Hofstede’s Cultural Dimension Model
Culture, is not just a six letter word but it is a word depicting the way of life for the things which people do in their life. Thus, culture can be defined as the social behaviour and norms which are inherently found and ingrained in the human societies. Culture is a very important learning subject in anthropology which encompasses the entire range of phenomenon which is transmitted through the social learning in human societies (Hollins, 2015). People quite often say that business organizations consistently struggle to accommodate workforce diversity due to high cultural differences. These cultural differences are nothing but basically the upbringing of the person in a society, community and the country, which basically shape the behaviour of the individual. The essay here will carry forward with this discussion and give arguments as to why do people from different cultures have different ways of communication (Baum, 2017). The essay will focus on the Hofstede model of cultural dimension and give a minimum of two communication barriers people encounter while communicating with guest from the Japanese culture. Additionally the essay will also provide at least two do have and Don’ts when professionally communicating with guests from the Japanese culture in the context of listening and responding and online communication.
Cross cultural communication involves focussing on the communication between the two cultures so that it can be compared, and strategies can be created to reduce this cultural difference in order to ensure a good working environment in business organization (Mead & Jones, 2017). Hofstede’s cultural dimension model is one framework which is utilized for analysing the cross cultural communication. The model will give a comparison between the culture of Australia and Japan, which then can be utilized to understand communication barriers and how they can overcome. Both countries are strikingly dissimilar to each other, in terms of the population size, population density, language, eating and drinking habits, working culture and more so. These striking dissimilarities between their cultures are one of the strongest reasons for communication barriers between the two. The figure below will analyse how both these countries flair in accordance to the Hofstede’s cultural dimension model (Kinloch & Metge, 2014).
https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country-comparison/australia,japan/
The Power distance according to the culture dimension model states the extent to which the less powerful members in the organizations or institution accept and expect that the power is distributed unequally. Australia has a power index of 36, which is quite low, it implies that Australia as a country believes in equality in terms of power distribution in government, society and between the individuals. On the contrary, Japan has a high Power index, which implies that the country believes in hierarchy and the concentration of power in the hands of few (Mazanec et. al., 2015).
Communication Barriers in Japanese Culture
One of the communication barriers which people would face while communicating with people from the Japanese culture is the level of respect one demands. For instance, if a person working at an executive position in an organization and the Japanese person is sitting at a higher hierarchy, that person most definitely would not entertain the other person if the other person would like to have an open communication. The individual would most definitely expect to follow the chain of command and communicate accordingly. This is where one of the major cultural difference crops up.
Uncertainty avoidance index is the difference between the two cultures. It is the extent to which a culture programs an individual to feel either comfortable or uncomfortable in unstructured situations. Australia here has a low index at 51, which implies that the country is accepting to the cultural differences of other people and is open to different opinions and beliefs of the people. On the other hand, Japan has a very high index which stands at 92, this implies that Japanese are more anxious and believe that their one right way of doing things, and they are not open to suggestions. They prefer and appreciate a more structured and high level of commitment from the employee and want them to remain loyal to the organization (Saleem & Larimo, 2017).
Australian culture has a high level of individualism which stands at 90; it is the second highest score for any country. At the same time, the index of Japan stands at 51 which is quite moderate. The implication of individualism is the extent to which people are expected to stand for themselves and to choose their own affiliations. They have high affinity towards their rights and achievements. On the other hand Japan is more focussed on group harmony and believes in more of a ‘WE’ culture in comparison to the ‘I ‘ culture of Australia (Triandis, 2018).
Now, another communication barrier can possibly arise because of this dissimilarity can be, for instance, if Australian employees thinks that they are doing a better work than their other team mates then they will be vocal about communicating the same to their Japanese team leader. They would ask for enhanced communication and cooperation and certainly to give them preference over other members of the team. But this would be considered rude to a Japanese individual and the person would totally reject the claim of the Australian counterpart, which will lead to a communication barrier.
Dos and Don’ts when Communicating with Japanese Guests
Japan has a very high score of masculinity which is an indication that the Japanese society is driven by achievement, competition and success and is defined by the winner. This is a practice which is played in the culture starting from school levels. On the other hand, Australia has a moderate index of 61 which shows that it believes more on feelings rather than competition. It is also an indication that in Japan women have to work extremely hard to compete with the men, which is not the case in Australia (Goodrich & DeMooij, 2014).
