English Transcultural Dictionary

INTRODUCTION

This monolingual English transcultural dictionary covers terms and concepts from the field of intercultural communication and management. It is based on extractions from state-of-the-art intercultural literature (see literature in the annex) and personal investigation. While it responds to the needs of students and practitioners in the field it is by no means meant to be exhaustive but rather work in progress. I have tried to attribute all important concepts to their authors and I sincerely apologize, should anyone have been omitted and request the permission to lay the foundation - on the basis of their myriad contributions - for an intercultural/transcultural terminological resource to benefit the intercultural community and those who are interested in the sustainable management of the 21st century global environment with its myriad cultural challenges. -Intercultural and truly transcultural approaches synergize to result in an innovative transcultural managerial mindset and skill set.

360 Feedback performance management term. It covers performance feedback from superordinates, colleagues as well as subordinates; expressing praise and criticism, however, varies across cultures

360 Transcultural Synergy an enhanced synergy model

ACHASC a dimension of cultural difference: achievement-ascription (THT)

AD Anno Domini: ACE (after Christian era) is the non-Christian usage for AD

ALG-Culture-Clustering An alternative culture clustering that highlights the contemporary cultural divide and can additionally be customized

Ab icunabulis (Lat.) from the cradle

Ability situational leadership term (Hersey-Blanchard): having the necessary knowledge, experience and skill

Aboriginal indigenous

Abrazo Spanish for hug

Absolute values people of a given culture consider the values to which they have been socialized and amidst which they live and move day in day out as normal and logical - as absolute.

Acculturation Learning the ways of another culture

Acculturation modeling various branches of the social sciences, for example linguistics and psychology, have carried out research into the process of acquiring a target culture. They model the process of gradual adaptation to a new culture through the lens and perspective of their respective field of science. The Acculturation Curve or U-curve (Hofstede), the Intercultural Adaptation Model or W-curve (Toomey), as well as the Culture Shock Triangle (Marx) are, among others, representations of the process.

Acculturation curve A number of authors have modeled the impact of a transfer in a new cultural environment from diverse perspectives

[1] Hofstede’s acculturation curve captures the evolution of feelings over time, which sets in when entering a new culture, starting with euphoria, followed by culture shock, then by acculturation, which leads to a stable state with three possible levels of satisfaction, i.e. better, worse or equal to the home culture. It is also known as U-curve.

[2] Ting-Toomey’s W-curve or 7-phase Intercultural Adjustment Model represents the complete expatriation-repatriation cycle. Hofstede and Ting-Toomey illustrate the culture shock phenomenon with an emphasis on emotions

[3] E. Marx’s culture shock triangle integrates the three psychological aspects involved in the process, i.e. the emotional, the cognitive and the social.

[4] Kim’s process model captures the acculturation process as an adaptation-stress-growth dynamic.

Adiós good-bye, literally, towards God or more freely, go with God

Adler Nancy Canadian intercultural management scholar.

Administer a questionnaire once a questionnaire has been designed, it is distributed to the demographic sample to be surveyed

Administrative distance according to P. Ghemawat's research, published in HBR, there are 5 factors of administrative distance:

[1] absence of colonial ties

[2] absence of shared monetary or political association

[3] political hostility

[4] government policies

[5] institutional weakness.

Administrative heritage Bartlett and Ghoshal term referring to a company's motivations, processes/means and mentalities driving internationalization

Aggregate model of culture refers to a multidimensional model of culture with country culture indices (for example Hofstede's, Trompenaars' and Hampden-Turner's quantitative research data on cultures)

Alienators (Stella Ting-Toomey) who cannot successfully manage the resocialisation stage after repatriation. They cannot reintegrate (into) the home culture

Amae Japanese for indulgent affection; refers to the relationship with this quality between superiors and subordinates; according to some Japanese specialists, amae is the basis of all human relationships in Japan.

Anti-Confucianism Nearly two and half thousand years ago Confucianism was a school of thought represented by the school of letters (ju-chia), while anti-Confucianism was a school of thought represented by the school legalists (fa-chia) spear-headed by Tsin Huang Che Ti, the emperor who unified China and ruled with an iron fist. Over two millennia later the same historical analogy of Confucianism versus anti-Confucianism appears in the relationship between Mao and Lin Piao. This illustrates that Confucianism has been a determinant of Chinese history.

Anticipation prediction. Cultural awareness makes it possible to anticipate areas of possible conflict, commonality and synergy between cultures. See predictability.

Apéritif an alcoholic appetizer

Archaic vs. Transnational In archaic economies, which still exist in various parts of the world in the Southern and Eastern hemispheres, economic exchange is based on a gift-like interchange in which people and things are linked. There is not only a link between material an immaterial things and people, but also between the parties involved in that exchange, which entails the obligation of reciprocation. In Polynesian for example this link is called "hau". There are various stages of development from the primitive archaic systems of which there are also residues in the most globalised economies like for example Japan. It took hundreds and thousands of years to evolve from a primitive/archaic economy to a modern economy which progressively disconnects the implicit ties between humans and objects and trading partners. An impersonal monetary and legal system has been substituted for the integrated, balanced relationship. The global or transnational firm, which evolved over a few decades in the latter part of the 20th century from the domestic via the international, the multinational and the global to the transnational phase, constitutes the opposite pole of the archaic economy, where management, irrespective of any consideration of ties between cultures, people and objects reverse structural equilibria that have evolved in the course of time. Mass layoffs, delocalization for profit maximization, environment and resource damaging policies and behaviours resulting in war may follow unless the two poles (without going back to primitive times) are sustainably integrated.

