Approaches to Cultural Understanding

1. Approaches to Cultural Understanding 17 April and 24 April 2013 by Sigrid Brevik Wangsness

2. The concept of culture - again • Which aspects do most definitions of culture include? • Why have culture and communication become essential elements in corporate strategy and planning?

3. What is the best way of approaching cultural differences? • What are the two main approaches to cultural understanding, and what are the major differences between the two? • Which approach has been favoured by most business schools until now? Why? • Why has this approach been challenged?

4. The functionalist approach • List the strong points of functionalist theory. • Next to Hofstede, who has been the most influential functionalist over the years? Explain his theories of context and time. • What other functionalists have you studied?

5. The functionalist approach • List the main points of criticism of the functionalist approach. • Explain the concepts of ethnocentrism, determinism and stereotyping.

6. The interpretive approach • What are the strong points of the interpretive approach? • What do you think the Danish International Sales Manager meant when stating that in intercultural communication ”you should know, what you don’t know”.

7. The interpretive approach • Mention a leading representative for the interpretive approach. Does his definition of culture make sense to you? (Why/ why not?) • Why do the interpretivists reject the functionalists’ assumption that there is a one-to-one relationship between thoughts and behaviour?

8. The interpretive approach • How do the interpretivists react to Hofstede’s view that cultures are relatively static and change very slowly? • According to the interpretivists, what should we do rather than predicting a certain behaviour by representatives of a particular culture?

9. Etic vs. emic perspectives • Explain the difference between the etic and emic way of studying culture. • What is the main criticism of the etic perspective? • What is the main criticism of the emic perspective?

10. The influence of culture and context in individual markets • How can an emic approach to culture improve intercultural marketing? (How is Danish butter marketed in China compared to in Australia?) • How does Gesteland treat the topic of intercultural marketing? (See CCBB: pp. 119-130)

11. The problems of the interpretive approach • List the main points of criticism of the interpretive approach. • “Despite the problems with stereotypes, it is necessary to make cultural generalizations.” Why? • Do you agree with the above statement? How problematic are cultural stereotypes?

12. Conclusion of the article: “Culture in a business context” • According to the authors of this article, how should we approach culture in order to become competent cross-cultural communicators? Should we be functionalists or interpretivists? (Why?)