? Midterm - Module 4-Communication in Multicultural Settingsb
? Midterm - Module 4-Communication in Multicultural Settingsb
Our path to good intercultural communication begins with understanding the two key
concepts of local and global communication. Local communication is based on cultural
context, exposing the culture of those constructing their own identities in the community,
while Globalization paved the path for several human repercussions. The internet
quickly outpaced more conventional forms of communication because technology is
developing quickly. One can instantaneously engage with individuals online, read about
other cultures, and obtain research papers, publications, and articles from other
countries. Therefore, the function of international communication is to alter or bring
about changes in the local environment.
In this module, you will be introduced to many forms of intercultural communication and
strategies to improve your competence as an intercultural communicator. It focuses on
the different registers and varieties of language and their vital role in written and spoken
discourse. You will learn to communicate effectively in a global society and to achieve
effective global communication that could produce a harmonious and borderless
relationship with others.
Activities undertaken in this module will be complied with according to the date set. You
are expected to accomplish the activities within a week or two. In cases where images
in various forms are not viewable or attachments cannot be downloaded, please relay
the inconvenience to your teacher the soonest.
MM4.1 Intercultural
Communication
Intercultural communication is the process of exchanging information and ideas among
individuals or groups from different cultural backgrounds. It is a critical aspect of global
communication because it enables individuals to understand, appreciate, and respect
different cultural perspectives. Intercultural communication plays a vital role in promoting
diversity, inclusivity, and cultural competence in today's globalized world.
Identity and culture are also studied within the discipline of communication to
analyze how globalization influences ways of thinking, beliefs, values, and identity,
within and between cultural environments. Intercultural communication scholars
approach theory with a dynamic outlook and do not believe culture can be
measured nor that cultures share universal attributes. Scholars acknowledge that
culture and communication shift along with societal changes and theories should
consider the constant shifting and nuances of society.
The study of intercultural communication requires intercultural understanding,
which is an ability to understand and value cultural differences. Language is an
example of an important cultural component that is linked to intercultural
understanding.
Intercultural competence;
1.SPECIALIST COMPETENCE
2.METHODOLOGICAL COMPETENCE
3.SELF
4.SOCIAL COMPETENCE
5.HANDLING COMPETENCE; CONSIST OF; KNOWLEDGE, BEHAVIOR, AND
ATTITUDE.
GOAL:
1.ROUTINE
2.NORMALITY
3.PLAUSIBILITY
B. Social Function means the relationship between social action and the
systems of which the action is a part, alternatively, as the result of social action.
Cultural Misconceptions
Communication Contexts
It is inevitable to interact with individuals from different backgrounds. Your
classmates, for example, come from diverse cultural, religious, and familial
backgrounds. When you start working, communicating will be considerably harder
because you'll be dealing with people all the time who have various viewpoints,
personalities, and cultural backgrounds.
Personal context. This involves the background of both the sender and the
receiver of the message. It includes their education, religion, socioeconomic
status, marital status, and beliefs that greatly influence their communication.
Awareness of the mentioned factors can avoid misunderstanding; therefore,
respect is maintained.
Physical context. This pertains to the environment where communication takes
place. It involves tangible factors that can be easily perceived by the senses, such
as temperature, humidity, odor, lighting, noise level, etc. Physical context may also
include proximity, far from or how close the participants are to each other, and the
medium used in sending the message.
Social context. This refers to the kind of relationship that exists between the
sender and the receiver. For example, how you talk to your parents may differ
from how you talk to your siblings, friends, and classmates. Ideally, you
communicate easily with the people who are closer to you.
Psychological context. This includes the emotions and feelings of the
participants in the communication process. It involves their opinions, judgments,
prejudices, attitudes, and perceptions toward each other, which can play part in
the transmission of messages.
Cultural context. This is one of the vital considerations in communication. It
includes the sets of beliefs, value systems, guiding principles, and assumptions
based on one’s race, ethnicity, age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity,
and religion, within which communication happens. Always remember that the
content (what is said) and the delivery (how it is said) vary from culture to culture.
e.g., cultures in the First World Countries (USA, Canada, Northern, and Western
European countries.
● Verbal messages of people from these countries are unclear and mostly
indirect.
3. Chronemics
6. Gender
Masculine Culture
● Characterized by being very performance-driven
● It emphasizes quick results, fulfillment of social obligations, and efficient
generation.
● Values rewards in the here and now
● Work time is separated from leisure time
● It might be impolite to talk about business during lunch or dinner time.
