Improving the efficiency of intercultural business communication

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The article is devoted to the development of approaches to the improvement of the efficiency of intercultural business communication, which requires a focus on the characteristics of speech that are intended to impress the participants in communication.

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International Journal of Management Volume 11, Issue 05, May 2020, pp. 01-08. Article ID: IJM_11_05_001 Available online at http://www.iaeme.com/ijm/issues.asp?JType=IJM&VType=11&IType=5 Journal Impact Factor (2020): 10.1471 (Calculated by GISI) www.jifactor.com ISSN Print: 0976-6502 and ISSN Online: 0976-6510 DOI: 10.34218/IJM.11.5.2020.001 © IAEME Publication Scopus Indexed IMPROVING THE EFFICIENCY OF INTERCULTURAL BUSINESS COMMUNICATION Svetlana Nikolaevna Kurbakova Russian State Social University, V. Pika Street, 4/1, Moscow, 129226, Russia Rustam Abukarovich Archakov Russian State Social University, V. Pika Street, 4/1, Moscow, 129226, Russia Evgeny Gennadyevich Kondratyev Russian State Social University, V. Pika Street, 4/1, Moscow, 129226, Russia Tatiana Sergeevna Markova Russian State Social University, V. Pika Street, 4/1, Moscow, 129226, Russia Olga Alecseevna Kuzminova Russian Customs Academy, 4 Komsomolsky Avenue, Lyubertsy, 140000, Russia ABSTRACT The article is devoted to the development of approaches to the improvement of the efficiency of intercultural business communication, which requires a focus on the characteristics of speech that are intended to impress the participants in communication. It is possible to use stylistic methods in negotiations to attract the attention of the audience with expressive means of speech. The language of various genres of intercultural business communication is also of particular importance because of the stereotypical nature of the communication situations, in which it is used. It represents, in this sense, an example of the formal use of language units. Various cultural systems contribute to the development of specific negotiating styles, such as the style of national culture, history, and politics, influenced by three main factors: national, organizational, and professional culture. All these factors determine, to some extent, the choice of linguistic and speech means. Keywords: efficiency, business communication, globalization, culture, politics, traditions, cooperation, negotiations, communication http://www.iaeme.com/IJM/index.asp 1 editor@iaeme.com
Improving the Efficiency of Intercultural Business Communication Cite this Article: Svetlana Nikolaevna Kurbakova, Rustam Abukarovich Archakov, Evgeny Gennadyevich Kondratyev, Tatiana Sergeevna Markova and Olga Alecseevna Kuzminova, Improving the Efficiency of Intercultural Business Communication, International Journal of Management, 11 (5), 2020, pp. 01-08. http://www.iaeme.com/IJM/issues.asp?JType=IJM&VType=11&IType=5 1. INTRODUCTION Politicians, civil servants, business people, researchers, and representatives of various professions have recently been actively cooperating with their colleagues from other countries. The rapid internationalization of the Russian economy, its globalization, and new electronic means of communication lead to a significant expansion of international contacts, the emergence of numerous joint projects, and close interactions between representatives of administrative and business circles of different countries and continents. Even good knowledge of a foreign language is not enough for effective communication with its native speakers. Each nation has its traditions of communication, expressed in rituals, behavior, gestures, facial expressions, movements, and ways of thinking. Therefore, at a business meeting, representatives of different cultures act in accordance with their cultural norms and mentality associated with a particular nation, ethnic group, class, social group, religious denomination, and professional community. This creates sociocultural differences that can cause significant difficulties in the process of communication. If interacting people have similar social characteristics and, therefore, social experience (belonging to one state, one race, one gender, one age, and one profession), then this greatly facilitates their mutual understanding in the process of communication. On the contrary, if interacting people have different social characteristics and social experiences (belonging to different families, states, races, genders, ages, professions), their mutual understanding can be significantly complicated. The study of issues related to intercultural business communication is reflected in the works of D.A. Atyaksheva (2018), N.R. Balynskaya (2017), N.S. Gorbatenko (2016), N.V. Skacheva (2018), S.Yu. Tukhvatullina (2017), M.M. Utembaeva (2017), and others. The analysis of the literature on the topic of the research allows identifying the contradictions that prove the necessity to form the approaches to the improvement of the efficiency of intercultural business communication. 