Local and Global Communication in Multicultural Setting

1. Lesson 2
Local and Global Communication
in Multicultural Settings
Hello!
Kamusta!
Hola!
Bonjou
r!
Salve!
Oi!

2. LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
At the end of this lesson, the students are expected to:
1. Analyze the reality of cultural diversity;
2. Distinguish the effects of high context and low context cultures;
and,
3. Appreciate the benefits and challenges of cross-cultural
communication.

3. Who is Carol Kinsey Goman?
Why communicating is a challenging process?
What is Intercultural Communication?
Why Is Intercultural Communication Important?
Difference between High- and Low Context Cultures.
Dynamics in High- and Low Contex Cultures.
Communicating Across
Cultures
Intercultural Communication
High Context vs. Low
Context
Most Common Cultural
Differences
Defining the 7 Most Common Cultural Differences in
the Workplace
01
02
03
04

4. COMMUNICATING
ACROSS CULTURES
By Carol Kinsey Goman
(2011)
COMMUNICATING
A
C
R
O
S
S
CULTURES

5. Carol Kinsey Goman, PhD.
• Born: 16 December 1943 (age
76 years)
• A president of Kinsey Consulting
Services.
Goman’s clients include over 200
organizations in 24 countries,
such as Consolidated Edison,
Royal Bank of Canada, PepsiCo,
Hewlett-Packard, and Expedia.
Her work has been featured on
CNN, Bloomberg TV, and NBC
News.

6. Cross-cultural
Communication
• A field of study that looks at how people from
differing cultural backgrounds communicate, in
similar and different ways among themselves, and
how they endeavor to communicate across
cultures. Intercultural communication is a related
field of study.
She mentions that communicating with people from other cultures is a
challenging process, there are plenty of things to take into account like
rules, beliefs, values, phobia and anxieties. (Carol Kinsey Goman,
2011).

7. EXAMPLE:

8. Some things must take into account:
1. Most cultures have their own set of rules and they are
usually educated to their children from childhood. I
understand this because they are several things I have been
taught to follow from an early age which has become part of
my daily life. For example most Asian culture have been
taught to address older people with respect and speak in
appropriate tone.
2. Different cultures have different beliefs on how they should
communicate. Some cultures beliefs that younger people
should always speak to older people with respect even if they
are at wrong.

9. INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION

10. What is Intercultural Communication?
Arasaratnam, 2013:48
Chen & Starosta, 1998:28
Lustig & Koester, 2007:46
Refers to the communication
between people from two
different cultures.
is a symbolic, interpretive,
transactional, contextual process, in
which people from different cultures
create shared meanings.
refers to the effects on
communication behavior, when
different cultures interact together.
Hence, one way of viewing
intercultural communication is as
communication that unfolds in
symbolic intercultural spaces.

11. Importance of Intercultural
Communication
1. Effective transfer of knowledge and information.
2. Communicating across cultures becomes increasingly important.
In a competitive environment:
1. Allows leaders to increase their value and the value of the
organizations they represent.
At a basic level:
1. Able to interact with people from different cultural backgrounds.

12. Three Domains of Intercultural
Competence
Communication is embedded in the three domains of intercultural
competence.
• Intercultural traits
• Intercultural attitudes and intercultural worldviews
• Intercultural capabilities

13. HIGH-CONTEXT V.S. LOW-
CONTEXT CULTURE
High-Context
Low-
Context

14. EDWARD T. HALL
• Born: 16 May 1914, Webster Groves,
Missouri, United States
• Edward Twitchell Hall, Jr. was an
American anthropologist and cross-
cultural researcher.
He is remembered for developing the
concept of proxemics and exploring
cultural and social cohesion, and
describing how people behave and
react in different types of culturally
defined personal space.

15. HIGH-CONTEXT CULTURE
• A high-context culture relies on implicit
communication and nonverbal cues.

16. LOW-CONTEXT CULTURE
• A low-context culture relies on explicit
communication.

17. Communication Dynamics in
High- and Low-Context
Cultures
• Cultural differences shape every aspect of global
communication, says Forbes contributor Carol
Kinsey Goman. This helps explain why people in
Japan (a high-context culture) prefer face-to-face
communication over electronic technology favored
by other industrialized countries like the United
States, Canada, the Unite Kingdomm and
Germany (low-context cultures).

19. MOST COMMON CULTURAL
DIFFERENCES

20. CULTURAL DIFFERENCES
• Cultural differences are the various beliefs, behaviors,
languages, practices and expressions considered unique to
members of a specific ethnicity, race or national origin.
• These various differences can create a more vibrant office,
they can also lead to more than a few problems resulting
from culture clash.

21. 7 MOST COMMON CULTURAL
DIFFERENCES
1. UNIVERSALISM VS. PARTICULARISM: RULES
VS. RELATIONSHIPS
2. INDIVIDUALISM VS. COMMUNITARIANISM:
INDIVIDUAL VS. THE GROUP
3. NEUTRAL VS. EMOTIONAL
4. SPECIFIC VS. DIFFUSE: WORK VS. PRIVATE
5. ACHIEVEMENT VS. ASCRIPTION
6. SEQUENTIAL VS. SYNCHRONIC
7. INTERNAL VS. EXTERNAL CONTROL

22. UNIVERSALISM VS. PARTICULARISM:
RULES VS. RELATIONSHIPS
RULES RELATIONSHIPS

23. UNIVERSALIS
UNIVERSALISM
In universalist cultures, laws,
rules, values, and obligations have
greater priority than relationships.
People try to be fair with each
other, but rules are rules.
Examples of cultures with this dimension are:
the Netherlands, USA, Canada, Australia,
Scandinavia, New Zealand, Switzerland, Great
Britain and Germany.

