Trompenaars research paper

Implications of Utilizing Trompenaars’
Theory to Localize Value Statements

Lindsey Dunstedter
TCH COM 411
September 2009

Introduction

Culture is how a group of people understand and interpret their world. The sense of culture is so common that is literally underlies our personal awareness. When conducting business as a technical communicator it is pivotal to be well informed about whatever topic is at hand when dealing interculturally. However, it is inevitable with so many social interactions that error is unavoidable, so one of the skills that a technical communicator must possess when localizing a product is error-recovery. The basis for Fons Trompenaars’ model of culture is that people interact with each other on different levels and how to deal with the inevitable problems that arise from these interactions. This essay will review Trompenaars’ seven dimensions of culture and then analyze how a technical communicator might use the theories within to create value statements for American and Japanese companies. Technical communicators should referenceTrompenaars’ model when working in other countries and with people from overseas because what might be a powerful value statement in one culture and one company might be completely irrelevant in another.


Trompenaars’ Seven Dimensions of Culture

Fons Trompenaars’ seven dimensions of culture illustrate how people relate to other people, how people relate to time, and how people relate to their environment. These three challenges are universal: everyone must learn how to have relationships with other people (such as friends, employees, and bosses), how to come to terms with the external world, and how to manage time and aging.

The first universal challenge deals with how human beings interact with each other. Trompenaars identifies five orientations that relate how people relate to other people. The first concept is universalism vs. particularism (rules vs. relationships). This first dimension defines how we judge each other’s behavior. There are two types of judgment at either end of the spectrum. At one extreme, we encounter an obligation to adhere to standards that are universally agreed to by the culture which we live. An example of the rules based universalist viewpoint is the adherence to the Golden Rule. At the other extreme we encounter particular obligations to people we know (Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner, 1997, p. 31). The particularist view places the importance of the relationship over the importance of the rule. Business people from both societies tend to think business people from the opposing society are corrupt. Universalists might believe that particularists can’t be trusted because they always help their friends; conversely, a particularist might believe that universalists cannot be trusted because they would not even help a friend.

The second concept is individualism vs. collectivism (individual vs. group). These concepts relate to self-perception: Do people see themselves more as an individual or as a part of a group? People from individualistic cultures like the United States tend to think of themselves as an individual and as an “I” instead of as a part of a group. The capitol letter “I” is one of the most used capitols in the English language (Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner, 1997, p. 53). Individualism in cultures implies loose ties, whereas collectivist cultures imply strong ties. Collectivist cultures value the group above the individual. One way to think about this concept is in terms of orientation: individualists are self-oriented and collectivists are community oriented.

The third concept is affective vs. neutral (emotional display). This concept deals with how cultures present their emotions. In an affective country, such as Italy, it is socially acceptable to become heated during a business transaction, but in a neutral country, such as China, the act of showing strong emotion would be disgraceful. Neutral countries keep their emotions carefully controlled and subdued, while affective countries are comfortable exhibiting emotion more freely.

The fourth concept is specific vs. diffuse (level of involvement). Specific cultures tend to have areas of their lives compartmentalized. People’s public lives and private lives are separate with very little overlap. Diffuse cultures tend to have more overlap in their public lives. One way to think about this concept is in the context of a situation. Let us say that your boss asks you to paint their house. In a specific culture, colleagues might say that they do not want to paint the house because he is only the boss in your company and has very little authority outside of work. In a diffuse culture, the subordinate might be more likely to paint the house because he is the boss at work and this fact cannot be ignored out of work either (Trompenaars, 2009).
The fifth and final concept of how people relate to other people is achievement vs. ascription (acquisition of status). In an achievement culture, people are accorded status based on how well they perform their functions. Achievers must continue to prove their worth, as status is accorded based on their actions. In an ascription culture, status is attributed based on who or what a person is. This is based on age, gender and social connections.

The second universal challenge deals with how people relate to time. Different cultures relate to time differently and emphasis is placed either in the past, present, or future. Corporate activities are greatly influenced by concepts of time. The time orientation dimension has two aspects: the relative importance cultures give to the past, present, and future, and their approach to structuring time. Time can be structured in two ways. In the sequentialism approach time moves forward, second by second, minute by minute, hour by hour in a straight line. Synchronism is another approach where time moves around in cycles of minutes, hours, days, and years (Trompenaars, 2009).

