Intercultural Communication

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to explain the importance of intercultural communication. The term "intercultural communication" is often used to refer to the wide range of communication issues that inevitably arise within an organization composed of individuals from a variety of religious, social, ethnic, and technical backgrounds. Each of these individuals brings a unique set of experiences and values to the workplace, many of which can be traced to the culture in which they grew up and now operate. Businesses that are able to facilitate effective communication, both written and verbal between the members of these various cultural groups will be far better equipped to succeed in the competitive business world than will those organizations that allow internal cultural differences to fester and harden, for such developments inevitably have a negative impact on overall performance.

Two American human resource specialists are interviewing a German man for a managerial position in the American company. The German shakes hands when he is introduced to the interviewers. His handshake is strong and firm. He is dressed very well in a suit and tie and is perfectly groomed, sits very straight in the chair and responds directly, rather bluntly, in fact, to each question that is asked, volunteering nothing more than needed to respond to the question. The German interviewee has excellent eye contact; his eye contact is nearly piercing.

The interviewee discusses his experience in mostly short sentences. Hw elaborates when asked. His English is extremely good but he does have a pronounced German accent. He does not ask any questions during the interview. He also addresses each of the interviewers with "Mr." and their surname. However, the interviewers addressed the German interviewee by his first name.

During the interview, the American interviewers try to inject humor but the interviewee does not seem to get it. One of them reaches over to touch the man's arm and the interviewee seems to back off just a tad.

The American interviewers make some assumptions; all interviewers begin making assumptions very early in the interview. In this case, the interviewers made assumptions before the man entered the room based on what they think they know about Germans. Specifically, they are hard workers and most likely dedicated employees.

At the end of the interview, the American interviewers decide the German interviewee is rather rigid. They think he has no sense of humor and why did he shy away from the one's touch on his arm, anyway? Basically, they decide that the man is not very forthcoming, rigid, reserved and/or inflexible and his communication pattern is more than straightforward, it is blunt. They decide not to offer him the position and they may have made a huge mistake.

The Americans may have drawn a different conclusion if they were really aware of the cultural differences between Germans and Americans. The first place the Americans could have started is with Geert Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions. The remarkable differences between Germany and the United States are illustrated in this table:

PDI IDV MAS UAI LTO

Germany 31 62 61 61 26

U.S. 34 98 59 41 23

The following narrative briefly explains what these mean:

* PDI, Power Distance Index: the degree to which inequality of power exists and the population expects and accepts this (Hofstede, 2009). This score suggests that Germans value a more even distribution of power with opportunities for everyone.

* IDV, Individualism: the degree to which the society values individual achievement versus collective achievement (Hofstede, 2009). Germany's score is higher indicating they value individual achievement but it is not nearly as high as the U.S. This suggests a German interviewee would not necessarily discuss their own achievements as easily as another American.

* MAS, Masculinity: has to do with traditional gender roles, power and control (Hofstede, 2009). The score suggests that males are still dominant in this society. Contrary to what these American interviewers may think, there is more discrimination in the U.S. than in Germany.

* UAI, Uncertainty Avoidance Index: this has to do with the general degree of tolerance the society has for ambiguity and uncertainty as well as openness to different ideas (Hofstede, 2009). Germany's score suggests there is less tolerance for uncertainty. There is a significant difference between the two societies with the U.S. tending to be more open to uncertainty and more open to different opinions.

* LTO, Long-Term Orientation: this dimension relates to the degree to which the society embraces long-term devotion to traditional, forward, thinking values (Hofstede, 2009). A low rank, such as Germany's means the society does not necessarily reinforce traditional organizations and that change may occur quickly.

These interviewers could also have conducted some research about typical German behaviors. Germans tend to be very conservative in their business dress, wearing mostly dark suits with white shirts and ties (Priest, 2008). They tend to think carefully in all their business dealings, really exploring the different approaches to any problem in great detail (Priest, 2008). They do not rely on compliments because they expect everyone to do a good job (Priest, 2008). They perceive business dealings very seriously, thus, they tend to think that humor has no place in business. They also guard their personal space so touching a German on the arm would not be acceptable (Priest, 2008). They are also far more formal in