Dealing with employees of different cultures may requires some thought along these lines, as well. Many other cultures are more group oriented than we may recognize, and people of these cultures can be motivated more by appeals related to the welfare of the organization, the community, or their families than by even pay raises or bonuses..
Graphics- "A picture is worth a thousand words"-- but only if the picture is familiar to the reader! A classic example is the trash can icon used on Macintosh computer for deleting files. It depicts a metal trash can with straight ribbed sides, and a cover with a handle. This icon was a bit troubling with Macintosh's were marketed worldwide, as few other countries have trash cans that look like this one. Especially in many Asian countries, trash receptacles tend to be woven of reeds or some other plant material, have sloped sides, and no lid. An icon that resembled these trash baskets might be more recognizable to many users around the world.
Similarly, a software package that incorporated email functions used a letter box like the one shown here, with the flag up to indicate that the user had mail. But this is what a mailbox looks like in rural and suburban American only - almost all communications interfaces now use the envelope as a more universally recognizable symbol for email messages.
Even colors have different meanings in different cultures. While we often use red in, for example, operating instructions for a piece of equipment, to indicate danger, other cultures may use green or black for the same meaning. If you want to indicate that your product is the best -- "a blue ribbon winner"-- that might be a mistake in Great Britain, where first place ribbons are green! And white, the color of purity in American, is the color of death in Asia.
So being aware of, and taking into account, cultural differences can be an important factor in choosing the examples we use, the evidence we select to persuade our audience, and the graphics we choose to illustrate our texts. If you are interested in exploring the international dimension of communication further, check out Nancy Hoft's excellent web site, http://www.world-ready.com.
