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WELCOME LETTER
Welcome to the 8th Tricontinental Conference on Global Advances in Business and Communication (GABC) jointly meeting with the Association for Business Communication Caribbean, México, Central and South America, an event which brings together the power of interdisciplinary and international thinking. Academics and practitioners will present ongoing scholarly activities and business practices which shape and are shaped by the intersection of cultural factors and global business. We expect approximately 70 attendees from different 9 countries, including the U.S., Mexico, Puerto Rico, Hong Kong, China, India, Japan, Belgium, United Kingdom, and Malaysia. We offer bilingual tracks in Spanish and English. Simultaneous translation will be available in the plenary sessions. GABC and its affiliate journal are co-sponsored by the University of Antwerp, the Technological University of Malaysia, Eastern Michigan University and the Tecnológico de Monterrey. Valery Chistov, co-chair Roger N. Conaway, co-chair
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WEDNESDAY Opening Night Reception Parque Tecnológico ( PIT) 8th floor. 6:30-9:00 PM Please join us for an evening of light music, food (canapes), and drink.
THURSDAY PLENARY 9:00-10:30 AM CDEE building, Fifth Floor
WELCOME Dr. David Victor, Professor of Management and Director, International Business at Eastern Michigan University. Dr. Victor is founder of the Global Advances in Business Communication. Notably, he was the first recipient of the Distinguished Visiting Foreign Professorship (Graduate Level) of the Tecnológico de Monterrey in 1992. He also represented the United States in the formation of the Regional Area Mobility Program (RAMP) of the NAFTA initiative of the IIE bringing together business education partnerships and exchanges among the US, Canada and Mexico. Dr. Victor has consulted since the mid-1980's in the areas of international business communication, expatriate relocation and diversity management for a range of clients including school systems, hospital networks and city governments as well as a wide range of companies in the US, Canada, Mexico, Japan and Europe including GEMA, Bayer, General Motors, Ford, Bosch, Nissan, Continental, Lear, Yazaki, IBM, Spartan Stores, Metaldyne, American Axle and Thyssen Krupp.
KEYNOTE ADDRESS Ing. Carlos Gutiérrez Carpinteyro. Director of Governmental and external affairs, BMW Group Mexico The theme of the Keynote is “Communication and Doing Business Internationally.” Mr. Gutiérrez will focus on German luxury car maker BMW AG´s decision to establish a large factory in San Luis Potosí. Mr. Gutierrez has performed in diverse areas inside the automotive industry for more than 22 years in areas such as foreign trade, purchasing and government affairs. He has collaborated with companies such like Ford, Nissan and BMW and is a mechanical engineer from the Instituto Tecnológico in Chihuahua, Mexico. He has served as consultant for diverse projects in foreign investments, imports and exports, and free trade agreements related to the automotive industry. Mr. Gutiérrez will focus on lessons learned while doing business in Mexico. The recent arrival of significant manufacturing companies like BMW has impacted social and economic areas in the city. Communication is foundational to this process and BMW has a major role in the city. 5
FRIDAY PLENARY 9:00-10:30 AM CDEE building, Fifth Floor
“Challenges of Doing Business Internationally” Panel Discussion Moderator
Peter Cardon, Associate Professor, Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California Dr. Cardon teaches management communication, international business communication, new media and communication, and advanced business writing. His primary research interests are intercultural communication and social networking. Pete is currently the President of the Association for Business Communication and a board member for the Orchid Foundation. Prior to joining USC, Pete taught at the University of South Carolina for six years and Utah State University for three years. Before working in higher education, he held several marketing and management positions in the tourism and manufacturing industries. Along the way, he has worked in China for three years and traveled to approximately forty countries for work and research. He is the author of Business Communication: Developing Leaders for a Networked World.
David Gomez, Goodyear SLP Project Site Director David Gomez is the Goodyear SLP Project Director for the most technologically advanced tire plant ever built by the company. He received his B.S. in Civil Engineering from The University of Alabama and then began working in Akron, Ohio for Goodyear. He started as a staff Engineer, preparing expansion packages for several plants around the world. Later, he took on the role of Resident Engineer, in Mexico, USA and Brazil, overseeing projects ranging from 5 to 50MM USD. He then changed to the Manufacturing area, working in various positions in Brazil and Venezuela and then as the Manufacturing Director in Colombia, Slovenia, France and Luxembourg. Before returning to Mexico, (which was his first international assignment) he took on the role of European Commercial Manufacturing Director for three years. He is currently living in SLP with his wife. They have three grown children living in Tampa, Denver and San Francisco.
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Dr. Jose Torres, Planning and Development Minister State Government of San Luis Potosi Dr. Torres began his career working in logistics and international marketing companies and government agencies, later he served as a visiting professor in Peru and Spain. In addition, he was Dean of the Business School and Chief of “The Center of Innovation and Regional Development” of Tec de Monterrey Campus, San Luis Potosi. As consultant, he focused on Foreign Direct Investment, leading projects as “Social & Economic Impact of General Motors in San Luis Potosi” and collaborating in negotiations related to the attraction of investments as Ford & BMW to San Luis Potosi. Since 2009, he has served as Planning and Development Minister of the Government of the State of San Luis Potosí.
