Norwegian Business Culture
In contrast to the indirect, roundabout language common in much of Asia, Latin America and the Middle East, Norwegians typically use direct straightforward language. They tend to be blunt and honest about their business ideas and feelings. However, most Norwegians are somewhat less direct than Danes and Germans. For instance, when not really interested in a particular deal, they may be reluctant to say so bluntly. In this they are similar to many British negotiators.
Reserve
Although a warm and friendly people, most Norwegians have a reserved communication style, compared to Latin Europeans, Latin Americans, Arabs, and North Americans. Whereas people from more expressive cultures employ numerous vigorous hand and arm gestures and animated facial expressions during negotiations, Norwegians use fewer gestures and less lively facial expressions. This characteristic can lead to confusion during negotiations with more expressive counterparts, who sometimes misinterpret Norweigan reticence as lack of interest in the discussion.
Norwegians tend to be soft-spoken and taciturn compared with Southern Europeans. However, business visitors are unlikely to experience the long gaps in conversation encountered in even more reserved cultures such as Finland and Japan.
In Latin America and South America, conversational overlap - interrupting another speaker - is common, while in Norway it is considered rude to interrupt someone mid-sentence. Visiting negotiators from more expressive cultures can cause offense by interrupting their Norwegian counterparts during a business meeting.
Interpersonal Space
Norwegians tend to stand at an arm's length distance from conversational partners in business gatherings. ...
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...tting your glass down, look into the person's eyes again and nod. Both women and men may offer toasts. When in doubt watch the other guests.
Conversation
Norwegians appreciate modesty and a certain degree of humility. They consider flaunting wealth or success to be in poor taste. Material things do not overly impress them. The same lack of interest applies to "name dropping" - the mention of influential or famous people you know. Avoid comments that could be taken as boastful or self-promoting.
Good topics of conversation include hobbies, politics, travel and sports, especially winter sports such as skiing. Norwegians are proud of their country and their history. Many Norwegians have very close ties with nature.
The visitor should avoid being critical of things, attitudes or organizations. Norwegians tend toward restraint when criticizing their own affairs.
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“Communication problems, beyond the obvious language differences, became a real barrier to honest dialogue”.
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Zhang, Jian-Dong; Liu, Leigh Anne; Liu, Wu. “Trust and Decption in Negotiation: Culturally Divergent Effects.” Management and Organization Review, [early view].
jeswald w. salacuse (2) 005 ‘The Top Ten ways that Culture can Affect International Negotiations ‘. Available from < http://iveybusinessjournal.com/topics/global-business/the-top-ten-ways-that-culture-can-affect-international-negotiations#.Uzwdh6iSySp > [ 3 April 2014]
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The opportunity for universal application of the Communication Accommodation Theory gives the field of Communication Studies a method of objectively analyzing conversational strategies and motivations both of which are considered to be overwhelmingly subjective. The ways in which communicators of different cultures perceive one and other [as individuals or members of a group] varies greatly even in a two-person interaction. The number of cultural identifications one certain individual might possess may be numerous, and already makes structured analysis of their communication choices in an interaction difficult. By guiding the process of conducting research with CAT, researchers are able to analyze the communication behaviors of any set of cultural communicat...
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