Intercultural Communication
Intercultural Communication in a Global Workplace Wilhemenia M Maxey
Hana, A Joint Venture Between
Health Snacks and Toka Foods
March 09, 2013
Professor Marcus Payne
Trinity International University
The world consists of different countries. Every country has its own unique culture. People come from different countries have different belief and different customs. But with the globalization increasing, world is becoming smaller and smaller. Different people from different countries start to mix and live together. So to get better communication with different people,we should respect and understand different cultures. So I will analyze this case by using concepts in the field of intercultural communication.
In this case, there are many cultural conflicts between Japanese and Americans. And these cultural conflicts lead to many obstacles in their cooperation. Firstly, I want to analyze the High Context Culture and Low Context Culture. American culture is a typical low context culture, while Japanese culture is a typical high context culture. People who hold high context tend to prefer indirect verbal interaction, and understand meanings embedded at many socio-cultural levels, and rely more on context and feeling, and employ spiral logic. But people who hold low context tend to prefer direct verbal interaction, and understanding the meaning at one level only, and they rely more on logic. They communicate in highly structured messages, provide details, stress literal meanings, and give authority to written information. The negotiations had been very difficult and took much longer than executives from Health Snacks had anticipated. The Japanese were slow and in their approach to the negotiation. Everything seemed to take a long time, and once the Japanese side had made up its mind on a point, it was difficult to agree on any changes. Everything had to go back and be re-discussed by Japanese executive. In low context culture, such as
Hana, A Joint Venture Between
Health Snacks and Toka Foods
March 09, 2013
Professor Marcus Payne
Trinity International University
The world consists of different countries. Every country has its own unique culture. People come from different countries have different belief and different customs. But with the globalization increasing, world is becoming smaller and smaller. Different people from different countries start to mix and live together. So to get better communication with different people,we should respect and understand different cultures. So I will analyze this case by using concepts in the field of intercultural communication.
In this case, there are many cultural conflicts between Japanese and Americans. And these cultural conflicts lead to many obstacles in their cooperation. Firstly, I want to analyze the High Context Culture and Low Context Culture. American culture is a typical low context culture, while Japanese culture is a typical high context culture. People who hold high context tend to prefer indirect verbal interaction, and understand meanings embedded at many socio-cultural levels, and rely more on context and feeling, and employ spiral logic. But people who hold low context tend to prefer direct verbal interaction, and understanding the meaning at one level only, and they rely more on logic. They communicate in highly structured messages, provide details, stress literal meanings, and give authority to written information. The negotiations had been very difficult and took much longer than executives from Health Snacks had anticipated. The Japanese were slow and in their approach to the negotiation. Everything seemed to take a long time, and once the Japanese side had made up its mind on a point, it was difficult to agree on any changes. Everything had to go back and be re-discussed by Japanese executive. In low context culture, such as
References: Elmer, D. (2002). Cross-Cultural Commecntions. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press. Steger, M. B. (2003). Globalization A very Short Introduction. New York: Okford University Press Inc. Varner, L. B. (2008). Intercultural Communication in the Global Workplace. New York City: McGraw-Hill.