For this blog post, I review Varner's (2001) examination of the status of intercultural business communication pedagogy and her suggestions on how to address three key challenges that teachers must overcome. The article provides useful lessons for my independent project, which involves designing a course in intercultural communication for business to be taught in a community college context.
Varner (2001) notes the growing interest in the study and teaching of intercultural business communication in recent times, but points out that three key challenges remain. She identifies the challenges as follows.
1. The challenge of linking culture to business and striking a balance between these two domains
The author notes that intercultural business communication courses tend to be skewed either towards business management or cultural studies instead of evenly integrating both aspects. She observes that instructor (in)experience plays a role in this, in that teachers without a business background may lean towards a focus on cultural aspects, while teachers with academic or professional experience in business are likely to treat culture as an “aside” in the course. There may also be ideological factors with anti-globalization and pro-globalization academics approaching the course as a critique or as a promotion of international business activities, respectively. A good course should not be inclined heavily towards one or the other orientations.
Varner (2001) suggests that one way teachers can achieve this balance is by applying intercultural communication concepts directly to business practices in areas such as business strategy development, financial policies, HR, corporate culture, and specific types of business communication, such as the development of business letter and annual reports. She also suggests the use of case studies, allowing students to examine how international companies such as Motorola, IBM, and DaimlerChrysler have addressed intercultural business challenges.
2. The challenge of static and traditional views of culture
The article argues that teaching intercultural business communication needs to go beyond studying what cultural behaviors are seen in various countries and contexts to understanding why these behaviors exist and how they are relevant for business. Course content should not place too much emphasis on front stage aspects such as cultural taboos, and the dos and don’ts of etiquette, because “such images are intriguing, but they won’t sustain the deeper scrutiny into cultural attitudes, values, and norms necessary for business relationships” (Varner 2001, p. 101). Instead, students should be introduced to the fundamental worldviews underlying these behaviors.
Teachers should also address this challenge by debunking the idea that culture is largely a tourist attraction persevered in the exotic past. One way the author suggests doing this is by having intercultural business communication classes regularly discuss newspaper stories that show the interplay between culture and business. Instructors can also turn to various theoretical models and research-based articles in publications such as the Journal of Business Communication that address the link between culture and business realities.
3. The challenge of teaching students to overcome biases and to be aware of differences within cultures
The third challenge addressed by the author relates to cultural lenses that students employ in viewing other cultures and how to make them aware of this in order to help them avoid bias and prejudice. Varner (2001) suggests that this can be a difficult pedagogic goal because students are often not aware of these self-reference criteria that they use to judge all cultures. The author addressed this challenge in her course by inviting a panel of international students to share their cross-cultural experiences with the class, an activity that exposed learners to the cultural blinders that generally impinge on how we view those with a different worldview.
Related to this is the blurred perspective students may have of other cultures as a result of what Varner (2001) terms “sophisticated stereotyping” (p. 102). Although the work of intercultural communication scholars such as Hofstede and Hall continues to be key components of courses in the field, students must be cautioned against imposing the cultural profiles developed by these researchers across national and ethnic groups in a monolithic fashion.
The intercultural business communication course must therefore make students aware of paradoxes in the application of concepts that categorize large groups according to some predetermined cultural schemata. Intercultural communication teachers must help students understand that while the subject draws on broad cultural categorizations to help understand differences in worldview and behaviors, people in the same culture can be different, sometimes dramatically.
Reference
Varner, I. I. (2001). Teaching intercultural management communication: Where are we? Where do we go? Business Communication Quarterly, 64(1), 99-111.
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