In terms of long term orientation Japan has a high score of 88 which implies that the culture takes a more practical approach towards things, and they see their lives in a very short moment in the history of the mankind. They are not scared of fatalism and are guided by strong virtues of practical good example. On the other hand, Australia which has a moderate score in long term orientation thinks otherwise.
Based on the understanding of the factors of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, it is evidently clear that Japan and Australia has huge cultural differences and it is only the understanding of the cultural differences which can create co-operation between the individuals of these two countries (Minkov, 2018). It is thus very important to understand the Do’s and don’ts while communicating with a Japanese person in business organization. People have understood even the minutes of differences between the two cultures and are ready to take on this challenge of ensuring good communication with Japanese counterpart. As mentioned in the essay, Japanese people believe in low context, thus they are never direct in their communication. Anything they have to say, they would say it in a subtle manner. Thus, it is highly advised that the person should be really attentive to any instruction passed on to them, because that might lead to a revelation and the person might not be aware of it. Japanese people have a habit of communicating in a subtle manner; this indirect communication may be a big challenge for Australian culture (Seaton & Yamamura, 2018).
Another important consideration while communicating with a person of Japanese origin is that one has to directly reconfirm the instruction which is implied by Japanese individual. Reconfirming the instruction is the best strategy to communicate with the Japanese individual. Another best practice would be to learn at least some of the non-verbal cues, as non-verbal cues are also a part of communication ecosystem.
Conclusion
While communicating with Guest, Japanese are warmer, have humble gestures and a great way to welcome a guest. On the other hand, Australians are not that particular in greeting guests, they have a very casual approach. Exactly the same is reflected in Japanese communication with Guests; they communicate with patience and try to make them feel comfortable. Australians on the other hand, do not show any variance in communicating with guests either, and it is the same communication culture they follow (Jandt, 2017).
While communicating online with the Japanese individual, the first thing is to identify the common ground between both cultures. In case of organization which has a culture of using collaborative communication tools to communicate, communication becomes a lot easier. The Japanese people are very punctual, and if you have asked them to meet you for a meeting at 12, even if you are at 12:01, the person would not respond you on the chat while still being online. Thus, one has to ensure that they are punctual, use appropriate greetings as per the Japanese culture and talking straight away in the right context. Japanese do not have the time or the patience to engage themselves in useless exchanges and want the communication to be exactly on point.
Thus in order to conclude the learning from the assignment, there is a significant difference in the culture of Japan and Australia. This is one of the major reasons for communication barriers between the nationals of these two countries. It is due to the mannerism of the people which accounts for cultural differences. Thus, in order to reduce the conflict in the organization and create an effective communication in the teams it is advised to understand the differences in the culture and communicate accordingly.
References
Baum, W.M., 2017. Understanding behaviorism: Behavior, culture, and evolution. John Wiley & Sons.
Goodrich, K. and De Mooij, M., 2014. How ‘social’are social media? A cross-cultural comparison of online and offline purchase decision influences. Journal of Marketing Communications, 20(1-2), pp.103-116.
Hollins, E.R., 2015. Culture in school learning: Revealing the deep meaning. Routledge.
Kinloch, P. and Metge, J., 2014. Talking past each other: problems of cross cultural communication. Victoria University Press.
Mazanec, J.A., Crotts, J.C., Gursoy, D. and Lu, L., 2015. Homogeneity versus heterogeneity of cultural values: An item-response theoretical approach applying Hofstede’s cultural dimensions in a single nation. Tourism Management, 48, pp.299-304.
Mead, R. and Jones, C.J., 2017. Cross?Cultural Communication. The Blackwell Handbook of Cross?Cultural Management, pp.283-291.
Minkov, M., 2018. A revision of Hofstede’s model of national culture: old evidence and new data from 56 countries. Cross Cultural & Strategic Management, 25(2), pp.231-256.
Saleem, S. and Larimo, J., 2017. Hofstede cultural framework and advertising research: An assessment of the literature. In Advances in Advertising Research (Vol. VII) (pp. 247-263). Springer Gabler, Wiesbaden.
Triandis, H.C., 2018. Individualism and collectivism. Routledge.
Jandt, F.E., 2017. An introduction to intercultural communication: Identities in a global community. Sage Publications.
Seaton, P.A. and Yamamura, T., 2018. Japanese Popular Culture and Contents Tourism. Routledge.
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