Archery (Japanese) is not a performance sport, but it teaches the fusion with nature

Area briefing preparation of a manager to operate in another cultural region of the world

Arguments 3 types of arguments:

[1] of fact,

[2] of policy

[3] persuasive

Aristotelian thinking negates the possibility of reconciling opposite ideas in the same space; they are mutually exclusive. On the other hand, however, Aristotelian thinking is connected to what can be called a noetic level, a higher and largely ignored level that seems to transcend the psycho-somatic structure. If cultural programming is contained in the mind, the hypothesis of a level that transcends the mind and therefore cultural conditioning could be a starting point for a new approach to culture and its management. This hypothesis has been explored in the writer’s transcultural approach. See entries with the attribute "transcultural".

Arrondissement An administrative district of Paris. There are 20 arrondissements. They are arranged in the form of a snail, unfolding clockwise from the center (number 1) to the periphery (number 20).

Assess a culture variable Assessing the role of a culture variable in interaction and transaction correctly makes it possible to anticipate likely behaviours and to adopt appropriate strategies

Assumptions out-of-conscious beliefs about how the world is

Außenministerium German foreign office in Berlin

Authority person-vested authority: authority is vested in the leader; rules-vested authority: authority is internalized as rules; the dichotomy can also be framed as externalized versus internalized superego

Authority conception distribution of power in societies. See power distance.

Behaviour what people say and do or don't

Belbin R Meredith British researcher, whose name is associated with research on teams and team roles, see Belbin's team roles

Belbin's Team Roles according to the British researcher R Meredith Belbin the optimum team consists of nine team roles. Each role has strengths and allowable weaknesses: 3 Action oriented roles:

[1] Shaper

[2] Implementer

[3] Completer Finisher 3 People oriented roles:

[4] Coordinator

[5] Team worker

[6] Resource Investigator 3 Cerebral roles:

[7] Plant

[8] Monitor Evaluator

[9] Specialist.

Beliefs expectations as to what the world should be like

Best practice assumes that there is a universally applicable optimum procedure or model. This notion should, however, be contextualized culturally. Hofstede has provided research evidence for the limited transferability of management models across cultures, particularly with regard to organisation, leadership and motivation. Best practice should be adapted and culturally contextualized.

Billiard Balls vs. Waves The two billiard ball assumption of culture implies that cultures, like two billiard balls, either collide and create a culture conflict or they pass by each other, which means that no interaction takes place at all. It is only the more diffuse wave assumption of culture that allows a more constructive interaction dynamic. See corpuscular vs. wave assumption.

Billion In Britain, France and Germany a million millions, in US and increasingly in British usage a thousand millions

Blomqvist's trust model visualizes the trust building process and the trust variables - particularly trust and goodwill - which create more specifically trust between small, less reputed technology firms and large corporations across cultures.

Bohr N Niels Bohr's Principle of Complementarity makes a twofold assumption about matter and energy; a corpuscular and a wave assumption.

Bolten Jürgen German intercultural academic

Bond Michael Harris. Canadian psychologist known for the Chinese Value Survey (CVS)

Book/non-Book religions Revelation/non-revelation religions; book religion refers to revelation recorded as Scriptures, which are contained in sacred books like the Bible or the Quran.

Boundaries of behaviour the expectations of the cultural groups we are part of with regard to appropriate behaviour. Culture groups assign boundaries of appropriate behaviour to their members. The compliance with the ranges of behaviour defined by the group-specific boundaries confirms group identity, provides a set of guidelines for proper behaviour, ensures acceptance by the group and differentiation with regard to other groups.

Brussel Flemish for Brussels, Bruxelles (French)

Buddha (Gautama Siddhartha) contemporary of Confucius, d. c. 483 BC

Budget systems across cultures see Management and Nature

Bundesrat upper house of German parliament

Bundestag lower house of German parliament

Buona sera, buon giorno Italian for good-evening and good-day

Business communication International business communication requires mutual cultural awareness by business partners’ of their respective cultures and worldviews as well as their interaction dynamics. Societal and organisational cultures affect business communicators, who also have an individual cultural profile and who operate in a specific spatio-temporal context. The complete map of the communication scenario is multi-factored and escapes determinism. See prototypes, communication styles or trust building.

CAGE analysis a four-dimensional conceptualization of distance, which enhances analysis and decision-making in international business on the basis of the following four distance creating attributes .(See entry distance framework):

[1] cultural distance

[2] administrative distance

[3] geographic distance

[4] economic distance.

Distance framework Or CAGE analysis based on P. Ghemawat (HBR) enhances portfolio analysis. According to P. Ghemawat “it helps managers identify and assess the impact of distance on various industries”. See CAGE- analysis

CET Central European Time

CIA World Factbook An information resource covering many relevant aspects of the world at large and of most individual countries (time zones, currencies, climates, geographic coordinates, geopolitical, economic, social and health data, etc. A useful resource by global experts for global managers. A complement to international management development.

CIS Community of Independent States. Refers to a post-Soviet and post-COMECON Bloc, more limited in members and more liberal ideologically, which has formed around Russia

CNRS Centre National de Recherche Scientifique. French national transdisciplinary scientific research network

CQ cultural intelligence

CVS Chinese Value Survey by M.H. Bond

Calendar different calendars are used across the world, for example AD (western world) for anno domini in the 365-day Gregorian cycle and AH (Muslim calendar starting 16 July AD 622) for anno hegira which follows a 355-day lunar cycle;

Carnivorous Cultures and religions which have no ethical restrictions on the consumption of meat

Chaebol Korean conglomerate

Change management Aims at facilitating (cultural) transformation in organisational environments. Bartlett, Ghoshal and Birkinshaw advocate in their "Transnational Management" a threefold physiological model for change management, involving changes of:

[1] attitudes

[3] relationships

[3] structures.

