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What Did You Say? Intercultural Expectations, Misunderstandings, and Communication Greetings! I am pleased to see that we are different. May we together become greater than the sum of both of us. Surak in the Savage Curtain episode of Star Trek Frederick Zarndt 1

What did you say? A tutorial on intercultural communication

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What one says to compatriots in face-to-face conversation is often misunderstood; imagine the possibilities for misunderstandings with someone from halfway around the world, natively speaking another language, and living in a different culture! In such circumstances how can you be sure that your collocutor has understood you in face-to-face (hard), telephone (harder), and email (hardest) conversations? The ubiquity of English facilitates basic communication, but its use as a common language frequently disguises cultural differences. Regardless of language, clear communication is essential for success in any collaborative undertaking whether done by a small co-located group or by a globally dispersed team. This tutorial describes frameworks useful in understanding cultural differences and gives real-life examples of misunderstandings due to such differences. Expect to take away practical tools to understand your own cultural biases and in-class practice to boost your communication abilities with colleagues from other cultures. You will also learn about frameworks for understanding other cultures based on work by Geert Hofstede, Fons Trompenaars, and others as well as on the presenter's own experiences.

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Page 1: What did you say? A tutorial on intercultural communication

What Did You Say?Intercultural Expectations, Misunderstandings, and

Communication

Greetings! I am pleasedto see that we are different.

May we together become greaterthan the sum of both of us.

Surak in the Savage Curtain episode of Star Trek

Frederick Zarndt

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Page 2: What did you say? A tutorial on intercultural communication

Why (better) communication is necessary

A recent survey of 752 IEEE members conducted by IEEE Spectrum and The New York Times discovered that "just 9 percent of 133 respondents whose organizations currently offshore R&D reported 'No problem'. The biggest headache was 'Language, communication, or culture' barriers, as reported by 54.1 percent of respondents." (http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/feb07/4881)

In a March 2007 web poll conducted by the Computing Technology Industry Association "nearly 28 percent of the more than 1,000 respondents singled out poor communications as the number one cause of project failure". (http://www.comptia.org/pressroom/get_pr.aspx?prid=1227)

Nilay Oza et. al. in their study Critical Factors in Software Outsourcing: A Pilot Study of top Indian outsourcing firms named cultural differences and language as the 2 most difficult among the 5 difficulty factors identified in outsourcing relationships.

In their 2006 study Crticial factors in establising and maintaing trust in software outsourcing relationships presented at the International Conference on Software Engineering, Nguyen, Babar, and Verner identified communication and cultural understanding as the 2 factors most critical to maintaining trust relationships.

Huang and Trauth identified three themes as major cross-cultural challenges: "...the complexity of language issues in global virtual work, culture and communication styles and work behaviors, and cultural understandings at different levels." (Cultural influences and globally distributed information systems development: Experiences from chinese IT professionals)

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Page 3: What did you say? A tutorial on intercultural communication

Culture Any knowledge passed from one generation to the next, not necessarily with respect to human beings.

Culture is a collective phenomenon shared with people within the same social environment.

Culture is learned, it is not innate.

Culture is different from personality but the border between culture and personality is fuzzy.

Culture is like the color of your eyes: You cannot change it or hide it, and although you yourself cannot see it, it is always visible to others when you interact with them.

Definitions of culture

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Page 4: What did you say? A tutorial on intercultural communication

More definitions of culture

Culture The attitudes and behavior characteristics of a particular social group (from the Latin cultura stemming from colere “to cultivate”). Oxford American Dictionary

Culture is the way in which a group of people solves problems and reconciles dilemmas. Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner

Culture is the collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from others. Hofstede and Hofstede

Culture means the total body of tradition borne by a society and transmitted from generation to generation. It ... refers to the norms, values, standards by which people act, and it includes the ways distinctive in each society of ordering the world and rendering it intelligible. Culture is...a set of mechanisms for survival, but it provides us also with a definition of reality. It is the matrix into which we are born, it is the anvil upon which our persons and destinies are forged. Murphy

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Page 5: What did you say? A tutorial on intercultural communication

