Tutorial: What Did You Say? Cultural Influences on Communication and Understanding (Half-day Tutorial)
Leader: Frederick Zarndt

What one says to compatriots in face-to-face conversation is often misunderstood; imagine the possibilities for misunderstandings with someone from halfway around the world, natively speaking another language, and living in a different culture! In such circumstances how can you be sure that your collocutor has understood you in face-to-face (hard), telephone (harder), and email (hardest) conversations?

The ubiquity of English facilitates basic communication, but its use as a common language frequently disguises cultural differences. Regardless of language, clear communication is essential for success in any collaborative undertaking whether done by a small co-located group or by a globally dispersed team.

This tutorial describes frameworks useful in understanding cultural differences and gives real-life examples of misunderstandings due to such differences. Expect to take away practical tools to understand your own cultural biases and in-class practice to boost your communication abilities with colleagues from other cultures. You will also learn about frameworks for understanding other cultures based on work by Geert Hofstede, Fons Trompenaars, and others as well as on the presenter's own experiences.

Frederick Zarndt (frederick@frederickzarndt.com) has lived and worked in the USA, Germany, Switzerland, Libya, Argentina, India, and Israel and visited many, many other countries for business and pleasure. Both as an individual contributor and as a manager, he has more than 25 years experience in business and software development at companies ranging from Seismograph Service Corporation in Libya and Argentina, to Siemens-Albis in Switzerland and Germany, to Novell in the USA, to an internet startup in Utah, and to Planman Consulting, an Indian outsourcing firm. Mr. Zarndt has a Master of Science in Physics, Master of Science Computer Science, and undergraduate degrees in physics, mathematics, and computer science.