Master Thesis - DiVA-Portal

Master Thesis

Intercultural Communication Barriers

among Future Leaders & Followers A study on Intercultural communication barriers in Swedish multicultural work settings

Authors: Nida Asghar & Anika Tabassum

Supervisor: Mikael Lundgren

Examiner: Lars Lindkvist

Term: Final

Subject: Leadership and Management in

International Contexts

Level: Masters Degree

Submission date: June 5th, 2020

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Table of Contents

Keywords .................................................................................................................... 4

Aberviations ............................................................................................................... 4

Abstract ..................................................................................................................... 5

Thesis Contribution to the current state of knowledge ......................................... 6

Statutory declaration ................................................................................................. 7

Acknowledgements ................................................................................................... 8

1 Introduction ...................................................................................................... 9

1.1 Research Background ............................................................................... 9

1.2 Introduction to ICC Barriers .................................................................. 11

1.3 Problem Discussion ................................................................................. 14

1.4 Research Question ................................................................................... 18

1.5 Research Objectives ................................................................................. 19

1.6 Thesis Outline .......................................................................................... 20

2 Literature Review........................................................................................... 22

2.1 Introduction to Literature Review .......................................................... 22

2.2 Definition of ICC and its Barriers .......................................................... 22

2.2.1 Communication 24

2.2.2 Culture 26

2.3 Hofstede’s Cultural framework (2010) ................................................... 27

2.3.1 Uncertainty Avoidance 28

2.3.2 Individualism vs Collectivism 28

2.3.3 Power Distance 29

2.3.4 Masculinity vs Femininity 29

2.3.5 Long-term orientation v/s Short-Term orientation 30

2.3.6 Reviews on Hofstede’s Cultural Framework (2010) 30

2.4 Erin Meyer; The Cultural Map (2014) ................................................... 31

2.4.1 Communicating 32

2.4.2 Leading 32

2.4.3 Evaluating 33

2.4.4 Persuading 34

2.4.5 Trusting 34

2.4.6 Deciding 35

2.4.7 Disagreeing 36

2.4.8 Scheduling 36

2.4.9 Reviews on Meyer’s theory (2014) 37

2.5 Edward Hall’s High-context v/s Low-context cultural theory (1976) ... 38

2.5.1 Reviews on Hall’s theory (1976) 39

2.6 Intercultural Communication, its Barriers & Leadership ..................... 40

2.7 Intercultural Communication, its Barriers & Followership .................. 42

3 Research Methodology................................................................................... 45

3.1 Research Method ..................................................................................... 45

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3.2 Research Philosophy ............................................................................... 45

3.3 Research Approach ................................................................................. 46

3.4 Research Strategy .................................................................................... 46

3.5 Study Sample ........................................................................................... 46

3.6 Key steps in data collection process ........................................................ 47

3.6.1 Data Collection 47

3.6.2 Data Recording 49

3.7 Research Validity ..................................................................................... 50

3.7.1 Descriptive Validity 50

3.7.2 Interpretive Validity 51

3.7.3 Theoretical Validity 51

3.8 Reliability ................................................................................................. 51

3.9 Data Analysis ........................................................................................... 52

3.10 Empirical Data ........................................................................................ 53

3.11 Problems and Ethical Considerations .................................................... 54

3.11.1 Ethical Considerations 54

3.11.2 Problems 55

4 Empirical Findings ......................................................................................... 56

4.1 Alpha University Participants’ Opinions ................................................ 56

4.1.1 Academic/Organizational cultural differences 56

4.1.2 Social Systems 57

4.1.3 Individualistic v/s Collectivistic & Direct v/s Indirect 57

4.1.4 Importance of Language 58

4.1.5 Possible steps to manage ICC Barriers 59

4.2 Beta University Participants’ Opinions .................................................. 59






4.3 Gamma University Participants’ Opinions............................................. 62






4.4 Delta University Participants’ Opinions ................................................. 66






4.5 Other ICC Barriers .................................................................................. 68

5 Analysis ........................................................................................................... 70

5.1 ICC Barriers among HC and LC cultures.............................................. 70

5.1.1 Alpha & Beta University 71

5.1.2 Gamma & Delta University 76

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5.2 Managing ICC barriers ........................................................................... 80

6 Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 82

6.1 Answers to Research Questions .............................................................. 82

6.1.1 Research Question 1 83

6.1.2 Research Question 2 85

6.2 Limitations ............................................................................................... 87

6.3 Suggestions for future research .............................................................. 88

7 References ....................................................................................................... 90

Appendices .............................................................................................................. 97

Appendix A .......................................................................................................... 97

Appendix B .......................................................................................................... 98

Appendix C .......................................................................................................... 99

Appendix D ........................................................................................................ 107

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Keywords

Intercultural Communication (ICC), ICC Barriers, Swedish

multicultural work settings, Management of ICC barriers, High-context

culture, Low-context culture, International participants

Aberviations

ICC = Intercultural Communication

HC = High-context

LC = Low-context

P. none = Page number not found

Ibid = Following the previous reference

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Abstract

This is an era of globalization due to which the world has become a Global

Village and organizations are transforming into multicultural firms while

increasingly building diverse teams. However, due to the organizations’

tendency towards becoming international, individuals worldwide travel and

migrate from one society to another. This cross-culturalism is fabricating

challenges for the countries of higher immigrant rates because individuals

bring the complex nature of mixed cultures with them. The context of cross-

culturalism is based on various different elements e.g. cultural specific values,

norms, behaviors, lifestyles, ethics and beliefs which promote diversity in

multicultural organizations. Thus the diversity of people creates intercultural

barriers for managers/leaders to manage multicultural teams as well as

challenges have increased for employees/followers who work in those teams.

However, it has become crucial for both leaders and followers to learn cultural

competencies so that they can manage cultural barriers and perform effectively

as well as efficiently in multicultural teams.

Due to the rising demand to learn intercultural competencies, this research was

initiated to help future leaders and followers to better understand and manage

ICC barriers. This study is an addition to existing research and will guide

multicultural organizations and their participants (leaders & followers).

However two questions were developed around which this study has been

executed 1) How do participants from High context and Low context cultures

experience intercultural communication barriers while working in

multicultural settings? and 2) How can intercultural communication

barriers/challenges effectively be managed among participants? In order to

answer these questions, interviews on students were conducted at four

universities of Sweden for the purpose of collecting empirical data which later

on analyzed with the existing literature relevant to ICC.

The findings of this study conclude that both High-context (HC) cultures and

Low-context (LC) cultures have differences among each other which create

barriers/challenges for the individuals working in multicultural settings. The

results represent that when an individual from HC moves to LC, he/she comes

across challenges or even if an HC moves to HC he/she faces some sort of

challenges in any way possible too and, same goes for LC. The empirical data

after analysis with existing literature proved that every culture whether it’s LC

or HC wants to interact with HC or LC, it always creates challenges and

conflicts. But at the same time there are some possible steps which can be

taken to manage these barriers e.g. observation of cultures, active listening,

comparison with own culture, have a dialogue around the problem as well as

understanding of others’ behaviors and giving them space.

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Thesis Contribution to the current state of knowledge

This master’s thesis has been completed by conducting a thorough research on

the topic of Intercultural Communication Barriers among the future Leaders

and Followers in Swedish multicultural work settings with the incorporation

of literature already existed. This study aims at some steps for future leaders

and followers/individuals who intend to work in multicultural settings and to

offer a guide who are already working. Moreover, it can be a guide for

multicultural organizations to better run their processes.

This research is done by two authors and both contributed to this study equally.

Both authors used to have in person discussion or over phone call before taking

any step to the next level of the study. For example, both used to discuss each

chapter before starting and divide their parts as well as determined a deadline.

Again both used to have a meeting after completing their parts and help each

other to improve and organize. Methodology for the research was finalized by

mutual consensus. Moreover, both participated equally while conducting

interviews, analyzing empirical data, defining limitations and future research

opportunities.

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Statutory declaration

“It is a declaration in lieu of an oath that this thesis is solely written by Nida

Asghar and Anika Tabassum. Authors didn’t use any extra sources or

resources other than stated clearly in the thesis which are used to explain

study’s phenomena. Other than that, all the direct and indirect quotations are

clearly presented with page numbers of the use source. This Master Thesis has

not been submitted elsewhere for examination or publications purposes.”

Date: May, 20th, 2020

Nida Asghar Anika Tabassum

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Acknowledgements

The experience of conducting and writing this research document has proven

to be a valuable challenge whose takeaways will be useful to our future

endeavors, both in academic and professional lives. To understand and

combine complex theories, utilize our network for empirical data collection

and apply theories to real-life phenomena, was a whole journey of learning

through which our knowledge grew immensely.

We would like to express our gratitude to all who contributed to our master’s

thesis. Our special thanks to our program coordinator Mikael Lundgren who

guided us throughout our journey of Masters of ‘Leadership and Management

in International Contexts.’ We are extremely thankful for constructive

recommendations of our research supervisor Mikael Lundgren who guided,

supported and gave his valuable time and feedback during our thesis

development.

Our huge thanks to our examiner Lars Lindkvist for his dedication to help us

in continuous improvements in our research and inspired us to be more

creative. We are very grateful to Lars Lindkvist for his constructive feedback

and critical analysis of our all progress reports.

We would also like to acknowledge the contribution of our peers during our

whole course work and especially our opponents who gave their valuable

feedback during our thesis seminars. In addition, we would like to thank all

the participants from four universities of Sweden who agreed to participate in

our study by sharing their interesting stories and experiences with us and

helped us in our data collection process and results. We would also love to

thank all the management of Linnaeus University who gave us such an

amazing platform which helped us to enhance our abilities and polish our

leadership and management skills.

Finally, we are very much grateful to our families, friends and companions

back in our homes and in Sweden who were with us throughout our journey,

to encourage us and support us.

Thanks to all!

Yours sincerely,

Nida Asghar & Anika Tabassum

June, 2020, Kalmar, Sweden

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1 Introduction

1.1 Research Background

In today’s competitive world, cultural consciousness has become crucial for

everyone who is working in multicultural settings e.g. all the participants

(leaders and followers), involved in multicultural organizations. While

working in multicultural teams, leaders and followers both have to exchange

ideas and behaviors to work on their mutual goals but due to the intercultural

challenges, they couldn’t maintain a proper focus on it. However, intercultural

communication barriers are becoming a wide-ranging topic because

understanding the mental models and behaviors of each other has a significant

importance for the participants working in a culturally diverse group where the

way of everyone’s behaving and thinking may not be the same as else one.

Therefore, ICC barriers ascend when people from diverse cultures have to act

together and that can affect their performance significantly. Due to which it

has become for participants/leaders & followers of multicultural teams to

understand each other in order to adjust themselves in the new environment

and culture of the team. However, if organizations fail to manage cultural

differences; conflicts arise which ultimately harm the participants’

performance and obstruct their foremost goals.

The story behind the selection of the topic Intercultural communication (ICC)

barriers among future Leaders & Followers'' begins when we entered into a

Swedish classroom and found international students in our program. Our first

interaction made us realize that we have colleagues from more than 20

countries which means more than 20 nationalities however it is appropriate to

say that we had more than 20 cultures in our class. Everything went great in

our first two introductory sessions & workshops as well as we were enjoying

our living and studying in Sweden until we got a cultural shock. We started

experiencing challenges from the day our teacher gave us a group assignment

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and we had to choose our group members by our own. We were surprised and

lots of questions started fumbling in our heads; e.g. why everyone was treating

each other like aliens, why nobody wanted to come out of his/her comfort

zone, why not everyone was just frankly behaving just like we did in our

classrooms back in our home countries? On the other hand, we were facing the

same challenges outside the class because we were living in a Swedish culture

which was also totally new for us. We didn’t realize and find the answers of

these questions until we studied intercultural communication, cultural

similarities & differences combined with intercultural barriers during our

‘Intercultural communication’ course. It took us the whole term to understand

that all the challenges we were facing are just because of culture. All of us

have different values, norms, traditions and personalities which are shaped by

our cultures.

However, this ICC course somehow solved our problem and we learnt how to

tackle intercultural barriers and practically implemented it while working in

different group assignments inside and outside the classroom. We started

adapting new values, laws, regulations and accepting cultural differences and

similarities. Then, we decided to conduct research on ‘Intercultural

Communication Barriers’ for future students/leaders & followers so that they

will not have to confront the challenges we encountered and that they can

improve their learning from the start. This is the reason why we have taken

international students as a data collection tool.

Moreover, Sweden is a country with more than 10 million population (est.

2019) and having people of various ethnicities, for example Swedes with

Finnish and Sami minorities; first generation immigrants. Sweden has foreign-

borns inhabitants, e.g. Yugoslavs, Finns, Iranians, Norwegians, Danes,

Indians, Greeks and Turks etc. In addition, from a religious perspective,

Sweden has a diversity, for instance Lutheran 87% and others (including

Catholic, Orthodox, Baptist, Muslim, Jewish and Buddhist) 13% (Commisceo

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Global Consulting Ltd. 2020). In general, Swedes are polite, calm and

egalitarian in nature and we have experienced it ourselves because we have

never seen any Swede behaved inadequately and unethically since the day we

are in Sweden (Ibid). So within its 10+ million population, Sweden has people

from different countries, different cultures and societies.

Sweden already has a diverse nation and a diverse workforce and on it mostly

people come from other cultures and reside here. Although Sweden has people

from different cultures and societies, the majority of people are from Swedish

culture and we can also say that people from other cultures somehow adapt to

Swedish culture as well. So, we chose Sweden for our study because people

of different cultures need to interact more with Swedish culture not only in

classrooms or workplaces, but also in everyday life. For example, when we

arrived, we interacted less with the diverse group of our class, but more with

Swedish culture because in our daily routine, we have to go to grocery stores,

garments markets, restaurants, bus stations / railways and supermarkets etc.

Everywhere, we came across Swedes and the Swedish culture, and we realized

that an individual from another culture or an international student interacts less

with more than 20 cultures in his/her classroom, but must have to deal more

with the Swedish culture. We therefore decided to conduct our study of

Intercultural Communication Barriers among future Leaders and Followers

in Swedish multicultural settings.

1.2 Introduction to ICC Barriers

According to Schmidt et al., (2007), intercultural communication is a

procedure where people have to understand other cultural preferences so that

they can attain their mutual goals while living in diverse cultures. Also for

Samovar and Porter (1993), intercultural communication involves sharing

information among the representatives of various cultures and collaborating

with distinctive individuals identifying themselves as being from a different

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background of communication. Therefore, Smith and Steward (1995)

emphasize the importance of intercultural competencies by saying;

“The most successful firms in the global arena will

be companies whose employees not only

understand world economics and global

compositeness but who also can communicate

effectively with international counterparts” (Smith

and Steward, 1995, p. 15).

Schmidt et al., (2007) identified that intercultural communication means

cooperating with different cultures as well as he discovered that there is a

difference between intercultural communication and normal communication.

Thus, due to some intercultural communication barriers, people from diverse

cultures sometimes fail to communicate their point of views with others which

leads towards misunderstandings.

Alternatively, Erin Meyer; The Cultural Map (2014) discusses cultural

distinctions between cultures in terms of a high and low context. She explains

that cultural distinctions are based on various different and similar behaviors

e.g. communicating, persuading, trusting, evaluating, disagreeing, deciding,

leading and scheduling etc. (Meyer 2014). Similarly, Edward Hall’s High-

context versus low-context theory (1976) gives another view to cross-cultural

relationships. Leaders and followers encounter difficulties when working with

multicultural people of high and low cultural backgrounds. They have to come

across barriers between high and low context cultures and the problems when

working in a diverse environment (Hall 1976).Yet Geert Hofstede’s Cultural

Dimension Theory (2010) is one of the best theories to study which mentions

that people’s way of thinking, behaving, practicing and pretending is different.

Moreover, culture is an approach to guide individuals with exploiting their

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intelligence to understand people from various diverse backgrounds and

cultures (Hofstede et al., 2010).

In multicultural work settings leaders and followers from diverse cultures face

a lot of intercultural barriers such as language barrier, cultural differences,

ethnocentrism difficulties, cultural competition, misunderstanding, religious

variances etc. Samovar and Porters (1997) indicate that where the cultural

differences are abundant, the chance of misunderstanding constantly occurs.

Therefore interaction with an unknown person for any commercial purposes,

public purposes or administrative purposes; stretches a cause to understand

intercultural communication. Yet intercultural communication is seen in

groups that try to keep up equality in understanding and when people

communicate they need to consider culture (Hall 1959).

