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CMA Foundation · Fundamentals of Business Laws and Business Communication · Intercultural and International Business Communication

Ravi, a Chennai manager, negotiates with a Gulf client and gets an indirect reply, 'We will consider it', which Ravi takes as acceptance and begins shipment. The client had meant a polite refusal. Which concept best explains the error?

The error arose because Ravi interpreted an indirect, polite refusal through his own cultural lens and ignored differing cultural styles of expressing disagreement. This is an intercultural decoding problem, not a channel fault or physical noise, and he should have sought clarification before shipping.

  1. ARavi ignored differing cultural styles of expressing refusal and interpreted the message through his own cultural lensCorrect
  2. BThe client used an inappropriate channel
  3. CRavi's message suffered from physical noise
  4. DThe message was sent without feedback being possible

Explanation

Indirect refusals are common in many cultures to preserve courtesy. Ravi decoded the message by his own norms, an intercultural misinterpretation. No channel failure or physical noise is described, and feedback was possible but not sought.

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