Poland in China (Artwork by the author)
Intercultural communication at work in multinational companies (MNCs) is increasingly common. Workplace communication in MNCs can be highly complex, as is the case when Polish expatriate workers of an MNC headquartered in Western Europe are deployed in China. What are the communication challenges they face and how do they overcome these?
To examine this question, my team and I conducted narrative interviews with six Polish professionals who had just returned from a three-year international assignment in China in late 2016. They had worked to build a Chinese subsidiary of the MNC together with 1,500 local and 150 international employees.
The company language in the Chinese subsidiary was English (and, practically, also Chinese) while in Poland the company language was French (and, practically, also Polish).
The findings of our research have recently been published in the journal Multilingua in an article entitled “Intercultural communication within a Chinese subsidiary of a Western MNC: Expatriate perspectives on language and communication issues”.
Interviewees reported a lot of miscommunication and communication problems, which they ascribed to both language and cultural barriers. In particular, they felt under-prepared when they first arrived and highlighted communication problems in the initial stage of their deployment:
We were sent there without… any preparation for working in a different cultural circle. China is far different from France, Romania, or Hungary. We have lots of factories in Eastern, Southern, and Northern Europe—but these are pretty much the same. We think in a similar way, we have the same working style. But what I saw there… I was completely unprepared for that.
One of my co-authors in China (Image credit: A. Gut)
All interviewees claimed that face-to-face communication with locals was problematic and that English as the company language was part of the problem. They found it difficult to understand the English spoken by their Chinese colleagues and the company jargon. They had to either translate the previously acquired terminology from Polish or French into English, or learn new company jargon, for example, abbreviations of products, company positions, or those used in production management.
In turn, because locals often communicated in Mandarin at work and during social events, expatriates’ lack of Mandarin proficiency prevented them from acquiring information from local superiors, learning about problems within a team, or from participating in decision-making processes. It also hampered integration with locals at lunchtime and led to social isolation and a feeling of not belonging to the work group.
To overcome these barriers, expatriates devised a number of ad hoc strategies such as asking clarifying questions, asking for confirmation, or summarizing the message by e-mail. One interviewee recounted how he simply imitated locals:
I often nodded back (…) and did what they did: nodded, smiled, and so on. Even when I needed something very much, and urgently, I knew it would be difficult to get it due to all the steps you need to go through with them. (…) Sometimes I had to ‘walk in their shoes’ and behave like them. That let me get many things faster.
Another interviewee related that changing the medium of communication from oral to digital worked for him:
One of my employees told me…, because I sent him a message via a chat program, (…) ‘You know what? Chatting with you is much better than talking, because I understand you better [this way].’ So they gave me such signals from time to time.
These communication strategies did not always help to alleviate ambiguity or uncertainty. In fact, they often were experienced as counterproductive, for example when their strategies threatened their Chinese interlocutor’s face, as was the case when they asked for clarifications at team meetings. By contrast, showing respect through simply nodding was felt to be more time-consuming but more effective in the long run.
Our research provided an opportunity for interviewees to reflect on their intercultural communication experiences in China. Their retrospective interpretations were in themselves beneficial as they enabled them to understand, accept, and appreciate the cultural differences they had encountered in China.
Reference
Wilczewski, M., Søderberg, A.-M., & Gut, A. (2018). Intercultural communication within a Chinese subsidiary of a Western MNC: Expatriate perspectives on language and communication issues. Multilingua, 37(6), 587-611. doi:10.1515/multi-2017-0095
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This blog is indeed helpful not only for students, but for everyone who wants to go abroad. Multinational corporations are increasingly using intercultural communication in the workplace. It also demonstrates the significant influence that linguistic and cultural barriers have, particularly in the workplace.
This was such an insightful read!! My father has recently went abroad and I shared this blog with him. He mentioned that the communication strategies written here were helpful, but more than that, his concern was in speaking confidently. Although he is already quite adept with English and he simply went to America, the problem now is overcoming our own anxieties when speaking in English, which might be surprising since we’re Filipinos and English is one of our official languages, but I agree with him and share his anxieties because growing up where English isn’t the dominant language around me, there is a mental barrier to speaking the language that has something to do with culture and confidence.
