Cross-cultural communication involves understanding differences in how people from diverse cultural backgrounds communicate. It presents several challenges, including issues with language, workplace interactions, lack of communication, and use of jargon between cultures. Key aspects that can impede cross-cultural communication are ethnocentrism, cultural relativism, differences in nonverbal communication like gestures, variations in language, and disparities in views around concepts like power distance between cultures. To improve cross-cultural communication, one should seek to understand their own culture, learn about other cultures, and be aware of potential barriers like stereotypes and prejudice.
Cross-cultural communication involves understanding differences in how people from diverse cultural backgrounds communicate. It presents several challenges, including issues with language, workplace interactions, lack of communication, and use of jargon between cultures. Key aspects that can impede cross-cultural communication are ethnocentrism, cultural relativism, differences in nonverbal communication like gestures, variations in language, and disparities in views around concepts like power distance between cultures. To improve cross-cultural communication, one should seek to understand their own culture, learn about other cultures, and be aware of potential barriers like stereotypes and prejudice.
Cross-cultural communication involves understanding differences in how people from diverse cultural backgrounds communicate. It presents several challenges, including issues with language, workplace interactions, lack of communication, and use of jargon between cultures. Key aspects that can impede cross-cultural communication are ethnocentrism, cultural relativism, differences in nonverbal communication like gestures, variations in language, and disparities in views around concepts like power distance between cultures. To improve cross-cultural communication, one should seek to understand their own culture, learn about other cultures, and be aware of potential barriers like stereotypes and prejudice.
Cross-cultural communication involves understanding differences in how people from diverse cultural backgrounds communicate. It presents several challenges, including issues with language, workplace interactions, lack of communication, and use of jargon between cultures. Key aspects that can impede cross-cultural communication are ethnocentrism, cultural relativism, differences in nonverbal communication like gestures, variations in language, and disparities in views around concepts like power distance between cultures. To improve cross-cultural communication, one should seek to understand their own culture, learn about other cultures, and be aware of potential barriers like stereotypes and prejudice.
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OVERCOMING CROSS-
CULTURAL COMMUNICATION NUP MARY JANE JINKY R CALONGIN TRAINING SPECIALIST III REGIONAL TRAINING CENTER 7 LEARNING OBJECTIVES
AT THE END OF THE LESSON, THE PSJLC STUDENTS WILL BE
ABLE TO: • Discuss the concept of Cross Cultural communication, • Point out the issues in Cross Cultural Communication; • Analyze the aspects and challenges in Cross Cultural Communication and utilize guidelines for inter cultural communication.
mjrcalongin/June 2021 2 COMMUNICATION: DEFINED
• Is the transfer of information and understanding from one person or group to
another person or group.
• Information represents the ideas or concepts we want to pass on to others, such
as giving instructions, describing a murder scene, giving our opinion on different matters.
• The ideas or concepts we pass on to others must be understood as we see them;
that is, we want others to understand the information as we understand it.
mjrcalongin/June 2021 3 WHAT IS CROSS CULTURAL COMMUNICATION? •A field of study that looks at how people from different cultural backgrounds communicate, in similar and different ways among themselves and how they endeavor to communicate across culture.
•A type of communication that provides an understanding of who
employees of different cultures speak, communicate and perceive the world around them. WHAT IS CROSS CULTURAL COMMUNICATION? • The ability to successfully foster, improve and form relationships with the members of different cultures is known as cross-cultural communication. It is based on other culture’s manners, values, decision-making practices, social structure and perceptions, and the way of communication of group members – in person, verbal or non verbal or in writing. OVERCOMING CROSS – CULTURAL COMMUNICATION BARRIERS The study of cross-cultural communication was originally found in the COLD WAR period. These fields include:
anthropology; cultural studies; psychology; and communication. ISSUES IN CROSS – CULTURAL COMMUNICATION 1. Language: when people do business, they need to be speaking the same language. Even if two folds are not natural of a certain language, there must exist a certain consistency in the verbiage in order to avoid some potentially catastrophic circumstances.
2. Workplace: more and more managers are seeing problems
within their own workplace because of a lack of understanding of other cultures, it simply involves two people of a different ethnic background who do not understand of other culture well enough to effectively communicate with each other. 3. Lack of communication: this more often occurs when managers and upper level management do not feel the need to communicate with their workers because they do not know how.
4. Use of jargons: workers do not mean to harm anyone when they
choose hurtful words, but the damage can often times be irreparable. In this case, it is always better to be safe than to be sorry. Aspects of Cross Cultural Communication or Challenges in Cross-cultural communication ETHNOCENTRISM - a tendency exist that to put one's own culture as a center of influence and to use it as a point of reference to measure others.
- Generally, ethnocentric persons have the tendency to interpret the
other culture, based on their own cultural values. The one cultural people may consider another language as inferior or illogical.
- It often involves judging aspects of another culture by the
standards of one‘s own.
- Ethnocentrism refers to the superiority feeling of the members of a
certain culture. THREE (3) STAGES OF ETHNOCENTRISM Denial Defence Minimization
● Denial: Avoids new culture; isolated; denies the existence of new
culture
● Defence: Negative stereotyping; superiority of one‘s own culture
● Minimization: Hide cultural variations; universal truth or values
based on one‘s own assumptions. ETHNOPAULISM - use of name-calling and slurs in reference to other cultures.