Michael Coates, Managing Director of Protostar Leadership Development Ltd. Michael is the founder and Managing Director of Protostar Leadership Development Ltd a UK management consultancy that specialises in helping managers to achieve better results. Michael tends to concentrate on coaching senior leaders and helping them to grow their organisations and improve innovation. He has an impressive client list including Nike, Novartis, Caterpillar and some of the most prestigious UK universities. Also a visiting professor at ITESM, Michael is no stranger to San Luis Potosi having met his Mexican wife here when he was the European Director of HR Services for Cummins Inc. a global automotive manufacturer. During his 10 years there he had operational control of staff based from Moscow to Zimbabwe and was responsible for all aspects of HR, organisational development and management training. Prolific blogger and author of “Psychology and Organisations” published by Pearson, Michael is a regular speaker at HR and Coaching events. For more about Michael go to www.protostar-uk.com or connect to him on LinkedIn https://uk.linkedin.com/in/mcoates2
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Gunter Daut, General Director of Bosch, San Luis Potosí plant Mr. Daut's disciplined lifestyle is based on the military training he received as he completed his studies in economics at the University of the Armed Forces in Germany (Universität der Bundeswehr München). After completing his studies successfully, he achieved the Army rank of captain. He has been part of the Bosch Group since 1989 and has risen to several important positions within the company. His success earned him international experience and knowledge of several languages (German, English, Spanish and Portuguese). Beginning in 1993, he served as Director of Logistics in Curitiba, Brazil for 5 years before returning to Germany. From 2005 to 2011 he became Vice President of worldwide logistics for the Gasoline Systems division. Currently, he holds the position of General Director of Robert Bosch plant in San Luis Potosi, México.
Sana Reynolds, Consultant & Professor of Management Communication, Baruch College Dr. Reynolds, currently serves on the faculty of Baruch College, Zicklin School of Business, City University of New York, a top ranked, regional public business school. She has over 25 years of extensive multinational experience as a consultant in the United States and overseas. She has successfully completed assignments for British, Chinese, Indonesian, Japanese, Middle Eastern, Russian and Swiss companies. Dr. Reynolds has a proven track record developing programs in managerial and cross-cultural communication, coaching executives for promotion, and preparing professionals for international assignments. In addition to native fluency in English, French, Ukrainian, working knowledge of Russian, and eight years' living and working experience in Western Europe and in Asia, she has a Ph.D. from Tulane University, a Doctorat d'universite from the Sorbonne, and a M.A. from Middlebury.
COFFEE BREAK 10:45 AM to 11:00 AM Aulas 1, Student Center (second floor) 8
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ABSTRACTS OF PRESENTERS (In order of submission online) The Chinese Experience in American Higher Education: Implications for Cross-cultural Communication Peter W. Cardon, University of Southern California, USA Hongqing Li, Northeast Dianli University, China Xiaodong Ming, Beihua University, China The China-United States of America political and economic relationship is among the most important and consequential bilateral relationships in the world. Over the past several decades, China has invested heavily in developing this relationship through educational exchanges. In fact, roughly 275,000 Chinese students attended American universities during the 2013-2014 school year, nearly three times as many as the second largest place of origin for international students (India). The millions of Chinese students who have participated in higher education in the United States over the past thirty years are a rich source of cultural exchange and a foundation for economic and political relationships with American and Western professionals in business and government. In any given day, there are more in-person, cross-cultural interactions between Americans and Chinese within the American higher education system than there are in any other setting. As such, the Chinese experience in the American higher education system can be particularly revealing about the nature of Sino-American cross-cultural communication and cooperation. Our research team, composed of Chinese and American scholars with significant experience in international education and business, has developed a series of surveys that address the following issues about the Chinese experience in American higher education: (a) views of American communication practices; (b) perspectives about American cultural traits; (c) friendships and interactions with American and non-American professors and students; (d) views of American higher education; (e) reactions to American media and entertainment; and (f) adjustment to life in the United States. The surveys also address many issues about the backgrounds of Chinese students and scholars who are studying and researching within the American higher education system. These background issues include issues such as (a) prior international and domestic exposure through residence and travel; (b) socioeconomic status and funding sources; (c) background in urban, semi-urban, and rural environments; and (d) home province. With this background information, our research allows us to avoid blanket statements about the Chinese experience; rather, it allows us to provide a nuanced accounting of how Chinese of various backgrounds experience the American higher education system and interact with Americans. In addition to the backgrounds of Chinese students and scholars, we identify which universities and communities they have spent their time. So, this allows us to explore how Chinese experiences differ by the type of American university and American community (urban, semiurban, and rural; geographic region; and other factors). By carefully exploring the backgrounds of Chinese and their American counterparts, we think we can provide a research-based set of perspectives about not only the cross-cultural experiences of Chinese in the United States but also the intracultural differences that impact these experiences. Our surveys will be administered in February and March of 2016 to thousands of Chinese graduate students, undergraduate students, and visiting scholars. Not only will we present our findings from the survey, we will discuss the following implications: (a) grounding in and applications to existing cross-cultural research; (b) connection to literature about international education; (c) suggestions for American higher education policymakers, professors, and students; and (d) applications for interactions between Chinese and Americans in government and business.
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Integration of Multiple Disciplines (Global Business, Literature, and Criminal Justice) to Grow Professional Communication E Christine R. Day, Eastern Michigan University, USA Elizabeth Hagensen, Bemidji State University, USA Theme: This research discusses the integration of multiple disciplines (Global Business, literature, and Criminal Justice) to grow professional communication excellence. Professional writers must learn the dimensions and complexity of their field; the specifics of vocabulary; and, the precision required when constructing reports. Purpose: This research provides the rationale for using elements of well-known international literature to enhance this process through practice describing a story using parallel skills in professional communication. Goals: Writers must learn to report content, but must tell that story with specific elements in mind, explicitly conveying the facts surrounding what happened, the activities involved (sometimes criminal), the specific behaviors, and the actions taken. Outcomes: Session participants will take away enhanced skills with a practice session that emphasizes neutral capacity describing exact circumstances with the purpose of factual reporting for strong professional communication.