Chauvinism assumption of superiority of one country over another

Chiku Nailao Chinese for endurance, relentlessness

Chinese Classics the sacred books of Confucianism

Chinese stratagems list The 36 Chinese stratagems as presented by Fang T in Chinese Business Negotiation Style:

[1]: Cross the Sea without Heaven's Knowledge: Hide the deepest secrets in the most obvious situations

[2]: Besiege Wei to Rescue Zhao: Avoid the strong to attack the weak

[3]: Kill with a Borrowed Knife: Make use of outside resources for one's own gain

[4]: Await Leisurely the Exhausted Enemy: Relax and preserve your strength, while watching the enemy exhaust himself

[5]: Loot a Burning House: Take advantage of the opponent's trouble or crisis

[6]: Clamour in the East but Attack in the West: Devise ad feint eastward but attack westward

[7]: Create Something out of Nothing: Make the unreal seem real. Gain advantage by conjuring illusion

[8]: Openly repair the walkway, but Secretly march to Chen Chang: Play overt, predictable, and public manoeuvres (the walkway) against covert, surprising, and secretive ones (Chen Chang)

[9]: Watch the Fire Burning from Across the River: Master the art of delay. Wait for favourable conditions to emerge

[10]: Hide knife in a Smile: Hide a strong will under a compliant appearance

[11]: Let the Plum Tree Wither in place of the Peach Tree: Make a small sacrifice to gain a major profit

[12]: Lead Away a Goat in Passing: Take advantage of opportunities when they appear

[13]: Beat the Grass to Startle the Snake: Use direct and indirect warning and agitation

[14]: Borrow a Corpse to Return the Soul: Reviving something "dead" by decorating or expressing it in a new way

[15]: Lure the Tiger to Leave the Mountains: Draw the opponent out of his natural environment from which his source of power comes to make him more vulnerable to attack

[16]: In Order to Capture, First Let It Go: The enemy should be given room to retreat, so that he is not forced to act out of desperation

[17]: Toss out a Brick to Attract a Piece of Jade: trade something of minor value for something of major value in exchange

[18]: To Capture Bandits, First Capture the Ringleader: Deal with the most important issues first

[19]: Remove the Firewood From Under the Cooking Pot: Avoid confronting your opponent's strong points and remove the source of his strengths

[20]: Muddle the Water to Catch the Fish: Take advantage of the opponent's inability to resist when put in a difficult and complicated situation 21:The Golden Cicada Sheds Its Shell: Create an illusion by appearing to present the original "shape" to the opponent while secretly withdrawing the real "body" from danger.

[22]: Shut the door to Catch the Thief: Create a favourable enveloping environment to encircle the opponent and close off all his escape routes.

[23]: Befriend the Distant States While Attacking the Nearby Ones: Deal with the enemies one by one. After the neighbouring state is conquered, one can then attack the distant state

[24]: Borrow the Road to Conquer Guo: Deal with the enemies one by one. Use the nearby state as a springboard to reach the distant state. Then remove the nearby state.

[25]: Steal the Beams and Change the Pillars: This refers to the use of various alternative tactics to achieve one's masked purposes

[26]: Point at the Mulberry Tree but Curse the Locust Tree: Convey one's intention and opinion by indirectly

[27]: Play a Sober-Minded Fool: Hide one's ambition to win by total surprise

[28]: Lure the Enemy Onto the Roof, Then Take Away the Ladder: Lure the enemy into a trap and then cut off the escape route

[29]: Flowers bloom in the Tree: One can decorate a flowerless tree with lifelike but artificial flowers attached to it so that it looks like a tree capable of bearing flowers. One who lacks internal strength may resort to external forces to achieve his goal

[30]: The Guest becomes the Host: Turn one's defensive and passive position into an offensive and active one

[31]: The Beautiful Woman Strategy: Use women, temptation, and espionage to overpower the enemy: Attach importance to espionage, intelligence, and information collecting

[32]: The Empty City: If you have absolutely no means of defense of your city, and you openly display this vulnerable situation to your suspicious enemy by just opening the city gate, he is likely to assume the opposite. A deliberate display of weakness can conceal the true vulnerability and confuse the enemy; also means manipulation with "emptiness"; alternatively a grand exterior but a void interior

[33]: The Counterespionage: When the enemies' spy is detected, do not "beat the grass to startle the snake" but furnish him with false information to sow discord in his camp. Maintain high intelligence and alertness

[34]: The Self-Torture Stratagem: Display one's own suffering to win sympathy from others

[35]: The Stratagem of Interrelated Stratagems: This combines various stratagems into one interconnected arrangement. It is also the deliberate planning of a series of stratagems

[36]: "A good fighter flees from the danger of the moment: Run away when all else fails. Endure temporary disgrace and losses to win ultimate victory. Run away to gain bargaining power".

Chinese values Basic values and virtues of the Confucian World

[1] Tao: the way, the good way as in the Christian: "I am the way... ".

[2] The quest for the practical Good as in the Greek values system

[3] The trade-off relationship between ruler and subject

[4] The … relationship between father and son

[5] The … relationship between husband and wife

[6] The … between elder brother and younger brother

[7] The trade-off relationship between older friend and younger friend

[8] Know your place

[9] Loyalty to others

[10] Reciprocity

[11] Mutual advantage/obligation

[12] Harmony

[13] Face

Chinoiserie Chinese decorative objects

Christ What makes the difference? Based on John Paul II

[1] "Socrates was a Sage, who accepted death in the name of truth.

[2] Mohammed was a Prophet, who preached a religious code of conduct by which all those who pray to God have to abide.

[3] Buddha was an Enlightened, who negates all that has been created. He sees no possibility of salvation in creation

[4] Christ is absolutely unique and unrepeatable mediator between God and Man. He does not negate creation as Buddha, and man is made in God's image. He is within man. "God is all and will be in all" (1Kor15,28)"

Christian cardinal virtues Core virtues, on which the Christian Civilisation hinges

[1] Justice

[2] Prudence

[3] Moderation

[4] Fortitude

[5] Faith

[6] Hope

[7] Love

Chromatics non-verbal communication through colour

Chronemics conception of time; temporal conception on communication, monochronic vs. polychronic

Chung Confucian concept of the middle path.

