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Cultural Awareness and Communication
- 1. Cultural Awareness and Skill Building Instructor Kesia Loyd Photo Courtesy of U.S. Army
- 2. Perspective How do I see me? How do I see you? How do you see me?
- 3. “Know Thyself.” Pythia, The Oracle of Delphi How do you see me?
- 4. American Cultural Characteristics Personal control over environment; self interest Change is good: link to progress and growth Time controlled: planned, scheduled, and productive
- 5. American Cultural Characteristics Interpersonal Communication Equality: “We hold these truths to be self-evident …” Competition & free enterprise Future oriented
- 6. American Cultural Characteristics Action / work oriented Informal Open, direct, honest Practical and efficient
- 7. American Cultural Characteristics Materialistic, industrious, innovative Individualism / privacy: each individual unique; privacy valued; freedom of expression Self-help: upward mobility; self-made worth
- 8. How can the application of any cultural model hinder our ability to communicate with an individual of the culture? An individual from a culture may not fit into the assessment of the culture.
- 9. Cultural Analysis Question So, here I am: a salesperson working to close a new car deal with happy husband and wife. We’re on the lot next to a beautiful new family vehicle. I talk vehicle specs to the man and I put the woman in the driver’s seat. How did the salespersons prejudice effect the salespersons strategy? The prejudice toward what is necessary to make the sale.
- 10. Impediments to Observation Bias and Prejudice
- 11. Impediments to Observation Cultural Bias “The Bowling Ball effect” Cultural Prejudice “The Halo or Horns effect” Validates Self by diminishing Others
- 12. Communications Model The Sender The Receiver The Message Photo Courtesy of U.S. Army The Message Encode Decode Photo Courtesy of U.S. Army Environmental and Social Filters
- 13. The Communication Agenda All communication has agenda My agenda - 1 + Your agenda - 2 + ( Our agenda - 3 ) + ( Their agenda - 4 ) 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 = infinite maybe
- 14. Interpersonal Communications Non-verbal Dress Posture Gesture Facial Expression Involuntary cues Verbal Volume Inflection Cadence Words
- 15. PE: American Cultural Characteristics influence on communication. Determine how each of the characteristics serves as a barrier to effective cross-cultural communication. Determine how you can apply some of the characteristics to enhance communication.
- 16. Questions
- 17. Summary I cannot say “I disagree” until I can say “I understand”
Editor's Notes
- I will start off showing this video about Gesture, Culture and meanings. NarrativeWe routinely communicate automatically and without much thought. Our communication is an expression of our individual values and beliefs. It is a behavior nurtured, strengthened, and shaped over time by societal norms. Even with a common background of culture, we struggle to communicate with our spouse. Much of marriage counseling is communications counseling. <Cue Animation> (“Awareness and Application” fades out and “Counseling” fades in)Think of this session as cross-cultural communications counseling.
- Perspective NarrativeEffective communications between individuals, even between cultures, relies on the communicants knowing the answer to these three questions: How do I see me? How do I see you? and How do you see me? In cross-cultural communications, the third question is much more important than the other two.Imagine that great cultural divide called “dating”. This one is simpler to examine than cultures separated by an ocean. The very thing we work the hardest to influence, to the point of changing our appearance and exaggerating our abilities, is how you see me. Another example:I’m sitting in my living room watching “Silence of the Lambs” on my home entertainment system. My front door gets kicked in and a policeman puts a gun in my face. I believe he sees me one way, and he is certainly influencing how I see him. On the other hand, if the policeman arrives in response to my call to 911, how we see each other is completely different.The foundation for cross-cultural communication is the answer to: “How do you see me?”