Feminine Culture
● More laid back that it has more patience in waiting for the outcomes of an action.
● It values perseverance towards the achievement of goals.
● People in this culture can juggle work time and leisure time together.
e.g. Japan, China, Hongkong, Taiwan
Communicating across cultures is challenging. Each culture has set rules that its
members take for granted. Few of us are aware of our own cultural biases
because cultural imprinting is begun at a very early age. And while some of a
culture's knowledge, rules, beliefs, values, phobias, and anxieties are taught
explicitly, most of the information is absorbed subconsciously.
The challenge for multinational communication has never been greater. Worldwide
business organizations have discovered that intercultural communication is a
subject of importance—not just because of increased globalization, but also
because their domestic workforce is growing more and more diverse, ethnically
and culturally.
We are all individuals, and no two people belonging to the same culture are
guaranteed to respond in exactly the same way. However, generalizations are
valid to the extent that they provide clues on what you will most likely encounter
when dealing with members of a particular culture.
In synchronic cultures (including South America, southern Europe and Asia) the
flow of time is viewed as a sort of circle, with the past, present, and future all
interrelated. This viewpoint influences how organizations in those cultures
approach deadlines, strategic thinking, investments, developing talent from within,
and the concept of "long-term" planning.
Orientation to the past, present, and future is another aspect of time in which
cultures differ. Americans believe that the individual can influence the future by
personal effort, but since there are too many variables in the distant future, we
favor a short-term view. Synchronistic cultures’ context is to understand the
present and prepare for the future. Any important relationship is a durable bond
that goes back and forward in time, and it is often viewed as grossly disloyal not to
favor friends and relatives in business dealings.
In international business practices, reason and emotion both play a role. Which of
these dominates depends upon whether we are affective (readily showing
emotions) or emotionally neutral in our approach. Members of neutral cultures do
not telegraph their feelings, but keep them carefully controlled and subdued. In
cultures with high affect, people show their feelings plainly by laughing, smiling,
grimacing, scowling, and sometimes crying, shouting, or walking out of the room.
This doesn't mean that people in neutral cultures are cold or unfeeling, but in the
course of normal business activities, neutral cultures are more careful to monitor
the amount of emotion they display. Emotional reactions were found to be least
acceptable in Japan, Indonesia, the U.K., Norway, and the Netherlands and most
accepted in Italy, France, the U.S., and Singapore.
Reason and emotion are part of all human communication. When expressing
ourselves, we look to others for confirmation of our ideas and feelings. If our
approach is highly emotional, we are seeking a direct emotional response: "I feel
the same way." If our approach is highly neutral, we want an indirect response: "I
agree with your thoughts on this."
It's easy for people from neutral cultures to sympathize with the Dutch manager
and his frustration over trying to reason with "that excitable Italian." After all, an
idea either works or it doesn't work, and the way to test the validity of an idea is
through trial and observation. That just makes sense—doesn't it? Well, not
necessarily to the Italian who felt the issue was deeply personal and who viewed
any "rational argument" as totally irrelevant!
When it comes to communication, what's proper and correct in one culture may be
ineffective or even offensive in another. In reality, no culture is right or wrong,
better or worse—just different. In today's global business community, there is no
single best approach to communicating with one another. The key to cross-cultural
success is to develop an understanding of, and a deep respect for, the
differences.
Ethnocentrism This refers to the belief that one’s own culture is better than
others. Ethnocentric attitude is illustrated when people evaluate others based on
their own cultural beliefs and practices. There are three levels of ethnocentrism.
The positive level is when you prefer your culture over other people’s cultures.
The negative level involves the belief that one’s own culture is superior and that
the behavior of others must be evaluated through one’s cultural standards. The
extremely negative level, involves imposing your cultural beliefs on other people.
Ethnocentrism is encouraged when the educational system only teaches a
particular country’s culture and ignores the others. In the same way, religion also
promotes ethnocentrism by promoting a particular set of beliefs.
The Cost of Cultural Ignorance Communicators who fail to realize that persons
from different cultures may not look, think, or act as they run the risk of having
those with whom they interact judge them as insensitive, ignorant, or culturally
confused. The culturally confused pay a high price. Cultural misunderstandings
often lead to lost opportunities and increased tension between people. The
following examples demonstrate the extent to which cultural ignorance affects
communication:
It has become widespread that speakers' use of different languages results in intercultural
miscommunication and misunderstanding. As Scollon and Scollon (1995) state:
When we are communicating with people who are very different from us, it is very difficult to
know how to draw inferences about what they mean, and so it is impossible to depend on
shared knowledge and background for confidence in our interpretations (p. 22).