- A. A. Roback has proposed the neologism "ethnophaulism"
(derived from Greek roots meaning to disparage an ethnic group) to refer to group insults.
- an ethnic or racial slur, typically caricaturing some identifiable
(often physical) feature of the group being derided. CULTURAL RELATIVISM
- Is the opposite of ethnocentrism
- In this context one has to assess other cultures neutrally, based
on their own context rather than on one's own culture.
- It is the refusal to make any judgement on the cultural values of
other individuals, institutions or cultures. While it avoids the problem of prejudice, it is inadequate, since it involves a denial – or at least a suspension – of your own values. LANGUAGE
- Misunderstandings are common among people who speak the
same language, so it is not surprising that people from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds face communication barriers. Anything from the mispronunciation of a word to a lack of specificity can lead to misunderstandings BEHAVIOR
• Cultural differences in body language and other behaviors can
also cause miscommunications.
• Behavior or behaviour is the actions and mannerisms made by
individuals, organisms, systems or artificial entities in conjunction with themselves or their environment, which includes the other systems or organisms around as well as the physical environment. STEREOTYPES
- are assumptions people make about the characteristics of members
of a cultural or social group. Many stereotypes are negative or even hostile and are a serious barrier to workplace communication.
- If you make a joke about expecting your Latin American colleague to
arrive late for a meeting, you may damage your professional relationship.
- While some cultures may share a general set of characteristics, it is
never okay to assume that individual members of a group have those same characteristics. PREJUDICE IN COMMUNICATION
Another problem for intercultural communication is prejudice, a
judgment made on the basis of past experience rather than an evaluation of present circumstances.
Like ethnocentrism, prejudice tends to emphasize ― “my” values at
the expense of ― “your” values.
In stereotyping, a judgment made on the basis of communicated
information rather than personal experience. Prejudice can be individual or institutional Individual prejudice is focused on cultural out-groups, such as members of other races, religions or lifestyles. PREJUDICE IN COMMUNICATION Institutional prejudice is imbedded in organizations. It may not be conscious, but it gives evidence of discrimination against members of cultural out-groups in situations such as university or hospital admission policies, hiring practices, housing, and transportation security screening.
High and Low Context Cultures: Context is the most important
cultural dimension and also very difficult to define. Anthropologist Edward T Hall originated the idea of context in culture.
Hall breaks up culture into two main groups: High and Low context cultures. He refers to context as the stimuli, environment or surrounding. NONVERBAL DIFFERENCES Gestures and eye contact are two areas of nonverbal communication that are utilized differently across cultures.
For example, American workers tend to wave their hand and use a finger to point when giving nonverbal direction.
Japanese would never use a finger to point towards another
person because that gesture is considered rude in Japan.
Instead, he might gesture with an open hand, with his palm facing up, toward the person. LANGUAGE DIFFERENCES Language, a system of conventional spoken, manual (signed), or written symbols by means of which human beings, as members of a social group and participants in its culture, express themselves.
The biggest issue dealing with cross-cultural communication is the
difficulty created by language barriers. POWER DISTANCE Refers to the extent at which:
• The society accepts the unequal distribution of power in
institutions;
• Employees are reluctant to express disagreements with their
superiors/managers;
• Inequalities in power are normal.
POWER DISTANCE Five (5) types of distance:
1. The distance of disparagement arises when two groups compete
for the same resources. Such situations lead to relationships that are very high in ethnocentrism and very low in cultural relativism. It gives rise to frequent incidents of ethnopaulism.
2. The distance of avoidance likewise exists in an environment high
in ethnocentrism and low in cultural relativism.
3. The distance of indifference involves moderate levels of both
ethnocentrism and cultural relativism associated with an insensitivity to the concerns of others and the use of ethnically disparaging terms. POWER DISTANCE
4. The distance of sensitivity is based on a low level of ethnocentrism
and a high level of cultural pluralism. In this situation, speech is used deliberately to reduce the social distance between cultural groups.
5. The distance of equality exists within an environment of a very low
level of ethnocentrism and a very high level of cultural pluralism. Speech at this distance avoids making judgments against others.4. GUIDELINES FOR INTER CULTURAL COMMUNICATION
1.Understand your own culture and communication variables such
as social role, symbolism, thought patterns, worldview, silence and particularly the various nonverbal aspects of communication.
2. Learn the communication rules for the other culture by reflecting
on its approach to nonverbal and other aspects of communication. Be sensitive to verbal and nonverbal language codes, and use language appropriate for the culture or co-culture with which you are trying to communicate. GUIDELINES FOR INTER CULTURAL COMMUNICATION 3. Approach intercultural communication with a positive attitude and with the goal of understanding the other side rather than preaching about or defending our own.
4. Avoid ethnocentrism that interprets everything on the basis of
your own social and cultural values. Instead, try to understand how a concept, product or practice fits into the other culture.
5. Be flexible. Change your own communication style or your
interpretation of the communication style of the other person.