However, language is one of the most important elements in intercultural

communication aspects as communication is a shared activity and people have

to use language to express themselves. Therefore, when diverse people

interconnect with each other some words sound the same in speaking but

culturally the meanings are different which changes the whole theme of the

conversation. As a result, their outcomes might fail and miscommunication

happens. Concerning (Adler & Gundersen, 2007; Dixon & Ohara, 2012), the

expected importance of the source and the taken meaning of the collector

should be alike when communication takes place. Consequently, there needs

to be a mutual understanding of the expected meaning. If people communicate

with their common language for example in English then less

misunderstandings will happen or if they are speaking in English as a second

language then there is still a possibility of changing the meanings. As stated

by (Mauranen, 2006); in this language world, miscommunication takes place

if the common language is not used. Same goes for intercultural

communication if an idea is not spoken the same as it has meanings in another

culture, it loses the purpose.

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Furthermore, Ting- Toomey (1999) presented a wonderful definition of

Intercultural communication that,

“The symbolic exchange process whereby

individuals from two (or more) different cultural

communities negotiate shared meaning in an

interactive situation” (Toomey, 1999, p. 16).

This definition shows ICC is the interaction of two or more participants having

two or more different cultures and backgrounds. It also describes that the

interaction in which two different cultural parties share information and try to

understand each other through some specific symbols is called intercultural

communication.

1.3 Problem Discussion

In this era of globalization, organizations are becoming multicultural firms

while increasingly building diverse teams. Cross-culturalism has been creating

challenges for the countries of higher immigrant rates because people bring

the complex nature of mixed cultures with them (Hellerstein & Neumark,

2002; Selmer et al., 2013). In the context of cross-culturalism, differences in

customs, norms, habits, beliefs and values define intercultural diversity in

teams (Gibson & Gibbs, 2006; Rodriguez, 1998). Although intercultural

diversity has some similar pointers e.g. gender, generational and racial themes

(Lu et al., 2018) yet cultures are different on the basis of cultural specific

behavioral characteristics e.g. body language, time concept, personal space,

vocal qualities, personality and negotiation styles etc. (Hulbert 1994).

Therefore, while building relationships; leaders and followers/participants

both make communication around various ideas and activities to reach their

ultimate goal because it is a two way process. However leaders around the

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world are struggling to find ways to promote tolerance and respect for diverse

group identities (followers) because leadership is not only for leaders but

followers are the most important part of the leadership process. Undoubtedly,

this subject has been studied from decades and due to the urgency of the

current arena, from 2016 to the present, this subject has been an area of intense

sociological study for researchers (Evans & Suklun, 2017). The intense

tendency of studying this subject is culturally diverse participants who bring a

unique set of skills and perspectives which can enhance work

efficiency (Damelang and Haas, 2012).

Leadership, communication and human experience have a deep relationship

among each other (Caputo and Heater, 2012) and “where society exists,

leadership exists” (Hackman and Johnson, 2000, p.5). Yet, according to

communication scholars, human beings are humans because they use symbols

and expressions in their communication. Thus, the ability to create and use

verbal and non-verbal symbolic communication makes them humans

(Barnlund, 1963; Stewart, 2009) and every human being has different symbols

which belong to their various similar or different cultural specific behaviors.

However, differences and similarities among cultures are established based on

language, communication styles, and nonverbal behaviors which are culturally

specific (Caputo and Heater, 2012). The way a person behaves and expresses,

depends on culture for example the questions e.g. how direct or indirect one

should be during conversation, how close and far one should stand from

another person, when and how one should smile; show gratitude and say

sorry, and which non-verbal symbols/cues must be used and when? all are

culturally dependent (Caputo and Heater, 2012).

Therefore, there seems to be considerable evidence that communication styles

differ across cultures, and one can possibly agree that differences in cross-

cultural communication is likely going to pose challenges between

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interlocutors from different cultural backgrounds. It would be a fallacy to a

large extent to believe that communication will flow smoothly when different

cultures interact with each other during conversation. Scholars such as

Schneider et al., (2003), Würtz (2005), and Meyer (2014) have argued that

there are noticeable cultural differences when cultures inter-communicate in

terms of High and Low context communication. These authors agree that in

high context (HC henceforth) settings, speakers use subtle and slightly

complex messages etc., whereas in low context (LC henceforth) backgrounds,

participants make use of straight forward, clear-cut messages and so on

(Schneider et al., 2003; Würtz, 2005; and Meyer 2014).

Consequently, verbal and non-verbal communication signals influence when

people talk to each other in multicultural settings and people from the same

culture can understand the message more accurately than people from cross

cultures (Hulbert 1994). However, Lu et al. (2018) in his article explained the

importance of non-verbal communication in the following way;

“Beyond the issue of linguistic fluency (Fujio

2004), misunderstandings arise from differing tacit

cultural assumptions (Pelled, 1996; Stahl et al.,

2010)” (Lu et al., 2018 p. 403)

Moreover, he described that intercultural diversity makes it difficult and

frustrating to exchange and understand ideas within teams and change the

meaning of the respective idea (Lu et al., 2018).

Hence, knowing the differences and similarities across cultures is essential for

leaders and followers because this is an era of hyper-competition and non-stop

disruption and thousands of challenges awaiting. 21st Century Leadership is a

multidimensional and integrative view of leadership that is based on

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relationships and relationships can be strengthened only when leaders and

followers understand each other and accurately interpret the way a participant

(leader/follower) from another culture speaks. So, today’s and tomorrow's

leaders and followers ought to have flexibility, creativity, and learn how to

lead interculturally in order to become interculturally competent. They can

only be successful in building relationships when trying to learn cultural

specific knowledge and mastering intercultural behaviors for multicultural

work environments (Caputo and Heater, 2012).

For the reason, we have our concerns towards the education of leaders and

followers regarding cultural diversity, especially regarding intercultural

communication barriers which can make the globe easy to survive for every

human being. However, if we want to resolve the problems and reduce

intercultural communication barriers among participants, we must as human

beings, deal with the differences to some extent (Caputo and Heater, 2012).

No doubt, there are lots of researches that have been conducted on the topic of

Culture, Intercultural and Communication Barriers yet our focus is

specifically on the topic ‘Intercultural communication Barriers’. We found

this topic interesting and important to study as limited researches had been

conducted on ‘intercultural’ and ‘communication’ both together. We observed

that, while working in multicultural settings it is a need for a participant from

the LC culture to be able understand behaviors when communicating with

another person from HC culture and vice versa. This can be achieved by

sacrificing some elements of one’s context for the purpose of effective

communication. Also, interlocutors in LC and HC cultures should be

considerate when evaluating each other due to contextual differences.

Subsequently, this study has been focused particularly on intercultural

communication barriers which are significantly important to understand in

order to mitigate the challenges and conflict among members of a multicultural

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team as well as presented some possible suggestions to manage these barriers

among future leaders and followers.

Therefore, for our study we have taken international students as means of data

collection, as they are the potential leaders or followers who might join a

multicultural workforce. Most importantly, we chose international students

because they experience similar kind of problems, challenges and difficulties

but in another context as an individual faces when working in multicultural

work settings. Alike, international students must work in various diverse

cultural groups, they have to do assignments, projects and meet the deadlines

given by the leader / teacher. In multicultural organizations, employees have

to work with colleagues and bosses from other cultures and meet deadlines

because they want something in return e.g. monetary and non-monetary

rewards, promotions and appreciation correspondence to international students

as they want to pass and promote to the next level. Hence, in our view, the

experience of an employee working in a multicultural organization and the

experience of an international student is more or less the same and both face

the same kind of challenges. Both experience the same type of pressure, come

across the same constraints and undergo the same stressful situations.

1.4 Research Question

Research questions for a study have a crucial part in maintaining the focus of

the researcher on his/her study. Participants in our research questions refer to

the future leaders and followers. Therefore, our study has been focusing

around two research questions:

1. How do participants from High context and Low context cultures


multicultural settings?

2. How can intercultural communication barriers/challenges

effectively be managed among participants?

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1.5 Research Objectives

Every research study has some objective for which a researcher aims to

conduct that study. These objectives are developed in the light of researcher’s

experiences and observations and his/her purpose is to throw some benefits

towards the reader so that he/she can learn from it. However, we have

following research objectives for our study;

• To explore intercultural communication barriers and its impacts on

participants (future leaders and followers)

• To identify how intercultural communication barriers can be managed

• To go deeply into the importance of understanding of the intercultural

communication barriers in multicultural work settings

• To identify some solutions which can help to manage these barriers for

the benefit of organizations

The purpose of this qualitative study is to discover how critical and important

is it for individuals (future leaders and followers) to effectively connect with

each other while having different cultural backgrounds and facing intercultural

challenges. The topic ‘Intercultural communication barriers among future

Leaders & Followers’ is interesting to study because in this era of hyper

competition, it is essential to know how intercultural challenges are

encountered by people (future leaders and followers) in their workplaces when

they work in diverse cultural teams as well as what can we do to manage these

barriers?.

Consequently, our study aims to provide a guidance to the multicultural work

settings to increase their managerial capabilities to work with employees from

diverse culture e.g. high context and low context cultures. On the other hand,

this intends to help participants (future leaders/followers) from diverse

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cultures to identify the intercultural communication barriers and manage them

with their best possible capacity. Moreover, this research has suggested some

possible solutions or steps to manage ICC barriers among cross cultural teams

and enhance productivity.

1.6 Thesis Outline

Figure 1: Thesis Outline

Source: Created by Authors

1. Chapter 1: The main concept that represents the background of the

research study has been introduced in this section. Problem discussion,

purpose of the study, research questions are also discussed in this

section

2. Chapter 02: In this chapter, we have reviewed the academic literature

and discussed it. Theories on Intercultural communication, its barriers

& challenges faced by participants are used for building the theoretical

framework for this study which have been analyzed in the results.

3. Chapter 03: This chapter is about the Methodology and the methods

which are used later on to identify the results in chapter 05.

Chapter 01 - Introduction

Chpter 02 - Literature Review

Chpter 03 - Research Methodology

Chpter 04 - Empirical Findings

Chpter 05 - Analysis

Chpter 06 - Conclusion

Chapter 07 - References

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4. Chapter 04: This chapter focuses on the findings and main themes

extracted from collected data through interviews along with analysis.

5. Chapter 05: In this chapter, the collected data and findings from

chapter 04 have been discussed in accordance with literature discussed

in chapter 02.

6. Chapter 06: We have concluded the findings and suggested the scope

of further research in the light of the analysis in chapter 04 and chapter

05 as well as according to our best knowledge.

7. Chapter 07: All the references that had been used in this study have

been provided in this chapter.

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2 Literature Review

2.1 Introduction to Literature Review

The theoretical chapter reviews literature that is written according to the topic

at hand, and is comprising seven sections. The literature review addresses

Culture, Communication, cultural theories of different authors e.g. Hofstede

(2010); Meyer (2014) and Hall (1976) etc. and reviews on their theories. This

chapter also consists of ICC barriers in relation to participants working in

multicultural settings. Finally, literature review will cover the most relevant

theories which will be utilized to create the theoretical framework that will

guide and help to analyze the empirical data that is gathered in the following

chapter.

2.2 Definition of ICC and its Barriers

Stay with a discomforting environment, experience it and learn from it,

compare these discomforting and unexpected behaviors when you work or

communicate across cultures as well as compare them with your own

behaviors and knowledge is Intercultural Communication (Prince et al., 2007).

The ICC barriers are the differences which a person experiences while

working, communicating or living across cultures which might arise difficult

situations and conflicts for that person. Following questions by Prince et al.,

(2007) are pivotal to understand that how ICC barriers are impactful;

1. Why are you always staring at me like this? In one culture staring can

be a signal of intimidation while other culture takes it as direct eye

contact which shows attention and esteem.

2. Why don’t you answer by saying only Yes or No? Direct answers can

be taken as insult and disrespect in one culture but contrarily in another

culture it’s a signal of respect and suggestion for improvements.

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3. Why don’t you yourself ask me if you didn’t understand something?

Asking questions might be considered as an effective tool of learning

and increasing knowledge, but on the other hand in another culture it

shows insufficient knowledge and inability to understand things of the

person.

4. Why does he sit when the boss is standing? In one culture it is normal

to sit when the boss comes in or standing but in another culture this is

taken as ill behaviour.

Therefore, intercultural communication plays an enormous role as it aims to

share, understand and adopt communication across different cultures and

groups to bring them closer and mitigate differences among themselves. ICC

can be described as a wide range of communication processes which appear

within a social context made up of individuals from different cultures, society,

family, ethnic and educational backgrounds etc. It is sometimes stated that ICC

depends on the individual’s message, behavior, and culture as Suen et al.,

(2019) quoted that intercultural communication is a guide that provides the

readers an effective theory and strategies to communicate across cultures by

accepting ICC barriers. ICC is a phenomenon, a study or a world of knowledge

of various different cultures which helps to know and understand how people

from different backgrounds and cultures communicate with each other and

identify the differences between distinct cultural groups. If we break down

intercultural communication, there comes two main components on the surface

which itself has a world of meanings and a researcher can hold a thorough

research on each of those topics as a whole subject; Communication and

Culture follows as Interculture, Communication and barriers. In the following

sections, a detailed description of these phenomenon has illustrated.

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2.2.1 Communication

Communication is a process of conveying messages between two or more

people through a channel. According to Kreitner and Carlene (2010),

communication is a chain made of identifiable links including five elements;

sender, encoding, medium, receiver, decoding, and feedback which can be

modified or diversifies according to environment, culture and circumstances

but phenomenon remains the same. Every person represents these elements of

communication in a different way which creates differences among cultures,

people, groups, religions and families. Therefore, to identify and understand

these five elements are important when someone is working in a multicultural

firm or when he/she interacts across cultures because at the first step, as a

sender a person needs to develop an idea to send a message. This is the

planning stage for communication in which the sender identifies to whom he

is throwing his message.

The second step is encoding which means converting an idea into a receivable

form according to the receiver’s personality. Letter, report, verbal or telephone

conversation is an example of encoding. After this, the sender will choose a

medium to transmit the message to carefully send the message to the receiver.

Finally, the receiver will start decoding and start replying. Consequently, it is

very important for the receiver and sender to know each other's culture,

environment and language in order to develop a common understanding and

interest. For instance, in one culture a student cannot call his teacher with the

name as it is a disrespect and dishonor of the teacher, so he has to say

Sir/Madam. On the other hand, in another culture calling the name of the

teacher is common and it doesn’t make a difference in respect of the teacher

yet it is considered as more gap filling and building a strong and learning

relationship amongst.

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Kreitner and Carlene (2010) also revealed that communication includes both

verbal and non-verbal communication. Verbal communication is the usage of

creating a message or verbal communication can be called as written or spoken

message. Language plays a vital role when we talk about verbal

communication as not every but plenty of cultures have different mother

languages, jokes, narratives and stories behind the words. In order to

communicate effectively, it is important to have the right use of written and

spoken language which is understandable and appropriate for the receiver. If

we take the example email as a written communication medium, in some

cultures writing ‘Dear Sir/Madam’ represents formal communication and

shows the sender's sincerity and love for the receiver. But in another culture it

tends to lead the communication towards the wrong meanings and readers

might get offended by considering it as an informal way of communication.

This is the reason, knowing ICC is important when we need to communicate

across cultures.

On the other side, non-verbal communication is a way when a person wants to

convey the message while using body language e.g. gestures and postures at

the same time when he is using verbal language. Both verbal and non-verbal

communication are linked with each other (Kreitner and Carlene, 2010) and

are used simultaneously. For this reason, Kelvin (2017) classified

communication into three basic parts; Verbal, Written and Non-verbal as he

said verbal communication is a conversation between two or more people and

the most important part in it, is the human voice. In written communication,

the verbal messages are translated into alphabetical words and sentences

Kelvin (2017) and deemed it a formal way of communication. Non-verbal

communication is neither written nor spoken but through physical

environment, body movement or by drawing. For instance, the question: Why

does he always smile and nod when I talk about improvements in his

performance? In one culture, accepting feedback with a smile represents that

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the receiver is ready to improve himself and the smile reflects sincerity and

attention. Contrary to that, in another culture a smile while taking feedback

shows non-seriousness and that receiver is denying from his mistakes (Prince

et al., 2007).

Consequently, communication can be defined as the use of words, signs,

symbols to interchange ideas, feelings, facts and information between two or

more people (Anugwom, 2007). As well as communication is a process by

which information is exchanged between individuals and organizations. Smith

(2007) and Adams (2006) agreed that communication is an exchange and

transmission of meaning and share the feeling. Therefore, understanding of

ICC is a key to effectively communicating with individuals or groups of people

belonging to different cultures and enhancing understanding among the

various cultural parties involved in the organization.

