Cross-Cultural Communication in Business

This morning, I was at the Sydney Markets in Flemington. For those of you who have not been there, it is similar to the wet markets or “pasar borong” in Malaysia. Sydney Markets are opened to the general public for small purchases on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. On other days, Sydney Markets are more relevant to retailers as you can only buy items in bulk and not in small quantities. This is an interesting place to visit as there are many people from different cultural background purchasing and selling their products. I can hear many languages spoken here. Some of the languages which I recognised are Arabic, Russian, Cantonese, Mandarin and Tagalog. Needless to say, English Language is widely spoken here as well. Most of the trading and business transactions that took place proceeded smoothly with smiling and friendly faces. Since there are so many customers from different cultural background, some of the sellers applied some marketing techniques which I thought were quite clever. For example, there was this Caucasian fruit seller who addressed his Asian elderly customers “Uncle” and “Aunty” whenever they approached his stall. This simple respectful way of addressing an older person certainly endeared him to the Asian customers. In case some of you are not aware, calling an elderly person “Uncle” or “Aunty” is a form of respect which you give the elders in Asia. It has got nothing to do with whether you are related to the person or not!

On the flip side, this morning I also had the opportunity to witness an incident which I can only termed as “Cross-Cultural Miscommunication in Business”. The scene that I saw involved a Caucasian lady selling peanuts. There were 3 elderly Asian people comprised of an elderly man and two ladies. The elderly Asian man was trying to bargain the price of the peanuts with the seller. It was obvious that the man and the 2 ladies did not speak much English. I heard the man said $8.00 to the lady seller and pointed to another seller. I interpreted his gesture and message as saying that he used to buy the peanuts for $8.00 from the other seller. The lady seller just shook her head and said $10.00 and asked for the money. The man just paid the lady $8.00 and was laughing. The two ladies were also laughing. I have to say here that the elderly Asian man never raised his voice nor was he ever rude throughout this whole transaction. He was smiling all the time. As for the Caucasian lady seller, she was also not rude but firm and at times exasperated. I could empathised with the Caucasian lady seller as she didn’t understand the Asian man as to why was he not paying the full price of $10.00. To make the matter even more complicated, the Asian man and the 2 ladies left the $8.00 on the table and walked away. The Caucasian lady seller who was now really exasperated raised her voice and said, “Hey, you need to pay me the $10.00. You have only given me $8.00”. By this time, people nearby were paying attention to the scene. The Asian man and the 2 ladies knew something was not right and they looked rather confused. They said, “we paid already”. The seller said, “you paid me less”. As they didn’t quite understand English, this made them even more confused. Finally, the lady seller took out a $2.00 token and showed them and said, “I need this”. One of the ladies took out the $2.00 and gave it to the seller. The seller finally felt relief while the man and the 2 ladies still looked confuse. Okay, let’s discuss this scene and analyse what had just happened?

First of all, it is obvious there is a language barrier here but remember, we can still communicate through gestures and the “language of money” is quite universal if you know how to count! If we look at the Caucasian lady seller’s perspective, she felt (I am of the opinion quite rightly too), that she has been short changed by the customers. The fact that the Asian man pointed to the other seller and said $8.00 did not alter her position in this business transaction. In Western society, things are handled mainly in a straightforward manner, it is either this or that. For example, if you are dealing with the seller, she will probably say to you, “This is my stall and this is my price. It is not relevant how much the other person sold the item to you. You can either buy it from me or you can buy it from the other person”. The fact that the Asian man and the 2 ladies laughed throughout the transaction did not help the situation either. From the seller’s perspective, the customers are making fun of her and this irritated her even more. One of the things that most people find rather difficult to handle (irregardless of whatever cultural background you are from) is when the other person is being disrespectful or rude.

Now, let’s look at the Asian man and ladies’ perspectives. Being an Asian myself, I can understand the cultural aspect of it as well. You see, I remember when I was a young boy in Malaysia, I used to follow my mother to the wet market. It was very common for people to haggle the price or bargain when they are in the wet market. One of the common methods that I have observed was when the customer would bargained with the seller until it came to a deadlock. The customer would then just leave the amount of money equivalent to the customer’s last offer on the table and take the items which are already packed by then. When the items are packed, it is indication (as least in my culture) that the seller has accepted the offer. The seller would then accept the money and go on with his next customer.  Why did the seller accept a lesser amount? I don’t have an answer for that but my opinion is that the seller was looking at retaining long lasting business relationship with the customer. The seller would still profit from the transaction but not as much as he hoped he would get. Sometime the haggling or bargaining becomes so intense, the customer or seller or even both would just laughed to break the tension but they continued to haggle anyway. If we take this scenario and apply it to the scene at Sydney Market which I described earlier, could it be that the Asian man and the 2 ladies were using the similar haggling technique? If they were, the response they got from the Caucasian lady seller was not one that they expected. When the seller did not accept their offer, the Asian man and the ladies were probably laughing thinking that the seller was just kidding with them and thought that this could be easily settled by just giving $8.00 to the seller and that will be that. Also, the fact that the peanuts were already put in the plastic bag indicated to the Asian man and the ladies that the seller had accepted the offer. However, when the seller raised her voice, they were confused and that led to an awkward and perhaps, an even embarrassing situation.

In today’s world, many countries are becoming multi-cultural due to migration and technology. Why technology? The reason is because people are finding it easier to travel from one place to another which makes everything closer together. For migrants, as much as they want to assimilate into the local community, it is not easy for them due to spending many years in their own country and having practiced their local culture ever since they were born. It will take some time for them to adopt to the new culture in their new country, especially when it comes to everyday dealings and business. The new migrants should not ignore the culture of their new country especially when it comes to dealing or doing business after they moved to that new country. Some new migrants felt that since they would be transacting and doing business with people from their country of origin, there is no need to learn the new culture. Well, in my view, that should not be the correct mindset. In order to be competitive in this world or in the new country for that matter, we need to learn and understand business practice of different cultures - that will give us the edge and make us competitive.

We will be staying in the beautiful City of Kuala Lumpur in the Business Culture Tour

We will be staying in the beautiful island of Penang

The beautiful island of Penang

We will be having dinner at the revolving restaurant in KL Tower while admiring the beautiful City skyline

Night scene in Kuala Lumpur

This is one of the main reasons why the Australian Dispute Resolution Centre (“ADRC”) organises “Business Culture Tours” to different countries where English is not the native language. The objective of the “Business Culture Tour” is to learn and understand the people of that Country’s approach in conducting business, decision making process, negotiation methods and approach in resolving conflicts. In collaboration with the Government of Malaysia, the ADRC is organising a “Business Culture Tour” to Kuala Lumpur and Penang from 12th October till 19th October 2014. Malaysia is a multi-cultural country and it will be a fun learning experience. If you need further information about the Malaysian tour or future tours, please send an e-mail to st@adrc.net.au .