- “Know thyself.”(Animated slide: Pyramids and final text appear on cue)NarrativeWhen Socrates asked the Oracle at Delphi to tell him the single most important thing to know, she told him: “Know Thyself”. Simple as it sounds, “knowing myself” is a task difficult to accomplish by myself.The first time I heard a recording of my own voice I was surprised, and asked another person: “Is that how I really sound?” We don’t hear ourselves and we don’t see ourselves accurately without assistance. Anthropologists are useful assistants in observing culture.> Cue animation <If a team of anthropologists who were not American, observed American culture they would make generalizations about our culture we might not be in a position to observe from within our culture. Their primary generalized observation is illustrated by this individual green fella standing at the peak of a pyramid. He’s an American supported by the government, friends, church, and family.By comparison, most of the rest of the world lives under the pyramid, bearing the weight of government, friends, church, and family.“Wait just a minute!” the American might say, “My family is at the core of my culture! I support my family!” Really? Now we begin to examine the great cultural divide on two simple meanings: “family” and “support”.Take a moment here and write down the words “Family” and “Support”, then make a quick note of what these words mean to you personally.(Instructor Note: Solicit feedback on definitions. How far back is family defined? Does family include deceased family members? Does support stop when a child is married? Does the child owe the parent support? Is support to children differentiated by gender?)What follows here is a biased observation made from the outside looking in. If you catch yourself becoming defensive, it may be caused by your desire to validate your cultural Beliefs and Values: that’s okay. Remember, this is a team of anthropologists making a generalized observation.We send our children to daycare during the day while we go to work: we have delegated 8 to 10 waking hours of the responsibility of raising our children to people outside of the family. When the children are of an age to attend school we send them to “after school” programs or we have them wait at home for us where they receive additional nurture and establishment of values and beliefs from the television. Then examine how divorce, the legal dissolving of a family, has become a cultural Norm. Then examine how we move away from our parents, leave them behind: when they are no longer able to care for themselves, we put them into long-term care facilities until they die. “Nope,” the anthropologist would reply, “the world sees you differently than you see yourself.”True or not true from our perspective, we are communicating across cultures that have a different view of what “family” and “support” means.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Oracle ImageSource: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Pythia1.jpgLicense: This image (or other media file) is in the public domain because its copyright has expired.This applies to the United States, Canada, the European Union and those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 70 years.
- American Cultural Characteristics(Animated slide: each major topic area fades-in on instructor cue and previous major topic area disappears: last topic cues the image.)Personal Control and Self interest: Personal control: Standing at the peak of the pyramid we are generally convinced that our world is what we make of it: America is the land of individual opportunity. We admire the “self-made man”. Where another culture might say “if we are poor, then it is Gods will that we are poor”, Americans “Do all we can and let God make up the difference.” Self-interest: We are expected to take care of ourselves, to “carry our own weight” with little responsibility to the community at large.<cue animation>Change is Good:The American culture is a culture of change: some say our only constant is change. If you want to observe this change, visit your hometown after being away for a couple of years; deploy for just a year and when you return you’ll be the “new guy”<cue animation>Time controlled: When you pay by the hour, or charge by the hour, an hour matters. We are a monochronic society that measures the day in hours, and the efforts of the day in minutes. We are a slave to the constant tick of the second hand. Other majority cultures in the world are polychronic: meetings are conducted, when meetings are conducted, “sometime after lunch”. The day starts when the sun rises, it is “noon” when the sun is overhead. (For a military audience) The First Sergeants watch, quarterly training briefings, and weekly training schedules due 6-weeks out. Perhaps note to an Army audience that we even have the punitive Article 87 which addresses a missed movement: being late enough to miss the plane or other transport, with the maximum punishment for accidently (neglect) missing a movement being a Bad-conduct discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and confinement for 1 year. Don’t be late.--------------------------------------------------------------------Image Source: http://www4.army.mil/armyimages/armyimage.php?photo=10356Image Permission: Images on the Army Web site are cleared for release and are considered in the public domain. Request credit be given as "Photo Courtesy of U.S. Army" and credit to individual photographer whenever possible. Image Credit and narrative: SPC Teddy Wade, May 23, 2006, Iraqi troops and Soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division board a Black Hawk helicopter at Forward Operating Base Remagen for a mission near Tikrit. This photo appeared on www.army.mil.