2. METHODS The theoretical and methodological basis of the research included the abstract-logical method and methods of induction, deduction, analysis, synthesis, and systematization to justify approaches to the complex use of intercultural business communication, as well as graphic methods to study the level and trends of using intercultural business communication techniques. The information basis of the article included the statistical data of state bodies and legislative and normative documents regulating intercultural business communication in modern conditions (Cherkasov et al., 2017; Ganyushina, Kurbakova, Galizina, 2019; Zavalko et al., 2017). In the process of the research, it was planned to improve approaches to the complex use of intercultural business communication, develop measures to coordinate activities between the main intercultural business communication participants, and justify the situation on the formation of an environment that ensures increased efficiency of intercultural business communication. http://www.iaeme.com/IJM/index.asp 2 editor@iaeme.com
Svetlana Nikolaevna Kurbakova, Rustam Abukarovich Archakov, Evgeny Gennadyevich Kondratyev, Tatiana Sergeevna Markova and Olga Alecseevna Kuzminova 3. RESULTS The practice has shown that cultural barriers can have a serious impact on the interpretation of the same message. Sometimes cultural stereotypes affect the correctness or incorrectness of the interpretation of a text. At the same time, cultural mistakes are usually perceived as much more painful than linguistic, although cultural ones are much more excusable. Culture differences are not generalized into sets of rules, unlike differences in languages: there are no grammars or dictionaries of cultures. Native speakers usually meet mistakes in foreign languages with kindness. Cultural mistakes, as a rule, are not forgiven so easily and produce the most negative impression. For example, the Russian consciousness considers communicative intrusion into the sphere of almost any personality and any conditions permissible. It sees no obstacles to speak with any person, i.e. it is possible to make comments to strangers, give them advice, and intervene in the conversation of people talking to ask one of them a question, burden others with one's problems, make requests to strangers, and express one’s opinion on what strangers are discussing nearby. All of this is considered unacceptable among representatives of several other business cultures and causes a negative reaction, which can become a barrier to further interaction. Therefore, the results of the empirical research of the qualities of business people and entrepreneurs are of great interest. 500 respondents were surveyed and it was found that there are quite stable ideas about the typical features of business people from different countries. However, the set of these qualities or the hierarchy of their significance vary quite widely in different business cultures. Knowledge and understanding of the ethnocultural characteristics of business communication participants is an essential condition for systematizing the main types of intercultural organizational communication (Figure 1). In addition, cultural values cannot be good or bad, logical or irrational. Each nation has its own and people must learn to perceive them correctly. Therefore, a comparison of national cultures should be started by identifying differences in social behavior. Cultures of the world can be divided into three types: monoactive, polyactive, and reactive. Oral and written Verbal and nonverbal Internal and external Intercultural organizational Formal and informal communication Lateral and diagonal Horizontal and vertical Fast-spreading and controlled Figure 1 The main types of intercultural organizational communication http://www.iaeme.com/IJM/index.asp 3 editor@iaeme.com
Improving the Efficiency of Intercultural Business Communication Monoactive cultures are those where people are used to planning their lives, making a schedule, and organizing activities in a certain sequence, doing only one thing at a time. Typical representatives of such cultures include Americans, British, Germans, Swiss, Swedes. They believe that it is possible to act more efficiently and achieve greater results with a linear organization of activities. Mobile sociable nations (Italians, Latin Americans, Arabs) are considered polyactive cultures, used to doing many things at the same time without finishing them most of the time. They don’t plan the order of things according to the schedule, but by the degree of relative attractiveness and the significance of an event at the moment. Punctuality isn’t vital for