2018 0528 v1.1 ABC CCC LG Day 1 PDF

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Professional Year Program Australian Business Culture Cross Cultural Communication This module addresses the following elements: 

Explain culture and the elements of different cultural types

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Identify and describe various cultural dimensions

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Plot the cultural dimensions of six major migrant groups to Australia

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Discuss the basis of cultural differences and understand how to resolve them

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Examine the barriers to intercultural communication and recommend solutions

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Examine an intercultural conflict and find solutions to resolve it

1 | Professional Year Learner Guide | 20180528 v1.1 ABC: Cross Cultural Communication © Performance Education 2017

Cultural Intelligence Activity 1.1: What is Culture?

Various models can be used to explain the concept of ‘culture’. The onion model sees layers of culture which can be peeled away to reveal basic underlying assumptions. The outer layers of the onion (visible elements of culture) would include language, housing, food and clothing. Key beliefs would be in the inner layers but would have an impact on behaviour at a more superficial level.

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Intercultural interaction can also be seen like an iceberg. The visible expressions of culture and behaviour are clearly visible above the water but the largest part, the invisible expressions or underlying attitudes, beliefs, values and meanings are hidden below the surface.

Activity 1.2: Visible and invisible elements of culture In small groups identify and discuss the visible and the invisible elements of culture. Write your ideas down in the table provided: Visible Elements – directly observable

Invisible Elements – not directly observable

e.g. Food, clothes

e.g. Religion

Are the invisible and visible elements of culture related?

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Behaviour is not random, spontaneous or senseless but the direct result of what people assume, value or believe. It follows that people with different values and beliefs i.e. from another culture are then going to behave differently from you. Learning to accept that another person’s behaviour, no matter how different from yours, probably makes perfect sense to them and members of their own culture, is the first step to cultural intelligence.

Types of culture ‘Culture’ is not limited to national culture as certain factors can play a more significant part than national culture in binding people together.

Colleagues of different nationalities working together frequently report their common professional interests are so strong that national culture becomes unimportant.

Activity 1.3: Subsets of Culture? People have many layers/elements – other than national culture – that make them who they are. What other culture groups can you identify? e.g.. generational cultures like Baby Boomers, Gen X and Gen Y

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National Cultures To improve cultural intelligence across borders we are interested in national culture. By national culture we refer to:  Beliefs, values and customs that are programmed into our minds from birth  Something that is shared by a group of people both explicitly and implicitly  Something that older members of the group attempt to pass onto younger members  Something that shapes behaviour, thoughts and perceptions of the world.

National culture is a set of accepted behaviour patterns, values, assumptions and shared common experiences. It defines and influences social structures, decision making practises and communication styles. National culture dictates behaviour, etiquette and protocol and forms the fabric of a society. It is the ‘collective mental programming of the mind’ that distinguishes the members of one nation from another nation. All people are social beings that have been taught how to survive in a social world that involves dealing with core issues. The way in which a group of people resolve issues is what we call ‘culture.’ How a people group create symbols, heroes and rituals indicate the values of that culture. Note: frequently people who are members of a particular culture aren’t able describe that culture accurately or in a way would be accepted by another person in the same culture. This makes understanding and describing culture really difficult and is a key reason why a framework of categorisation is helpful. See “Cultural Dimensions” on page 8.

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Putting Culture in its Place Not all behaviour is cultural. Universal behaviours

Cultural behaviours

Personal behaviours

I am like everybody else

I am like no-one else I am like the people from my own at all culture

Universal:

ways in which all people in all groups are basically the same. Those things common to all of us e.g. finding shelter, eating regularly, developing friendships, etc. Many universal values transcend culture and are called universal behaviours.

Cultural:

what a group of people have in common with each other and how they are different from other groups.

Personal:

ways in which each person is different from everyone else, including those in the same group.

Activity 1.4: Universal, Cultural, Personal Beliefs Read the list of behaviours below. Indicate if the behaviour is Universal (U) Cultural (C) or Personal (P). If you feel that there is more than one answer, think of some examples to prove it. Discuss with your partner.