2.2.2 Culture

Culture is defined in a number of different ways and it is difficult to define

culture in a sentence or in a word. Culture is a rule or system of exchanging

knowledge, beliefs, behavior and creating personalities. According to Axelrod

(1997), culture is the set of individual’s attributes that are subject to social

influence. Guiso et al., (2006) explained it as habitual beliefs and values that

ethnic, religious and social groups transmit fairly unchanged or with a slight

change from one generation to another generation which is illustrated by

Schneider et al., (2003) in the following way;

“Many scholars argue that culture changes very

slowly. As such, culture has been treated as a

relatively stable characteristic, reflecting a shared

knowledge structure that attenuates variability in

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values, behavioral norms and patterns of

behavior.” (Schneider et al., 2003, p. 04)

Moreover, if we talk about multicultural/intercultural settings, the

understanding of organizational culture is the first step and Schein (1984)

defined organizational culture as the pattern of the basic assumption that gives

a group the floor to exchange beliefs, norms, values, and invents, discover or

develop in learning to cope with its problems of adoption. Now-a-days,

organizations are becoming more globalized and many companies are

following global models. Therefore, cultural diversities are growing in

organizations and communication challenges are also increasing for the

diverse cultural groups in multicultural firms. So, while working in an

environment where people from different cultures work together, the problems

in intercultural communication usually arise. It could be easy to adapt and

learn organizational culture, but in multicultural organizations, learning

various other cultures has become necessary for individuals in this era of

modernization. Due to which, with a fair understanding of organizational

culture, having a subsequent knowledge of interculturalism is a need because

patterns of thoughts, beliefs, values, perceptions and expectations vary from

culture to culture. In order to get a deeper understanding of culture and

intercultural barriers, theories of Hofstede (2010); Meyer (2014) and Hall

(1976) alongside their review are explained in the following sections.

2.3 Hofstede’s Cultural framework (2010)

Hofstede (1980) explained one of the popular definitions of culture with the

words that culture is “the collection of programs of the mind, which

distinguishes the members of one human group from another” (p. 03). From

the last two decades most of the studies about cultural perspective were

influenced by Hofstede’s work on culture. Hofstede (2010) presented a Five

Dimensions Theory of culture which consists of power distance, individualism

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versus collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity versus femininity and

long-term versus short term orientations. Hofstede, (2010) extracted these

five dimensions on the basis of culture because human beings belong to

different cultures and these cultural dimensions/differences separated them

from one another. Hofstede’s (2010) five cultural dimensions are as follows:

2.3.1 Uncertainty Avoidance

According to Hofstede et al., (2010), uncertainty avoidance focuses on the

extent to which a cultural sense is threatened or anxious about doubtful or

ambiguous situations. Uncertainty avoidance is the magnitude to which

members of an organization or a society attempt to avoid uncertainty by

depending on established norms, rituals or bureaucratic undertaking

(Soderholm, 2012). People from high uncertainty avoidance cultures try to

reduce the possibility of unexpected events that may affect negatively to the

operation of an organization or society. Hofstede (2010) mentioned that people

from different societies form mechanisms to handle the tension that is

produced by uncertainty as every society has a different culture which may

create uncertain circumstances for people from diverse cultures. Moreover,

technology is assisting people to defend themselves and their cultures against

uncertainty caused by the law and behavior of others and religion to embrace

the uncertainties people cannot defend themselves against (Ibid).

2.3.2 Individualism vs Collectivism

Individualism culture emphasized on the individual type of person means

people in that culture tend to create privacies and enjoy living their own lives

(Hofstede et al., 2010). In Individualistic culture, individuals are prioritized

over the entire group which sometimes increases the stress on the goal of

individuals and group goal becomes secondary (Ibid). On the other hand,

collectivistic culture focuses on the groups or societies’ goal over the

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individual (Ibid). Hofstede et al., (2010) stated that collectivism is the degree

where individuals are integrated into groups and everyone is expected and

willing to look after one’s family.

2.3.3 Power Distance

Power distance refers to the power that is distributed unequally in some

cultures and in some other cultures it is equally divided within the whole group

without considering gender (Hofstede et al., 2010). According to Hofstede et

al., (2010), less powerful members of the organization and institution have to

accept that power which is unequally distributed. For example in Malaysia and

Singapore, individuals with less power have to accept and respect the seniors

and the people with high power/authority. Power distance also emphasized on

the social classes and organizational hierarchy which is important for relation

building between leaders and followers of that society and organization (Ibid).

2.3.4 Masculinity vs Femininity

Masculinity and femininity emphasized on the distribution of roles between

genders (Hofstede et al., 2010). According to Hofstede et al., (2010), this

concept refers to the distribution of roles between the gender which is another

critical issue for every other society and a variety of solutions can be found.

Masculinity cultures like Nigeria, Bangladesh, and Pakistan etc. reflect a

dominance of the tough values such as achievement, assertiveness,

competition. Also masculinity is a big issue for such societies where power

and authority only belongs to male and due to which women rights are

demolished in most of the societies in this world (Ibid). On the other hand,

feminist culture like Sweden, Denmark or some other Europen cultures focus

on soft values like personal relationships, care for others and importance on

the overall well-being to the human being/employees (Ibid).

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2.3.5 Long-term orientation v/s Short-Term orientation

Hofstede (2010) proposed long-term and short-term orientation as his fifth

dimension. According to Hofstede (2010), short-term orientation focuses on

the values, fulfilling social obligations and protecting someone. On the other

hand, long-term orientation focuses on values and the fostering of virtues,

perseverance where short-term orientation focuses on the virtues related to the

past and present (Ibid). Long-term orientation and short-term orientation have

great importance but these also vary from culture to culture.

2.3.6 Reviews on Hofstede’s Cultural Framework (2010)

Hofstede’s (2010) work has become an integral part of intercultural

communication textbooks and courses (Cardon 2008). According to Eringa et

al. (2017), cultural dimension theory of Hofstede (2010) has significant value

as it covers most of the social anthropological core issues which are e.g.

understanding of masculinity and femininity, identify the relation between

society and individuals and their ways of dealing with challenges and conflicts

etc. Eringa et al., (2017) also illustrates his favor for Hofstede (2010) with

following words;

“Hofstede (2010) states that the concept of culture

can best be described by naming symbols, heroes,

rituals, and values as its main components.

Differences between people’s mental programmes

can be best assessed by comparing the values that

prevail among citizens of different countries”

(Eringa et al., 2017, p. 187 ).

Moreover, about Hofstede (2010) it is stated that his influence on the fields of

management and international business cannot be denied and Harzing's

“Publish or Perish” citation index found out that there were over 54,000

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citations to his work till June 2010. This achievement presents the remarkable

record of Hofstede’s (2010) work which is gaining popularity in the growing

cross-culturalism, globalization and internationalization of businesses and

economy (Tung et al., 2010).

Despite his great work and remarkable success, Hofstede (2010) has to meet

fierce opposition. Especially, McSweeney (2002) criticised Hofstede's (2010)

approach of surveys for data collection which is not the suitable instrument to

examine cultural differences and five dimensions are not sufficient to

determine various cultural aspects. Jones (2007) enlists some strengths and

weaknesses of Hofstede’s (2010) methodological part similar to McSweeney

(2002) points and shows his concerns for the development of dimensions

especially masculinity and uncertainty avoidance when it comes to the Cold

War. Fang (2003) focuses on the fifth dimension (short-term orientation and

long-term orientation) as he found a philosophical flaw underlying the

assumptions of this dimension because the short term oriented values are

labeled as negative and long term as exceptionally positive. Fang (2003) also

accepts the validity of the fifth dimension but he states that some of its aspects

overlap the value attributes and lead to confusion which needs possible

revision.

2.4 Erin Meyer; The Cultural Map (2014)

In today’s multi-cultural organizational settings, Erin Meyer: The Cultural

Map (2014) has significant importance. This cultural map consists of eight

scale tools which can be differ from culture to culture or society to society.

Meyer (2014) defined her eight scale tool to understand and establish

differences among cultures after conducting research for many years. Meyer’s

(2014) cultural map is significantly valuable for ICC participants who belong

to multicultural workplaces. According to Meyer’s (2014) view point, the

eight elements; Communicating, Leading, Evaluating, Persuading, Trusting,

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Deciding, Disagreeing and Scheduling are essential for participants as well as

organizations because these have a deep relationship with the base of any

culture. Meyer (2014) distinguishes cultures on the bases of above mentioned

points and she categorizes all the cultures into two main classes as; High-

Context Culture (HC) and Low-Context Culture (LC). Let’s discuss how these

eight elements differ in both HC and LC.

2.4.1 Communicating

Communication ranges between low-context and high context culture (Meyer,

2014). In low context culture, the communication is simple and clear and

messages are expressed properly with facial expressions Meyer (2014). In LC,

communication is more direct and individuals from LC prefer to speak straight

forwardly which helps to clarify the communication (Ibid). Contrarily, in high

context cultures; good communication is nuanced and encrusted. In HC, most

of the time communication is being done indirectly due to which messages are

often implied and not properly explained (Ibid). This is the reason, problems

are aroused when both the leader and follower are from two different contexts;

HC and LC. Meyer (2014) categorized countries as HC and LC in the

following figure:

Figure: 2

Source: Meyer (2014, p. none)

2.4.2 Leading

Meyer (2014) illustrated two extremes of leadership in HC and LC which are

egalitarian (LC) and hierarchical (HC). In egalitarian culture, the distance

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between the leader and follower is low. Followers have the full right to throw

their opinions, for and against their leaders. In an egalitarian situation,

organizational structure is generally in a horizontal way and communication

often skips the hierarchical levels. In hierarchical cultures, the distance

between the leader and the follower is high (Ibid). Followers cannot contradict

the boss and have to wait for approval before performing the task. In such

organizations, structures are complex and communication follows the

hierarchical structure which takes time and slows down the growth of

individuals as well as organizations (Ibid). Meyer (2014) categorized countries

as Hierarchical and Egalitarian in the following figure:

Figure: 3


2.4.3 Evaluating

Evaluating basically emphasized on the way of giving and taking feedback

(Meyer, 2014). According to Meyer (2014), HC and LC are range from the

direct negative feedback to indirect negative feedback. In LC, if a leader wants

to give feedback to a follower, he just directly says the negative things which

he found in the performance of the follower and if the follower has some

negative feedback for the leader he can also speak directly (Ibid). On the other

hand, in HC, negative feedback is given indirectly in the form of a

complimentary sandwich. While giving feedback, the leader highlights the

negative things, he wraps these with positive things. However in HC; negative

feedback, diplomacy and positive messages wrap the negative feedback and

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criticism (Ibid). Meyer (2014) categorized countries on the basis of direct

negative feedback and indirect negative feedback in the following figure:

Figure: 4


2.4.4 Persuading

Persuading emphasizes on the principle-first and application-first (Meyer,

2014). LC follows principle-first and in it individuals first develop a theory,

present the theory, and explain the supportive facts and then take an action.

Contrary to that, HC believes in application-first in which individuals start

with real-world patterns and facts, take the action and present the theory later

on (Ibid). Meyer (2014) categorized countries on the basis of principle-first

and indirect application-first in the following figure:

Figure: 5


2.4.5 Trusting

Trusting stresses upon the task-based and relation-based approaches of a

culture (Meyer, 2014). In task based culture, trust is built based on the

activities and performance of individuals and LC consider task based view

very important. In task-based culture, work relationships grow by mutual

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understanding and usefulness (Ibid). However, in relation-based culture, trust

is built slowly when people get to know each other and it takes time to build

relationships and it is a significant value for HC (Ibid). In relation-based

culture (HC), relations are built on the bases of personal bindings and

understanding not on task or performances (Ibid). Meyer (2014) categorized

countries on the basis of task-based and relation-based in the following figure:

Figure: 6


2.4.6 Deciding

Decision making consists of two variables; LC as consensual and HC as Top-

down (Meyer, 2014). In consensual during the decision making process,

opinions and viewpoints of leaders and followers are taken and decisions are

made in groups. Inversely, in top-down decision making process, decisions are

made only by top management (Ibid). Meyer (2014) categorized countries on

the basis of Top-down and Consensual in the following figure:

Figure: 7


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2.4.7 Disagreeing

Disagreeing has two dimensions; Confrontational (LC) and Avoidant (HC)

(Meyer, 2014). In LC, confrontation is common and disagreement & debates

are taken positively and in a learning perspective which yield positive results

and it will never negatively affect the relationship (Ibid). In HC, avoid

confrontation is usual and disagreement and debates are considered to yield

negative results which ultimately destroy the relationships. Meyer (2014)

categorized countries on the basis of two dimensions confrontational and

avoidant in the following figure:

Figure: 8


2.4.8 Scheduling

Scheduling consists of two variables; linear time and flexible time (Meyer,

2014). In LC, scheduling/time frame is linear, the followers obey and respect

the schedule, take deadlines as commitments and complete the task in time

(Ibid). On the other side, HC followers like to work with flexibility and

schedules are adaptable (Ibid). Meyer (2014) categorized countries on the

basis of linear time and flexible time confrontational and avoidant in the

following figure:

Figure: 9


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2.4.9 Reviews on Meyer’s theory (2014)

If an individual is working internationally or wants to manage cross-

culturalism, Meyer’s (2014) eight point scale is a fantastic tool. It is so helpful

for managers/leaders as well as employees/followers to work and get work

done effectively. Karen Penney (2016) elaborated it in the following words:

“A blueprint for international leadership, it

offers practical tips to help directors and teams

separated by geography and culture to work

together effectively” (Penney, 2016, Blog p.

none)

Apart from that, leaders always need to understand human nature and

personality differences in order to be successful in businesses and Meyer’s

(2014) covered all skills for leaders in her eight points (Frank Dillon 2014).

Meyer (2014) concluded all points for individuals of the 21st century who

want to perform effectively. She (2014) summarized whole personality traits

because leaders/followers must understand a much wider and richer range of

work styles and must be able to distinguish between personality traits and

cultural norms (Frank Dillon 2014). In the end Portman (2018) concluded the

importance of Meyer’s (2014) eight scale cultural map with the following

words:

“The author developed an eight-scale model to

help to improve your effectiveness. Each of the

eight scales represents one key area that

managers must be aware of, showing how

cultures vary along a spectrum from one

extreme to its opposite” (Henny Portman's Blog

2018, p. none).

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2.5 Edward Hall’s High-context v/s Low-context cultural

theory (1976)

Edward Hall (1976) developed communication theory which emphasized on

High-Context and Low-Context cultures similar to Meyer (2014). After a

thorough research, Hall (1976) developed this theory and categorized societies

and explained the communication in which particular cultural groups engage.

According to Hall (1976), a high context culture relies on implicit

communication and nonverbal cues as body language is one of the most

important elements in HC. In High-context culture, relationships are being

built slowly and depend on trust. Thinking processes are dependent on multi

purposes and individuals feel normal to share their thoughts freely by standing

closer to each other. Researchers write Asia or Asian countries as having more

HC culture.

Contrarily, low context culture emphasizes more on introversion or introverted

relationships. Cultures in Europe and the USA are considered to be low-

context cultures. Relationships begin quickly and productivity depends on the

procedure and paying attention to the goals. Individuals focus on their personal

interest and social structure is decentralized. In low-contexts culture, privacy

is one of the important elements, so individuals prefer to stand farther apart

and avoid sharing personal entities, feelings and interest freely. Time frames

and deadlines are taken very seriously due to which events and tasks are

scheduled and to be done at particular times and also change is faster than in

high-context cultures (Hall, 1976).

According to Richardson and Smith (2007), in high-context culture people use

indirect messages to express their opinions and in low-context culture, people

reflect direct exchange and explicit messages. China has high context culture

and Sweden has low-context culture and the way of communication in China

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is different from that of Sweden. In China, people use indirect ways to

communicate with each other, people consider others’ feelings and problems.

Swedish culture prefers individualism and individuals are more reserved. Most

of the time, Swedish individuals express their opinions and emotions directly

because they do not want to be influenced by others. Therefore, it is stated that

people of Sweden are linear but the Chinese people are non-linear (Ibid).

The problems arise when people from two cultures, LC and HC work together

for gaining a specific mission or goal (Hall, 1976). High context cultures prefer

personal bonding along with informal agreement whereas individuals from

low context cultures are more professional and focus on the formal agreements

(e.g. Canada, Sweden) (Ibid). Communication between two individuals from

low-context culture is more direct and specific but contrarily in high context

culture, individuals’ main focus is in relationship building with discussing the

agreements (Ibid).