polyactive people. They believe that reality is more important than the established schedule. Therefore, they easily reconstruct their schedule and often change the sequence of work. Reactive cultures attach the greatest importance to politeness and respect. Representatives of these cultures are residents of Japan, China, Taiwan, Singapore, Korea, Turkey, and Finland. They prefer to listen to their interlocutor silently, calmly and carefully responding to proposals from the other side. They can be considered the best listeners in the world. Such people organize their activities not according to a strict and unchanging plan, but depending on the circumstances, reacting to the changes. They practically never interrupt the speaker and after listening do not rush to answer, do not express a definite opinion, and try to clarify the intentions and expectations of the speaker. In addition, national cultures differ in several other parameters. These parameters include: attitude of people to themselves, others, and the world around them; adherence to individualism or collectivism; orientation on a particular time dimension; understanding of social or personal space; attitude to male and female. For example, representatives of the American and Russian national cultures relate to themselves and other people differently. In the USA, a person’s positive attitude towards themselves is cultivated and their own significance is emphasized. America, as the Americans themselves say, is like a huge advertising agency where everyone promotes themselves. It is not customary to tell about one’s problems. To the question "How are you?" you can hear a cheerful answer: "Great!", "Very good!", "Wonderful!". Russian traditions, northern temperament and superstitions, and constant socio-political and economic shock have taught the Russians to speak about a specific situation and their own life discreetly. Russian entrepreneurs answer the same question “It’s okay,” “So- so,” etc. We identified six types of reactions to another culture and its representatives: 1. Denial of cultural differences (this type of perception is based on the belief that all people share or are obliged to share the same values; they must think and act the same way). 2. Protection of one’s cultural superiority (at the core of this perception is the recognition of the existence of other cultures, but there is also a stable belief that the values of foreign culture threaten the habitual order of things, worldview, and established way of life. Entrepreneurs are divided based on "we" ― good, right, cultural and "they" ― the exact opposite). 3. Minimization of cultural differences (this type of perception is characterized by the recognition of the possibility of the existence of foreign cultural values and norms of behavior and search for common unifying features). 4. Acceptance of the existence of intercultural differences (this perception is characterized by the knowledge of another culture and a friendly attitude to it, but does not imply active penetration into another environment). http://www.iaeme.com/IJM/index.asp 4 editor@iaeme.com
Svetlana Nikolaevna Kurbakova, Rustam Abukarovich Archakov, Evgeny Gennadyevich Kondratyev, Tatiana Sergeevna Markova and Olga Alecseevna Kuzminova 5. Adaptation to a new culture (this type is characterized by a positive attitude towards another culture, perception of its norms and values, and the ability to live and act according to its rules while maintaining one’s own cultural identity). 6. Integration into both the native and new culture (a type of reaction of a multicultural person who perceives foreign cultural norms and values as their own. An important factor in the efficiency of business communication is the consideration of forms of intercultural communication (Figure 2). Forms of intercultural communication acculturation intercultural conflict cultural expansion cultural diffusion Figure 2 Forms of intercultural communication If in direct interpersonal communication, there is feedback and counteragents can adjust the speech behavior depending on the reaction of the addressee, then the written form of communication is remote, mediated by written text, which acts as the author's representative. Studies show that intercultural differences occur in different ways at various stages of the creation and perception of a text. If we consider that speech situations in written business communication have a pattern, then a set of communication objectives and speech acts corresponding to a certain type of business text is predictable. The set of language knowledge is largely international and allows the addresser to choose the appropriate type of text for the implementation of their intentions and the addressee ― to correlate it with similar texts and correctly perceive the message, i.e. to act adequately to the situation. A communicative plan can be simple (one or two tasks in notification letters, reminders, congratulations, and confirmations) and complex (more than two communicative tasks in commercial and advertising letters, etc.). In terms of the efficiency of intercultural business communication, the biggest difficulty is presented by complex letters, in which the main communicative purpose is persuasion. Documentary texts of this type contain arguments that are combined in microblocks according to the structural scheme of the letter. Thus, in the English business correspondence, a four-part text structure is considered effective, corresponding to the model: Attention ― Interest ― Request ― Action. The addressee's attention is attracted by communicative formulas aimed at the addressee's needs and not at the sender of the message. To retain the interest, examples and stories from personal life are used and detailed information about the subject or event that serves as the reason for the letter is provided. When formulating a request, one should limit it to a small number of options or propose only one option. In this case, the action is specified and clarifying information is provided. The practice has shown that the text of a business letter has a different construction scheme in the Asian tradition of business communication. In Southeast Asia, the text of a business letter is constructed inductively: first, the reasons, then the circumstances, and only at the end, the requirements or business proposals. For representatives of European and North American http://www.iaeme.com/IJM/index.asp 5 editor@iaeme.com
Improving the Efficiency of Intercultural Business Communication traditions, this style seems to be rather unbusiness like. From their point of view, such a letter should begin with the formulation of a basic requirement or proposal, followed by its justification and specification. Letters of request for funding for scientific works written by Americans are more clearly aimed at persuasion than letters on the same issue from Dutch organizations. American letters are longer and provide more information of both professional and personal nature. Texts are more informative and accurate in their meaning. Americans are more active, have higher self- esteem, and are more successful in creating their positive image. Recently, a three-part structure has become the most common model of Russian business letters: the introductory part (motives, reasons for creating a document, history of the question); the main part (specification of the purpose, argumentation, formulation of actions to be carried out by the addressee); conclusion (etiquette elements). Besides, it has become a norm to insert the text of the letter into the so-called "etiquette frame" (formulas of addressing and polite farewell), borrowed from the foreign practice of business correspondence. Therefore, in intercultural written business communication, the tasks of the text include not only the transmission of up-to-date information but also such a pragmatic organization of the message that meets the national and cultural expectations of the addressee, which is reflected in the adequate expression and acquisition of symbolic and sign form, understandable to the reader. The traditionally pragmatic organization of the Russian business writing is distinguished by the stating-prescriptive character of the narrative, strict functionality, weak individualization of style, and lack of judgment and emotion. 4. DISCUSSION The reliability of the presented approaches is confirmed by the fact that there is a growing trend to simplify the style of business letters and documents. Business letters often contain excerpts from works of psychologists and philosophers and quotations from famous literary works, which illustrate the eloquence of the authors. In these conditions, the official business speech also matches public speech in terms of its functions and means of expression (Abanina et al., 2018; Demkina, Kostikov, Lebedev, 2019; Lebedev et al., 2018). In the Russian business written speech, we can note the constancy of pragma-stylistic characteristics of the document genres that make up the core of the official business style (administrative documents) and stylistic shifts towards colloquialism, typical for peripheral genres (business letters). Therefore, the most important requirement for the efficiency of intercultural business communication is knowledge and understanding of the features of national culture, respect for the cultural values of other peoples with whose representatives’ entrepreneurs interact, restraint in assessing their behavior, and balanced decision-making. Thus, cultural differences and diversity of habits, traditions, and attitude towards values suggest that speech patterns of foreign business partners can be used only considering their efficiency, rather than automatically transferring the style of intercultural