Refereed Article A3:

Cultural Awareness with Email Communication

04:01
July 2006

Luke Johns Lau (Postgraduate student, Master of Computing), UNITEC, New Zealand
luke@smartech.net.nz

Lau , L. J. (2006, July), Cultural Awareness with Email Communication. Bulletin of Applied Computing and Information Technology Vol. 4, Issue 1. ISSN 1176-4120. Retrieved from

ABSTRACT

Cultural awareness about email communication is becoming more important than in the past, because many organizations and businesses are doing business activities in the global environment. A better understanding of national culture, dynamic culture, community culture and organization culture could help organizations communicate better with customers or colleagues. This article focuses on the impact of cultural differences on business activities which involve email communication.

Keywords

Email, culture, communication

1. INTRODUCTION

Since many organizations are doing business in the global environment and beyond their national boundaries, their business is facilitated and supported by information and communication technologies. These companies and organizations are now experiencing rapid growth in the diversity of their customers in their own country, or diversity of employees within their organization. Therefore it is important to understand the impact of cultural differences on business activities (Smith, 1998, p. 61).

This article discusses the impact of cultural differences on business activities with email communication from several cultural perspectives: national, community organizational.

2. EMAIL COMMUNICATION IN THE ORGANIZATION

Mancini (2005) found that in the USA computer users “spend 30% of their day writing, reading, or otherwise dealing with email; 70% of respondents use email to negotiate contracts and agreements; 84% use email to discuss operational or product strategies; 63% use email to discuss sensitive HR issues.” (Mancini, 2005). Therefore, the central means by which decisions and processes are documented is email (ibid). Email is used within organizations widely today. It will continue to be a crucial business tool and will gain a bigger role within organizations (Cooke & Kroeze, 2004, p. 168). Next, we will explore how cultural awareness about email communication may impact on organizations.

2.1 Email and National Culture

Geert Hofstede is a cultural anthropologist from the Netherlands. While he was working at IBM as a psychologist, he analyzed cultures using five dimensions and rated 74 countries or regions on a scale from 1 to 100 according to those five dimensions. His theory has become the foundation of the National Cultural framework (Swaiden & Hayes, 2005). In the following sections we will discuss how the national cultural framework applies to email communication with cultural awareness.

Power Distance Index

The power distance index (PDI) focuses on the degree of equality, or inequality, between people or groups in the country's society or in an organization. It is the extent to which less powerful members expect and accept unequal power distribution. High power distance cultures usually have centralized, top-down control. Low power distance implies greater equality and empowerment. (Hofstede & Hosfstede, 2004, p. 45). Malaysia, Slovakia, Panama, Guatemala and India rated the highest in this category. The US was 57th and New Zealand was rated 71st (Hofstede & Hosfstede, 2004, p. 43).

When emailing people from countries or groups which have high power distance cultures, it is important to consider the top-down power structure. For example, if a email is sent to the chief-executive of a business, a copy of the email sent to a person under his authority may cause discomfort.

Individualism

The individualism measure (IDV) focuses on how the society reinforces individual or collective achievement and interpersonal relationships. In an individual environment the individual person and their rights are more important than the groups they may belong to. In a collective environment, people are born into a strong extended family or tribal communities, and these loyalties are paramount (Hofstede & Hosfstede, 2004, p. 79). The US was rated number 1, followed by Australia and Britain (Hofstede & Hosfstede, 2004, p.78) on Hofstedeâ€™s country rating list.

In the high rating countries, human rights issues would be considered more important than the business requirements about email communication; for example, one might need to be aware that asking the recipients to get help from their family members for a particular business issue could be inappropriate.

If people are from groups with lower individualism (IDV) ratings, they could be more appreciative if email communication can consider the factors and relationship of their extended family or communities; for example, a few extra greeting words in an email message to their family could go a long way in pleasing a customer.

