Dewi, Serlinda Vionita and Rahardjo, Turnomo (2025) UNDERSTANDING WORKPLACE DYNAMICS: COMMUNICATION STYLES BETWEEN TURKISH MANAGERS AND INDONESIAN EMPLOYEES IN A LABOUR-INTENSIVE SETTING. Undergraduate thesis, Fakultas Ilmu Sosial dan Ilmu Politik Universitas Diponegoro.

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Abstract

This study explores how four Indonesian employees manage daily communication with
Turkish managers in a labour-intensive furniture factory in Central Java. Using theories
by Geert Hofstede’s power-distance dimension, Edward T. Hall’s high-context
communication, and Stella Ting-Toomey’s Face-Negotiation Theory, the research is
analysed by descriptive phenomenology. This research aims to identify key
communication barriers faced by Indonesian employees when working with Turkish
managers in a labour-intensive industry and examine the interaction techniques used
by the employees to address and navigate these communication barriers. Primary data
were collected through in-depth interviews, then analysed by noting the verbatim
interviews and putting them together under the same sub-theme for each informant.
This is done to understand individual sense-making before building cross-case patterns.
From the cross-case pattern analysis, five main themes emerge that include: Language
and Communication Challenges; Top-Down Communication and Limited Employee
Voice; Employee’s Meaning-Making and Response; Peer Support and Team
Communication; Expectations for Better Understanding in Workplace Communication.
When combined across cases, these themes form two bigger patterns: negotiating
cross-cultural communication in a hierarchical workplace and collective coping and
cultural adaptation in daily activities.
Findings show that most miscommunication begins when contrasting communication
due to different cultural habits, such as communication styles, firm tone, and
differences in word order. In this high-power-distance setting, Turkish managers give
brief instructions that assume shared understanding, while Indonesian workers value
harmony and hold back from asking follow-up questions even when they don’t
understand. To make sense of these unclear instructions, employees read facial cues,
ask co-workers, and bottle up frustration. These ways sometimes help their
interpretation over time, but might also create stress and repeated errors. All four
informants, therefore, hope for clearer two-way dialogue: managers who stay present
at the company, repeat instructions, and allow questions so that cultural and linguistic
gaps no longer hinder daily work.
Keywords: intercultural communication, power distance, face negotiation, highcontext culture, labour-intensive industry
119. Ilmu Komunikasi 2025

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