People who structure time sequentially tend to do one thing at a time. Planning is strongly preferred and plans are made to be kept. People structuring time synchronically usually do several things at a time. They are what could be considered “multi-taskers.” Time commitments are subjective and in no way absolute, so plans are easily changed. In past-oriented cultures, people are predominantly oriented towards the past and the future is seen as a repetition of past experiences. Respect for ancestors and collective historical experiences are characteristic of a past-oriented culture. In present-oriented cultures there is not much value attached to common past experiences or to future prospects. Day by-day experiences tend to direct people's life. In future-oriented cultures, most people’s activities are directed toward future prospects. Generally, the past is not considered vitally significant to a future state of affairs. Planning constitutes a major activity in future-oriented cultures.

The third and final universal challenge that cultures face is how people relate to their environment. Cultures have either an internalistic or externalistic view of their environment. Internalistic people seek control over their own lives and believe that personal resolution is the starting point for every action. You can live the life you want to live if you take advantage of the opportunities and nature can be controlled if enough effort is made. Externalistic people do not believe that they are in any way in control of their destiny of in the shaping of their future. Nature is unpredictable and there is no real way to know if something is going to happen to you.


Localization

Localization is the process of creating or adapting an information product for use in a specific target country or specific target market (Hoft, 1995, p. 11). There are different degrees of localization. General localization focuses on superficial cultural differences while radical localization focuses on cultural differences below the surface. Radical localization takes into account cultural differences that affect the way users think, feel, and act. Because the technical communicator will be localizing part of a corporate branding identity, specifically the values statement, using Trompenaars’ international variables will inevitably lead to the radical localization of the information product (Hoft, 1995, p. 20).


Importance of Trompenaars’ Theory to Technical Communicators

Technical communicators must be prepared for the global marketplace (Thakur, 2009). An effective technical communicator will understand that one size does not fit all, and that in all reality one size does not even fit most. The role of the communicator is to convey ideas to an audience in a way that the audience is able to draw some sort of value from the message. In the case of Trompenaars’ theory, the communicator is provided a backdrop from which to draw generalizations about certain cultures in order to create content that is more meaningful. This in no way condones relying on stereotypes to create a values statement for a company; one size does not fit all in an individual country let alone in a specific group. The corporate culture might in some ways overshadow the local culture, so the technical communicator must not use Trompenaars’ theory as a template; rather, the theory should be used as a general reference or as a starting point in the process of creating the desired product.

All technical communication is, at some level, international technical communication (Flammia, 2000). According to James Calvert Scott (1999) in the Journal of Education for Business, “Developing cultural fluency…is the goal of business communication instruction in the 21st century” (as cited in Flammia, 2000). Technical communicators are well versed with working in teams, and in the digital age more and more of these collaborations are going to be taking place electronically and with people from different cultures. Trompenaars’ theory aides communicators by building their awareness and active respect for cross-cultural issues, supporting them in un-learning negative cross-cultural attitudes and stereotypes, and helping them in learning to systematically reconcile cross-cultural dilemmas (Trompenaars, 2009). Additionally, by using Trompenaars’ theory as a reference point, technical communicators will be able to begin the intercultural dialogue with more insight and less blunders.


The Use of Trompenaars’ Theory to Localize Value Statements

Localization is marketing, and technical communicators are finding that a significant amount of time spent on projects is creating products that not only inform but also sell (Shuffield, 1994). Value statements are a form of corporate branding and are one of the most persuasive tools that the company presents to the community. Technical communicators are in an excellent position to make important contributions to marketing efforts. To do so, they must develop a different writing framework that closely looks at an audience, its attitudes, the competition, and product benefits (Palokoff, 1994). If they are to be of help in marketing products, technical writers must aggressively seek out information that gives them insight into the hearts and values of their customers (Palokoff, 1994). Trompenaars’ theory begins to provide this insight for the technical communicator who is interested in the localization of an information product. In the case being examined the value statement is the information product.