Circular time cyclical, synchronous time

Clustering Cultures Culture clustering provides a synoptic view of the world's cultures by certain criteria, for example, 1. Ronen and Shenkar's nine clusters (1-9) by work attitudes and 2. Hickson and Pugh's 7-slice culture cake (1-7), a more general clustering (clockwise):

[1] Nordic

[2] Germanic

[3] Anglo

[4] Latin European

[5] Latin American

[6] Far Eastern

[7] Arab

[8] Near Eastern

[9] Independent;

[1] Arabs

[2] Developing Countries

[3] Asians

[4] Latins

[5] Anglos

[6] Northern Europeans

[7] East Central Europeans

Co-opetition Neologism by Brandenburger/Nalebuff, which creatively reconciles individualist competition and communitarian cooperation in a synergistic formula

Cohesiveness Team cohesiveness: esprit de corps, collective single-minded task focus

Collaborative strategy

[1] offering concessions

[2] disclosing information

Colonize, to To colonize another culture may be used in the general sense of imposing one’s own cultural values on their members or more culture-specifically as imposing one’s own stereotypes of others on them.

Colonize, to To colonize another culture may be used in the general sense of imposing one's own cultural values on their members or imposing one's own stereotypes of others on them.

Comfort zones tolerance zones; are ranges of appropriate behaviour typical of a culture. When one is forced to operate outside one's culturally determined, accustomed comfort zone, it can be experienced as stressful.

Comity of nations international courtesy

Comme il faut French for as it should be; sufficing certain standards

Communication gap inability to understand people from other cultures due to cultural differences: linguistic, behavioural, attitudinal and value differences

Communications Profile TCP: Communication styles profile; assumptions about and approaches to communication (based on Hall and Hall and N. Ewington, TCO London and Univ. of Cambridge):

[1] High context-low context: Is information in the explicit code or is it implicit in the person?

[2] Controlled-free information flow: must be informed versus are already informed

[3] Monochronic-polychronic: one thing at a time versus many things at a time

[4] Private space-public space: privacy and territoriality versus open space, supportive of networking

[5] Concise-elaborate: not talkative versus loquacious

[6] Context-centered – person-centered: relevance of speaker and role relations between the parties versus relevance of speaker and the bridging of the communication gap

[7] Direct-indirect: cooperativeness, say briefly and clearly what is true, relevant and needed versus indirectness and circumlocutions

[8] Affective-neutral: appropriateness versus inappropriateness of expressing emotions in a professional context

[9] Abstract-concrete: refers to how concrete one can be in communicating one's ideas?

[10] Private-public information space: how healthy is it to give access to personal information in building business contacts?

[11] Linear-circular: how linear can you be in conveying your point?

[12] Intellectual-relational: the intellectual style can confront ideas but deals with relationships delicately, whereas the relational style deals with relational issues directly, and with ideas more indirectly.

Communitarianism value is located in the group (THT)

Compartmentalization the separation or compartmentalization of the different aspects of life, i.e. work, personal relationships, etc. characteristic of low context culture communication.

Competitive collaboration partnership which involves collaboration in a specific area. Outside they remain competitors.

Competitive strategy

[1] concealment

[2] demanding concessions

Conditioning cultural conditioning results from primary, secondary and tertiary socialization, which mainly takes place in the family, at school and at work

Conflict Management Strategy TMC have identified 5 conflict management strategies based on a Concern for Others X Concern for Self matrix: [0/0] Avoiding: withdrawal [10/1] Smoothing: agreeing to disagree [1/10] Fighting: win-lose [5/5] Bargaining: splitting the difference [10/10] Problem solving: facing the issues together

Conflict issues TMC specify these 5 conflict issues in the negotiation context:

[1] source issues

[2] context issues

[3] power issues

[4] reaction issues

[5] strategy issues

Confucian Work Dynamism Bond term, referring to the positive, future-oriented pole of the fourth CVS dimension. The more static present and past-oriented pole combines: reciprocation of greetings, favours and gifts/respect for tradition/protecting one's face/personal steadiness and stability, whereas the more dynamic future-oriented pole combines: persistence and perseverance/thrift/ordering relationships by status/having a sense of shame. While both poles represent Confucian values, the latter, future-oriented pole, renamed long-term orientation by Hofstede, has been termed Confucian Work Dynamism by Bond

Confucian precepts Precepts for the right way to live: know your place/loyalty to others/reciprocity/mutual advantage and obligation

Confucian teachings a two and a half thousand year old teaching: Hofstede specifies the following key principles of Confucian teachings:

[1] The stability of society is based on unequal relationships between people

[2] The family is the prototype of all social organization

[3] Virtuous behaviour consists of not treating others as one would not like to be treated oneself

[4] Virtue with regard to one's tasks in life consists in trying to acquire skills and education, working hard, not spending more than necessary, be patient and persevering

Confucianism Confucianism and Maoism both were imposed from the centre of power, in line with Chinese imperial tradition. The power motive in diverse configurations is a historical pattern and suggests historical continuity, continuity of centralised authority and historical continuity.

Confucius or Master Kong, Roman transliteration of Kong Tze or Kong fuzi, Chinese moralist and logician, who lived from 551 to 479 BC. Although the Chinese emperor Tsin Che Huang Ti, the architect of Chinese national unity tried to eradicate Confucianism completely in 213 BC, the world view connected to its code of ethics survives to this day, not only in China but across East Asia, to such an extent that they can be called Confucian cultures. Mao Zedong considered it responsible for the backwardness of China, but could not eradicate it either. It is indeed based on traditional values called the wu lun (five basic relationships), i.e. unequal relationships, characterized by a trade-off between seniors' care and juniors' loyalty governing all human relationships, as well as on precepts for the right way to live. Hofstede's LTO-dimension had been identified originally as Confucian Dynamism by Bond's Chinese Value Survey. In Hofstede’s aggregate model of culture, the so-called Tiger economies with their Confucian cultural background are fairly long-term oriented, which seems to impact economic development positively and to suggest an interpretation of East Asian economic development in the latter part of the twentieth century in the light of Confucianism. The THT aggregate model additionally indicates other Confucian culture value preferences, such as outer-directedness and communitarianism to explain some unprecedented growth rates in this area of the world, in the world history of economic development. Yet, culture is multidimensional, multi-factored, complexly interrelated, and in this part of the world all the more diffusely interrelated, as these cultures are also classified as diffuse as opposed to the more specific, individualistic, inner-directed, egalitarian…quasi Western mirror image of East-Asian cultures.

