Business Communication Report: Cross-Cultural IT Business Deal

This report delves into the complexities of business communication, particularly within the context of international and cross-cultural IT business deals. It begins by outlining the significant impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on negotiation processes, highlighting the shift towards virtual platforms and the challenges associated with maintaining credibility and facilitating open discussions. The report then connects these issues to classical cultural barriers theory, elaborating on elements such as language differences, stereotypes, symbols, behaviors, and power dynamics. It further illustrates these concepts with examples from companies like Coca-Cola and Unilever, showcasing their strategies for addressing cultural nuances. The report concludes with actionable recommendations for successful negotiations, including detailed agenda planning, stakeholder involvement, and the utilization of technology. The report emphasizes the importance of considering cultural differences to achieve optimal outcomes in cross-cultural teams and negotiations.

UNIT TITLE: BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
UNIT NO:
STUDENT NAME:
STUDENT ID
BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Detailed background of the issues related to communicating during a pandemic..........................4
LINK TO THEORIES.....................................................................................................................5
Example solution from different companies....................................................................................9
Recommendation solution.............................................................................................................10
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................11
Reference.......................................................................................................................................11
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Introduction
The success of a business depends on effective business negotiations. So, organizations attempt
to negotiate for the optimal solutions by minimizing conflict. The selected topic is “Negotiating
an international and cross-cultural IT business deal”. Potential challenges in international and
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cross-culture business negotiation will be addressed and explained and related theories will of
business communication also be explained. In international business negotiations, cultural
differences are inevitable between negotiators from different countries. So, the cultural aspect of
negotiation significantly affects the amount of time for preparation and planning (Betancourt, et
al., 2019).
Detailed background of the issues related to communicating during
a pandemic
The covid pandemic has changed the shape of the business process. Whether a manufacturer
looking to sign a new supplier agreement, a tech company trying to close big commercial
contact, the covid-19 pandemic has changed the way companies should negotiate (Caputo et al.,
2019). Negotiation during the Covid-19 pandemic is taking place with the international teams
through different media like Google Meet, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Cisco Webex. The
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organization faces the challenges of ensuring Credibility, getting the right picture of ideas, and
open discussion on the virtual platform. Adequate technical support is required to conduct the
uninterrupted discussion.
LINK TO THEORIES
The selected topic of this presentation can be associated with the classical cultural barriers
theory. Cultural barriers imply those elements that can impede progress in communication, work
completion, and connecting with people (Guffey, et al.,2021). Broadly, when people of different
cultures are unable to understand each other’s customers, resulting inconveniences and
difficulties. In international business, the business managers put more emphasis to address the
cultural differences and implementing strategies to comply with the differences (Locker, et al.,
2014). The cultural barriers are as follow:
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Language:
Speaking in different languages can cause various misunderstandings and identified the most
crucial barrier in cross-cultural communication(Guffey, et al.,2021). Both in a negotiation must
have to address the issue and need to make a plan to resolve it.
Stereotypes & Prejudices:
Stereotypes are the most negative perception and preconceived notions about a specific
community, group, or culture (Locker, et al., 2014). For example, All germans are punctual and
very direct and all Asians are good at math. This concept creates prejudice among people of
different cultures and leads to make judgemental attitude.
Sign & Symbols:
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Signs and symbols differ from culture to culture and can not be relied upon in communication.
For example, the “thumbs up”, known in the western world as a sign of approval, is seen as an
insult in other countries.
Behaviors and Belief :
Behavioral and personality differences like body language, gestures, mindset, communication,
manners, and norms can be different to a culture which may lead to miscommunication.
Ethnocentrism:
A person’s standard is his or her own culture, the more a person’s behavior, language, and
beliefs deviate from it, the more other they are labeled. This might cause the misunderstanding of
a message and create hostility.
Power Distance:
Power distance is associated with requesr or non request of inequality in society and also
indicates the dependency level (Betancourt, et al., 2019). This dimension shows how many people
recognize hiarchy within power in an organization.
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Individual/Collectivism:
This dimension shows ambiguity, a lack of tolerance, and the need for formal rules. The
dimension deals with individualism and collectivism which can be observed within a nation.
Individualism pertains to societies in which the ties between individuals are loose (Rojo,et al.,
2020). Collectivism as its opposite pertains to societies in which people from birth onward are
integrated with strong, cohesive ingroups.
Masculinity/ Femininity:
A masculine society indicates a cleasr differentiation of roles takes place. Men are considered to
be achivedment oriented and women are awarded good other skills. On the other hand, feminine
societies involve no differentiation roles regarding sex.
Uncertainty Avoidance:
There are societies where the tendency toward taking is low and in some societies the tendency is
high. Countries with a high score on the uncertainty avoidance index tend to implement tight
norm and control systems in private and professional life (Rojo, et al., 2020).
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Example solution from different companies
Companies in the world are taking an innovative approach to address the cultural difference to
facilitate their business process and negiatiote with their stakeholders.
Coca-Cola has identified the monochromic cultural differences in America, Canada, and
Germany and plans for the schedules, meeting with addressing the issue. Coca-Cola manager call
their Japanese dealer by name to create friendliness environment (Caputo et al., 2019).
North Americans prefer at least two feet of distance. Eye-contact- in the USA, Canada, and
Arab eye contact indicates the trustworthiness of foreign relations. So, Unilever's manager makes
sure the eye contact with their traders while business negotiation.
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Recommendation solution
Despite all the challenges in cultural barriers, organizations around the globe have aceived
success in dealing with cross-culture teams and stakeholders. The following suggestions can be
followed to deal with issues of negotiations during the pandemic:-
- Planning a detailed agenda before the discussion
- Inviting multiple stakeholders for the negotiations
- Test-driving remote video technology
- Starting with a personal check-in
- Setting up back-channel communication
- Considering the privacy of the parties
- Creating breakout rooms during breaks
- Sending a summary of the session
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Conclusion
Organizations can get the maximum results if they use the negotiations techniques effectively
and as well as if they consider the cultural differences in dealing with cross-culture teams to
negotiate.
Organizations like Coca-cola, Unilever are fairly aware of the cultural differences and they have
been practicing the techniques to overcome the hurdles during negotiations.
Reference
Locker, K.O. and Kaczmarek, S.K., 2014. Business communication: Building critical skills. McGraw-Hill
Education.
Guffey, M.E. and Loewy, D., 2021. Business communication: Process & product. Cengage Learning.
Caputo, A., Ayoko, O.B., Amoo, N. and Menke, C., 2019. The relationship between cultural values,
cultural intelligence and negotiation styles. Journal of Business Research, 99, pp.23-36.
Betancourt, J.R., Green, A.R. and Carrillo, J.E., 2019. Cross-cultural care and
communication. UpToDate, Waltham, MA Accessed, 7.
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Rojo, J., Everett, B., Ramjan, L.M., Hunt, L. and Salamonson, Y., 2020. Hofstede's cultural dimensions as
the explanatory framework for performance issues during clinical placement: A mixed methods
study. Nurse education today, 94, p.104581.
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