Intercultural communication in the business world
Dieter Vermandere (2022)
Table of contents
Table of contents..............................................................................................................................1
Introduction.......................................................................................................................................3
1 Why “intercultural communication”?..............................................................................................6
2 Intercultural communication; knowledge, attitudes and skills........................................................7
3 Intercultural awareness.................................................................................................................8
4 Intercultural interaction................................................................................................................10
1 Terminology.................................................................................................................................11
2 Self-reference criterion................................................................................................................11
3 What is “intercultural communication”?.......................................................................................13
4 Intercultural situation...................................................................................................................15
5 Culture.........................................................................................................................................16
6 Socialization.................................................................................................................................19
7 Practical definitions......................................................................................................................24
1 Defining culture............................................................................................................................25
2 Problem 1: the “values”...............................................................................................................26
3 Problem 2: Top-down approach of culture..................................................................................30
4 Problem 3: the transitions............................................................................................................32
1 Identity.........................................................................................................................................36
2 Our multifaced/variable “self”.......................................................................................................38
3 Identities......................................................................................................................................43
4 Attitudes.......................................................................................................................................45
5 Super-identities............................................................................................................................47
1 Identity Negotiation Theory..........................................................................................................48
2 What is communication?.............................................................................................................49
3 The art of conversation................................................................................................................51
4 Linguistic awareness...................................................................................................................52
5 Nonverbal communication...........................................................................................................54
1 How expressive can you be?.......................................................................................................54
2 Culture and types of NV communication.....................................................................................60
3 Conclusion?.................................................................................................................................64
1 Hierarchy.....................................................................................................................................65
2 How is power over others enacted in society?............................................................................66
3 PDI & Management.....................................................................................................................71
1 Introduction..................................................................................................................................75
2 Individualism................................................................................................................................76
3 “Collectivism” = low IDV...............................................................................................................77
Intercultural Britt Mauquoi 1/132
,4 In-group vs. out-group.................................................................................................................78
5 Trust.............................................................................................................................................78
6 Hofstede on IVD..........................................................................................................................82
7 Conclusions.................................................................................................................................90
1 Masculinity?.................................................................................................................................93
2 Hofstede’s “MAS” dimension.......................................................................................................94
3 Conclusion: The MAS dimension of Hofstede...........................................................................104
1 Uncertainty avoidance...............................................................................................................108
2 High UA.....................................................................................................................................109
3 Questionnaire............................................................................................................................110
4 How is UA understood?.............................................................................................................115
5 Conclusion?...............................................................................................................................121
1 Introduction: Hofstede’s new dimensions..................................................................................122
2 Long v. short-term orientation....................................................................................................122
3 Indulgence vs. restraint (IND)....................................................................................................126
4 Other new dimensions?.............................................................................................................128
5 Overall value of “Cultural dimensions”?....................................................................................128
6 Business communication...........................................................................................................130
Intercultural Britt Mauquoi 2/132
,Introduction
Disclosure - author’s subjectivity
- My position in the field
- I was trained as a linguist
- In Romance languages, esp. Italian linguistics
- Variational linguistics, dialectology, sociolinguistics of Italian and Italy
- I studied Cantonese (one of the official languages of Hong Kong) at Chinese University of
HK
- My position in the field of “intercultural communication” is no doubt heavily influenced by
that formation
o my outlook in “intercultural communication” typically is a dynamic, interactional
one - which does not mean that other approaches are inherently wrong, or bad
o dynamic / interactional : “negotiation” and “mediation” as active “things to do
while speaking”
About the course
Classes are scheduled on Friday, 08:30 - 10:30 hrs in room D-127
- 2 hours = 2 x 50 mins
We start on February 18 - last class will be probably May 13, 2022
- There are no recordings for this class
- There is a handbook
- There are rather extensive powerpoints for each class
- There will be two-weekly feedback sessions on BBCU (these will be recorded)
o The feedback sessions: if you have questions about the course’s content: that is
where you can ask your question
o Either during the live session, or via the BB forum for each session, or via e-mail
to me
Exam
- How to overcome cultural issues as they arise
- How to use Hofstede’s framework and how to avoid its pitfalls
- Strategies and options of speaker interaction
There will be two question types: one will be a practical scenario description from the handbook,
and will deal with Hofstede’s framework of cultural dimensions and how to interpret those. The
second question will be an open broad question about specific issues related to Intercultural
communication, as discussed in the lectures.
This is a master’s class that focuses on awareness. Therefore, being aware of concepts, being
able to evaluate them critically, understanding the issues is of paramount importance.
Reproduction is not the goal. Critical thinking is the goal.
