Participants of the Samovar Club Discuss How to Build Communicatons in Multinational Teams

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What differences can we find in communication in different countries, where do these come from and how can we overcome any potential difficulties? HSE students and staff discussed these and other questions with Ekaterina Kolesnikova, Associate Professor, Head of the HSE School of Foreign Languages, and Roman Levkovich, Director for Public Relations during a meeting of the HSE discussion club ‘Samovar’.

Flexible and Linear Time

Why do we talk about the importance of understanding another culture, if in fact each person is an individually formed personality? The fact is that values, beliefs and models of human behaviour are formed in the process of a person’s socialization, and, consequently, each person becomes carrier of a certain culture, says Ekaterina Kolesnikova.

If, during communication, we encounter manifestations of other cultures, we cease to perceive ourselves as the measure of behavior, start listening more actively and trying to understand the other person.

In different cultures there are different concepts of time: some people can perceive time in 5-minute segments, whereas others might consider time in the framework of morning, afternoon, evening, night. Moreover, the perception of time can be divided into linear (as in Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands) and flexible (in Latin America, India, Saudi Arabia).

Those cultures which consider time as linear struggle perceive this concept differently: if a class starts at 9:30, you have to come by 9:30, anything else is late. But for countries with a flexible perception of time, this value may be relative, time here is a rather abstract concept: for example, French students in most cases will come to the first class at least at 9:40, because events in France usually start a little late.

Interestingly, Russia is in the middle of this concept: here, time can be both linear and flexible.

Low- and High-context Culture

If we take a multinational team with specialists from France, Russia, China and Japan, we will find that it will be most difficult for Chinese and Japanese to build intercultural communication, notes Ekaterina Kolesnikova. For many of us this might seem surprising, although in fact we can explain it easily: both Japan and China are high-contextual cultures.

What does this mean? High-contextual communication is complex, multilevel and involves understanding and interpretation of meanings and ideas familiar to all representatives of culture, explains Ekaterina Kolesnikova. ‘The Japanese can read the air,’ she added.

HSE University can also be called a high-contextual environment: inside the university there are a lot of concepts and terms unfamiliar to people outside our academic environment.

Low-context culture involves direct, accurate, literal information that almost anyone will understand. The most striking example of a low-context culture is the USA. For the most part, a low-context culture exists in the United States due to its migration history: people came from all over the world, from different cultures and built a universal environment. As in many low-context cultures, there is the principle of three arguments: say it, repeat it, and explain it again.

How to Work in Multicultural Teams

To successfully work in multicultural project teams we need to consider several points at different stages of work. Firstly, it is necessary to identify the group structure, since some corporate structures have a hierarchy (mainly in Asian countries), and the others have a flat system (for example, in the Netherlands). This can be expressed in the relatvely banal decision as to who you copy in to your email: if you list everyone, everyone is equal, if you CC one person, he or she is perceived as the leader.

Following this is the need to understand who and how to criticize. For example, in Japan, open criticism of your supervisors is unacceptable. If we talk about how much you can criticize teammates, Russia and the United States stand out vividly: in our country, criticism can start without introductions, preamble and small talk, while in the United States they usually follow the rule of ‘3 elements of praise for 1 critical judgment.’

The next step will be to establish leadership in the team and willingness to listen to the chosen leader. In Asian countries, no one will object to the leader's judgments during the general discussion, but in Germany, an open discussion of the leader's proposals and criticism will usually begin — this is important to understand whether the decision was unanimous, and whether all points of view have been taken into account.

The final stage of the multicultural team's work will be the implementation of the project and recognition in case of well-done work. Of course, in many cultures, participants value material rewards, but there are also those where a symbolic recognition is no less important, for example, certificates of honour or awards. Moreover, in this situation, every detail is important: who provided this certificate, when, how many people know about it, etc.

In order to find common ground in communication with people of different cultures, it is important first of all to be attentive to each other, to be prepared for the fact that the reaction of another person may differ from your expectations. ‘A person has two eyes, two ears and one mouth. In a situation of intercultural communication, you need to listen more, see more and talk less,’ says Ekaterina Kolesnikova.

The Samovar Discussion Club was launched by the HSE Public Relations Office to discuss important and relevant topics of university life in a relaxed tea-drinking atmosphere. Anyone who has something to share with the HSE community - teachers and researchers, experts and administrative staff, students and doctoral students – can become a club speaker. If you want to become a speaker, please contact The Internal Communications Unit via email community@hse.ru. Please indicate a topic, give a brief description of the intended discussion and try to justify why the topic may interest the HSE University community.