Barriers Expatriates Encounter During Cross-Cultural Interactions

2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (03) ◽  
pp. 239-261
Author(s):  
Wen-Hsiang Lai ◽  
Ching-Wen Yang
Keyword(s):  
Multinational Corporations ◽  
National Culture ◽  
Host Country ◽  
Cultural Adjustment ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Cultural Barriers ◽  
Cultural Issues ◽  
Analytic Hierarchy ◽  
Cross Cultural Communication ◽  
Cultural Interactions

In the era of globalization, cross-cultural issues have been widely discussed. However, research concerning cultural barriers expatriates face in foreign subsidiaries are relatively rare. Hence, the aim of this study is to investigate and prioritize barriers that expatriates encounter during cross-cultural interactions. This study integrates a review of the literatures and experts’ experiences to construct an analytic hierarchy process (AHP) model. AHP questionnaires were distributed to multinational corporations (MNCs) and were analyzed using Expert Choice software. This study finds that national culture bonded barriers are the most critical factors that hinder expatriates’ cross-cultural interactions with the host country. In addition, the sub-factors of ethnocentrism, headquarter strategy and cross-cultural communication are the most important factors within the categories of national culture bonded barriers, organizational barriers and individual rooted barriers, respectively. Finally, this study concludes that because cultural barriers are the main factors causing the failures of expatriates, it is crucial for MNCs to provide their employees with cross-cultural trainings that prepare expatriates’ language and cultural abilities for cross-cultural interactions with the host country and non-work social networks to facilitate the cross-cultural adjustment in MNCs.

scholarly journals Developing Intercultural Competence Through Design Thinking

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (15) ◽  
pp. 9-21
Author(s):  
Tetiana Hantsiuk ◽  
Khrystyna Vintoniv ◽  
Nataliia Opar ◽  
Bohdan Hryvnak
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Competence ◽  
Intercultural Competence ◽  
Design Thinking ◽  
Research Problem ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Cross Cultural Communication ◽  
Intercultural Skills ◽  
Intercultural Interactions ◽  
Development Of Students ◽  
Cultural Interactions

Cultural competence, as the ability to interact effectively with the culturally diverse others, is a key component to your success in the globalized world. Developing cultural competence gives us an insight how to benefit from the diversity within intercultural interactions. Everyone may misinterpret the cultural differences due to the low level of cultural competence. That can influence further cooperation with different cultures. Therefore, it is very important to foster students’ intercultural skills, in particular by using different learning techniques and implementing new ideas into the traditional teaching methods. One of them is design thinking as a practice that encourages collaboration and can help students to manage intercultural challenges. Hence, the research problem for this study is to reveal the correlation between the development of students’ intercultural competence and design thinking method application. The purpose of the study is to summarize and synthesize the research on cross-cultural interactions and design thinking to build a framework that shows how the implementation of the design thinking method into the learning process facilitates the development of students’ intercultural competence. The tasks of the research are:a) to review the main contributions to the field of design thinking by analysing multidisciplinary studies on how design thinking fosters development of variety competences including intercultural competence;b) to design the framework to reveal the correlation between the components of intercultural competence and the stages of design thinking process;c) to observe the changes in the students’ intercultural competence level by analysing learners’ responses to the case of intercultural misunderstanding at the beginning of studying the cross-cultural communication classes and after finishing the course.d) The study uses mixed approaches such as quantitative and qualitative methods, scientific literature studies, intercultural competence assessment, grouping, comparative analysis, synthesis, inductive and deductive methods.The key results are presented in the framework that demonstrates the ways how design thinking method supports the development of intercultural competence. This framework can be used by educators to teach intercultural competence and everyone involved in cross-cultural interactions, and who would like to benefit from the diversity.

scholarly journals MANAGING CROSS-CULTURAL DIFFERENCES IN MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS OF THAILAND

2018 ◽  
pp. 61-72
Author(s):  
Shiva Rajpal ◽  
Irina Onyusheva
Keyword(s):  
Multinational Corporations ◽  
Geographic Region ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Cultural Management ◽  
Cross Cultural Communication ◽  
Cross Cultural Differences ◽  
Political Ideologies ◽  
The World ◽  
Cross Cultural Management ◽  
Global Project

As corporations expand and their business activities increase, their focus is not limited only to the local geographic region but to the world. This, in turn, has led to the emergence of multinational corporations, sometimes called transnational corporations or even global firms. With the advent of new political ideologies, multinational corporations have found their firm footing all around the world. Having a cross-cultural team can help in providing a varied experience and advanced thinking in the establishment of competitive position among organizations. Definitely, there could be some interference in completing projects due to this diversity but the manager should be better equipped to face this challenge so that to avoid and prevent cultural misunderstandings. In this paper we will try to look at some of the theories related to cross-cultural management and some methods such as motivational training of employees dealing with the related issues. The paper shows that global project management can succeed through culturally aware leadership, cross-cultural communication, and mutual respect.

