- INTERCULTURAl COMMUNICATION PROFESSIONAL CUlTURES
SHARED VALUES
Nicht nur zwischen verschiedenen Nationen, auch zwischen einzelnen Berufsgruppen kommt es oft
zu interkulturellen Kommunikationsstörungen. ROBERT GIBSON zeigt Folgen und Lösungen auf. 't:!'I.!iHW
hcn people ta lk .. baut inrercultural communica-
tion, the focus is generaJly on national differ·
enccs, but other factors also play an imporrant
ro le. One of these is professional differences. What do
you think of the following statements?- "I avoid working as a rour imide during rhe sc hool
holidays, because a lor of teachers co me on rhese
trips a nd rhey always rhink thar rhey know best and
correct 11lC. I find thtlt very irrLra[in~." - " London taxi drivers never stOp ralking. I wish they'd
leave me alone." - "The 'men in black' who run our IT department
don't seem ro have a ny idea abour how to talk to
normal human bcings." - "Hc's a typical en~ineer: for him cveryrhing is black
or whire, on or off." - " ) hate those sociologists. They never see In to be
able ro make up their minds." - "Estl!re 3Gents are parasires. They earn a lot of money
for doing very little."
These are just same of the many srereorvpes abour dif-
ferent professions: ehe know-all reacher, the illm: taxi
driver, the IT expert with minimal emotional intelli-
gence, the digital enginccr, rhe fu..ux sociologist and thc
~ estate agent. O f course, these are negative gen·
eralizarions that should be avoided, bur ir is possible ro
identify so me tendencies.
People from a particular occuparjonal field acquire
~ values, auirudes, beliefs and behaviour th rough
common education and training, as weil as through the
experienee of working in a speeifie environment. So,
professional associarions can help form and maimain
this professional identiry by, for example, setting stan-
dards for training and developing codes of erhics.
Gccrr Hofsrede, a respecred international resea rcher,
suggesrs thar t here are six dimensions of professional
culturcs. These dimensions are determined by what pco-
pie in cenain jobs do:- Handling people versus handling things (for example,
~ versus cngineer). - Spccialist versus generalist (see also page 50) or, from
a different perspective, professional vcrsus amateur
(for example, psvcbQIQ~ist versus polirician). - Diseipl ined verSlis free of discipline (for example, po-
lice officer versus shopkeeper).
26 Busi""'Spottigh<
4. Strllctured versus unstrlletured (for exampte, systems
analyst versus fashion designer).- Theorerical veTSUS practical (for example, professor
versus sales mana~er). - Normative versus pragmatic (for example, ~
versus advertising manager).
Of course, the way people behave and what they
believe in is also influenced by other faetors, such
as the organization ehey work for. When ~
~ join an organization, rhey bring with them
values that eome from their training and experi-
enee in other organizations wherc they have
worked in ehe past.
Hofstede discusses rhe influenee of different types of
eulture on our va lues and behaviour. He distin~uisbes
between ~, national culmre and soeial dass, as
weil as oceupational, industry and organizarional cu I-
ture: of fhese, the first three have the most iJ:Iu2ag: on
our fundamental values. Research has shown rhat, even
when an individual is fhe only member of his profession
10 an organization, professional cultural values :lre ~advertisina manager
I '~d~3:lmlU.l.}mren Id3;) J
attitude 1'lI:lllju:dl
thatty l'IIiCli]Werbeleller(rn)Einstellung
------geschwatzig
distinauish [dl'~lr'lgwril - -unlerSCheiden
engineer I,Cnd31'n,;!]
environment [m'var ... anmant)
tstate agent [1')ICn ,erd]an!l UI(
fuzzy I'f"zil r'm/.
gender I'd]cnda]
greedy I'gri:dil
impact 1'lm;xcl.:t1
irritatinll'lfllel1l1l1
jlldge Id]"d]l
know-alll 'n:KJ a:1]Ingenleur(in)
Umfeld
Immobllienmaklerjin)
wirr(kOpllg)
~schlecht
--(geld· )gierig
---A"""UsWirkung{enJ
äf'l!erlich
Rlchtet(in)
bessefWlssensch
maintain sth. [meln'lern1 etw. wahren. etw. aufrechterhai·
nUfse (n3:51
occupational l ,olju'peIJ'n<11]
professional [prOl'fCj' nall"" ;~;~;~
Kranke'!!pfleger{i n)
Berufs-
hier: AngehOl'Ige{r) der gehobenen
Betllfe
professional association
[pra'feI·nal aSOKJs!eJ.>n]Berufsverbandpsychologist ISHI'kol:xl"lst] Ps~chologe, Psychologrn
research Ifi'~3:ln- ~ef: Untersuchungen
researchef Iri'S3:IJa1 Forscher{in)
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wre<! lJe.x1] hier: gemernsam
slereoty~ I'MCria!3Ipl Klischee{vorslellung)
suggest: ~ that ... Is~'d"C5!1 die Hypothese aufsleTien. dass ...
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