National Specifics of Kazakh Etiquette in Business Communication

Until recent time traditional etiquette of Kazakhs was not a subject of special researches though fragmentary mentions of various etiquette norms and descriptions of some behavior standards could be found in many ethnographic works devoted to traditional Kazakh culture. Etiquette is the most important component of culture, its organizing beginning. It can be defined as a set of moral principles of communication and the concrete standards of socially approved behavior specific to any community.

Modern Kazakhstan, since the country gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, has become very open to foreign investment and immigration. The country has been pushing forward to build sustainable economic growth through exporting its vast natural resources, as well as trying to cement a more concrete national identity at home.

The main features of national Kazakh character are the endurance, persistence, the ability to overcome a hardship; the ability to adapt quickly to constantly changing conditions; unity and negative attitude to the conflicts. They are also hospitable, reliable and sociable. They are rather selective in the attitude towards people around them. The attitude depends on their social status, patrimonial state and religion. In the majority Kazakh people are conscientious, firm to sufferings, unpretentious and modest. The respectfulness, gentleness, compassion to grief of the fellowmen are the main peculiarities of Kazakh people.

Kazakh communication culture is the combination of elements of modern (urbanized, European) and traditional (archaic, east) cultures.

The basic principles of traditional Kazakh etiquette, despite its transformation, remained in modern norms of communication. For example, the principle of honoring of seniors. However it changed: there is no branched hierarchy of seniority which was observed earlier in traditional society [80, p. 68]

The principle of tolerance remains as the universal value. It is expressed not only in concrete etiquette norms, but in the spirit and   atmosphere of communication.

The traditional Kazakh etiquette originates in archaic, east culture of the country. The word «Kazakh» is translated from ancient Turkish as «the free and independent nomad». For centuries Kazakhstan was the country of nomads and cattle-farmers and that fact influenced in many respects on the national culture of people’s communication. Nowadays Kazakhstan is an independent state and develops the international relations, striving for the importance on the world business arena that forces it to be in etiquette questions more like European states, than Asian ones.

Greeting etiquette

As one of the forms of demonstration of respectful, tolerant attitude Kazakhs use numerous ritualized signs of greetings, special for gender and age, expression of gratitude, wishful thinking, honoring of senior people. Greetings reflect the sense of etiquette, the place of the communicating people in social hierarchy as well as the confirmation of social structure of society. 

Therefore there are many forms of greetings depending on the fact who and whom welcomes. Person’s age, gender, his social status, family relations, person’s occupation as well as the extent of acquaintance are essential in greting etiquette defining the welcoming people’s behavior. 

For greeting Kazakhs use quite soft handshake, sometimes with both hands which is followed by a smile and visual contact. Closer friends, but same-gender, embrace each other at a meeting, cuddling up.

The main principle in greeting is the order in priority which is kept up till nowadays, – younger people should welcome the elder ones. It concerns both age, and social status: the employee welcomes the chief, and the pupil – the teacher. When age-mates, colleagues meet, they greet each other simultaneously. These  traditional rules are also followed when addressing to a stranger. Greeting only a familiar person and ignoring the other one being nearby is considered as a lack of good education.  A woman and a man greet each other verbally.

Business Greetings

In Kazakhstan, business greetings tend towards the formal. Handshakes are the common greeting, especially between two men. When greeting a woman, wait to see if she initiates a handshake, and if she does not, then a polite nod will suffice. Make sure to shake hands with every person if you are meeting with a group of people, and to do the same when leaving. Business cards have much significance attached to them in Kazakhstan, so make sure that you have some suitably impressive cards ready to exchange preferably with translations into Kazakh and/or Russian on them. Kazakhs are fairly relaxed about using first names. As a general rule it would be prudent to use titles and surnames, but you should expect to be invited to use first names relatively early on in your relationship.

Business Culture in Kazakhstan

Today's Kazakhstan is a modern culture, thriving in the post-Soviet era. The traditional Kazakh lifestyle has blended with influences from Western societies, as well as those from Kazakhstan's Russian and Chinese neighbours. Kazakhstan participants of business meetings steadily choose clothes according to the western style. They aren't late for business negotiations, but you shouldn't expect from them that the business meeting will end exactly to the appointed time. Kazakhs like to run business slowly, paying attention to small details so as to be confident in reliability of the partners. Therefore negotiations in Kazakhstan is the lengthy process demanding endurance and patience in waiting.

Kazakh people are the representatives of collectivist culture. That is why they attribute great value to cooperation, compromises, harmony, preservation and development of relationship and people’s personal qualities. Therefore Kazakhs are indifferent to fierce competition. If you ever had a wish to become a diplomat, then Kazakhstan is the best place to present yourself as the diplomat and not to abandon the role until you leave the airport in your homeland.  

Kazakhs are able to do business in a refined manner: they don’t speak in a blunt manner, but generally, using diplomatic receptions of communication. Kazakhs try to avoid direct questions, seek to recheck carefully any information. At the same time,  Kazakhs can raise their voice during negotiations to gain their point of view. Such demonstration of inclemency tells more about their aspiration to stand up for themselves in any situations than about aggression.

As in family life, the business world in Kazakhstan is defined by a strict hierarchy. Therefore all decisions will be made by senior management in a «top-down» fashion, so you should avoid trying to press too hard for a commitment unless you are dealing with the upper echelons of the company or the business owner.

At business meetings the chief representatives of the company sit at the head of the table, and other employees accommodate in decreasing rank order. During the meeting the discussion is begun by the senior in office, and then, in the rank order, the other members of the team are invited to the conversation course.

Such phenomena of the last decades, as the open borders of our state and the expansion of mobility have led to changes in lifestyle of Kazakhstan people and their worldview. To meet this need, high school must create a qualitatively new educational system that can provide real interaction of specialists in global multicultural environment. Nowadays the aim of teaching foreign languages becomes as a set of specific skills, among which is formation of linguistic identity, where foreign language is necessary «for life» for «communication in real situations» «  as well as to  implement effective communication with the representatives of different cultures. The criterion effectiveness of real communication is its productivity, achievement of mutually beneficial results.