How Do British People Communicate Differently to Those of Other Cultures? Does Exposure to the British Lessen Such Differences? Typical Business Phrases and Their Interpretation

Research Paper (undergraduate) from the year 2017 in the subject Cultural Studies - Miscellaneous, grade: Conference Paper Peer Reviewed, University of Antwerp (Global Advances In Business Communication), language: English, abstract: This paper deals with how British people interpret typical business phrases in comparison to other nationalities. It moves on to identify whether regular exposure to British people negates any such differences. The findings confirmed those of Meyer regarding the preferred level of context when communicating and differences in providing feedback. In addition, a statistical analysis of phrase interpretations shows a strong correlation between British respondents and non-British respondents who have had regular exposure to the British. The paper concludes that managers with staff in other countries, plus those involved in Brexit negotiations, should be aware that those with little exposure to the British are more likely to misinterpret business communications from a British person. Research by Meyer detailed in the book "The Culture Map: Breaking through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business," describes specific variations in how people from different cultures communicate and consider ideas at work. Using online surveys, telephone interviews and focus groups with English speakers from a wide range of countries our research assessed whether, as Meyer had found, British people interpret typical business phrases differently to other countries.