CHAPTER 4: COMMUNICATING ACROSS CULTURES

· The Increasing Importance of Multicultural Communication - National and even local businesses find that their markets frequently extend across borders.

· Some of the most significant obstacles involve misunderstandings and contrary views resulting from multicultural differences.

· Three Significant Trends - (1) Globalization of Markets - Doing business beyond our borders is now commonplace. National boundaries mean less as businesses expand through mergers, alliances, and acquisitions. (2) Technological Advancements - amazing new transportation and information technologies are major contributors to the development of our global interconnectivity. (3) Multicultural Workforce - Lured by the prospects of peace, prosperity, education, or a fresh start, person from many cultures are moving to countries promising to fulfill their dreams. For generations the two most popular destinations have been Canada and the United States.

· Understanding Culture - Every country or region within a country has a unique common heritage, joint experience, or shared learning. This shared background produces the culture of a region, country, or society.

· For our purposes, culture may be defined as the complex system of values, traits, moral, and customs shared by a society.

· Characteristics of Culture - culture is shaped by attitudes learned in childhood and later internalized in adulthood. As we enter this current period of globalization and multiculturalism, we should expect to make adjustments and adopt new attitudes.

· Culture is Learned - Rules, values, and attitudes of a culture are not inherent. They are learned and passed down from generation to generation.

· Cultures Are Inherently Logical - The rules in any culture originated to reinforce that culture's values and beliefs. They act as normative forces.

· Culture Is the Basis of Self-Identity and Community - culture is the basis for how we tell the world who we are and what we believe. People build their identities through cultural overlays to their primary culture.

· Culture Combines the Visible and Invisible - To outsiders, the way we act are the most visible parts of our culture. The deeper values are invisible but pervade everything we think or do.

· Culture is Dynamic - Over time, cultures will change. Changes are caused by advancements in technology and communication, migration, natural disasters, and wars.

· Dimensions of Culture - (1) Context - Context is probably the most important cultural dimension and also the most difficult to define. It refers to stimuli, environment, or ambience surrounding an event. Low context cultures (USA) depend little on the context of a situation to convey their meaning. Low context cultures tend to be logical, analytical, and are action-orientated. High-context cultures tend to be intuitive and contemplative (Japan, China). (2) Individualism - An attitude of independence and freedom from control characterizes individualism. Members of low-context cultures tend to value individualism. (3) Formality - Tradition, ceremony, and social rules are more important in some cultures. (4) Communication Style - People in low-context cultures tend to place more importance on words.
(5) Time Orientation

· Achieving Multicultural Sensitivity - Being aware of your own culture and how it contrasts with others is an important first step in achieving multicultural sensitivity.

· Another step involves recognizing barriers to multicultural accommodation and striving to overcome them.

· Avoiding Ethnocentrism - The belief in the superiority of one's own race is known as ethnocentrism, a natural attitude inherent in all cultures. Ethnocentrism causes us to judge others by our own values. We expect others to react as wee would, and they expect us to behave as they would.

· Bridging the Gap - Developing cultural competence often involves changing attitudes. Remember that culture is learned. That means you can learn new attitudes and behaviors that help bridge gaps between cultures. (1) Tolerance - One desirable attitude is tolerance. Closed-minded people cannot look beyond their own ethnocentrism. Bust as global markets expand and as our own society becomes increasingly multiethnic, tolerance becomes especially significant. (2) Saving Face - Face refers to the image a person holds in his or her social network. (3) Patience - Don't finish sentences.

· Moving Beyond Stereotypes - A stereotype is an over-simplified behavioral pattern applied uncritically to groups.

· Six Stages of Multicultural Transformation - (1) Denial - We deny that cultural differences exist among people. We don't want to learn any thing else about the people. (2) Defense - We attempt to protect our own worldview (3) Minimization - We attempt to protect the core of our own worldview by concealing differences in the shadow of cultural similarities. (4)Acceptance - We begin to accept the existence of behavioral differences. (5) Adaptation - We become empathic toward cultural differences and become bicultural or multicultural. (6) Integration - We apply ethnorelativism (standards of rightness and goodness cannot be applied to cultural behavior).

· Adapting Messages to Multicultural Audiences - Nonverbal Communication - Verbal skills in another culture can generally be mastered if one studies hard enough. But nonverbal skills are much more difficult to learn.