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Understanding Reactive Communication Styles

This document discusses differences in communication styles between reactive and multi-active cultures. Reactive cultures like Finland, Japan, and China think in silence and prefer a slower, more context-focused discussion. They use half statements and indirect language, make little eye contact, and discuss issues gradually to avoid misunderstandings. This contrasts with more direct and fast-paced Western multi-active styles of communication that can confuse reactive cultures.

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14 views1 page

Understanding Reactive Communication Styles

This document discusses differences in communication styles between reactive and multi-active cultures. Reactive cultures like Finland, Japan, and China think in silence and prefer a slower, more context-focused discussion. They use half statements and indirect language, make little eye contact, and discuss issues gradually to avoid misunderstandings. This contrasts with more direct and fast-paced Western multi-active styles of communication that can confuse reactive cultures.

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© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

31573 01 i-xxiv 1-176 r13rm 8/18/05 2:56 PM Page 36

36 WHEN CULTURES COLLIDE

silent consideration. The American, having delivered a sales pitch in Helsinki,


leans forward and asks, “Well, Pekka, what do you think?” If you ask Finns what
they think, they begin to think. Finns, like Asians, think in silence. An American
asked the same question might well pipe up and exclaim, “I’ll tell you what I
think!”—allowing no pause to punctuate the proceedings or interfere with West-
ern momentum. Asian momentum takes much longer to achieve. One can compare
reactions to shifting the gears of a car, where multi-active people go immediately
into first gear, which enables them to put their foot down to accelerate (the discus-
sion) and to pass quickly through second and third gears as the argument intensifies.
Reactive cultures prefer to avoid crashing through the gearbox. Too many revs
might cause damage to the engine (discussion). The big wheel turns slower at first
and the foot is put down gently. But when momentum is finally achieved, it is likely
to be maintained and, moreover, it tends to be in the right direction.
The reactive “reply-monologue” will accordingly be context centered and
will presume a considerable amount of knowledge on the part of the listener
(who, after all, probably spoke first). Because the listener is presumed to be knowl-
edgeable, Japanese, Chinese and Finns will often be satisfied with expressing
their thoughts in half-utterances, indicating that the listener can fill in the rest. It is
a kind of compliment one pays one’s interlocutor. At such times multi-active,
dialogue-oriented people are more receptive than linear-oriented people, who
thrive on clearly expressed linear argument.
Reactive cultures not only rely on utterances and semi-statements to further
the conversation, but they indulge in other Eastern habits that confuse the West-
erner. They are, for instance, “roundabout,” using impersonal pronouns (“one is
leaving”) or the passive voice (“one of the machines seems to have been tam-
pered with”), either to deflect blame or with the general aim of politeness.
As reactive cultures tend to use names less frequently than Westerners, the
impersonal, vague nature of the discussion is further accentuated. Lack of eye
contact, so typical of the East, does not help the situation. The Japanese, evading
the Spaniard’s earnest stare, makes the latter feel that they are being boring or
saying something distasteful. Asian inscrutability (often appearing on a Finn’s
face as a sullen expression) adds to the feeling that the discussion is leading
nowhere. Finns and Japanese, embarrassed by another’s stare, seek eye contact
only at the beginning of the discussion or when they wish their opponent to take
their “turn” in the conversation.
Japanese delegations in opposition with each other are often quite happy to sit
in a line on one side of the table and contemplate a neutral spot on the wall fac-

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