Cultural Knowledge

MA-Thesis / Master von Katharina Pilhofer

Introduction:

Recent global economic developments have led to a shift in focus from the local to the global level and international companies are sending more and more of their employees abroad to take on international assignments. Simultaneously, the interest in inter- and cross-cultural topics has increased in response to the significant changes that have occurred in the context of business operations. One consequence of these changes entails that employees are increasingly exposed to situations where they deal with people of various cultural backgrounds.

Scholars in the field of cross-cultural research have investigated the processes underlying intercultural encounters. They strive to come up with strategies that help dealing with such situations. Authors state that intercultural communication may lead to misunderstandings and miscommunication when people of different cultural backgrounds interact. Miscommunication arises if one is unaware of cultural differences and therefore perceives the counterpart’s perspective to be similar to her/his own. Culture may function as a ‘filter’ when the sender encodes and the receiver decodes a message. Meaning is distorted and interpreted in a wrong way if the filter is not understood.

The common solution suggested by cross-cultural researchers is the accumulation of knowledge on cultural differences. The latter is seen to have an impact on intercultural communication. The knowledge in turn is assumed to make the situation transparent and ‘manageable’. Consequently, the supply of knowledge about cultural differences has grown extensively. Thereby represent cross-national comparisons the most influencing stream that focus on the variation of values across national cultures. The most widely known research on the subject is that of Geert Hofstede where he introduced the concept of ‘cultural dimensions’. In Hofstede’s study, five different cultural dimensions that affect the communicative behaviour of individuals were identified. The popularity of his approach is impressive mainly because it is easily replicated, extended, and confirmed. Hofstede’s research represents the most cited and popular theory when it comes to intercultural differences. However there are two more important scholars in the field: Edward T. Hall and Fons Trompenaars. All three scholars developed cultural dimensions that are supposed to influence the individual in (intercultural) communication. Their research has been identified with the paradigm of ‘structural functionalism’. Structural functionalism emphasizes ‘the view that culture, including the social order, composes a coherent, inclusive system’. Following this definition, a culture is understood as a closed system that shares norms, values and customs with all members of that cultural group. This means that it is possible to observe differences among different cultures.

The acquisition of knowledge as introduced by Hofstede, Hall and Trompenaars mainly takes place in Intercultural Training (ICT). The ‘founder’ and father of the ICT concept, Edward T. Hall, explains its goal:

‘Preparing people for service overseas is to open their eyes and sensitize them to the subtle qualities of behaviour […] that so often build up feelings of frustration and hostility in other people with a different culture. […] We need a frame of reference that will enable us to observe and learn the significance of differences in manners’.

Hall states that ICT aims to prepare people for intercultural settings in order to prevent emotional discomfort. However ICT also serves as a foundation for future success in intercultural environments in order to be competitive in the international market. Cultural knowledge presents the main content taught in ICT.

Cultural knowledge as it is taught in ICT constitutes the main interest of this paper. The expression is therefore used many times. This term is operationally defined in the study as scientific knowledge on cultural dimensions that has an impact on intercultural communication. In this context, it therefore does not pertain to anthropological aspects or ‘do’s and don’ts’ in a foreign culture. It merely represents a comprehension of the most important factors influencing intercultural communication in the business world.

This paper will take a closer look at cultural knowledge as it is used in ICT and critically reflect on the foundations of its conceptualization. I will investigate cultural knowledge in terms of its contribution to the development of intercultural relations based on respect for cultural differences. The use of the word ‘respect’ in this context connotes tolerance for cultural differences. Respect for cultural differences occurs if one is willing to ascribe equal rights to other culturally influenced ways of doing things. Differences are recognized and their freedom is granted.

The idea for this paper was inspired by a lecture on ‘Diversity Management’ at Copenhagen Business School. During this lecture, the students were introduced to the philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas. The lecture made me, the author of this paper, immediately experience an enormous respect and appreciation for his theory. Levinas claims that everybody is radically different and any attempt to comprehend differences will result in a closed system (totality). He argues that ontology cannot account for the otherness of the other person. His main interest concerns the ethical relationship between individuals where otherness is given room. In that way one is able to responsively interact with other individuals without trying to comprehend differences.