24. PARTICULARIS
PARTICULARISM
In particularistic cultures, it is
believed that rules may differ per
situation and relationship. So
someone’s reaction can vary greatly
per situation and per person.
Examples of cultures with this dimension are:
Russia, South America and China.

25. Example:

26. INDIVIDUALISM VS.
COMMUNITARIANISM: INDIVIDUAL VS.
THE GROUP
INDIVIDUAL THE GROUP

27. INDIVIDUALISM
In an individualistic culture, people
regard themselves primarily as
individuals. They believe that
everyone makes their own decisions
and is responsible for themselves
and their own performance.
Examples of cultures with this dimension are: US,
Israel, Canada, Great Britain, Scandinavia, New
Zealand, Australia and Switzerland.

28. COMMUNITARIANISM
Communitarianism refers to people
who regard themselves primarily as
part of a group. The group provides
safety and support. In return, the
group always comes before the
individual and an individual always
has to be loyal to the group.
Examples of cultures with this dimension are: Latin
America, Mexico, India, Africa and Japan.

29. Example:

30. NEUTRAL VS. EMOTIONAL

31. NEUTRAL
People within the neutral dimension act
primarily from reason and logic and are
guided to a lesser extent by their feelings.
They do not easily show what they think or
feel.
Examples of cultures with this dimension are: the
Netherlands, Great Britain, Sweden, Finland and
Germany.

32. EMOTIONAL
People within the emotional dimension
want to be able to express their emotions
spontaneously, even at work. In these
cultures, expressing your emotion is
generally accepted.
Examples of cultures with this dimension are: Italy,
France, Spain, Latin America and Poland.

33. Example:

34. SPECIFIC VS. DIFFUSE: WORK VS.
PRIVATE

35. SPECIFIC
People within the specific dimension believe that relationships don’t
have much influence on work goals and that people can work together
without having a good relationship.
Examples of cultures with this dimension are: USA, Great
Britain, Switzerland, Germany, Scandinavia, the
Netherlands.

36. DIFFUSE
People who fall within the diffuse dimension believe that good
relationships are crucial for doing business and achieving their goals.
Their relationships don’t change whether they interact with each other
at work or socially. These people also spend their time with colleagues
and customers outside of working hours.
Examples of cultures with this dimension are: Argentina,
Spain, Russia, India, China.

37. Example:

38. ACHIEVEMENT VS. ASCRIPTION

39. ACHIEVEMENT
People who derive status from their
achievements fall within the achievement
dimension. It is believed that you are what
you do and people base their value on this.
These cultures place great value on
achievements, regardless of who you are.
Examples of cultures with this dimension are: US,
Canada, Australia, Scandinavia.

40. ASCRIPTION
The ascription dimension includes people
who believe that you should be
appreciated for who you are. Power and
position also count here.
Examples of cultures with this dimension: France,
Italy, Japan, Saudi Arabia.

41. Example:

42. SEQUENTIAL VS. SYNCHRONIC

43. SEQUENTIAL
Sequential means that people in these
cultures believe that events and tasks
happen in a chronological order.
Punctuality, agendas, schedules and clear
deadlines are considered highly important.
Examples of cultures with this dimension are: the
Netherlands, Germany, USA, Great
Britain.

44. SYNCHRONIC
If you work in such a culture, it is important
that you adapt to this. Flexibility is the
magic word for both you and your
colleagues. However, if there are tasks that
do have an inescapable deadline, you have
to communicate this clearly in order to
prevent problems.
Examples of cultures with this dimension are: Japan,
Argentina, Mexico.

45. Example:

46. INTERNAL VS. EXTERNAL
CONTROL

47. INTERNAL CONTROL
With internal control (internal locus of
control), people find that they themselves
have control over theirenvironment and the
achievement of goals.
Examples of cultures with this dimension are: Israel, USA,
Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain.

48. EXTERNAL CONTROL
With external control (external locus of
control) people find that their environment
has control over them and directly
influences them. They also have to work
with their environment to achieve their
goals. At work they focus their actions on
others and try to avoid conflicts as much as
possible. Often they also need reassurance
that they are doing their job well.
Examples of cultures with this dimension are: China and
Russia

49. Example:

50. “The essence of cross-cultural
communication has more to do with
releasing responses than with sending
messages. It is more important to release
the right response than to send the right
message.”
— Edward T. Hall

51. REFERENCES
● https://online.seu.edu/articles/high-and-low-context-cultures/
● https://www.companymatch.me/news/english/7-common-cultural-differences-in-the-
workplace/
● Arasaratnam, L. A. (2013). Intercultural communication competence. In A. Kurylo
(Ed.), Intercultural communication: Representation and construction of culture (Chap
3, pp. 47-68). Los Angeles, CA: SAGE Publications.
● Chen, G. M., & Starosta, W. J. (1998). Foundations of intercultural communication:
Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon
● Lustigig, M. W., & Koester, J. (2007). Intercultural competence: interpersonal
communication across cultures (5th ed.). Shanghai, China: Shanghai Foreign
Language Education Press.
● Carol Kinsey Goman, P. (2011, March n.d). Communicating Across Cultures.
Retrieved May 29, 2016, from ASME Setting The Standard:
https://www.asme.org/engineering-topics/articles/business
communication/communicating-across-cultures

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