This article is a huge help for those planning to study or work abroad because it shares first-hand knowledge of language barriers. As I understand, communication alone cannot decrease uncertainties or the concerns that go along with it, lack of good uncertainty communication proved to have detrimental effects. Contrarily, effective communication strategies in high-uncertainty environments can help reduce uncertainties and forge a unified bond between employees. We are all familiar with uncertain communications in our personal lives. Uncertainty communications occur at work. Perhaps, employees process communications according to their perceptions which are affected by a cognitive disposition to the immediate situation and environmental factors.
The blog is quite helpful for students who plan on going to other countries for work. I would always romanticize it but I never would have imagined there can be struggles and the reality of going to a whole other country. I agree with the utilization of computers or phones for communication can be easier but it really takes a lot of your time too.
Thank you for sharing this interesting topic. This really shows how prepared one must be when traveling to another country for work purposes, you may never really be prepared unless you have encountered the environment before. I think it is important for multinational companies to have new employees undergo integration processes so employees are best equipped with language skills and people skills that will help them communicate with each other and lessen miscommunication that can be detrimental for their respective companies.
This study is beneficial for those planning to study or work abroad as it shares some of the expatriates’ first-hand experiences with language barriers. At first, I wondered why the interviewees didn’t use translation apps; however, I quickly realized that these apps are inefficient. Despite technological advances, it isn’t easy to figure out how to live in countries where the locals speak a different language. I believe learning the local language is still the best way to overcome these barriers. It’ll be challenging and may take years of practice, but it’ll allow us to connect with others’ cultures.
Cross-cultural communication can really bring about myriad misunderstandings. Breaking down language and cultural barriers would definitely require a lot of effort and communicative strategies. Reading the firsthand encounters of the interviewees and how they coped with them was really intriguing as they were able to devise ways of how to somehow bridge the gap between their exchanges.
Based on the article, intercultural communication is essential. First of all, intercultural communication is so important since each employee’s individual background, experiences, and skill sets have an impact on how well they perform at work. As a result of their employees’ diverse viewpoints, inclusive businesses have been found to be almost twice as innovative as other businesses. You’ll have a harder time creating an inclusive and diverse workplace if your organization doesn’t have a culture that welcomes people from various backgrounds and encourages good communication across cultures. Diverse teams enable you to interact and engage with a variety of customers more effectively. As a result, there are greater customer relationships and public perceptions of the brand. Therefore, intercultural communication is crucial in a global workforce. Executives and business leaders can achieve effective communication on a worldwide scale with a bit more understanding of the significance of intercultural communication in today’s workplace.
It takes a lot of effort to adjust to a multinational corporation. Language barriers are among the factors that make it difficult for workers to communicate effectively with their colleagues. In the same vein, individuals may experience social isolation as a result of their inability to relate to others. The existence of ad hoc strategies, on the other hand, can help the learners how to develop and behave like their colleagues. I suppose that adapting such strategies can be advantageous to learners because they are able to somehow overcome the given gap in cultural and linguistic constraints.
Ad hoc strategies can indeed lessen the barriers among employees of multinational companies. Personally, I experienced one strategy that was mentioned, which is conversing through an online platform. It is easier for me because the online platform I used has the power to translate sentences for easier understanding between individuals who speak different languages; because of that, we were able to build a connection easily.
Thanks, Audrey! That’s great to hear but wondering how much of a connection you can actually build if you have to rely on machine mediation?
Thank you, Dr. Piller! To answer your question, apparently, I have tried conversing with the parents of my Chinese students through WeChat about various Chinese and Filipino practices, places, occasions, experiences, local foods, and such by simply sending pictures and text messages. Through that casual exchange, I can feel a certain level of closeness with them because some are not receptive to sharing.
Thank you Audrey for sharing your experience! Throughout my last two-year pandemic research on international students’ experiences in online learning, I have found this strategy also resonates well with students less confident in the language of instruction.
