Cultural Differences In Business Communication

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Cultural Differences in Business Communication John Hooker Tepper School of Business Carnegie Mellon University john@hooker.tepper.cmu.edu December 2008 There is no better arena for observing a culture in action than business. Cultures tend to reveal themselves in situations where much is as stake, because it is here that their resources are most needed. Marriage, family obligations, and such stressful experiences as illness and the death of a loved one bring out much of what is distinctive and fundamental in a culture. The same is true of business, because economic survival is at stake. Business practices are shaped by deeply-held cultural attitudes toward work, power, trust, wealth—and communication. Communication is fundamental in business, because business is a collaborative activity. Goods and services are created and exchanged through the close coordination of many persons, sometimes within a single village, and sometimes across global distances. Coordination of this kind requires intense communication. Complex product specifications and production schedules must be mutually understood, and intricate deals between trading partners must be negotiated. Communication styles vary enormously around the world, and these contribute to a staggering variety of business styles. Probably the single most useful concept for understanding cultural differences in business communication is Edward T. Hall’s (1976) distinction of low-context and high-context cultures. It explains much about how negotiation proceeds, how agreements are specified, and how workers are managed. Yet this distinction, insightful as it is, is derivative. It is best understood as reflecting a more fundamental distinction between rule-based and relationship-based cultures, which is in turn grounded in different conceptions of human nature. The discussion here begins by showing how business practices

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