Exam questions June 2021
1. Give theoretical problems in Hofstede’s framework (/20)
2. Holland manager and Belgian blue collar workers. Dutch manager wants participative
style but Belgians don’t like it and don’t contribute in ideas. - Why is this?
3. What advice would you give?
4. What are the critica’s points here?
Intercultural Britt Mauquoi 3/132
, Practical course-related information
Course description on the website
- Then go to “Intercultural communication in the business world”
The handbook
We use the handbook “Intercultural skills for international business and
international relations” by S. Paul Verluyten - who used to teach this course
before me
- Edition 5 - 2019, published by Acco
- Available in paperback copy at ACCO bookstore
- Differences with 4th print are layout (colours and style) - not really
about content
- The interesting point is that it has lots of “examples” of real situations
- It takes one very specific framework as the main framework
- “Hofstede”= more on that later!
Handbook & lectures
We will follow the organization and presentation of the handbook
- 14 chapters in 12 classes: But I don’t follow the chapters very “religiously”
- But you will see that I cover the topics in them, although the schedule of some chapters
will be different
- That’s where these lectures come in: they are complimentary to the handbook
- The main chapters about “Hofstede” are generally rather short, and there is always plenty
of information that is not written down (yet) and also part of the subject matter for the
exam
Moreover: the lectures (and slides) try to critically interact with Hofstede’s framework
- And propose other readings and ways of doing
- Which would require a different course of 6 credits to develop that on a theoretical level ...
Hofstede: why him?
The general approach is theoretical in nature and the main focus is on Hofstede’s model
- So we’ll be handling concepts and theories
- As different ways to look at reality
o But the main point or goal is to understand what it means to do “intercultural
communication” - how you can look at it, and esp. how other people look at it
o As I firmly believe that filling our heads with concepts is like going through a
dictionary with lots of words - instead of reading a pocket version with only a few
hundreds
The more concepts, the better we can grasp the complexity of reality
- The difficult part is: how to “evaluate” all the concepts and know what is useful...
- And that is my task here and now
The Faculty of Business Economics asked me to teach about Hofstede
- and that is what will happen
- but explaining that will require some terminological fact finding
- I personally don’t think the framework of Hofstede is very useful for “intercultural
interaction”
I personally don’t think the framework of Hofstede is very useful for “intercultural interaction”
- but explaining that will require some terminological fact finding
- and methodologically speaking, I don’t find the framework very solid and sound
Intercultural Britt Mauquoi 4/132
Dieter Vermandere (2022)
Table of contents
Table of contents..............................................................................................................................1
Introduction.......................................................................................................................................3
1 Why “intercultural communication”?..............................................................................................6
2 Intercultural communication; knowledge, attitudes and skills........................................................7
3 Intercultural awareness.................................................................................................................8
4 Intercultural interaction................................................................................................................10
1 Terminology.................................................................................................................................11
2 Self-reference criterion................................................................................................................11
3 What is “intercultural communication”?.......................................................................................13
4 Intercultural situation...................................................................................................................15
5 Culture.........................................................................................................................................16
6 Socialization.................................................................................................................................19
7 Practical definitions......................................................................................................................24
1 Defining culture............................................................................................................................25
2 Problem 1: the “values”...............................................................................................................26
3 Problem 2: Top-down approach of culture..................................................................................30
4 Problem 3: the transitions............................................................................................................32
1 Identity.........................................................................................................................................36
2 Our multifaced/variable “self”.......................................................................................................38
3 Identities......................................................................................................................................43
4 Attitudes.......................................................................................................................................45
5 Super-identities............................................................................................................................47
1 Identity Negotiation Theory..........................................................................................................48
2 What is communication?.............................................................................................................49
3 The art of conversation................................................................................................................51
4 Linguistic awareness...................................................................................................................52
5 Nonverbal communication...........................................................................................................54
1 How expressive can you be?.......................................................................................................54
2 Culture and types of NV communication.....................................................................................60
3 Conclusion?.................................................................................................................................64
1 Hierarchy.....................................................................................................................................65
2 How is power over others enacted in society?............................................................................66
3 PDI & Management.....................................................................................................................71
1 Introduction..................................................................................................................................75