The value statement represents the priorities of the organization and is indicative of the individual company’s culture (McNamara, 2009). Value statements are commonly culture-specific. What is important and applicable in America might be completely irrelevant or even inappropriate in Japan. An example of culture specificity in value statements is the values that they actually communicate to customers, shareholders, employees, and the community. The individual values within a culture are going to vary in the extremes, so an effective technical communicator will take into account what is important to a specific culture before trying to create a corporate value statement. There is a definite need for the localization of international business websites in order to tailor the content to varying audiences. The corporate set of information products, the mission statement, vision statement, and value statement, tends to be readily available for viewing on the company’s website. However, herein lays the problem for the technical communicator. A company’s value statement is not going to change just because it is available for viewing in different languages and countries. Therefore, the technical communicator must localize the value statement in some way from website to website. Although this concept appears rather tedious, there is definite positive attributes to slightly modifying the value statement. One way to go about localizing a value statement is to change the way it appears on the webpage. For example, the Japanese company Toyota has localized their value statement between the United States website and the Japanese website. On the Japanese website, the value statement is presented on the same page as the vision and mission statement and provides a cohesive view of the company’s intent, goals, and culture. However, on the United States site the information is presented in three different sections and is considerably paired down. By rearranging the three areas, that is mission, vision, and value, the statement has less impact and seems less intense. This could be in part because cultural theory of Japan and the United States are on opposite ends of the spectrum in most cases.


Localization of Value Statements in the United States and Japan

The United States and Japan are being used as the examples within this essay for how to localize value statements. According to Trompenaars, the countries have significantly varying cultural ideals that are illustrated by how people relate to other people, how people relate to time, and how people relate to their environment. By using Japan and the United States as the examples, it will be easier to see the radical changes that can occur when localizing a value statement. An effective technical communicator will take into account the following international variables when gathering cultural data for Japan and the United States in order to begin the process of creating a value statement. The Japanese tend to be particularists (relationship based), collectivists (group oriented), neutral (emotionally neutral), diffuse (overlap in personal and private lives), and ascriptive (status based on who you are). They perceive time as a harmonious integration of the past, present, and future. The Japanese also view destiny as a concept that is beyond their control and that they belong to a larger context. All of these concepts are excellent as background information about the Japanese; however, when dealing with the creation of value statements some are more relevant than others are. The most pertinent international variables defined by Trompenaars that could be of use to a technical communicator when creating a value statement regarding the Japanese are that they are particularists, collectivists, and neutral, and view time as integrated.

When a technical communicator is creating the value statement, Trompenaars’ theory is an excellent framework for what to do and what not to do. Particularists are relationship based and the company will tend to value their country and their company even in an ethical dilemma. This information is important to a technical communicator because it might be pertinent to place greater emphasis on the Japanese country and culture. Collectivists are group based, so within the value statement there would be more emphasis put on the collective as opposed to the individual, so the technical communicator would not want to use language like “I” and “individual.” The Japanese are a neutral culture so they do not condone openly emotional displays. Therefore, within a value statement words like “feel” and “need” might be viewed as overly aggressive. Since the Japanese concept of time is integrated between the past, present, and future, the value statement might refer to their rich history as well as accomplishments and values for the present and the future.

The same international variables that are relevant to Japan can also be applied to the United States. Americans tend to be universalists (rules based), individualists (individual oriented), emotional, specific (compartmentalized personal and private lives), and achievement based (how status is accorded). They perceive time as a sequential relationship between the past, present, and the future, however, more emphasis is placed on the present and the future. The technical communicator will be assessing Trompenaars theory in exactly the same way as was conducted for the Japanese value but will be identifying variables that are on the other end of the spectrum. Americans are universalists, individualists, and emotional, and view time as sequential. Universalists are rules based and are more likely to believe in “a deal’s a deal”, so the technical communicator could use this universalist ideal to make the value statement feel and appear more like a contract. In an American value statement, the idea of the individual might resonate better with a society that is used to thinking in terms of self as opposed to the group. Emotional cultures like the United States believe that it is socially appropriate to use emotional language during business transactions and processes, so using words like “feel” and “need” would not only be socially acceptable but might also be expected in some form. Lastly, the United States seems time as sequential. They have a “that was then, this is now” attitude that places greater emphasis on what could be in the future. This is a part of the American Dream.

Conclusion

Fons Trompenaars’ seven dimensions of culture theory is an invaluable resource for technical communicators when localizing information products. The value statement is an incredibly important part of portraying the corporate culture to interested parties, and since technical communicators are playing an ever-increasing role in marketing it is also of direct relevance to those in the profession. Trompenaars’ theory is exhaustive and there is a tremendous amount of information readily available to anyone who wants a framework or a reference point when localizing information products. Trompenaars emphasizes time and time again that culture is not a “one size fits all” model for communication, and the theories he presents are useful and relevant when creating products for international audiences. Experience in creating value statements should be something that technical communicators are versed in because they are just one of many information products that need to be organized, well written, and understandable.



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