RMIT International University Vietnam

BUSM4699 - Cross Cultural Management

Assessment Task 3

Subject Code: BUSM4699

Cross Cultural Management

Subject Name:

RMIT Vietnam, HCMC

Location & Campus

Group: 01

Group Number:

Student name: Tran Thanh Tuan Khoa

 Student Number S3666793

Teacher Name: Greig Taylor

Section one: Introduction

My weakness when interacting with people from different cultures is dealing with
unexpected cultural differences. The unexpected cultural differences here are the cultural
differences that the cultural dimension could not cover such as even though Hungary is one of
western countries which used low-context communication (Kemp 2009); however, a Hungarian
uses middle-context to communicate instead or to determine the working styles of a mixed
culture people. Moreover, a Hungarian although they use middle-context communication, the
way they give negative feedback is very direct. I realize this fact and also my weakness when
doing assignments with my teammates in Cross-Cultural Management course. In this course, one
of my teammates is a mixed culture. Her name is Aniko. She is a Vietnamese but have lived in
Hungary since she was young so her communication way was quite different from other
teammates, especially me. The problem occurred in week 10 when we needed to complete our
report for the assignment 2. There was an argument between me and her. At that time, I could
easily realize that we just had different ideas, no one was wrong; however, Annie kept
complaining about my ideas during the meeting, she said that those ideas were too weak and less
innovative, she asked me to combined my recommendations, she also fixed some of my parts
without my permission before the meeting. That time, Aniko just wanted to help me, but with
me, after many times I heard what she said I felt like she insulted me. Thus, I became extremely
frustrated and upset. After 10 minutes, I asked her to change the recommendations to stop the
argument; however, I asked her in a wrong way by using high-context communication. As a
result, I made her angry and then she made me even more upset and we quarrel with one another.
It took 3 hours for the quarrel to stop when I decided to change the recommendations after I
cooled off. It is clear that my problems come from the misunderstanding of the cultural
differences but this cultural differences are very unexpected. Therefore, the followings will be a
analysis of my weakness.

Section two: Analysis

Culture Map:

According to Meyer (2014), when evaluating, the criticism should be given in a

constructive way, but each culture has different definition of “constructive”. Recently, I checked
the culture map of my team and I realized that Aniko’s culture map was had quite different from
us especially the way she gave negative feedback. Except Aniko, all the members of my team
gave the negative feedback in a very indirect way, but Aniko was quite different, her way of
giving negative feedback is direct, although the context she used to communicate was just at the
middle of high and low-context. This culture map explained why when Aniko gave me negative
feedback, she thought that her feedback was given constructively; however, with me, I thought
that she insulted me. That time if I had paid attention to culture map of each teammates or just
had have some knowledge about the way she gives negative feedback, I would have realized the
way Aniko give negative feedback to people and I could have understood that Aniko did not
criticize or insult me, she only wanted to help me, and there would not have been any argument.
Therefore, one of the main reason leads to my weakness is lack of knowledge about the culture
differences that are not covered in the cultural dimensions.

Cultural Intelligence (CQ):

I also realized that my problems of dealing with negative feedback comes mainly from
the lack of Cultural intelligence (CQ) which is the natural ability to view the gestures of the
people that have different cultures like a colleague of those people, and they can also mirror
those gestures (Earley, & Mosakowski 2004). This means that the people who have high CQ will
also have abilities to adapt quickly to different cultures. According to Livermore (2011), there
are 4 elements of (CQ) which are: CQ drive (motivation), CQ knowledge, CQ strategy, and CQ
action. CQ motivation is about how much interested and confident the person feels when
adapting with other cultures, while CQ knowledge is about the knowledge of the cultures of
different countries (Livermore 2011). With me, I think that my CQ drive is considerably good
because I am very interested in learning more about other cultures to optimize my performance.
For the CQ knowledge, I think mine is at the average level, although I did not have enough
knowledge about the cultures of specific countries, but a still have a good amount of cultural
knowledge that learned from my International Business and Management courses. The third
element is CQ strategy which is about how the person can strategize when facing different
cultures, and how they can use their CQ knowledge to understand the context of different
cultures and use that knowledge to solve cultural problems (Livermore 2016). Finally, CQ action
is about the ability to change the behavior to become appropriate with different cultures
(Livermore 2011). After the argument, I realize that my CQ strategy and CQ action are very low.
According to Livermore (2016), CQ strategy includes how people use their cultural knowledge
to plan the strategy when there are cultural differences, how good their interpretations of the
situations are, and the ability to check whether the expectation of them are right or not. Although
I could think about how to approach to people, the topic and situation when there is a cultural
difference, I still could not interpret the situation very well, and it was clearly shown when Aniko
first time said “Your part is weak”. The fact that I could use cultural knowledge I learned from
the courses to decide whether people want to give negative feedback or they want to insult me
based on their countries. However, in this case Aniko is a bicultural so I was really confused
about whether she was upset and insulted or just wanted me to change my part. Therefore, I think
that I should improve about my CQ strategy to avoid the same situation in the future.