Masculinity

The masculinity index (MAS) is measure focuses on “the degree [to which] the society reinforces, or does not reinforce, the traditional masculine work role model of male achievement, control, and power” (The Sigma Two Group, 2005). For example, men are considered aggressive and competitive, while women are expected to be gentler and to be concerned with home and family. Japan led the list, followed by Austria and Venezuela. The US was 19th (Hofstede & Hosfstede, 2004, p. 121).

If one receives an email message from Japan which may express male domination of business, one shouldnâ€™t be upset about it as one should be aware of the cultural differences. In contrast, if a messages are sent to customers in United States which imply that men dominate business, this could harm the business relationship with the companyâ€™s customers.

Uncertainty Avoidance Index

This index focuses on the level of tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity within the society - i.e. in unstructured situations. It defines the extent to which a culture values predictability. Some cultures have strong traditions and rituals and tend toward formal, bureaucratic structures and rules (Hofstede & Hosfstede, 2004, p. 166). Greece was number 1, followed by Portugal and Guatemala. The US was 62nd (Hofstede & Hosfstede, 2004, p.168).

Email communication with those high rated on uncertainty avoidance index (UAI) would be less tolerant for a variety of reasons; if suggestions to a customer with strong background of UAI were rejected, understanding the causes might help - for example, email writing should be formal and following the expected format.

Long-Term Orientation

The long-term orientation (LTO) index focuses on “the degree the society embraces, or does not embrace, long-term devotion to traditional forward thinking values. High Long-Term orientation ranking indicates (that) the country prescribes to the values of long-term commitments and respect for tradition. This is thought to support a strong work ethic where long-term rewards are expected as a result of today's hard work” (The Sigma Two Group, 2005). China led this dimension, followed by Hong Kong and Taiwan. The US was 31st (Hofstede & Hosfstede, 2004, p. 211).

It may be more appropriate to send email messages with forbearance when communicating with people form a culture with high LTO ratings. This group could be more sensitive to the context of communication containing elements showing impatience.

A Comparison: New Zealand and India

In this section we compare New Zealand and India in terms of national culture; India has one of the highest PDI ratings while New Zealand has one of the highest IDV ratings.

This comparison may help achieve an awareness of the culture differences between customers or colleagues who have Indian or New Zealand cultural background. Figures 1 and 2 show the national cultural profiles for NZ and India.

Figure 1. Cultural profile of New Zealand

Figure 2. Cultural profile of India

The dimensions of PDI and IDV have significance differences. India has a much higher PDI rating than New Zealand; New Zealand has a higher IDV rating than India.

People with Indian background may tend to acknowledge and be concerned about their authorities and rights, according to Hofstedeâ€™s theoretical framework. Thus people sending emails to this group would need to be aware of their culture and concerns. For example, one should not send the copy of a proposal to the higher level of management of an Indian customer, without the customerâ€™s consent.

In contrast, New Zealand was rated lower on power distance, thus a sense of fairness and share of rights in business should be considered when emails are sent to New Zealanders.

On the other hand, New Zealanders like to think their individual rights are more important than the business of the organization. For example, one wouldnâ€™t expect any replies to an email inquiry if it is send to a New Zealander after hours or at weekends; it is their private life and not to be interfered with. Indian people may reply at anytime if they are available, as they would be less concerned with their private rights in comparison to people with New Zealand background.

2.2 Email and Dynamic Culture

Myers and Tan (2003) argued that there are limitations in Hofstedeâ€™s national culture theory:

The nation-state is a relatively recent phenomenon
The nation-state has continued to change in its form and makeup.
The idea that each nation-state has its own distinct culture is not correct.
Hofstede's view of culture — that culture is something which identifies and differentiates one group or category of people from another — is not a view that finds much support in the contemporary anthropological research literature.
An increasing number of researchers have found that the relationship between "national" cultural values and culturally-influenced work-related values and attitudes is extremely complex and not well explained by Hofstede's model.

Myers and Tan suggested that culture is contested, temporal and emergent , therefore it was necessary to adopt a more dynamic view of culture and not rely only on Hofstedeâ€™s theoretical framework.

