Trompenaar's cultural dimensions model helps to identify cultures in which emotions are expressed openly as well as nations in which emotions are held in check.

Alfons Trompenaar based his studies on a questionnaire that the Center for International Business Studies (CIBS) in Amstelveen, The Netherlands administered to 15,000 managers from around the world. Managers were attending a series of over 500 seminars from 1986 to 1993 conducted by CIBS and affiliates.

Knowing whether a culture is emotional or neutral helps international trade consultants prepare for negotiations in different business regions around the world.

Most Emotional Cultures

Trompenaar’s analysis identified cultures in which emotions are expressed openly and naturally. People from the countries listed below can be observed smiling a great deal, talking loudly when excited, and greeting each other enthusiastically. As the list shows, Mexicans tend to be the most emotional people.

• Mexico
• Netherlands
• Switzerland
• China
• Brazil
• Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS*)
• Italy, Venezuela
• Spain.

*CIS = Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine.

Communication Styles in Emotional Countries

While not all emotional cultures share the same communication styles, there are some patterns.

The more emotional countries including Mexico, China, Brazil and Venezuela are known for an affective style of communication.

The affective style requires the listener to carefully note what is being said and to observe how the sender is presenting the message.

In the affective communication style:

• Meaning is perceived through non-verbal signals.
• The message receiver must use his intuition to be able to decode what is being communicated.

Most Neutral Countries

Trompenaar’s study also found that people from the following cultures tended to hold their emotions in check. Neutral cultures tend to not show their feelings in public, with Japan leading the list.

• Japan
• United Kingdom
• Singapore
• Australia
• Indonesia
• Hong Kong
• Belgium, Germany
• Sweden, Argentina, United States.

Communication Styles in Neutral Countries

The Japanese use an indirect style of verbal communication. That is, Japanese communicators tend to have both close personal relationships and large information networks. And since the Japanese don’t have to rely on language alone to communicate, their messages are implicit and indirect. Voice intonation, timing and facial expressions all play important roles in Japanese communication.

Other neutral countries like England and Germany apply an exacting style, where the focus is on precision and just the right amount of words to convey the message. Communicating with too many words is considered an exaggeration. Using too few words is perceived as ambiguous.

In the United States and Canada, people use the direct style of verbal communication. Communicators meet only to accomplish objectives, and often the parties at a meeting don’t know each other very well. Speakers are typically direct and focused.

That’s not to say that communicators from the U.S. and Canada are unfriendly. These countries as well as Australia also are known for the personal style of verbal communication which focuses on the speaker and reducing barriers with the audience. In the personal style, people use first names and address each other informally and directly on an equal basis.

That’s why administrative employees at a large North American insurance company call a senior executive by his first name - say, Bob. Rarely would this happen in Asia, where communication is more contextual with the focus on the speaker and the hierarchical roles of those in the conversation.

References

This article presents independent insights based on case study questions from International Management, Culture, Strategy and Behavior (6th edition, Hodgetts-Luthans-DOH).