Prominence

Table of Contents

1. IDENTITY MAPPING
2. LAYERS OF CULTURE
3. PROVERBS AND CULTURE
4. ERIN MEYER CULTURE MAP
5. THE LEWIS MODEL
6. GLOBALISATION AND CULTURAL DIFFERENCES
7. National Culture Influences corporate culture

1. IDENTITY MAPPING

The Identity Negotiation Theory by Stella Ting-Toomey (1999) claims that individuals in all cultures desire to be competent communicators in a diverse range of interactive situations. The identity negotiation perspective emphasises eight identity domains in influencing an individual’s everyday interactions. The first four identity domains (cultural, ethnic, gender, and personal identities) are viewed as primary identities that exert an ongoing impact throughout our lives. The other four identity domains (role, relational, facework, and symbolic interaction identities) are situational identities and changeable from one situation to the next.

Identity negotiation in intercultural communication refers to the affirmation of identities individuals want others to recognise in them and the ascription of identities individuals assign to each other in intercultural encounters.

2. LAYERS OF CULTURE

Layers of culture show the degree of visibility of the cultural phenomenon in a particular situation. Culture is often compared to an iceberg which has both visible (explicit) and invisible (implicit) parts (E. T. Hall, 1976). Explicit culture includes man- made material objects, symbols, heroes, rituals and etiquette, practices, habits, behaviour. Implicit culture includes norms, values and preferences, beliefs, and assumptions.

3. PROVERBS AND CULTURE

In nearly every culture, proverbs, communicated in colourful and vivid language, offer an important set of instructions for members to follow. Proverbs are short statements which encapsulate some of the key conceptions of common sense in different cultures and provide delicate insight into national assumptions and values.

4. ERIN MEYER CULTURE MAP

Erin Meyer’s (2014) book provides a brilliant guide to what all business leaders need to know in order to succeed in managing across the diverse cultural contexts of today’s workplace.Erin Meyer (2014) makes a distinction between two forms of trust: cognitive trust and affective trust.Cognitive trust is built through business interactions; whereas affective trust emerges from feelings of emotional closeness, empathy, or friendship. On the Trusting Scale, countries are rated from high-task based to high-relationship-based cultures.

5. THE LEWIS MODEL

The Lewis Model is rooted in Edward T. Hall’s concepts of monochronic (attending to one thing at a time) and polychronic (attending to multiple things at the same time) cultures. Richard Lewis expanded these concepts to the broader ones of linear-active and multi-active, then added the new concept of reactive. Linear-active people are introvert, patient, mind their own business, like privacy, plan ahead methodologically, work fixed hours. They are dominated by timetables, get information from reference books, respect officialdom, separate the social from professional. Multi-active cultures are extrovert, talkative, do several things at once, work any hours. They change plans, are people-oriented and emotional, have unrestricted body language, interrupt frequently. Reactive cultures are introvert, patient, respectful, punctual, and work at flexible hours. They are people-oriented, protect the face of others, have a subtle body language, connect the social and professional.

6. GLOBALISATION AND CULTURAL DIFFERENCES

The GLOBE project represents results from a twenty-year research program linking culture, leadership, and organisational effectiveness. GLOBE researchers conceptualised nine cultural dimensions, paying attention to Hofstede (1980), Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner (1997), and Inglehart, Basanet and Moreno (1998). The nine cultural dimensions include performance orientation, assertiveness, future orientation, humane orientation, institutional collectivism, in-group collectivism, gender egalitarianism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance.

7. National Culture Influences corporate culture

Fish Can’t See Water by Hammerich and Lewis (2013) offers a fresh approach to the effects of national culture on organisational culture that is applicable to any country in any region. It examines companies as such Toyota, Samsung, General Motors, Nokia, Walmart, Kone and British Leyland. It describes the origins and nature of the most common corporate crisis and how culture impacts the response to such a crisis.

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