About intercultural relations

1. INTERCULTURAL
RELATIONS
CHAPTER 13

2. The way you live
• Customs
• Food
• Music
• Clothing
• Health
• Religious
practices
• Relationships
• Family structure
The way you view
things
• Beliefs
• Values
• Spirituality
• Perceptions
• Attitude
• Expectation
The way you
communicate
• Meaning of
language
• Interaction
Pattern
• Communication
• Verbal & non
verbal
culture

3. It is a relatively new formal field of social science
studies
It is learning how to see oneself and the world through the
eyes of another
It is closely related to anthropology and social studies
It is a practical, multi-field discipline designed to train
its students to understand, communicate, and
accomplish specific goals outside their own cultures.
What is Inter cultural relations?

4. Explicit
Languages
(verbal & non-verbal)
Explicit behaviours
Habits & traditions
(food, housing, clothing, health…)
Know-how
(communication codes, tools..)
Institutions
(collective organizations modes:
family, education
Norms
(Do’s & don'ts)
Values
Mental state & cognitive processes
(perception, learning, knowledge, memory…)
The iceberg of culture

5. Intercultural communication refers to the effective
communication between people/ workers/ clients of different
cultural background.
Technology has truly made the world a smaller place. All
cultures are now tied together by information.
Business is often the first link between countries.
We must learn how to deal with other cultures.
Two trends of Intercultural Communication
Globalization
Multicultural workforce
Intercultural Relationships in ShrinkingWorld.

6. Arabic language is written from right to left and almost all
other languages are written from left to right.
In America, people shake hands ,and even hug each
other. But in India we just join hands to say namaskar.
Raising your hand up means stop in America or
England. In some Asian countries this gesture is used
when asking for permission to speak.
Examples for Cultural differences

7. Improving verbal and nonverbal communication
Better adaptation to a new environment;
Learning how to understand, reduce and overcome stress;
Better understanding of one’s own culture and finding one’s
place in a society;
Reduced feeling of anxiety in contacts with members of
other cultures;
Learning about customs and habitual behaviours of
members of other cultures.
Personal growth through increased tolerance;
Developing a positive attitude towards otherness;
Willingness to accept differences
Benefits of intercultural communication

8. Stereotypes…
French: logical,
Cartesian,
elitist,
authoritarian,
proud
Chinese: quiet,
hardworking,
enigmatic,
smiling, cruel
Germans: rigid,
methodical,
obsessed with order
& privacy,
unemotional, territorial
Americans: superficial,
‘Frontier Spirit’,
materialistic,
over-optimistic
Italians: loud,
macho,
impatient,
over-emotional,
talkative,
unorganized
British:
imperialistic,
‘Island
mentality’,
principled,
class-conscious,
conservative

9. CulturalDiversity
Each person is representative of a mixture of “cultures
and experiences”…
Diversity-Diversity is the group of people who have
different characteristics.
These characteristics can differ in socioeconomic
backgrounds, countries, races, religions and
achievement levels.
Multiculturalism-It is the difference between cultures.
Diversity Involves:
Recognizing our unique differences
Attracting people of all backgrounds

10. Ethnocentrism
Judging other groups by comparing to their own group like
culture, language, behaviour.
Enculturation
Learning cultural values with in one’s society leads to
ethnocentric attitudes
Ethnocentric attitudes
It is the behaviour that the company follow to become global.
They prefer their own people.
Cultural relativity
Gives the conclusion that all cultures are equally valid.
Intercultural socialization
Becoming aware of another culture, habits, actions.
Cultural ATTITUDES

11. Age
Gender
Ethnicity
Race
Physical Ability
Sexual
Orientation
Physical
characteristics
Income
Marital status
Education
Religious
Beliefs
Geographic
Location
Parental Status
Personality
Type
 Primary dimensions
 Secondary dimensions
Elements of Diversity

12. Secondary
Dimensions
of Diversity
Sexual
Orientation
Race
Gender
Physical
Qualities
Age
Ethnicity
Work
Background
Income
Geographic
Location
Parental
Status
Marital
Status
Education
Military
Experience
Religious Beliefs
Primary
Dimensions of
Diversity
Elements of Diversity

13. Cultural Sensitivity is recognizing and knowing that both
cultural differences as well as similarities exist, and not
making value judgments of good or bad, better or worse,
right or wrong.
The recent growth of multinational corporations, points
the need to prepare the manager to deal with foreign
cultures and business practices
Cultural Sensitivity

14. To increase cultural sensitivity one should not be arrogant, don’t
be ugly, don’t practise we are better than you attitude
In order to move forward, we need to understand how cultural
perceptions are formed and how they can develop to change the
way we think and behave to positively affect us all.
Subtle Differences
A gesture that is friendly in one culture may be interpreted as
vicious in another culture.