National culture has been evaluated by many researchers such as Bryan, McLean and Burn (1994) and Simon (2000); they found that the hypothesis of national culture is generally supported. However, they stated that the cultural processes are subject to continuous transformation and the relationships are dynamic.

Dynamic culture can be seen commonly in developing countries such as China. It is argued that the culture in certain regions of those countries may have been transformed from a traditional culture pattern to a new form. For example, when email messages are sent via some websites from China such as yahoo.com.cn, they commonly have attachments with advertising messages such as ‘girlâ€™s photos are availableâ€™ or ‘free download of music and songsâ€™. This may be seen as offensive in the context of many ‘westernâ€™ cultures.

These cultures may change as the time passes. Therefore a recipient of such an email should not feel offended despite feeling uncomfortable.

2.3 Email and Community / Organizational Culture

Community and organizational cultures are important factors which should not be ignores in email communication. For example, gaming communities were formed after online gaming become available, Castell and Jenson (2003) stated that “In gaming culture, games are not just played, they are talked about, read about, 'cheated', fantasized about, altered, and become models for everyday life and for the formation of subjectivity and intersubjectivity”.

The influence of organizational culture on email communication is commonly seen, for example in the greeting words in a message: at UNITEC (New Zealand) the preferred greeting is “Hi” rather than a formal greeting like “Dear”; and “Cheers” is used instead of “Yours truly” or “Yours sincerely” at the end of a message. Being aware of the organizational culture, all participants in an email conversation can feel that they are included in the “family” within the organization; and not strangers. Similarly, a better understanding of the specifics a community or an organizational culture might help a business achieve a more satisfactory level of communication with its customers.

3. CONCLUSION

REFERENCES

Bryan, N., McLean, E. & Burn, J. (1994). The structure of work perceptions among Hong Kong and United States IS professionals: A multidimensional scaling test of the Hofstede cultural paradigm. In Proceedings of the 1994 Computer Personnel Research Conference on Reinventing IS: Managing Information Technology in Changing Organizations (pp.219-230). New York: ACM Press.

Castell, S. & Jenson, J. (2003). Serious play. JCS. Retrieved August 20, 2005, from http://faculty.ed.uiuc.edu/westbury/JCS/Vol35/decastell.html

Cooke, P. & Kroeze, J. (2004). The impact of the internet on organisational culture within the IT industry. In Proceedings of the 2004 Annual Research Conference of the South African Institute of Computer Scientists and Information Technologists on IT Research in Developing Countries. (pp. 166-175). Stellenbosch, Western Cape, South Africa: South African Institute for Computer Scientists and Information Technologists.

Hofstede, G. & Hofstede, G. J. (2004). Cultures and organizations: Software of the mind. London: McGraw-Hill

Mancini, J. (2005). Useless memory and email. AIIM E-DOC, 19(2), 5.

Myers, M. & Tan, F. (2003). Beyond models of national culture in information systems research. Advanced Topics in Global Information Management. January, 14 - 29.

Simon, S. (2000). The impact of culture and gender on web sites: an empirical study. ACM SIGMIS Database, 32 (1), 18-37

Smith, M. (1998). Culture and organisational change. Management Accounting, 76(7), 60- 62.

Swaiden, Z.& Hayes, A. (2005). Hofstede theory and cross cultural ethics conceptualization, review, and research agenda. Journal of American Academy of Business, 6(2), 10-15.

The Sigma Two Group. (2005). Geert Hofstede cultural dimensions. Retrieved August 19, 2005 from http://www.geert-hofstede.com/

Copyright © 2006 Luke Johns Lau
The author(s) assign to NACCQ and educational non-profit institutions a non-exclusive licence to use this document for personal use and in courses of instruction provided that the article is used in full and this copyright statement is reproduced. The author(s) also grant a non-exclusive licence to NACCQ to publish this document in full on the World Wide Web (prime sites and mirrors) and in printed form within the Bulletin of Applied Computing and Information Technology. Authors retain their individual intellectual property rights.

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