Intercultural Communication

Intercultural Communication Corporate and Professional Discourse

Discourse Systems • Collection of inter-related elements • Beliefs (from common experiences) • Relationships • Communication (symbols of membership) • Learning/Membership • How they influence us • Membership/Participation

Discourse systems Face Systems Ideology Forms of Discourse Socialization

Participation • Lave and Wenger • Communities of Practice • A group of people who do things together • Novice > Expert • Learning through participation

Legitimate peripheral participation Novice Expert

Two kinds of discourse system • Voluntary • Goal directed • Functional • Explicit ideology • Involuntary • Born into • Implicit ideology • Identity • Attention to common goals • Expressing ideology • Using forms of discourse • Conducting relationships in a certain kind of way

Professional Communication • Most professional communication takes place in the overlap or ‘nexus’ of these types of discourse system • The corporate culture • The professional group • The Utilitarian Discourse system • The generational discourse system • The gender discourse system • Other (national, religious, ethnic)

Corporate Discourse Systems • Corporation/Limited Liability Company • Legal expression of the UDS • Goals • Profit • Service • Employment • May change over time • Explicit and tacit goals

Ideology • Goals • History • Garment industry in Hong Kong • Worldview • UDS • Japanese management

Ideology • Beliefs, Values, Religion • Relativism • ‘Diversity’ • Corporate ethics • Place in culture • Some corporations bigger than nations • Coca-Cola • Disney • McDonald’s • Globalization and Localization

Socialization • Credentials • Wash back effect on school system • Relationship between credentials and actual work • ‘Gatekeeping’ • Formal Training • Informal Socialization • Competing socialization and disadvantage

Socialization • ‘Carrot and stick’ • Competition vs. cooperation • Life Cycle Issues • Male mid-life crisis • Women in the workforce

Forms of Discourse • GOC • Agenda • Uniformity and regularity • Elimination of outside contextual factors • Genres • Memos, reports, meetings, emails, etc. • Unofficial forms of discourse

Advertising/Marketing • ‘Face’ of the corporation • Early American advertising • UDS/ information and instructions • Empirical • Psychological advertising (1960’s) • Lifestyle advertising (now) • American vs. Chinese advertising • Jones 1996/Schmidt et. al • Stories vs. lectures

Advertising/Marketing • Benneton • McDonald’s • Sony

Forms of Discourse • Rhetorical Patterns • Function of language • Non-verbal communication • Time • Space • Body language • Dress

Face Systems • Power-Distance • Independence-Involvement • Gemeinschaft-Gesellschaft • Kinship • Age

Another way of looking at corporate culture • Geert Hofstede • Research on culture and management • Study of IBM employees in different countries • Corporate culture affected by national cultures (no universal management theories) • 5 bipolar dimensions • Power-distance • Individualism-Collectivism • Masculinity-Femininity • Uncertainty avoidance • Long Term vs. Short Term Orientation

High Distinctions between superiors and subordinates Unquestioning compliance Low More egalitarian Challenging, collective decision making Power-Distance

Focus on individual goals Individual achievement Confrontational Direct communication Working alone Focus on group goals Group achievement Avoidance of confrontation Indirect communication Working in groups Individualistic-Collectivistic

Value on things Focus on power Centrality of work Strict gender roles Value on people Focus on nurturing Centrality of ‘life’ More flexible gender roles Masculine-Feminine

High Low tolerance for ambiguity Greater need for consensus Avoidance of conflict Resistance to change Rigid Low High tolerance for ambiguity Less need for consensus More comfortable with change Flexible, easy going Uncertainty Avoidance

Long Term Planning Thrift Short Term Gratification Fulfilling immediate social obligations Long-Short Term Orientation

Confucian Work Dynamism • Organization modeled after structure of family • Value of thrift • Patience and perseverance • Shame

American Management • ‘Scientific’ (Taylor’s Scientific Management 1911) • Managers ‘culture heroes’ • Privileged class • Manger centered rather than worker centered • Individualistic

Japanese Management • ‘Permanent’ workers • Controlled by peer group rather than managers • Group consultation • Slow decision making • Fast implementation • ‘PM’ theory • Performance and Maintenance

Dutch Management • Based on consensus building • Workers value freedom, consultation, making a contribution • Leadership requires ‘modesty’

German Management • Engineer is ‘cultural hero’ • Apprenticeship system • Highly skilled workers • Few managers • Highest rate of workers to managers

French Management • Based on ‘honor’ and ‘class’ • Cadre system • Focus on respect • Cadre’s ‘nurture’ workers

Chinese (HK, Taiwan) Management • Networks of small organizations • Based on family and personal relations • Extremely flexible • Centralized decision making • Guanxi and Kinship

Task • Look at the web pages of the different companies and try to work out what kind of ‘corporate culture’ is being projected.

Intercultural Communication