Friday, April 4, 2008

Central Works Essay 31

Cross-Cultural Collaboration: Whose Culture Is It, Anyway?

Deborah S. Bosley wrote this essay in 1993. She had previously written many articles about collaborative work and considered herself very knowledgeable about all aspects of the subject. Then two of her international students taught her something new when they discussed some cross-cultural issues on their evaluation forms after working on a collaborative project. Cross-cultural collaboration is something she had never even thought about. At the time, there wasn't much research done on it. This article was written after this introduction to cross-cultural issues in collaboration. She believes it is still valid today.

Definitions and Caveats

The common belief is that everyone learns the same, no matter what their race or backgrounds. Research in multicultural communication shows that differences do exist.

Without taking into account the context of a person's culture, it is impossible to understand the problems they might face in a collaborative group.

Cultural Differences in Behavior

Euro-North American culture places emphasis on individuality. Competitiveness is taught to children rather than collaboration, like in many other cultures. The success and achievements of Euro-North Americans are measured individually, even in group settings. The idea is that this competitiveness increases the productivity of the group. Other cultures believe this causes problems and could decrease productivity. Euro-North Americans praise those who make their own decisions, while those in communalistic cultures, such as many Asian cultures, believe that it is disrespectful to put your decisions above those of the group.

There are differences in oral and written communication for members of different cultures. Examples of oral differences lie in the use of context, comfortableness with silence, and exaggeration. Written differences include the organization and structure of texts.

Strategies for Internationalizing Collaborative Groups

Groups should recognize and take into consideration any cross-cultural differences that lie within their group right from the beginning. Group members can learn from one another and learn to appreciate each member's strengths and differences. Every member can gain positive effects from cross-cultural communication.

12 comments:

Jane said...

An interesting article in light of our collaboration with the German students. I'm a bit ashamed that, at least with our group, the German students may have to bear the brunt of the communication burden because none of us MSU students speak German, yet the German students are making the effort to speak English. I understand that English is pretty much the primary language of the Internet and many other professional settings, but it is a bit disappointing to feel so uncultured. Beyond language, I think it's interesting to at least try to understand how people of other cultures might communicate information, technical or otherwise. This can be as simple as considering, when you meet with people from other cultures, should you get right to the subject or is it polite to make small talk first. Or, is reaching consensus more important to some cultures or is there a strict hierarchy? A lot to think about when it comes to culture and communication.

Robin said...

Our German collaborators have a very hard assignment because they must assimilate to us it seems. We IM through skype, so I don't know how well they speak, but we also have Vanda on our team who does speak German quite well. I can't imagine being on the other end of the communication line and not fully understand the language. Quite a few Americans have the attitude that "if they come over here they should learn our language and our culture." Maybe a required second language should be mandatory and more cultural classes be offered. Geography offers a few.

Lance said...

I found the article to be less about language barriers and more about the prevailing cultural attitude or ideals about how things get done. I suspect that most people don't have a good idea about how work is accomplished in a culture that is unfamiliar. The author makes a good point in that we need to focus on understanding the differences between cultures before we can collaborate effectively. Certainly, the prevailing business model favors the Euro-North American flavor the author mentions, but I don't know if the model is as pervasive as she suggests. Maybe that's just because things have changes a little bit since the article was written. At any rate, the admonition to understand "other ways" is good and I enjoyed the article.

Dianna said...

I thought this was a very timely article because it corresponds with our project with the students from Germany, and it was a good reminder of cultural differences in approaching work and communication. In particular I found the discussion of views on individuality to be very interesting, as I was not previously aware of this difference of approach in collaborative projects. I think it's important for cross-cultural collaborators to be open and communicate about differences in approach, so that there are no unwelcome surprises and to educate each other.

brunsj1 said...

I also believe that this article comes at a great point in our semester-since we are currently working on the cross-culture documentation project.

I really agree with Jane-I also feel ashmaed because the German students have to assimilate to English in addition to their native language, while I am not familiar with any German at all.