Does Leadership Training Lead to Increased Use of Motivating Language in a Military College Setting? William Sharbrough, The Citadel, Charleston, USA Tanner B Knox, The Citadel, Charleston, USA In 1998, cadets in a military college in the Southeastern US were surveyed to measure the use of Motivating Language (ML) within the cadet organization. Results of this survey were presented at the 1998 International Conference of the ABC. Since that time, the institution has implemented a variety of formal leadership classes, added administrative personnel with responsibilities for leader development, etc. The paper will include an in-depth description of the Current leadership development program. Although the training is essentially a generic leadership training program for military cadets which focuses on principled leadership, it is hypothesized that this training and the associated cultural changes should have a positive impact on the use of motivating language by cadet leaders. The original survey of cadets was recently repeated and the results are compared to the 1998 survey to determine whether the additional emphasis on principled leadership has had any impact on the use of Motivating Language by cadet officers. BACKGROUND A promising line of research based on Sullivan's Motivating Language Theory gives concrete advice for strategic leader-follower communication. Sullivan's original work asserted that a strategic leader with an expanded oral language repertoire would better engage, motivate, build commitment, and create a shared organizational vision with followers. Results from numerous studies have validated Sullivan's assertions and shown significant and positive relationships between leader motivating language (ML) and critical organizational outcomes such as employee innovation, job performance, self-efficacy, job satisfaction, effective decision making, perceived leader effectiveness, and leader communication satisfaction. Research has also identified links between high ML use and lower employee withdrawal behaviors, including absenteeism and intent–to-turnover. Similarly, written motivating language has been found to have a positive effect on team creativity in a virtual workplace experimental design. Thus, a leader's use of ML tends to have positive effects whether the messages are written or oral. Research indicates that a 10 percent increase in ML can increase job satisfaction among subordinates by approximately 10-12 percent and performance by approximately 2 percent.
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Motivating Language theory includes four additional assumptions as well that are important to keep in mind: 1.Leader language covers most verbal expressions that can occur in leader-to-follower talk. 2.Leader messages must be accurately perceived by followers. 3.Leader behavior strongly affects the effect of ML on worker outcomes and if leader language and leader behavior are incongruent, then the effect of leader behavior will dominate. The leader must “walk the talk.” 4.Leaders are most effective through the regular and appropriate use of all types of ML. While most any message from the leader to the follower can be perceived as motivating, messages of the three types are particularly motivating. Followers play a large part in what they consider to be motivating as they must “get” the intended message, and those messages must be congruent with the leader's behavior. Finally, the more often and appropriately you use the three types of Motivating Language, the more effective you will be as a leader. Motivating Language Theory proposes that the effectiveness of a leader in using three types of communication with their followers has a significant impact on important organizational outcomes.
TRAINING CHANGES Student Body Increase The institution is a state-supported military college that draws the majority of its student body from the southeastern United States, but has students from 42 states and 12 different countries. Slightly less than one third pursue military careers upon graduation, with the majority pursuing careers in business, government, and other traditional avenues. In 1998, there were approximately 2000 cadets, in 22 companies, all living in four barracks. Presently, the cadet student body is approximately 2300, with a fifth barracks. There have been many changes including adding personnel responsible for supervision and leadership coaching/counseling along with a formal program that includes additional classes focusing on leadership development and related topics.
TAC Officers In 1998, when the previous study was conducted, there were approximately 5 employees of the college that were responsible for supervision of the barracks and leadership counseling of cadets. Today, with the increase in student body by at least 300 cadets, there are 26 employees responsible for the supervision of the twenty-six cadet companies. Leadership Development Program Changes While all cadets are enrolled in federal ROTC classes for their four years as cadets, in 1998, the college held 4-6 one hour classes a year related to diversity, sexual assault and harassment, and leadership for all cadets. Today's cadets attend 10-15 hours of formal classes on these topics as well as drug and substance abuse. The emphasis of many of these classes is on positive leadership development based on the college's core values of duty, honor, and respect. More details on this program will be presented in the full paper.
METHODOLOGY Survey method The original sample was a convenience sample from one summer school class who all completed
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the anonymous ML questionnaire adapted to the cadet population. The current sample is also a convenience sample where approximately 90 cadets had five other cadets complete the same ML questionnaire. Analysis Similar to the original research, a factor analysis will be completed to check that the current sample loads on similar factors as the previous questionnaire. If this assumption holds, then, scores on the factors for both of the samples will be compared to determine if there have been any changes in the use of ML by cadet leaders, which could be assumed to be associated with the additional leadership training of current cadets. The research hypothesis is: Hypothesis: The introduction of Principled Leadership Training will have a positive and statistically significant impact on the use of Motivating Language.
CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS If there are no significant changes, then one recommendation would be to implement ML training as part of the leadership program for all cadets. Additionally, if there are significant changes, the authors would suggest implementing ML training for a test group of cadet leaders to determine whether the additional training would have an even greater impact on the use of ML and its associated outcomes.
Destrezas de Comunicación Esenciales para Alcanzar el Éxito Empresarial y Profesional en Diferentes Áreas de Negocios Aida Andino-Pratts, University of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico Zoraida Fajardo, University of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico Leticia Fernanadez, University of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico El tema de la presente investigación es Destrezas de comunicación esenciales para alcanzar el éxito empresarial y profesional en diferentes áreas de negocios. La misma atiende la puesta en práctica de destrezas de comunicación oral, no verbal, interpersonal y de comunicación escrita. El objetivo del estudio es obtener información que ayude a reforzar el currículo de las Escuelas de Negocios en el nivel subgraduado, identificando destrezas de comunicación que deben ser desarrolladas por los futuros egresados de las diferentes concentraciones de estudio del bachillerato en Administración de Empresas ( nos referimos a las especializaciones en Contabilidad, Finanzas, Sistemas Computarizados de Información, Gerencia de Operaciones, Recursos Humanos y Mercadeo), para que el educando alcance el éxito profesional en sus respectivas especializaciones y, por ende, en el ámbito laboral donde ofrezca su capacitación. Por lo tanto, el estudio se concentrará en identificar la percepción de ejecutivos locales y de empresas multinacionales que participaron en el Programa de Internado de la Facultad de Administración de Empresas del Recinto de Río Piedras, en torno a las destrezas de comunicación necesarias para que el profesional de esta área alcance su óptimo nivel de desempeño y, en consecuencia, favorezca la competitividad de su empresa. Este es un estudio comparativo que muestra cómo el orden de importancia de las destrezas de comunicación varía en las diferentes especializaciones bajo análisis, para alcanzar el éxito profesional. Los resultados obtenidos serán comparados con la revisión de literatura para determinar si existen diferencias vinculadas a las destrezas de comunicación que más se puedan privilegiar en otras áreas geográficas distantes de nuestro entorno, donde la misma clase profesional ejerza sus labores.
