Transcript Perceptions and Techniques of Intercultural Communication

PERCEPTIONS AND TECHNIQUES OF
INTERCULTURAL
COMMUNICATION COMPETENCE
Gabriella KISS, PhD
Director of Language Teaching Centre
Military Science and Officer Training Faculty
National University of Public Service
Budapest, HUNGARY
Respecting our differences and
working together
“Military culture comprises the ethos and
professional culture where military policy
and reality meet in the daily lives of
military. This where the real battle is taking
place and these themes should not be
ignored to our own peril.”
(Williamson Murray)
AGENDA
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Aims
Cultural norms and patterns
Features of cultural literacy at military
Culture Bump Theory
Managing Multicultural Teamwork
 benefits
 leverage to positive results
 guiding and organizational questions
 Guidelines for multicultural collaborations
AIMS
Learning to interact with local populaces
presents a major challenge for soldiers,
leaders, and civilians.
For most long-distance operations, the
Army attempts to instill in deployed forces
an awareness of societal and cultural
norms for the regions in which they operate.
Cultural norms and patterns
Cultural norms include thoughts, behaviors, and patterns
of communication, customs, beliefs, values, and
institutions. (By Jean Willis)
1. Communication styles
2. Attitudes toward conflict
3. Approaches to completing task
4. Decision-making styles
5. Attitudes toward personal disclosure
6. Approaches to knowing
Other factors of norms influencing
communication
Religion – freedom and inevitability, fear and
faith, security and insecurity, right and wrong,
sacred and profane.
Tribal affiliation – arise from a social tradition
that often lacks written histories or
philosophies and independent perspectives.
Nationalism – the context of states, nations
embody the importance people place on
culture and heritage without respecting
geography.
Features describing the culturally literate soldiers
(1.)
(By Peter J. Katzenstein)
They –
- understand that culture affects their behavior and beliefs and the
behavior and beliefs of others
- are aware of specific cultural beliefs, values, and sensibilities that might
affect the way they and others think or behave
- appreciate and accept diverse beliefs, appearances, and lifestyles
- are aware that historical knowledge is constructed and, therefore,
shaped by personal, political, and social forces
- know the history of mainstream and non-mainstream cultures
and understand how these histories affect current society
- can understand the perspective of non-mainstream groups when
learning about historical events
- know about major historical events of other nations and understand how
such events affect behaviors, beliefs, and relationships with others
- are aware of the similarities among groups of different cultural
backgrounds and accept differences between them
- understand the dangers of stereotyping, ethnocentrism, and other
biases and are aware of and sensitive to issues of racism and prejudice
Features describing the culturally literate soldiers
(2.)
They –
- are bilingual, multilingual, or working toward language
proficiency
- can communicate, interact, and work positively with individuals
from other cultural groups
- use technology to communicate with individuals and access
resources from other cultures
- are familiar with changing cultural norms of technology
and interact successfully in such environments
- understand that cultural differences exist and need to be
accounted for in the context of military operations
- understand that as soldiers they are part of a widely
stereotyped culture that will encounter predisposed prejudices,
which will need to be overcome in cross-cultural relations
- are secure and confident in their identities and capable of
functioning in a way that allows others to remain secure in theirs.
Culture Bump Theory
(By C.M. Archer)
- addresses structural need for a change
mechanism in cultural programming,
- incorporates the strengths of diversity and
cross-cultural communication training,
- from „why they are different from us” into
„how we are the same”.
Managing Multicultural Teamwork
To work effectively with diverse people, know
about :
-
the others’ culture who to interact with
demographics
one’s personality
behaviour patterns in conflict situations
life experience…etc
The benefits can include:
- providing a greater range of perspectives and options
- enhancing the quality of decision taken
- developing the ‘global awareness’ of team members, and
improving relationships with key partners through working
together
HOW TO LEVERAGE POSITIVE RESULTS
(By Canney Davison)
- Differences need to be understood, acknowledged,
respected and explored
- ‘Critical moments’ of confronting the issue of
diversity
-Challenges of the group’s life cycle at an early stage
(questionnaire about expectations, perceptions of hot
issues, convergence or divergence of styles noticed)
GUIDING QUESTIONS
1. What is the degree of difference or similarity between the
cultural norms of the individuals within the group?
2. How much do these individuals manifest their cultural
norms?
3. How much of an issue is English language fluency?
4. What different expectations are present and precisely
what constitutes effective group behavior and
communication styles?
5. What leadership styles are preferred and valued within
the group?
6. What different stages of intercultural sensitivity has each
member of the team reached in ‘managing diversity’
(within the team, in their local area and in relation to the
Head Office cultures)?
ORGANIZATIONAL QUESTIONS
1. What is the relative status of different cultures and subcultures within the team?
2. How will geographic spread affect the group?
3. How will the similarity or difference between functional and
professional cultures affect the group dynamics?
4. What impact does top management have on the success of
the team?
Guidelines for multicultural collaboration
- Learn from generalizations about other cultures, but don’t use
those generalizations to stereotype, “write off”, or simplify your
ideas about another person.
- Practice, practice, practice.
- Don’t assume that there is one right way (yours!) to communicate.
- Don’t assume that breakdowns in communication work, rather
than searching for who should receive the blame for the breakdown.
- Listen actively and empathetically.
- Respect others’ choices whether to engage in communication
with you.
- Stop, suspend judgment, and try to look at the situation as an
outsider.
- Be prepared for a discussion of the past.
- Awareness of current power imbalances.
- Remember that cultural norms may not apply to the behavior of
any particular individual.
Works cited
Adler, N.,J. (1997). International Dimensions of
Organizational Behaviour. Cincinnati, Ohio: South –
Western College Publishing.
Archer, C.M. (1991). Living with Strangers in the USA:
Communicating Beyond Culture. Englewood Cliffs, New
Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Archer, C.M. (1986). Culture Bump and Beyond. In Valdes,
J.M. (Ed.), Culture Bound: Bridging the Cultural Gap in
Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
Avruch, K. and Black, P.W. (1993). Conflict Resolution
Theory and Practice. Dennis, J.D. Sandole and Hugo van
der Merwe (Eds), Manchaster, UK: Manchaster University
Press
Banks, J.A. (1997). Multiethnic Education: Theory and
Practice. Needham Heights, MA 02194: Allyn and Bacon
Davison, C.S. (1996). Leading and Facilitating
International Teams. In Berger, M. (1996). Cross-Cultural
Team Building – Guidelines for More Effective
Communication and Negotiation. London: McGraw-Hill.
Gundykunst, W.B. and Young Yun Kim. (1984).
Communicating with Strangers: An Approach to
Intercultural Communication. Reading, Mass.: AddisonWesley Publishing Co.
Hofner Saphiere, D.M. (1996). Productive Behaviours of
Global Business Teams. International Journal of
Intercultural relations, 20(2)
Matveev, A.V. (2002). Theory of Communication and
Applied Communication. In Rozina, I.N. (Ed.), Rostov-onDon: Institute of Management, Business and Law
Publishing. Moscow: Bulletin of Russian Communication
Association.
Schneider, S.C. and Barsoux J-L. (1997). Managing Across
Cultures. Prentice Hall Europe.
http://www.pbs.org/ampu/crosscult.html.
DuPraw, M.E. and Axner, M. Working on Common Crosscultural Communication Challenges.
ANY QUESTIONS?
THANK YOU
FOR YOUR ATTENTION