Culture Key Global Email Communication

DEVELOPING CROSS-CULTURAL COMPETENCE

SAMPLE RESPONSES FROM AUSTRALIAN TEAMS
We are:
1. Punctual
2. Down-to-earth
3. Comfortable with being very direct, disagreements don’t

cause tension
4. Non-hierarchical, it’s not good to stand out too much (‘tall

(p‘toapllppyospypnydsroymnder’o) me’)

We like:
5. To give everybody a fair chance
6. To question authority and to challenge managers
7. To ask questions and to share opinion in a succinct and-

frank way
8. To have strong eye contact
9. To dress and greet each other informally
10. To use slang and shorten words and names

We have:
11. Self-deprecating sense of humor (dry, ironic, self-

mocking), we don’t take ourselves too seriously
Please:
12. Don’t confuse laid back style with laziness
13. Don’t confuse Australians and New Zealanders –

☺especially when talking about rugby and cricket

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INDIRECT AND DIRECT COMMUNICATION

MAIN IDEAS IN BRIEF – INDIRECT AND DIRECT
COMMUNICATION

♦ Generalization: Asians tend to be more indirect than their Western
counterparts:

• Priority for direct communicators: Honesty and Truth
• Priority for indirect communicators: Face and Harmony

♦ Definition:
Indirect communicators:
• Choose carefully when to say what and how in order to maintain
harmony in the group and save people’s face.

Indirect communicators may be perceived by direct people as
indecisive, lacking confidence, incompetent, and even dishonest.

Direct communicators:
• Say exactly what they think and are typically proud of being

honest and straightforward.

Direct communicators may be perceived by indirect people as
rude, arrogant, know-it-alls and bullies.

♦ Face saving: Face saving refers to maintaining one’s reputation,
dignity and self-worth. The face concept is stronger in cultures
where a person’s identity is determined more by belonging to
different groups than by individual characteristics or achievements.

♦ Business applications: The following are sample applications
where being aware of the perceptions of direct and indirect
communication styles is key.

1. Partnerships – trust and credibility
2. Negotiations
3. Recruitment
4. Providing positive and constructive (negative) feedback

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5

SILENCE IN COMMUNICATION

“Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they
have to say something.”
Plato

5.1 GENERALIZATION
Asians tend to be more comfortable with silence than their Western
counterparts.

Comfort with Silence

Comfortable with silence Uncomfortable with silence

Sample cultures Sample cultures
most comfortable most uncomfortable
with silence:
Japanese with silence:
Korean US
Thai
Indonesian Australian
Finnish Latin
Greek

Hungarian

Figure 5.1 Comfort with silence

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