Embracing Diversity:

Culture, its impacts & adaptations

Module 3: Purposive Communication
“a nation’s culture resides in the hearts and in the soul of its people.”- Mahatma Gandhi

“Culture is the name for what people are interested in, their thoughts, their models, the books
they read and the speeches they hear” -Walter Lippmann

Culture
“It is the learned and shared behavior of a community of interacting human beings”

“a system of beliefs, assumptions and values shared by a group of people”

“shared patterns of behaviors and interaction, cognitive constructs and affective understanding
that are learned through a process of socialization”

“learned set of shared interpretations about beliefs, values and norms that affect the behaviors
of a relatively large group of people”

We are all a part of various groups and subgroups that can be characterized by nationality,
language, gender, age or generation, ethnicity, religion, social class, region, profession and so on.
Globalization, despite having an advanced technology, still has to deal with cultural
differences.

Characteristics of culture
Cultures are...

1. Learned not innate. We think and act as Filipinos because our parents brought us up this
way. We acquired complete knowledge and understanding of our cultural norms from our
parents, teachers, relatives and friends. Our cultural norms satisfy us, we accept them as true
and we follow them.

2. Shared. We act as members of our own cultural group not as individual. Fitting into the group
means acceptance and fellowship.

3. Multifaceted. We are surrounded by cultural norms that affect language, religion, basic world
view, education, technology, organization, politics and law all interacting with one another.
Cultural universals (Behaviors and things common to people who live together in social groups)

4. Dynamic. Cultures constantly change as cultural contact increases, new technology emerge,
and economic conditions vary.

5. Overlapping. We belong to multiple, overlapping cultures as we interact with one another.

Some of these cultures work together while others clash.

Adaptation to New Cultures Ways of Adaptation

Melting pot. A place where people of 1. Cultural Integration

various races or cultures live together and
• Without sacrificing the characteristics of
gradually create one community.
its own culture
• A positive kind of adaptation Acceptance:

• Healthy intermingling of two unique *This is when an individual accepts that this
cultures is how things are in their new environment.

2. Cultural Assimilation Adaptation:

• Often losing the aspects of their This happens when an individual begins to
traditional culture in the process adapt to the dominant culture's values
without giving up their own.
• Happens when immigrants voluntarily
adopt their new country’s language and 5. Cultural Separation
cultural practices
• Refusing to interact or join the dominant
3. Cultural multiculturalism culture

• Cultural diversity is encouraged and • Prefers to interact with the members of

valued their own culture

• Cultures should be accorded special • Often known as outsiders

acknowledgement of their differences
within a dominant political culture Nature of Common Cultural Differences
(Four Basic Traits)
• Engagement with and respect toward
people from distinctly different cultures 1. Leadership – power of influence
(Gamble & Gamble, 2013)
In an organization or even a workplace,
4. Cultural Accommodation how is an individual entitled with power?

• Accommodation in the public sphere What are the factors or traits that s/he must
while maintaining the parent culture in the have to have power? Is it true for all
private sphere (Cultural Accommodation culture?
and Negotiation, 2017)
2. Work Productivity
• Maintaining their cultural identity even
a. Masculine culture
while they strive to establish relationships
with the members of the dominant culture. b. Feminine culture
Euphoria: Have you heard of a male- dominated
profession? a female dominated profession?
''honeymoon stage,‘’ is experienced when
there is a kind of excitement as a person What is your take regarding this?
encounters new people, new ways of living
and a different environment than the one 3. Group Allegiance – individual and group
they came from. orientation

a. Individualistic culture (I) - use personal

characteristics and achievements to define
Culture Shock: themselves and value individual welfare.
* When the newness of the situation wears b. Collectivist culture (We) - define
off and the individual begins to feel fearful, themselves as members of groups, which
homesick for the familiar, confused, can be clans or communities. In these
frustrated, maybe even angry as they try cultures, people consider common goals
and understand the dominant culture and and the group’s welfare most important
its values. (Adler, 1997.)
Considering the Filipino culture, where do Individuals who participate in intercultural
we belong? Are we individualists or interactions gets benefits from these
collectivists? Provide instances to support exchanges:
your claim.
▪ being able to gain access to the
Task Commitment experiences of other human beings,

