The Nature of

Intercultural
Communication

Chapter 10

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 1. Globalization, Glocalization, 7. Subcultures and
Chapter and Grobalization Subgroups

outline 2. Culture
3. Enculturation
8. Cultural Intelligence
9. Communication Barrier
4. Acculturation 10. Intercultural Constructs
5. Ethnocentrism 11. Global Mindsets
6. Norms, Rules, Roles, and 12. Multinational
Networks Management Orientations

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 Upon completion of this chapter, you will:
1. Understand such terms as intercultural,
international, intracultural, multicultural, and
ethnocentric.
2. Recognize how communication barriers affect
intercultural communication.
Learning 3. Understand the differences between norms, rules,
objectives roles, and networks.
4. Distinguish between subcultures and subgroups.
5. Understand the concepts of business globalization,
glocalization, and grobalization.
6. Differentiate between ethnocentric, polycentric,
regiocentric, and geocentric management
orientations.

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1. Globalization,
Glocalization, and
Grobalization

Although globalization has come to

the world, most of the world’s
businesses are not globalized.

• Globalization
• Glocalization
• Grobalization

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 Globalization
• Business globalization is the spread of ways of
life across the world both socially and in
business (Ritzer, 2003).
• Multinational firms allow their foreign
operations to exist as domestic organizations.
• The ability to blend with the host culture and
explain one’s own culture is more important
than product, price, or quality advantages.

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 Glocalization
/ˌɪntəˌpenɪˈtreɪʃn/
• Refers to “the interpenetration of the global and
the local, resulting in unique outcomes in
different geographic areas” (Robertson, 2001).
• The world grows more pluralistic, glocalization
looks at the uniformity and differences between
areas of the world.
• Globalization can cause glocalization that is
nationalistic or cosmopolitan.
• Two kind of globalization: nationalistic or
cosmopolitan.
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 Grobalization
• “Focuses on the imperialistic ambitions
of nations, corporations, organizations,
and the like and their desire, indeed
need, to impose themselves on various
geographic areas”.
• Because of the drive for profits to grow,
once an organization has saturated one
market, it must reach out (globalize) in
order to continue the profit’s growth.

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‘’Ông Hoàng Sá Xị”

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2. Culture
Culture is the
structure through
which the
communication is
formulated and
interpreted.

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Dimensions of Culture
• The language dimensions: used to communicate
with other people who have similar values and
beliefs.
• Physical dimensions: relates to the physical
reality of our environment and the cultural
activities of the people.
• Psychological dimensions: relates to our
knowledge, beliefs, and mental activities. The
psychological dimension is measured subjectively.

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Typical U.S. Businesspersons
In American Ways, Althen and Bennett* (2011)

• Be informal in their relationships.

• Be rather formal in their business attire.
• Be workaholics.
• Be overly concerned with time, money,
and appointments.
• Be mobile.
(they rarely work for one company all their lives)

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Typical U.S. Businesspersons
In American Ways, Althen and Bennett* (2011)

• Make decisions on hard, objective facts

rather than on personal feelings, social
relationships…
• Consider contracts and the written word
as very important and to be taken very
seriously.
• Be aware of the status differences within
the organization.
• Convey superiority in their actions because they feel the United States is a superior
nation…
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 3. Enculturation
is the socialization process you
go through to adapt to your
society.
• When you grow up in one culture, you learn
one way of classifying, coding, prioritizing,
and justifying reality.
• Considered frontstage culture: cultural
information that you are willing to share with
outsiders
• Considered backstage culture: cultural
information that is concealed from outsiders
is considered backstage culture.
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4. Acculturation
is the process of adjusting and adapting to a
new and different culture (Hazuda, Stern, & Hoffner, 1988).

• Corporate cultures are examples of the synergy of diverse

cultures.

• A manager, to be productive and creative, must make his or

her workers realize that the corporation is more important
Acculturation is
than individual differences.
learning to live in a
• Differences are not to be suppressed but instead managed new culture.
to maximize the group’s productivity and creativity.

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5. Ethnocentrism
is the belief that your own cultural
background, including ways of
analyzing problems, values, beliefs,
language, and verbal and nonverbal
communication, is correct.
Ethnocentrists believe that their
culture is the central culture and that
other cultures are incorrect, defective,
or quaint.