In Hall’s (1990) point of view, followers listen and obey to the boss’s opinion

in low-context culture like China and are more dependent. Chinese employees

strictly follow the boss's order whereas the Swedish manager/leader expects

the employees/followers to take full responsibility at their work and make

them feel more independent.

2.5.1 Reviews on Hall’s theory (1976)

The work of Edward Hall (1976) is a fixture in almost all of academic literature

having anything to do with intercultural comparisons, especially in the fields

of management and communication (Driskill, 1997; Hunsinger, 2006). Hall

(1976) has been cited 659 times for his Beyond Culture theory which indicates

how much it has importance wherever anything comes related to culture

(Cardon, 2008). Particularly, Hall's (1976) High-context and Low-context

model has been a commonly used cultural model in all intercultural

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communication courses (Fantini & Smith, 1997). Hall’s (1976) model is

undoubtedly used on hundreds of places but is also criticized by other

researchers because:

“Hermeking (2006) suggested that Hall’s model

has received little criticism Because Hall was

vague in his presentation of the model and ranked

cultural Groups rather than national cultures.”

(Cardon, 2008, p. 400)

Hall (1976) has presented his ranking of LC to HC but he was unable to

elaborate and measured these rankings. Other researchers criticize Hall's

(1976) cultural model because according to them he provided a few indications

of his data collection but he couldn’t do it effectively through interviews and

observations (Cardon, 2008). He didn’t mention the methods of qualitative

data collection which would be equal to today’s standards e.g. “identifying

alternative explanations (identifying best fit), negative case analysis,

triangulation, review by inquiry participants, expert audit review, theory

triangulation, sampling techniques, bias acknowledgment and credibility of

researcher (researcher as instrument), coding schemes, analysis framework,

or audit trail (Patton, 2002)” (Cardon, 2008, p. 402).

2.6 Intercultural Communication, its Barriers & Leadership

Communication is an essential part of leadership as “communication is central

to Leadership” (Awamleh and Gardner 1999, p. 367). Leader is the most

focused person in the group which leads the whole team yet leader’s

responsibilities increase when it comes to a diverse culture team. It looks

fancy, colorful and appealing when we visit or observe a new culture for a

shorter period of time. Rather it becomes harder and challenging when we start

working as a leader or follower in another culture for a longer time. In the

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following quotation the significance of effective communication for a leader

is beautifully explained;

“a leader’s communication style as a distinctive set

of interpersonal communicative behaviors geared

toward the optimization of hierarchical

relationships in order to reach certain group or

individual goals” (Vries et al., 2009, p. 368).

Apart from that, various researchers have conducted research on the

communication style of a leader when working in a diverse culture team, two

interpersonal communicative dimensions were found in a result:

friendliness/affiliation and dominance (Dillard et al., 1999) which are

foremost to learn for a leader.

Based on some previous studies, communication is not only one factor which

leaders need to encounter while working in a diverse team but they have to

understand that every culture fundamentally defines some different thoughts

and values which have influence on the whole group. Proficiency in culturally

specific values and terms is essential to understand the positive and negative

impacts of various cultural differences on all areas of life of the respective

team. Let’s take a deeper understanding of why is it important for a leader to

be culturally competent with an example:

“As leader of a task force, Cheryl is having

difficulties managing Chen, one of the team

members. He promised to compile a report by the

deadline she set, but he didn’t. When she talks to

him about it, he won’t look her in the eye. Cheryl

suspects that Chen is either very disorganized or

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doesn’t respect her as a leader. His unwillingness

to make eye contact looks like evasive behavior to

her.” (Prince et al., 2007, p. 09)

In this example, Cheryl; the leader, is from a different culture and Chen, the

employee is from a different culture. In Cheryl’s cultural perspective,

deadlines are a firm commitment to get a work done and making eye contact

shows honesty but it could be different in Chen’s culture. In Chen’s culture,

deadlines can be extended and in most cases a second deadline is common as

well as not having eye contact means he is feeling ashamed of not meeting

deadlines. Cheryl has an idea that Chen is from another culture but not exactly

knows the differences and similarities between both of their cultures. Here as

a leader, if Cheryl builds up an effective intercultural communication and

shows friendliness, care and try to understand Chen, she could be better able

to understand Chen and his situation. It shows how important for leaders to

have intercultural communication competencies to better take the team toward

final objectives.

2.7 Intercultural Communication, its Barriers & Followership

The majority of scholars represents a tendency to mainly focus on leadership

studies and get knowledge about followership aspects mostly to gain better

understanding of the leadership (Kelley, 1992). However, this perspective

started getting changed when Hollander (1992) introduced that both leadership

and followership notions are interdependent because leadership is a process

and followership cannot be separated from leadership. So if knowledge of

Intercultural Communication is required for leadership, it is also necessary to

get an understanding for followership, to better reach the common goals both

parties are striving for. Due to the fact that leadership is a social phenomenon,

mutual interaction and communication between leaders and followers is

common as well as important to take place (Alvesson et al., 2017). Therefore,

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it is important for followers to have ICC competencies to better understand the

values, traditions and norms of other cultures when they are working in a

multicultural setting because they have to interact not only with leaders but

also other colleagues from diverse cultures. Due to familiarity with ICC

competencies, a discontinuity can be eliminated between leaders and followers

which ultimately make the processes and work; joyful, enriching, rewarding,

productive and result oriented (Pree, 2004).

Moreover, followers are considered active co-producers of leadership and

leadership relationships and as Susan D. Baker (2007) in her article explained

the followership tenets in the following way:

“(a) That followers and leaders are roles, not

people with inherent characteristics; (b) that

followers are active, not passive; and (c) that

followers and leaders share a common

purpose”. (Baker, 2007, p. 58)

Communication scholars modeled communication as follower behavior

(Chaleff, 2009; Rosenbach et al., 2012) and it is a critical process between

followers and leaders when they work in teams (Connaughton and Daly,

2005).

ICC has a greater value for diverse teams especially the individuals (followers)

working in that team because they are more closely working together.

Therefore, ICC competencies can open the doors to understand other cultures,

display respect and empathy for individuals from other cultures. It enables

followers to give response to critical and unfamiliar situations and behaviors

of others in a non-judgmental way and offers a comfortable work environment

to others (Lustig and Koester, 2006). This is the reason, Intercultural

communication does play a major role for followers to better realize what is

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needed in daily activities at the workplace and can significantly contribute to

the working process (Kelley, 2008). Multicultural setting enhances the

learning environment and followers are better able to work effectively with a

leader from another culture and colleagues from other cultures.

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3 Research Methodology

3.1 Research Method

For this research study we adopted a qualitative method of study because it

was most appropriate as our study intended to extract the themes of collected

data before it would be analyzed to gain a comprehensive depiction of cultural

challenges/differences in multicultural organizations in Sweden. This method

was suitable for this study because through qualitative research methods, a

researcher can attain a deeper understanding of the experiences of participants

and extract meaningful content.

Additionally, the nature of this qualitative study used the combination of

exploratory and descriptive approach (Saunders et al., 2016) as this research

is about exploring the differences between cultures and describing their effects

on leaders and followers while working in multicultural firms.

3.2 Research Philosophy

Since the qualitative research method produces words instead of numbers and

data is analyzed through interpretations, assumptions and descriptions. Thus,

descriptive and exploratory research approaches were used and focused on

rising clarifications on the research phenomenon. These approaches were

appropriate to use because normally the questions start or include ‘What’,

‘When’, ‘Where’, ‘Who’, ‘Why’, or ‘How’ will lead towards the answer which

is fully or partly descriptive (Saunders et al., 2016). Also questions with ‘How’

or ‘What’ allows to do exploratory research more than explanatory (Saunders

et al., 2016). For us, both research approaches were valuable to use in this

qualitative study as according to our questions we wanted to find the answers

of ‘What, Why & How’.

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3.3 Research Approach

The Theory Building approach was used for theory development because this

study aimed to identify the intercultural communication impacts on

participants when they have to work in multicultural settings. For us,

Abductive Approach was suitable to use for this kind of leadership and cultural

study. As inductive approach is based on practical experiences and Deductive

approach is based on theory, so combination of both is Abductive approach.

Abductive approach allows researchers to comprehend empirical data in

connection with the theory (Saunder et al., 2016). It also allows researcher to

move between theory and empirical findings to explain and explore the

patterns in order to attain a deeper understanding of a phenomenon (Ibid).

3.4 Research Strategy

Research strategy is a blueprint which researchers follow to answer their

research questions Saunder et al., (2016), however, for this study, Interview

strategies were used to answer the research questions. In a qualitative study,

interviews and group discussions are the best tools to use to collect data

(Saunder et al., 2016). During the process, predetermined open-ended

questions are asked face-to-face through structured or semi-structured

interview ways and discussions which allow researchers to analyze and

observe directly the feelings, behaviors and experiences of interviewees

(Brinkmann and Kvale, 2015). Therefore, we conducted videos interviews on

zoom to observe interviewees but we were unable to conduct in person

interviews due to covid-19.

3.5 Study Sample

In order to process the research on further stages, researchers select a sample

for data collection. Sample is always selected by authors themselves but in

accordance with the study topic, feasibility of resources, time frame etc. As

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said by Malhotra (2007) that in the sample selection process, sample is always

chosen on the basis of personal judgment, feasibility of resources and some

other principles rather than on the basis of random selection. Therefore, our

sample for this study was selected very carefully and is as follows;

• Our Sample size for this research was 14 international student

participants from four different universities in Sweden

• Participants were from both Low context culture and High context

cultures

• The sample has been selected while keeping in mind the time and

feasibility of the resources

• The short depiction of our sample is in the following figure and see

Appendix B for full profiles of sample/participants

University Name (Given by authors)

No. of

Participants

Gender M/F High-context /Low-context

culture

Alpha 4 3 F 1 M (1 LC) (3 HC) (0 LCHC)

Beta 3 3 F 0 M (1 LC) (1 HC) (1 LCHC)

Gamma 3 0 F 3 M (0 LC) (1 HC) (2 LCHC)

Delta 4 2 F 2 M (1 LC) (3 HC) (0 LCHC)

Total 14 8 F 6 M (3 LC) (8 HC) (3 LCHC)

Figure: 10

Source: Created by Authors

3.6 Key steps in data collection process

3.6.1 Data Collection

Data collection is an important part of a research strategy and research design.

In qualitative research, interviews are a significant way of collecting data. In

the data collection process, data from academic books, interview information

from respondents and documents are the main source. Data collection is

always an applicable choice of material that is important for the research.

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According to Yin (2014), there are six sources through which we can collect

data and that are interviews, archival records, documents, direct

interpretations, physical artifacts, and participant’s opinions.

For our study, we have collected data from interviews. Due to Covid-19, in

person interviews were canceled although initially we planned for face-to-face

meetings with interviewees. Consequently, we used our plan B which was to

conduct interviews online and we used Zoom to collect data for our research.

We scheduled our interviews by sending emails to our participants with a short

introduction to our topic and link of Zoom and Doodle (which we used to help

participants to select their convenient time). The data collected from

interviews was our primary data which obviously helped us in analyzing the

results as in the comparison of secondary data. As Saunders et al., (2009), a

researcher gets help from the primary data where he can simply understand the

respondent’s behavior and thinking besides a better idea for the specific

problem of the research.

Secondly, secondary data collection was valuable for enriching our knowledge

and common understanding. As said by Saunders et al., (2009) when we

collect data from recordings or data from secondary sources for example; CDs,

books and articles it supports the researcher to easily understand the

background of the study and the researches already conducted on the selected

topic. The secondary data we applied in our study is taken from already

published articles and books which are peer-reviewed available on Google

Scholar and One Search etc. The words we used to search the relevant data for

our study were; cultural barriers or conflicts, intercultural communication,

cross-cultural communication, multicultural workplace, high-context culture,

low-context culture and ICC and leader/follower etc. Some key steps of data

collection which we took, are as follows;

• Contacted participants via email and sent them links of Zoom and Doodle

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• Due to the current situation caused by Covid-19, interviews were

conducted on zoom

• By keeping in mind the possibility of some of participants’ absence, 5

interview were scheduled in a day

• Interview time was between 30 - 45 minutes

• Due to the assumption that all participants may not familiar with the

concepts of ICC barriers, after the greetings ice-breaking of interview was

asking question about culture and their experience while living in Sweden

in order to create a familiarity with the topic

• Interviews were conducted between April 15, 2020 to April 30, 2020

• Questions were around three major concepts: cultural challenges they

faced, their experiences in multicultural settings (classroom), self-

perception (similarities vs. differences) about ICC themes as well as

experience of self-perception (similarities vs. differences) while

performing as a student

• Follow up questions during the interview were also considered

• Interview recording, taking notes was done (as per consent) in order to

make sure the validity and reliability of the data

3.6.2 Data Recording

The general purpose of data recording is to set in writing and assure the

preservation of data collected from the respondents. In our data recording

process, we used verbal consent from our respondents to record video and

voice though we couldn’t take written consent since we were unable to meet

in person. Before conducting recording we ensure the confidentiality of the

data and the individuals’ privacy. We also made them sure that their real names

and university names will not be used and their recordings will remain

confidential between them and us. We recorded the zoom meetings as well as

took notes of the respondent's verbal and nonverbal behaviors. We also took

notes of the interesting stories they shared through their experiences.

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3.7 Research Validity

In qualitative research the validity is important. According to Leung (2015),

in qualitative research, the validity of research refers to “‘appropriateness’ of

the tools, processes, and data” utilized. However in this research, for a

preferred outcome, we properly lined up our methodology, research questions,

analysis process, and conclusion in a suitable way. As said by Maxwell (1992),

in qualitative research; there are five aspects which are considered including

descriptive validity, interpretive validity, theoretical validity, generalizability,

and evaluative validity.

In our qualitative research, we analyzed the ICC barriers and differences

through interviewing the respondents from different backgrounds who have

faced a lot of challenges and difficulties while living in Sweden/a different

culture. In our research, we used Hofstede's (2010) cultural dimension theory,

Hall’s (1976) High-context v/s Low-context cultural theory, Meyer's (2014)

The Cultural Map theory and many others which grounded the validity of our

research and guided us to maintain validity in our interview questionnaire. In

our research we used descriptive validity, interpretive validity, and theoretical

validity as follows.

3.7.1 Descriptive Validity

According to Maxwell (1992), Descriptive validity states the “factual

accuracy” of the record of the gathered empirical information (p. 285-286).

We testified descriptive validity in our study by recording our video call on

zoom with interviewee and taking notes on notepad. We made notes side by

side video and audio recording of the interview because we wanted to make

sure what the respondent's non-verbal language is saying and what his/her

verbal communication is sounding. However to ensure the descriptive validity

and accuracy we revised the notes, video and audio recording and compared

these to each other.

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3.7.2 Interpretive Validity

Interpretive validity refers to a researcher’s understanding of situations,

behaviors and circumstances in which he/she is collecting data and then

interpret it according to what he/she has observed. According to Maxwell

(1992), interpretive validity represents how well a researcher understands and

reports the situation through an “emic” perspective (pg. 289). He explained it

more clearly by giving an example of a teacher who shouts in the class full of

students. Now it’s up to researchers to observe and interpret whether the

teacher is shouting because he/she is angry or he/she just wanted to control the

class (Maxwell 1992). So in order to assure the interpretive validity, we took

notes of the facial expressions, hand gestures and body language and compared

them with their words they were speaking. As well as we also watch and listen

to the video recording twice to compare what we have observed and noted

down.

3.7.3 Theoretical Validity

Theoretical validity states the theoretical clarifications and explanations as

compared to empirical data which is collected through the mediums a

researcher uses (Maxwell 1992). So in order to assure the theoretical validity

of this study, we developed our questionnaire (see Appendix A) in accordance

with our topic and literature in which all the questions were relevant to our

phenomena of study. During the interviews, we tried our best to stick to our

phenomena and don’t let the interviewee betray from the actual purpose.

3.8 Reliability

According to Bryman and Bell (2007), reliability has two main components;

external reliability and internal reliability. External reliability focuses on

social settings and the circumstances where the study took place. Internal

reliability points out whether or not, the observers of the study agree with each

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step the researcher is following and acting upon. If there are more than one

researchers, whether they agree on the same point or not.

