Intercultural Communication

Corporate and Professional Discourse

Discourse Systems

Collection of inter-related elementsBeliefs (from common experiences)RelationshipsCommunication (symbols of membership)Learning/Membership

How they influence us

Membership/Participation

Discourse systems

Socialization

Forms of Discourse

Face Systems

Ideology

Participation

Lave and Wenger

Communities of PracticeA group of people who do things together

Novice > Expert

Learning through participation

Legitimate peripheral participation

Expert

Novice

Two kinds of discourse system

Voluntary Goal directed Functional Explicit ideology

Involuntary Born into Implicit ideology

Identity Attention to common goals Expressing ideology Using forms of discourse Conducting relationships in a certain kind of way

Professional Communication

Most professional communication takes place in the overlap or ‘nexus’ of these types of discourse system The corporate culture The professional group The Utilitarian Discourse system The generational discourse system The gender discourse system Other (national, religious, ethnic)

Corporate Discourse Systems

Corporation/Limited Liability CompanyLegal expression of the UDS

GoalsProfitServiceEmploymentMay change over timeExplicit and tacit goals

Ideology

Goals

HistoryGarment industry in Hong Kong

WorldviewUDSJapanese management

Ideology

Beliefs, Values, Religion Relativism ‘Diversity’ Corporate ethics

Place in culture Some corporations bigger than nations Coca-Cola Disney McDonald’s Globalization and Localization

Socialization

Credentials Wash back effect on school system Relationship between credentials and actual work ‘Gatekeeping’

Formal Training

Informal Socialization

Competing socialization and disadvantage

Socialization

‘Carrot and stick’

Competition vs. cooperation

Life Cycle IssuesMale mid-life crisisWomen in the workforce

Forms of Discourse

GOCAgendaUniformity and regularityElimination of outside contextual factorsGenres

Memos, reports, meetings, emails, etc.Unofficial forms of discourse

Advertising/Marketing

‘Face’ of the corporationEarly American advertising UDS/ information and instructions Empirical

Psychological advertising (1960’s)Lifestyle advertising (now)American vs. Chinese advertising Jones 1996/Schmidt et. al Stories vs. lectures

Advertising/Marketing

Benneton

McDonald’s

Sony

Forms of Discourse

Rhetorical Patterns

Function of language

Non-verbal communicationTimeSpaceBody languageDress

Face Systems

Power-Distance

Independence-Involvement

Gemeinschaft-Gesellschaft

Kinship

Age

Another way of looking at corporate culture

Geert HofstedeResearch on culture and management Study of IBM employees in different countries

Corporate culture affected by national cultures (no universal management theories)5 bipolar dimensions Power-distance Individualism-Collectivism Masculinity-Femininity Uncertainty avoidance Long Term vs. Short Term Orientation

Power-Distance

High

Distinctions between superiors and subordinates

Unquestioning compliance

Low

More egalitarian

Challenging, collective decision making

Individualistic-Collectivistic

Focus on individual goals

Individual achievement

Confrontational

Direct communication

Working alone

Focus on group goals

Group achievement

Avoidance of confrontation

Indirect communication

Working in groups

Masculine-Feminine

Value on things

Focus on power

Centrality of work

Strict gender roles

Value on people

Focus on nurturing

Centrality of ‘life’

More flexible gender roles

Uncertainty Avoidance

HighLow tolerance for ambiguityGreater need for consensusAvoidance of conflictResistance to changeRigid

Low

High tolerance for ambiguity

Less need for consensus

More comfortable with change

Flexible, easy going

Long-Short Term Orientation

Long Term

Planning

Thrift

Short Term

Gratification

Fulfilling immediate social obligations

Confucian Work Dynamism

Organization modeled after structure of family

Value of thrift

Patience and perseverance

Shame

American Management

‘Scientific’ (Taylor’s Scientific Management 1911)

Managers ‘culture heroes’

Privileged class

Manger centered rather than worker centered

Individualistic

Japanese Management

‘Permanent’ workersControlled by peer group rather than managersGroup consultationSlow decision makingFast implementation

‘PM’ theoryPerformance and Maintenance

Dutch Management

Based on consensus building

Workers value freedom, consultation, making a contribution

Leadership requires ‘modesty’

German Management

Engineer is ‘cultural hero’

Apprenticeship system

Highly skilled workers

Few managers

Highest rate of workers to managers

French Management

Based on ‘honor’ and ‘class’

Cadre system

Focus on respect

Cadre’s ‘nurture’ workers

Chinese (HK, Taiwan) Management

Networks of small organizations

Based on family and personal relations

Extremely flexible

Centralized decision making

Guanxi and Kinship

Country PD ID MA UA LT

USA 40L 91H 62H 46L 29L

Germany 35L 67H 66H 65M 31M

Japan 54M 46M 95H 92H 80H

France 68H 71H 43M 86H 30L

Holland 38L 80H 14L 53M 44M

China 80H 50M 40L 90H 118H

Hong Kong

68H 25L 57H 29L 96H

Task

Look at the web pages of the different companies and try to work out what kind of ‘corporate culture’ is being projected.