Consciousness Giddens distinguishes three levels of consciousness impacting cultural learning: From bottom to top these levels are (1) the Unconscious (2) Practical Consciousness (3) Discursive Consciousness. According to Giddens, as interpreted by Goodall, practical consciousness refers to tacit knowledge of culture, whereas the discursive level of consciousness refers to the direct discursive expression of tacit cultural knowledge. While the division between the discursive and the unconscious level is barred by repression, the division between practical and discursive consciousness can be altered through socialization and education.

Consultants Intercultural training consultants; specialist training consultants in international diversity management. Depending on their expertise, they may develop, market and implement intercultural training programmes or consult in the area of intercultural training management.

Continuum A value is a holistic continuum with two poles (THT), which constitutes a dilemma, which in turn needs integration. According to THT cultures differ among each other, because different cultures with their respective value preferences set in at different points of the continuum, but in order to remain viable they will have to ultimately reconcile their opposite value preference on the continuum. THT’s dilemma theory can be viewed as a method for reengineering seeming cultural antagonisms in complementarities in the business world and for capturing synergies in the process.

Control systems across cultures see Management and Human Nature

Core beliefs core beliefs/assumptions refers to basic concepts of a national group, which have been learned and internalized from an early age

Corporate Management Profile TCP: The corporate management profile further conditions the national and individual culture profile

[1] Specialist job: different functional environments condition different perceptions and attitudes

[2] Level of hierarchy: attitudes and bahaviours differ on the board compared to the shop floor

[3] Training: the professional ethos of an engineer and a business manager differ

[4] Organizational culture: either Hofstede's UAI-PDI matrix based classification of implicit organization models as tribe/family, pyramid, machine and market or, alternatively, THT's classification as Guided Missile, Eiffel Tower, Family and Incubator organizational patterns based on the dimensions equality-hierarchy and person-task

[5] Operating field: depending on the availability of resources and supplies companies may be more or less centralized and controlled

[6] Scale of operations: big companies tend to be more formalized than smaller ones

[7] Institutional environment: In different societies ownership is either personal or by impersonal, shifting shareholders (Items 1-7 are based on Hickson and Pugh, International Management 2001et alia)

[8] Leadership style: exploitative autocratic, benevolent autocratic, participative, democratic (Hodgetts and Luthan, International Management) alternatively, in line with situational leadership: directing, influencing, collaborating, delegating based on the task-relationship orientation matrix (Hersey, Blanchard, Situational Leadership)

[9] Management style: factual, intuitive, analytic, normative

[10] Motivation: based on Hofstede's UAI-MAS matrix the following motivation typology exists: Achievement of self or group and esteem, achievement and belongingness, security and esteem, and security and belongingness

[11] Stages of corporate development: N. Adler's multinational, global, international, transnational stages, alternatively, Ethnocentric, polycentric, regiocentric and geocentric

[12] Cultural distance: CAGE analysis: cultural, administrative, geographic, economic distance.

Corps Diplomatique a country's community of official governmental representatives abroad

Correlation two sets of data can be negatively or positively correlated. When they are positively correlated they co-vary in parallel, when they are negatively correlated they co-vary inversely

Cosmics TCP: The Cosmic environment interconnection. The biological and mental roots of life.

Counter culture shock the culture shock, which occurs upon re-entering the home culture and which can be severe if unmanaged, because it is sometimes unexpected.

Courteousie French, meaning refined politeness; translates to the English language as courtesy.

Critical incident a critical incident highlights a culture clash due to the mismanagement of culture; intercultural (management) training covers critical incident analysis from a cultural perspective among other training methods.

Cross-cultural evolution N. Adler’s phases of cross-cultural evolution of corporations are:

[1] Domestic Phase

[2] Multidomestic phase

[3] Multinational Phase

[4] Global Phase

Cross-enterprise collaboration in an international context, cross-enterprise collaboration refers to the collaboration of companies of diverse cultural backgrounds. Diversity management across nations, corporations, domains, functions and professions, time, space and languages may be involved.

Cultural background the national, individual and organisational culture background

Cultural awareness model Giddens’ cultural awareness model highlights the cultural awareness building challenge in intercultural management education, the interplay between the unconscious level, daily consciousness and the discursive level, particularly the need to make the unconscious memory of the mental programming accessible to rational discourse and conscious learning.

Cultural Divide the term cultural divide refers to the fault-line gaps between diverse cultures, religious divide refer to historical fault-line gaps between for example Catholics and Protestants in Christianity and the division between shias and sunnies in Islam. Other religions, like Judaism and Buddhism, also have diverse branches.

Cultural Frameworks Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck, Hofstede, THT, TMC, Globe, these names and acronyms stand for heterogeneous multidimensional intercultural orientation frameworks. They are diffusely overlapping, evolving out of each other with sometimes ambiguous statistical support. Some assume they are a cultural programming. In fact it is a pre-programming (Hofstede).

Cultural Imperialism superimposing one culture on another; a cultural analogy to the logic of imperialism and colonial history. see Colonize.

Cultural Interfacing Tools A synopsis of cultural strategies:

[1] The ORJI Model (Ed Schein) highlights the importance of continuous checking and questioning routines.

