Christine Mumo

Analysis/Research Introduction Having general knowledge about China is not enough to warrant business ties with them. An important key to successful cooperation is understanding the many national customs and specificities without which trade negotiations will fail. The Chinese culture, customs, and traditions largely differs from the Czech and European cultures and is reflected in all spheres – verbal, non-verbal, in everyday life and the business world. This thesis will address communication barriers between China and the Czech Republic. It is important to mention that this analysis will be looking on the barriers only from the Czech company’s point of view. Methods Research strategy Qualitative research was adopted since it is suitable especially when it comes to nonquantifiable properties of examined psychological phenomena1. A Thorough examination of one phenomenon in its natural environment and high validity due to lack of standardization is also its main advantage. However, its subjectivity of the researcher, low reliability, poor standardization and unsuitability to generalize the results to other cases means it cannot be used for more purposes.2 About the company This company cooperates with Chinese companies in the plastics industry and operates on the territory of the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Their services include ;implementation and delivery of new injection molding machines, robots, automatization and other auxiliary equipment for molding plastics and warranty and post-warranty service of these devices. The company has three departments which are; the Financial Department, the Sales Department and the Technical Department with communication happening in all departments.3 Data gathering process For the data collection, a semi-structured interview was chosen as the main research strategy. The entire process of gathering data through this method consists of selecting a method, interview preparation, interview process, interview transcript, interview reflection and data analysis.4 The data was gathered from the management of the Czech company. Face-to-face meetings were arranged for data collection. The interview was structured with examples of cultural differences instead of definitions of the barriers as much as possible. The semi-structured interviews were going on in the Czech language and were later on translated by the interviewer. Furthermore, an analysis of documents, e-mail conversations and deconstruction of the meetings held in China will be used as evidence of the communication problems between the Czech company and Chinese companies. 1 2 Miovský, 2006 https://www.kosmas.cz/knihy/126974/kvalitativni-vyzkum/ Hendl 2005 3 http://hph-fine.cz/ 4 (Švaříček a Šeďová, 2007 Target The aim of this thesis is to evaluate effective communication and communication barriers between the Czech company and its Chinese business partners with respect to the intercultural differences of the countries. The application goal of this research is to evaluate the current state and make recommendations that would increase the effectiveness of intercultural business communication. Also, this thesis will serve as a manual of what cultural dimensions need to be taken into account when communicating with Chinese business partners. Analysis In the theoretical part of this thesis was mentioned that this thesis will focus on dimensions by E. T Hall (monochronic and polychronic time, Proxemics, high and low context communication) and G. Hofstede (power distance, individualism versus collectivism, masculinity vs feminity, uncertainty avoidance, long-term versus short-term orientation and indulgence versus restraint). However, some of the barriers will be dealt with much more than others. The reason for this is that this thesis's main aim is to serve the Czech company as a manual. Analysis of barriers by E. T Hall Monochronic and polychronic time From the interview the Czech management keeps time for meetings same with their Chinese partners. As such, meeting delays only occur where the timeline is impossible to keep up. The Czech company agreed that they took time to verify all the information unlike their partners “They tend to jump from one problem to another, and then, later on, they return to the problem in a totally different e-mail conversation with a time delay. (vložit fotku mailu). They also verify all the information a lot." A question was raised on why they tend to verify so much information. The management of the Czech company answered: "We think, that the verifying is both because of the specification of the information and also because they always communicate with their superior and ask them about the next steps." In some cases, the Czech management had a feeling that the verifying serves as a tool to gain time or to postpone a specific business contract, but only with one of the two Chinese business partners. Regarding a question about time commitments and postponing deadlines, there were again some differences between the two Chinese companies. "We think that Chinese businesses do not have a problem with postponing deadlines. They do not see it as big of a deal as we do." From the semi-structured interview and email conversations, time perception is one of the most problematic barriers for the Czech company. Proxemics/Perception of space Territoriality, a basic concept in animal behavior, is usually defined as "behavior by which an organism characterically lays calm to an area and defends it against members of its own species.5 A few individuals are more territorial than others with a more prominent concern for 5 Hall, The Hidden Dimension, p. 7. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/6796/501c87a067e53f7d8e9a9ba5cb4c-.pdf ownership. They look to mark out the zones which are theirs. This is highly influenced by cultural background.6 Individuals with a smaller sense for territoriality have less claim for ownership of space and boundaries are less vital to them. They will not mind sharing their territory. People with low territoriality do not have developed a sense of protecting their possessions (this is often more critical for profoundly territorial individuals). High context is also typical for people with low territoriality.7 The Czech and Chinese partners do not meet very often and because of that, it is very hard to determine any problems. The two parties usually meet only one to two times per year. From the Czech side, there are no problems with personal space. "We do not have any problems with handshakes or disruption of our personal space. On the other hand, on the meetings we can see that our Chinese partners are not used to handshakes. They usually bow and make short eye contact. But they know that in Europe, handshakes are standard procedure, so they accept it." Due to lack of personal contact, perception of space is not a problem in this case. Communication of high context and low context As it was already mentioned in the theoretical part, there are countries of low and high context, which is reflected in the style of communication. China is considered as a high context culture which means in order to understand their reaction, it’s better to understand their culture first. A high context culture is one whereby individuals do not communicate in a straight forward manner. Communication in high context countries is regularly indirect and requires a profound understanding of the social setting in order to be able to appropriately decipher what others are saying and doing. This is often particularly genuine of situations that might include outrage, confrontation, or disagreement. On experience, the Czech management team agreed that there are big differences between the two Chinese partners. "With one business partner, conversations are very clear, factual and understandable. At the beginning of our cooperation, they sometimes acted like they understood everything, even though it was clear they had no idea what we want from them and it caused a lot of misunderstandings. But later on, this problem got a lot better. On the other hand, with our second business partner, we often get into situations where we are not sure if they understand us. They will smile and act like everything is clear but when we ask them about some details, they are not able to answer our questions. Another problem is that from time to time, they pretend that they will consider our requirements or proposals, even though they know from the beginning that they will not even consider it. An example of this happened to us when we asked them about repayment from the previous contract. At first, they said they will repay us full amount of the money, the next day they said that their company policy does not allow this kind of compensation." Analysis of barriers by G. Hofstede 6 7 http://changingminds.org/explanations/culture/hall_culture.htm http://changingminds.org/explanations/culture/hall_culture.htm Power distance This dimension shows to what extent the culture accepts unequal power conditions. In cultures with a high margin of power, its members consider inequality a natural and unproblematic issue, leading to the formation of impenetrable hierarchical systems.8 Chinese culture is characterized by a paternalistic mentality as well as a gap between the lower and upper classes not only in terms of the class separation but socially as well. The business environment in China is circumscribed with these divisions. Subsequently, China can be seen as a nation with huge control distance as compared to the West where there is a small power distance. The hierarchical nature of Chinese society implies that these viewpoints pervade the business world as well and it is common for the workers at the lower levels to embrace progressive communication with their superiors. This implies that the workers would communicate with their superiors in such a way that even if they do not agree with what their superiors are saying, they would go alongside them since that is their inherent nature -to be subservient and respectful of authority. Thus the control relations in Chinese business and culture are characterized by large power distance.9 The Czech Republic is a hierarchical society with people accepting their position but willing to cooperate. "In our company, the relationships are based on trust in employees. Besides finances and other strictly executive tasks, all consultations are done with all members that will be incorporated”. When it comes to our Chinese business partners we can clearly see the difference between management of the company and their employees. For example, a subordinate cannot address anyone in the presence of the boss. We think that people in China have the mentality that anyone could replace them." Since this barrier applies more to internal relationships within companies and not external it is hard to compare this barrier. Individualism versus collectivism This dimension relates to the degree with which a society focuses on the relationship of the individual to the group. Business in China tends to favour the collective above the individual and Chinese people feel as part of something bigger than them. This aspect is reinforced by the behaviour of the Chinese who favour familial relationships over individual based friendships and the importance placed on loyalty to a group as opposed to an individualistic conception. This means that suppliers and partners have longer and established relationships with companies. This emphasis on loyalty and a network of ties that resembles collectivist tendencies means that there is a low score for the Individualism Dimension in China.10 The management of the Czech company on the other is more individualist than collectivist. "I feel like a part of a team but mainly I mind my own business. If there is a task that has to be done I will do it and I do not expect help with my own responsibilities. Encouragement of debate and expression of people's own ideas is essential in our company. With our Chinese business partners, we see differences in their communication. Everything that they do they tend 8 https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country-comparison/the-usa/ https://www.managementstudyguide.com/hofstedes-cultural-framework-as-applied-to-china.htm 10 https://www.managementstudyguide.com/hofstedes-cultural-framework-as-applied-to-china.htm, https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country-comparison/the-usa/ 9 to discuss. They also do not show any emotions. They smile all the time so we do not have any idea what they think." Masculinity versus feminity This dimension refers to the way in which society views the masculine model of work that has been related to traditionalism. This dimension may be a bit precarious in the case of China as the society is paternalistic in nature. On the contrary, there are a few women in business and commerce and usually one dimension that can be said to be closely adjusted with the West where women