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Problem:
According to Edward Hall, the Japanese have a very high context culture and the
United States has a relatively low context culture. Explain what this means and
offer some possible implications for Americans conducting international business
with the Japanese.
Because
Americans have such a low context culture and the Japanese have a very high one,
it is often difficult for the two countries to communicate. For instance, the
language barrier often comes into play. Quite often in international business
transactions, the Japanese can speak English, but the Americans very rarely are
able to speak Japan’s native language. Learning more than one language is a very
important part of education in most other countries, but the United States does
not typically emphasize such an importance. Thus, when we engage in business
with foreign countries, we tend to be at a disadvantage, particularly if we are
trying to sell products.
Some of the
barriers that we need to overcome seem rather overwhelming. The Japanese tend to
value silence and expect others to be able to interpret their feelings and
exactly what their silence means. For Americans, who are used to expressing
themselves and saying what’s on their mind, not being able to share their
opinions is frustrating. The Japanese do business in a completely different
manner than Americans do. We tend to come across with a dominating attitude,
promoting our product or whatever we’re endorsing emphatically and
enthusiastically. The Japanese find this offensive; it doesn’t fit in with their
culture. We need to be kinder and gentler in our approaches. Also, trust is
another big factor in conducting international business with high context
cultures like Japan.
In another
aspect, Japanese managers tend to be afraid of the market. They are apprehensive
about promoting their companies, while managers in America are aggressive and
have few, if any, qualms about stepping up to the plate to push their products
onto the domestic and global markets.
There are definite differences between high and
low context cultures, such as Japan and America, which are countries on opposite
ends of the spectrum. However, they can overcome their diversity by learning
about the different cultures with which they would conduct business. Since
Japanese managers place so much significance on body language, more so than
verbal communication, we as responsible managers going global with our
businesses need to learn how to effectively communicate so as not to offend
other cultures. |