[2] The MIS Factor Process (N. Adler) highlights the culture contingency of perception and how it is processed. Empathy and cybernetic thinking to manage the diverse perceptual cultural filters is helpful.

[3] The PIE-Metaphor highlights the need that the various phases of the intrapsychic process management in the intercultural interfacing process must be kept apart.

[4] The aggregate models of culture such as Hofstede’s highlight the fact that there is a cultural pre-programming. This knowledge allows predicting and adapting to attitudes, values and behaviours if used flexibly and accounting for variances.

[5] Dilemma theory (Adler and Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner) highlights the possibility of creating synergies from conflicting values bases on the multi-step processes for dilemma resolution recommended by these authors.

[6] The interpretivist paradigm or the negotiated culture approach (Brannen and Salk) highlights the assumption that aggregate models of culture as those of Hofstede and Trompenaars and Hampden Turner have limited predictive power as cultures are normal distributions, prototypes rather than stereotypes. This differentiation and additionally accounting for a maximum amount of contextual variables allows a dynamic approach to the management of emergent organizational cultures.

[7] Fusion: This strategy allows for the simultaneous existence of more than one cultural approach with the benefit that one may provide initially unsuspected feedback and a complement to the other. - But Fusion can also be understood as a return to the source of life, where neither time nor space, nor thought nor person A nor person B exist. Here culture and its barriers do not arise. Cultural differences may at times be perceived as increasing interpersonal distance and thereby creating an additional obstacle to the deep-rooted need of fusion, of oneness with life itself. The awareness of the relevance of fusion may in some instances defuse culturally induced confusion. (hopefully this is not misconstrued)

[8] When in Rome do as the Romans do. This is a more general approach and adage which does not stick rigidly to the home culture, while the next approach, number 9, places great store on the home culture while it borrows useful elements from the target cultural environment.

[9] Cross-fertilization: Builds on the biological principle of adaptation for survival. In this sense a globalizing corporation may adopt some of the DNA of another culture to navigate challenging phases and environments.

[10]To the Greek become a Greek. This is the precept of Saint Paul, a Christian approach, which can said to be the royal path to winning people's hearts and minds.

[11] In-depth understanding that literally sees through the game of culture in the sense that in certain cases each culture positions itself as the absolute and thereby relativizes the other culture and frequently expects her to pay the cost of the interfacing process.

[12] The art of seeing. Choiceless awareness (Jiddu Krishnamurti). It complements cognitive seeing through a situation or someone by the art of pure perception with its own mental hygiene and power.

[13] Consciousness evolution and cultural development diagnostic (Dr. Th. Brosse and M. Bennett). See Evolution Profile in the Transcultural Management Profiler. The human evolution and the intercultural development stages allow a quick diagnostic as to the possible range of attitudes values and behaviours.

[14] Transcultural or noetic intelligence. This approach is the based on the highest functions of a threefold hierarchical holistic architecture of man; from bottom to top: (1) the somatic, (2) the psychic, and (3) the noetic. This three-level architecture of man features a top to bottom integration and control logic. Cultural conditioning is stored in the psychic level, the mind. Based on the neurophysiologic hierarchical integration and control principle, the noetic or transcultural level integrates the mental or cultural level.

Cultural Synergy The Canadian culture scholar Nancy Adler has described the process of creation of cultural synergy in a three-step approach involving the description and cultural interpretation of the situation and the creation of cultural synergy on the basis of increased cultural creativity. See also dilemma theory.

Cultural absolute a norm or value, which members of a culture assume to have universal validity.

Cultural ambivalence an ambivalence of attitude towards a culture as a consequence of a culture conflict.

Cultural artifact a material product of a culture

Cultural assumptions Assumptions are out-of-conscious beliefs about how the world is. Managing a culturally heterogeneous human environment, such as multicultural groups requires the surfacing and sharing of mutual cultural assumption: surfacing cultural assumptions means creating conscious awareness of unconscious or latently conscious mental programmes. Sharing cultural assumption means thematizing and communicating the value preferences and associated likely behavioural patterns of culturally diverse communicators

Cultural behaviour culturally determined behaviour

Cultural blindness refers to the parochial tendency to interpret other cultures in term of one's own cultural categories; the unawareness of (one's own) cultural conditioning can have a blinding effect on the perception of other cultures.

Cultural core key component(s) of a culture

Cultural deprivation experience of deprivation with regard to the culturally available modalities of satisfaction of needs

Cultural display the words and acts of a representative of a culture group reveal his cultural attitudes. This act of revelation is called cultural display.

Cultural distance the specifically cultural component of distance analysis in the CAGE four factor distance model by P. Ghemawat

Cultural distance factors according to P. Ghemawat's Distance Framework (HBR) there are 4 attributes creating cultural distance:

[1] different languages

[2] different ethnicities, lack of connective ethnic or social network

[3] different religions

[4] different social norms.

Cultural distinction a cultural characteristic, which differentiates diverse cultures

Cultural diversity the diversity resulting from cultural conditioning

Cultural estrangement alienation from a culture

Cultural fault-line gap see Cultural Divide.

Cultural fusion In analogy to fusion architecture, music or fusion cuisine it refers to the mutually enhancing, synergistic combination of two cultural patterns. What might have been considered mutually exclusive may turn out to provide valuable feedback to culturally diverse approaches.

Cultural genocide Term used by the Dalai Lama to describe Beijing's intervention in Tibet in March 2008; the suppression of a culture group's right of self-determination with regard to its cultural-religious heritage, its specific cultural identity. See cultural iconoclasm.

Cultural hybrid a culturally marginal

Cultural imperialism imposing one culture on another

Cultural learning styles If humans are cultural and biological beings, as has been said, any human phenomenon must also have a cultural aspect. The way we learn then must also be culture-contingent for two reasons. Man is a cultural and a learning being: Research by Honey & Mumford into professional cultures and national cultures has identified four major approaches to learning:

[1] the activist learning style

[2] the reflector learning style

[3] the theorist learning style

[4] the pragmatist learning style

Cultural loss the discontinuity of cultural values, norms, beliefs etc; the death of a culture. V. Nalimov from Lomonossov University Moscow drew an analogy between the life cycle of humans and cultures He extends the human cycle to cultures.