Communication (Intercultural and Multicultural) at Play for Cross Cultural Management within Multinational Corporations (MNCs)

2016 ◽  
pp. 1781-1811
Author(s):  
Ben Tran
Keyword(s):  
Multinational Corporations ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Cultural Communication ◽  
Cultural Management ◽  
Cross Cultural Communication ◽  
General Management ◽  
The World ◽  
Cross Cultural Management ◽  
Foreign Enterprises ◽  
General Communication

With the globalization of economy, multinational corporations (MNCs) and joint ventures are expanding across the world, and China's vast market is attracting more foreign enterprises. Hence, misunderstanding, or even conflicts in employees' communication and cooperation in these cross-cultural enterprises exist more often than not. Compared with the general management activities, cross-cultural communication is more difficult than the general communication. Therefore, how to overcome the barriers in cross-cultural communication and how to achieve effective communication among employees is a common problem of all cross-cultural aMNCs. Hence, the purpose of this chapter is on communication, intercultural communication and multicultural communication in MNCs. The chapter will cover the meaning of multinational corporations, as well as language and diversity, and the roles that language and diversity play in MNCs. The chapter will conclude with factors to be sensitive about when becoming effective cross cultural managers for MNCs.

scholarly journals Cultural adaptation in cross-national buyer-seller relationships

2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 837-857 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gøril Voldnes ◽  
Kjell Grønhaug
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Differences ◽  
Cultural Sensitivity ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Cultural Barriers ◽  
Business Relationships ◽  
Cultural Issues ◽  
Business Managers ◽  
Global Business ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Business Market

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate how buyers and sellers in cross-cultural business relationships manage cultural differences to ensure functional, successful business relationships. Failure to consider specific cultural issues may lead to the failure of business ventures crossing national borders. To succeed in today’s global business market, it is critically important to understand and manage cultural differences. Adapting to each other’s cultures is one way of managing cultural differences between business actors. Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative, explorative approach examining both sides of the exchange dyad was adopted to obtain insight into adaptation as perceived by both buyer and seller. Findings – The results of this study indicate that mainly Norwegian sellers adapt to the Russian culture and way of conducting business. This is explained by power asymmetry between partners, as well as cultural barriers and lack of cultural sensitivity from the Norwegian partners. Still, the business relationships function well. Practical implications – Knowledge of and applying strategies for managing cultural differences should be helpful for business managers engaged or planning to engage in business ventures with Russia and Norway – especially those doing so for the first time. Originality/value – The study provides new and important information about West-East business relationships and how to manage cultural differences in cross-cultural business relationships. The study shows that business relationships can function well in spite of the absence of some factors previously found to have detrimental effects on these relationships. In addition, the study investigates both sides of the buyer-seller dyad, which is a limitation in previous studies of adaptation.

scholarly journals (IR)Reverently Telling the Otherness through Paratextual Narrative

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 7-14
Author(s):  
Nicoleta-Loredana Morosan
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Differences ◽  
Host Country ◽  
Intercultural Competence ◽  
Cultural Intelligence ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Cultural Belonging ◽  
Inherent Component ◽  
Cultural Interactions

Abstract An inherent component of relocation narratives is the description of the protagonists’ process of building up their intercultural competence - whose range will vary from one expatriate narrator to another. Closely connected to all the four types of cultural intelligence (CQ), in general, and to the metacognitive CQ, in particular, the account of the sojourn in foreign lands conjures up a raft of reflections on what exactly gives one the sense of cultural belonging. Noticing the difference, analysing it, integrating or dismissing it are as many steps taken during/after cross-cultural interactions. This paper addresses the verbalisation of the cultural differences in accounts that sometimes embrace and other times reject them, by resorting to risqué language in snide remarks meant to perform an evaluation of the received ideas in relation to both the native and the host country of the expatriate. The corpus examined is the construction of the paratext prefiguring the spot-on satire comprised by the text.

Communication (Intercultural and Multicultural) at Play for Cross Cultural Management within Multinational Corporations (MNCs)

2016 ◽  
pp. 62-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben Tran
Keyword(s):  
Multinational Corporations ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Cultural Communication ◽  
Cultural Management ◽  
Cross Cultural Communication ◽  
General Management ◽  
The World ◽  
Cross Cultural Management ◽  
Foreign Enterprises ◽  
General Communication

With the globalization of economy, multinational corporations (MNCs) and joint ventures are expanding across the world, and China's vast market is attracting more foreign enterprises. Hence, misunderstanding, or even conflicts in employees' communication and cooperation in these cross-cultural enterprises exist more often than not. Compared with the general management activities, cross-cultural communication is more difficult than the general communication. Therefore, how to overcome the barriers in cross-cultural communication and how to achieve effective communication among employees is a common problem of all cross-cultural aMNCs. Hence, the purpose of this chapter is on communication, intercultural communication and multicultural communication in MNCs. The chapter will cover the meaning of multinational corporations, as well as language and diversity, and the roles that language and diversity play in MNCs. The chapter will conclude with factors to be sensitive about when becoming effective cross cultural managers for MNCs.