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Metodología Para acopiar los datos necesarios de la presente investigación se creó un cuestionario que se distribuyó a través de internet. El mismo consistió en la formulación de siete preguntas cerradas creadas por las investigadoras, las cuales emanan de entrevistas realizadas a grupos focales que fueron citados por iniciativa del Comité de Currículo de la Facultad de Administración de Empresas de la institución académica donde laboran las investigadoras. Para efectuar este estudio, las investigadoras recibieron la aprobación de la Oficina de Protección a la Investigación con Humanos (OHRP), equivalente en las universidades norteamericanas a la Junta de Investigación Institucional (IRB), para distribuir el cuestionario entre la población impactada. Una vez cumplimentados los formularios de rigor y recibida la aprobación de la OHRP, las investigadoras procedieron a iniciar su trabajo. La muestra consistió en la participación de 148 ejecutivos procedentes de empresas locales y multinacionales que empleaban en sus programas de internado a estudiantes practicantes y egresados de la Facultad de Administración de Empresas de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, Recinto de Río Piedras. Se empleó la plataforma digital Formstack para enviar a los participantes dos documentos: primero la hoja de consentimiento informado, luego el cuestionario. De los 148 ejecutivos de empresas locales y multinacionales que recibieron el cuestionario, 32 de ellos contestaron el mismo de forma voluntaria y anónima. Esto representa el 22% del total de los cuestionarios enviados. Se utilizó Excel para analizar los datos extraídos de los cuestionarios. De ese modo se obtuvieron las frecuencias, los porcientos y los medidas sopesadas en esta investigación. Como consecuencia de nuestra participación en este encuentro internacional, compartiremos e intercambiaremos puntos de vista con colegas expertos en el área bajo estudio. La información provista por las investigadoras podrá resultar de especial interés para los educadores en áreas de comunicación, deseosos de conocer cuáles destrezas propias de la competencia comunicativa recomiendan desarrollar los ejecutivos de empresas locales y multinacionales entre los egresados que aspiran alcanzar el éxito profesional en la organización donde rindan sus servicios. De igual modo, podremos interaccionar con otros colegas que realizan investigación en áreas afines a la nuestra, con quienes podríamos ampliar el trabajo en equipo, con miras a mejorar la oferta curricular de nuestras respectivas instituciones académicas, preparando profesionales competentes que realizarán importantes contribuciones en su entorno laboral. Asimismo, recibir retrocomunicación de otros colegas, vinculada a la presente investigación, para mejorar y ampliar los alcances de la misma, será un valor añadido proveniente de nuestra participación en este encuentro internacional de estudiosos de la comunicación.
Teaching U.S. Proposal Writing to Mexican Engineering Students at a U.S. border University Barry Thatcher, New Mexico State University, USA This presentation examines the teaching of proposal writing to Mexican engineering students at New Mexico State University (NMSU), which is situated 45 miles north of Cd. Juárez, Chihuahua. NMSU has a joint B.S. in Aerospace Engineering with La Universidad Autónoma de Chihuahua (UACH). These Mexican students spend their first two years at UACH and then the 3rd and 4th years at NMSU, and they obtain two Bachelor's degrees: one from each institution. One of the students' major goals is fluency in English, particularly English writing in the workplace. Because of this unique situation, I have developed special sections of English 218 Professional and Technical Communication for Spanish-English bilinguals. I teach the course mainly in English, but I offer key cultural help and much grammatical modeling in Spanish. Students write in English for their final papers, but write in both Spanish and English when drafting and exploring. I draw on many samples of professional writing in Mexico and the United States to help students see the commonalities and differences in Mexican and U.S. workplace culture and writing.
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One of the major genres of the course is proposal writing, situated in a U.S. workplace. As a genre, proposal writing for U.S. contexts presents cultural and linguistic challenges and opportunities for Mexican students. While the U.S. genre often demands an explicit statement of the problem and a concrete proposed solution, Mexican students find it difficult to be so negative, especially when writing to their superiors. And they are often reticent about offering concrete solutions. Instead, they are more comfortable under-stating the problem as an abstract issue, which they propose should be handled above them in the organizational hierarchy. Thus, when teaching proposal writing, I must engage the comparative values of hierarchy, directness, and negativity and help Mexican student transition their voice for U.S. contexts. Related to the overall purpose of proposals, Mexican students often find it difficult to provide the appropriate kinds of information and overall solutions that U.S. audience expect in the proposal. Thus, when obligated to write a solution, Mexican students often provide theoretically lofty, comprehensive solutions, while U.S. audiences often expected simple and specific solutions. Again, I focus on helping the Mexican transition into a more U.S. practical style of problem solving. Finally, the Mexican students struggle with appropriate tone and style, often preferring abstraction and explicit politeness strategies, while the U.S. audience expects concreteness and directness with respect. In addition to the cultural adaptations for the U.S. writing genre, many of the Mexican students needed help adjusting to the proposal writing process, something common at U.S. universities. As I have documented elsewhere (2012, 2014), work and organizational process often differ between Mexico and the United States. The Mexican students were not as accustomed to concrete project cycles in the proposal writing process, such as brainstorming, drafting, and revising, so I need to help the students gain as much value as possible in the processes.