Culture

Personality

Human Nature

Learned

Inherited and Learned

Inherited

Specific to Individual

Specific to Group

Universal

Levels of Mental Programming

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Page 6: What did you say? A tutorial on intercultural communication

Cultural expectations

Cultures similar Cultures different

Behaviors and characteristics

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Page 7: What did you say? A tutorial on intercultural communication

Culture stereotypes

Advantages of stereotypes Disadvantages of stereotypesPrediction of cultural behaviors Stereotypical behavior does not match real

behavior

Illuminates intent Expected intent disguises real intent

Helps one avoid giving offense

Ability to put things in conceptual categories is fundamental to perception.

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Page 8: What did you say? A tutorial on intercultural communication

Cross-cultural proficiency

• Develop awareness of your own mental software and cultural assumptions.

• Refine your perception of others’ mental software and cultural background.

• Increase your knowledge of other cultures, countries, and languages.

• Acquire skills in interacting with people from other cultures: Practice!

• Be mindful!

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Page 9: What did you say? A tutorial on intercultural communication

Basic human nature

Physical Vehicle comprised of “meat” body and its needs. (Latin physica ‘things relating to nature’.)

Emotional Motivational force for human activities. (Latin emovere ‘move’.)

Mental Sets goals, creates problems, solves problems. (Latin mens ‘mind’, Indo-European / Sanskrit ‘revolve in the mind, think’.)

Spiritual Relationship to creator. (Latin spirare ‘breathe’.)

Regardless of culture humans have 4 basic natures. With only slight differences (±0.05% genetic difference between 2 random humans), the physical body is the same for all cultures. How humans meet their physical needs -- water, food, shelter, procreation -- and fulfill their emotional, mental, and spiritual natures differs from culture to culture and from person to person.

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Page 10: What did you say? A tutorial on intercultural communication

Basic human activities

Relationship Manner in which one connects to and interacts with other humans. (Latin referre ‘bring back’.)

Work Physical and mental activity intended to achieve a purpose or result.

Recreation Activities done for enjoyment and to re - create oneself. (Latin recreare ‘to create again, renew’.)

Devotion Activities to fulfill and develop spiritual nature. (Latin devotionem ‘to dedicate by a vow’.)

Basic physical needs -- water, food, shelter, procreation -- are fulfilled in variety of culture specific ways. Once these needs are met, humans from every culture engage in 4 basic activities.

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Page 11: What did you say? A tutorial on intercultural communication

Reticular Activating System

The Reticular Activating System (RAS) is a structure common to mammals that is necessary for consciousness to occur.

RAS filters data coming to your mind so that your perception of events agrees with your past experience.

Everything you see, hear, smell, feel and touch is a message entering your brain. RAS filters through all these messages and decides which ones will get attention from your consciousness.

Midbrain

Pons

RASMedulla

Exercise (+)

Noise (+)

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Page 12: What did you say? A tutorial on intercultural communication

Effect of Personality on Communication

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Page 13: What did you say? A tutorial on intercultural communication

Effect of Personality on Communication

At the center of non-violencestands the principle of love.

Martin Luther King Jr.

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Page 14: What did you say? A tutorial on intercultural communication

Effect of Personality on Communication

At the center of non-violencestands the principle of love.

Martin Luther King Jr.

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Page 15: What did you say? A tutorial on intercultural communication

Effect of Personality on Communication

At the center of non-violencestands the principle of love.

Martin Luther King Jr.

At the center of non-violencestands the principle of love.

Martin Luther King Jr.

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Page 16: What did you say? A tutorial on intercultural communication

Effect of Culture on Communication

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Page 17: What did you say? A tutorial on intercultural communication

Effect of Culture on Communication

What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others.

Confucius

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Page 18: What did you say? A tutorial on intercultural communication

Effect of Culture on Communication

What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others.

Confucius

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Page 19: What did you say? A tutorial on intercultural communication

Effect of Culture on Communication

What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others.

Confucius

What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others.

Confucius

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Page 20: What did you say? A tutorial on intercultural communication

How do you communicate?

