Intercultural communication 2

Communication,
Culture,
PROF. DR. DOLORES SANCHEZ
BENGOA
and Work
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CULTURAL DIVERSITY AND
COMMUNICATION
• Changing demographics
• Increased multi-national companies
• Global talent prioritized
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US GROWING DOMESTIC
DIVERSITY
CHANGE IN DEMOGRAPHICS
 U.S. population undergoing dramatic change
 Minorities now represent 35% of U.S. population
 Growth of “cultural generation” gap
 Increase in 45-64 age cohort (largely due to the
Baby boom generation)
 Younger generation growth largely product of
Hispanic and Asian births
 25 million workers or 15% of the total labor force
were from outside USA
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Immigrants have been responsible for 25% of all
U.S. patents.
U.S.
IMMIGRATION
AND ITS
CONTRIBUTION
EUROPE 2018?????
Chinese and Indian immigrants accounted 40% of
the patents coming from work at Intel
Corporation.
40% of the Ph.D.s. awarded by U.S. universities in
science and engineering, and 65% in computer
science, went to foreign-born students (2006).
During the period of 1995-2005, 25% of all
engineering and technology companies started in
the US had at least one immigrant as a founder.
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QUESTIONS TO REFLECT
1.
2.
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Working with other cultures in your country how do
you think the dominant culture influence cultural values?
As a member of a host culture, what responsibilities do
you have to make immigrants feel comfortable in their
new cultural environment?
CULTURAL DIFFERENCES
IN BUSINESS
• Customs and behavior
• Formality
• Social customs
•
•
•
•
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Greetings
Business cards
Gift giving
Socializing
CULTURAL DIFFERENCES IN
BUSINESS
Time
 Monochronic
 Polychronic
Tolerance for conflict –
expressing emotions. Country
examples.
Gender roles
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HIGH CONTEXT VS.
LOW CONTEXT
CULTURES
American anthropologist Edward T. Hall (1960-1990)
o In low context cultures the communication style is determined by specific terms and
concepts being central together with clearness and directness.
o The advantage of this type of communication is that there is no space for reading
between the lines since everything will be said, go straight down to business avoiding
wasting time on small talks and proceeding directly to a rational discussion of the tasks
to accomplish.
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HIGH CONTEXT CULTURES
• Communication is dependent upon the person and the situation.
• Information is shared among people, and some people have more privileged
access than other. Much is communicated in what is not said Hall (in Barsoux and
Schneider, 2003, p.44).
• Requires a special ability to get the real message and avoid ambiguity.
• Sometimes, a direct style of communication will creates embarrassment and
discomfort”. Barsoux and Schneider, (2003).
• The degree of how low or high context a country is should be careful
researched.
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DIMENSIONS OF
CULTURAL DIVERSITY
• High-Context
• Meaning
conveyed
subtly
• Save face
• Social harmony
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• Low-Context
• Meaning
conveyed by
words spoken
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WESTERN VERSUS
CHINESE
WESTERN
CHINESE
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• Do you understand?
• Am I being clear?
Responsibility placed on
others
Speaker takes responsibility
for understanding
CAN DO VS KLARHEIT
• John, the American client has expressed
the desire to have a particular change in a
product that Wolfgang, the German
employee from the supplier company, is
developing.
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COMMUNICATION AND
VALUES
• American working professionals value a “can-do” approach
to decision making processes, in which ideally, one looks at
a situation and focuses on finding solutions, quickly. An
employee who is good at finding creative solutions is
considered to be “pro-active”: a highly prized characteristic
in American society
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COMMUNICATION AND
VALUES
• Americans are known to make continual alternations during a product development even
if these cancel earlier decisions. Germans tend to feel this is a poor engineering decision
because projects are planned in detail and should not be adjusted. This is because
alterations imply the engineering team was not thorough during the planning stage.
Therefore,Wolfgang is more than likely to want to disagree.
• The disagreement is there: an American may take more time to show a person oriented
style by extending the token agreement, and focusing on points that indicate agreement.
• In contrast, Germans tend to value clarity and discussion in the process of finding a
solution. By presenting information one shows cooperation and good-will.
• In addition, the receiver doesn’t need to interpret the meaning or assume the speaker’s
intentions. In Wolfgang’s world, an employee is valued for their ability to show technical
know-how by pointing out the “problems” connected with suggestions. Critical thinking is
highly valued and often misunderstood by Americans who expect a can-do approach.
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CO-CULTURAL DIMENSIONS
OF DIVERSE SOCIETY
• Language
• Regional Differences
• Ethnicity
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CO-CULTURAL DIMENSIONS
OF DIVERSE SOCIETY
Generational Differences
 Matures
 Boomers (1945-1964)
 Generation X (19651980)
 Generation Y (19802000)
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CO-CULTURAL DIMENSIONS
OF DIVERSE SOCIETY
• Disabilities
• Communication Guidelines
• People with disabilities
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RECOMMENDATIONS
19
1.
Be naturally cordial
2.
Offer the same level of respect that you would to any other
person
3.
Don’t be pushy. If you offer assistance, wait until your offer
is accepted
4.
Accommodate to the disability: e.g. when meeting a person
who is visually impaired, identify yourself and others who
may be with you. When speaking with a person in a
wheelchair place yourself at eye level
RECOMMENDATIONS
• Be patient: perhaps ask short questions with short answers,
nod, shake the head. Never pretend to understand if you
are having difficulties.
• Relax: don’t be embarrassed if you use a standard
expression like “see you later” to somebody with sight
difficulty. Don’t be afraid to ask questions when you are
unsure of what to do.
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DIVERSITY AND
ETHICAL ISSUES
Responding to Challenges
• Avoiding – refuse to make business
• Accommodating - acceptance
• Forcing – insist of doing business
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DIVERSITY AND ETHICAL ISSUES
Responding to Challenges
• Educate and persuade: Try to convince people that your
principles are good
• Negotiate-compromise
• Collaborating and finding common problem solving
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COMMUNICATING
ACROSS DIVERSITY
Become culturally literate
View diversity as opportunity
Avoid ethnocentrism
Adapt your behavior
Create dialogue
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ETHNOCENTRISM
• The inclination to see all events from the perspective of
your own culture and to evaluate your own culture as
superior
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CULTURAL RELATIVISM
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INTERCULTURAL SENSITIVITY
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GROUP WORK
• Find a video/ YouTube that demonstrates intercultural
communication. With your group analyze the video. Identify
comments and/or behaviors that block or promote
authentic relations.
• For those behaviors that block authentic relations suggest
ways to improve communication and share your finding to
the class.
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