Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the Degree of Master of Technology: Business Administration, Durban University of Technology, 2012. / Communication is the basis of all relationships. Be it personal or professional, people
cannot do without healthy and effective communication especially, when it comes to
business. Good communication skills are of vital importance. While most countries
do speak English, which is the globally accepted ‘business’ language, there are still
big challenges with language as well as cultural differences.
This study aimed to investigate the role of interpersonal communications in manag-
ing South African – German business relationships. The objective of this study was,
firstly, to identify which communication channels South African business organiza-
tions use to communicate with German businesses and, secondly, to explore the
associated problems experienced by South African business people. Based on the
investigated problems, recommendations were provided on the technical level and
the personal level as to how communication can be made more effective to improve
South African and German business relationships.
In order to accomplish the objectives of the study, a quantitative study was con-
ducted by means of self-administered e-mail based questionnaires. In addition, a
qualitative study was conducted using self-administered interviews based on the
quantitative results of this study. In both cases, the respondents were purposively
selected. Conclusions and recommendations were thereafter drawn from the findings
of the study in comparison with the literature review.
The results showed that effective communication in business is not as easy as it of-
ten seems. There are problems in business communications between South African
and German business partners mainly based on the cultural differences.
The report recommended that companies should invest more in training and work-
shops in order to help communication partners to understand cultures abroad and to
understand the communication habits of overseas business people.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:dut/oai:localhost:10321/786 |
| Date | 29 November 2012 |
| Creators | Scheming, Oleg |
| Contributors | Mason, Roger Bruce, Maharaj, Roshni |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 169 p |
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