Intercultural Competence:

Gaining New Perspectives

 Intercultural Competence:
Gaining New Perspectives

1
Understanding Culture’s Impact on International Trade
Describes what culture is, the various degrees of understanding culture and how it affects communication
with international partnerships

2
Developing Intercultural Relationships
Describes the importance and process of building and maintaining relationships with international partners
and how to navigate the cultural divide

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 Intercultural Competence:
Gaining New Perspectives

UNIT 1
Understanding Culture’s
Impact on International Trade
◎ What is Culture?
◎ Cultural Orientations

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 What is Culture?

Culture is a system of shared attitudes, beliefs, values, aesthetics,

language, traditions and social systems of a group (e.g. a country,
an organization).

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 The Cultural Iceberg

Source: Adapted from Language and Culture Worldwide, ‘The Cultural Iceberg’
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 Types of Cultures

• Intercultural competence: The ability to behave appropriately and

effectively in another cultural context.
• Ethnocentrism: The tendency for people to value their own culture
above those of others, to see the world in light of their own cultural
background and to view their experience as what is normal and best.
• Cultural relativism: The ability to view situations from the perspective of
multiple cultures.
 Cultural Distance

Cultural distance indicates the amount of difference between two cultures

in terms of their politics, history, economics, language, education, religion
and cultural patterns or orientations.

An international trade practitioner suggests:

“Understanding culture is not about knowing when to bow or how to
eat the food; it’s about appreciating your partner’s worldview enough to
anticipate how they might be inclined to perceive you and your actions.
 Cultural Orientations
Individualism vs Collectivism

Power Distance

Masculinity vs Femininity

Uncertainty Avoidance

Long-Term Orientation vs Short-Term Orientation

Indulgence vs Restraint

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 Hofstede’s Model of National Culture

Geert Hofstede has studied cultures for many years, and his model
is often referred to in works about culture.

Hofstede’s model consists of six dimensions.

Each dimension represents a culture’s preference for one state of

affairs over another.

The scale for each dimension runs from 0 to 100.

If a score is under 50, the culture scores low on that scale, while a
score over 50 is high

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 Hofstede’s Model of National Culture

FIGURE 1.2
Source: Adapted from Hofstede, G et al, ‘Cultures and Organizations, Software of the Mind’

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 Individualism vs Collectivism
This dimension describes the degree of interdependence a culture maintains
among its members. It has to do with whether people’s self-image is defined in
terms of “I” or “we”.
In individualist cultures, people are supposed to look after themselves and their
direct family only. In collectivist cultures, people belong to in-groups that take
care of them in exchange for loyalty.

China

United Kingdom

© 2017 FITT All Rights Reserved Source: Hofstede, G et al, ‘Cultures and Organizations, Software and the Mind’
 Power Distance
This dimension deals with the fact that individuals in cultures are not equal, it
expresses the attitude of the culture towards inequalities.

Power distance is defined as the extent to which the less powerful members of
institutions and organizations within a country expect and accept that power is
distributed unequally.
Russia

Denmark

© 2017 FITT All Rights Reserved Source: Hofstede, G et al, ‘Cultures and Organizations, Software and the Mind’
 Masculinity vs Femininity

The masculinity end of this dimension represents a culture’s preference for

achievement, heroism, assertiveness and material rewards for success.

Its opposite, femininity, represents a preference for cooperation, caring for others
and quality of life. Such cultures are more consensus-oriented.

Canada

Japan

© 2017 FITT All Rights Reserved Source: Hofstede, G et al, ‘Cultures and Organizations, Software and the Mind’
 Uncertainty Avoidance

Expresses the degree to which the members of a culture feel comfortable with
uncertainty.

When members of a culture feel threatened by ambiguous or unknown

situations, they tend to create beliefs and institutions to reduce ambiguity.

India

Brazil

© 2017 FITT All Rights Reserved Source: Hofstede, G et al, ‘Cultures and Organizations, Software and the Mind’
 Long-Term vs Short-Term Orientation

Cultures with a long-term orientation tend to focus on the future. They delay
gratification and value perseverance, saving and the ability to adapt.

Cultures with a short-term orientation tend to focus more on the past and
present. They value tradition and immediate gratification.
Germany

Saudi Arabia

© 2017 FITT All Rights Reserved Source: Hofstede, G et al, ‘Cultures and Organizations, Software and the Mind’
 Indulgence vs Restraint
This dimension is defined as the extent to which people try to control their desires
and impulses; it strongly correlates to the way they were raised.

Weak control is called “indulgence” and strong control is called “restraint”.

Australia

South Korea

© 2017 FITT All Rights Reserved Source: Hofstede, G et al, ‘Cultures and Organizations, Software and the Mind’
 Meyer’s Model

o Communicating: Low-Context vs High-Context

o Evaluating: Directing Negative Feedback vs Indirect Negative Feedback

o Persuading: Principles-First vs Applications-First

o Leading: Egalitarian vs Hierarchical

o Deciding: Consensual vs Top-Down

o Trusting: Task-Based vs Relationship-Based

o Disagreeing: Confrontational vs Non-Confrontational

o Scheduling: Linear Time vs Flexible Time

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 Meyer’s Model

o Communicating: High-Context
o A high-context culture relies on implicit communication and nonverbal
cues.
o In high-context communication, a message cannot be understood
without a great deal of background information.
o Asian, African, Arab, central European and Latin American cultures are
generally considered to be high-context cultures.
o These cultures find direct communication impolite.