15. As communication always takes place within a frame of
reference, international business managers must make sure
they can communicate in one that is not their own.
The Political frame of reference
We often see a close relationship between politics and
business, as Stock market fluctuate with every major and
minor crisis in our political lives.
Another politically related problem facing the multinational
corporation has been the risk of nationalization, the taking
over private companies.

16. The economic frame of reference
Economic development in many emerging countries are
influenced by high birth rates and high inflation.
The living standards of developed countries and emerging
nations vary greatly.
The cultural frame of reference
Everyone naturally views the world based upon the culture in
which they were raised and also we must be aware that others
will view the world based on their cultural beliefs. Effective
human relations means overcoming our biases and helping
others to overcome theirs.
Language is the foremost barrier to good internal relations.

17. How to compare the cultures?
What makes a difference between different
cultures ?
Comparative Management

18.  Kluckhohn-strodtbeck
Based on six cultural differences
Relationship environment : Are people are
dominating of, in harmony with or dominated by the
environment.
Time Orientation: Does the culture focus on the
past, present or future?
Nature of people : Does the culture view people as
good evil or mix of two?
Activity of orientation: Does the culture emphasize
being, doing or controlling?
Focus of responsibility: Is the focus of culture is
individualistic, hierarchical or group oriented?
Theories to analyze intercultural relations

19. Concept of space
Does the culture conducts business in private, public or
mix of both?
HOFSTEDE MODEL
Greet Hofstede
How the workplace is effected by cultures.
Meaning of management is different around the world
Based of four dimensional assessments
Power distance
Degree of inequality of power distribution among people
in a national culture?
Theories to analyze intercultural relations

20. Individualism / Collectivism
The degree to which people prefer to act as individuals
or group in caring of themselves
Masculinity / Femininity
The degree to which values like assertiveness, success
& competition are associated with gender.
Uncertainty avoidance
Degree to which people prefer structure or unstructured
situations and feel threatened by ambiguities.
 Most recently fifth dimension is added
Long term and short term orientation
Degree to which values like assertiveness,
performance, success & competition are associated
Theories to analyze intercultural relations

21. Changing world communities
Japan
Once we recap with Theory Z
Americans believe in individualism where as Japanese
believe in the group effort.
Middle East
The Middle Eastern world is composed of countries that are
principally of the Moslem faith.
Europe
European nations formed European Union (EU) in 1992. EU
is a single market among members of the European nations

22. Asia
Asia is the biggest economic market. Emerging
economic power house of the 21st century.
North America
A good environment exists with Mexico in the form of
assembling industries. NAFTA made many positive relations
with all the countries. Canada remains as a major trading
partner.

23. HIDDENNORMS
Hidden norms means the way communication between the people of
different cultures.
Hidden norms play a significant role as the spoken languages for
establishing human relations.
Hidden norms or languages are:
Language of Time:
Language of time means the span of time period that we
assign to meet a person
• Elasticity of Time
Language of Space:
Language of space is the sensitivity with which we deal with our
clients of different cultures.
Language of Touch:
Touch is one of the way in which we communicate with each other

24. and it differs from culture to culture.
• Inner Circle.
Language of Context:
This way of communication is based on non-verbal context which
involves chitchatting compared with formal manner.
Language of friendship:
Language of friendship defines that hospitality and friendship are
different from business.
Language of Agreement:
A set of rules are assigned to achieve a task or complete any
production, these rules are accepted on which agreements are
reached.
As it as mutual agreement it can build a good international human
relations as this communication means is flexible.
HIDDENNORMS

25. Culture Shock
 It is feeling of uncertainty, confusion or anxiety a person
experiences when he moves to different place for business due
to the different culture, customs and behavior.
Intercultural training
 Cultural training helps to reduce cultural differences and makes
more cultural sensitive.
Cultural awareness
Multicultural communication
Country-specific training
Executive development
Language courses
REPATRIATION
 The process of returning a person to their place of origin or
citizenship economically, socially and organizationally

26. Discussion Questions?
What is Cultural difference ?
Can differences in culture draw people
closer ?
Does cultural values dominate or affect the
attitude of the individual?
Does cultural sensitivity plays major role in
the existence of the individual?
Does the change in the world communities
has affected the human relations.

27. THANK YOU