However, to ensure the reliability of our study, we were highly concentrated

on time management while taking interviews, keeping the interviewees on

track if they go towards direction other than our topic and avoid other

disturbances e.g. having proper internet connection since we took interviews

online, checking the memory of phone/laptop in order to record the whole

meeting and was careful about the battery charging of laptop/phone etc. In

order to ensure internal reliability, as we are two who are executing this

research; we both took notes separately, watched the recorded videos twice or

thrice individually and read the transcription and then we discussed each other

and agreed to one point. We were careful about internal and external reliability

of data collection so that we can ensure consistency and authenticity of results

which can make way for future research.

3.9 Data Analysis

Analyzing the collected data is one of the key steps to answer the research

questions and draw conclusions. It is a procedure of investigating the collected

data in order to reach the end results and draw its sense, defined by Corbin and

Strauss (2008). Therefore, the data of this has empirically reviewed and analyzed

through which interviews narratives are presented and compared with existing

theories via theoretical approach. As recommended by Saunders et al., (2009) that

empirical data is analyzed in reference to conceptual framework and then,

literature review is used as the basis for analysis.

Moreover, collected data in a qualitative study focuses always on reading the raw

material carefully twice or thrice and jot down the main theme from interviews

(Saunders et al., 2009). Therefore, after carefully reviewing the data in

accordance with the main themes of the study 1) Low-context cultural themes, 2)

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High-context cultural themes, 3) Impacts of ICC Barriers 4), we narrowed down

the experiences and narratives of interviewees into sub-themes e.g. 1)

Academic/Organizational cultural differences, 2) Social Systems, 3) Direct v/s

Indirect & Individualism v/s Collectivism, 4) Importance of Language, 5)

Possible steps to manage ICC Barriers etc. These themes will be discussed in

detail in chapter 04 & 05 in accordance with participants’ opinions and literature.

3.10 Empirical Data

Empirical data is a type of data which researchers collect in reference to their

studies through direct and indirect interaction with the sample and this data is

needed in order to answer the proposed questions by the researcher. For our

study we collected empirical data related to intercultural communication, its

barriers, impacts and how to minimize conflicts raised due to cultural

differences.

This research was made in empirical nature which helped us to understand the

social reality. The approach is real, actual and empirical which facilitated the

generation of information that can be used for further studies. During our data

collection method, we tried to get the answers of the following questions: (for

more detail, see appendix A)

• How many cultures are there in our study?

• How often do people feel the difference while interacting with each

other?

• What sort of challenges do they encounter while working in groups of

people from different cultures?

• What similarities they found among different cultures?

• What are some of their personal experiences or interesting stories?

• How does a leader manage those problems to deal with people in

different nationalities?

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• How much ICC barriers are important to be understood by followers?

3.11 Problems and Ethical Considerations

3.11.1 Ethical Considerations

Research ethics and potential problems are crucial parts of formulating a

research design/proposal and must be considered in the initial stages so that

researcher will not face challenges at the time of data collection which can

spoil all his/her previous efforts, time and resources (Saunders et al., 2016).

However there are some primary ethical considerations while conducting a

research as (1) “harm to participants”, (2) “lack of informed consent”, (3)

“invasion of privacy” and (4) “deception” (Diener and Crandall, 1978, pp.17-

72). Therefore during the conduction of our research we kept the following

ethical consideration in mind;

1. Inviting participants for in person interviews was an ethical challenge

because of Covid-19 and we didn’t want to harm humanity by gathering

them for our purpose of data collection which might affect their health

2. Second ethical concern related to our study is the confidentiality of

participant’s names as participants have shared their personal concerns

and experiences related to our topic of study. Therefore, we have used

dummy names for participants and their universities while considering

and respecting their experiences and cultural backgrounds. Also we

wanted to make sure the confidentiality according to GDPR

3. Third ethical concern we considered was informed consent of recording

their interviews and taking notes by asking them the permission

4. We also assure them that their data will not be misused for any unethical

purpose which lead toward deception

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3.11.2 Problems

Problems cannot be denied and stopped while conducting a research and every

researcher has to undergo uninvited problems. During our study, we have also

faced some problems which are as follows:

1. Unavailability of resources e.g. absences of participants, time and limited

number of sample size was one of the challenges.

2. Secondly, as per our assumption, some of the participants didn’t show up

on the day of interview which wasted our time as we have specified for

them

3. Thirdly, the problem we came across was the in-person unavailability of

our participants for interviews as we planned earlier. We faced this

problem because of the current situation of the world/Sweden which is

Covid-19 and due to which we had to conduct our interviews online

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4 Empirical Findings

This section presents the data which is collected during interviews which are

conducted for our research purposes. Our data has been collected from four

universities of Sweden and because of the confidentiality concerns we have

given the names of all four universities as Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta

universities. The collected data has been described university wise for

instance, firstly the opinions of all participants from Alpha University will be

presented, secondly opinions of participants from Beta University, thirdly

Gamma University and last but not the least Delta University respectively. All

the findings have been narrowed down in sub-themes as 1)

Academic/Organizational cultural differences, 2) Social Systems, 3) Direct v/s

Indirect & Individualism v/s Collectivism, 4) Importance of Language, 5)

Possible steps to manage ICC Barriers etc. (Reference section 3.9). There for

the whole discussion in this chapter will be around these themes.

This section mainly aims to depict the opinions of participants collectively

from which some of the opinions can be different or similar to each others’

and these are not our personal opinions. Though, we didn’t ask the

interviewees whether they are from HC or LC but we have categorized them

ourselves. We assumed them as LC/HC in Appendix B and in the following

content after observing and comparing them with the theories in literature

review. All the information which is discussed in this chapter has been taken

from the interviews therefore our opinions are not included. Whatever the

stories we will explain are shared by our interviewees.

4.1 Alpha University Participants’ Opinions

4.1.1 Academic/Organizational cultural differences

All of the four interviewees showed their concerns regarding the education

system, academic/organizational cultural differences and priorities in Sweden

for Swedish people. Basically these differences represent that which kind of

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culture Swedish organizations have and in which way people perform? Aiman

and Anna highlighted that we are from HC culture and we are academically

competitive. Coming from HC culture, we always want good grades but people

from LC (European, Swedish etc.) just want to pass. Alina also said Swedes

don't want to put in more efforts than necessary on their studies because they

want to have a balance in their personal lives. Gaurab followed the same

concern and said that Swedish social and academic systems are also one of the

reasons for cultural barriers because here people have free education and they

don’t have pressure of being academically excellent.

4.1.2 Social Systems

Sweden has its own social terms and traditions which international individuals

have to follow as well. Aiman disclosed during her interview that I sometimes

feel frustrated while working in a diverse cultural group especially with LC

cultural groups because LC people are not workaholic like us (HC people).

They keep balance in their academic and personal lives and give equal time to

personal and professional lives said by Alina as well. Gaurab mentioned that

Swedes are firm with their commitments and work efficiently but they have

specified days for themselves. They work on assignments, projects and any

other task assigned to them during working days but weekends are only for

their personal life and they don’t compromise weekends for work because

weekends are important for their personal life to them. Anna said that we are

from a culture where we are socially comfortable and talk frankly with anyone.

We are in a habit of talking with everyone but Swedes sometimes take it odd

when we don’t know them and initiate talk with them.

4.1.3 Individualistic v/s Collectivistic & Direct v/s Indirect

All the interviewees disclosed that Swedes are individualistic types of people

and they are very direct in their conversation. Anna shared an interesting

experience when she took a course in her university and 90% of the students

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were Swedish and a lot more Europeans and she was alone from HC. She said,

I felt isolated as they are very reserved people and they don’t initiate talks with

anyone and only focus on their stuff. She also said that they are not very easy

to get close and make friends as they have their own priorities.

Gaurab mentioned that LC/Swedish people are more direct in criticism and

giving feedback than HC cultures and sometimes we get offensive. He said as

being from HC culture, we talk around things while criticizing someone and

we are not direct in giving and taking feedback. Anna and Aiman also agreed

on the concept that Swedes are very direct and say whatever they want without

taking care that the receiver might get offensive but they care about others’

improvements. In their culture, they take criticism and negative feedback

normal because they accept their mistakes and want to improve themselves.

Alina also mentioned during her interview that I (LC people) don’t feel shy in

asking questions and open to answer others' questions. We are open to take

feedback and direct in giving feedback to others and nobody takes it

personally.

4.1.4 Importance of Language

Language is one of the basic elements of a culture without which an individual

cannot understand, express and interpret others’ behaviors. Although Alina

was from LC culture and she has more similarities with Swedish culture but

still she came across some barriers e.g. language, social terms, academics and

addressing others etc. Anna said that language is one of the important elements

of culture and Aiman, Gaurab and Alina addressed their concerns about

language too. According to them language is a barrier and accent is the big

issue which can sometimes change the meaning. Gaurab also disclosed that

not only verbal language is important but non-verbal language is also very

important through which we can perceive others’ expressions, attitudes and

behaviors. All of the four participants experienced challenges of not speaking

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Swedish language although Swedes can speak English but they prefer their

own language. Alina also said, people from other cultures feel shy in speaking

any second language whether it is English or Swedish which is also a

challenge.

4.1.5 Possible steps to manage ICC Barriers

In the end Gaurab suggested that it is important to be patient while interacting

with individuals from other cultures and don’t speak immediately if you feel

irritated from other’s behavior. For Aiman, being an international student, the

biggest conflict is the difference in our expectations with others but they might

have different expectations. Alina’s point is to see the big picture, take a step

back and try to understand the background of other people and keep in mind

their situation. Also try to observe others’ behaviors and concerns and adjust

yourselves according to that. Anna tried the strategy of putting herself in a

different mode when talking to people from cultures other than hers and tried

to understand their behaviors and observe their personalities. She said we most

of the time are more comfortable and frank with the people from our own

culture but it is important to try other’s shoes. Also always try to understand

them and make them feel welcoming and kind which will bring them closer to

you.

4.2 Beta University Participants’ Opinions

There are 3 international students; Farzana, Alexandra and Elizabeth who are

being interviewed. They are from different countries e.g. Pakistan, France and

Nigeria respectively and have LC and HC. Although Alexandra and Elizabeth

are more of LC but still they came across various cultural challenges while

studying in Sweden as international students.

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In terms of Academic/Organizational culture, Elizabeth shared a very

interesting experience as she has a culture in her country that a student gets

expelled from school if she gets pregnant which can spoil the whole career of

that student. For them she cannot continue her study with her pregnancy. It has

a relation to organizations as well because in some cultures female employees

don’t get paid for maternity leaves as well as they are discriminated for many

positions at the time of hiring just because they will get pregnant at some point,

so it’s an important aspect of a culture. Moreover, Elizabeth also mentioned

that in Sweden (LC) and even other HC cultures support a pregnant student to

complete her studies which is a good aspect of a culture though Elizabeth’s

culture doesn't support students in such circumstances. People in her culture

think it will encourage other students to do the same which will make it a trend

and ultimately the youth of the country will go on a wrong track.

Farzana shared in her interview that she was hesitant in the start to call her

teachers with their names because in Swedish education system/culture,

students call their teachers by their names. Although it was a bit difficult for

her to adapt to this aspect of Swedish/LC culture, she accepts that it also makes

teachers approachable. She mentioned that it is good to fill the gap between

teacher and student and it doesn't show disrespect at all. Alexandra and

Elizabeth also mentioned the degree which reduces hierarchy and promotes

horizontal systems in all institutions in Sweden which enhance learning.


While conducting interviews, Alexandra shared a strange experience of

greetings as she got odd behavior when greeting an unknown person which

was taken normal in her country/culture and Farzana also agreed with it. All

of the three participants described their concern about the Queuing system in

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Swedish culture at every place and almost everyone experiences it when he/she

comes to Sweden and wants to open a bank account, rent a house or take a

doctor's appointment etc.

They explained the gray side of this system by sharing their own example

when renting a home and Elizabeth also experienced when she wanted to open

a bank account in Sweden. She went in September and the bank gave him an

appointment for December because they don’t have any empty slots. It was a

bit irritating for them but all three agreed that it is a good thing in Swedish

culture that they are treating everyone equally and it is a fair system.

Farzana also shared his negative experience/view on this system when she got

a toothache and she called the dentist for an appointment and the dentist gave

her appointment for two weeks later. It was disappointing for her because she

was having a toothache now not after two or three weeks later. These are some

cultural barriers which all the three interviewees experienced.


The participants from Beta University stressed upon the individualistic

perspective of Swedish culture and Alexandra’s greeting experience represents

that they don’t really want to open up with everyone. Farzana shared her

experience as she is from HC and doesn’t really have a specific personal back

in her home country. She said in her culture, her life is not hers but her parents,

siblings and social circles have a great share in her life before marriage and

after marriage her life is being shared with her husband and in-laws.

Elizabeth and other two participants observed how direct Swedes are. The

participants don’t have any specific experience to share but they perceived the

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directness of Swedish culture through people’s behaviors and their

conversation because they don’t indulge in talks.


All the three participants emphasized that language is very important as they

have experienced it during the part-time job hunting process, while traveling

and getting letters from different mediums etc. Elizabeth mentioned that

Swedish language is one of the biggest barriers because most international

individuals are rejected from jobs because they don’t speak Swedish language.

Farzana also shared that she faced difficulty to read and reply to letters or any

kind of written information from any company because they always send

written information in Swedish language. All three mentioned that even

though they know English but still they are facing language challenges and

then they realized how important the role language plays in any culture,

country or society.


They all learnt through their experiences that we can adjust in any culture by

being real and understanding others’ behaviors and cultural distinctions.

Farzana also said we don’t need to pretend what we are not because that shows

fakeness and others might suspect our personality. Alexandra sees cultural

barriers as opportunities to learn new and different things and suggests to not

panic for any situation but try to find the reason behind every difference.

Elizabeth’s view is to have a discussion if you have any conflict while working

in a multicultural team and sort out the matter with conversation.

4.3 Gamma University Participants’ Opinions

The three international students Akif, Amoni and Ahmed are from

Bangladesh, Nigeria and Sudan to whom we interviewed. Everyone said it’s

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been a unique experience and one of the best experiences of their lives. Akif

mentioned that he didn't ever meet any Afriacn before coming to Sweden but

his experience was good to meet Africans as well as other international

students especially Swedes.


Gamma University students were also disclosed that every culture, country

and society has different academic/organizational systems and way of teaching

students. They said the main reason behind academic differences is culture

according to them. Amoni mentioned that everyone here has different and

unique areas of expertise and perspectives which teaches me a lot. He also

shared that it is great to meet people from so many continents and working in

multicultural settings gave me a new perspective of learning and they have

different fields and bring their own unique skills, knowledge and way of

distinguishing the things.

In his interview Amoni also mentioned that swedes do not only focus on their

studies but also they do focus on their personal lives which might contractive

to us sometimes as we are more attentive towards our studies. As well as Akif

said the same, that by being Asian, we are more academic people and give

more time to our studies rather than hanging out with friends. Akif also

highlighted that Swedish people are open minded and have a different level of

perceiving the things which is according to me due to their academics as they

are trained in a unique way from childhood. Ahmed also mentioned that not

only Sweden but also every culture and country has differences in their

academic systems and has a unique set of skills, knowledge and a different

living style.

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Akif and Amoni distinguished their culture on the basis of social systems and

work-life balance and present their favor towards its importance in an

individual’s life. Akif said in Sweden everyone has a different living style and

their own personal life. Swedes are not only focused on their

professional/academic lives but I observed how much they value their personal

pace as well. Besides that Amoni said, he experienced discrimination

sometimes by being black/African but not from Swedish people because

Swedes are generally good, polite and don’t really care about your ethnicity or

nationality. He also agreed that Swedes have a helping nature and are always

welcome to us and international students which is the reason thousands of

international students from plenty of countries come to study here.

Moreover, Amoni’s concerns to sometimes different views and different social

terms raised conflict because in general westerns/European people have their

own social activities and they often hang out with friends, is also valid.

However Ahmed had a different perspective to see the social and said that the

social system of Europeans is different especially Sweden’s than ours because

I am from another ethnicity which influences our social life as well for

example we don’t really go out at night and we have different events to

celebrate. We also don’t have trends to have gatherings very often because we

have a joint family system and we have to take care of our families and give

them time.


All of the three interviewees revealed that Swedes are very direct in their

conversations and as described in 4.2.3 that they are very reserved people.

Ahmed declared that even if they spend time with friends, help and welcome

others, they don't become frank with others easily. They always keep a

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distance and not let others to interfere their personal lives, Amoni and Akif are

also followed by the distinctive behaviors of Swedes. Also Amoni stressed

upon the directness of Swedes as he himself observed with his circle of

Swedish people. Akif shared a funny but valid perspective that in our culture

if a boy wants to get closer to a girl, he has to do lots of efforts and talk around

things and then say the main topic. But here I found that a boy just goes and

says his feelings directly to a girl and accepts whatever her response is which

shows their direct behavior in every relation.


