| Chapter 1: | Communicating Within a Multicultural Workforce |
|
|
This is a limited free preview of this book. Please buy full access.
in Brazil, China, and France. In many countries in Latin America, consumers use banks to pay their utility bills, and Diebold’s ATMs handle these services. According to Luo (2000), Otis Elevator’s largest market is in China.
Challenges should be anticipated when people communicate within a single culture and a single country. These challenges increase exponentially when people communicate across cultures and countries. Succeeding in the global market today requires the ability to communicate sensitively with people from other cultures, a sensitivity that is based on an understanding of cross-cultural differences.
Exports are essential both to the success of individual businesses and to a country’s economy as a whole. According to Edmondson (2000), two-thirds of all industries either already operate globally or are in the process of doing so. An increasing amount of profits comes from outside the headquarters’ country. For example, Michelin earns 35% of its profits in the United States. McDonald’s earns over 62% of its income outside the U.S. and almost 98% of Nokia’s sales are outside its home country of Finland.
In a global economy, good ideas can emerge from other cultures and countries rather than from the headquarters. The chipmaker ST Electronics’ Malaysian plant, headquartered in Europe, found a way to cut the assembly time for certain chips from five days to five hours. The company is currently transferring the technique to its Moroccan plant as well (Locker, 2003).
To fully understand how important communication is to the flow of business, the quantity of communication business requires should be noted. For example, within a pharmaceutical manufacturer, all employees throughout the company are involved in sending or receiving information. They process information with computers, write messages, fill out forms, give and receive orders, and converse over the telephone. In addition, salespeople receive instructions and information from the home office and send back orders and reports of their activities. Executives use written messages to initiate business with customers, other companies, and respond to incoming messages. Production supervisors receive work orders, issue instructions, and submit production summaries. Research specialists