When does emotional intelligence function better in enhancing expatriates' cross-cultural adjustment? A study of Japanese PCNs in Malaysia

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Marie Arokiasamy ◽  
Soyeon Kim
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Intelligence ◽  
Multinational Corporations ◽  
Cultural Adjustment ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Business Success ◽  
Host Countries ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Expatriate Management ◽  
Positive Effect

PurposeAs globalization expands opportunities for foreign investments, the role of expatriates is becoming important for business success in host countries. Cross-cultural adjustment (CCA) of expatriates is considered significant in determining business success in host countries. This study investigated the issue among Japanese expatriates in Malaysia. The purposes of this study were to unravel the influence of emotional intelligence (EI) on CCA and clarify the facilitating role of cultural intelligence (CI) on the relationship between EI and CCA.Design/methodology/approachA survey was administered to 107 Japanese parent country nationals (PCNs) working at Japanese subsidiaries in Malaysia.FindingsThe findings show that EI positively influences the subdimensions of CCA, namely, CCA–general, CCA–social and CCA–work. A notable finding is that CI facilitates the positive effect of EI on CCA–social.Research implicationsThe findings advance the existing studies on expatriate management by delving into the CCA issue with two culturally distinctive countries that have rarely been studied in this research domain, Japan and Malaysia. This study further contributes to prior studies by clarifying a boundary condition in which EI functions better in enhancing expatriates' CCA.Practical implicationsThe findings provide Japanese multinational corporations (MNCs) valuable directions and strategic ideas in the realm of expatriate management. Such insights can contribute to business success in host countries.Originality/valueDiverting from the conventional West–East approach in expatriate management studies, this study took an East–East orientation and explored the relationships among EI, CI and CCA. By proving that CI stimulates the positive effect of EI on CCA, this study underlines the significantly interactive effects of two distinctive individual capabilities on enhancing expatriates' CCA. It further highlights that CI should take on importance in attempts to understand CCA, even in seemingly culturally similar East–East nations.

scholarly journals The Effectiveness of Xi Jinping’s Metaphorical Discourse in Cross-Cultural Communication

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 1051-1055
Author(s):  
Yanxia Zheng
Keyword(s):  
Political Discourse ◽  
Conceptual Metaphor ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Cultural Barriers ◽  
Cultural Communication ◽  
Conceptual System ◽  
Target Domain ◽  
Cross Cultural Communication ◽  
Mental Mapping ◽  
New Perspective

Metaphor is not only a linguistic and rhetorical phenomenon, but also an important cognitive and thinking mode, which plays an important role in the formation of human conceptual system. Conceptual metaphor theory holds that metaphor is the foundation of human conceptual system and the essence of metaphor is the mental mapping from source domain to target domain on the basis of similarities. In recent years, more and more metaphorical expressions can be found in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s speeches, which have attracted wide attention of the researchers. This paper aims at exploring the effectiveness of Xi Jinping’s metaphorical discourse from the perspective of cross-cultural communication. The study shows that the use of metaphor in political discourse helps to bring about novelty, break cultural barriers, enhance cultural identity, so as to enhance cross-cultural understanding and promote the effectiveness of cross-cultural communication. Conceptual metaphor provides an effective perspective for the study of political discourse, and also provides a new perspective for constructing China’s communication discourse system to the foreign countries in the world.

scholarly journals PROBLEMS OF TRANSLATING SLOGANS CONSIDERING THE ASPECT OF CROSSCULTURAL COMMUNICATION

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (9(77)) ◽  
pp. 212-214
Author(s):  
Nadia Pozhydaieva
Keyword(s):  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Cultural Barriers ◽  
Mutual Understanding ◽  
Cultural Communication ◽  
New Thought ◽  
Dynamic Equivalence ◽  
Cross Cultural Communication ◽  
Thought Patterns ◽  
Crosscultural Communication ◽  
Final Effect

The article tackles the problem of finding translation matches in order to render the idea and save the emotional content of the source advertisement text in the target text, thus preserving its preciseness. It also highlights the aspect of cross-cultural communication involved, which requires on part of its participants realizing inevitable cultural differences and overcoming cultural barriers to achieve mutual understanding and respect. With globalization of all spheres of life it is natural to assume that we are becoming part of world web media which will contribute to forming new thought patterns mainly because more and more bilingual people use English as a second language. Now that this tendency is overwhelming, we can look at the problem of translation anew. Effective cross-cultural communication takes place under the condition that all the communicants possess certain similar thought patterns. If communicants have different thought patterns, it can cause misunderstanding and cross-cultural conflict. So, the mediators in cross-cultural communication have to be not only bi-lingual, but also bi-cultural. The effectiveness of cross-cultural communication can be achieved via equivalent thought and speech patterns. With translation of advertisement texts the principle of dynamic equivalence helps to obtain the most adequate translation where the unity of the form and the content is preserved with the help of text adaptation. The target text creates a certain final effect, which determines the set of lexical, grammatical and stylistic units of the translation language with the translator’s imagination. The article also gives examples of translation of advertising texts that were marked as the best at various advertising festivals. The dynamic development of media linguistics contributes to the research in the sphere of translation of advertising texts.

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