Welcome to the fifth edition of Intercultural Communication in the Global Workplace. The fourth edition has been used around the globe. We are grateful for the reception of the earlier editions, particularly the many comments and suggestions users have given us. We have incorporated those comments into the fifth edition and are confident that this book presents a valuable tool in your understanding of the impact of culture on international business communication.

The effects of culture on human behavior in general and on global business activities in particular make headline news almost every day. More than ever businesspeople cite cultural understanding as the single most important factor in international success. Prof. Dr. Marion Debruyne is quoted as saying "Culture is the real power of globalization." Dramatic changes in communication technology—the growth around the planet of satellite and cellular telephony—since our first edition have made international communication commonplace.

When we wrote the first edition, e-mail was just starting to be used widely, but it was almost impossible to attach files to an e-mail. We used FedEx to send book chapters to each other for comments and suggestions. Today, files can be sent easily all over the world; we can talk to each other and even see each other on our computer screens. Blogs, Facebook, and Twitter have revolutionized communication. Technology allows us to use rich channels that do not just transmit text but also our gestures, facial expressions, and pauses. We can communicate over vast distances as if we sat in the same room. Companies have embraced this new technology to facilitate communication among their employees from around the world. A survey of new media published in The Economist magazine in April 2006 reported that thanks to broadband technology, mass media are being replaced by personal media created by the users of the Internet.1 Since 2006, personal media devices have developed further, and offer, in addition to a chance to speak and listen, the capability to receive and transmit data to and from mobile devices. "Nowadays, YouTube streams more data in three months than all the world's radio stations plus cable and broadcast television channels stream in a year." It's a long way from the development over 40 years ago of technology to allow internetworking—the origin of the "Internet"—to exist.

The technological revolution means that organizations need intercultural communication skills even more today than they did when this book was first written. The fifth edition of Intercultural Communication in the Global Workplace has updated discussions of globalization and new technology in business communication. The discussion of multicultural teams in the workplace has been expanded.

What else is new? The fifth edition has a new discussion about the study of communication in different cultures, and the study of communication between cultures. It also shows how intercultural communication research fits within the dominant research paradigms, and includes an analysis of their strengths and weaknesses. The descriptions of religions and their influence on intercultural business communication has been expanded. The concept of Cultural Intelligence (CQ) is now discussed in greater detail throughout the book. Chapter 3 has a new section on culture's influence on how people reason, and Chapter 4 has a new section on self-identity and self-construal in relation to culture. Chapter 8 includes an expanded discussion about culture's effect on conflict management.

Chapter 12 ties together the concepts discussed in all the other chapters. It applies updated intercultural knowledge to the case of DaimlerChrysler and examines the cultural reasons for the failure of the merger within just seven years of its beginning. This chapter also introduces the role diverse teams play in the success of international business. Two in-depth cases in the Appendix to Chapter 12 provide an opportunity to apply intercultural knowledge to specific problems.

Throughout the book we have added more short cases, and kept the introductory vignettes to each chapter to illustrate the issues covered in that chapter. New illustrations and examples have been added, often drawn from cultures not mentioned in the earlier editions.

Users of earlier editions will notice that the appearance of the fifth edition is more user-friendly, as we continue to improve the book's layout and add new exhibits.

These changes reflect our continued commitment to provide a source for readers that addresses culture and cultural variations, communication across cultures for business purposes, and the way culture affects organizations.

Many new books have arrived in the marketplace since we finished our fourth edition, but we are convinced this one is unique: It addresses the issues of culture and communication within the context of international business.

The fifth edition of Intercultural Communication in the Global Workplace, like the first four editions, provides examples of how cultural values and practices impact business communication. We explore the relationships among the cultural environments of the firm and the structure of the firm. We look at how companies and individuals communicate. Throughout the discussions about specific communication tasks, we concentrate on the underlying cultural reasons for behavior. This approach, as we asserted from the very first edition, we confidently believe will help the reader develop an ability to work successfully within an environment of cultural diversity both at home and abroad.

We have continued to strive to avoid specific cultural viewpoints in this book but have come to realize since the first edition that total cultural neutrality is not possible. Nor is it desirable in a sense; every human has some cultural filters through which she or he views the world. And comments from users have confirmed this. Nevertheless, the framework we develop here applies to all readers regardless of their native cultures. This book is for anyone from anywhere around the globe who wants to develop and improve intercultural business communication skills. Intercultural business communication is an exciting field, and we are proud to be able to contribute to a broader understanding of it.