Question

Imagine that businesspeople from a high-context culture (e.g., Japan or China) meet their counterparts from a low-context culture (the United States) for the first time to negotiate and sign a manufacturing contract. What could go wrong? How about conflicting perceptions of time?

Answer 1

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In a high-context culture, the social context or social environment is more important than the words being spoken. This means that in a high context culture, nonverbal communication is more important than in low-context cultures. In a high-context culture, a contract is just a starting point for negotiations in closing a deal. Signing the contract does not represent a closing of the business deal. Examples of high-context cultures include Japan, most other Asian countries, most Arab countries, Latin America, most African countries, and Italy. In reality, most cultures fall somewhere along a continuum, or sliding scale, in their perception of the importance of context (with high and low being the end points of the continuum).

In a low-context culture, the words themselves are more important than the surrounding social context. This means that nonverbal communication, while still very important in understanding others is less important than it is in high-context cultures. A written agreement can be taken at face value in a low-context culture. A contract, for example, means exactly what it says, no more and no less than that. A contract is considered the final product of negotiations, not the starting point. Examples of low-context cultures include Germany, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Canada, and the United States.

As far as the perception of time is concerned High –context culture may take time to build a relationship before feeling comfortable in talking about business dealings. If we have gone to the meeting with a reference/ recommendation or introduction from someone who knows us and the other business representative, this could take a few hours. But if we have gone without with a formal introduction, and without a “go-between” to explain who we are, it might take months or years before we are trusted enough to be able to close a deal.