Globalization has led to an interconnected world, and managers are required to interact and work with people from different cultures. Cross-cultural competence is now recognized as a critical skill required by global managers, and MBA students who aspire to work in other countries need to develop this competence. Intercultural communication skills are an important building block for cross-cultural competence. This articles lists some simple do’s and don’ts for MBAs when they communicate with colleagues, customers, or supervisors from other cultures.
We all know that effective communicators need to be clear and concise. An MBA who is considered a great communicator by his/her friends and colleagues may feel frustrated when someone from another country does not understand what they say. What could be the reasons for this situation? The first reason could be the rate of speech. Indians have a habit of speaking fast, without pauses between words. This makes it difficult for foreigners to understand what an Indian is saying, even if the English spoken is grammatically correct. Second, many Indians have a vernacular accent. So a Bengali may speak English with a Bengali accent and a Tamilian with a Tamilian accent. Sometimes the accent may be so strong that the foreigner may not even know that the Indian is speaking English! Third, Indians use many “Indianisms” that are incomprehensible to a foreigner such as ‘prepone’, “going out of station”, “lakhs”, or “crores.” Slowing down the rate of speech, avoiding the use of “Indianisms” and taking lessons to speak in a neutral accent may help to solve these communication problems.
Communication problems may also occur because of the nature of the conversation. While Indians ask personal questions such as “are you married?”, “do you have children?” to get to know each other, these questions are considered rude in most Western cultures where privacy is valued and professional life and personal life are kept separate. Instead of asking personal questions, it is advisable to talk about neutral topics such as the weather, travel, food, and music. Minding “Ps & Qs” is another important area of attention. In many Indian languages, the word “thank you” is considered formal and not used often in everyday conversation. However, when travelling outside India, it is important to say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ in service encounters such as with cashiers, servers in restaurant, and flight stewards. When asking a stranger a question, it is polite to begin the question with “please”. For example, in France, one says, “S’il vous plait” and in Spanish, “Por Favor” at the beginning of a question. Saying “thank you” (Merci in French, or Gracias in Spanish) when the person responds to you is important, otherwise one can be considered very impolite. Greeting etiquette and non-verbal communication are other important components of cross-cultural competence and will be discussed in the sequel to this article.
Prof. Shobhana Madhavan teaches at the Amrita School of Business. She is a graduate of IIM Ahmedabad and Cornell University. She has lived in the USA for eleven years and has worked in different countries including Vietnam, Laos, and Madagascar. She is the author of “Cross-cultural Management- Concepts and Cases” published by Oxford University Press in 2011. Prof. Shobhana and her team will personally answer your queries here.
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