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Mindsets
• Are ways of being that allow us to see,
perceive, and reason through our own
cultural awareness.
• Are learned by growing up in a
particular culture.
• We learn to be open or closed to
others and their way of living;
however, these mindsets can be
altered.
a growth mindset is
powerful, but only if you
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6. Norms, Rules,
Roles, and Networks

Are situational factors that

influence encoding and
decoding of both verbal and
nonverbal messages within
a culture.

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6. Norms, Rules, Roles,
and Networks (cont.)

• Norms are culturally ingrained principles

of correct and incorrect behaviors that, if
broken, carry a form of overt or covert
penalty.
• Rules are formed to clarify cloudy areas of norms.
• Roles include the behavioral expectations of a position within a culture and is affected by
norms and rules.
• Networks are formed with personal ties and involve an exchange of assistance.

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7. Subcultures and Subgroups
Subcultures are groups of people possessing
characteristic traits that set apart and distinguish
them from others within a larger society or
macroculture.
• The group members are self-identifiable; that is, group
members want to be considered a part of the group.
• Group members exhibit behavior that is characteristic
of the group.
• The macroculture recognizes the group as a subculture
and has given it a name; for ­example, senior citizens
(Klopf & McCroskey, 2007).
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7. Subcultures and Subgroups (cont.)
Subgroups, although also part of the macroculture,
are groups with which the macroculture does not
agree and with which it has problems
communicating.

• Members of subgroups often engage in

communication behavior that is distinctively
different from that of the dominant culture.
• Examples of subgroups include youth gangs,
prostitutes, saboteurs, embezzlers, and other
groups that have unique experiences and/or
characteristics not sanctioned by the macro-
culture (Dodd, 1997).
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8. Cultural Intelligence
Cultural Intelligence is the ability to
exhibit certain behaviors, including skills
and qualities, which are culturally tuned
to the attitudes and values of others
(Peterson, 2004).

Cultural Intelligence involves:

• Linguistic intelligence,
• Spatial intelligence,
• Intrapersonal intelligence,
• Interpersonal intelligence
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Linguistic intelligence
• Helpful to learn about the customer’s native
language when conducting business
internationally
• Using international business English can
increase effectiveness when communicating
with persons of other cultures.

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Spatial intelligence
• is an important aspect of cultural
intelligence;
• it involves the way space is used during
greetings and introductions, as well as
during meetings and other encounters.

Zones of Personal Space in North America

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 Intrapersonal
intelligence
Involves an awareness of
one’s own cultural style
in order to make
behavioral adjustments
to international
counterparts.

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Interpersonal
intelligence
The ability to understand
other people and their
motivations.

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9. Communication Barrier
• Communication barriers are
obstacles to effective
communication.
• When encountering someone
from another culture,
communication barriers are
often created when the
behavior of the other person
differs from our own.

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The following are barriers
to communication:

• Physical: time, environment, comfort and

needs, and physical medium (e.g., telephone
and letter)
• Cultural: ethnic, religious, and social
differences
• Perceptual: viewing what is said from your
own mindset
• Motivational: the listener’s mental inertia
• Experiential: lack of similar life happenings

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The following are barriers
to communication (cont.):
• Emotional: personal feelings of the listener
• Linguistic: different languages spoken by
the speaker and listener or use of a
vocabulary beyond the comprehension of
the listener
• Nonverbal: nonword messages
• Competition: the listener’s ability to do
other things rather than hear the
communication
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10. Intercultural Constructs
Borden (1991) lists 07 constructs that individuals must possess if they are going to
succeed interculturally. The degree to which we can understand intercultural
communication depends on the degree to which the following are true:
1. We are aware that our intent to communicate
may result in only expressive behavior or
information gathering, respectively.
2. Our cybernetic (self-concept) in one culture can
operate independently of our cybernetic in
another culture.
3. We are competent in the languages of other
cultures.
4. We can work within the constraints (personal,
situational, and cultural) of the human
communication system established by the
communication from other cultures.
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10. Intercultural Constructs (cont.)
Borden (1991) lists 07 constructs (cont.):
5. We are culturally literate in our own and other
cultures.
6. We know the position of our culture and other
cultures on the four universal dimensions of
values and their interaction with the cultural
orientation model.
7. We know the cultural orientation of our culture
and other cultures on the associative–
abstractive, particularistic–universalistic, and
closed-minded/open-minded dimensions and
can use it as the first approximation of the
cognitive style of the communicants.

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11. Global Mindsets
For managers to be successful interculturally,
they will need to develop a global mindset.