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 Meyer’s Model

o Communicating: Low-Context
o People prefer to speak directly.

o They state opinions openly and forthrightly and ask specific questions.

o When asked, they provide direct and complete answers.

o In low-context cultures, where messages are explicit and words convey

the meaning, silence can be disturbing and people may feel the need
to fill their communication time with words
o Examples of countries with low-context cultures include multicultural
countries like the U.S, Canada, Australia, Netherlands and Germany.

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 Meyer’s Model
Example:

An experienced international trade practitioner shared two of his intercultural experiences. The first one
was with a U.S. customer who had attended one of his company’s events in New York. He made a follow-
up call, introducing himself and then asking, “How are you?” The New Yorker replied “I don’t know you,
you don’t know me...what do you want?” The trade practitioner adapted by immediately switching the
topic to business. The New Yorker’s reply was pleasant once he knew it was a courtesy follow-up call and
his time wasn’t being wasted. In another instance, thhigh-contexte international trade practitioner tried
the direct communication style in a meeting in a culture. He launched right into a discussion of business,
and the meeting was ended by the other party five minutes later. He adapted and started their second
meeting by complaining about the weather. Three hours later, he had made a new friend and business
associate

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 Meyer’s Model

o Evaluating: Directing Negative Feedback vs Indirect Negative

Feedback
o People from all cultures believe in constructive feedback, but what is
considered constructive in one culture may be considered vague or
destructive in another.
o A surprising twist on this scale is that some cultures preferring low-
context or direct communication may prefer to give feedback in an
indirect manner.
o The reverse can also be true; cultures that typically communicate in a
high-context or indirect manner may tend to communicate negative
feedback in a direct manner.
o As an example, French culture is located at the high-context end of
the communication scale but at the direct end for negative feedback.

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 Meyer’s Model

o Persuading: Principles-First vs Applications-First

o The approach people use to persuade others and, in turn, the types of
arguments people find persuasive are rooted in their culture.
o Cultures tend to reason in one of two ways: start with principles or start
with applications.
o People from principles-first cultures generally want to understand the
“why” behind a task before they move to action.
o Applications-first cultures tend to focus more on the “how” (to the
point, then describe the why).
o The persuading scale provides insight into how to make and interpret
presentations.

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 Meyer’s Model

o Leading: Egalitarian vs Hierarchical

o Meyer’s research in this area draws from the work of Geert Hofstede
about power distance.
o The leading scale describes cultures’ preference for either flat or multi-
layered organizations.
o In egalitarian cultures, organizations tend to be flat and people in
positions of authority are conditioned to think they are no better than
anyone else in the organization.
o At the other end of the scale, organizations tend to be multi-layered
and people in positions of authority or with many years of service are
given more respect and privileges.

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 Meyer’s Model

o Deciding: Consensual vs Top-Down

o In a consensual culture, decision making may take a long time as
attempts are made to consult all or many stakeholders.
o But once a decision is made, it is fixed, and its implementation is swift
since everyone has endorsed it.
o As a result, the moment of making the decision is a pivotal point.
o By contrast, in a top-down culture, decisions tend to be made quickly,
early in the process, and by one person (usually the manager).
o But decisions are flexible; as new information comes to light or
differing opinions surface, decisions may be revisited.
o The deciding scale provides insight into other culture’s expectations
about the amount of time needed to make a decision, who is involved
and whether decisions are final or flexible.

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 Meyer’s Model

o Trusting: Task-Based vs Relationship-Based

o There are two types of trust.

o Cognitive trust reflects confidence gained in other individuals based
on their accomplishments, skills and reliability.
o Affective trust is based on feelings of emotional safety, empathy and
friendship.
o In countries at the relationship-based end of the scale, such as China
and Brazil, these two types of trusts are often connected.
o In such cultures, building relationships is more important than signing
a contract.
o For example, Brazilians tend to develop personal as well as professional
ties with business colleagues.

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 Meyer’s Model

o Disagreeing: Confrontational vs Non-Confrontational

o People can determine if they live in a confrontational or non-

confrontational culture by asking themselves how they respond when
someone from their culture strongly disagrees with their idea.
o In confrontational cultures, it is easy for individuals to suppose that the
person is just disapproving of the idea.
o In a non-confrontational cultures, individuals would likely assume they
are disapproving of both, since the person and their ideas are tightly
interconnected.

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 Meyer’s Model

o Scheduling: Linear Time vs Flexible Time

o In flexible time cultures, interruptions, agenda changes and shifts in

direction are seen as natural and necessary.
o Spontaneity is valued.
o Events begin and end when participants feel it is the right time.
o This type of time perception is sometimes referred to as event time.
o Perceptions are different in linear or clock time cultures.
o In such cultures, success is defined by what’s produced and consumed.
o As with the other scales, all positions are relative.

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