Chapter 1: Culture in Business Contexts
Chapter Overview
Chapter 1: Culture in Business Contexts lays the foundation for this text by examining the
questions: As leaders, why should we care about the intersection of culture and business? Why
are globalization and evolving demographics increasingly becoming more complex rather than
simpler? What is culture? How do we identify, let alone define, something so complex and
abstract? These are the key questions we will address in Chapter 1.
LEARNING OBJECTIVE
Understanding the nature of globalization and evolving demographics is critical for global
leaders. You will examine the rationale for culture learning–the cultural imperative of the 21st
KEY TAKEAWAYS
• Become aware of our own attitudes and assumptions about the importance of culture in
leadership.
LEADERSHIP APPLICATIONS
• Technical skills are not the same as interpersonal skills.
INTRODUCTION
The Bill Gates scenario begs the question: Whose rules do we follow?
It has often been said that “When in Rome do as the Romans do.” Discuss who adapts to
whom?
cultivate them. You have to take into account a person’s status, gender, and even religion, all of
which are important.
Why is culture important in business?
Business definition: when technology, communications, trade, tariffs, migration, and labor
markets open up across borders so that free trade and capital flow unhindered by national
boundaries.
The drivers facilitating globalization are:
a) the free movement of goods, services, knowledge, and communication across national
boundaries;
Outcomes of globalization: technology and 24/7 communication
The global village is more than the superficial interaction of a tourist on vacation: it is the
current-day reality of savvy business professionals, community leaders, and people next door
who interact each day with people from all over the world and from a variety of ethnicities and
backgrounds.
A rationale for culture learning
• What is culture
o Some definitions
Culture definition: culture dictates the norms of every group. These norms, or unstated rules,
are the accepted and expected ways of behaving and interacting with other people. But culture
is something what we don’t always see.
In sum, culture consists of a group’s communication patterns; how a group solves problems,
and how a group perceives and passes on its shared values, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors,
including its perception of self, group, environment, authority, and power.
The word culture comes from Latin cultura, which means to grow or to cultivate.
• The closest meaning that the Romans might have attached to our understanding of
group interaction would be humanitas, which was associated with human events and
Definitions of Culture by Key Interculturalists
• Anthropologist Edward T. Hall says culture is about how we communicate, and that it’s
governed by hidden rules (the silent language and hidden dimension), which are
reflected in both language and behavior.
• Dutch interculturalist Fons Trompenaars says that culture is reflected in how a group
approaches problem-solving.
• Sociologist Geert Hofstede argues by analogy that culture implies a kind of collective
“software of the mind,” learned over a lifetime of “programming” the way we do things.
Cultural metaphor:
• Significance
• What we can learn
The theatrical metaphor of “front–stage/backstage” culture is helpful in explaining the elusive
nature of culture.
• When we view a theatrical production, we are merely passive spectators observing the
illusion of real events as portrayed by the actors on stage.
• If we have any curiosity about theatrical workings, we might choose to go backstage
after the curtain call and steal a glimpse of all of the props and mechanical devices that
go unnoticed throughout the production.
Metaphor: a figure of speech that is representative of something else.
• Metaphors help us compare one thing to another—they are figurative comparisons, and
like mental schema, can help us make sense out of something abstract or unfamiliar.
• Metaphors are abundant in human communication exchanges, and we take them for
Metaphors are powerful meaning-making devices and there has actually been a significant
amount of scientific research dedicated to understanding them. We actually use metaphors
more than we realize in our everyday life. Such metaphors are conceptual devices that aid us in
transferring abstract ideas into concrete understandings.
We are told that:
• Metaphors structure thinking.
Culture learning via metaphor: When we encounter something new, unfamiliar, or confusing,
we automatically make assumptions about our experiences by applying them to abstract
concepts. In this sense, metaphors can actually shape our perception and communication. For
example: time is abstract but money is concrete. We understand this intuitively.
• “Time is money.”
Science and Metaphor
• The scientific study of this theory has determined that metaphors are not simply
rhetorical devices but actually conceptual tools that are linked to our thoughts,
perceptions, and understanding.
• Historical foundations of intercultural communication:
o Understanding the field of management’s four legs
▪ Anthropology
• Edward T. Hall
• Defining “intercultural,” “cross-cultural,” and “international.”
• Summary
Management’s Four Legs
• Anthropology is about the study of human nature—both past and present—and it
builds on knowledge from the social, biological, and physical sciences.
Differences between “intercultural,” “cross-cultural,” and “international.”
• Intercultural Communication comes from the social psychological approach and is
about emotional intelligence and cultural intelligence– the ability to monitor emotions
Anthropoligist Edward T. Hall is credited with beginning the field of intercultural
communication.
• Hall was an anthropologist (PhD from Columbia University) who lived in the
multicultural state of New Mexico and worked with the Hopi and Navajo tribes.
• During World War II, he was in charge of an African-American squad in the Philippines
and Europe.
Summary
The shrinking world has become cliché in recent times because the world is not shrinking; it has
already shrunk!
• Because of the ease of travel, communication, and movement of goods, services, and
people, globalization has created the need for better communication across cultures.
Summary Continued
Interculturalist Marshall Singer believes that the goal for intercultural communication is not just
better communication; rather, successful interaction with those who are different comes
through better understanding of the self in relation to others. This is because conflict and
Our goal for this book:
• Is about helping you develop your leadership potential for more successful intercultural
interactions.
• Is a roadmap that you can spread out on your table to study, to contemplate, and to
choose your best route.
We’ll examine the basic foundations of culture learning by looking at culture-general concepts
in order to apply them to culture specific situations. Our aim is to:
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Case: Walmart Germany
Activity: Paddle Sports