- American Cultural Characteristics (continued)(Animated slide: each major topic area fades-in on instructor cue and previous major topic area disappears: “Equality” cues the image)Interpersonal Communication: Americans communicate to exchange information. It really takes someone from outside our culture to identify this characteristic. Many other cultures communicate to establish or maintain interpersonal relationships. <cue animation>Equality: The anthropologists would not have to look far to discover that equality is one of our core values: they might examine the Declaration of Independence. “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal … “ The cynic could refer to George Orwell's Animal Farm and offer: “Yes, but some pigs are more equal than other pigs.” Okay, still, the sense of equality has deep roots in American culture and it drives our struggle to practice equality.<cue animation>Competition& Free Enterprise: ** “Americans focus on winning, achieving, succeeding, and producing. Our children learn and play aggressive, competitive sports from a very early age.” “American football,” (arguably one of the most popular American sports), is a linear, aggressive, goal-oriented endeavor that usually ends with concrete results.” In both Baseball and Football we will play until there is a winner and a looser. (For an Army audience)In the Army we encourage competition through Soldier and NCO boards. We grant the winner a pass and sometimes even a medal and Sergeant Majors coin. We like competition because we believe it is a path towards improving the winners and the losers.<cue animation>Future Oriented: Where many cultures have one foot firmly planted in the past and the other foot firmly planted in the present, we Americans live in mid-stride. We have one foot in the present with the other already stepping into the future. **”Most of us can envision our children going to college,” or at very least reaching adulthood and beginning their own families. ------------------------------------------------Declaration of Independence Image Source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Declaration_of_Independence_(USA).jpgDeclaration of Independence Image Permission: This media file is in the public domain in the United States. This applies to U.S. works where the copyright has expired, often because its first publication occurred prior to January 1, 1923.
- \\xAmerican Cultural Characteristics (continued)(Animated slide: each major topic area fades-in on instructor cue and previous major topic area disappears.)Action / Work Oriented: A popular American comedian, Larry the Cable Guy, gets a laugh from the crowd most every time he says “Git er done!” This very American phrase is funny in America because we are an action oriented people. We define ourselves by our job. “I am a Soldier” or “I am a Psychologist”. How about this one: “I’m just a stay-at-home Mom.” Our very sense of self diminishes when we retire, sometimes even clinging to our past work: “I was a Truck-driver”. <cue animation>Informal: We are a first-name relaxed posture people. You see it on the name-tags in a store: “Hello, my name is Jerry”. It is an odd child who replies “Yes, Sir” or “Yes, Ma’am. Maybe it finds its roots in our desire for equality.<cue animation>Direct : Civilian “get to the point”. In the Army we have Department of the Army pamphlet 600-67, “Effective Writing Leaders”, which directs us to “put the bottom line up front” , “write in active voice”. In chapter 4-3 we are even offered a “clarity index” to ensure we are “clear, concise, and complete.”((Source identified with ** items in American Cultural Characteristics: Major Ben Connable, First Marine Division G-2, Marines are from Mars, Iraqis are from Venus, 30 May 2004))----------------------------------------------------------Handcart Image Source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Handcart_Mormon_Pioneers.jpgHandcart Image License: Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled “Handcart Image Narrative: The Handcart Pioneer Monument, a statue commemorating Mormon handcart pioneers, found on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah. This is a 1945 life-size reproduction of the original 1926 bronze by Torlief Soviren Knaphus.