Not only my CQ strategy is bad, but also the CQ action. That time, after a long time thinking
about her complaints, I decided to stop the conflict by letting Aniko to correct my part.
Normally, when I use high-context communication, it might take me some time to think about
the suitable words before I talk, that time did not want to waste more time because I needed to
finish that report quickly to do other assignments. Thus, I said “You can change it if you want”
which was low-context communication. After telling her, I realized I made a huge mistake.
Because I usually used high-context communication, so when I used low-context
communication, Aniko thought that I was upset and tried to force her to abandon her idea. Which
led her to actually become angry and then she made me angry by criticizing my attitude. As a
result, the conflicts still continued until I can cool off and fix my part.

Section 3: Action plans:

According to Earley (2006), there are three central self-motives which are: enhancement, growth,
consistency. In my opinions, self-growth motive, which is about the desire to challenge and
become better (Earley 2006), is my main motivation of wanting to know more about different
cultures and this motivation help me a lot in other courses when I have to work with foreign
students especially the COIL course that I had to work with American and Australian students
who did not know anything about our culture. Therefore, I plan to make the most of self-growth
motivation to improve my CQ knowledge, CQ strategy and CQ action:

o From now until I graduate, I plan to enroll to more COIL courses which will
require me to work with foreign students in other universities. By working with
them, I will not only gain more CQ knowledge, but also the CQ strategy and CQ
action. For the CQ strategy, I think right now is my worst element because I have
no idea how to strategize and interpret the situation effectively, however, I think
that my CQ strategy will be improved after I finish those courses and overcome
the challenges caused by the difference of cultures, because when I have enough
experience, I will know where to start, what to consider when strategizing to
overcome the cultural differences. Moreover, learning the lessons from the failure
such as my argument with Aniko, is also one of the best ways for me to find out
the better way to plan more effectively.

o During the Cross-cultural course, I could not interpret the facial expressions,
verbal actions of Aniko to determine whether she was upset or not? But right
now, I can barely interpret her emotion and change my behavior appropriately
when I talk with her. Therefore, if I meet and work with more foreign students, I
think not only my CQ strategy but also my CQ action will be improved.
o In the next semester, I also think about joining some clubs of RMIT universities
that have foreign students. Talking with those students, and working with them to
do the projects, could also help me improve my CQ. Working with foreign
students in the clubs is different from working with foreign students from COIL
courses. With COIL courses, we mainly try our best to complete the assignments,
and because those courses are related to management and international business,
the foreign students have already been aware of Vietnamese working styles, so
the chances of conflicts will be less. The chance for me to meet some unexpected
cultural differences is less than when I am in club. Normally, in a club, everyone
will express their thought. Thus the conflicts will occur more due to the
differences of the culture. Therefore, I could learn a lot about the differences
between the cultures of different countries, and if I could solve the conflicts of the
club then I can have more experience to apply for the conflicts that share the same
characteristic.

o According to Ortony (1975), metaphors are essential because they allow the
coherent chunks of characteristic which are perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and
experiential to transfer from a vehicle which is known to a topic which is less so.
Therefore, If I have enough knowledge about cultural metaphors, I can understand
about the logic behind the culture. Thus, it is easier for me to overcome the
cultural challenges and also interpret the situation better when I am working with
foreigners that have different cultures. To learn more about cultural metaphors, I
think I will make the most of being a student of RMIT university because this
university have a lot of different students and lectures coming from a lot of
countries around the world, I can ask them about their cultural metaphors.

o Moreover, when I talk with the foreign teachers and students, I can ask them
about their countries, their culture to have a clearer look at their cultures.
Moreover, after the argument with Aniko, I realized that the cultural knowledge I
learned from the courses is not enough because each country will have their own
 cultures. And it is also not really useful to determine the ways of working of
mixed cultural people, only my experience and my CQ will help me. Therefore,
interacting with the foreigners when I am still a student in RMIT university as
much as possible is what aiming for.

o After the argument, I also realize that all of my courses working with foreigners,
there was no discussion about the working styles of each member. It is clear that
the lack of knowledge about Aniko’s mixed-culture leads to the quarrel between
me and her. It would have not happened if I had discussed with Aniko about my
working styles. Therefore, from now on, when I formed a team with foreigners I
think I will ask all of the members to have a discussion about working styles to
avoid the conflicts. Especially with me, when I know about how they give
negative feedback and why they want to do it, I can easily overcome the stress.

o To improve my CQ, it is also very important to have self-evaluation to know how

far I have improved from the last time. Therefore, I think every 6 months I will try
to do self-evaluation. After doing self-evaluation, I will determine which elements
that need to be improved more, and have a training plan for myself. I will
continue to take advantages of being students of RMIT university to gain more
experience. When I graduated, the workplace will be the next place for me to gain
experience.

References:

Earley, P. C., & Mosakowski, E. 2004. Cultural intelligence. Harvard business review, 82(10),
139-146.

Earley, P. C., Ang, S., & Tan, J. S. 2006. CQ: Developing cultural intelligence at work. Stanford
University Pre

Kemp, FD, 2009. SAVING FACE. Industrial Engineer, 41(5), pp. 39-43.

Livermore, D 2011. The Cultural Intelligence Difference -Special eBook Edition: Master the
One Skill You Can't Do Without in Today's Global Economy, AMACOM

Livermore, D 2016. Driven by Difference: How Great Companies Fuel Innovation Through
Diversity, AMACOM

Meyer, E. (2014). Navigating the cultural minefield. Harvard Business Review, 92(5), 119-123

Ortony, A. (1975), Why Metaphors Are Necessary and Not Just Nice. Educational Theory,
25(1), 45-53.