Intercultural awareness is the key to international business success

Global Focus, 2007 by Saee, John

In an intercultural communication context, there are many barriers that may emerge, mainly due to the existence of stereotypes and ethnocentrism and leading to prejudice resulting in mistrust and hostility. Other impediments to effective intercultural communication include fear of change, fear of the unknown, fear of threatened identity, fear of rejection and/ or fear of contradictions to a belief system.

The main source of misunderstanding among cultures is the differences in values and priorities. Some of the most common misconceptions reflect the way in which different cultures understand time, thought patterns and reasoning, personal space, material possessions, language, religion, ethnocentric beliefs as well as the presence of many languages.

There are over 3,000 languages and 10,000 dialects spoken throughout the world and language differences can engender barriers to cross-cultural understanding and international trade.

The box (right) contains a few examples of the difficulties associated with translation of English into a foreign language (and vice versa) intended for commercialising a product. They show that to develop intercultural communication competence, one has to develop an appreciation of the nexus between culture and communication.

Viewed in this context, most anthropologists believe that the terms culture and communication are virtually synonymous. This relationship is the key factor to understanding intercultural communication. Studying intercultural communication without studying culture is analogous to studying physics without looking at matter.

Culture is to a large extent "ideational": it refers to the standards, beliefs and attitudes in terms of which people act, and to the symbols to which they respond Academic Geert Hofstede perceives culture from a psychological perspective, defining it "the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one category of one people from another",

The significance of culture lies in the fact that it provides the knowledge and the techniques that enable humans to survive, both physically and socially, and to control in varying degrees the world around them. More particularly it provides guidance, direction and order in all aspects of our lives.

Every person is raised into a particular culture, learning the "right way" of doing things. Problems may arise when a person must adjust to another culture. Each individual must distinguish relevant cross-cultural and intracultural differences and then isolate potential opportunities and problems. At the same time, the possibility of narrowing gaps between cultures resulting from borrowing and interaction must be considered.

Culture also influences how we communicate non-verbally. This is because people express their thoughts and feelings through non-verbal communication.

Non-verbal communications, which include facial expressions, the use of space, posture, gestures, personal appearance, clothing, etiquette and body contact, play a crucial role in understanding people from different cultural backgrounds, hence intercultural communication competence. Managers must analyse and become familiar with the hidden language of foreign cultures. Non-verbal language plays a key role in human communication.