40 http://www.business-spotlight.de 2/2014How useful are dos and don’ts?
You can list some dos and don’ts,
such as information about security in
different countries. You can say, “Do
not take photographs of the airport.
This is illegal.” You can tell people
what might be appropriateto wear.
You can tell them whether to eat with
chopsticksor knives and forks. Those
things are OK. But the trouble with
some dos and don’ts is that they go
too far into behaviour. And that can
be counterproductive. People get a
false sense of security. They might say
to themselves, “I now know about
the Chinese.” But actually, they are
not taking into accountthe complex-
ity of the situation they find them-
selves in. So I think you have to be
careful with dos and don’ts. I under-
stand why people want them, but
they don’t always help.Are country clichéshelpful or harm-
ful, in your opinion?
If I mention intercultural communi-
cation, some people automatically
think I am talking about national cul-
tures. For me, it’s not just a matter of
national cultures. Other types of cul-
ture can be as significant or more sig-
nificant in a corporate setting. Diffe-
rent departmentsin the same organi-
zation can have different customs.
For example, what do you do on
people’s birthdays? In some depart-
ments, you bring in cakes; in otherdepartments, people do nothing; and
then there are departments where
they go out for a meal together. It
varies even in the same national cul-
ture. Regional culture is often very
important. I find it interesting when
German clients ask me for informa-
tion about China and they say, “OK,
give me dos and don’ts for China as
a national culture”, and I say, “Well,
we can’t do that. If you give me dos
and don’ts for Germany, I’ll give you
some for China.” Then they say, “Oh,
we can’t do that for Germany, be-
cause Germany is very regional.” So
I say, “Well, China is completely ho-
mogeneous, of course, and a much
smaller country.” That usually ends
the conversation. [laughs] Recently,
when I was working with African
students, I gave them a list of diffe-
rent types of cultures. They said,“Sorry, but you’ve forgotten some-
thing really important”, and that was
tribal culture. For Africans, tribal
unitsare much more important than
the artificial national boundariesthat
were brought in by colonial powers.What skills do you need to become an
intercultural trainer?
If you’d like to work in a business
context, I would say you need three
things. One is the relevant cultural
knowledge and experience. Some of
our clients expect the trainer to come
from the target culture. If they are
talking about Brazil, they want the
trainer to be Brazilian. We sometimes
think that is not necessary, that some-
times, it’s better not to be from the
culture. I do courses about Germany,
for example. I work together with a
German colleague, so we have both
perspectives. The second point would
be training skills, and many compa-
nies require not just skills but also
qualifications, having a certification
of those skills. And the third factor is
business knowledge and experience
— and that’s often lacking. So, for ex-
ample, if you’re going to be working
in intercultural competence develop-
ment in a hospital, then you need to
know about medical services. Or if
you’re working in education, you
need to know about teaching.appropriate [E(prEUpriEt]angebracht
boundary [(baUndEri] Grenze
certification Zertifizierung,
[)s§:tIfI(keIS&n] Bescheinigung
chopstick [(tSQpstIk] Essstäbchen
cliché [(kli:SeI] [wg. Aussprache]
counterproductive kontraproduktiv
[)kaUntEprE(dVktIv]
department Abteilung
[di(pA:tmEnt]
dos and don’ts Verhaltensregeln
[)du:z En (dEUnts]
setting [(setIN] Rahmen, Umfeld
take sth. into account etw. berücksichti-
[)teIk )Intu E(kaUnt] gen
tribal culture Stammeskultur
[)traIb&l (kVltSE]
tribal unit Stammesverband
[)traIb&l (ju:nIt]Teamwork: Margaret Davis, Robert Gibson and Ian McMasterINTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION INTERVIEW“In intercultural training,
we help people become aware
of their behaviour”
■BS
Gert KrautbauerYou can listen to Robert Gibson on
Business Spotlight Audio
You’ll find a quiz on intercultural
awareness in Business Spotlight plus
Read Robert Gibson’s blog at
http://www.business-spotlight.de/blogspluswww36-40 Interculture mainB 2_14 14.01.14 13:46 Seite 40