HOW TO MEASURE CULTURE?

March 6th 2015

In my 4th class of intercultural management we disused a very interesting and controversial topic, why is it controversial? Because it has a lot of topics and approaches to get into account before arrive to a conclusion and those conclusions can vary depends on the culture and the way people see things.

The first approach or topic that we have to take into account is the barrier on language, how language can affect our relations, business and mostly important the communication by itself across countries and cultures, according to Heiko ''If you don’t speak the same language, effective work and communication are close to impossible (without translator)''. This is in a way true, but we cannot forget that there are a lot of ways to communicate, for example the non-verbal communication, is not as effective as the verbal communication but we can get us understand by symbols and signs, also we can take into account that the language is constantly evolving, there is Jargon that according to the Merriam Webster dictionary can be define ''as the specific language used for a particular activity or by a particular group of people'', also there is Argot that according to the same source is ''the language used by a particular type or group of people'' as well as Acronyms that are the contraction of a word for example World Trade Organization, the acronym would be WTO.

After this our professor gave us an example of how difficult would be doing a basic activity (ordering food in a restaurant) if we do not know the language, and I know that this has happened to all of us.

Knowing this we asked ourselves, how do we measure culture? There are a lot of possibilities and methods to measure this but Heiko explained to us the the most efficient, easy and faster way was asking and doing surveys, because with this we can gather information to further analysis.

On the second part of the class, Heiko introduced us Gerard Hofstede, his real name is Gerard Hendrik Hofstede, but he is better known as ''Greet'' Hofstede. He was born in Haarlem (Netherlands) the 2nd of October 1928. He is a social psychologist and an anthropologist, his main study is the cultural dimension theory. This theory has five dimensions, Individualism, Masculinity, Long Term Orientation, Uncertainty avoidance and Power Distance and according to Hofstede, with these tools we can measure culture but it is necessary to do surveys to get into a conclusion.

It was very interesting the fact that in Colombia those measures have been applied also that we already know the score that Colombians have in each one.

• -          Individualism: ‘‘Individualism stands for a society in which the ties between individuals are loose: Everyone is expected to look after him/herself and her/his immediate family only.

Collectivism clearly is one of the characteristics that Colombians have and this is why the people is kind and helpful, Colombians like to help others and they have the thought that as more people doing something better is the result.

Colombians always say ‘‘Dos cabezas piensan más que una’’ in English ‘‘Two heads think more than one’’.

According to Hofstede Colombia has a Score of 13 being one of the more collectivistic country of the world

• -          Uncertainty avoidance: “The extent to which the members of a culture feel threatened by uncertain or unknown situations.” (Knapp, 2011)

Colombia has a score of 80 which means that Colombians are afraid of not knowing what is going to happen in the future. From my point of view this fact is more on the side of the nervousness of the change. Colombians do not like to have changes in their life too often, they are afraid to have something unusual happening.

• -          Masculinity: ‘‘Masculinity stands for a society in which social gender roles are clearly distinct: Men are supposed to be assertive, tough and focused on material success; women are supposed to be more modest, tender, and concerned with the quality of life’’. (Hofstede, 2001)
• -          Femininity: ‘’Stands for a society in which social gender roles overlap: Both men and women are supposed to be modest, tender, and concerned with the quality of life.” (Hofstede, 2001)

Colombia has a score of 64; it is a high score which means that in Colombia men has a more success in everything that they do, and women tend to be quiet and do everything tan men say.

I think that this has changed; nowadays woman has a very important role within society in terms of leading important economic, social and political projects.

• -          Long term orientation: ‘‘Stands for the fostering of virtues oriented towards future rewards, in particular, perseverance and thrift. Its opposite pole’’(Hofstede, 2001)
• -          Short term orientation: ‘‘Stands for the fostering of virtues related to the past and present, in particular, respect for tradition, preservation of “face” and fulfilling social obligations.” (Hofstede, 2001)

In this dimension Colombia scored 13 which mean that is more directed to the long term orientation, Colombians are very concern in terms of traditions and norms, they follow them as the absolute truth.

• -          Power Distance: “The extent to which the less powerful members of institutions and organizations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequally. ’’ (Hofstede, 2001)

Colombia has a score of 67 which means that the differences between social classes are abysmal, as well as the differences between employee and boss, ruler and citizen and we can see this in terms on the economic differences.

QUESTION!!!

How can we eliminate language barriers in business?

With the globalization the world has been closer and for instance the transportation has made easier the communication between countries, however people from all around the world do not speak the same language, although the international tongue is English people always think that is better to speak in their mother language, making communication and business cross borders harder.

With all this globalization the language barriers can create misunderstandings, but according to (Kate, 2007) ‘‘Language barriers are a common challenge in international business settings—and a two-way process. What native speakers often don't realize is that frequently it is not the other person's accent but their own way of speaking that creates the greatest barriers to effective communication. Use the strategies below to ensure you're not putting up your own roadblocks to effective international communication.’’  

There are some specific ways and steps to reduce these barriers.

• 1     Speak slowly and clearly
• 2     Ask for clarification
• 3     Frequently check for understanding
• 4     Avoid idioms
• 5     Be careful of jargon
• 6     Define the basics of business
• 7     Be specific
• 8     Choose your medium of communication effectively
• 9     Provide information via multiple channels (non-verbal communication)
• 10  Be patient

From my point of view I think that always is going to exist barriers in communication because basically there are a lot of languages and this is going to cause misunderstandings but there are some ways to reduce this problems across borders.

-          Knapp, M., & Daly, J. (2011). Intercultural Prespectives. In The SAGE Handbook of Interpersonal Communication (Fourth ed., p. 800). SAGE.

-          Hofstede, G. (2001). Masculinity and Femininity. In Culture's Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions and Organizations Across Nations (Second ed., p. 596). SAGE.

-          Dictionary (Def. 1). (n.d). In Merriam webster online, Retrieved February 19, 2015, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/jargon

-          Dictionary (Def. 1). (n.d). In Merriam webster online, Retrieved February 19, 2015, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/argot

-          Berardo, K. (2007, January 1). 10 Strategies for Overcoming Language Barriers. Retrieved March 6, 2015, from http://www.culturosity.com/pdfs/10 Strategies for Overcoming Language Barriers.pdf