Cross- cultural Communication This page intentionally left blank

Meaning of culture
A fish only discovers its need for water when it is no longer in it. Our own 
culture is like water to a fish. It sustains us. We live and breathe through 
it. What one culture may regard as essential, a certain level of material 
wealth, for example, may not be so vital to other cultures. (Trompenaars, 
2012: 27)
Trompenaars looks at culture as an expression of our coming to terms with 
three eternal problems:
our relationship with other people;
our relationship with time;
our relationship with nature.
He considers that we can distinguish our culture from others by the way we 
devise solutions to these eternal problems.
Relationships with other people
Trompenaars has identified five dimensions to describe how we relate to 
other people. These are particularly relevant to the conduct of international 
business and are summarized below.
Dimension 1: universalism versus particularism
This first dimension examines relationships with people. Universalism defines 
our relationship to society in terms of rules and regulations. Individuals 
from universalist cultures show respect and obedience towards rules and 
procedures and do not object to such things as standing in a queue or 
strictly obeying pedestrian crossing lights. Universalism refers to the belief 
that ideas and practices can be applied anywhere without modification.
Particularism defines our relationship to society in terms of family 
and friends. If we are from a particularist culture, we will be inclined 
to break or bend the rules if we believe they are getting in the way of 
other relationships. Particularism means that circumstances dictate how 
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Key Thinkers in Cross- Cultural Communication (2) 49
ideas and practices should be applied. These can be loosely associated 
with Hofstede’s UAI as cultures with high universalism like formal sets 
of rules and customs to which they can adhere. Trompenaars, however, 
focuses on the degree to which a country/culture upholds accepted 
standards of beha viour, for example, national laws and regulations, and 
the degree to which people are prepared to bend the rules to suit family 
and friends. Countries such as Finland, Germany and the USA are likely 
to be more universalist, while South European countries, like Portugal, 
and Asian countries, such as China and Malaysia, are likely to be more