Different Organizational Styles, Different Global Managers: A Comparison between a Japanese Company & a Joint Venture Company Misa Fujio, Toyo University, Japan Under the recent pressure of globalization, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in Japan (MEXT) has paid ever-increasing attention to fostering “global human resources” or the Japanese workforce who can succeed in global business. This is part of a project, funded with a grant from MEXT, investigating and clarifying the qualifications needed for globally-minded leaders, based on the interview data collected from Japanese businesspeople working overseas and local staff members working with them. In this presentation, I will compare two different kinds of data: a Japanese company operating in Canada and a Japanese and European 50% joint venture company operating in Europe. Both companies manufacture in different industries; the first data from the manufacturing company consists of six interviews with three Japanese expatriates and three Canadian local staff members, and the latter is from a focus group consisting of four Japanese employees working for the joint venture in Europe. As for the techniques used for interviews and focus groups, I followed Eriksson and Kovalainen (2008). The same topics were discussed in both situations in order to identify the abilities needed for global businesspeople, including the difficulties in intercultural business communication, management policies, abilities needed for globally-minded leaders, and suggestions for university education in Japan. Both data were analyzed, using the Modified Grounded Theory Approach (Kinoshita, 2003), whose concept and approach are the exactly same as the Grounded Theory Approach (Glaser. & Strauss, (1967); however, a slightly different analytical method with an introduction of analytical worksheets was used in order to clarify and simplify the analytical process, instead of fragmenting the information in the stage of open coding. As a result, nearly ten concepts were found, including both the category of national cultural differences (such as different business practices, or respect for different cultures) and organizational differences between the Japanese Headquarters and the local office (such as the
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manufacturer vs the sales distributor relationship, or the company size), as well as the category of organizational challenges (such as global sharing of human resources) and individual challenges (such as improvement of English ability) for the future. In addition, in the Japanese company operating in Canada where the relationship between the two countries is the Japanese parent company and Canadian subsidiary company, the interviewees mentioned advantages of sharing the same objectives, goals and corporate culture, while the 50% joint Japanese company operating in Europe mentioned more difficulties in understanding different business practices with the partner company. In the presentation, these differences will be highlighted and the role of corporate culture in intercultural business communication in addition to national cultural differences (i.e., Hofstede's 1991) will be discussed.
International Managerial Communication: Impacts of Language and Culture Competencies on Chinese Expatriates in Germany Bertha Du-Babcock, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong This presentation addresses issues of international business communication in China-based multinational business contexts. Due to the shift in the positions of the economic super powers and the globalization of business, the rise of China being the number 2 of the economic superpower after the US has made it important to examine the international business communication in Chinabased multinational corporations (MNCs). Using an empirical case analysis approach, this presentation illustrates East-West communication and concentrates on communication taking place among Chinese expatriates communicating with their foreign subsidiaries located in western countries. In the presentation, I describe and analyze the communication patterns that have developed in the German country organizations of a Mainland China multinational corporation (MNC) which specializes in customized telecommunication products. The analysis is based on eight-hour interviews in that the researcher conducted interviews with mid-to upper-level local managers and Chinese expatriates and took field notes. Using diagrams to illustrate the stages from initial contact to the signing of the contract, I examine the communication patterns and roles of different communicators of a sales project team in each stage. The critical factors in communication success were language proficiency, team management, cultural understanding, and product knowledge. I show how various project team members contributed their different competency to facilitate the communication process and the successful sale of the telecommunication system. Involved in the current research were Human Resources Managers, account managers, technical sales manager, commercial manager, project manager, and product line manager. The account manager makes the initial contact with a potential customer or vendor. This individual usually speaks fluent German so that the sales effort can take place in the vendor's native language but English language competency may suffice as many Germans are bilingual speakers. The technical sales manager is responsible for explaining the technical specifications (genre languages are critical) of the product to the vendor. This individual must possess detailed understanding of the specifications and characteristics of the product and be able to explain them to the vendor. Once the potential sales is identified, the project team is formed which consists of technical sales manager and project manager. The project manager becomes responsible for coordinating the sales effort. The role of the project manager is to effectively manage the team and guide intercultural communication among team members to overcome cultural differences. Ideally the project manager would be tri-lingual: German to speak directly with potential customers, English to act a language link- pin to connect vendors and other team members who were not fluent in English, and Chinese to talk directly to team members and others as needed in the subsidiary country organization or headquarters.
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Over the course of the project, the product line manager which usually stations in the headquarters may need to be involved to provide up-to-date product information. The Product- Line Manager usually has an in- depth understanding of the latest developments in the product as well as projected future developments and is in constant communication with the technical personnel who are developing and updating products. When on request, the Product Line manager needs to fly to Germany in order to join the project team and explain the technical aspects of the telecommunication system that is not known by other technical sales managers. However, once the product line manager, who usually possesses limited English and local language proficiency, joins the team, the communication dynamics changes in that the communication with the client could become a three-way communication form where link-pin communication becomes important and critical. In sum, this empirical case analysis illustrates the communication challenges and the adjustments that Mainland Chinese companies are making as they enter into a new phase of global competition. The overriding obstacle for these Chinese expatriates was that they are not fluent English speakers, let alone the local language. While proficiency in both general language and professional genres (genre languages) are important, proficiency in professional genres was the more critical factor in predicting communication success and successful expatriate adjustment.
