INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION (Teaching Note)
(2010-02-19 19:24:05)
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杂谈 |
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Teaching Note
As the U.S. economy becomes increasingly international, and
the global economy
increasingly competitive, U.S. businesspeople must be able to
communicate effectively
with people from other cultures. The costs of cultural
miscommunication--lost
opportunities and profits, embarrassment, and major
mistakes--are too large and too
frequent to allow us to ignore critical cultural differences
or to dismiss other cultures as quaint, illogical, or
wrong.
Effective cross-cultural communication requires that we
understand what a culture is, and the ways in which it
affects every aspect of life. Today, a growing number of
companies are investing resources toward training
employees in intercultural communication utilizing
either in-house programs or consultants.
Culture has been defined as the “collective mental
programming of the people in an
environment”; the values and perspectives shared by people
who are “conditioned by
similar education and life experience.”
In this sense, culture is difficult to change,
because it is not only shared by a large number of people but
“crystallized” in such structures as the family,
religious organizations, forms of government, work
organizations, law, and literature. Because it is
crystallized in every layer of society,
culture is like a
hidden mass of an iceberg, whose tip is a society’s visible customs
and
styles. The mass may be invisible, but if you fail to
navigate around it, you can be
shipwrecked.
General Guidelines
To avoid shipwreck, as people doing business in and/or with
other cultures, we should:
• Learn that differences in behavior or style reflect much
deeper cultural values,
such as how individuals view time and space, how collective
or individualistic
a culture is, or how success is defined.
• Try to identify the assumptions and values of
our own society, so we know
what (often unconscious) biases govern us.
• Try to avoid ethnocentrism, the belief that
our culture is superior to others,
which is often so deep-seated that it is not consciously
felt.
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• Become aware of
and anticipate the differences in norms, values, and
behaviors
of people from different cultures, and learn to respect and
accommodate those
differences. perceptions/Values that
Differentiate Cultures .
Following are some issues to
consider when thinking about cultural differences. They are
not meant to be all-inclusive.
Individualism versus collectivism:
Some cultures value individual initiative and
independence; the individual seeks his/her own identity,
makes decisions based upon his/her own beliefs, and is
responsible only for him/herself and his/her immediate
family. In other cultures, identity is conferred by
one’s group; the extended family, clan, and/or
organization provide the individual with security,
protection, and values, and often make important
life-defining decisions for him/her. Individualism focuses on
individual freedom; collectivism on group stability
and consensus.
High-context versus low-context
cultures:
How explicit individuals must be when they are
communicating with one another, that is, how directly they must
state what they want each other to know, can be
expressed as a function of whether they live in a high-
context or low-context culture. When the culture is
relatively homogeneous and provides those living
within it with a high degree of common knowledge, the culture is
defined as high context, and less information must be
explicitly stated. When individuals living in the same
culture have relatively less in common, the culture is said to be
low context, and people must be more explicit in their
communication.
Perception of space: People
from different cultures vary in how much space they perceive
is needed between themselves and others. For example,
individuals from Middle Eastern and Mediterranean
cultures tend to be comfortable with less personal space than is
generally desired by North Americans and northern
Europeans. Thus, if a person from a Middle Eastern
culture stands as close to a North American as his/her culture
dictates is acceptable, the North American is likely
to feel uncomfortable because his/her space has been
“invaded.” The way in which organizations
designate space (who sits where and how much
room they are given) also reveals a great deal about status
and values in an organizational culture.
Perception of time: There are
also distinct differences between the way in which cultures
observe and value time. Some cultures are time-oriented to a
high degree (as evidenced by their numerous phrases
about “saving time,” “buying time,” “investing time,” and
“wasting time”), while others are less preoccupied
with “merely time.” There are also cultural
differences in time-orientation, that is, in attitudes about
the past versus the future. Some cultures revere the
traditions and customs of the past, and look for past precedent to
justify .The term “contexting,” as we are using it
here, was first coined by the anthropologist Edward
Hall,
who has done much to advance our understanding of the more
subtle variables that create culture.
Among Hall’s most important books are
The Silent Language
(1959), The Hidden
Dimension (1966), Beyond
Culture (1976), and The
Dance of Life: The Other Dimensions of Time
(1983).
innovation and
change. Other cultures are less concerned with past precedent, and
use
projected future benefits to justify innovation and
change.
Importance of hierarchies: Some
cultures particularly value formal roles and structured
hierarchies, and place great importance on the respect and
deference that must be paid to one in a higher
position. Other cultures put greater emphasis upon open,
informal relationships. All cultures and organizations
have hierarchies of some kind; differences are
demonstrated by what hierarchies are based on, and how
important and constraining they are.
Other issues or concerns that might be useful in thinking
about cultural diversity include:
• The nature of change (is it viewed as positive or
negative?)
• Importance and rigidity of gender roles
• Criteria/definitions of success
• The nature of authority
• The nature of humor (what is humorous?)
Communication Practices that Differentiate
Cultures
Just as values and perceptions
vary from culture to culture, so do specific communication
practices. Thus to conduct business with those from different
cultures, you must understand the communication
practices of that culture. Below are a few of the areas in which
you may expect to find differences between
cultures:
Emphasis on task versus
relationship-building: People from the U.S.
often pride
themselves on getting down to business quickly and
efficiently. In many other cultures, including most
Asian and Latin American countries, such an immediate focus on task
might seem inappropriate. Instead, these cultures put
a premium on first developing relationships based on
such non-business factors as common schools, family connections,
and similar interests.
