Globalization: business definition
free trade and capital flow unhindered by national boundaries (technology, communications, trade, tariffs, migration)
Globalization: technical definition
increasing interdependence among national governments, individual citizens, nonprofit organization, businesses
Culture
- from “cultura” > means to grow and cultivate
- dictates the norms of every group
- accpected and expected ways of behaving and interacting with other people
- has to do with how people solve problems and how they perceive shared values, beliefs, attitues, and behaviors
intercultural
communication exchange between people who are culturally different.
- ability to monitor emotions and behaviors in self and in others.
- focus on the individual
cross-cultural
the comparison between the differences across cultures
international
- effect of increasing globalization
- how people interact from a business or political pov
emotional intelligence
understand what my emotions are and how they might affect my communication
- self-awareness
- other awareness
ideas of suspending judgment + relationship management
cultural intelligence
ability to function skillfully in cultural context different than one’s own
- empathy
ethnocentrism
- one’s culture is better than others
- distance between I/we and they
- blocks process of understanding intercultural differences
- unconscious
ethnicity
describes the ethnic group that people belong to
3 concepts that define my ethnicity:
- heritage: (myth, traditions) shared ancestry;
- ancestry: family tree
- culture: similarity with people based on religion, food, clothes, language, beliefs, attitudes.
Race
refers to the distinction based on physical characteristics
= it is a social construct
Nationality
refers to a person being a member or citizen of a particular nation (can have more than one and can change nationality)
Minority
category of people who are distinguished based on physical or cultural difference, that a society sets apart as subordinate
Mental models
- human nature: biological needs
- culture: attitudes give us something in common with group of others
- personality: personal experiences that make each of us unique
Hofstede’s 6 cultural dimensions
1- power distance
2- individualism
3- uncertainty avoidance
4- masculinity and femininity
5- long-term/short-term
6- indulgence/restraint
1- power distance
the extent to which the less powerful members of a society measure, accept, expect, and justify inequality in society
- best society > stratified > everyone with their role
- lower power distance (Germany > liberty of word, expressing ideas, children expect equality) VS higher power distance (Asian countries > boos is a benevolent autocrat, elderly are respected and revered)
2- Individualism and collectivism
how we tend to interact with others, either in individual (eastern countries) or in collective (China, Portugal, Greece) ways
- if personal interests come first, it means less responsibility for others’ well-being
- educational system individual (personal opinions, debates, friendly teacher-student relationship) VS collective (discipline, lecture-based, hierarchical teacher-student relationship)
3- uncertainty avoidance
how a society tolerates ambiguity
- high uncertainty avoidance > Greece
= uncertainty is threat, dangerous, need for rules and clarity + bureaucracy and resistance to innovation > tradition is preferred
- low uncertainty avoidance > UK, Sweden
= uncertainty is curiosity, essential, autonomy + low bureaucracy and high innovation
4- masculinity and femininity
- masculine cultures (Germany, Japan)
= value competition, success, material gains, distinct gender roles, religion: god is the father - feminine cultures (Scandinavian countries)
= focus on cooperation, personal relationship, more role separation, religion: focus on fellow human beings
5- long-term / short-term orientation
refers to how a society values its traditions and values
- long-term (LTO): past and history important, education, rules, perseverance, respect family, sense of shame = don’t lose face.
- short-term (STO): future important, value on self-realization, respect of self
6- indulgence/restraint
how individuals of a society are taught to control desires and impulses
- indulgence:
= weak control
= societal standards for immediate gratification of basis human needs to enjoy life (Mexico, Sweden, Netherlands, USA) - restraint:
= weak control
= societies believe that people should control their desired through strict social norms (Italy, Japan, France, Germany)
generalizations
GOOD CULTURAL GENERALIZATIONS ARE BASED ON SYSTEMATIC CROSS-CULTURAL RESEARCH
Empathy
- automatic and instinctive process of sensing others’ emotions and allowing it to “resonate” with us
- cognitive process of imagining others’ experience and emotional state
- when one is emotionally connected
- ability to perceive a situation from another person’s perspective without losing one’s own self
Third space
the space where:
- negotiation takes place
- the identity is constructed and re-constructed
- identity is not fixed
- we become our own