All three presented their views on the importance of language and Akif and

Ahmed valued verbal and non-verbal languages because both are important

for them even if we are anywhere or in any culture. Whereas Ahmed said,

Swedes are welcoming in terms of language and don’t mind if we speak

incorrectly, especially Swedish language. Amoni shared his concern and said

it is a bit challenging if we don’t know the national language of a county of

the respective cultures as I am facing this barrier. He said it’s a bit difficult to

move around the new place I don’t know already as everywhere in the country

sign boards, Swedish language is written. Also in supermarkets, train stations

and in buses, I found Swedish language everywhere which is hard to

understand for me but thanks to Google translator.


Gamma University participants through their experiences suggest some of the

steps which an individual who is working in a multicultural setting can take to

better perform there. Amoni stresses upon active listening which is a useful tip

not only for adjustment in a culture but in any field of life. He also

recommended that don’t be judgmental about others’ appearances and

behaviors, discover more and observe day to day actions of others to have a

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better understanding of any culture which will help you to adjust easily.

Ahmed also suggested that if we want to manage these barriers, understanding

of the cultures is pivotal and Sweden has very good places/public cafes where

people are open to talk, have Fika and chit chat with them and they will

definitely help you to get more knowledge about Swedish culture.

4.4 Delta University Participants’ Opinions


In Cristina’s point of view, we are living in a global village and cultural

distinctions are good for our learning and expand our exposure. Christina said

that she was more concerned about her studies as in her culture education is

important as well as good grades are important. Without high CGPA he cannot

get a good job said by Ranjeet as in his culture companies prefer excellent

educational background instead of how much you have learnt. Roni and Aura

have the same concerns and highlighted positive aspects of Swedish

educational system as they are more focused on learning, teachers are very

cooperative and the exam system is very flexible. Aura also mentioned that we

don’t have the system of registering each course every time or register for

exams as these are already written in our syllabus which students cannot

change and don’t have options.


Roni poses his experience in his interview that sometimes we face

discrimination of being international and Asian but it is people’s personal

opinions generally but mostly people and Swedish culture is welcoming in

terms of accepting and respecting foreigners. On the other hand Aura

mentioned that back in our home countries we can talk easily with the

unknown at any place for instance while waiting for the bus, during travelling

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and other day to day occasions. In their culture people are more

welcoming/open even towards those who they don’t know already. Besides

that, Cristina was in favor of the balance between academics and personal life

but she faced some challenges in terms of having housing points. She shared

her experience that it is a bit easy for students to rent a house in the same city

where their university is situated but it becomes difficult to shift to another

place because Sweden has a point system.


During his interview, Ranjeet threw his concern for individualism and

collectivism as he said we are more collectivistic people and we do spend time

with our families. He said mostly we celebrate events, have get together and

parties with our families and go to temple with parents and spending quality

time with family gatherings matters a lot to us. But Swedes are more

individualistic types of personalities and they want privacy, have more social

distancing and their time is theirs not others. Aura also mentioned that we are

very social and usually we know all our neighbors in our town because we

have trends to visit people around us on various special occasions. Cristina is

from a culture where individualism has a great value so she couldn’t find it

different in Sweden.


All of the four highlighted their concerns about Swedish language but on the

other hand Roni also said I am happy that English is an international language

and almost every Swede knows English which reduces the language barrier a

bit. Ranjeet shared a very different and important perspective on language as

he revealed that language doesn’t mean verbal or non-verbal but every

language has some terms and proverbs which are valuable to understand. Roni

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has a unique point of view on language. He said I agree that cultural specific

language is important but I think it’s for those who want to integrate in that

culture. If a person came only for study and exposure he/she doesn’t have to

come across a language challenge as much because he/she can survive with

English as its international language and almost every part of the world uses

it.


Some of the suggestions given by Delta participants that our preparedness and

understanding of others' behaviors, backgrounds & distinctions acceptability

are the tools which can reduce intercultural barriers. They accept that people

have different cultures but it doesn’t mean that we are inferior to them, so we

should accept this reality and try to integrate ourselves in new cultures and

celebrate new learnings.

4.5 Other ICC Barriers

There are some other barriers specified by some of the participants during their

interviews from all the four universities which we will collectively describe

here and which have a greater value in every culture. One of the participants

stated the trusting issue which means we are not ready to trust the people as

individuals as well as the systems of that culture and the same goes for

Swedish people. Everyone is loyal towards his/her own culture, societal

norms, values, achievements and histories and they don’t want to give the

same value to others’. One of the other interviewee disclosed that it has

become a stereotype that people from Asia/developing countries are kind of

inferior to European countries and they are not able to be trusted. It creates a

distance among people from different cultures and sometimes they are

considered not to make friends with and it’s better to stay away from them.

Another participant shared that religion is one of the important elements of any

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culture and mostly cultures are shaped in the light of religion. So it also causes

serious conflicts among individuals from different cultures and they are

working in one group.

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5 Analysis

This chapter is about analyzing the empirical data by using the thesis’s

literature review. This chapter is further broken down into two major sections

which are based on research objectives and research questions. These sections

are; 1) ICC barriers and its impacts on HC and LC cultures and 2) Managing

ICC barriers. The process of collecting data was guided by initial objectives

of the research and the interview questions prepared according to our research

question however our findings are solely based on our analysis of raw data.

Within each of the themes, we will compare the collected data from interviews

presented in chapter 4. with the existing theories and literature presented in

chapter 2. Moreover, in each of three sections first two universities (Alpha & Beta

University) will be discussed together and second two universities (Gamma &

Delta University) together. Since Sweden is LC culture country as determined

by Meyer (2014); The Cultural Map and Hall’s (1976); High-context versus

Low-context model, so in our analysis we would refer Sweden as LC and

participants according to their nationalities already categorized in Appendix B.

5.1 ICC Barriers among HC and LC cultures

Based on the collected data from interviews taken from four different

universities of Sweden and after carefully reading the transcriptions and notes,

it is revealed that both High-context and Low-context culture has lots of

differences among each other. This discovery came as no surprise as many

researchers like Edward Hall (1976) developed communication theory which

emphasized on High-Context and Low-Context cultures. On the other hand

Meyer (2014) presented an eight scale tool which distinguishes between HC

and LC cultures on the bases of these elements (section 2.4, 2.5).

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Almost every participant who has been interviewed disclosed that they are

facing ICC barriers while studying in Sweden. They experienced these barriers

positively which are the sources of learning for the for example Sweden has

open and creative academic systems which help them to explore new grounds.

Nevertheless, they also experience these barriers negatively while working in

diverse cultural groups because of misunderstandings and misinterpretations

of behaviors. According to participants (future leaders/followers), every

culture has some differences even LC in every other society has some

variations in its rituals, values, norms, habits and beliefs etc. So even if an LC

cultural individual moves to another LC culture, he/she might face challenges

and the same for HC. The reason is described by Axelrod (1997), that culture

is the set of individual’s attributes that are subject to social influence.

In the next sections of this chapter, we will discuss in detail all the ICC barriers

experienced by our interviewees in the light of existing literature.

5.1.1 Alpha & Beta University

5.1.1.1 Academic/Organizational cultural differences

International students/interviewees discovered some significant differences

between LC (Sweden) and HC cultures which they themselves experienced.

Academic/Organizational cultural difference is one of the prominent barriers

as Alpha University participants mentioned that coming from HC culture, we

always want good grades but people from LC ( in general European, Swedish

etc.) just want to pass. Alina from Alpha University also said Swedes don't

want to put in more efforts than necessary on their studies because they want

to have a balance in their personal lives. Gaurab (Alpha University) followed

the same concern and said that Swedish social and academic systems are one

of the reasons for cultural barriers because here people have easy access to

education and they don’t have pressure of being academically excellent.

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One of the Beta University students Farzana shared in her interview that she

was hesitant in the start to call her teachers with their names because in

Swedish education system or in LC culture, students call their teachers by their

names. It shows that teachers and students have no hierarchical/leadership gap

among themselves which makes teachers approachable. As Meyer (2014)

illustrated two extremes of leadership in HC and LC which are egalitarian (LC)

and hierarchical (HC). LC has an egalitarian approach which means a

horizontal hierarchical system which reduces the difference among leaders’

and followers’ positions and enhances learning. Which is the reason in LC

follower can call the boss/leader with name but in HC follower has to say

‘sir/madam’ to the boss. Alexandra and Elizabeth (Beta University) also

mentioned the degree which reduces hierarchy and promotes horizontal

systems in all institutions in LC which boost education.

5.1.1.2 Social Systems

Every society and every culture has its own values, terms and conditions which

every individual who comes from another culture has to deal with whether that

person is a student or a professional. Participants from Beta University have

some experiences related to HC or specifically Swedish social systems and

work life balance. As Alexandra shared a strange experience when she greeted

someone unknown and got odd behavior but it was normal in her

country/culture and Farzana agreed with it. This observation of Beta

University students is somehow acceptable because LC/Swedish culture is

task-based culture not relation-based culture (Meyer 2014) and we cannot

expect to build new relationships very easily in LC. Elizabeth (Beta

University) also emphasized that Sweden has a fair system to treat everyone

equally when she was about to open a bank account or also the Queuing system

for renting a house and visiting any place for specific purposes is also revealed

by Farzana, which shows their task-based view. These systems are equal both

for international students and international professionals.

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Gaurab from Alpha University stated that no doubt Swedes are very firm with

their professional commitments which (Hall 1976) in his model also defined

as frame and deadlines are taken very seriously in HC due to which events and

tasks are scheduled to be done at particular times and also change is faster than

in high-context cultures. It is also specified by Prince et al., (2007) when he

was sharing the example of a leader and follower (see 2.6) that in LC leaders

and followers take deadlines as commitments and there isn’t any other

deadline. Meyer (2014) defined this concept as linear time and flexible time.

She said, in LC, scheduling/time frame is linear, the individuals obey and

respect the schedule, take deadlines as commitments and complete the task in

time. Contrary to that in HC, individuals like to work with flexibility and

schedules are adaptable.

Also Alpha University participants explained that Swedes prefer their own

personal lives and don’t compromise their personal commitments with the

professional ones as it is embedded in their social system and everyone follows

it. Anna specified that I am from a culture (HC) where people are socially

comfortable and talk frankly with anyone. I am in a habit of talking with

everyone which is also elaborated by Hall (1976) that in HC individuals feel

normal to share their thoughts freely by standing closer to each other. On the

other hand LC/Swedes sometimes take it abnormally when we don’t know

them and try to mingle with them which is because they are grown up with

another perspective.

5.1.1.3 Individualistic v/s Collectivistic & Direct v/s Indirect

Individualistic culture emphasized on the individual type of person means

people in that culture tend to create privacies and enjoy living their own lives

only (Hofstede et al., 2010). The view of Alpha University participants is that

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Swedes are individualistic types of people and they are very direct in their

conversation.

The story of Anna disclosed this reality when she was taking a course in her

university and 90% of the students were Swedish and a lot of other Europeans

which made her feel alone sometimes. Her feeling of isolation made her realize

that it’s their culture which brought up them very reserved people and that’s

why they are not very easy to get close to and make friends and have their own

priorities. Hall’s (1976); High-context versus Low-context theory confirmed

that introversion or introverted relationships are valued by LC cultures. Beta

University interviewees have the same observation and experience of

individualism of Swedish culture.

Furthermore, participants of both universities emphasized that we cannot deny

the ‘being direct perspective’ of Swedish culture. It proved true when we read

the theory of Richardson and Smith (2007), who explained that in high-context

culture people use indirect messages to express their opinion and in low-

context culture, people reflect direct exchange and explicit messages. Gaurab

and other participants from Alpha University accept this reality that Swedish

people prefer direct criticism and both negative and positive feedback because

they think it is important for our improvements. Negative feedback and

criticism are sometimes taken personalized in HC cultures. That's why in HC

culture, leaders talk around things while criticizing someone and don’t give

feedback directly. Meyer’s (2014) Cultural Map already described that LC

people are very direct while giving negative feedback but HC culture prefers

giving a complimentary sandwich of feedback and this is the reason Meyer

(2014) divided cultures into two cultures. Meyer (2014) also stated that in LC,

communication is more direct and individuals from LC prefer to speak

straightforwardly which helps to clarify the communication.

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5.1.1.4 Importance of Language

Language is one of the most important parts of a culture without which an

individual cannot survive in any culture or society, whether it is verbal or non-

verbal communication and whether that individual is student or employee.

This is the reason Alpha students stressed upon the importance of language

and they explained that language doesn’t only mean the words we speak with

our lips but our attitudes, behaviors, expressions, body and presentation have

a certain language which speaks louder than words. Language is the only

barrier which both LC and HC individuals have to come across even if LC

moves to LC and HC moves to HC. As Alina (Alpha University) is from LC

culture and she has more similarities with Swedish culture but still she has to

face the language barrier in Sweden because it has its specific language

‘Swedish’. Schneider et al., (2003) emphasized the importance of language by

sharing the example of China:

English- language skills and cultural clashes are

cited as the main reasons why Chinese ‘high-

potentials’ are often not up to the challenges

imposed by globalization.” (Schneider et al., 2003,

p. 175)

Although English is an international language but still cultures are suffering

due to not having the proper understanding and knowledge of English however

Swedish language has spoken only in Sweden. This is the reason when

individuals from another culture comes to Sweden the biggest barrier they face

is the Swedish language barrier. Elizabeth and Farzana (Beta University) have

come across this barrier during the job hunting process, understanding official

communication in the form of letters and emails from any institution or

organization in Sweden. Similar happened with the professional

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employees/managers who work in Swedish organizations because they have

to deal with Swedish language to mingle with and properly understand their

colleagues.

5.1.2 Gamma & Delta University

5.1.2.1 Academic/Organizational cultural differences

Gamma University participants elaborated that positive aspect of LC by saying

that Swedish education/organizational system is very open towards learning

creativity and knowledge. However, there are some differences as in his

interview Amoni (Gamma University) illustrated that LC people do not fully

focus on their studies because they consider their personal lives important as

well, which might be contractive between LC and HC sometimes when they

work in the same team for a specific project. But LC individuals are very

professional and meet their commitments as Hall (1976) said HC people prefer

personal bonding along with informal agreement whereas individuals from LC

are more professional and focus on the formal agreements (e.g. Canada,

Sweden). On the other hand Akif also said the similar that by being Asian, I

am more attentive towards academics and he highlighted that Swedish people

are open minded and have a different level of perceiving the things which is

according to me is due to their academics because they are trained in a unique

way from their childhood.

Delta University participants believed that the LC educational/organizational

system is more supportive, soft and focused towards learning as compared to

ours. Roni and Aura (Delta University) emphasized the positive aspects of the

LC educational system as individuals are more focused on learning and

teachers are very cooperative. Contrary to that, in HC academics; students are

in a race of getting good grades and high CGPAs which is a demand of their

market. Participants showed their concern with the LC academics because

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there they have to interact with multicultural teams and teachers and need to

understand them. Educational/organizational system is one of the important

elements of ICC as it has significant impacts on individuals’ personalities

which are made up with different cultures, society, family, ethnicity and

educational backgrounds etc. (Suen et al., 2019).

5.1.2.2 Social Systems

Gamma University participants indicated their concerns towards the social life

and work life balance which they have experienced while living in Sweden

and studying with multicultural teams. Akif and Amoni distinguished their

culture on the basis of social systems and presented their favor towards its

importance in an individual’s life. Sweden has a greater focus on quality life

and their belief is not to just spend life but spend a quality and healthy life

which is the reason they create balance in their personal and professional lives.

As it is demonstrated by Schneider et al., (2003) very beautifully:

“The concern for quality of relationships and of

work life, nurturing and social well- being in the

Nordic countries, such as Sweden and Denmark,

have translated into initiatives such as Quality of

Work Life and extensive social welfare programs.

These countries are renowned for having among

the highest standards of living…” (Schneider et al.,

2003, p. 50)

Moreover, Akif experienced Swedish lifestyle which made him realize that

Swedes are not only focused on their professional/academic lives but they have

greater value for their personal pace too. Hall (1976) also underlined this

difference by saying that in LC individuals focus on their personal interest and

social structure is decentralized. On the other hand, Ahmed shared his concern

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about ethnicity which is one of the major elements to influence the social life

of any society or culture. He demonstrated his different perspective to see

social life by giving an example of his own that I don’t have trends to go out

at night and I have different religious events to celebrate. I also don’t hold

many gatherings because I live with a joint family system and we have to take

care of our families and give them time. So by coming here, I feel isolated

sometimes because I most of the time have to spend time alone. In relation to

what Ahmed stressed upon, Schneider et al., (2003) differentiates culture on

the bases of observed artifacts e.g. family, religions and politics as well as the

degree of expressiveness of individuals.