• Communication is at most 30% verbal!

• Remainder - 70% or more - is comprised of gestures, facial expressions, tone of voice, posture, odors, ...

• Telephone communication removes gestures, facial expressions, posture, odors, etc. Only words and tone of voice remain.

• Written communication - email, letters, etc - removes all modes of communication save for words.

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Page 21: What did you say? A tutorial on intercultural communication

Process of Perception

1. Observation2. Interpretation3. Evaluation or judgement

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Page 23: What did you say? A tutorial on intercultural communication

That manis running

Perception: Observation

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He mustbe late...

Perception: Interpretation?

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Page 25: What did you say? A tutorial on intercultural communication

Those foreignersare always in

a hurry!

Perception: Judgement

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Page 26: What did you say? A tutorial on intercultural communication

How do you understand?

Much of what you think happened or what you think you heard is based on misperception.

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Page 27: What did you say? A tutorial on intercultural communication

Cultural models

• Hofstede’s 5 Dimensions of Culture

• Richard Lewis’s Cultural Categories

• Tropenaar’s 6 Cultural Dimensions

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Page 28: What did you say? A tutorial on intercultural communication

Geert Hofstede’s 5 dimensions of culture

• Power distance

• Masculine / feminine

• Individualism / collectivism

• Uncertainty avoidance

• Long-term / short-term orientation

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Some more equal than others:Power distance

Power distance is the extent to which the less powerful members of an organization within a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequally.

Hofstede and Hofstede. Cultures and organizations: Software of the mind.

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Page 30: What did you say? A tutorial on intercultural communication

Power distancecultural differences

Small Power Distance Large Power Distance

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Page 31: What did you say? A tutorial on intercultural communication

I, we and they:Individualism and collectivism

In individualistic cultures ties between individuals are loose, everyone is expected to look after himself or herself.

In collectivistic cultures people from birth onward are integrated into strong, cohesive in-groups, which throughout people’s lifetimes continue to protect them in exchange for unquestioning loyalty.

Hofstede and Hofstede. Cultures and organizations: Software of the mind.

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Individual / collectivecultural differences

More individualism More collectivism

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Page 33: What did you say? A tutorial on intercultural communication

He and she, masculine and feminine, tough and tender

A culture is masculine (tough) when emotional gender roles are clearly distinct; men are supposed to be assertive, tough, and focused on material success, whereas women are supposed to be more modest, tender, and concerned with the quality of life.

A culture is feminine (tender) when emotional gender roles overlap: both men and women are supposed to be modest, tender, and concerned with the quality of life.

Hofstede and Hofstede. Cultures and organizations: Software of the mind.

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Page 34: What did you say? A tutorial on intercultural communication

Masculine / femininecultural differences

More masculine More feminine

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Page 35: What did you say? A tutorial on intercultural communication

What is different is dangerous:Uncertainty avoidance

Uncertainty avoidance is the extent to which the members of a culture feel threatened by ambiguous or unknown situations, often expressed through nervous stress (anxiety) and in a need for predictability.

Hofstede and Hofstede. Cultures and organizations: Software of the mind.

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Page 36: What did you say? A tutorial on intercultural communication

Uncertainty avoidancecultural differences

Strong uncertainty avoidance Weak uncertainty avoidance

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Page 37: What did you say? A tutorial on intercultural communication

Yesterday, now, or later:Long- and short-term orientation

Cultures with long-term orientation foster virtues oriented toward future rewards, in particular, perseverance and thrift.

Cultures with short-term orientation foster virtues related to the past and present, in particular, respect for tradition and fulfilling social obligations.

Hofstede and Hofstede. Cultures and organizations: Software of the mind.

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Page 38: What did you say? A tutorial on intercultural communication

Long-term / Short-termorientation

Long-term orientation Short-term orientation

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Page 39: What did you say? A tutorial on intercultural communication

Richard Lewis’s cultural categories

Linear-active cultures tend to be task-oriented, highly organized planners who complete action-chains by doing one thing at a time, preferably in accordance with a linear agenda.

