Culture and____ Communication

Chapter 1 Culture and Communication
I. Teaching Objectives:
Have a general view of what culture is.
Be aware of some typical responses to a foreign culture.
Know the relationship between culture and communication.
II. Teaching procedures:
The only time when true suffering occurs is when two cultures collide.---Hermann Hesse (German-Swiss poet and novelist, Noble prize winner)
Distance and time were once the biggest obstacles to doing business internationally. They are now among the least of concern for any organization that has decided to go global. Today, international businessmen and businesswomen increasingly find themselves working in multi-cultural environments, dealing with real differences in everything from communication styles to social etiquette to core values.
Case: EuroDisney
In 1987, French government and the Walt Disney Company signed an agreement for the creation and operation of EuroDisney in France.
The company, it seems, failed to do its cultural homework on everything from French business negotiating styles to employee flexibility and dress habits to consumer spending patterns and eating preferences.
The company‟s cultural insensitivities cost it a lot of money and good will.
Why is cross-cultural knowledge and understanding so important?
People from different cultures process information in different ways, value different traits and measure the concepts of time and space in dramatically different fashions.Culture affects the most basic forms of personal and business interaction from decision making to management style. National culture, in turn, determines corporate culture, affecting a firm‟s internal structure, its marketing behavior and its view of foreign business partners and contracts.
Culture: the Operating Environment or Windows of the Mind---Geert Hofstede Understanding Culture
Responses to Other Cultures
Culture and Communication
Understanding culture
There are hundreds of definitions of culture.
Culture is the art and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively; it is the customs, civilization, and achievement of a particular time or people; it is the way of life of a particular society or group.
Culture is the knowledge, beliefs, art, law, morals, customs, and other capabilities of one group, distinguishing it from other groups
“Culture is a fuzzy set of attitudes, beliefs, behavioural conventions, and basic assumptions and values that are shared by a group of people, and that influence each member‟s behaviour and each member‟s interpretations of the …meaning‟ of other people‟s behaviour.”---Spencer-Oatey 2000: 4
Culture is the coherent, learned , shared view of a group of people about life‟s concerns that ranks what is important, furnishes attitudes about what things are appropriate, and dictates behavior.
Three characteristics
Three things culture does
Culture is coherent
Each culture, past or present, is coherent and complete within itself---an entire view of the universe.
Culture is the outward expression of a unifying and consistent vision brought by a particular community to its confrontation with such core issues as the origins of the cosmos, the harsh unpredictability of the natural environment, the nature of society and humankind‟s place in the order of things.
cultures are coherent and logical systems, the parts of which to a degree are interrelated.
If we can view cultures as integrated systems, we can begin to see how particular culture traits fit into the integrated whole, and consequently how they tend to make sense within that context. And of course, equipped with such an understanding, international businesspersons should be in a better position to cope with the “strange” customs encountered in the international business arena. …
Culture is learned
Culture is not something we are born with, but rather it is learned.
This notion that culture is acquired through the process of learning has several important implications for the conduct of international business.
First, such an understanding can lead to greater tolerance for cultural differences, a prerequisite for effective intercultural communication within a business setting. Second, the learned nature of culture serves as a reminder that since we have mastered our own culture through the process of learning, it is possible (albeit more difficult) to learn to function in other cultures as well. Thus, crosscultural expertise(skill) for Western businesspersons can be accomplished through effective training programs. And finally, the learned nature of culture leads us to the inescapable conclusion that foreign work forces, although perhaps lacking certain job-related skills at the present time, are perfectly capable of learning those skills in the future, provided they are exposed to culturally relevant training programs.
Culture is the view of a group of people
A culture is shared by a society. Members of the society agree about the meanings of things and about the why.
People in a given culture share symbols of that culture. The most obvious set of symbols is language. Cultures also share visual symbols. E.g. Company logos, icons, religious images, and national flags
As almost everyone belongs to a number of different groups and categories of people at the same time, people unavoidably carry several layers of mental programming within themselves, corresponding to different levels of culture. For example: (Subcultures亚文化)
a national level,
a regional and/or ethnic and/or religious and/or linguistic affiliation
a gender level,
a social class level,
a generation level,
an organizational or corporate level
So in this sense, everyone is simultaneously a member of several different cultural groups and thus could be said to have multicultural membership.