- American Cultural Characteristics (continued)(Animated slide: each major topic area fades-in on instructor cue and previous major topic area disappears, image fades-in with last topic.)Materialistic: We Americans like stuff, we like to buy things. We have so much stuff that we have to rent storage units for our extra stuff. We even identify our individual worth by the size of our house, the make and year of our automobile, and the size of the diamond on our ring. <cue animation>Innovative: There’s always a better way to do something and we’re going to find it. This promise grows from most every characteristic on the previous slides. America is both known, copied, and respected throughout the world for our inventions and our innovations.<cue animation>Individualism / Privacy: (Individualism) We are all unique and special, we are born with fundamental worth, we are entitled to individual consideration from our family and our society. If we fail, we’re expected to view it as our own fault, then “pull ourselves up by our bootstraps” . (Privacy) We insist on privacy so much that we are deeply offended if the government listens-in on our phone conversations, our work-place monitors our emails, or a family member opens the closed door to our private room.<cue animation>Self-help: We value doing for ourselves so much that we will not ask for help when we truly need help. The Soldier and soldiers family suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) will try to “work it out” themselves before they ask for the help they really need. I’ve even seen a bumper sticker on a few pick-up trucks that read: “Yes, it’s my pick-up. No, I won’t help you move.”
- Develop and Apply (10 min):. This phase is student centered, and consists of open ended questions to stimulate critical thinking and a practical exercise to determine whether students understand the concepts learned in the briefing.Cultural Analysis Question(Animated slide: Answer rises from the bottom from instructor cue. Second cue fades-in last statement)QUESTION: How can the application of any cultural model hinder our ability to communicate with an individual of the culture?>First cue< Answer rises from the bottom.Possible ANSWER: An individual from a culture may not fit into the assessment of the culture. >Second cue< Statement fades-in.A properly applied model is a guideline which allows for deviations from the Cultural Norm.
- Publish and Process (5 minutes): Facilitated discussion of the scenario-based introductions and open-ended question responsesCultural Analysis Question(Animated slide: image fades-out and the question fades-in on first cue; answer fades-in on second cue)NarrativeSo, here I am: a salesperson working to close a new car deal with happy husband and wife. We’re on the lot next to a beautiful new family vehicle. I talk vehicle specs to the man and I put the woman in the driver’s seat.>First Cue< Fades-out the image and fades-in the question. QUESTION: How did the salespersons prejudice effect the sales strategy? >Second cue< Fades-in an answer.ANSWER: The prejudice toward what is necessary to make the sale.Bias and prejudice, properly applied, lead to car sales. Bias and prejudice allow a person to rapidly make judgments on how to communicate with another person. Car sales are an ultimate expression of cross-cultural communication.QUESTION: What does the salesperson know and do what we need to know and do?Possible ANSWER: The successful salesperson properly identifies the who, what, where, and how, of communication.If my cultural analysis is right as a salesperson, then I have a fair chance at making the sale.
- Impediments to Observation (introductory slide)NarrativeBias and Prejudice have received a bad name because bias and prejudice have led to bad behavior.Bias and Prejudice are good, but you probably already know that: these personal and cultural filters are important adaption's that enhance our ability to observe and sort and make judgments.Wise judgments, and wise communications, occur when we know we are looking through the filters of bias and prejudice.
