Intercultural communication involves the study of how people from different cultural backgrounds communicate. Culture provides people with different ways of thinking and interpreting the world. It is linked to communication and shared among members of a social group. Culture shapes behavior and perceptions. Communication both reflects and passes on culture. Factors like organization, education, age, and social class also influence behavior and are understood within a cultural context. Intercultural communication allows people to connect across cultures but also faces constraints from differences in cognition, behaviors, and emotional expression between cultures. Effective intercultural communication requires understanding both low- and high-context communication styles and being aware of how cultural identity, work status, and time urgency can impact interactions.

1. Intercultural Communication

2. • Group members

3. Culture
• is linked to communication and a wide range of
human experience including feelings, identity and
sense-making
• provides people with different ways of thinking,
seeing, hearing and interpreting the world
• involves a number of man-made, collective
artefacts and is shared by the members of a social
group
• is something that shapes one‘s behaviour or
structures one′s perception of the world

4. Culture and Communication
• Culture is often defined in interrelation to
communication:
"Culture is communication
and communication is culture.“
!
Culture is passed on
via communication and
communication reflects
one′s culture

5. Cultural factors
• Behaviour is not only affected by culture but also
by other factors such as
– organizational norms
– education
– age
– social class
• each of these factors can be understood and
manifested in a cultural context
!
while communicating we
use different cultural habits
and meaning systems

6. Intercultural Communication
• is a research field that studies how people from
different cultural backgrounds communicate with
each other
• is an instrument which transmits a certain
meaning, composes and reinforces identity and
expresses feelings
• is an instrument to connect with others

7. Constraints for intercultural understanding
• cognitive constraints
– the frame of reference or world-view which provides a
backdrop that all new information is compared to or
inserted into
• behaviour constraints
– each culture has its own rules concerning proper
behaviour which affect verbal and nonverbal
communication
• emotional constraints
– different cultures regulate the display of emotions
differently. Some cultures get very emotional while
others try to keep their emotions hidden

8. low- and high-context settings
• low-context settings
– screens its direct
attention more to the
literal meanings of
words and less to the
context surrounding the
words
– we “say what we mean,
and mean what we say”
– leaves few space for
interpretation of the
explicit message
• high-context settings
– are designed to let in
implied meanings
arising from the physical
setting, relations or
shared understandings
– nonverbal signals are
used to infer, imply,
insinuate or deliver
messages that we want
to transmit indirectly

9. Individual Strategy
• Depending on the kind of relationship, the situation
and the purpose of communication the low- and
high-context communication, used as an individual
strategy, may be more or less explicit and direct.
!
Low- and high-context
communication are not only
individual strategies, but may
be used to understand
cultural groups

10. Low- and high-context-culture
• Low-context-culture
– values the individualist’s
goals
– separates person and issue
– is confrontational
– uses logic-deductive thinking
and explicit codes of speech
– expresses emotional
information through facial
expressions, tone of voice
and body movements
– individualist cultures tend to
gravitate towards low-context
starting points
• High-context-culture
– values the collectivist’s
goals
– merges person and issue
– relies on contextual cues
and situational knowledge
– uses implicit references
and indirect speech
– masks its emotions
– collectivist cultures tend to
use high-context
communication

11. Situational Factors
• most people use a mixture of low- and high-
context-communication
• even in the most direct, low-context setting, implicit
meanings will be conveyed
• there are 3 factors that could affect the choice of
direct or indirect communication in intercultural
workplaces
– cultural identity
– work status
– time urgency

12. Cultural Identity: Third Culture
• intercultural communication takes place in a “third
culture”
• Part of “third culture” dynamics is the
establishment of common communication rules
• People take into account
– the demand of situational characteristics
– the cultural identity of the other person
– the existence of shared intercultural norms
that are not necessarily the same as one's home
culture.

13. low-context communicators interacting
with high-context communicators
should be mindful that
• building a good relationship can contribute to
effectiveness over time and nonverbal messages
and gestures may be as important as what is said
• status and identity may be communicated
nonverbally and require appropriate
acknowledgement
• face-saving and tact may be important and need to
be balanced with the desire to communicate fully
and frankly

14. high-context communicators interacting
with low-context communicators
should be mindful that
• things can be taken at face value rather than as
representative of layers of meaning
• roles and functions may be decoupled from status
and identity
• efficiency and effectiveness may be served by a
sustained focus on tasks
• direct questions and observations are not
necessarily meant to offend, but to clarify and
advance shared goals
• indirect cues may not be enough to get the
attention

15. Work status
• Individualists
– don’t alter their
behaviour according to
status
– value low power
distance resulting in a
more egalitarian
approach
• Collectivists
– use more
confrontational
techniques when power
and status increase
– tend to value high
power distance or the
unequal distribution of
power

16. How to communicate effective
• Desire
– to communicate
– to connect with other humans
– to be proactive when approaching a new culture
• Knowledge
– knowing about other cultures will help to develop skills
and to act in a way that respects these preferences
• Stereotypes
– reach beyond stereotypes

17. Conclusion
• Intercultural competence means understanding
what culture is and how it works
• Culture is not congenital, but adapted and modified
by the individual’s personality
• The knowledge about cultural concepts are useful
to compare cultures that are relatively closed
• The various levels of culture show that culture can
be seen as an onion-like construct
• Cultural understanding is a journey, that never
finishes, because the process and the endpoints
change constantly

18. Bibliography
• Adler, N.J., 1997, International Dimensions of Organizational Behavior, New York, Wadsworth
Publishing
• Hall, E.T./ Red Hall, M., 2000, Understanding Culture Differences, Intercultural Press Inc.,U.S
• Hall, E.T./ 1959, The silent language, New York, Double Day
• Hofstede G., 2006, Lokales Denken, globales Handlen, interkulturelle Zusammenarbeit und globales
Mangement, Berlin, DTV-Beck
• Hofstede G., 1980: Culture‘s consequences: international differences in work-related. Beverly Hills,
Sage Publications
• Hofstede G., 1994, Cultures and Organizations: software of the mind: intercultural. London
HarperCollins
• Maletzke, G., 1996, Interkulturelle Kommunikation: zur Interaktion zwischen Menschen, Opladen.
Westdeutscher
• Ting-Toomey, S., 1999, Communication Across Cultures (Guilford Communication Series) Guilford
Publications
• Learning Menu developed by Leonardo Project MENS available at
www.idec.gr./mens