Contributing to the experience: eWOM on three European heritage museums Katja Pelsmaekers, University of Antwerp, Belgium Craig Rollo, University of Antwerp, Belgium Value in the tourism business is currently conceived as giving consumers the opportunity to engage in a rich experience, i.e. providing goods and services to create a memorable event (e.g. Pine and Gilmore 1998). Players in cultural tourism, such as contemporary heritage museums have also adapted their efforts in visitor attraction in that sense (see e.g. Ferguson et al. 2015, Walby et al. 2015). Our own research (Pelsmaekers et al. 2015) has shown how three European emigration museums consistently communicate and present their offering as an emotional journey in the footsteps of 19thC-20thC transatlantic migrants. The tourism industry has also been reshaped by the Internet, most notably in the way travelrelated information is passed on and shared. As experience is inherently personal, deriving from the interaction between the staged event and the individual's state of mind, the ways in which tourists inform themselves, plan and consume their experiences has also been modified (Ferguson et al. 2015). Apart from searching information on destination websites, they frequently rely on eWOM (electronic Word-of-Mouth) platforms like Facebook, Instagram or TripAdvisor to help shape their understanding of the tourist experience before and after the event. Encouraged to upload and share their experiences, responses and other content, tourists influence other consumers' attitudes, decision-making processes and experience (Litvin et al. 2008, Dickinger 2010). Among the most popular tourism review sites is TripAdvisor, but research on how heritage and museum visitors share their experience on this platform is scarce. Yet there may be some evidence for a global online thematic rhetoric concerning heritage sites (Munar and Ooi 2012, Ferguson et al. 2015, Pearce & Wu 2014), while there is also a burgeoning interest in the discursive properties of TripAdvisor reviews (Vásquez 2011, De Ascaniis & Gretzel 2013). In our research, we draw on a reasoned selection of English-language reviews in a corpus of more than 800 TripAdvisor comments on three European transatlantic migration museums, i.e. Red Star Line Museum in Antwerp (Belgium, 400+ reviews), Ballinstadt in Hamburg (Germany, 110 reviews), and Deutsches Auswandererhaus in Bremerhaven (Germany, 300+ reviews). In a first move, we make a mixed-method thematic analysis, addressing both the overall emergence and prominence of topics in the reviews, and their local in-text development as they mix and connect
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factual and emotional constructions. The link with overall evaluation, chronology, and contributor origin will also be made. We will argue that these reviews are not just a reflection of individual tourist experience, but that they jointly create a frame and perspective for collective future experience.
Co-constructing migration narratives on TripAdvisor Katja Pelsmaekers, University of Antwerp, Belgium Craig Rollo, University of Antwerp, Belgium In this second part of our research (cf. Contributing to the experience: eWOM on three European heritage museums), we focus on the theme of migration as it emerges from a collection of TripAdvisor reviews on three European migration museums. Whereas TripAdvisor reviews have been used repeatedly in visitor satisfaction research, little is known about how they figure in discursive macro-processes and dominant Discourses (e.g. Gee 2010). Cultural tourism and management studies have shown that museums today create value by providing visitors with mediatized, embodied and communal experience (Larsen & Svabo 2014), often by relying on theming (Pine & Gilmore 1999). The theming of a venue involves attempts to capture the essence of a phenomenon (Lugosi 2014), leading to 'quasification' or the creation of experiental spaces that operate as if they were something else. This requires the construction or borrowing of various metanarratives of identity and culture (Lugosi 2014). In earlier research (Pelsmaekers et al. 2015), we have shown how European migration museums present their offering as an emotional (sea) journey in the footsteps the 19thC-20thC transatlantic migrant. In their own 'rhetoric of display' (Blair & Michel 2007; Noy 2015) the museums offer the visitor views of authentic and replicated objects, and exposure to multisensory and affective personal stories of 'typical' migrants with a handful of typical trajectories, in physical spaces that replicate or suggest associated historical venues. The experiental spaces, their objects and the visitors become actors in a dialogic process in which meaningful narratives are construed. These narratives attempt to essentialize almost a century of emigration by more than 14 million people altogether. Since the museums are establishing analogies with current phenomena, they clearly attempt to go beyond that. Visitors can participate in the co-construction and (re)production of these narratives in various ways, for instance by writing in visitor books or leaving comments on the museum social network site. Among other possibilities, a visitor can upload a personal account of their museum experience on an electronic review platform like TripAdvisor and hence contribute to how a collective memory of emigration and its contemporary analogies is constructed. Using a selection of visitor accounts relating to the three European emigration museums (i.e. Red Star Line Museum in Antwerp (Belgium), Ballinstadt in Hamburg (Germany) and Deutsches Auswandererhaus in Bremerhaven (Germany), we zoom in on the theme of migration and analyse how the reviewers construct their own narrative of the phenomenon. Particularly, borrowing from positioning analysis (especially De Fina 2013) and paying special attention to the broader social context in which the narratives are produced, we analyse how visitors/writers align with or distance themselves from the museum narrative. By doing so, we will argue, they also index their position in broader discourses on migration. Finally we will argue that TripAdvisor reviews are not just transparent sources of information on experience quality, but should also be looked at in terms of cultural products that reflect and construct the cultural values of the day.
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Mexico's Role in the Promotion of Human Rights, Democracy, and Rule of Law Andrés González Reynoso, Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico Roger Conaway, EGADE School of Business, Mexico The purpose of this presentation is to describe my first-hand experience in Mexico's role in the promotion of human rights, democracy, and rule of law. I had the opportunity to work as part of the Mexican Representation to the Council of Europe for one year, and I experienced the essential role of global communication in upholding these principles. I am a Mexican student who studied in the French city of Strasbourg for a year. Strasbourg has often been seen as a banner of European unity, after being conquered and liberated twice between 1871 and 1944. In 1949, the resilient spirit of the city allowed it to become the seat of the Council of Europe (CoE), an intergovernmental organization comprised of 47 Member States and whose main goal is the promotion of human rights, democracy, and rule of law. Among these, ethics plays a vital role. The CoE also addresses subjects such as bioethics, sports ethics, and business ethics. In a similar way to Strasbourg, Mexico is known to have had a turbulent recent history. In past decades, our country's efforts to promote and uphold the values the CoE stands for earned us an invitation to become an observer state in 1999, following the steps of the United States, Canada, and Japan, and becoming the first Latin-American country to receive such distinction. I was part of the Representation during the year 2014, a year that represented major challenges regarding human rights for Mexico. For example, 43 students disappeared in an incident in southern Mexico that involved municipal police forces. I worked alongside the diplomatic corps to ensure proper communication took place and to reaffirm Mexico's commitment to following through with the investigation of the crime. I attended an unprecedented round table regarding the human rights situation in Mexico, and there was a notable backlash from other Member States, but our country's commitment managed to ensure other States all proper measures would be taken. In another significant role during my representation, I took part in meetings that covered topics such as: programs to evaluate public officials, plans of action to reduce bureaucracy and corruption, prevention of hate speech, protection of journalists, gender equality in mass media, elimination of torture, prevention of child abuse, data protection, and more. Regarding business ethics specifically, I attended a presentation by ACCESS Facility, an NGO pioneering the use of non-judicial grievance mechanisms for potential conflicts between companies and employees or communities. Hewlett Packard and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) have started to implement these reforms in Mexico but there's still a long way to go. The integration of mechanisms like these can drastically improve the relationship between companies, communities, and governments, but, unfortunately, the lack of information about this alternative is stopping companies from effectively identifying reliable mediators and thus this mechanism has stalled. Non-judicial grievance mechanisms would facilitate constructive dialogue between parts; however, States should promote them as a way to improve their effectiveness. My conclusions point to the essential role of global communication in development of these rights. I will explain in detail specific communication aspects taking place in the Council. Mexico has always given utmost importance to its diplomatic and international relations, and emphasis has always been placed on global communication. From my time at the Council of Europe, it is clear this communication is the key to solve universal, diverse problems at every level.
