Cross Cultural Communication

Cross Cultural Communication Chapter 13 Reconciling Cultural Dilemmas Chapter 13

Learning Outcomes • Awareness of Cultural differences • Reconciling Cultural Dilemmas Chapter 13

Awareness of Cultural differences • Systematic understanding of other cultures helps international managers to avoid potential traps and pitfalls in dealing with people of other cultures. • Cultural awareness is the understanding states of mind, your own and those of the people you meet. • There may be an infinite range of potential errors, but seven dimensions of culture provide a frame of reference for analyzing ways in which people attribute meaning to the world around them. Chapter 13

Reconciling Cultural differences Ten steps which are useful in achieving reconciliation : • the theory of complementarity • Using humor • Mapping out a cultural space • From nouns to present participles and processes • Language and meta-language • Frames and contexts • Sequencing • Waving / cycling • Synergizing and virtual circling • The double helix Chapter 13

The theory of Complementarity • Theory of Complementarity proposed by Danish scientist Niels Bohr • The ultimate nature of matter is manifested both as specific particles and as diffuse waves. Nature reveals itself to us as a response to our measuring instruments. • There is no one form” out there”, but forms will depend on how we perceive them and how we measure them. • All seven cultural dimensions have two extremes. They are not separate but different, on a continuum between rules and exceptions. • Things are more or less similar to the rule, or more or less dissimilar and hence exceptional. Rules can not be defined without also knowing what exceptions were. The terms are therefore complementary. Chapter 13

Using Humor • It’s possible to have dilemmas through humor, which signals an unexpected clash between two different perspectives • Values taken to extremes often suggest that the opposite value is really present, rather than the proclaimed one • Corporations who announce that they “trust their people” may end up breaking into their offices at night and rifling their desks. • For the “lowdown” on what really happens in the corporation, cartoons stuck on the walls of employees’ offices are often incisive satires of the official line and reveal what the dilemmas really are. Chapter 13

Mapping out a Cultural space • Another effective process for exploring dilemmas is to turn their “ two horns” into axes to create a cultural space. • Examples : • A. given the pluralism of local initiatives in Europe, is it possible to exercise any strategic leadership from US Headquarters which is applicable to all the units concerned? (universalism – particularism dilemma) Chapter 13

Mapping out a Cultural space • B.Given the obvious desirability of getting our best products on to the market according to the value of their achievements, is it possible to attain this while giving the autonomous R&D for high-potential products the space they needed to mature? (achievement – ascription dilemma) • C.Given the need for a quick response to very swiftly changing markets in the USA, is it possible to keep ourselves committed to a long-term vision developed at our center in South Korea (short-term – long-term dilemma) Chapter 13

Mapping out a Cultural space • The descriptions of these dilemmas are provided in Pg.202 of the text and diagrammatically represented in : • Fig.13.1 ( Dilemma A) • Fig. 13.2 ( Dilemma B) • Fig. 13.3 ( Dilemma C) • The dilemmas must be mapped before reconciling it so that everyone has a clear definition of what has to be reconciled. Chapter 13

From nouns to present participles and processes • A noun is “a person, place or thing”. But value is none of these and we get into difficulty when we use nouns like universalism or particularism, loyalty or dissent to describe the horns of a dilemma. • As a step on the road to reconciliation, if these nouns are converted into present participles, ending in –ing, they will be transformed into processes : • Universalizing – particularizing • Individualising – communing • Achieving – ascribing ( status) • Sequencing time – synchronizing time • It helps to get rid of “hard edges” and render the value as a process requiring the participation of people. Chapter 13

Language and meta-language • Language also helps in achieving reconciliation. • It is done by using a ladder of abstraction and putting one value (or horn of a dilemma) above the other, that is, by using both an object language and a meta language and allowing them to dovetail. • Famous Quotation from Scott Fitzgerald : “ the test of a first rate intelligence is to hold two ideas in your mind at the same time and still retain the capacity to function. You must,for example, be able to see that things are hopeless, yet be determined to make them otherwise.” • At first glance, it appears to be contradiction, but it is not. Contradictions cancel each other out. • Meta Level : “ Be determined to make them otherwise” • Object level : “see that things are hopeless” Chapter 13

Language and meta-language • Example : one small unit has achieved extraordinary success. • Meta level : ascribe importance to this strategy world wide • Object Level : admire and reward this form of achieving • Top management encouraged achievement in particular unit and ascribed universal importance to the strategy employed, so that other business units can benefit from emulating the particular achievement • Here both : particularizing & universalizing and achieving and ascribing have been reconciled. Chapter 13

Frames & contexts • Meta level frames the object level. • Thinking in frames and contexts useful because it contain and constrain the “ picture” or the “text” within them. • “ to see that things are hopeless” can lead to despair, unless framed by “ a determination to make them otherwise. • Text and contexts are reversible, as are the picture and frame. Chapter 13

Sequencing • Sequencing the processes over time • It is possible to go wrong and then correct, to particularize and then generalize, to observe outer trends and dynamics and then direct yourself at your objective. • So I can later So that achievement • I study achievement • now I ascribe status to • to this project/technology • ascribe to its lessons is likely to follow Chapter 13

Waving / cycling • Instead of assuming values as things ( I.e., colliding billiard balls), we assume they are wave-forms. • They are like water waves, sound waves, electro-magnetic waves, light waves etc. • Wave form between the axes shown in Fig.13.6 • Here we first err, then correct, then err again, then correct again and so on. Entire process is called error correcting system Chapter 13

Waving / cycling • The creation of wave-form between universalizing and particularizing shown in Fig.13.7 • This is a diagram of how particular exceptions are encountered and noted before encompassing them within changed or reformed rules • The idea of error correction by rendering wave form as a cycle assumes that we will periodically get things wrong and have to make a second “ try” or circuit before improving on both axes. Chapter 13

Synergising and virtual circling • Term “synergy” from Greek sunergos : “to work with” • When two values work with one another they are mutually facilitating and enhancing • The company that has recently been seen to be achieving the project makes it far more likely that senior management will ascribe greater importance to it in next year’s strategy deliberation. • The virtuous cycle looks like Fig.13.8 Chapter 13

The double helix • Model of Models : DNA, the double helix molecular structure ( Fig.13.9) – being used here as metaphor • Double-helix model summarize the steps to reconciliation. • The ladder of protein synthesis has four rungs. Chapter 13

The double helix • Ladder of values synthesis has seven rungs. • The twisted ladder is full of complementaries • When the “pairs” come together unexpectdly it can be funny • We can use uprights on each side of the ladder as cultural space for mapping • The twisted elements of the ladder constitute a growth process • Each twist of the spiral speaks the language of growth and contains coded instructions • Each turn of helix is framed and contexualized by the helix within and around it, containing and constraining. • The process is sequential. It constitutes waves and cycles, with synthesis producing growth and synergy • In short, the double helix helps summarize all nine processes by which values are reconciled. Chapter 13

Cross Cultural Communication