Hi and welcome to this video. On the plain, cultural frameworks and business. Imagine these following business situations. An american company sending a female representative as the lead negotiator to a middle eastern company such as Saudi Arabia. Or, a European receiving a business card from a Japanese business man and putting it in his pocket after writing a quick note on it. Or a Chinese company involved in a business deal with a British firm pushing to change the price after it was already agreed upon a day ago. If we're culturally aware we will probably know that all three situations are probably culturally inappropriate in some way. So the purpose of this video is to help you apply some common cultural frameworks to help you understand global business practices, and be aware of cultural behavior type. It's important to note that applying frame works can help us become more aware and understanding of cultural situations. However, not all cross-culture frame works will explain everything, and not everything will fit within these areas of the frame works. They act as a guide only. The world is complicated and complex place. Okay, there have been many studies on cross-cultural communication and quite a few frameworks and models. But this video's going to focus on three frameworks that help us understand cross-cultural business situations. They are Hofstede's cultural dimensions, Hall's high and low context cultures and Chinese negotiation concepts. Let's do a quick recap. We covered Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions in module four of this course, and I'm just going to highlight a few. Power Distance, basically explains how power is distributed in an organization, whether it's centralized at the top, or shared equally. Uncertainty avoidance relates to how certain cultures are more or less risk aversive. Individualistic cultures value the role of the individual to express opinions in an open and direct manner. Collectivistic cultures value the role of groups and personal relationship In Edward T. Hall's high and low context cultures, but the basic concept is how cultures communicate. In high context cultures such as Japan indirect communication is used, whether less information in the message compares to more information. And the message in a low context culture, such as America, where the direct approach is used and everything is spelled out. Graham and Lam used some Chinese cultural concepts in their article, The Chinese Negotiation, which can help us understand not just how important concepts such as Face are in Chinese culture, but all over Asia. These are a few concepts that are chosen, and I will briefly explain them, face refers to how people are viewed by others. For example, it's given or gained when we're praised by a boss in front of the whole company or lost if we're criticized in the same situation. This closely relates to social status, where top decision makers are sent to negotiate to give face and show respect to the other party. Guanxi is Chinese for relationship and emphasizing the importance of developing strong interpersonal relationships. Both holistic thinking and interpersonal harmony are closely related to guanxi. In Asian cultures, maintaining harmony is important. And this system, by developing strong relationships that are long-lasting and long-term. Hence, holistic thinking is where it takes time to develop and nurture business relations, and the concept that nothing is rushed until everything is done. Okay, let's try and apply some of these cultural frameworks in the context of communications, negotiations and ethics. Let's consider using Hofstede's framework in the following situation. British firm sends a young, high performance sales director who's an expert in his field to negotiate a business deal with an Arab firm, and is met with the whole senior management. What are the cultural implications? Well, we can understand this action from the British side, by applying some of Hofstede's cultural dimensions. The British are seen to be individualistic, explaining why they would send a high-tuned individual. Weak power distance may also explain why the firm only sent a sales director instead of a CEO. Perhaps because Decision making power in that firm is distributed more equally. Finally, in British cultures, there's low uncertainty avoidance where risk taking is encouraged. Let's consider the whole senior management of the Arab firm. The culture here is collectivist. There's high power distance and high uncertainty avoidance. You could imagine, perhaps, the Arab firm management might not take the British firm's representative completely seriously. They may need some common ground to be established. Such as, sending the CEO along with this young sales director. With Hall's high and low context cultures, we might consider the negotiation process between an American and Japanese firm, where the American firm might spend weeks using the direct approach trying to get a straight yes or no answer to their business proposal. And the Japanese using indirect communication to deflect the direct questioning approach from the American side. By deliberating and giving answers such as, well, we'll think about it or we need to consult our board. Perhaps the American firm could compromise and be patient and give some space for the Japanese firm to make its decision. Let's look at the Chinese negotiation concepts by exploring the situation where a North European firm's CEO Has visited her business partner in China, and with each visit a gift is given. And the gifts get more extravagant each visit. And it also coincides with more demands from the Chinese side. Well, Is this ethical? If we use the concepts of face, [FOREIGN], and relationships together with holistic thinking, we know from the Chinese side, they're aiming to develop a strong and long-term business relationship. However, the Northern European may feel uncomfortable with this. Ethically and she may feel she needs to accept gifts in exchange for giving the Chinese company more business. In Europe there are strict guidelines for gift giving and this can sometimes be seen as bribery. Perhaps the Chinese side could recognize this and give gifts less extravagant and more subtle. As I mentioned Before, these frameworks help us to understand some cultural differences, but this doesn't mean you can use them in every situation. I hope this video gives you a basic understanding of some cultural frameworks and how they can be applied. I'll leave you with some general tips when considering cross-cultural communication situations. Is important to note that your culture doesn't always apply. Be open and objective and understanding to any cultural situation you experience whether you think it's right or wrong. Thank you very much for watching.
