Transcript Coping with cultural filters - dwyersinterculturalcommunication

Coping with cultural filters
1. Cultural Misconceptions
• People are basically like me
• Others lack my advantages
• Differences don’t really matter, they get
ironed out
• No probs, I speak the ‘lingo’
• Everyone can see how sincere I am
• They have to respect my knowledge
• We’re all interested in the bottom line
Areas of Misunderstandings
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The way men relate to women and vv
The way people indicate ‘respect’
The cultural view of time and space
The taboos
The way business commitments are made
Nonverbal cues
Language and translation
Dress
How people handle ‘persuasion’
Religious and political influences on business
Prejudices they may have against you.
Categories of Cultural Difference
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Greetings
Visiting private homes
Public speaking
Meetings
Gestures
Personal Appearance
Attitudes (to nature, to expressing
emotions etc
Categories of Cultural Difference
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Language
Religions
Special holidays
The family
Dating and Marriage
Social and economic levels
Distribution of group
Categories of Cultural Difference
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Work
Diet
Free time activities
History and government
Education
Transportation and communication
Health
Land and climate
Universal signals and nonverbal cues
Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck (1960s):
• Relation to human nature (good, bad, neutral,
evil)
• Relation to nature and supernature (mastery
over nature)
• Positioning in the flow of time (past, present,
future)
• Relation with activity (being, becoming, doing)
• Relationships with others (lineality,
individualism, collaterality)
Hall, Edward T (1976)
• Time
• Non-verbal Communication
• High-context; Low-context
Parsons, Talcott (early 1980s)
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Affectivity v Affective Neutrality
Self-Orientation v Collective Orientation
Universalism v Particularism
Ascription v Achievement
Specificity v Diffuseness
Hofstede, Geert (early 1980s)
• Individual v Collective (Identity)
• Masculine v Feminine (Gender related
values)
• Risk Avoidance (Virtue)
• Power Distance (Hierarchy)
• Long-term orientation/Confucianism the 5th
dimension (Truth)
• NEW!!! Indulgence v restraint
Trompenaars , Alfons and HampdenTurner, Charles (1980s)
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Universalism v Particularism
Individualism v Communitarianism
Affective v Neutral
Specific (goal oriented) v Diffuse (relationshiporiented)
Sequential time v Synchronic time
Internal v External orientation (control)
Achieved Status v Ascribed Status
Equality v Hierarchy
Stewart and Benett 1991
• Perception-based v Symbol-based
• Concrete v Theoretical
• Inductive v Deductive
Walker, Walker and Schmitz
(2003) 4 levels of culture
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Individual, interpersonal
Group, team
Organisational
Societal
• Cultural Orientations Model
https://www.culturalnavigator.com/%28S%28lnbecfjvhq0zxs55k3bbtnyd%29%29/cnav_app/default.aspx
Lewis, Richard (2000)
• http://www.cultureactive.com/help/demo.ht
ml
• Multi-active (family, hierarchy,
relationships, emotion …)
• Linear-active (facts, planning, products,
laws, word-deed ..)
• Reactive (intuition, courtesy, collective
harmony, face…)
Beamer, Linda (2004)
• Individualist vs. collectivist
• Horizontal vs. hierarchical
• Form distrusted vs. form trusted
• Self in control vs. Other in control
• Learn from experience vs. from authority
• Rules-observant vs. rules-bending
• Communication direct vs. indirect
• Uncertainty-tolerant vs. uncertainty-averse
Dwyer (revising every year!)
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Low v high disclosure
Low v high risk
Low v high context
Direct v indirect communication
Low v high trust
What to do (1)
• Find out about the target culture
• Talk to people with experience
• Study the language
What to do (2)
• Remember those parameters!
• Think about how communication might be
when the interlocutor is from :
- A high-context or low-context culture
- A specific or a diffuse culture
- An affective or a neutral culture
Communicating: What to do (3)
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Avoid slang and idioms
Slow down your speech
Be an active listener
Check for comprehension
Audience, audience audience
• Remember to focus on your audience
• Remember it is the audience who gives
meaning to your message
• Design your messages and choose your
format based on what you know about
your audience
Writing
• Write or call?
• Translate or interpret?
• Low-context or high-context?
Your Assignment
• Present us with an analysis of underlying
culturally-based parameters that
determine communication in x country
• Present us with advice and strategies for
how to communicate with x culture