are treated at par with men. It can be said that the emphasis of the adjusting viewpoints of Yin and Yang or the masculine and the feminine in Chinese culture has implied that numerous gender generalizations and biases are missing in China. Consequently, China scores similarly with the West in this measurement.11 Whereas the Czech Republic had measured values somewhere within the centre and does not incline towards masculinity or feminity. I think that in case there was a woman within the Czech management group, this measurement could have been more exhibited. "We think that the gender issue is much more deeply dealt with here in the Czech Republic, but even here it got a lot better in the last 10 years, for Chinese people this is different. Five out of six managers we dealt with were women." Uncertainty avoidance This dimension expresses to what extent unclear and ambiguous situations give rise to uncertainty and concern in a given culture. As with the previous dimension, the positioning for this aspect of the system for China is misdirecting. Nations with low uncertainty avoidance tend to be those where individuals are generally free and subsequently endure uncertainty and ambiguity in the working environment. Further, a low score demonstrates that individuals are not controlled to a large degree. In any case, this can be not the case with China where (despite the economy opening up) where people are controlled to a huge degree. This can be because of the solid cultural acknowledgment of similarity and subsequently in spite of the fact that one might not be tossed in jail for breaking a law, the cultural viewpoint of “losing face” implies that individuals tend to obey the laws and rules.12 Within the Czech Republic individuals want to be in control. This explains why they are intolerant of strange conduct and concepts. Individuals want to feel busy and work hard, be accurate and reliable. Development may be stood up to but security is critical. "Compliance is very important. If you don't follow the rules, you cannot do business. With our Chinese business partner, we have a problem with their ambiguous approach to problems. For example their sense of urgency is not very high." Long versus short term orientation Cultures with a strong long-term orientation are influenced by old traditions up to the present. Stable and binding social structures that persist for generations are difficult to change. Conversely, cultures with a weak long-term orientation perceive traditions rather nostalgically, 11 12 https://www.managementstudyguide.com/hofstedes-cultural-framework-as-applied-to-china.htm https://www.managementstudyguide.com/hofstedes-cultural-framework-as-applied-to-china.htm and what happens today may be irrelevant tomorrow. In such cultures, according to Hofstede, changes can be made simply because social conditions are relatively unstable.13 In this dimension, however, the question is to what extent this orientation is influenced by national culture and by the organization itself. If the company has long-term goals, it will require its employees to do the same. The Chinese ordinarily have a longer-term orientation which suggests that they would think over a longer-term instead of a brief-term premise. The nature of doing business in China is such that things take a longer time to complete and thus Western businesses need to budget for this appropriately. Of course, this does not mean that the Chinese cannot finish things quickly. What this implies is that for this dimension, the Chinese culture and business can be said to be affected with a longer-term point of view that permits surmounting impediments and challenges over a period of time instead of being in a rush to urge things to be done.14 "We try to be both long and short term oriented, but if we should compare our company to our Chinese business partners, we are definitely short- term oriented compared to them. When we meet there is always a discussion about our long-term plans. On the other hand, we have seen that if a Chinese company does not like cooperation, they will end the relationship instantly." Indulgence versus restraint This dimension is defined as the extent to which people try to control their desires and impulses, based on the way they were raised. Relatively weak control is called “Indulgence” and relatively strong control is called “Restraint”. Cultures can, therefore, be described as Indulgent or Restrained.15 The Chinese can be said to be on the restricted or the less forceful side as the culture does not empower obvious displays of aggression. Further, the Chinese do not show the normal gender gap or the contrast in men and women to the degree which other nations within the Asian region tend to show. In any case, the Chinese society isn't as open as the nations in the West and thus, on this dimension, the Chinese tend to score neither to indulgence or restraint pole.16 Czechs are not indulgent and tend to negativity and cynicism. They don't emphasize relaxation time and the delight of wants. Individuals are controlled by social standards and indulging is seen as off-base.17 This dimension turned out to be the least problematic one. Language barrier Language is a barrier according to the Czech management team. Language is needed for any kind of communication, even people with speech impairments communicate with sign language and brail. Language barriers are the most common communication barriers that cause 13 NOVÝ, Ivan a SCHROLL-MACHL, Sylvia. Interkulturní komunikace v řízení a podnikání. Praha: Management Press, 1999, s 23-24 14 https://www.managementstudyguide.com/hofstedes-cultural-framework-as-applied-to-china.htm 15 16 https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country-comparison/china,czech-republic https://www.managementstudyguide.com/hofstedes-cultural-framework-as-applied-to-china.htm 17 https://is.muni.cz/do/cjv/impact/archiv/ka2/en/-/um/Geert_Hofstede_6D_C_ultural_Dimensions_M odel_CR.pdf misinterpretations and misunderstandings between business partners. Most of the people in the world do not speak English or, even if they do, it is not their native language. Failure to communicate in a language that the other party understands is ineffective.18 According to theory/ according to interview V zaveru vyhodnocení každé te bariery zmínit jak to ovlivní obě strany, a hlavne například power distance jak se dívat na to že to někdo ma jinak a jak s tím pracovat 18 https://www.businesstopia.net/communication/language-barriers