Role of written communication:
In large and established U.S. firms, written
communication plays an important role in informing and
persuading people, as well as in documenting
information, positions, and decisions. Written communication is
viewed
differently in other cultures. In Japanese firms, for
example, it usually plays a more ceremonial and
documentary role. Oral agreement for a proposed action is
generally achieved before anything is written down.
Then the written memorandum with the proposal is
circulated to gain official approval from all involved. Thus you
wouldn’t want to propose something initially in
writing when working in that culture.
Role of meetings: In U.S.
business, meetings are often conducted so that people
can come together to discuss a project, an issue, or an
initiative. Sometimes, meeting participants
“brainstorm” with one another, proposing ideas and then discussing
their pros and cons. In other cultures, as Japan for
example, decisions are forged behind the scenes, so
that by the time a meeting is held, consensus has already
been reached.
Patterns of reasoning and
argumentation: The ways in which people from
different
cultures structure an argument and reach conclusions can vary
considerably. U.S. business, for example, tends to
favor “direct structure,” in which the main point or
recommendation appears first followed by subarguments
and evidence. In other cultures, the use of direct
structure may seem brusque or even rude; in these cultures,
the main point may be deliberately ambiguous, buried,
or never even stated. In the West, arguments are to be
supported by objective, neutral, often quantifiable “facts.”
Individuals in other cultures believe information
cannot be separated from the speaker or writer, and, therefore,
they tend to rely more on intuition or emotion to
substantiate ideas.
Level of formality in interpersonal
communication: In the U.S., interpersonal
relations between business acquaintances tends to be
very informal, with first names often used after one
telephone call or meeting. Not all cultures are so informal in
their business interactions.
The British, for example, may find American familiarity a bit
pushy, and the Japanese are likely to find it highly
inappropriate, especially when the two people are of different
ages and at different organizational
levels.
Oral presentation style: In
most U.S. firms, a relatively lively and informal
presentation style is favored. The use of extensive
gesture and movement should also work well in France
and Italy, for example, but might seem excessive in Finland or
Japan.
Nonverbal communication behaviors:
Nonverbal cues and behaviors vary from
one culture to another. For example, people from the U.S. are
taught to use direct eye contact when talking with one
another; in many Asian cultures, it is considered improper
or rude to look directly at another person throughout
a discussion. There are also norms concerning touching
behavior (who may touch whom and where) and for the use of
silence (is silence considered valuable or detrimental
to communication?). When conducting business with a
person who does not speak the same language, nonverbal behaviors
may be useful in helping to clarify meaning. For
example, pauses may provide opportunities for people
to digest information or ask questions.
Qualities Required for Successful Cross-Cultural
Communication
Successful cross-cultural
communication requires not only knowledge and preparation, but
the following critical qualities:
Patience --a willingness to
accept ambiguity, confusion, frustration.
Tolerance --a fair and
impartial attitude toward differing values and those who hold
them.
Objectivity --an ability to
elicit all necessary information and weigh it from the
perspective of both sides before making a
judgment.
Empathy --an ability to put
yourself in another’s position and to anticipate another’s
reaction to a situation.
Respect- -a
willingness to esteem and learn from the culture of others, no
matter how different from you own.
Although we tend to emphasize the differences
among cultures, it’s also important to note
that there are differences within
cultures. There are distinctions between regions (for
example, northern and southern Italy), between ethnic
groups within a culture, between organizations (IBM
and Apple), and, of course, between individuals. Thus, we have to
be careful about making sweeping cultural
generalizations and about applying those generalizations to the
people with whom we are doing business. To avoid that
danger, cultivate the five qualities above.
Anticipating and understanding differences will increase the
effectiveness of your intracultural and
intercultural
© 1997 Lori Breslow Sloan Communication
Program
Teaching Methodology and Concepts Committee, “How to
Teach intercultural
Bibliography of
intercultural
Books
Adler, Nancy J.
International Dimensions of Organizational Behavior
, 3rd ed. Belmont, CA:
Wadsworth Publishing, 1996.
Bennett, Milton J., ed. Basic Concepts of
intercultural
Brake, Terence, Danielle Medina Walker, and Thomas
Walker. Doing Business Internationally
(text and workbook). Princeton, NJ: Training Management
Corporation, 1995.
Condon, John C. and Yousef, Fathi. An
Introduction to
Indianapolis, IN: Bobbs-Merrill Educational
Publishing.
Mead, Richard. Cross-Cultural Management
Communication . New York: John Wiley &
Sons,
1990.
Ruben, Brent, D. Human Communications
Handbook--Simulations & Games , Vols.
1 & II.
Rochelle, NJ: Hayden Book Co.
Samoven, Larry A. and Richard E.
Porter.
Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing, 1991.
Victor, David A. International Business
Communication . New York: Harper Collins,
1992.
Film Sources
Big World
Inc.
1350 Pine St. suite 5 1750 Buchanan St.
Boulder, CO 80302 San Francisco, CA 94115
(800) 682-1261 (415) 749-2920
EToll@aol.com
Other Resources/Organizations
intercultural
P.O. Box 700
Yarmouth, ME 04096
(800) 370-2665
The International Society
for
808 17th St., NW, suite 200
Washington, DC 20006
(202) 466-7883