Due to the appreciation of Levinas’ theory I started to reflect on cultural knowledge. During my time as a student I was introduced to cultural knowledge researched by Hofstede, Hall and Trompenaars. So far I had always assumed that this knowledge on cultural differences would be enough to develop relations based on respect for cultural differences. However, Levinas introduced me to a different perspective. I started to wonder whether the knowledge I had acquired would actually facilitate – as I had always assumed and was taught by my professors – or rather hinder a relation to members of foreign cultures in a responsible way. Because of this I decided to take a closer look at cultural knowledge as a subject introduced in the university as well as it is taught in ICT. The interest and approach of this paper are hereby outlined in the following section.

Table of Contents:

Text Sample:

Chapter 4, Analysis of Cultural Knowledge:

4.1, HISTORICAL BACKGROUND:

The idea of gaining cultural knowledge is closely linked to the development of ICT. Both did not evolve until after the Second World War. The father of the practice was Edward T. Hall (1914 - 2009) who depicted the term ‘intercultural communication’ in his book ‘The Silent Language’ in 1959. However the first interests in intercultural communication, even though it was not termed as such then, occurred a few years earlier in the Foreign Service Institute of the United States. The institute was concerned about members of the diplomatic corps that were not effective abroad. The reason was not only seen in the lack of language skills but also in the missing knowledge about the culture of the country assigned to. The institute decided to provide language training which was conducted by native speakers in order to make sure the trainees learned the linguistic peculiarities of the language. Hall was part of the team of instructors and initially had the task to teach the corps about the macro-level of culture. However the participants complained about the trainings’ content since a focus on the macro-level of cultures could not tell them how to communicate effectively. Hall learned about the importance not to simply provide information on a macro-level since it did not contain any information about particular characteristics of unfamiliar cultures and missed to teach strategies that help in new situations. The anthropological insights Hall used were too abstract. Consequently he changed his focus to a micro-level and to what is known today as ‘non-verbal communication’. Hall was especially interested in the ‘out-of-awareness’ level of communication and argued that one should pay attention to the subtle aspects of communication. His later book particularly emphasized proxemics (impact of space on communication) and chronemics (impact of time on communication).

The task of teaching American diplomats signified the foundation of the concept of cultural knowledge designed for ICT. It is important to note that the field was founded in the United States and has until today significantly been influenced by Western theories and scholars.

Cultural knowledge distinguishes itself from anthropological knowledge due to its focus on intercultural communication. Hall was the first to develop such knowledge: he focused on (hidden factors of) communication between cultures instead of focusing on one particular culture in its anthropological terms. His cultural dimensions centre on the factors ‘context’, ‘time’ and ‘space’. They are organized in binaries while cultures are understood to tend towards either of the groups. As outlined above, the focus on aspects of the actual communication between cultures was regarded to be more concrete and useful due to its practical character. All this driven by a ‘need’ to ‘function more effectively and sensitively with strange cultures during overseas assignments’.

Thus the main goal of cultural knowledge at that time was to increase effectiveness to accomplish the task or mission Americans were sent overseas for. Today the goal is the same, however the target has shifted from diplomatic corps to business people. Organizational interest in the field has grown due to an increase in failure/ineffectiveness of employees exposed to intercultural settings.

Since the 1960s several techniques for teaching intercultural communication have been developed. Intercultural workshops were conducted at American universities where international students were observed in interactions in order to investigate intercultural encounters. Corporations began to become interested in these trainings when they realized that Americans received negative attitudes abroad. In addition they became aware of the high cost of expatriate turnover in case of failure, which strengthened the interest to implement ICT. Europe developed its interest in the field slowly, starting in the Netherlands where the most popular, cited and applied research of cultural knowledge was conducted. In the next section the most important research in the field will be explained. Thereby I explain the content analyzed in this paper.