Participants from Delta University more or less have the same views on the

social system and work life balance in Swedish/LC cultures. Aura talked about

the free and frank social trends back in her home country and revealed that in

their culture they can talk easily with the unknown at any place for instance

while waiting for the bus, during travelling and other day to day occasions.

She said that her culture is more welcoming/open even towards those who they

don’t know already. But she experienced it differently in Sweden and found

that relationships are initiated on the bases of professional interests as defined

by Hall (1976) that in LC relationship begins quickly and productivity depends

on the procedure and paying attention to the goals. Contrary to that Schneider

et al., (2003) demonstrated that in most Asian culture organizations have

traditional bureaucracies, centralized and formalized systems whereas most of

the goals achieved through relationships. As well as HC follows a hierarchical

approach and mostly tasks are done using informal and personal networks.

Moreover, High context cultures prefer their personal bindings whereas people

in low context cultures are very professional and they consider professional

relationships and formal agreements first presented by Hall (1976).

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In addition to that, another participant Cristina was in the favor of the balance

between professional and personal life but she faced some challenges in some

other social norms of Sweden e.g. having housing points. She shared her

experience that it is a bit easy for individuals to rent a house in the same city


place because Sweden has a point system. A professional faces the similar

challenges in terms of finding a new home, shifting from one place to another

within Sweden and visit to a doctor etc.

5.1.2.3 Individualistic v/s Collectivistic & Direct v/s Indirect

In low-contexts culture, privacy is one of the important elements, so

individuals prefer to stand farther apart and avoid sharing personal entities,

feelings and interest freely (Hall, 1976). Similar perspective is followed by

Gamma and Delta University students who realized it through their experience

and observation. Ahmed’s (Gamma University) observation which discussed

during the interview related to individualism of Swedish culture is also

explained by Schneider et al., (2003) that LC have a high degree of

individualism and every individual safeguard his or her own interests. Ranjeet

(Delta University) mentioned during his interview that he has learnt through

his experience that Swedes have more individualistic types of personalities and

they want privacy, have more social distancing and they consider that their

time is theirs not others. Hall (1976) has elaborated the similar perspective in

his theory that LC cultures prioritize personal entities and don’t like to share

personal feelings, emotions and privacy of their lives.

Some of the interviewees from both universities highlighted directness of

Swedish culture in every aspect of social terms or relations. Akif’s and

Amoni’s perspective on directness of Swedish culture is very much related to

what Hall (1976) described when presenting the comparison of China and

Sweden. He illustrated that in China (China has HC culture), people use

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indirect ways to communicate with each other and people consider others’

feelings and problems. Swedish culture prefers individualism and individuals

are more reserved. Most of the time, Swedish individuals express their

opinions and emotions directly and they are not influenced by others.

Therefore, it is stated that people of Sweden are linear but the Chinese people

are non-linear (Hall, 1976).

5.1.2.4 Importance of Language

Language is one of the most important elements in intercultural

communication aspects as communication is a shared activity and people have

to use language to express themselves. When individuals don’t speak a

common language they cannot express themselves and at this point

misunderstandings occur, the views of Delta University participants. Their

perspective is valid as stated by (Mauranen, 2006), in this language world

miscommunication takes place if the common language is not used. Adler &

Gundersen, 2007; Dixon & Ohara (2012), presented their own views that there

needs to be a mutual understanding of the expected meaning in the

conversation between two or more individuals and miscommunication be less

if they speak a common language.

Gamma University participants also showed their strong concerns about the

language because they had to experience it as well. Ahmed and Akif were very

much in favor or both verbal and non-verbal language because both have

significant impact on expressing meanings and sensations.

5.2 Managing ICC barriers

Participants from all the four universities presented some suggestions or steps

which can be followed to manage ICC barriers in multicultural settings

whether that would be a university or corporate organization. As above stated

by most of the participants that intercultural communication challenges can be

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managed by understanding others, observing their behaviors and accepting

differences among cultures. As in literature it is elaborated that ICC refers to

an individual’s message, behavior, and culture and Suen et al., (2019) quoted

that by accepting ICC barriers, individuals can effectively communicate across

cultures and conflicts can be minimized. It is also suggested by most of the

participants from all four universities that don’t be judgmental for others

behaviors as they might have grown up in some other circumstances and have

different verbal and non-verbal cues which vary in between HC and LC. So,

understanding of both is a way to resolve intercultural communication

challenges. This idea is supported by Kreitner and Carlene (2010) who

demonstrated that communication consists of both verbal and non-verbal

language and it is important to have understanding of both so that a sender can

send information to the receiver appropriately.

Moreover, Delta participants illustrated that our preparedness and

understanding of others' behaviors, background & distinctions acceptability

are the tools which can reduce intercultural barriers. They said understanding

others’ backgrounds is important because they might have different beliefs,

values and way of living which is also supported by Guiso et al., (2016). Guiso

et al., (2016) said, there are unchanged habitual beliefs and cultural values that

ethnic, religious and social groups transmit from one generation to another

which are fairly different in every culture. So acceptance and understanding of

intercultural communication barriers/challenges between cultures and

preparedness to deal with them are some of the tools to manage ICC barriers.

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6 Conclusion

Eventually we have reached to the end of our study. This chapter will be

focused on concluding remarks, both of our research questions will be

answered for which the whole research has been conducted. Finally,

limitations of the study will be presented along with the opportunities for

future research.

Figure: 10

Source: Created by authors by keeping in mind Meyer’s (2014)

Figure: 11

Source: Created by authors by keeping in mind Meyer’s (2014)

These figures present the profiles of all the participants who have been interviewed

which will make it easy for readers to see and understand which country belongs to

which culture and which participant is from which culture. We hope it will help

readers, see Appendix B for full profiles of participants.

6.1 Answers to Research Questions

3. How do participants from High context and Low context cultures


multicultural settings?

Bangladesh

India Philippines Nigeria Sudan Italy

Pakistan Nepal Uganda France

High-context culture Low-context culture

Akif Gaurab

Ranjeet Anna Aura Amoni Ahmed Cristina

Farzana Aiman Roni Elizabeth Alina Alexandra

High-context culture Low-context culture

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4. How can intercultural communication barriers/challenges

effectively be managed among participants?

6.1.1 Research Question 1

The first aim of this study is to answer our first research question which is;

“How do participants from High context and Low context cultures


multicultural settings?” The question will be answered on the basis of existing

literature and varying themes of HC and LC; Academic differences, Social

systems, Direct v/s Indirect, Individualism v/s Collectivism, Importance of

language and some suggested steps which are extracted from empirical data

collected through interviews. Above explained literature has divided cultures

into two categories: High-context culture and Low-context cultures (Meyer,

2014; Hall, 1976) and one of the major barriers among these cultures is

Intercultural Communication. Having Intercultural Communication

competencies are crucial for all the leaders and followers/participants who are

working in multicultural settings; HC and LC, as well as has become essential

to understand for future leaders and followers who aim to work at multicultural

workplaces. After collecting data by conducting interviews on four

universities of Sweden and interviewing 14 international students/individuals

who came from other cultures and experienced/experiencing intercultural

challenges while working in multicultural groups. Our participants are both

from LC and HC and they came in a new culture which is LC (Sweden) and

both are undergoing more or less the same challenges even if LC moves to

LC/HC or HC moves to HC/LC (See figure 11). We are able to answer our

question as follows;

1. Academic/organizational cultural differences are considered one of the

basic elements of a culture because it influences an individual’s learning,

creativity, mental ability, personality grooming and way of perceiving

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things from various approaches etc. In addition, patterns inserting

knowledge and the environment of the classroom are the moderates which

shape the knowledge and personality of an individual. When an individual;

whether he/she is student or professional, moves from one culture to

another, he/she faces challenges to understand things because his mental

model is molded in another perspective. Similar happens in actual

workplaces, when an employee from HC culture comes to work in LC

work settings (or vice versa), he/she has to come across challenges to

understand the way of doing things, the environment of the organization

and its policies and procedures.

2. Social systems have modeled in accordance with cultural values, norms,

behaviors, terms and traditions, lifestyles and customs etc. it’s proven

through our study research and literature that LC and HC cultures have

their own social systems and practices which are different and sometimes

contradict to each other. When an HC/LC individual aims to work another

HC/LC, he/she has to live with that societal systems as he/she is a human

being and needs to interact with other human beings. He/she might have

different social systems but requires to follow those where he/she is

currently inhabitant which becomes a challenge to adopt. These societal

systems have their reflection in all its habitants which have their influences

of work settings where a newcomer acts.

3. One of the other important aspects of a culture which we encounter during

the conduction of this study is; Direct v/s Indirect and Individualistic v/s

Collectivistic. This aspect is different in both HC and LC as HC culture is

leaned more towards indirect way of communication e.g. indirectness

while giving negative feedback and appreciating others etc. and thinks

collectivism brings better results that’s why have trends to spend and

celebrate things collectively. Contrary to that, LC culture is very direct in

giving and taking feedback even its negative or positive because in its

perspective it’s important for improvements as well as LC believes in

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individualism. It favors privacy terms and individuals of LC prefer

privacies in their personal lives.

4. As human beings, nobody can deny the status of language in our lives. It’s

true that most cultures and societies have some similar languages and these

are big language e.g. Arabic, English, Spanish, German and French etc.

but still the influence of national/mother language cannot be replicated. As

our respondents underlined their concerns about Swedish language since

they are living in Sweden but according to our point of view HC and LC

cannot be categorized on the basis of spoken/verbal language because

many LC cultures/ countries have different languages and find difficulties

when they travel even in LC and vice versa. But yes if somebody talks

about non-verbal language, we can have a discussion on it and yes it varies

from culture to culture. Both in HC and LC many non-verbal signs and

signals are different for instance HC uses more non-verbal cues including

facial expressions, body movements while talking, usage of hands etc. On

the other hand, LC prefers more on the words which are spoken and the

incorporation of body postures in LC has been observed as less. So, it is

individuals from HC and LC face many challenges in terms of expressing

themselves and understating others’ expression language while working in

multicultural settings.

6.1.2 Research Question 2

These are some barriers which we have drawn from our study and participants

both from LC and HC come across with them when they work with

multicultural teams. There are not any scientific or mathematical formulas

behind these barriers which cannot be learnt and which are impossible to copy

but these challenges can be understood through many ways which will

ultimately reduce conflicts and enhance productivity. However our second

question is about managing these barriers and leading individuals towards

better performance. So the question is; “How can intercultural

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communication barriers/challenges effectively be managed among

participants?”

After conducting the whole study, taking interviews and going through the

existing literature on ICC, we have drawn some pointers which participants

working in multicultural settings can follow to manage ICC barriers

effectively. These pointers are as follows:

• Observe behaviors of other participants from other cultures and

compare it to you owns and try to find the mid-way

• Actively listen to others and don’t react immediately if you feel

irritated from other’s behavior

• Don’t be judgmental about others’ appearances and behaviors but try

to understand the reasons behind every good or bad practice of

participants of other cultures

• Look at the big picture and try to understand the background of the

person

• Be patient while interacting with individuals from other cultures

• Try the strategy to put yourself in a mode other than your culture’s

and try to sense the receiver’s shoes but at the same time be original

and don’t pretend as fake

• Try to learn from others’ behaviors and attitudes instead of indulging

in debates

• If there is a conflict arisen, hold a conversation with other person and

solve the matter with dialogues

• Accept the distinctions of other culture instead of opposing them as

well as try to integrate yourselves in new cultures and celebrate new

learnings

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However, we don’t deny the reality that these barriers cannot be removed

completely but it’s also true that there are some suggested paths through

which we can reduce them at least. Therefore, above are mentioned some

steps which can help a participants working in multicultural settings to

resolve the conflicts and lead towards better performance.

Below is our analysis that how cultures impacts other culture when these are

same and when these are different.

Cultural Impact Model

Figure: 11

Source: Created by authors Explanation: a depiction of how cultures impact each other when these are same

and when these are different

6.2 Limitations

No doubt we have put our 100% efforts to conduct this research on

Intercultural Communication Barriers but still we don’t deny that there are

some gaps left because of some limitations and problems. The primary

limitations are the short time and small sample size on the basis of which we

have drawn our conclusion and determined the ICC barriers. As in this limited

time, only four universities of Sweden were focused and three to four

participants from each university were interviewed. Second limitation is that

Equal

HC/LC Move into HC/LC Impacts/Results

HC HC Less Barriers

HC LC More Barriers

LC LC Less Barriers

LC HC More Barriers

HC/LC Understanding HC/LC Barriers

Accepting Equal Management

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our sample are international students who are highly educated and understand

things better than less educated people. So it is a possibility that being educated

they might come across less challenges as compared to less educated

individuals. Moreover, most of them already lived other than their home

countries and Sweden which shows that they have a bit more experience to

manage barriers among cultures. So their perspectives may not represent the

concerns of all types of demographics who travel from one culture to another.

Due to these limitations, there are opportunities for future researchers to

conduct a study on ICC barriers.

6.3 Suggestions for future research

Due to limited time and small sample size, we acknowledge the fact that ICC

barriers are not completely identified and there is a gap left. To begin with, it’s

an opportunity for future researchers to hold research on ICC barriers and its

management in multicultural work settings with a bigger sample size including

all types of demographics. Due to the fact that only four universities were

focused for this study which created an opportunity for further research to

include even more universities and institutions for this study. Another prospect

for future research can be to conduct this study on the actual multicultural

organizations/work settings including managers and employees who are

actually performing as leaders and followers in those organizations because

they have the original experience of working in multicultural settings and they

have undergone ICC barriers/challenges in reality. Moreover, the knowledge

and experience of those leaders and followers will be real and they have

reached a certain level of maturity which allows them to differentiate cultures

on the basis of various other elements.

Besides that, our study is qualitative and conclusions are drawn on the basis of

generalization of the data collected from interviews. So there is an opportunity

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to conduct a quantitative study on ICC barriers which will give more specific

answers of the research questions. Lastly, future researchers have an

opportunity to conduct this study on a broader level which will help to identify

more barriers faced by participants working in multicultural settings. So in a

nutshell, following are some of the suggestions given by authors of this study;

1. Execute this study on real multicultural work settings and the leaders and

followers/managers and employees have actually worked with diverse

cultural teams

2. A Quantitative execution of this study which will draw more authentic

results

3. Last but not the least, to conduct a future research on all demographics

including high & low educated, employees & executive, male & females

and students & teachers etc.

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Appendices

Appendix A

Interview Questionnaire

Intercultural communication barriers among Leaders & Followers

Leadership and Management in International Contexts

Master’s Thesis

Participant Name:-------------------------------------------

University Name & City:-------------------------------------------

Country of Origin:-------------------------------------------

Field of Study:-------------------------------------------

Period of Study:-------------------------------------------

How long have you been in Sweden:-------------------------------------------

Offer greetings and start with regular discussion (e.g. How are you? How’s your

study going on? etc.)

1. Tell about your experience of staying in Sweden?

2. Have you experienced any differences and similarities while staying and

studying in Sweden?

3. Can you share any memorable experiences during your stay in Sweden? It

might be similar/different or not if you were in your country?

4. Could you describe some interesting work experience from your class while

working with a team of diverse culture participants?

5. What do you think, different cultures have different positive effects or

negative while working in a diverse culture team?

6. Is ‘Language’ one of the important elements to consider and have you faced

any challenges in throwing the same meaning as you want while

communicating in ‘English’ or in any second language?

7. According to you what barriers have you come across which arise conflicts

and what similarities do you think can possibly be used to manage them?

8. How did you experience the work process when working together with other

international students, and what challenges that arise, how you solved them?

9. What are one or two suggestions you want to give through which Intercultural

Communication Barriers can be managed? Any of your personal and open

point of views. Nothing will be wrong or right as it is your own thinking and

perceptions according to your experiences and observations.

10. Do you have any questions for us?

Thank you so much for your valuable time and efforts for this interview.

Stay safe and take care!