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11. Global Mindsets (cont.)
The Thunderbird Global Mindset Project involved interviews
with 215 international executives in the triad. The interviews
identified the following attributes as needed by successful
intercultural managers (Javidan, Hough, & Bullough, 2010):

Intellectual Capital
• Global business savvy
• Cognitive complexity
• Cosmopolitan outlook

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11. Global Mindsets (cont.)
The Thunderbird Global Mindset Project involved interviews
with 215 international executives in the triad. The interviews
identified the following attributes as needed by successful
intercultural managers (Javidan, Hough, & Bullough, 2010):

Psychological Capital
• Passion for diversity
• Quest for adventure
• Self-assurance

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11. Global Mindsets (cont.)
The Thunderbird Global Mindset Project involved interviews
with 215 international executives in the triad. The interviews
identified the following attributes as needed by successful
intercultural managers (Javidan, Hough, & Bullough, 2010):

Social Capital
• Intercultural empathy
• Interpersonal impact
• Diplomacy

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12. Multinational
Management Orientations
• Multinational firms, those located in
more than one nation, generally will
follow either an ethnocentric,
polycentric, geocentric, or regiocentric
form of management.
• All multinational or global corporations
are transnational, which means they
cross the borders of countries in
conducting their business (Moran &
Stripp, 1991).

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12. Multinational Management
Orientations (cont.)

• Human resource development

personnel must be involved in the
education and changing of the
mindsets.
• The global mindset differs from the
domestic mindset.

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 Comparison of Domestic and Global Mindsets:
DOMESTIC MINDSET GLOBAL MINDSET
Functional expertise Bigger, broader picture

Prioritization Balance of contradictions

Structure Process
Individual responsibility Teamwork and diversity

No surprises Change as opportunity

Trained against surprises Openness to surprises

Source: From A manager’s guide to globalization (p. 27) by S. H. Rhinesmith, 1996,

Homewood. IL: Richard D. Irwin. Inc. Used with publisher’s permission.

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12. Multinational Management
Orientations (cont.) Ethnocentric management
practices are employed when a firm
is located in one country and all its
sales are in the same country.
Ethnocentric management does not
account for cultural differences in the
workforce. All workers will be treated
the same.

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12. Multinational Management
Orientations (cont.)
Polycentric management
practices consider the culture of the
country in which the firm is located.
The people in charge consider the
cultural needs of the workers in the
area in which the firm is located.

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12. Multinational Management
Orientations (cont.)
Regiocentric management
considers the region rather than the
country in which the firm is located,
realizing that countries can and often
do have many different cultural
backgrounds.

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12. Multinational Management
Orientations (cont.)
Geocentric management requires a
common framework across countries with
enough freedom for individual locations
to operate regionally to meet the cultural
needs of the workers. Geocentric refers to
the synergy of ideas from different
countries of operation.
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Ten Commandments for Going
International (Bosrock, 1995)

1. Be well prepared.
2. Ask questions, be observant, and listen.
3. Make an effort; trying and making a mistake is better
than not trying at all.
4. When problems develop, assume the main cause is
miscommunication.
5. Be patient; accomplishing your goals in another
country/culture usually requires more time and
effort.
6. Assume the best about people; most people act on
the basis of their learned values and traditions.
7. Be sincere.
8. Maintain a sense of humor.
9. Make an effort to be likable; when people like you,
they will forgive your mistakes.
10. Smile.
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 1. At a reception for a U.S. political candidate, the guests
appear to be divided into groups. People in some groups are
all African American, others are Latin American, and others
are Asian. Explain the cultural phenomena that are operating
at this political gathering
2. The U.S. automotive manufacturers have complained about
Japanese automotive imports and that the U.S. car firms are
locked out of the Japanese market. The Japanese have
countered that the U.S. firms have not done their
homework; they offer cars that are too big or are not fuel-
Case study efficient. Although U.S. car sales have decreased in the
United States, Japanese car sales have increased. Japanese
manufacturers have begun to assemble cars in the United
States; many U.S. firms are moving part of their operations
to Mexico. Discuss the implications to these firms as they
globalize.
3. It is commonly said that most countries’ industrial leaders do
not have the mindset necessary to be successful in all the
three industrial triads in the world (North American, Asian,
and European). For example, some U.S. companies have
pulled out of China. Explain how the different multinational
management orientations would be difficult for people from
each of these triads to use in the other two triads in order to
be successful. 46
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