Applying the Communication Perspective for Global Compliance Training

With the advancement of telecommunication technologies and strategic outsourcing, globalized business management has become a necessity to establish and maintain operations in lucrative emerging markets. With the world’s largest market, talent pool and labor force, China has emerged as an inevitable destination for many multinationals. However, China’s unique political system, socio-economical settings and cultural environment poses the great challenges to global businesses. One of the greatest hurdles faced by multinationals is effectively transporting Western business conduct and ethics. Embedding Western ethical compliance into operations based on China’s powerful and highly influential cultural practice - Guanxi Networking - is proving to be the ultimate challenge. To address this intercultural disconnect, this research paper applies the principles of the communication perspective, derived from the theories and practice of the Coordinated Management of Meaning (CMM). Our proposal suggests an ethics compliance training based on a framework of trust and collaboration - a new approach to tackle the dilemma between the Western ethics and the cultural norms driven by guanxi networking. This research based proposal explores the application of the communication perspective in a holistic method.