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Appendix B

Interviewees Profiles

Alpha University

Participant Name (Given by authors)

Gender M/F Nationality High-context / Low-

context culture

Anna F Philippines HC

Aiman F Pakistan HC

Gaurab M Nepal HC

Alina F France LC

Beta University



context culture

Farzana F Pakistan HC

Alexandra F France LC

Elizabeth F Uganda LC+HC

Gamma University



context culture

Akif M Bangladesh HC

Amoni M Nigeria LC+HC

Ahmed M Sudan LC+HC

Delta University



context culture

Roni M Nepal HC

Aura F Philippines HC

Cristina F Italy LC

Ranjeet M India HC

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Appendix C

Collected and transcribed Data from interviews is in its full form

Alpha University

1. Academic preferences

All of the four interviewees showed their concerns regarding the education

system and academic differences and priorities in Sweden for Swedish people.

Aiman and Anna highlighted that we are from HC culture and we are

academically competitive. Coming from HC culture, we always want good

grades but people from LC (European, Swedish etc.) just want to pass. Alina

also said Swedes don't want to put in more efforts than necessary on their

studies because they want to have a balance in their personal lives. Gaurab

followed the same concern and said that Swedish social and academic systems

are also one of the reasons for cultural barriers because here people have free

education and they don’t have pressure of being academically excellent.

2. Social Systems & Work life balance

Sweden has its own social terms and traditions which international individuals

have to follow as well. Aiman disclosed during her interview that I sometimes

feel frustrated while working in a diverse cultural group especially with LC

cultural groups because LC people are not workaholic like us (HC people).

They keep balance in their academic and personal lives and give equal time to

personal and professional lives said by Alina as well. Gaurab mentioned that

Swedes are firm with their commitments and work efficiently but they have

specified days for themselves. They work on assignments, projects and any

other task assigned to them during working days but weekends are only for

their personal life and they don’t compromise weekends for work. Anna said

that we are from a culture where we are socially comfortable and talk frankly

with anyone. We are in a habit of talking with everyone but Swedes sometimes

take it odd when we don’t know them and initiate talk with them.

3. Individualistic v/s Collectivistic & Direct v/s Indirect

All the interviewees disclosed that Swedes are individualistic types of people

and they are very direct in their conversation. Anna shared an interesting

experience when she took a course in her university and 90% of the students

were Swedish and a lot more Europeans and she was alone from HC. She said,

I felt isolated as they are very reserved people and they don’t initiate talks with

anyone and only focus on their stuff. She also said that they are not very easy

to get close and make friends as they have their own priorities.

Gaurab mentioned that LC/Swedish people are more direct in criticism and

giving feedback than HC cultures and sometimes we get offensive. He said as

being from HC culture, we talk around things while criticizing someone and

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we are not direct in giving and taking feedback. Anna and Aiman also agreed

on the concept that Swedes are very direct and say whatever they want without

taking care that the receiver might get offensive but they care about others’

improvements. In their culture, they take criticism and negative feedback

normal because they accept their mistakes and want to improve themselves.

Alina also mentioned during her interview that I (LC people) don’t feel shy in

asking questions and open to answer others' questions. We are open to take

feedback and direct in giving feedback to others and nobody takes it

personally.

4. Importance of Language

Language is one of the basic elements of a culture without which an individual

cannot understand, express and interpret others’ behaviours. Although Alina

was from LC culture and she has more similarities with Swedish culture but

still she came across some barriers e.g. language, social terms, academics and

addressing others etc. Anna said that language is one of the important elements

of culture and Aiman, Gaurab and Alina addressed their concerns about

language too. According to them language is a barrier and accent is the big

issue which can sometimes change the meaning. Gaurab also disclosed that

not only verbal language is important but non-verbal language is also very

important through which we can perceive others’ expressions, attitudes and

behaviors. All of the four participants experienced challenges of not speaking

Swedish language although Swedes can speak English but they prefer their

own language. Alina also said, people from other cultures feel shy in speaking

any second language whether it is English or Swedish which is also a

challenge.

5. Possible steps to manage ICC Barriers

In the end, Gaurab suggested that it is important to be patient while interacting

with individuals from other cultures and don’t speak immediately if you feel

irritated from other’s behavior. For Aiman, being an international student, the

biggest conflict is the difference in our expectations with others but they might

have different expectations. Alina’s point is to see the big picture, take a step

back and try to understand the background of other people and keep in mind

their situation. Also try to observe others’ behaviors and concerns and adjust

yourselves according to that. Anna tried the strategy of putting herself in a

different mode when talking to people from cultures other than hers and tried

to understand their behaviours and observe their personalities. She said we

most of the time are more comfortable and frank with the people from our own

culture but it is important to try other’s shoes. Also always try to understand

them and make them feel welcoming and kind which will bring them closer to

you.

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Beta University

1. Academic differences

In terms of academic differences, Elizabeth shared a very interesting

experience as she has a culture in her country that a student gets expelled from

school if she gets pregnant which can spoil the whole career of that student.

For them she cannot continue her study with her pregnancy. Moreover,

Elizabeth also mentioned that in Sweden (LC) and even other HC cultures

support a pregnant student to complete her studies which is a good aspect of a

culture though Elizabeth’s culture doesn't support students in such

circumstances. People in her culture think it will encourage other students to

do the same which will make it a trend and ultimately the youth of the country

will go on a wrong track.

Farzana shared in her interview that she was hesitant in the start to call her

teachers with their names because in Swedish education system/culture,

students call their teachers by their names. Although it was a bit difficult for

her to adapt to this aspect of Swedish/LC culture, she accepts that it also makes

teachers approachable. She mentioned that it is good to fill the gap between

teacher and student and it doesn't show disrespect at all. Alexandra and

Elizabeth also mentioned the degree which reduces hierarchy and promotes

horizontal systems in all institutions in Sweden which enhance learning.

2. Work life balance and Social Systems

While conducting interviews, Alexandra shared a strange experience of

greetings as she got odd behavior when greeting an unknown person which

was taken normal in her country/culture and Farzana also agreed with it. All

of the three participants described their concern about the Queuing system in

Swedish culture at every place and almost everyone experiences it when he/she

comes to Sweden and wants to open a bank account, rent a house or take a

doctor's appointment etc. They explained the gray side of this system by

sharing their own example when renting a home and Elizabeth also

experienced when she wanted to open a bank account in Sweden. She went in

September and the bank gave him an appointment for December because they

don’t have any empty slots. It was a bit irritating for them but all three agreed

that it is a good thing in Swedish culture that they are treating everyone equally

and it is a fair system.

Farzana also shared his negative experience/view on this system when she got

a toothache and she called the dentist for an appointment and the dentist gave

her appointment for two weeks later. It was disappointing for her because she

was having a toothache now not after two or three weeks later. These are some

cultural barriers which all the three interviewees experienced.

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3. Direct v/s Indirect and Individualistic v/s Collectivistic

The participants from Beta University stressed upon the individualistic

perspective of Swedish culture and Alexandra’s greeting experience represents

that they don’t really want to open up with everyone. Farzana shared her

experience as she is from HC and doesn't really have a specific personal back

in her home country. She said in her culture, her life is not hers but her parents,

siblings and social circles have a great share in her life before marriage and

after marriage her life is being shared with her husband and in-laws.

Elizabeth and other two participants observed how direct Swedes are. The

participant don’t have any specific experience to share but they perceived the

directness of Swedish culture through people’s behaviors and their

conversation because they don’t indulge in talks.


All the three participants emphasized that language is very important as they

have experienced it during the part-time job hunting process, while traveling

and getting letters from different mediums etc. Elizabeth mentioned that

Swedish language is one of the biggest barriers because most international

individuals are rejected from jobs because they don’t speak Swedish language.

Farzana also shared that she faced difficulty to read and reply to letters or any

kind of written information from any company because they always send

written information in Swedish language. All three mentioned that even

though they know English but still they are facing language challenges and

then they realized how important the role language plays in any culture,

country or society.

However, Alexandra and Elizabeth also mentioned the degree which reduces

hierarchy and promotes horizontal systems in all institutions in Sweden which

enhance learning.


They all learnt through their experiences that we can adjust in any culture by

being real and understanding others’ behaviors and cultural distinctions.

Farzana also said we don’t need to pretend what we are not because that shows

fakeness and others might suspect our personality. Alexandra sees cultural

barriers as opportunities to learn new and different things and suggests to not

panic for any situation but try to find the reason behind every difference.

Elizabeth’s view is to have a discussion if you have any conflict while working

in a multicultural team and sort out the matter with conversation.

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Gamma University


Gamma University students were also disclosed that every culture, country

and society has different academic systems and ways of teaching students.

They said the main reason behind academic differences is culture according to

them. Amoni mentioned that everyone here has different and unique areas of

expertise and perspectives which teaches me a lot. He also shared that it is

great to meet people from so many continents and working in multicultural

settings gave me a new perspective of learning and they have different fields

and bring their own unique skills, knowledge and way of distinguishing the

things.

In his interview Amoni also mentioned that swedes do not only focus on their

studies but also they do focus on their personal lives which might contractive

to us sometimes as we are more attentive towards our studies. As well as Akif

said the same, that by being Asian, we are more academic people and give

more time to our studies rather than hanging out with friends. Akif also

highlighted that Swedish people are open minded and have a different level of

perceiving the things which is according to me due to their academics as they

are trained in a unique way from childhood. Ahmed also mentioned that not

only Sweden but also every culture and country has differences in their

academic systems and has a unique set of skills, knowledge and a different

living style.


Akif and Amoni distinguish their culture on the basis of social systems and

work-life balance and present their favor towards its importance in an

individual’s life. Akif said in Sweden everyone has a different living style and

their own personal life. Swedes are not only focused on their

professional/academic lives but I observed how much they value their personal

pace as well. Besides that Amoni said, he experienced discrimination

sometimes by being black/African but not from Swedish people because

Swedes are generally good, polite and don’t really care about your ethnicity or

nationality. He also agreed that Swedes have a helping nature and are always

welcome to us and international students which is the reason thousands of

international students from plenty of countries come to study here.

Moreover, Amoni’s concerns to sometimes different views and different social

terms raised conflict because westerns/European people have their own social

activities and they often hang out with friends, is also valid. However Ahmed

had a different perspective to see the social and said that the social system of

Europeans is different especially Sweden’s than ours because I am from

another ethnicity which influences our social life as well for example we don’t

really go out at night and we have different events to celebrate. We also don’t

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have trends to have gatherings very often because we have a joint family

system and we have to take care of our families and give them time.


All of the three interviewees revealed that Swedes are very direct in their

conversations and as described in 4.2.3 that they are very reserved people.

Ahmed declared that even if they spend time with friends, help and welcome

others, they don't become frank with others easily. They always keep a

distance and not let others interfere with their personal lives, Amoni and Akif

are also followed by the distinctive behaviors of Swedes. Also Amoni stressed

upon the directness of Swedes as he himself observed with his circle of

Swedish people. Akif shared a funny but valid perspective that in our culture

if a boy wants to get closer to a girl, he has to do lots of efforts and talk around

things and then say the main topic. But here I found that a boy just go and say

his feelings directly to a girl and accepts whatever her response is which shows

their direct behavior in every relationship.


All three presented their views on the importance of language and Akif and

Ahmed valued verbal and non-verbal language because both are important for

them even if we are anywhere or in any culture. Whereas Ahmed said, Swedes

are welcoming in terms of language and don’t mind if we speak incorrectly,

especially Swedish language. Amoni shared his concern and said it is a bit

challenging if we don’t know the national language of a county of the

respective cultures as I am facing this barrier. He said it’s a bit difficult to

move around the new place I don’t know already as everywhere in the country

sign boards, Swedish language is written. Also in supermarkets, train stations

and in buses, I found Swedish language everywhere which is hard to

understand for me but thanks to Google translator.


Gamma University participants through their experiences suggest some of the

steps which an individual who is working in a multicultural setting can take to

better perform there. Amoni stresses upon active listening which is a useful tip

not only for adjustment in a culture but in any field of life. He also

recommended that don’t be judgmental about others’ appearances and

behaviors, discover more and observe day to day actions of others to have a

better understanding of any culture which will help you to adjust easily.

Ahmed also suggested that if we want to manage these barriers, understanding

of the cultures is pivotal and Sweden has very good places/public cafes where

people are open to talk, have Fika and chit chat with them and they will

definitely help you to get more knowledge about Swedish culture.

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Delta University


In Cristina’s point of view, we are living in a global village and cultural

distinctions are good for our learning and expand our exposure. Christina said

that she was more concerned about her studies as in her culture education is

important as well as good grades are important. Without high CGPA he cannot

get a good job said by Ranjeet as in his culture companies prefer excellent

educational background instead of how much you have learnt. Roni and Aura

have the same concerns and highlighted positive aspects of Swedish

educational system as they are more focused on learning, teachers are very

cooperative and the exam system is very flexible. Aura also mentioned that we

don’t have the system of registering each course every time or registering for

exams as these are already written in our syllabus which students cannot

change and don’t have options.


Roni poses his experience in his interview that sometimes we face

discrimination of being international and Asian but it is people’s personal

opinions generally but mostly people and Swedish culture is welcoming in

terms of accepting and respecting foreigners. On the other hand Aura

mentioned that back in our home countries we can talk easily with the

unknown at any place for instance while waiting for the bus, during travelling

and other day to day occasions. In their culture people are more

welcoming/open even towards those who they don’t know already. Besides

that, Cristina was in favor of the balance between academics and personal life

but she faced some challenges in terms of having housing points. She shared

her experience that it is a bit easy for students to rent a house in the same city


place because Sweden has a point system.


During his interview, Ranjeet threw his concern for individualism and

collectivism as he said we are more collectivistic people and we do spend time

with our families. He said mostly we celebrate events, have get together and

parties with our families and go to temple with parents and spending quality

time with family gatherings matters a lot to us. But Swedes are more

individualistic types of personalities and they want privacy, have more social

distancing and their time is theirs not others. Aura also mentioned that we are

very social and usually we know all our neighbors in our town because we

have trends to visit people around us on various special occasions. Cristina is

from a culture where individualism has a great value so she couldn’t find it

different in Sweden.

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All of the four highlighted their concerns about Swedish language but on the

other hand Roni also said I am happy that English is an international language

and almost every Swede knows English which reduces the language barrier a

bit. Ranjeet shared a very different and important perspective on language as

he revealed that language doesn’t mean verbal or non-verbal but every

language has some terms and proverbs which are valuable to understand. Roni

has a unique point of view on language. He said I agree that cultural specific

language is important but I think it’s for those who want to integrate in that

culture. If a person came only for study and exposure he/she doesn’t have to

come across a language challenge as much because he/she can survive with

English as its international language and almost every part of the world uses

it.


Some of the suggestions given by Delta participants that our preparedness and

understanding of others' behavior, background & distinctions acceptability are

the tools which can reduce intercultural barriers. We accept that people have

different cultures but it doesn’t mean that we are inferior to them, so we should

accept this reality and try to integrate ourselves in new cultures and celebrate

new learnings.

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Appendix D

Research Questions Purpose behind RQs Interview questions Link to

theory

How do participants from High

context and Low context cultures

experience intercultural

communication barriers while

working in multicultural settings?

To identify differences and similarities

among various cultures in Sweden

Tell about your experience of staying in

Sweden?

Ch. (1.2)

Ch. (02.

entire)

Ch. (04

entire)

Ch. (05

entire)

Ch. (6.1.1)

To get an idea about the impacts of

cross-culturism and Swedish culture

on participants working in

multicultural settings

Have you experienced any differences

and similarities while staying and

studying in Sweden?

Are the intercultural challenges

sometimes enhance learning?

Can you share any memorable

experiences during your stay in

Sweden? It might be similar/different

or not if you were in your country?

Could you describe some interesting

work experience from your class while

working with a team of diverse culture

participants?

Is ‘Language’ one of the important

elements to consider and have you

faced any challenges in throwing the

same meaning as you want while

communicating in ‘English’ or in any

second language?

How intercultural communication

barriers / challenges can

effectively be managed among

participants?

To get to know some of solutions to

mitigates conflicts among cross

cultural participants

According to you what barriers have

you come across which arise conflicts

and what similarities do you think can

possibly be used to manage them?

Ch. (4.1.5)

(4.2.5) (4.3.5)

(4.4.5)

Ch. (6.1.2)

To get some ideas from practical

experiences of participants while

living and working (studying) in

Sweden

How did you experience the work

process when working together with

other international students, and what

challenges that arise, how you solved

them?

What are one or two suggestions you

want to give through which

Intercultural Communication Barriers

can be managed? Any of your personal

and open point of views. Nothing will

be wrong or right as it is your own

thinking and perceptions according to

your experiences and observations.

To enhance work effectiveness and

efficiency and promote a learning

environment

Master Thesis - DiVA-Portal

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