1. Fear of a dangerous animal

________

2. Exchanging red envelopes filled with money

________

3. Men allowing women to enter a room first

________

4. Treating older people with respect

________

5. Tipping the waiter

________

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6. Relying on your family members to help you select a marriage partner

________

7. Learning your native language

________

8. Telling a lie to protect a friend

________

9. Feeling sad at a death in your family

________

10. Wearing white mourning robes for 30 days after a death in your family ________ 11.Fasting during Ramadan

________

12. Fleeing the scene of an accident

________

13. Wanting to fall in love before marriage

________

14. Being wary of strangers

________

15. Eating regularly

________

16. Wearing warmer clothing when it gets cold

________

17. Considering snakes to be evil

________

18. Sleeping with a light on

________

19. Feeling sorry after accidently stepping on someone’s foot

________

20. Shaking hands with someone you first meet

________

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Cultural Values and Dimensions Geert Hofstede Research A Dutch psychologist, Dr Geert Hofstede conducted research with IBM employees across 50 countries in the 1970’s to better understand cultural differences. After a decade of research and thousands of interviews he produced a model of cultural dimensions that has become an internationally recognised standard. Because his data sets were limited to one organisation only, he was able to isolate key differences and compare national cultures without the influence of different corporate cultures. He initially identified four cultural dimensions. Since then 2 dimensions have been added. He scored each country using a scale of roughly 0 to 100 for each dimension. The higher the score, the more that dimension is exhibited in society. These ratings are helpful to compare differences and similarities in thinking (values).

Cultural Values and Customs Hofstede’s key theories are developed around values.

Cultural Dimensions: A framework for cross-cultural communication that describes the effects of a group’s culture on the values of its members and how these values relate to their behaviour.

Values: Socially accepted principles, goals, ideas or standards within a community. A group’s belief system about particular attitudes, ways of being and behaving.

Customs: Rituals or other traditions that are an outward sign of the group’s cultural values.

Countries will score more or less strongly on the dimensions depending on the intensity and direction of their different values.

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Activity 1.5: Cultural Dimensions Definitions Match each cultural dimension with its correct definition: 1. Power Distance Index (PDI)

a) The degree of interdependence a society maintains among its members; the extent to which a people´s self-image is defined in terms of “I” or “We”.

2. Individualism (IDV)

b) The degree to which a society looks towards the future, values persistence and savings or is orientated to the present and the past.

3. Uncertainty Avoidance c) The degree to which societies are competitive, Index (UAI) assertive and materialistic or whether greater value is placed on relationships and quality of life issues. 4. Masculinity (MAS)

d) The degree to which the members of a culture feel threatened by ambiguous or unknown situations and have created beliefs and institutions that try to avoid these.

5. Long-Term Orientation e) The degree to which people try to control their (LTO) desires and impulses, based on the way they were raised. Also involves the degree of acceptance of either expressing or restraining inner feelings. 6. Indulgence (IND)

Q:

f) The degree to which less powerful members of institutions and organisations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequally.

Where do you think your national culture fits on these dimensions? (Rating: 0 – very weakly / 100 – completely)

Q:

And where might Australia fit in? How would the two countries compare?

Q:

How can we use this information when doing business in other cultures?

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Activity 1.6: Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions Your group is employed at a cross cultural consultancy called “CrossWorx”. You have a new client “Buzz Corporation” who operates across 15 countries worldwide incl. Australia, India, China, the United Kingdom, Pakistan and Nepal. They’re experiencing intercultural conflict between employees in different branches. Your team is tasked with creating a poster campaign for Buzz Corporation management and staff to raise awareness of the different cultural dimensions. This fun and informative poster campaign will clearly define one cultural dimension, provide examples of relevant country comparisons and practical tips on how to apply this knowledge and improve their “cultural intelligence”. Start your research with Annexure 1 at the end of your LG or look online at: https://www.hofstede-insights.com/countrycomparison/ . Prepare to present your poster to the class. Record key learnings from other teams’ presentations in the spaces below: 1. Power Distance Index (PDI)

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2. Individualism (IDV)

3. Uncertainty Avoidance Index (UAI)

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4. Masculinity (MAS)

5. Long-Term Orientation (LTO)

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6. Indulgence (IND)

Other Cultural Concepts Confucian Dynamism (Career Success) vs Work Life Balance Societies which value career success (Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, USA) will place an emphasis on material wealth. Societies that value ‘quality of life’ (Australia, Spain, and Scandinavia) will place an emphasis on relationships and balance. Australians for example have a reputation for valuing leisure time, long service leave and vacation time which may be seen as lazy by some Asians and Americans. Harmony vs Control Societies that value ‘harmony’ hold politeness, respect and emotional restraint as paramount to the workplace. Harmony must be restored and disagreements overcome before work can continue. Harmony cultures are also often collective cultures. Control cultures value individuals who challenge, take charge of their environment and express their feelings openly. Control cultures are often also individualistic.

