2ND FACE-TO-FACEInfluence of culture on communication

A Case Study of Malay-German Interface

A German salesman was making a presentation of a German product to a group of Malaysian personnel of one government agency. He was very please that the presentation went well and appeared to be well-taken by his clients. The Malaysian expressed interest and appeared to be keen with the product. The German salesman was very confident that a contract would seem to be in order. At the end of the presentation, the issue was raised by the German and was told that the contract would be signed in a week time. After a week the salesman called to remind about the contract and was told that the person in charge was not in. He waited for another week and discovered later that in actual fact there was not going to be any order or signing of contract. The German salesman was rather dismay because he perceived that his clients were definitely enthusiastic about the product and the decline came as a surprise.

words

gesture

posture

Social status

tone

Social setting

paraphrase

words

gesture

posture

Social status

tone

Social setting

paraphrase

words

gesture

posture

Social status

tone

Social setting

paraphrase

Low-contextcommunication

High-contextcommunication

Hall’s Theory of Contexting

Context means having to recognize the information and circumstances that surround a particular situation and event

Hall categorizes culture as being along the continuum of a high or low context, depending on the degree to which meaning comes from the settings or from the words being exchange

Assumptions: culture provides a highly selective screen between man and the outside world.

Culture designates what we pay attention to and what we ignore.

Differences

LOW-CONTEXT Explicit, direct Does not assume

shared knowledge or experience

Information flow is controlled according to information needs

HIGH-CONTEXT Implicit, indirect Relies on shared

knowledge and experiences

Information flows freely through networks

Malaysia is a high-context culture

Meaning of a message is often made up in terms of who is the sender, how did he say it, when did he say it, who else were there, etc

Some things are better left unsaid. Western foreigners often times find it

is frustrating communicating with the locals

H-CL-CGerman-Swiss Japane

seScandinavian American

ChineseKorean

FrenchEnglish

ArabGreek

Challenges 1. Time orientation “It is difficult to get things done

through Malaysians. It’s not that they don’t have commitment … perhaps they lack discipline in terms of prioritization. They face difficulties in knowing which job needs to be done first,” British expat complained.

“Malaysians do not put much emphasis on schedule. They are less hurried and more accommodating to time change. In executing projects, they have milestones, but throughout my experience working in project teams led by Malaysians, the schedules keep on changing. They do not emphasize sticking to schedule unless they are being put to close scrutiny by their boss,” said German expat.

Time orientation

MONOCHRONIC Only do one

activity at a time Time is seizable

and measurable

POLYCHNONIC Do more than one

activity at a time Appointment are

approximate and subject to “giving time” to significant others

Keep appointments strictly; schedule in advance and do not run late

Relationships are generally subordinate to schedule

Strong preference for following initial plans

Schedules are generally subordinate to relationships

Strong preference for following where relationships lead

ANSWER THIS QUESTION

Think of the past, present and future as being in the shape of circles. Please draw three circles on a piece of paper, representing past, present and future. Arrange these circles in any way you want that best show how you feel about the relationships of the past, present and future. You may use different size circles. When you have finish, label each circle to show which one is the past, which one the present and which one the future.

Challenges 2. Mismatched Expectation

In Western organization, managers are expected to reach decisions and solve problems rationally and in a democratic manner and participative manner; decisions are made by focusing on results while facts, risk taking and logical reasoning are the basis of decision making.

“A typical answer was ‘what to do?’ to my question for ideas from them on problems. It was much later, through the grapevine, that I learned that this had created the impression and the situation that the boss didn’t know what to do. From my perspective, I was doing this to develop the skills of the staff. By questioning, I was getting the staff to think and evaluate and that is a coaching role,” said one UK expat.

Challenges 3. Group Orientation “Four years ago, I tried to introduce

total quality business management. It require everyone in the company to actively look at their job functions and come up with suggestions for improvement. However, some middle management personnel took the suggestion as personal complaint against them,” noted a UK expat.

Two people were discussing ways in which individuals could improve the quality of life.

A= One said: It is obvious if individuals have much freedom as possible and the maximum opportunity to develop themselves, the quality of their life will improve as a result.

B= The other said: If individuals are continuously taking care of their fellow human beings the quality of life will improve for every one, even if it obstructs individual freedom and individual development.

Which of the two ways of reasoning do you think is usually best, A or B?

A defect is discovered in one of the installations. It was caused by negligence of one of the members of a team. Responsibility of this mistake can be carried in various ways.

A= The person causing the defect by negligence is the one responsible.

B= Because he or she happens to work in a team the responsibility should be carried by the group.

Which one of these two ways of taking responsibility do you think is usually the case in your society, A or B?

Individualism

Person belongs to many groups and moves in and out of groups easily.

Responsibility to individual and immediate family.

Individual pursue own goals. Competition. Autonomy, self-reliance &

independence.

Collectivism

Person belong to a limited # of group; membership does not easily change.

Responsibility to the group and its members.

Individual goals come from the group.

Harmony and face-saving. Obedience, duty and sacrifice.

Challenges 4. Separation of private and public lives

Unexpected demand of overtime and more contact within and outside the workplace violates some cultural values (e.g., German and Swiss “private garden”

Japanese tend to extend work into their private lives.

Challenges 5. Communication Patterns

According to European expatriates, Malaysian have a tendency to be indirect, ambiguous and under communicating, and are perceived as unassertive, passive or even hypocritical.

They are reluctant to sit down and talk out the difficulties and would prefer to use a third party o tell disagreement or to work out the problem rather than telling the person directly.

A source of conflict and tension to the Europeans.

Constrasting Western-Eastern Style

Eastern Comm Style

Process oriented Differentiated

linguistic code Indirect, face-

saving communication

Receiver oriented

Western Comm Style

Outcome oriented Undifferientiated

linguistic code Direct and out-

spoken style Source oriented

Challenges 6. Language proficiency Language matter but language

facility alone is not enough. Need knowledge of other’s culture

Assuming not necessary to learn local language because English is international and business language.

Type of strategies

Cognitive strategy: awareness and understanding of the other’s culture, identify similarities and differences

Affective strategy: positive attitude towards differences and positive emotional orientation (open-mindedness, patience, joking etc)

Behavioral strategy: being flexible and adapting behavior to meet the requirement. Practice accommodative behavior (emphatic listening, speak slowly and clearly, repeating, paraphrasing etc)