COM 2603 Chapter 1

Chapter 1 The chapter focuses on the different imperatives that assist us to understand intercultural communication. Intercultural communication is exactly as the term states – communicating while taking into account the different cultures that exist in our very diverse country. In modern SA, many of us reside, work or reside and work in multi-cultural communities and workplaces – How do you manage to convey messages? How do you manage to communicate? An example that comes to mind is dressing – Some cultures don’t allow a woman or a man to wear particular clothes hence we have the term traditional attire. Some cultures are more accepting of certain parts of the body being exposed while others aren’t. It doesn’t make one culture better than the other, however, we have to be respectful of the diversity and communicate in order to learn more,

The imperatives There are six imperatives discussed in Chapter 1 These are: The Peace Imperative The Economic Imperative The Technological Imperative The Demographic Imperative The Self-Awareness Imperative The Ethical Imperative

The peace imperative Let’s face it – there is a lot of conflict in the world. When we think war, conflict, strife – certain countries come to mind such as DRC, Syria etc. Can interactive multicultural communication lead to peace? Technically, it may not be as simple but negotiation and communication play an integral role in peacekeeping. An example would be a misunderstanding between you and a friend. More often than not, talking about the issues clears up the misunderstanding. Both of you would have a clearer understanding of what caused the issue and how to avoid it in the future.

The economic imperative It’s important for us to have a solid understanding of the various cultures that exist within South Africa, the African continent and globally. This is important for us to conduct business relations. The textbook uses SADC (Southern African Development Community) as an example of which SA is a member of. We have to have an understanding of the culture of the countries that we want to do business with. Example – the Arab countries have their weekend on a Friday and Saturday whereas we have a weekend on a Saturday and Sunday – this is important to know if you were doing business with an Arab country and not expecting businesses to be operational on a Friday. Think globalization – business and the internet is transforming who we interact with. Within the workplace, people come from different backgrounds, religions, cultures etc. One is not superior to the other even if it doesn’t make sense to you. Communication is key to understanding the differences but also in trying to find similarities.

Technological imperative The internet has shaped the way we now communicate. Think Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat etc. We have the opportunity to come into contact with people from across the globe, get a glimpse into their lifestyle, food that they eat and what their country or home is like. However, we also have the digital divide – those that are excluded from the communication because they do not have access. This is one of the major challenges that we face even in South Africa. We all are creating a network which has a number of advantages for those that have access. We also need to keep in mind that one of the disadvantages is cyberbullying which many young people are subjected to.

Demographic imperative Demographics – general characteristics of a given population. We are a homogenous and heterogenous society. This means that we have communities that are the same in structure, composition or have a shared identity and we are different in the sense that we have communities that differ vastly as compared to others. Think Soweto, Lenasia, Eldorado Park, Houghton. Within these communities you have most people agreeing on culture and tradition but compare one to the other and they differ in many ways. This is due to race, religion, gender views, culture etc. We also need to be careful of stereotypes and prejudice. Knowing where someone comes from doesn’t mean they are inferior or superior.

Self-awareness imperative We need to be aware of who we are. What is your identity? I’m South African, Muslim, Indian, female, wife, mother, daughter, full time employee, friend etc. Knowing who we are helps us to communicate with others with mutual understanding.

Ethical imperative What are ethics? Principles of conduct is one definition. It’s what can be assumed to be right or wrong. Giving a friend of yours a tender in your company is seen as ethically wrong as it is a conflict of interest. But we also have to think of ethics in terms of culture. A workplace may have a culture of doing business that may be viewed as being somewhat unethical when looked at from a different lens.