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Engaging the Engagement Team: A Cultural Intelligence Case Study Reality Check Karin Goettsch, The Mosaic Company & University of Minnesota, USA Building cultural intelligence, or CQ, in today's global business environment is as critical as IQ, EQ or technical skills. Places where cross-cultural communication challenges arise are not always visible to all stakeholders; sometimes these are subtle differences, but other times they manifest into serious shortcomings that threaten the outcomes of a given initiative. Even self-aware crosscultural communication subject matter experts can be blindsided. It is clearer than ever that in our rapidly-changing workplaces, such effective global team communication is growing in importance within many organizations, often in virtual environments which adds an additional layer of complexity (Daim et al., 2012; Dekker, 2010; Hofstede, 2010; Rice-Bailey, 2014; Tenzer et al., 2014; Wageman et al., 2012). The presenter will discuss a cultural intelligence case in two facets: first, by highlighting results and strategies from a qualitative research study (what the research indicates are best practices, or, what we should do) and, secondly, by reflecting on the challenges and surprises faced in putting them into practice, both organizational constraints and those driven by the presenter's multiple roles (what reality says we can or can't do and how we respond). The selected case study is a global business team dedicated to designing and conducting an allemployee engagement survey with the broader goal of driving an engagement culture deeper into the company. A reality check of their journey together describes the dynamics of a global, virtual working team representing five countries, several languages and multiple time zones. Specifically, it explores how this newly-formed team engaged to reach a sense of belongingness and collaboration beyond their multicultural, multilingual challenges and also how they could have made further strides. Another unique factor of influence is that the presenter served three roles at the time which, in hindsight, provided different perspectives on the team's effectiveness. These three roles included practitioner (project lead for the business team), researcher (completing a study on global virtual teams) and instructor (for a cross-cultural communication seminar at a local university). Takeaways for the GABC/ABC community audience are two-fold. First, those involved in global teams in any format will hear a few select lessons learned and strategies for developing more effective cross-cultural communication. For example, consideration should be given to creating trust, team-building, belongingness, perceptions of linguistic fluency and comprehension, cultural priorities, social connections, and technology and communication preferences. Second, attendees will be encouraged to reflect more deeply on their own influence in similar scenarios according to their own role(s) as researcher, instructor, or practitioner. For example, researchers provide important foundational work, drive towards revealing good data and valid studies, and can seek to package it to disseminate for wider audiences too. Instructors, on the other hand, can learn to be aware of practical implications as well as good theory, challenge students to consider what might succeed in reality and what pushback might be encountered, and form partnerships with companies such as internships to get students' hands dirty and test research hypotheses. Finally, practitioners or consultants with direct connections to organizations may present critical research but also establish key insider connections/informants, dig down to the reality by going to the source and asking the right questions of the right people, then push for more information and details on what's going to stick in a business environment and recommend whether any change management principles should be embedded. Reality checks can be sobering, but necessary and helpful in whatever form our business communication work takes. As shown in this case study of cultural intelligence, best practices may not live up to their promise, when circumstances present them as barriers instead of interesting insights into the intersection of theory and practice in cross-cultural business communication. By strengthening our academic-industry partnerships, researchers, instructors and practitioners can continue to look into challenging elements of culture, language, and collaboration, enabling us to
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see what we have learned and how to shape future cultural intelligence and cross-cultural communication initiatives.
