intercultural communication

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