Answer to Question 1
Answer: In the United States and many other Western business cultures, people tend to communicate bad news explicitly. They may soften the bad news by using a buffer or subordinating it, but at some point in the message, they will state the bad news. For example, if you ask an American whether he has finished analyzing data for a meeting, a bad news answer might sound like this:
Although the analysis isn't complete, we have enough for the meeting.
The analysis was more difficult than I anticipated, so I'm not quite ready.
Sometimes an American will imply the bad news, but even then the message is obvious.
If we can move the meeting to Friday, I'll be able to complete the analysis.
By contrast, in many Eastern cultures, including India, people say no in a very different way. They may ignore the question, change the subject, respond with another question, or make a statement from which you will infer the negative news. In Speaking of India, intercultural expert Craig Storti illustrates a range of possible ways someone from India might say no without actually saying it:
Who exactly is going to be at the meeting?
Do you mean all the data?
Is tomorrow good for you?
Let me ask my team.
We'll try our best.
We have been working late every night.
Within the Indian culture, these answers would not be considered evasive. The audience would understand that all these answers equally mean that the analysis is not ready and the speaker is uncomfortable saying no.
When you communicate with people from different cultures, listen very carefully to be sure you hear the bad news and do not assume a positive answer. Similarly, you may need to change the way you deliver bad news.
Answer to Question 2
Answer: Firing via a text message or email is impersonal and rude, and a face-to-face approach is preferred. In one case several hundred workers were fired by email, which resulted in infuriated workers who retaliated against the company by bashing it in the media. Losing a job is difficult regardless of the medium in which the news is communicated, but compounding that with a lack of sensitivity and respect can only make a bad situation worse.
Culture and sensitivity testing.
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