- Impediments to Observation (continued)Instructor Note: This is an animated slide. “ “Cultural Prejudice” fades in, cued by instructor.NarrativeCultural Bias: The “Bowling Ball” effect.There are two kinds of bias: preference and point of view. Preference boils down to “what I like”. Point of view boils down to “from where I’m standing”.Let’s talk about bowling ball bias, and you apply it to Cultural Bias.Bowling balls have a “bias”: this is a weight built into the ball which causes it to incline in a specific direction. A practiced bowler who knows the bias of their bowling ball uses this characteristic to their advantage: it allows the athlete to use the ball to account for their physical limitations. A novice bowler, unaware of the bias, will watch the ball curve from the point of release and presume it is their lack of training that caused the ball to curve from “true”. QUESTION: How does bowling ball bias relate to Cultural Bias?ANSWER: If you know the bias is present, you can account for it in your observation.A practiced (or practicing) observer of cultures will be aware of their Cultural Bias. These biases may include the following inclinations: It is better to be a Christian than a Muslim. My culture is more advanced than their culture. This culture wants to be a Democracy. It is wrong to kill another person.> Cue “Cultural Prejudice” <Cultural Prejudice: the “Halo or Horns” effect.The “Halo or Horns effect” describes a personal assessment of a cultural Value, Belief, Behavior, or Norm as totally good or totally bad, completely righteous or evil. This assessment is made when the individual weighs the other culture in balance with their own prejudices and finds the other culture lacking. It validates and preserves self by diminishing others.A practiced (or practicing) observer of cultures will be aware of their cultural prejudices. These prejudices may include the following observations: That other culture is bad because they worship the devil. That other culture is less advanced because they don’t even have the internet. That other culture is repressed because they are not a democracy. That person is bad because killed another person. --------------------------------------------------------------Bowling Ball Image: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Bowlingball.JPGLicensing: I, the copyright holder of this work, hereby release it into the public domain. This applies worldwide. In case this is not legally possible, I grant any entity the right to use this work for any purpose, without any conditions, unless such conditions are required by law.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Angel Image: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Marianne_Stokes_An_Angel.jpgLicensing: This image (or other media file) is in the public domain because its copyright has expired.This applies to the United States, Canada, the European Union and those countries with a copyrightterm of life of the author plus 70 years.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Devil Image: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Codex_Gigas_devil.jpgLicensing: The two-dimensional work of art depicted in this image is in the public domain in the UnitedStates and in those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 100 years. Under Americancopyright law, originality of expression is necessary for copyright protection, and a mere photograph ofan out-of-copyright work may not be protected under American Copyright law.
- Communication(Animated slide: Horizontal arrow fades out and the communications path fades in on instructor cue)NarrativeCommunication, the sending and receiving of messages, is an integral part of culture. Every communication has the SENDER and the RECEIVER: with a lot of barriers to effective communication in the way.>Cue< Horizontal arrow fades out and the communications path fades inThe SENDER considers (consciously and unconsciously) how to communicate with the RECIEVER. The SENDER determines the message to send then ENCODES the message for the RECEIVER based upon the SENDERs values, beliefs, behaviors and norms. Sometimes the SENDER doesn’t understand the complete path of communication and believes the message they send is the message received. Nope. The intended message is shaped by the SENDERs “encoding” before MESSAGE makes its way through ENVIRONMENTAL and SOCIAL FILTERS. These filters include physical noise and interference, as well as social norms. The RECIEVER then DECODES the MESSAGE with their own values, beliefs, behaviors and norms – further altering the MESSAGE – before the RECIEVER gets the message. This process works acceptably well when the SENDER and the RECEIVER share the same culture. QUESTION: How can this process can lead to catastrophe when people from different cultures try to communicate?ANSWER: The message sent is not the message received: beginning a cycle of miscommunication.--------------------------------------------------------Top Image Source: http://www4.army.mil/OCPA/uploads/large/040323-A-6414T-014.jpgTop Image Permission: Images on the Army Web site are cleared for release and are considered in the public domain. Request credit be given as "Photo Courtesy of U.S. Army" and credit to individual photographer whenever possible. Bottom Image Source: http://www4.army.mil/OCPA/uploads/large/040327-A-9930K-014.jpgBottom Image Permission: Images on the Army Web site are cleared for release and are considered in the public domain. Request credit be given as "Photo Courtesy of U.S. Army" and credit to individual photographer whenever possible.