Culture ranks what is important
What is of paramount importance to one group may be virtually meaningless to another. Cultures rank what is important. In other words, cultures teach values or priorities. Values underlie attitudes. They also shape beliefs. In order to understand how to do business with members of another culture, it is necessary to understand what motivates them.
Culture Furnishes Attitudes
An attitude is learned, and it is a tendency to respond the same way to the same object or situation or idea. Attitudes are feelings about things, based on values.
Attitudes can change, although change can be difficult.
Attitudes are based on beliefs as well as values. Beliefs are convictions or certainties based on subjective and often personal ideas rather than on proof or fact. Belief systems or religions are powerful sources of values and attitudes in cultures.
Culture dictates how to behave
Behavior comes directly from the attitudes about how significant something is ---how it is valued. Values drive actions.
Responses To Other Cultures
When members of different cultures find themselves face to face, a number of responses are possible. History shows that a common response is to clash and to struggle for the dominance of one set of values over another.
Culture Shock
Culture shock is the sense of dislocation along with problems, psychological and even physical, that result from the stress of trying to make the hundreds of adjustments necessary for living in a foreign culture.
•Adaptation Process (Four stages):
•Euphoria (Honeymoon)
•Disillusionment and frustration (Initial confrontation)
•Adjustment
•Integration
Reverse culture shock
A similar adjustment period and its accompanying symptoms usually occur when a sojourner returns home.
How to minimize the impact of culture shock?
In his book, Survival Kit for Overseas Living, Kohls suggests the following: learn as much as possible about the host country, try to look for the logical reasons things are done or perceived differently, meet local people and find friends with whom you can discuss your reactions and feelings, read and speak the local language, and try to learn as much as possible about local viewpoints and customs. (Kohls, 1984, 69-70.)
The question of change in cultures
Popular culture, which comprises the products of the culture that are widely consumed does constantly change.
But back-stage culture, the values, attitudes, and behaviors that have been learned from birth, change very little and very, very slowly.
Agents of change:
Global companies
Technology
Typical reactions to unfamiliar cultures:
Assumptions of superiority
“of course they‟re different, but we‟re better.
Most cultures assume their own values and practices are superior to those of the rest of the world.
Ethnocentrism
People everywhere tend to assume their own culture is right and normal, and to assess all other cultures by how closely they resemble their own.
Assumptions of universality
“They may talk (dress,eat,etc.) differently, but underneath they‟re just like us.” But this is profoundly mistaken and potentially dangerous romanticism.
Stereotype
Stereotypes are the perceptions or beliefs we hold about groups or individuals based on previously formal opinions and attitudes.
Bias
Discrimination and prejudice
When biases are acted upon, the actor is showing discrimination and prejudice. Discrimination is the act of sifting out and selecting according to bias toward something or someone.
Racism, Sexism, Ageism, Homophobia(对同性恋的憎恶),Xenophobia(仇外) Communication and Culture
Communication is the exchange of information between the sender and the receiver. The potential for miscommunication exists in all communicative transactions, especially in intercultural communication.
Communication systems such as language and nonverbal communication are products of culture.
All communication involves six basic ingredients:
the source, the encoding, the message, the channel, the receiver, and the decoding.
Culture has an impact on all the ingredients, especially encoding and decoding. Communication is symbolic.
Symbols are at the core of communication. But no symbol means the same thing to everyone because different cultures often employ different symbols and usually assign special meaning to them.
Communication can be intentional and unintentional behavior. It is important to be aware of the possibility of sending wrong messages unintentionally. Communication has a consequence. That means all the messages we send, in one degree or another, have influence on others. On the other hand all the messages we receive influence us one way or another.
Communication is dynamic.
Communication is contextual and governed by rules.
III. Exercises:
•Do you think communication is a risky business? Why or why not?
•Do you think communication and culture are inseparable? And why?
•Give additional examples from recent history of cultures that have undergone changes through important social and historical events.
•List three technological developments that have occurred since your birth have brought changes in our life and in our culture.
Develop awareness of cultural diversity and try to avoid the problems in your communication with people from other cultures.。