Hi Dr. Wilczewski! This was a very relatable and interesting blog post. It made me look back to all the discussions we had on Intercultural Communication, particularly in the workplace context. Working in another country is becoming increasingly common for many different reasons and purposes. Some apparent advantages are cultural exploration, a broader network sphere, and varied perspectives on the same industry. Personally, I am looking forward to working in a foreign country. The challenges and scenarios mentioned are some of the most common issues in the workplace when workers from various parts of the world are put together. Workers have a predisposition to remain with their own group of people who speak the same language is expected. Living abroad can cause significant emotional, mental, and physical disruptions to one’s former habits and routines. Innovative and diversified methods to the same responsibilities may be encountered even for an apparently same function in an organization. So, developing intercultural responsibility is vital where all members are accountable for cultivating full and mutually challenging professional relationships. When working overseas, most people are concerned about language and cultural disparities. What is essential is having a set of attitudes and ideas that must be nurtured to effectively make the most of the interactions with individuals from various cultures. This is what cultural competence is, and here are four critical components of cultural competence: awareness, attitude, knowledge, and skills.
Thank you for your feedback, Micaella!
Good day!
For a student like myself who is interested in applying for a job overseas, your study has definitely been a thought-provoking read. It left me with better insight on the realities behind working with communities that are far different from mine. Cultural barriers are inevitable – it is no different from the simple language barricade we come face to face with when travelling to a foreign country, and this becomes a tougher obstacle in the context of an intercultural workplace that somewhat forces individuals to get along with each other and agree on compromises for days on end. Hence, I have been slowly but surely taking lessons on the Japanese language in hopes of fitting in, albeit not perfectly, but better than if I brutely forced my way in without any understanding of their language and culture. It is interesting that counterproductivity emerged in the face of communicative strategies, which aimed for more positive results, and it is the key point that I will be mulling over after reading such enlightening study from you.
Thank you for your comment, Anne Beatriz! Besides local language proficiency, which is surely one of the key assets for adaptation and host interactions, reaching out to internationals experienced in the host country could also be a valuable source of cultural knowledge. Based on the experience of others, one can learn what behavior and communication practices work better than others. Good luck on your cultural learning journey!
This article on Intercultural communication at work: Poles in China demonstrated that communication barriers continue to be a problem for a variety of people. Many miscommunications occurred throughout the interview, according to the article, which they attributed to both language and cultural barriers. This made me realize how important it is to ask for clarification when speaking with people from other countries, not only as a sign of respect, but also to gain a better understanding of what they are trying to convey. Having an interpreter who is fluent in both languages is also essential to avoid miscommunication despite the language barrier.
What an interesting topic you have here! I, myself, have been searching and studying pieces regarding intercultural communication in a workplace setting, as working in a foreign country is a dream of mine. My key learnings from your article are that inconvenience and struggle will always be there when transferring to a new and unfamiliar land, even for work purposes. In addition to that, I learned the great importance of technology, knowing that it aided the subject of the research in some way during their stay in China. Glad to know that! It was a remarkable study, and proud to say I learned a lot.
As English majors, we have been exploring and studying how language is used inside the workplace where several studies claim that language usually creates tension and intimidation among multinational company workers with different ethnicity among the populace. This article also supported that claim. It is also interesting that you mentioned the company jargon that interviewees find challenging to relate to, and the hampered integration with locals which reinforces them to social isolation causes to thicken the intercultural barrier. But further, with this article, the interviewees now learn to get along by understanding and mimicking the behavior of their Chinese colleagues. This is where intercultural communication blooms as they now know how to create shared meanings, leading to faster exchanging of ideas. Overall, this article helped magnify some communication aspects such as linguistic jargon and non-verbal cues in the contextual process of conversation among workers of multinational companies.
Dzień dobry panu. (Ghin dobre)
Poles apart were countless English majors in various Chinese universities during my decade long tenure therein as a teacher of English, French and Esperanto. On one memorable outing down town I accompanied two college champions of the language of Shakespeare from two separate classes in the same university. The one, a young student from abroad (Nigeria) and the other of Chinese provenance, though highly successful in every written exam, were incomprehensible one to the other in the spoken target language, save that I as a native speaker of English, sitting between them on the same bus, provided a translation. It was hard for this amateur comedian from Down Under to keep a straight face, such was the irony.