▪ they improve their communication skills,

High context culture
▪ they develop empathy toward others and
✓ the information is already in the person,
while very ▪ openness to new ideas and
✓ little is in the coded, explicitly ▪ they increase their likelihood to challenge
transmitted part of the message personal beliefs and
✓ people are deeply involved with each ▪ embrace new perspectives.
other.
GUIDELINES ON DEVELOPING
✓ information is widely shared through INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE
simple
1. Widen you field of experience by making
✓ messages with deep meaning (Hall, 1976 new contacts.
in Bai, 2016)
2. Learn about history and the experiences
✓ communication style is more implicit and and aspirations of people from different
indirect cultures.
Low context culture 3. Examine yourself for possible
stereotypes.
✓ information is vested in the explicit code
4. Look at the world from someone else’s
✓ highly individualized, and there is
way of looking at and thinking about
relatively little involvement with other
something, not just yours
✓ communication between people is more
5. Work on becoming more self-confident.
explicit, direct and non-personal
6. Appreciate cultural similarities and
Communicating within and differences
across culture
7. Acknowledge the essential equality and
Communication across cultures or value of all cultures.
intercultural communication takes place
when individuals influenced by different 8. Be sensitive and interpret cultural styles
cultural communities negotiate shared of communication.
meanings in interaction. Individuals who
participate in intercultural interactions gets BARRIERS TO EFFECTIVE
benefits from these exchanges. Besides, INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATION
being able to gain access to the experiences
(McKeiver, 2013; Chase & Shamo, 2013)
of other human beings, they improve their
communication skills, they develop 1. Ethnocentrism- usually defined as a kind
empathy toward others and openness to of ethnic or cultural group egocentrism,
new ideas and they increase their likelihood which involves a belief in the superiority of
to challenge personal beliefs and embrace one’s own group, including its values and
new perspectives. practices, and often contempt, hatred, and
hostility towards those outside the group 5. It fosters better cooperation among
(Bizumic, 2015). different cultural groups.

2. Stereotypes- “pictures in our 6. It isolates us.

heads.”(Lippman,1992 in Zhang, 2009)
7. It can make us create second lives
- giving of certain attributes, labels, or
stigmas to groups or classes (Nisa, Kholil Technology has already been a part of
and Zulkarnain, 2017) our lives. Many would claim that we can
no longer live without technology.
3. Prejudice-refers to a primary negative Nevertheless, technology carries both
perception or irrational judgement perks and setbacks. If you are to divide
100%, how much percentage will you
-created by individuals on the basis of race, allot for its benefits? for its setbacks?
ethnicity, religion, cast or language
(Ivypanda, 2020). Kindly reason out.

4. Assumed Similarities

-Sometimes people assume that two

cultures are not different, but are similar in
their nature. For instance, if an Arab prefers
to drink coffee instead of tea then others
assume that coffee is a popular drink in
UAE. This is not always true as people from
different cultures have different
preferences. The preference of a person or a
group of people does not reflect the entire
culture (Ivypanda,2020).

5. Anxiety

- a state of human condition where a person

has a feeling of unease and nervousness. It
is even sometimes associated with the
feeling of an unrealistic fear

- feeling of not knowing what to expect from

their counterparts and lack of any
knowledge about the ways to interact with
them usually causes a great deal of anxiety
in individuals (Ivypanda,2020).

Impact of technology on
communication
1. Technology provides us with unlimited
information.

2. It creates opportunities for meeting new

people.

3. It helps us keep in touch with family and

friends anywhere in the world.

4. It brings new diversity to our culture and

our lives.