Due to the recent phenomenon of globalization, the mobility of people has increased significantly. In a world where national and cultural borders are getting more blurred and undefinable, people from different parts of the world encounter individuals with different cultural backgrounds. Due to these different worldviews, perceptions and experiences, misunderstandings may arise when people engage in cross-cultural communication. This is true for recreational as well as professional cross-cultural communication. An individual who successfully interacts and communicates with people from other cultures possesses what has come to be known as cultural intelligence. In order to get a deeper understanding for how people perceive cross-cultural communication in the professional field, this study investigates how managers in the forestry based industry in Västerbotten have experienced communication with their international business partners. The investigation was conducted through personal interviews and a self-completion questionnaire was also distributed to make an attempt to measure the respondents’ cultural intelligence. The results point in the direction that cross-cultural communication is vital for organizations that operate on the global market. Both verbal communication and non-verbal communication do affect the collaboration, but there is no general answer to how. Every situation has to be dealt with in a unique way. This implies that the process of cultural learning and understanding is ongoing and dynamic.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:umu-101062 |
| Date | January 2013 |
| Creators | Truong, Xuan-Dan, Nilsson, Sara |
| Publisher | Umeå universitet, Företagsekonomi, Umeå universitet, Företagsekonomi |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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