Indeed, the lack of shared knowledge, beliefs, and cultural diversity make it more complicated
to arrive at the correct inference or interpretation of meanings. But it can also be argued that
English is now a global lingua franca. In fact, with the ASEAN integration, English has been
declared the official or working language of ASEAN. So with just one language to be spoken
or used by many countries, including the 10 member countries of the ASEAN, what else can
go wrong?
It is thus important to emphasize that the ownership of English cannot be attributed to just one
country or to those who use it as a native or home language. The varieties of English spoken
by different speech communities have evolved for a reason. They use it for communal
purposes. The local culture and its speakers have heavily influenced these varieties. Recent
studies have shown that the problem of misunderstanding is not overt and can be traced to
speech perturbations, poorly managed turn-taking, and non-aligned, "parallel talk” (House,
1999, p. 80). Meierkord (2000, p. 11 as cited by Kaur, 2016) emphasizes that communication
in English as a lingua franca (ELF) is "a form of intercultural communication characterized by
cooperation rather than misunderstanding" (p. 135). She noted this in her study of participants
coming from 17 different first language backgrounds, which yielded the result that the
participants displayed communicative behavior not generally associated with their
linguacultural backgrounds, making the talk cooperative and supportive with few
misunderstandings.
Note that verbal utterances may not always cause misunderstandings in intercultural
communication. Misunderstandings may also occur due to the wrong interpretation of the
non-verbal code. For instance, the handshake, commonly done by people introduced to each
other by a third party, should be done and interpreted correctly as the type of handshake
varies from culture to culture. Study the table below and find out how handshakes differ from
country to country.
The Handshake
US Firm handshake
Middle East Shake and free hand placed on the forearm of the other person
Greetings Like handshakes, greeting rituals also vary from culture to culture. Japanese
women bow differently from Japanese men. Could you describe how the bow is done by the
Japanese and the Germans as illustrated in the drawings below?
1. Expatriates
Expatriates, or expats, are people who live and work away from
their native country.
Usually employed by multi-nationals rather than local companies,
expats may be on quite long postings, perhaps two to three years.
They are often quite senior in their organization and are expected to
be able to apply skills learned elsewhere to the new location.
Lack of intercultural awareness, and in particular of the way
things are done round here, can often damage or derail expat
assignments.
1. People Who Work Globally
Even those based in their native country may, in a global economy,
need to work with people from other countries and cultures. A little
intercultural awareness may prevent them giving or taking offense
unnecessarily.
1. People Who Work in Multicultural Teams
There are very few of us who do not have at least some contact with
colleagues or acquaintances who are non-native. Some industries and
organizations have large numbers of migrant workers, for example,
healthcare and social care where nurses are highly sought-after and
often recruited from abroad.
Intercultural awareness helps to ease colleague–colleague and
colleague–manager interactions and prevent misunderstandings.
1. Tourists
You may feel that two weeks’ holiday does not justify finding out a bit
more about the culture of the place you are visiting. But as a visitor,
you are, like it or not, seen as a representative of your country. And it
is perfectly possible to give offense inadvertently.
Developing Intercultural Awareness
What can you do to develop intercultural awareness? Here are
some ideas:
● Admit that you don’t know.
● Acknowledging your ignorance is the first step towards learning
about other cultures.
● Develop an awareness of your own views, assumptions and
beliefs, and how they are shaped by your culture.
● Ask yourself questions like: what do I see as ‘national’
characteristics in this country? Which ‘national’ characteristic do
I like and dislike in myself?
● Take an interest.
● Read about other countries and cultures, and start to consider
the differences between your own culture and what you have
read.
● Don’t make judgements.
● Instead, start by collecting information. Ask neutral questions
and clarify meaning before assuming that you know what’s going
on.
● Once you have collected information, start to check your
assumptions.
● Ask colleagues or friends who know more about the culture than
you, and systematically review your assumptions to make sure
that they are correct.
● Develop empathy.
● Think about how it feels to be in the other person’s position.
● Look for what you can gain, not what you could lose.
● If you can take the best from both your own and someone else’s
views and experiences, you could get a far greater whole that
will benefit both of you. But this requires you to take the
approach that you don’t necessarily know best, and even that
you don’t necessarily know at all
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