Multi-active cultures are loquacious, impulsive, like to do many things at the same time, and attach great importance to feelings, relationships and people-orientation.

Reactive cultures rarely initiate action or discussion, preferring first to listen to and establish the other’s position, then react to it and formulate their own. Reactive cultures listen before they leap.

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Page 40: What did you say? A tutorial on intercultural communication

Cultural types model

Figure copyright Richard D Lewis 31

Page 41: What did you say? A tutorial on intercultural communication

Culture category statistics

Adapted from Richard D Lewis

Linear-active 600,000,000

Multi-active 3,300,000,000

Reactive 1,700,000,000

Hybrid (multi-active and reactive) 290,000,000

Total (approx.) 6,000,000,000

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Organizing information

• Open-minded people seek out (more) information before making a decision

• Close-minded people see only a narrow range of possibilities and ignore the rest

• Most cultures produce close-minded people!

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Page 43: What did you say? A tutorial on intercultural communication

Processing information

• Associative thinkers process information using personal experience. Educational systems that teach by rote learning tend to produce associative thinkers.

• Abstract thinkers process information by extrapolating data and considering hypothetical situations. Educational systems that teach by problem-solving tend to produce abstract thinkers.

• No country has more than its share of smart or dull people!

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Page 44: What did you say? A tutorial on intercultural communication

Simple principles, hard to apply

• Be an actor

• Act, don’t re-act

• Be mindful

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Page 45: What did you say? A tutorial on intercultural communication

Cross-cultural proficiency

• Develop awareness of your own mental software and cultural assumptions.

• Refine your perception of others’ mental software and cultural background.

• Increase your knowledge of other cultures, countries, and languages.

• Acquire skills in interacting with people from other cultures: Practice!

• Be mindful!

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Page 46: What did you say? A tutorial on intercultural communication

Basic communication principles

Simple Keep It Simple (KISS principle)

Respect Respect yourself and others

Listen Repeat what you hear

Talk Say it twice in different ways

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Page 47: What did you say? A tutorial on intercultural communication

More communication principles

• When we speak to others in a language that is not our own, we often unconsciously transfer elements from our own language into the other.

• When someone speaks your language, you tend to assume that they also share your thoughts and assumptions.

• Unless you understand very well proverbs from a language that is not your own, don’t use them.

• Humor does not translate well!

• Conversational taboos usually include religion and politics as well as questions about health, age, weight, income.

• Effective verbal communication is expected to be explicit, direct, and unambiguous. Say what you mean as precisely and straightforwardly as possible.

• Some western cultures view a person who is being indirect as tricky, deceptive, and of questionable integrity. At best indirect communication is viewed as a waste of time.

• Some eastern cultures view a person who is being direct as rude and of questionable honor. At best direct communication is viewed as impolite.

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Page 48: What did you say? A tutorial on intercultural communication

• Benedict, Ruth. Patterns of culture. Houghton Mifflin Company. 1934..

• CultureGrams World Edition 2007 <various countries>. Proquest Information and Learning Company. http://www.culturegrams.com

• Dafoulas, Georgios and Linda Macaulay. Investigating cultural differences in virtual software teams. The Electronic Journal on Information Systems in Developing Countries. 2001.

• Hofstede, Geert and Gert Jan Hofstede. Cultures and organizations: Software of the mind. Mc-Graw Hill. 2005.

• Hofstede, Gert Jan, Paul B Pedersen, and Geert Hofstede. Exploring culture: Exercises, stories, and synthetic cultures. Intercultural Press. 2002.

• Lewis, Richard D. When cultures collide: Leading across cultures. 3rd edition. Nicholas Brealey International. 2006.

• Morrison, Terri and Wayne A Conaway. Kiss, bow, or shake hands. 2nd edition. Adams Media. 2006.

• Thomas, David C and Kerr Inkson. Cultural Intelligence: Living and Working Globally. 2nd edition. Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc. 2009.

• Trompenaars, Fons and Charles Hampden-Turner. Riding the waves of culture: Understanding diversity in global business. 2nd edition. Mc-Graw Hill. 1998.

Selected Bibliography

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