Integration and Operationalization of IB Communication Models David Victor, Eastern Michigan University, USA Bertha Du-Babcock, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Richard Babcock, University of San Francisco, USA This presentation will explain why and how the merger and integration of IB communication models can help to advance and operationalize IB communication theory and provide a more comprehensive framework to facilitate IB communication practice. Our focus is twofold in that we will (a) provide an overview of a comprehensive model resulting from the merger of two models and (b) show the logic that guided and the process we went through in developing the more comprehensive model. We specifically draw on the LESCANT (Victor, 1992) and language-based communication zones (Du-Babcock & Babcock, 2007, 2006, 2001, 1996) models to illustrate this merger and integration. We also will suggest how the process we followed can be generalized in order provide the basis for further integration and theory advancement of IB communication theory and practice To provide the background and setting for the presentation, we will provide an overview of the two models. “LESCANT is an acronym for the seven elements that commonly shift across cultures in an international business setting: Language, Environment and Technology, Social Organization, Contexting, Authority Conception, Nonverbal Communication and Temporal Conception.” LESCANT discussed the variables that need to be taken into consideration in order to communication effectively and efficiently in IB. The language-based communication model showed how differing general and genre language competency matches determined IB communication possibilities and patterns among IBCs in three language-based communication zones. If communicators do not share general language competency in a language, they communicate in Zone One and must use intermediaries (language link-pins) for most substantive messages Shared genre competency without general language competency allows the successful exchange of messages in a Zone One genre. If communicators share partial competency in a language, they communicate in Zone Two. Partial general language competency is required for successful communication exchange in Zone Two genres. Language link-pins are still required for complicated messages that fall outside of a Zone Two genre. If communicators share full general competency in a language, they communicate in Zone Three. They can exchange all general language messages directly but require genre competency to exchange understandable message in a Zone Three genre. The possibility for merger and integration of the models came about because LESCANT and the language-based communication zones models dealt with different aspects of the international business communication process; and combing them could produce a comprehensive model. LESCANT did not explore how the competency levels and matches of IBCs impacted the IB communication process. The language-based communication model, with its concentrated on immediate message exchange, did not set communication in a language, environmental and technical, and social background context or consider the effect of IB expertise (informational and conceptual knowledge of IB and the know-how to use this knowledge) on communicator interaction. The merging of the models required the rearrangement of LESCANT and the expansion of language-based communication zones model. Although LESCANT and the language-based communication zones model had corresponding variables in the language variables, the relationship between cultural variables (SCANT in LESCANT with intercultural corridors in the language-based communication zones model) was unclear; and E in LESCANT did not have a
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corresponding variable in the language-based zones model. This mismatch provided the initial impetus that set off the search for merger and integration. LESCANT was divided into two parts to reflect (a) the language, environmental, and social systems in which international business communicators interact (LES) and (b) the major cultural factors within the social system that need to be considered and adapted when cultural differences exist among individuals (CANT). IB expertise-based and intercultural-based communication zones were added to the language-based communication zones model. These zones have six corridors which reflect differing levels of ability to exchange information relating to international factors (IB expertise-based communication zones) and differing levels in the understanding of intercultural differences (intercultural-based communication zones). This still left the model incomplete and unbalanced as it placed culture in an inferior position and did not account for the need for IB knowledge and expertise. So, the final step in creating the framework for the general model was to convert the intercultural corridors to intercultural zones and add IB expertise-based zones. We originally labeled IB expertise-based zones as knowledge-based zones but broadened the definition with the realization that the know-how that comes with experience as well as informational and conceptual knowledge is mandatory for successful IB communication. Adequate knowledge of international systems (LES) provides international business communicators with the competency to fit their messages within wider expertise-based communication zones. Awareness of cultural differences as identified by CANT provides international business communicators with a systematic way to identify cultural differences. They then can decide whether and how to adapt their communication behavior to compensate for the cultural differences so as to communicate in wider interculturalbased communication zones. In sum, merging these models provides international business communicators with a framework and a toolkit that can guide them in communicating in different situations and environments and with people having different backgrounds and competency levels. The presentation will conclude with an application and demonstration of the model. This section will be based on an intercultural business communication episode between a Chinese and an American. We will show how either participant (Chinese or American) could use merged model to efficiently and effectively adapt intercultural communication behavior in this episode.
Leer, Resumir y Redactar: Una Comparación Empírica de la Competencia de Redacción Profesional en la Lengua Materna y Una Lengua Extranjera (español) Lieve Vangehuchten, University of Antwerp, Belgium Marielle Leijten, University of Antwerp, Belgium Iris Schrijver, University of Antwerp, Belgium Introducción Una tarea de leer, resumir y redactar, o reading-into-writing task (Weigle 2004), es una compleja operación cognitiva, que requiere varias destrezas: el entendimiento del asunto que tratar, el dominio del lenguaje escrito, el conocimiento del perfil del público meta así como de las características discursivas del género deseado, y, por fin, la formación pragmática para poder cumplir los fines comunicativos del texto. Preparar y elaborar una redacción profesional nunca es fácil, y, de ser así para hablantes nativos, bien se puede imaginar que a los aprendices de una lengua extranjera con fines profesionales específicos les resultará aún más desafiante. Este estudio se concibió con el fin de adquirir una mejor comprensión de las dificultades que aprendices avanzados del español como lengua extranjera para fines comunicativos profesionales (N=19, nivel del Marco común europeo de referencia: B2-C1), experimentan a la hora de realizar una tarea de reading-into-writing. El objetivo es analizar el proceso de redacción tanto en la lengua materna como en la lengua extranjera, y aprovechar los resultados para poder mejorar la práctica de la competencia de redacción profesional en este tipo de alumnado. Ya que el desarrollo
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y la práctica de la competencia de redacción profesional, tanto en la lengua materna como en la lengua extranjera, forman una parte explícita de la carrera de los sujetos participantes, se partió de la hipótesis de que se iba a producir un progreso en ambos idiomas, aunque no en la misma medida. Método Se les pidió a 19 estudiantes de una carrera académica de comunicación profesional multilingüe (un programa de máster de un año) que realizaran al principio del curso una tarea de reading-intowriting tanto en su lengua materna (el neerlandés) como en español (una lengua extranjera para ellos). Esta tarea se repitió al final del curso. En las dos ocasiones se trató de un ejercicio de redacción de síntesis informativa de unas 200-250 palabras a partir de tres fuentes digitales en neerlandés (un informe de la Unión Europea, un sitio web, un artículo de prensa). Estas fuentes fueron manipuladas en cuanto a complejidad léxica y sintáctica, contenido, estilo, género y propiedades discursivas. Se les pidió a los participantes que adaptaran su texto específicamente al perfil de un lector joven de 17 años (último año de la enseñanza secundaria). El orden en que se presentaron las tareas no fue arbitrario sino equilibrado entre los dos grupos. Los datos se recogieron mediante el programa de keystroke logging Inputlog (Leijten & Van Waes, 2013). Resultados Todas las redacciones, de los dos momentos y para las dos lenguas, fueron valoradas por dos evaluadores independientes. Sólo se pudo observar una mejora en las redacciones realizadas en la lengua materna: los resultados aumentaron de un promedio de 82.14 a 94.54; p