Cultural materialism the assumption that material conditions are determinants of culture

Cultural monism a diversity policy which aims at the total assimilation of minorities; inexistence of cultural pluralism

Cultural performance meeting a culture's standards by the individual

Cultural pluralism the opposite of cultural monism. Cultural and ethnic diversity policy, whose objective it is to create a "cultural mosaic" society as opposed to the more assimilationist cultural melting pot. Canadian cultural/ethnic diversity policy is supposed to foster and aim at such a cultural mosaic, whereas US cultural diversity policy is more assimilationist and promotes the melting pot society.

Cultural relativism the fact that there are no standards by which one could judge one culture as superior to another, based on the assumption that different value preferences and maps of the world have equal validity and legitimacy

Cultural sensitivity Based on Nancy Adler's research the importance of cultural sensitivity varies by stages of globalisation:

[1] In the Domestic company phase culture is marginally important

[2] In the International company culture is very important

[3] In the Multinational company culture is somewhat important

[4] In the Global company culture is critically important

Cultural universal a culture trait that exists across cultures

Cultural value model a multidimensional intercultural reference framework, an aggregate model of culture such as G. Hofstede’s

Cultural variation dimensions of cultural variation or dimensions of cultural difference

Cultural viewpoint the perception of a given message changes depending on the culturally determined viewpoint of the communicators. Perception is determined by culture, by our perceptual cultural filters

Culture dozens of definitions since Tyler's in 1871; the Latin root word of culture refers to the tilling the soil and to the cult. This dual orientation positions man between the physical and the metaphysical world, the total field between the infinitely vast and the infinitely minute. The very same triad, framed as heaven-earth-man, also points to a Chinese philosophical principle. Here are three definitions of the latter part of the 20th century:

[1] Trompenaar's and Hampden-Turner's notion of culture as „problem solving strategies and dilemma resolution“ with regard to the „responses to the challenges of the environment“, which underpins dilemma theory

[2] Hofstede's notion of culture as „collective mental programming or software of the mind” which should be viewed as a “pre-programming”

[3] Hall's conceptualization of culture as communication” which covers the interdependency between communication style, conception on time, space and information flow.

Culture assimilator systematic awareness and knowledge building of a target culture, based on multiple choice questions on intercultural real life situations with feedback about the various choices, highlighting the culturally appropriate option

Culture base all culture traits of a group at a certain time

Culture briefing information about the socio-cultural norms, values, assumptions beliefs, behaviours, etiquette of a culture. Can also include socio-structural, historical and other relevant information; the former is also referred to as psychological and the latter as physical culture

Culture cake Hickson and Pugh's 7- slice culture cake clustering highlighting shared features like shared religious traditions, common languages and geographical proximity. See culture clustering

Culture complex the integrated whole of interconnected culture traits

Culture contact interaction between members of diverse cultures

Culture definition Ewington based on Warner et alia define culture based on 5 attributes:

[1] learned

[2] shared

[3] compelling

[4] interrelated

[5] providing orientation to people.

Culture free not determined by culture, a universal trait

Culture group group which shares a culture

Culture map Hofstede’s Culture Maps: a map is a matrix resulting from the crossing of two dimensions like power distance and uncertainty avoidance (PDI X UAI), which groups and locates cultures in the four quadrants. Those groups or clusters have similar value preferences. While this PDI-UAI matrix for example provides valuable information on implicit or emergent organisational patterns and models, the MAS X UAI matrix provides culture specific information on motivation which culturally nuances Maslow's pyramid of needs. MAS-PDI provides information on the culturally diverse relationship between spouses and parents and children etc.

Culture management strategies refers to three organisational responses to the diversity challenge:

[1] ignoring cultural differences: enforcing home culture standards worldwide

[2] minimizing cultural differences: melting pot approach

[3] utilizing cultural diversity: the alternatives and combinations inherent in diverse cultural perspectives can yield innovative, hitherto unexplored formulas and a synergies

Culture shock the stress symptoms which occur when entering a culturally new environment. The process has been modeled by diverse authors listed below. For details refer to intercultural adjustment model, culture shock triangle or acculturation curve:

[1] Stella Ting-Toomey has captured this supposedly emotional phenomenon in a seven-phase intercultural adjustment model, which covers the entire expatriation-repatriation cycle, including the counter culture shock.

[2] E. Marx has modeled it in her culture shock triangle, which integrates three aspects of the challenge, i.e. the emotional, the cognitive and social skills and identity sides.

[3] Kim’s process model has captured the intercultural adaptation challenge as a stress-adaptation-growth dynamic over time.

[4] Last, but not least, G. Hofstede has addressed the issue in his four-phase acculturation curve.

Culture shock factors Ting- Toomey has systematized the factors impacting culture shock as systems-level factors, personal-level factors and interpersonal-level factors. E. Marx considers the combined impact of emotional, cognitive and social components of the culture shock phenomenon, which have to be managed.

Culture shockers Typology of culture shockers based on Ting-Toomey's research. Only the participators in the following typology display an optimum performance in the host country, as they participate behaviourally and emotionally with their hosts :

[1] early returnees

[2] time servers

[3] adjusters

[4] participators.

Culture & personality research research into the cultural determination of the structure of the personality

Culture-contingent culture-bound, culture-dependent, culture-relative, culture-determined

Culture-general training cultural awareness, knowledge and skills building

Culture-specific training A specific country culture training programme

Culturalists vs. structuralists The culturalist hypothesis holds that culture creates structure, while the structuralist hypothesis holds, conversely, that structure creates culture in a corporate environment

Cybernetic thinking According to Hampden-Turner & Fons Trompenaars it is the ability to think in circles in the sense of switching cultural perspective. According to THT cybernetic thinking is the hallmark of IC and TC, that is intercultural or transcultural competence, which these authors use as synonyms.