‘We also know that a shared language does not ensure successful communication’ is an understatement on Michal’s part save that he attend an international Esperanto congress.
In countless situations abroad, I’ve been obliged to resort to absurd gestures and grunts after mutilating I don’t know how many natural languages, just to acquire simple commodities. I swear to eliminate the toilet roll scene from my repertoire by 2020. ‘Tis just as difficult to decipher and equally discordant to hear my own tongue treated so. The resultant confusion can be impatience followed by animosity! Even with advanced students of English it feels unnatural to be constantly heedful, uncertain whether nuances have been conveyed. Don’t mention the unnaturalness and my uneasiness in being so privileged as to use my mother tongue in so many places, i.e. an unnatural dominance and usage that no foreigners can ever truly mimic and vice versa were their languages in favour now. Numerous are the times in similarly disjointed situations when the interlocutors pump up the volume, to everyone’s annoyance, as though comprehension is connected to blare. Even more frequent are the episodes when social occasions degenerate into teacher / pupil events. Most unnatural of all is that student of long–standing with a reputation or an attitude, who, being loath to admit that he has misheard a native speaker condemns one’s accent or feigns understanding. Without end are these non-academic, actual frustrations and limitations that are minimalized when people apply ‘artificial’ Esperanto, simply because that auxiliary international language is designed to be easy and it has no colonial baggage. It’s surely the nearest thing we have to putting everyone on an equal footing for its basis and destination are universal peace and language justice.
Hi, Paul! Thank you for your comment and for sharing some of your personal experiences! They show how important creating shared meanings is for successful intercultural interactions. Could you say you have developed, throughout all those years in China, some communication strategies that made your interactions more effective and enjoyable both for you and locals?
Provided I don’t reference any commercial platforms ‘Language on the Move’ might just be a forum for such sharing, Michal. A surreal incident depicting said sharing transpired in your aptly named capital, War-saw. Why the mermaid on Warsaw’s emblems, BTW?
Serendipitously In the northern summer of 1995 I was invited to address impromptu in Esperanto a mixed group of Polish citizens: A tourist business with connections to the Australian Government had convened a large gathering in Stalin’s architectural gift to the Polish people in the centre of Warsaw. That mega construction, the Palace of Science and Culture where the centennial Universal Congress of Esperanto attended by 5946 delegates occurred in 1987, is not hugely endeared to artistic people like the Poles due to its wedding cake architecture, its sub optimal construction methods and its link to the heart of atheistic Soviet Communism. None the less it surprisingly became the venue for an extemporaneous talk on the Bahá’í Faith. The official speaker, a Polish Australian, like many Aussies was laconic so a call was raised by the MC for any Australian present to come forward. A Polish Esperanto-speaking Bahá’í friend with me at that time, of his own volition asked the audience if they would like to hear from a Melbournian, living in their midst during the last year, about his experiences and beliefs. It was like inviting your favourite nephew or niece to accompany you to the movies. The Polish people, 95% of whom are Roman Catholic Christians, have a soft spot for both Esperanto and Australia with our connections to Mount Kosciuszko and the Strezlecki Ranges and theirs to doctor Zamenhof. Perhaps the venue was not so surprising for the principles, if not the actions, of true Communism have inspired many, including sincere friends who are now Bahá’ís. Europeans, of course, do not comprehend the stigma which Australian culture attaches [less so in 2019] to open and lengthy discussion of one’s political and religious beliefs. My age might be showing in the last remark for surely that outworn shibboleth is also crumbling in my beloved country!
Thanks to the University of Georgia, USA, many unity building anecdotes of a similar ilk – with an Oriental flavour – appear gratis online: http://bahai.uga.edu/Realigas_la_Mondan_Pacon.pdf and free on request to me in pdf in an English rendition
Actually, the etymology of the name “Warszawa” is not clear. According to folk etymology, the name comes from Wars, who was a fisherman, and Sawa–a mermaid from the Vistula river with whom Wars fell in love. See, for example, one of the legends about them https://sylwiaofwarsaw.wordpress.com/tag/warsaw-legends/
Nevertheless, the English equivalent sounds brutal and historically relevant in light of the happenings and all the atrocities the city faced during the Warsaw Uprising in 1944.