2 Individualism................................................................................................................................76
3 “Collectivism” = low IDV...............................................................................................................77
Intercultural Britt Mauquoi 1/132
,4 In-group vs. out-group.................................................................................................................78
5 Trust.............................................................................................................................................78
6 Hofstede on IVD..........................................................................................................................82
7 Conclusions.................................................................................................................................90
1 Masculinity?.................................................................................................................................93
2 Hofstede’s “MAS” dimension.......................................................................................................94
3 Conclusion: The MAS dimension of Hofstede...........................................................................104
1 Uncertainty avoidance...............................................................................................................108
2 High UA.....................................................................................................................................109
3 Questionnaire............................................................................................................................110
4 How is UA understood?.............................................................................................................115
5 Conclusion?...............................................................................................................................121
1 Introduction: Hofstede’s new dimensions..................................................................................122
2 Long v. short-term orientation....................................................................................................122
3 Indulgence vs. restraint (IND)....................................................................................................126
4 Other new dimensions?.............................................................................................................128
5 Overall value of “Cultural dimensions”?....................................................................................128
6 Business communication...........................................................................................................130
Intercultural Britt Mauquoi 2/132
,Introduction
Disclosure - author’s subjectivity
- My position in the field
- I was trained as a linguist
- In Romance languages, esp. Italian linguistics
- Variational linguistics, dialectology, sociolinguistics of Italian and Italy
- I studied Cantonese (one of the official languages of Hong Kong) at Chinese University of
HK
- My position in the field of “intercultural communication” is no doubt heavily influenced by
that formation
o my outlook in “intercultural communication” typically is a dynamic, interactional
one - which does not mean that other approaches are inherently wrong, or bad
o dynamic / interactional : “negotiation” and “mediation” as active “things to do
while speaking”
About the course
Classes are scheduled on Friday, 08:30 - 10:30 hrs in room D-127
- 2 hours = 2 x 50 mins
We start on February 18 - last class will be probably May 13, 2022
- There are no recordings for this class
- There is a handbook
- There are rather extensive powerpoints for each class
- There will be two-weekly feedback sessions on BBCU (these will be recorded)
o The feedback sessions: if you have questions about the course’s content: that is
where you can ask your question
o Either during the live session, or via the BB forum for each session, or via e-mail
to me
Exam
- How to overcome cultural issues as they arise
- How to use Hofstede’s framework and how to avoid its pitfalls
- Strategies and options of speaker interaction
There will be two question types: one will be a practical scenario description from the handbook,
and will deal with Hofstede’s framework of cultural dimensions and how to interpret those. The
second question will be an open broad question about specific issues related to Intercultural
communication, as discussed in the lectures.
This is a master’s class that focuses on awareness. Therefore, being aware of concepts, being
able to evaluate them critically, understanding the issues is of paramount importance.
Reproduction is not the goal. Critical thinking is the goal.
Exam questions June 2021
1. Give theoretical problems in Hofstede’s framework (/20)
2. Holland manager and Belgian blue collar workers. Dutch manager wants participative
style but Belgians don’t like it and don’t contribute in ideas. - Why is this?
3. What advice would you give?
4. What are the critica’s points here?
Intercultural Britt Mauquoi 3/132
, Practical course-related information
Course description on the website
- Then go to “Intercultural communication in the business world”
The handbook
We use the handbook “Intercultural skills for international business and
international relations” by S. Paul Verluyten - who used to teach this course
before me
- Edition 5 - 2019, published by Acco
- Available in paperback copy at ACCO bookstore
- Differences with 4th print are layout (colours and style) - not really
about content
- The interesting point is that it has lots of “examples” of real situations
- It takes one very specific framework as the main framework
- “Hofstede”= more on that later!
Handbook & lectures
We will follow the organization and presentation of the handbook
- 14 chapters in 12 classes: But I don’t follow the chapters very “religiously”
- But you will see that I cover the topics in them, although the schedule of some chapters
will be different
- That’s where these lectures come in: they are complimentary to the handbook
- The main chapters about “Hofstede” are generally rather short, and there is always plenty
of information that is not written down (yet) and also part of the subject matter for the
exam
Moreover: the lectures (and slides) try to critically interact with Hofstede’s framework
- And propose other readings and ways of doing
- Which would require a different course of 6 credits to develop that on a theoretical level ...
Hofstede: why him?
The general approach is theoretical in nature and the main focus is on Hofstede’s model
- So we’ll be handling concepts and theories
- As different ways to look at reality
o But the main point or goal is to understand what it means to do “intercultural
communication” - how you can look at it, and esp. how other people look at it
o As I firmly believe that filling our heads with concepts is like going through a
dictionary with lots of words - instead of reading a pocket version with only a few
hundreds
The more concepts, the better we can grasp the complexity of reality
- The difficult part is: how to “evaluate” all the concepts and know what is useful...
- And that is my task here and now
The Faculty of Business Economics asked me to teach about Hofstede
- and that is what will happen
- but explaining that will require some terminological fact finding
- I personally don’t think the framework of Hofstede is very useful for “intercultural
interaction”
I personally don’t think the framework of Hofstede is very useful for “intercultural interaction”
- but explaining that will require some terminological fact finding
- and methodologically speaking, I don’t find the framework very solid and sound
Intercultural Britt Mauquoi 4/132
