at_univmed.f
r

• Project INTENT
• January 17, 2008

Intercultural Management
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Structure of the presentation

• Globalization and uniformization of cultures?

• Explanation of international cultural diversity

• G. Hofstede (1980, 1991) House (2004)

• E.T. Hall (1990)

• Intercultural awareness
• Mastering foreign languages
• Merging in the situation

• Using vocational/sectoral cultureas bridge
• Nonverbal communication

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1. The state of affairs on international cultural
diversity (a)

• Globalization
•  The processes and their results on phenomena of
  different disciplines (political, economic,
  cultural, social) are of a worldwide dimension 
  A. Mattelard (2007)
• The trend to cultural uniformity
•  Mankind has established a monoculture it
  prepares to produce a mass-civilization, as if
  eating beetroot. Its daily food doesnt consist
  of more than this  C. Levi-Strauss (1955)
• The convergence of consumers cultures or the
   coca-colonization U. Hannerz (1992)
• The emergence of a global village

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1. The state of affairs on international cultural
diversity (b)

• The configuration of a global village of 1000
  inhabitants (Houston India Herald, Oct. 1998 )

• Geographical origins 584 Asians, 124 Africans,
  95 Europeans, 84 South-Americans, 52
  North-Americans

• Language 165 speak Mandarin, 86 English, 83
  Hindi or Urdu, 65 Spanish, 58 Russian, 37 Arabic

• Religion 329 Christians, 178 Muslims, 60
  Buddhists, 45 Atheists, 32 Hindustani,

• Age 330 children, 60 above 60 years old,

• Income 200 habitants possess 75 of wealth, 200
  others posses 2 of wealth,

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1. The state of affairs on international cultural
diversity (c)
Germany 500 / week
Peru 31 / week
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1. The state of affairs on international cultural
diversity (c)

• Culture (C. Usunier, 2004)
• The symbolic organization of a group and the
  representation that the group creates of itself
  and of its relations with others
• Explicit elements languages, customs, habits,
  traditions, skills, knowhow
• Implicit elements values, myths, beliefs,
  concepts, representations

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1. The state of affairs on international cultural
diversity (d)

• Cultural heterogenity on global scale
• From homogeneity to mixture of races
  creolization (Hannerz, 1992)
• International entrepreneurial strategy
• Facing the state of a continuous cultural
  diversity, the development of a strategy of
  international entrepreneurship calls for the
  identification of the dimensions of this cultural
  diversity and for the preparation for those.
• Indeed, if social interactions are based on
  specific cultural models, the international
  entrepreneur should adapt his behaviour and his
  attitude in order to avoid disturbing or
  violating the norms held consciously or
  subconsciously by his business relations (E.
  Hall, 1990).

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2. Characterization of international cultural
diversity (a)

• The Hofstede model (1980, 1991)
• 5 indepent bipolar dimensions
• The importance of hierarchical distance (HIE)
• The degree of individualism (IND)
• The relation with insecurity (INC)
• Masculine / feminine orientation (MAS)
• Short-term / long-term orientation (LTO)
• House (2004)
• Globe study

  HIE IND INC MAS LTO
DK 18 74 23 16 45
FR 68 71 86 43 39
JAP 54 46 92 95 80
NL 38 80 53 14 35
RO 90 91 30 42  
USA 40 91 46 62 29
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2. Characterization of international cultural
diversity (b)

• The model of E.T. Hall (1990)
• Culture is a system of creating, emitting,
  retaining and of processing information
  (Chevrier, 2003). The objective of Hall is to
  provide the necessary tools to decode messages of
  another culture.
• 3 hidden dimensions of communication
• The concept of time (monochronic versus
  polychronic)
• The concept of space (cultural proximity)
• The context of communication (rich versus poor)

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2. Characterization of international cultural
diversity (c)
Japan
IMPLICIT Communication style
China
Strong
Africa (below the Sahara)
Middle East
Latin America
Italy
Appeal on the context of the message
France
United Kingdom
United States
Denmark
EXPLICIT Communication style
Germany
Weak
Switzerland
Preferential message types
explicit
implicit
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2. Characterization of international cultural
diversity (d)

• Characterizing international contexts
• The identification of cultural specifics of
  international contexts permits the comprehension
  of the influence of culture on behaviour,
  management practices and communication
  interpersonal interactions.
• This comprehension constitutes the prerequisites
  of intercultural management practices for the
  international entrepreneur.
• Good practices of the international
  entrepreneur
• The refined comprehension of international
  cultural contexts has to facilitate the necessary
  adaption of behaviour and to avoid the classic
  errors due to failing intercultural management.

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3. Management of international cultural diversity
(a)

• Acknowledgement of the relativity of behaviours
  and practices (Trompenaars, 2003)
• The limits of a generic approach on culture

• The risks of not understanding
• Avoid lathophobia fear of making errors (C.
  Hagège, 1996)

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3. Management of international cultural diversity
(b)

• Learning by experience
• Real experience, shared of simulated
• Simulation EUROSIM

• Capitalizing on the culture of the vocation or
  the sector to overcome the cultural gap
  (Chevrier, 2003)

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3. Management of international cultural diversity
(c)

• Physical movements, paralanguage, use of space,
  physical environment (Meier, 2004)
• A necessary nonverbal gesture

Shaking the head from left to right USA
no France no Netherlands no Bulgary
yes Malaysia yes Saoudi Arabia yes
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3. Management of international cultural diversity
(d)

• A statement The existence of great cultural
  differences between countries and regions
• .
• A neccessity perceive and understand the
  differences in order to improve the ability to
  deal with international exchanges.
• A means Intercultural management and
  intercultural communication.

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Thank you for your attention

• Project INTENT
• January 17, 2008