Cross-cultural glossary
Acculturation: a phenomenon occurring during continual contact with groups of dufferent cultures, bringing out changes in the original culture
Corporate culture: all the company's rules, in-house jargon, shared values, and standards expressed in codes, rites, and myths relating to the company's history … Corporate culture has many sources: the national or local culture, the significant events marking the life of the company … It unites the workforce and can thus become a factor for performance, cohesion and better communication between staff
Cross-cultural: taking into account the interaction between people of different cultures when making arrangements, mixes between various cultural contributions to overcome differences that may be an impediment to communication
Cross-cultural competence: an individual's ability to analyse and understand situations where people and groups from different cultures are in contact, and consequently cope with and capitalise on them in a professional context (Olivier Meier, Management interculturel, 2004)
Cross-cultural communication: a form of communication between people from different cultures; both an interactive process whereby we all refer back to our own culture when in contact with another, and a source of misunderstanding stemming from the different meanings given to a particular message, be it verbal or non-verbal.
Cross-cultural learning: a process whereby people of different cultures acquire through their interactions knowledge and behavioural patterns allowing them to gradually improve mutual understanding and the ability to live together
Cross-cultural management: a new type of management factoring in and tackling cultural differences between staff in management in general, with a veiw to improving communication in the company and in its international exchanges
Cross-cultural risk: arises from the incomprehension and misunderstandings inherent in cultural differences, for instance during negotiations the company holds that could imperil the results
Cultural adaption: process based on the changes undergone by the attitudes and opinions inherent in our own culture, whereby we can better interact with people from different cultures
Cultural diversity: cohabitation of different cultural systems within a particular group (company...)
Culture: all the values, attitudes, and opinions specific to a particular country
Culture in a non-predominant context: explicit culture, the information is conveyed in the words of the message (Edward Hall).
Culture in a predominant context: culture relying heavily on the environment of the message (silence, tone, distance etc), the words themselves being of secondary importance (Edward Hall).
Culture shock: the unease felt when confronted with another culture and attempting to adapt to unfamiliar cultural practices (Centre d'Apprentissage Interculturel du Canada)
Explicit: explicit culture includes all observable and tangible elements such as food, clothes, art...
Hofstede grid:
- controlled uncertainty (a culture's degree of tolerance when faced with risk).
- the individualism/collectivism contrast (degree of independence members of a society can lay claim to).
- masculine/feminine contrast (importance given to the masculine values (success and possession) and feminine values (the social environment or cooperation) and organisation separating more or less roles of daily life between men and women.
- long or short-term orientation
Iceberg model: model developed by Kohls to express different levels of cultural expression. The (visible) tip of the iceberg represents explicit culutural elements (behaviour, history, language etc). The invisible part of the iceberg includes the values, mindsets and veiws od the world, which are less visible but have a profound influence, because they are emotionally charged. (Robert Kohls, Modèles de comparaison des cultures (Models for Contrasting and Comparing Cultures), Intercultures, no. 9, April 1990)
Implicit: implicit culture includes all invisible elements such as feelings, values, attitudes, beliefs etc.
Monochronous: in a monochronous culture, time is managed in a linear fashion, tasks being performed one after the other
Multicutural: when a group includes people from different cultures; the emphasis here being on the juxtaposition of cultures rather than on how they interact (see cross-cultural)
Particularism: the particularist culture, a notion suggested by Trompenaars, is characterised by the importance given to special circumstances in case of conflict. Interpersonal obligations are thus favoured to the detriment of norms and rules
Polychronous: in a polychronous culture, time is handled in a circular fashion, and individuals perform several tasks simultaneously (multitasking)
Stereotype: generalisation of a culture's prevailing characteristic, giving rise to a preconceived idea of the group or individual
Team building: developing the cohesion of a team by fostering trust, communication and cooperation among its members to make it more efficient and improve performance
Universalism: notion suggested by Trompenaars. In a universalist culture, the rules and norms are always applied, regardless of any particular circumstances
Value: all the behaviours, opinions and mindsets serving as a reference and principle for a group of individuals
