In the United States, an initial meeting may begin with comments about the
weather and quickly proceed to more personal questions, such as“Do you have a fam-
ily?” or“Where did you go to school?”While these may be perfectly acceptable
between Americans, they could be considered too personal in many other countries.
In Saudi Arabia, for example, one should avoid asking about a man’swife.^10 Because
status plays such an important role in Japan, asking what school someone attended
could be a source of embarrassment. In the United States, the topics of personal salary
and income are seldom part of social conversation, and the question of one’sagecanbe
a sensitive topic for many people. But in China, employees at state-owned enterprises
(SOE) usually know the salary structure and may inquire about yours. And the Japanese
may ask you very early on about your age, if you have a hobby, and even your blood
type, which they believe can forecast personality. The Taiwan situation can be a con-
troversial subject in China. Again, before traveling to another country, we encourage
you to conduct research to determine which topics should be avoided.
As we discussed in the chapter on language, humor generally does not travel well
across cultural lines, particularly in professional settings—a joke in one culture can be
an insult in another. Irony is common in
the United States but is seldom under-
stood in Japan. A standard attention-
getting technique for Americans is to
begin a presentation with a joke. But in
Germany and France, this would be inap-
propriate because business meetings are serious events. Our advice is to wait until you
have established a good relationship with your international counterpart before
attempting to inject humor into your conversations.Leadership and Management
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, there were 25.3 million foreign-born
workers in the U.S. labor force in 2013. Another report indicated that there were as
many as 600,000 people working in the United States under the H-1B visa program,
which allows foreign specialists to stay in the country for as long as six years.^11 These
workers are integrated into U.S. organizations alongside native-born employees,
requiring the management of cultural and linguistic differences within work teams.
Nor is this situation unique to the United States, as globalization has internationa-
lized workforces around the world. Concern about the changes arising from globaliza-
tion prompted one organization to commission a major study on the changing nature
of work and growing workplace diversity. Two key findings related to intercultural
communication are provided here:
[A 2009] survey found that it is cultural and linguistic differences that present by far the
most pressing challenge for virtual-teammanagers. Differences in culture appear in a
broad range of attitudes and values, greatly increasing the potential for a breakdown in
team cohesiveness. Such differences span a wide range of areas, including attitudes
toward authority, teamwork and working hours. Cultural and linguistic misunderstand-
ings, both internally and with prospective clients, can be very costly.
[A 2012 survey] found that one-half of companies admit that communication misunder-
standings have stood in the way of a major cross-border transaction, incurring significant
losses for their company.^12REMEMBER THIS
In the global market, both employees and clients come from an
international pool.346 CHAPTER 10• Intercultural Communication in Contexts
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