Just as a side note, it might be interesting to ask our German colleagues about their views on collaborative work and explore those similarities and differences with our colleagues in 577.

Karen said...

This article is very timely for us, but it also is a reminder that we need to consider culture when writing for an international audience. It would be important to research the audience very carefully in order to understand their expectations, meet their needs, and avoid offending them. If an example was used that stressed independent thinking, it might not be well-received in central China, where traditional values are still strong. If people were accustomed to certain structures or layouts in their documents, a writer would need to adapt to these expectations.

Keeley said...

Although I think it will be a good experience working with our German partners on the project, it might have been even more valuable if the project was about comparing our experiences in technical communication education. I would love to talk about what classes they are taking and what kinds of projects they are working on. Also to discuss the kinds of cultural differences that might exist between the two countires. This learning experience is a nice change of pace. I give our German partners kudos for being such good sports in making this work. They are willing to speak English with us even though it might not be comfortable for them. One of our team members good-naturedly requested that we talk slower. Another is willing to meet online at 11:00 PM her time so that we can work on the project.

Gary T. said...

To Jennifer's point, this article comes at a great time in the semester. I also agree that our German peers have to "bend" a lot more than we do. I am very impressed with their English skills. I work a lot with people from all over the world, and I often feel inadequate when it comes to knowing a second language. I have a few colleagues that can speak three languages. Unfortunately, our education system in
America does not do enough to teach foreign languages beginning in the elementary grades where it can have the biggest impact.

Vanda Heuring said...

Lance, I agree. there are so many unspoken cultural clues that one needs to be aware of. In the business world, it can make or break a deal if you know how to handle a business card given by a Japanese. While the language seems to be the most obvious barrier, the cultural aspects are as important. being German-US, I also know that Americans are often seen as arrogant by other countries as often they expect others to accomodate their ways but they are not willing to meet half-ways or respect customs of the other country. Now, this might sound harsh and maybe even prjudiced, but there is some truth to that. As technical communicators we need to analyze our audience and go beyond the obvious clues and maybe put some effort into learning about the other culture when communicating with them.

J.J. Carlson said...

I've always seen collaboration as a means to bring everyone's skills together for the better of the group, even when considering different cultures. Isn't that what collaboration is, after all? Any productive collaborative effort will benefit from team planning and execution, even if the members of the group do go off and do some work individually.

As for the project with our incredibly talented German partners, I think that the issues of cross-culture collaboration are not as prevalent as the issues with getting together to work as a team. Perhaps too much separation of work is happening because we cannot meet together so easily. I would be curious to see how the project would go if we were to all meet on a regular basis.

Lori Hood said...

I am impressed with our interaction with the German students so far. We have one student in particular who has taken a leadership role for the German students. In our meeting today, he explained a term most of us were unfamiliar with, which was pretty neat. Like J.J., it may have been more of a cross-cultural project if we would have been able to meet more frequently as a group. However, according to some of the discussions we have had, it is not unusual to draft independently but edit together, which is really the way our group has operated.

On a side note, if you have a chance to take ENG572 Topics: International Tech. Communication, I highly recommend it. Many insights regarding communicating with many different cultures were shared and explored.

Anna said...

I liked this article and agree with many intercultural differences that were brought up and really exist. There is barrier of differences in language but very often cross-cultural collaboration goes beyond the language. It is the perception of context/situation and communication styles that can often create misunderstandings when working in groups. Depending on our culture, we might be more inclined to use the direct, straightforward style of communication (often European and American cultures). On the contrary, other cultures communicate in elaborate or indirect way. This creates frustrations and misinterpretations when one group member might say something like “what is your point?” or “Get to the point”. They way we view the group hierarchy and leadership also differs across cultures.

As to the cross-cultural group project, unfortunately I did not get to interact with German students that much due to the conflicting meeting times and it’s hard for me to analyze our cultural differences.