Managing Across Cultures

Semester 1 2015

Sally Anne Gaunt

sallyanne@chameleontraining.com.au
Tel 0405 814 906

wk 1: Course introduction
wk 2: Understanding the role of culture
wk 3: Developing a global management team
wk 4: Communicating and decision making across cultures
wk 5: Negotiation across cultures and dealing with gifts and bribery
wk 6: Exam

If you know the enemy and know yourself, you

can fight a hundred battles without defeat.
If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every
victory gained you will also suffer a defeat.
If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you
will succumb in every battle.

The Art of War. 770-475 BC Concise Edition of the Chinese Philosophy

International Management: Managing in a Diverse and Dynamic Global

Environment, 2nd edition
Also available as an e-book
ISBN13: 9780073210575

According to the World Bank Rwanda is now consider an easier place to

do business then Italy
Mongolias capital Ulaanbaatar, is now said to have the worlds second
worst air pollution
China leads world innovations - China came close to doubling the
number of patents filed since 2010
According to a recent report by DFAT - Australia still has a poor image in
Southeast Asia
The number of reported strikes and labor protests in China doubled in
2014 to 1300
In 2013 China overtook the US to become the worlds largest
eCommerce market and now it looks set to over take the US as the
worlds biggest retail market by 2018!

Codes at the bottom left of the page

Examples
80

Rifkin, G. 2006

L/O

Page number further information can be

found in the textbook
Relevant reading to the subject under
discussion
Information covered in lecture only

Research published in 1993 based on 10 years of research with

15,000 managers from 28 countries representing 47 national

cultures

Business
relationships
can be based on
business alone

Specific

Business
relationships
exist when there is a
trusting personal
relationship in place

Diffuse

Business
relationships
can be based on
business alone

UK, America
and
Australia
Specific

Business
relationships
exist when there is a
trusting personal
relationship in place

Asia
Diffuse

Theories covered in this lecture:

Cultural noise
What makes up communication
Empathy

Internal Society can control outcomes

External Outcomes are in the hands of fate

International Management: Managing in a Diverse and Dynamic Global

Environment, 2nd edition
Also available as an e-book
ISBN13: 9780073210575

Person one Consider your dream holiday destination, time and money is
of no object

Person two Ask any questions, except where is your dream holiday
destination?, to find out where the location is

Questioning techniques

Starts with:

Starts with:

Is, Are, Would, Can and Will

What, Why, Which, When, Where,

Ends in: YES or NO

Who, Whom and How

Sender
Meaning Encode

Medium
Message

Receiver
Decode Meaning

Noise

Culture

Feedback

332-333

Cultural noise
The company
needs to
increase
marketshare and
cut costs

Medium
Message

Noise

Culture

Demotivated
workforce

My job is in
danger and
therefore my way
of existing

Clear message
The company
needs to increase
marketshare and
cut costs

Dutch
Culture

Understanding
The company is
expanding this is
good there are
more
opportunities for
me

Clear message
The company
needs to increase
marketshare and
cut costs

Filter
Other
Cultures

Understanding
Cutting costs
hum I will loose
my job

Understanding
I am working as
hard as I can now
I cant work any
harder

Understanding
The market is
saturated,we will
have to cut our
quality and that is
our competitive
advantage

Exercise: what are the percentages?

write down what percentage you consider each sector contributes to
overall communication

L/O

Exercise: what are the percentages?

write down what percentage you consider each sector contributes to
overall communication

Words

Tone of voice
Body language

Exercise: what are the percentages?

write down what percentage you consider each sector contributes to
overall communication

Words

Tone of voice
Body language

Exercise: what are the percentages?

write down what percentage you consider each sector contributes to
overall communication

Words

Tone of voice
Body language

1.

Words 60, Tone of voice 30,

Body language 1 0

2.

Tone of voice 60, Words 30,

Body language 10

3.

Body language 60, Tone of

4.

voice 30, words 10

Words 33, Tone of voice 33,
Body language 33

Govindarajan, V & Gupta, AK 2001p.3

Alon, I & Higgins, JM 2005 p. 5

Trompenaars value dimensions

Neutral vs. Affective
not expressing vs. expressing emotions

127-128

e-mails

can cause more problems compared to more traditional forms of written

communication that allow more time for reflection before tramission

337-338

Intercultural communication: American style

Japanese

American

Private self

Private self
Public self

Public self

346-347

Perception

is the process of receiving information from the external world

around us. we decide what kind of information we should notice
carefully, how to categorize the information and hot to incorporate
it into our existing knowledge

345
Stephen Green, HF, Immelt Jeffrey, Marks Michael , and Meiland Daniel 2003 p5-6

She's hot Im
going to ask
her out on a
date

But shes old

enough to be
your
grandmother

Perception

Stereotyping

is the process of attributing traits to people on the basis of their group

membership. stereotypes tend to define people by their demographic,
ethnic, organisational and national membership
345
Stephen Green, HF, Immelt Jeffrey, Marks Michael , and Meiland Daniel 2003 p5-6

Kinesic behavior

body movements (posture, gesture, facial expression, eye contact),

meaning are different from culture to another

Proxemics

Text

This weeks reading: Sebenius, J. K. (2002). "The Hidden Challenge of CROSSBORDER NEGOTIATIONS." Harvard business Review p7.

338-339

While Americans get uncomfortable after 10 or 15 seconds of silence,

Chinese refer to think the situation over for 30 seconds before
speaking.
Deresky, H. 2011. International Management Managing Across Borders and Cultures 5Edition: Pearson
Education Inc.

This weeks reading: Sebenius, J. K. (2002). "The Hidden Challenge of CROSSBORDER NEGOTIATIONS." Harvard business Review p7.

350

Give me a hand? Answer right or left?

Contact us = Contact USA

United Kingdom = A Kingdom that is united

138

Empathy

understanding the other persons point of view that might well be the
correct one given his or her national and cultural background

354

If you know the enemy and know yourself, you can fight a hundred
battles without defeat.
If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained
you will also suffer a defeat.
If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in
every battle.

The Art of War. 770-475 BC Concise Edition of the Chinese Philosophy

You need to
have empathy
to achieve this