intercultural communication corporate and professional discourse
TRANSCRIPT
Intercultural Communication
Corporate and Professional Discourse
Discourse Systems
Collection of inter-related elementsBeliefs (from common experiences)RelationshipsCommunication (symbols of membership)Learning/Membership
How they influence us
Membership/Participation
Discourse systems
Socialization
Forms of Discourse
Face Systems
Ideology
Participation
Lave and Wenger
Communities of PracticeA group of people who do things together
Novice > Expert
Learning through participation
Legitimate peripheral participation
Expert
Novice
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 CompanyLegal expression of the UDS
GoalsProfitServiceEmploymentMay change over timeExplicit and tacit goals
Ideology
Goals
HistoryGarment industry in Hong Kong
WorldviewUDSJapanese 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 IssuesMale mid-life crisisWomen in the workforce
Forms of Discourse
GOCAgendaUniformity and regularityElimination of outside contextual factorsGenres
Memos, reports, meetings, emails, etc.Unofficial forms of discourse
Advertising/Marketing
‘Face’ of the corporationEarly 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 communicationTimeSpaceBody languageDress
Face Systems
Power-Distance
Independence-Involvement
Gemeinschaft-Gesellschaft
Kinship
Age
Another way of looking at corporate culture
Geert HofstedeResearch 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
Power-Distance
High
Distinctions between superiors and subordinates
Unquestioning compliance
Low
More egalitarian
Challenging, collective decision making
Individualistic-Collectivistic
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
Masculine-Feminine
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
Uncertainty Avoidance
HighLow tolerance for ambiguityGreater need for consensusAvoidance of conflictResistance to changeRigid
Low
High tolerance for ambiguity
Less need for consensus
More comfortable with change
Flexible, easy going
Long-Short Term Orientation
Long Term
Planning
Thrift
Short Term
Gratification
Fulfilling immediate social obligations
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’ workersControlled by peer group rather than managersGroup consultationSlow decision makingFast implementation
‘PM’ theoryPerformance 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
Country PD ID MA UA LT
USA 40L 91H 62H 46L 29L
Germany 35L 67H 66H 65M 31M
Japan 54M 46M 95H 92H 80H
France 68H 71H 43M 86H 30L
Holland 38L 80H 14L 53M 44M
China 80H 50M 40L 90H 118H
Hong Kong
68H 25L 57H 29L 96H
Task
Look at the web pages of the different companies and try to work out what kind of ‘corporate culture’ is being projected.