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Nardon, L.; Steers, R.M.; Sánchez-Runde, Carlos J.

During a recent meeting between a Japanese business woman and her Czech host in Prague, the visitor decided to visit the bathroom. Confusion soon arose when she walked into the men’s room and the host quickly pointed out the sign on the door. 

The visitor replied, “But it’s in red. In my country, a red sign means the ladies’ room.”

In a global age of business, these kinds of misunderstandings are increasingly common. 

To help business practitioners navigate their way through this brave new multicultural world, Luciara Nardon (Sprott School of Business), Richard M. Steers (Lundquist College of Business) and Carlos Sánchez-Runde (IESE) have coauthored the paper, “Seeking Common Ground: Strategies for Enhancing Multicultural Communication,” which was published in Organizational Dynamics.

There are many ways that a culture may differ in the way people communicate among themselves and how they perceive each other’s actions. On a business level, the authors find four main ways in which communication can varIn a global age of business, these kinds of misunderstandings are increasingly common. 

- Language and linguistics

- Selective perception

- Cognitive Evaluation

- Cultural Logic

For further informatio, IESE Insight