McGraw-Hill/Irwin

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Copyright 2011 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Chapter 1

Culture and
Communication
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Key Ideas
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

The importance of learning about cultures

Responding to different cultures
Understanding culture
Adapting another cultures behavior
Self-knowledge and understanding ones own culture
A question of change in cultures
The study of communication across cultures
Intercultural and cross-cultural communication
Two broad paradigms for studying culture
Intercultural business communication
Perception and the schema model
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Why study culture?

Culture explains how people make meaning

The travels of Ibn Battuta are about
his making sense of unfamiliar cultures

Misunderstanding is less likely when we

know how other people make meaning

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Ibn Battuta Mall, Dubai

Visitors enjoying the Starbucks caf in the Ibn Battuta Mall

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The Importance of Learning about

Cultures

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Making Sense of Our World

The world is becoming increasingly diverse
Migration is increasing
Some nations welcome migrants warmly; some tolerate them;

some turn their backs on them

You most likely will work with people from different

cultures

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Preventing Mistakes
You need to be able to make sense of unfamiliar cultures

so you can do your work effectively and keep mistakes to

a minimum
The Walpert experience is a good example

Christmas cracker

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Responding to Different Cultures

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Ways of Responding to Difference

Four ways of responding to difference
Hostility
Curiosity
Denial of difference
Cooperation

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Understanding Culture

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Definition of Culture
Culture has three characteristics and does three things
Culture has backstage and onstage elements
Transactional culture is co-created temporarily

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Values, Attitudes, Behaviors

Values

Attitudes

Honesty

Lying is wrong

Family

Family event
comes first

Behaviors
Telling the truth

Socializing with
family rather than
friends

Table 1.1 ICGW, 5th ed., page 14

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People are mostly unaware of culture

Culture is like an iceberg. Much is hidden from sight, even for its members.

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Adapting to Another Culture

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Culture Shock
Sense of dislocation and need to make adjustments
Problemspsychological and even physicalresult
Culture shock has four phases
The process is like a lazy W

and repeats throughout the

sojourn
Reverse culture shock

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Self knowledge and

Understanding Ones Own Culture

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Understanding Oneself First

First step in understanding the impact of culture
Projected cognitive similarity
Self-reference criterion

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Prejudice, Bias, and Discrimination

Understanding oneself involves acknowledging ones
Prejudice
Bias
Discrimination

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Cultural Intelligence
Some people just seem to know what to do in another

culture, while
other people just find bumps
Cultural Intelligence (CQ): the ability

to make sense of another culture,

and adapt to it effectively
You dont have to be born with it

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Cultural Intelligence Model

CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE
COGNITION

MOTIVATION

BEHAVIOR

Knowledge
about something

Confidence in
achieving goals

Learned in
the past

Knowledge
about what to do

Persistence

Rituals

Drive

Habits

Pattern
recognition
Self Awareness

Newly
learned

Based on Earley & Ang, 2003, Cultural Intelligence, Stanford, CA: Stanford Business Books, p. 67
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The Question of Change in Cultures

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One Global Culture?

Are cultures merging into one global culture?
Evidence?

Historically cultures resist merging

Modern European examples

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Do Cultures Change?
Popular taste
Circumstances highlight certain values
Deep values

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Technology and Change

Technology is how a culture relates to its physical

environment
Technology impacts communication behavior
Deep cultural values and attitudes are not to be confused

with tools for communication

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The Study of Communication

Across Cultures

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Three Characteristics of the Study of

Communication and Culture
Origins of this study are in the U.S., starting after WWII
Three major characteristics still influence the study of

cultural and communication today

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Study of Individual and Group

Communication
Individual Study
Interpersonal
communication
Conflict communication
between individuals
Managerial
communication
Facework and issues of

face
Cultural identity of
individuals

Group Study
Organizational
communication
Cross-cultural
communication
Political communication
between groups and
nations
Mass communication
Consumer communication

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Intercultural and
Cross-cultural Communication
Cross-cultural communication

studies one culture and compares

its communication (C) to another
cultures communication

?
C

Culture A

Intercultural communication studies

Culture B

what happens when a person

communicates with someone from
another culture.
Culture A member and Culture B
member communicate
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Cross-cultural and Intercultural

Communication Studies
Which one involves comparisons of communication

across cultures?
Which one involves the interaction when people from two
cultures try to communicate?

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Two Broad Approaches to Research

Two main paradigms (models) for social science

research, including communication:

The positivist approach (emphasis on science)
The interpretivist approach (emphasis on social)

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Intercultural Business Communication

Intercultural business communication (IBC) is

communication by members of different cultures for

business or workplace purposes.
Who is engaged in IBC?
What do IBC communication acts include?
Culture affects all communicators and communications

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Perception and Communication

Four phases in perception
Recognising something (a message, a behaviour)
Paying attention to it
Putting it into a mental category
Assigning meaning to it

What is it?

Difficulties arise when the new information does not fit in

existing categories
Meaning can be misunderstood or missed

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Schema Model
We organize information about cultures into mental categories

or schemata
A schema is not identical to the reality of the culture
We communicate to members of the culture according to our
Schema of
own schema
More information may bring the

Culture A

schema in closer to reality

More information may freeze
the schema, especially when it is
negative

Schema of
Culture A
Schema of
Culture A

Culture A
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Summary
Two main reasons to study culture
Four responses to an unfamiliar culture
Culture is the learned, shared, coherent view of a group; it ranks what is

important, furnishes attitudes, and dictates behavior.

Culture shock (4 phases) and reverse culture shock are normal.
Understanding other cultures begins with understanding ones own prejudices,
biases, and discriminatory practices.
CQ is a good place to begin to understand oneself and ones own culture
Do cultures change?
Study of cultures

falls into the two broad research paradigms

can focus on individuals or groups
can be intercultural or cross-cultural
on a personal level, involves perception and schemata

Intercultural business communication takes place across cultures for business.

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Conclusion
Culture affects every communication act and the actors

involved.
Because the business world is becoming increasingly
diverse, we need to understand culture and its impact on
communication. CQ is an important capability.
Learning about culture and communication can have
different focuses: individual or whole-culture,
intercultural or cross-cultural.
Most research falls into two broad paradigms, and is often
a combination of both.
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