Cross-Cultural Awareness
Nowadays, globalisation has turned out to be a popular term. As business becomes more and more international, companies try to expand and do business in foreign countries. In order for them to adapt in the global market they need to gain an insight into the different cultures. Understanding a country's business culture is a vital factor in setting up a successful business and communicating effectively. Cross-cultural awareness is a challenge for every international business person.
A lot of research has been done in the field of cross-cultural understanding and communication. The theories of many academics are and have been applied to business and management in our days.
One of these researchers is Edward Hall. He differentiates one culture from another by the style each one communicates (Schneider & Barsoux, 2003). Some cultures, where the message is explicit, are low-context (Germans, Scandinavian countries). Such cultures are characterized by flexible ingroups and outgroups. On the other hand, in high-context cultures (Japan, Arab countries) the message is unclear and it's difficult to be entered if the person is an outsider.
Another academic known for his research in the field is Geert Hofstede. He developed four cultural dimensions power distance, individualism, uncertainty avoidance and masculinity. Power distance is the emotional distance between superiors and subordinates. It's concerned with a society's level of inequality. Individualism, the opposite of collectivism, is the extent to which an individual belongs to a group. In individualistic countries, such as USA, everybody is responsible for himself. On the contrary, in collectivistic societies, such as Korea, the individual is protected by the group. Uncertainty avoidance deals with how comfortable people feel about unknown situation, their tolerance for ambiguity. Masculinity, the opposite of femininity, is the degree to which there is a...
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