Bridging the Communication Gap in Global Commerce: Insights on Cross-Cultural Dynamics with Dr. Deirdre Mendez

This post was created following a discussion with Deirdre Mendez of the Center for Global Business at the University of Texas at Austin in Austin, Texas. To learn more about the Center for Global Business, head to the bottom of the article!

*The information shared is only for context and does not constitute an official endorsement of Internatnotes Blog.

As I enter my junior year, I’ve come to learn that for some students, the path towards the future is simple and constantly direct. For some students, knowing what they want to do with their future comes easily, and they never need to look back. 

Unfortunately, I’ve never been one of those students. 

The thing is, though, I’m coming to realize that among the success stories of the world lie some people whose paths were merely anything but direct. Instead, their paths often include trekking into lesser-known territory and not being afraid to do so. 

This was particularly the case for my interviewee, Professor Deirdre Mendez at the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas in Austin. During our discussion, not only did I have the opportunity to delve into her research on cross-cultural management and its applications, but to gauge her experiences as an educator in her field. 

The Calling to Intercultural Communication

In Mendez’s professional life, she serves in a variety of roles, such as the director of the Center of Global Business at UT Austin, the head of the Global Management Certificate, and a faculty member in the McCombs School of Business's Government, Business, and Society Department. Subsequently, when initiating my conversation, I was interested in knowing what had led her to choose her globally-minded focus out of the vast disciplines in the business industry. 

In response, Mendez explained that her interests in international development and management originated from a “clear passion” for languages and culture from a young age, starting when she lived abroad, and later, supported by her ability to speak a few languages by the time she had reached college. Although, despite her firm interest, she commented that having an interest in this field was proven difficult in her high school experience, as she mentioned that her middle school and high school “lacked cultural studies.”

As she continued to explain her navigation of these passions, I was told that her passions did not revolve around the literature and writing of languages, but more about their verbal and structural anatomy, historical development, and real-world applications. Hence, when discussing her interest to the chair of the Spanish department at Tulane University, Mendez was introduced to the field of linguistics, whose contents would later impact the development of her communication-oriented career. 

In the coming years, Mendez would complete her Bachelor's of Arts in Linguistics at Tulane University and soon after, her PhD in Sociolinguistics at the University of Texas at Austin. 

The Purpose of Cultural Understanding in Business

But how did Mendez utilize this background for professional endeavors? As our discussion progressed, I was given an opportunity to gain an understanding of her career highlights and extensive research revolving around intercultural management.

Emphasizing her development as a peer in linguistics and soon enough international management, Mendez asserted that she initially didn’t want a career in academia, and instead, fostered a desire to “connect with people place to place” and assist people facing “cultural difficulties”  in the workforce, leading her to instruct cultural approaches in business. 

Specifically, much of her work consisted of different disciplines, such as creating a program oriented on internationalization in the Central Texas region, and working as a consultant for Fortune 100 companies in international management for roughly two decades. 

But why would an approach of culture even be necessary in business? In comparison to domains such as finance, operations, and research and development, some may believe that this specialization would be proven as a faulty field in the business world without insight.  

Although it is increasingly evident that without an understanding of global cultural practices in business, many corporations have struggled to stay afloat. 

For instance, it has been highly recorded that over 70 percent of international ventures have failed due to cultural differences, according to the Harvard Business Review. 

With such relevant issues in the current world, fueled by globalization and increasing international connections, many have sought to design practical solutions and tools, such as Mendez herself. 

Much of Mendez’s work, revolving around her ARC System Principles, builds on the foundation of Cultural Understanding, a principle that Mendez defines as a mix of “knowing that cultures are different,” such as through behaviors of cultural sensitivity and cultural awareness, and the pursuit of achieving success in the business world through this knowledge rather than believing “their culture is the only way.”

As our conversation progressed, I was consulted on the applications of these principles in real-life scenarios. For instance, Mendez generalizes that through her experiences conducting business with Japanese business partners, she has found the standards of communication to differ, as while many of her American co-workers actively voiced their opinions in business practices and expressed much emotion, many of her Japanese counterparts did not. Subsequently, Mendez asserted that many of her American coworkers therefore “did not realize when there was a misunderstanding or problem.”