business communication to another linguistic culture. Furthermore, in intercultural business communication, the success of the communication process depends on the parallel functioning of forms and genres of business communication, which are strictly conventional and are regulated, created and function within the context. A significant part of modern business community life is negotiation activity and its constituent part ― business conversation, which can be either independent or precede negotiations. The business conversation is an interpersonal verbal communication of partners, aimed at settling business problems and establishing business relations through entering into both verbal and nonverbal communication characterized by spontaneity. In this case, the genre guides the speaker in the process of speech. http://www.iaeme.com/IJM/index.asp 6 editor@iaeme.com
Svetlana Nikolaevna Kurbakova, Rustam Abukarovich Archakov, Evgeny Gennadyevich Kondratyev, Tatiana Sergeevna Markova and Olga Alecseevna Kuzminova 5. CONCLUSIONS To sum up, the improvement of the efficiency of intercultural business communication requires a focus on the characteristics of speech that are intended to impress the participants in the communication. For this purpose, all kinds of stylistic methods are used in negotiations to attract the attention of the audience through expressive means of speech. The language of the various genres of intercultural business communication is also of particular importance because of the stereotypical nature of the communication situations, in which it is used. It represents, in this sense, an example of the formal use of language units. Different cultural systems contribute to the development of specific negotiating styles, such as the style of national culture, history, and politics, influenced by three main factors: national (different negotiating styles), organizational (certain cultures developed within international organizations), and professional culture (cultures developed among professionals). All these factors determine, to some extent, the choice of linguistic and speech means. REFERENCES [1] Abanina, I.N., Ogloblina, E.V., Drobysheva, N.N., Seredina, M.I., Lebedev, K.A. Methodological techniques for assessing the unevenness of economic development in the world. The Journal of Social Sciences Research, S3, 2018, pp. 8-12. [2] Atyaksheva, D.A. Lingvoetnicheskie barery v mezhkulturnoi kommunikatsii (na primere leksiki delovogo obshcheniya kitaiskogo, angliiskogo i russkogo yazykov) Linguo-ethnic barriers in intercultural communication (on the example of business communication vocabulary of Chinese, English and Russian languages)]. Vestnik Rossiiskogo novogo universiteta. Seriya: Chelovek v sovremennom mire, 3, 2018, pp. 62-74. [3] Balynskaya, N.R., Novitskaya, Ya.M. Mezhkulturnye razlichiya v oblasti vedeniya biznesa v razlichnykh stranakh ES i RF [Intercultural differences in running business in different European Union and Russian Federation countries]. Ekonomika i politika, 1(9), 2017, pp. 11-13. [4] Cherkasov, I.L., Seredina, M.I., Mishurova, O.I., Adashova, T.A., Lebedeva, O.Ye. The effect of international tourism on the development of global social-economic processes. Journal of Environmental Management and Tourism, 8(6(22)), 2017, pp. 1166-1170. [5] Demkina, N.I., Kostikov, P.A., Lebedev, K.A. Formation of professional competence of future specialists in the field of information environment. Espacios, 40(23), 2019, pp. 3. [6] Ganyushina, M.A., Kurbakova, S.N., Galizina, E.G. Formation of approaches to international cooperation in the field of higher education. Humanities and Social Sciences Reviews, 7(6), 2019, pp. 727-731. [7] Gorbatenko, N.S. Strategii kommunikativnogo povedeniya v mezhkulturnom delovom obshchenii [Strategies for communicative behaviour in intercultural business communication]. Mezhdunarodnyi zhurnal gumanitarnykh i estestvennykh nauk, 2, 2016, pp. 69-71. [8] Lebedev, K.A., Reznikova, O.S., Dimitrieva S.D., Ametova E.I. Methodological approaches to assessing the efficiency of personnel management in companies. Journal of Advanced Research in Law and Economics, 9(4(34)), 2018, pp. 1331-1336. [9] Skacheva, N.V. Frazeologiya kak kulturnyi kod k poznaniyu uspeshnoi mezhkulturnoi kommunikatsii s delovymi partnerami iz Germanii [Phraseology as a cultural code for achieveing successful intercultural communication with business partners from Germany]. Filosofiya i kultura, 3(123), 2018, pp. 42-48. [10] Tukhvatullina, S.Yu. Razvitie navykov mezhkulturnoi kommunikatsii v protsesse prepodavaniya delovogo angliiskogo yazyka [Development of intercultural communication skills in teaching business English]. Evraziiskii zhurnal regionalnykh i politicheskikh issledovanii, 1(17), 2017, pp. 90-94. http://www.iaeme.com/IJM/index.asp 7 editor@iaeme.com
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