Pieter Nel

A Cross Cultural Study of Communication Strategies for Building Business Relationships

This study aims to explore communication strategies for relationship building across cultures from a linguistic as well as a culture-specific perspective. Specifically, it sees business relationships as part of social capital and compares communication strategies used to build relationships in sales firms. The research method is based on a discourse analysis of interviews with business managers, which also incorporates their success stories. In the analysis, relationship building is divided into two stages: the initiating stage and the maintaining stage. It has been found that more interpersonal strategies have been employed by Chinese and Indian business managers when initiating a business relationship. In contrast, the New Zealand and South African managers tend to use more impersonal communication strategies to promote public relations. Similar interpersonal communication strategies are employed in all the target cultures for maintaining relationships. However, a stronger orientation for long-term relationships in the Chinese and Indian cultures has been identified. Furthermore, the communication strategies are dynamic in all the countries investigated since they are becoming more and more multicultural and increasingly globalized in international business and management.

Building business relationships: a preliminary study of business executives’ views

Business is about building relationships and hence relationship building is becoming increasingly important for cross‐cultural management. Current research findings in this area have mainly focused on relationship marketing or on cultural dimensions of business relationships. This preliminary study attempts to break the boundary and aims to explore relationship building from a culture‐specific perspective while in corporating a social constructivist dimension. Specifically, it compares relationship building across four cultures including European, New Zealand, Chinese, Indian and South African cultures. The research method is interpretive, based on an analysis of interview results with business executives from the four target cultures.

Social media usage by academics : some comparisons from a developing country and developed countries’ perspectives

Academics and students across the globe are increasingly using social media and social connections for educational purposes. This paper focusses on a comparison of particular countries regarding the use of social media in teaching by academics and whether they can utilize this platform for effective communication to engage students in learning activities as well. The objective is to identify the usage of social media tools by academics by comparing a multi developed country study (comprising the UK, Australia, New Zealand, USA, Continental Europe and Canada) and a separate developing country study being South Africa. The data was obtained by using SurveyMonkey and executed during 2014 at tertiary educational institutions. For the developing country 204 usable responses were obtained and 711 responses from the developed countries. Suggestions are made regarding the educational environment using social media tools. It is concluded that academics are communicating with students in a positive way via the use of social media tools for educational purposes, but that much scope exists to improve the use of social media for educational purposes by academics. There are also some differences in the use of social media by academics when comparing the developing country and developed countries.

Empirical results of the awareness of social media and its application by academics in teaching in New Zealand

Academics and students across the globe are increasingly using social media (SM) for personal interactions, social connections and educational purposes. The article reviews the awareness and use of SM in teaching by academics and whether they can utilize this platform for effective communication to engage students in learning activities. The overall objective of this research study is to identify how academics can best integrate SM into traditional teaching methods by examining both the advantages and disadvantages of this innovative medium. The research study was conducted during 2015 at a New Zealand tertiary educational institution in a business school comprising various departments. A total of 58usable responses were obtained via an E-survey using survey monkey and then analysing the responses. Suggestions are made to educators regarding a viable social digital educational environment using SM. It is concluded that academics are communicating with students in a positive way via the use of SM for educational purposes and that much scope exists to improve the use of SM for educational purposes by academics. Corresponding author: Michael C. Cant Email address for corresponding author: cantmc@unisa.ac.za First submission received: 13th April 2017 Revised submission received:19th June 2017 Accepted: 16th August 2017

New Zealand HR Employee Communication: Comparing 2000 and 2010 Empirical Results with Forecasts for 2020

Businesses in New Zealand demands high quality and cost effective products and services to remain locally and internationally competitive. This process includes competent managers and human resource (HR) practitioners who communicate effectively with staff. Empirical research was conducted in 2000 and again in 2010 and forecasted for 2020 to compare HR practitioners’ traditional and contemporary communication modes such as Facebook, Twitter and Blogging with staff. Results were obtained via a mailed questionnaire in 2000 and obtaining a response of 10.1%. An electronic questionnaire was used in 2010 and the response was 15.4%. Recommendations are that HR staff could embrace HRIS’ modern social media means in particular to enhance organisation communication to promote the competitiveness of organisations and staff satisfaction.