Thus, she attempts to utilize her principles—consisting of analyzing the eight cultural dimensions that include status, emotion, organization, etc., recognizing one's relationship with these tendencies in business practices, and lastly, capitalizing on these differences for success in the workplace—to alleviate these current culture-centered problems faced in business today, even publishing a book covering these contents in 2017.

The American Stance in International Business 

When discussing with Mendez, an additional topic that I hoped to learn about was American relations in the field of business. Specifically, I aspired to expand my knowledge from just the bits of information that I receive from reading the recent headlines of rising American trade tariffs.

So what makes the United States a unique character in the industry? In response, Mendez argues that America faces a disadvantage: its sheer size as a nation. Further, this circumstance can be applied in two particular ways: its business model and its student opportunities for international learning.

She describes that “internally [American businesses] can become quite successful and large without ever doing international business because of the geographic size and large market, [while] in the Netherlands, you’re going to have to sell abroad to be successful.” The emphasis on American practices could be further supported by the findings of a 2015 Harvard Business Review article, claiming that a third of the top ten percent of American companies have been reported to have little to no international ventures. 

Additionally, due to American universities' distance from various parts of the world, fewer students are capable of studying abroad long-term.  In comparison, Mendez reflects on many of her European students requiring international internships in order to complete their international business degrees—a requirement that has failed to be entirely implemented in America. 

However, these circumstances must be viewed in the context of the Erasmus+ Program and the Schengen Zone. The program provides a great amount of support to students in Europe seeking to study internationally through financial support and academic frameworks, and furthermore, the Schengen Zone alleviates most border crossing issues, allowing for easier travel between countries when studying abroad. Consequently, these factors have led to a relatively high proportion of students seeking credit mobility for longer terms in comparison to American students—where roughly nine percent of European graduates had studied abroad for at least three months—while the chance for American graduates to immerse themselves in foreign cultures that could complement their studies remains low. 

Therefore, with both of these circumstances, Mendez asserts that the “American business model is very well-developed and fixed [to American standards and scenarios],” and consequently, she has worked with many businesses that have faced “steep learning curves” when seeking to spread their ventures abroad.

For instance, refer back to the original statistic: 70 percent of international mergers fail due to cultural differences. Additionally, published studies by the Economist Intelligence Unit have shown that 90 percent of executives from the top sixty-eight countries have labeled cross-cultural communication as their top management challenge.

These very circumstances are what had encouraged Mendez’s pursuit of a new field of inquiry and discussion, utilizing a degree based on communication to practical use. 

The Reflections of a Teaching Career and the Next Generation

During our discussion, Mendez emphasized that much of her passion surrounding this field was due to much of her own difficulty when initially navigating it. Once forging her own journey in cross-cultural communication, she acknowledges that there were many “analytical details” that she had to eventually come to understand prior to being able to thrive in her field. Therefore, her struggle with these lessons fostered a desire to share them with others, hence why she began her consulting role over twenty years ago, speaking with  Fortune 100 companies.

But as her career progressed, Mendez was met with an epiphany when applying for a job at the University of Texas at Austin. Although Mendez initially believed that she did not want a job in academia, she realized that by instructing young students rather than older businessmen and women, she could “teach them before they ever made the mistakes that her older counterparts [have to] unmake.”

Since that moment roughly a decade ago, she’s had a variety of fond memories revolving around her lessons and students, but out of the countless amounts, Mendez explains that she has enjoyed seeing “the light bulb go on,” specifically meaning when students are capable of applying the concepts they learn in class to group exercises. 

Furthermore, she fondly recalls reconnecting with her former students who claim that “[they] use her material every day in their professions,” whether it is revolving international management or additional international business practices.

Nevertheless, my conversation with Mendez was an incredibly thought-provoking and pleasant experience.  I had entered our conversation deeply tethered to a belief of following an established and uniform path, but once discussing her passions for her research and her career development, I was reminded that some of the greatest paths are the ones we aim to forge ourselves. Although some students, like myself, may face difficulty when finding a path aligned with our vast interests, Mendez’s story aims to demonstrate that some of the most fulfilling paths are the ones we create ourselves, day by day.

What is the Center for Global Business? The Center for Global Business (CGB) at UT Austin's McCombs School of Business is dedicated to developing globally competent leaders and driving world-class research in international business. The center manages the International Business (IB) major and several IB minors, supporting students through specialized advising, mentorship, and extensive experiential learning opportunities. It serves as a central hub for global initiatives, research, and connections with international alumni and businesses worldwide.