Cyclical time synchronous time, circular time, polychronic time conception

DV (Lat.) Deo volente, God willing. See en shah Allah

Dance metaphor of culture to conceptualize the integration of values as a dance as done by THT means drawing on a metaphor used across cultures and civilizations: the interaction of antagonistic/complementary forces in a dance metaphor is already contained in the very ideogram for Tao: three dancing steps of a magician synchronizing the melodies of heaven and earth, yin and the yang forces. In the Indian Civilization the dance of Shiva also represents the forces of creation and destruction. Obviously the universal concept of dance, whether Waltz or Tango, epitomizes the interplay between man and women. And in traditional cultures like Africa the dance ritual surely has an integrative function for entire collectivities, while it constitutes a connection to the transcendental world. Last but not least biological systems themselves, as we know since Crick's discovery of the DNA are based on a double helix suggesting a dance. So, dance is a universal, integrative construct; a metaphor that aims at transcending duality. Why should culture not be framed as dance, a fine-tuning of polar opposites? The universal integrates the cultural. "Uni" means one, the many are contained in one: Dance is a dialectic mechanism that reconnects and integrates the diverse polar forces into their underlying Oneness. And the sum is always bigger than the addition of the parts: That is the synergy principle, whose mathematical formula is 2+2=5

Data-oriented culture Lewis: a culture whose people gather information mainly through print and database sources

Decision criteria across cultures see Management and Activity

Decision styles a decision can either be taken by the leader or by the follower or jointly with variable degrees of initiative and participation by both. The positioning of a culture or individual on the continuum between superior and subordinate made decision will be determined by the cultural background of the superior and the subordinate. Due to the interdependence of the leader and the led, the leader will have to understand the culture of those he leads, for he can only lead effectively in terms the culture of the led.

Decision-making hierarchical decision-making: the boss decides and communicates the decision to the subordinate; consultative decision-making: the superior consults with the subordinate, before he takes the decision;

Decision-making across cultures see Management and Time

Deculturation The acculturation to other cultural patterns than the home culture entails a superimposition of the home-culture by a target culture. As attention and learning are focused on success in the target culture a certain oblivion of the ways of the first culture may occur.

Design there are culture-contingent assumptions about design, packaging and presentation of products: weight, shape, colour, size, volume; for example a small and light product design may suggest high-tech sophistication in an East-Asian market environment of Japan, while it may affect marketability negatively in another cultural environment. Similarly, the same colour has different connotations in different cultures; product names may have unintended meanings and connotations in diverse cultures etc.;

Design a questionnaire formulate appropriate questions so as to elicit the information which answers the research question

Destination culture Target culture, host culture

Dialogue-oriented culture Lewis: a culture whose people gather information through direct contact with other people

Dichotomy a binary construct like good and bad, short-term - long-term etc.

Diffuse See THT dimension specific vs. diffuse. They define the two poles of their dimension as “atomism” vs. “diffusely” interrelated wholes.

Dilemma In Greek Di means two, Lemma means proposition, more specifically two conflicting propositions, which is the actual meaning of dilemma. Problem solving and dilemma resolution are, according to THT, the actual meaning of culture.

Dilemma theory is a method for dilemma resolution, more specifically business dilemmas, which uses the double helix of the DNA as a metaphor. It is connected to the Anglo-Dutch consulting tandem Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner, also known as the "dilemma doctors". According to the authors it has materialized after 15 years of transdisciplinary research. The method involves the following five steps of reconciliation:

[1] Processing

[2] Framing/Contextualizing

[3] Sequencing

[4] Waving/Cycling

[5] Synergizing.

Dimension of culture a dimension of cultural difference is a parameter for culture analysis, a values continuum against which one can compare different cultures

Distance model Keith Goodall's and John Roberts' distance model (see also CAGE distance framework) results from research into the relationship between Senior HQ managers and their subsidiary managers across continents. They have identified 5 factors impacting managerial distance management at a global scale. Success or failure of subsidiary managers seems to hinge on the following variables, which are the building blocks of their distance model:

[1] Language

[2] Punctuated co-presence

[3] Technology of distance

[4] Memory

[5] Intermediaries.

l.

Distance of comfort element of the non-verbal communication category proxemics: refers to the interpersonal distance in communication. US research subdivides interpersonal distance in four subcategories: (1) intimate distance, (2) personal distance, (3) social distance, (4) public distance. In the US, for example, (1) intimate distance is supposed to be 18", (2) personal distance 18" to 4', (3) social distance 4' to 8', (4) public distance 8' to 10'. There may be misattributions in terms of like and dislike if a representative of a larger distance of comfort culture, for example American, withdraws from a smaller distance of comfort culture representative, or when a smaller distance of comfort culture member, for example Latin or Arab, seeks to reduce the interpersonal speaking. Eye contact (oculesics) and touching behaviour (haptics) additionally impact the mutual perceptions of distance. This behavior should be read in terms of the cultural needs of the other culture, their differing distance of comfort and not misconstrued as offensive on the basis of one’s own cultural preferences.

Diversity Cultural diversity means culturally not homogeneous; of diverse cultural backgrounds

Diversity management in a corporate environment there are various categories of diversity (gender, race etc.) to be managed. From an intercultural standpoint the management of cultural diversity is referred to as International Diversity Management. International diversity management is the management of members - individuals or organisations - of diverse cultural backgrounds

Diversity matrix Human diversity becomes intelligible when we understand the language of values, attitudes, behaviours, and their energetic substratum (see Taiheki) and when we can translate one of these semiotic systems into the other. It merits consideration, because anything that promotes man’s understanding of himself and his fellow man should not be discarded a priori, because it is NIH (not invented here)

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