Encyclopedia of Leadership

8.9

CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION

Inspired by John MacIonis, Nijole Benokraitis, Terri Morrison, Wayne Conaway, George Borden, and Hans Koehler.

With organizations becoming increasingly global and workforces becoming more culturally

diverse, leaders often find themselves dealing with unfamiliar values, attitudes, and behaviors.

These can prove hard to read, leaving a leader uncertain as to how to handle unfamiliar behav-

ior and how to support and integrate much-needed cross-cultural contributions within a work-

group. This tool will help you recognize some subtle cultural cues. It will also encourage you

to think about the cultural values that you assume to be natural and normal. Finally, sugges-

tions are provided for dealing with cross-cultural differences within organizations.

Strange as it may seem, in order to understand your reactions to unfamiliar cultural behav-

iors, the first thing you need to do is examine your own givens, values, norms, and comfort

zone—as well as what is notcomfortable for you. In any part of the world, the workplace is

rooted in a cultural context, whether it be the Confucian orderliness of Singapore or the extro-

verted expressiveness of Brazil. There are no exceptions to this: Every country, organization,

and department has a culture that is expressed as “the way we do things around here.” Thus,

much of the way leaders conduct business is couched in a commonly accepted and assumed

cultural context, in which they are comfortable, recognize the cultural signals, know how to

behave, and can be confident that their colleagues share this context.

“All good people agree

And all good people say

All nice people like us, are WE

And everyone else is THEY.”

—Rudyard Kipling

Here are just a few examples of what leaders in the United States and Canada typically find

acceptable and unacceptable.

SECTION 8 TOOLS FORCOMMUNICATION 257

• Shake hands at first meeting.


• Make eye contact with people.


• Present ideas logically. Ask
  questions in a logical way, without
  emotion, and concentrating on
  facts.


• Logical and organized dialogue is
  highly valued.
  
  
  • Any touching, other than shaking
    hands, might be considered
    improper (even by human rights
    legislation).
  
  
  • Public affection is generally taboo.
  
  
  • Presenting ideas or asking
    emotionally.
  
  
  • Crying or expressing emotions
    demonstrably.
  
  
  • Demonstrating anger.
    
    
    • In many cultures, bowing or
      kissing and touching are expected.
    
    
    • In others, direct eye contact may
      be considered disrespectful, even
      aggressive.
    
    
    • In many Latin and African
      cultures, extroversion and emotion
      are highly valued and seen as
      powerful. People from the U.S. and
      Canada are often seen as being
      overly reserved and up-tight.
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  

Generally acceptable in Generally not acceptable in

the USA and Canada the USA and Canada Other cultural norms