- The Communication AgendaNarrativeAll communication has a purpose – an agendum – a reason to make the communication. Regrettably, communication is not physics. Communication is much closer to a proposed concept of the universe called String Theory: a 10-dimensional reality where success is an infinite maybe.Let’s look at a simple communications agenda, an infinite maybe: If person 1 (my agenda) communicates “I’m thirsty” to person 2 (your agenda)Person 2 (now my agenda) must interpret “I’m thirsty” (now your agendum) and infer your agendum and my responsibility (my agenda) associated with hearing the message. Fasten your seatbelts, I’m just getting warmed up!The message between person 1 and person 2 has yet to be interpreted when another agenda comes into the equation: our agenda. This “our agenda” is an amalgam of the first two agenda and it has a life of its own. It is the concept of what it is to be “we” or “us”: it is the beginning of cross cultural communication.But wait, there’s more!Our agenda does not exist in isolation – if it did, this would be simple!“Their Agenda” is the societal, values, beliefs, and norms, the broader culture, that weighs so heavy upon this simple communication.So: all communication, especially cross-cultural communication, requires careful consideration of known and unknown agenda while we communicate.(Instructor note: the equation represents the exponential possibilities of 1+2 + 3 + 4 = a to the nth (infinite) degree when it comes to communication.)--------------------------------Image Source: http://www4.army.mil/OCPA/uploads/large/CSA-2006-01-23-105120.jpgImage Permission: Images on the Army Web site are cleared for release and are considered in the public domain. Request credit be given as "Photo Courtesy of U.S. Army" and credit to individual photographer whenever possible. Image Narrative: by Ricky A. Bloom, January 23, 2006, Soldiers from the 96th Civil Affairs Battalion, and Ethiopians from the village of Dinigo, move a water pump to an irrigation site during a humanitarian visit. This photo appeared on www.army.mil.
- Interpersonal CommunicationsNarrativeIn this listing of non-verbal cues: they all matter because they all communicate more than the verbal's. Observe: (Demonstrate all but involuntary)Involuntary cues are numerous and may change the entire meaning of everything else. It is beyond the scope of this lesson to address the depth of involuntary cues. They are a human thing. Observed singularly they mean very little: maybe my nose just itches. Taken in total they can reveal the soul of the communicant.In this listing of verbal cues, note the last item is the words. I’ve heard the phrase “choose your words carefully.” In all verbal communication, particularly cross-cultural communication, your words are the least significant element.VolumeThink back to when you were a child: did anyone ever raise their voice to you? What did it mean? In any case, be the volume loud or soft, the volume spoke louder than the words. Inflection is the modulation or pitch of the word. Listen: (SPEAK MONOTONE) “I am so very happy here.” Listen (WITH ENTHUSIASM BY INFLECTION) “I am so very happy here!” The words were the same, the message was different. Inflection is the difference between sincerity and insincerity, enthusiasm or boredom.Cadence is the pace or rhythm of a string of words. In some cultures a rapid cadence communicates anger, while a slow cadence can communicate ignorance. The cadence of what you say must match what you intend to communicate. The Words, being the least important aspect of verbal communication, can still seal the deal or lead to a fight. In some cases everything else but the word can turn a derisive vulgarity into a term of endearment. I won’t give an example here, but listen for it out there. In other cases, the words bestow honor or recognize the power of the receiver: “Madame Secretary”, “Yes, Sir”.I’m going to wrap-up the verbal cues into one neat package with this example: (Transition into an Appalachian Affect then back to Professional Affect)
- So why is cross cultural communication to important an American Soldier? How can you use your knowledge of the communications model/agenda in cross cultural communications? Possible answers:To exchange information, to build relationships, and ensure that the message sent is the message received. We are now going to complete a practical experience where you will examine American cultural characteristics and how they influence communication. (Practical Exercise)PE: American cultural characteristics influence on communications.determine how each of the characteristics serves as a barrier to effective cross-cultural communication. Determine how you can apply some of the same characteristics to enhance communication.Instructor Note: You may lead this as a group discussion or you may elect to divide the class into groups to process the questions and then publish their findings to the class.
- Ask the trainee if they have any questions
- Summarize all the slides