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Spiritual vs Secular In spiritual societies workplace ethics, codes of behaviour and dress are often guided by religious teaching. Corporate productivity is secondary to this and time off for prayer and fasting is common and expected. E.g. in the Islamic countries of West Asia. In secular societies, ethics are guided by a written company code of conduct or organisational values and religious issues are generally secondary to company productivity. Time Orientation: Polychronic vs Monochronic Time This reflects a preference toward past, present, or future thinking. It affects how a culture values time and how they believe they can control it. Many Western nations believe time is money; time can be “wasted”. Monochronic for e.g. the United States, Australia or Northern Europe value turn-taking, queuing, deadlines and punctuality, sequencing of tasks according to priority, and doing one thing at a time to be effective and efficient. Polychronic for e.g. Latin America, the Arab Middle East, or sub-Sahara Africa - are more flexible about time schedules; multiple tasks can be performed at the same time and maintaining relationships and socialising are considered more important. High Context vs Low Context Communication Also called the indirect versus direct communication style. High context cultures (incl. the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and South America) emphasise interpersonal relationships and developing trust as an important first step to any business transaction. These cultures believe words are less important than context, which might include the speaker’s tone of voice, facial expression, gestures, posture— and even the person’s family history and status. Low-context cultures (incl. North America, Western Europe and Australia) value logic, facts, precise language and directness in communication. Solving a problem means examining all the facts one after another. Decisions are based on fact rather than intuition and discussions end with actions. Low-context cultures require explicit contracts to conclude negotiations where highcontext cultures depend less on language precision and legal documents and may even distrust contracts and be offended by the lack of trust they suggest.

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Guilt and Shame In many societies behaviour is heavily influenced by shame based on “what others will say and think”. Individuals are concerned about personal shame and bringing shame on their in-group. Asian societies are heavily shame based. Shame often correlates with Collectivism. In other societies “guilt” is the governing force behind behaviour. Individuals are raised to answer to their own moral conscience and internal sense of right and wrong. In Catholic societies for example people are raised with a very strong sense of guilt. Guilt often correlates with Individualism. Concepts of Face Related to shame is the concept of face. Give Face – courtesy shown to superiors Lose Face – from public accusation or loss of temper; many will try to resolve unobtrusively and in private Save Face – by avoidance of confrontation or failure to admit a problem existed Gain Face – when complimented by significant people in front of others Show Face – by being physically present at an event Got Face – A person whose speech, dress and behaviour reflect his high status

Transaction Approach vs Relationship Approach People from ‘time and task’ oriented cultures like USA, Northern Europe and Australia want to get down to business straight away as ‘time is money’ while people from ‘relationship’ oriented cultures like Asia, Latin America and Southern Europe want to spend some time finding out about ‘the others’ and building trust. Another way to express this is that we have a transaction-based approach to business while they have a relationship-based approach to business.

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A final thought We tend to build relationships and trust with people who look and think like us. We remember faces and names of people from our own cultures more quickly and we generally trust people from our own cultures more quickly. A key to success in foreign markets is to assimilate to a different culture so that other people feel that you understand them and their needs, this is the key to winning trust that will unlock doors for you and lead on to great success!

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Australian Workplace Culture Australian workplace culture is based on:

1. Egalitarianism ___________________________________ 2. Independence ___________________________________ 3. Forthrightness ___________________________________ 4. Informality

___________________________________

5. Practicality

___________________________________

6. Innovation

___________________________________

Activity 1.7: Activity 1.7: Positives and Negatives Every cultural value has both positive and negative interpretations. For each core Australian cultural value, write possible positive and negative interpretations. Australian Possible Positive Value Interpretation Egalitariani sm

Possible Negative Interpretation

Independence Forthrightne ss Informality Practicality Innovation

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Now, for your own culture, write down three core values and any possible negative interpretations: Core Value

Possible Negative Interpretation

Possible Positive Interpretation

Activity 1.8: Australian Culture in Action Read the anecdotes below and match them to the relevant cultural value set. 

Power Distance

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Egalitarian v hierarchy

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Individual v Collective

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Work-life Balance

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Forthrightness

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Informality v Formal

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Transactional v Relationship

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Time Orientation

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Innovation

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Practicality

Anecdote 1: Malaysia to Australia perspective I find all the joking and laughing during work hours can be quite disruptive. But I realise the other staff members don’t think it’s a problem, so I have had to revise my thinking a bit. In my first interview for a permanent job in Australia I was asked what I thought about the workplace. I said that in a manufacturing situation it’s not good to have too much joking around, since I wanted to show that I would not tolerate the kind of joking I had experienced as a temporary worker elsewhere. I knew I had really put my foot in it when the interviewer said, ‘What’s wrong with that?’ I l...