MULTICULTURALISM Thanks to K. Garrison for the original textual material International and Cross-Cultural Communication

Globalization: You Are Not Alone  People from different cultures are different in a variety of ways, including:  Different ways of greeting each other  Different ways of looking at things  Within cultural dimensions

Profile your audience  Base your communication on: (82-85, 92)  What you know  What you can research  Social cues  Etc.  Examples?  Do not ever assume that “they” will assume that you are “right” because you are American – we all know what happens when we assume things, right… ;)

Some Perceptions of Americans  Europe & especially England: “Americans are stupid and unsubtle. And they are fat and bad dressers.”  Finland: “Americans always want to say your name: 'That's a nice tie, Mikko. Hi Mikko, how are you Mikko?’”  Indian: “Americans are always in a hurry. Just watch the way they walk down the street.”  Kenyan: “Americans are distant. They are not really close to other people -- even other Americans.”  Turkey: “Once we were out in a rural area in the middle of nowhere and saw an American come to a stop sign. Though he could see in both directions for miles, and there was no traffic, he still stopped!”

Some Perceptions of Americans  Colombia: “In the United States, they think that life is only work.”  Indonesia: “In the United States everything has to be talked about and analyzed. Even the littlest thing has to be 'Why, why why?'.”  Ethiopia: “The American is very explicit. He wants a 'yes' or 'no'. If someone tries to speak figuratively, the American is confused.”  Iran: “The first time my American professor told me 'I don't know, I will have to look it up', I was shocked. I asked myself 'Why is he teaching me?‘”

People from different cultures are different in a variety of ways, including:  Different ways of greeting each other (92)  Different ways of looking at things  Cultural Dimensions

Possible Greeting Styles I Kiss or EmbraceSmall Bow or Hand Signs

Possible Greeting Styles II Shake HandsTip a Hat

Shaking Hands  a firm, short handshake indicates self-confidence In the United States…In most parts of Africa…  a limp handshake is the correct way to do it  the handshake may last several minutes

People from different cultures are different in a variety of ways, including:  Different ways of greeting each other  Different ways of looking at things (92-93, )  Cultural Dimensions

Arabic or Chinese Reader Scanning a Page American or European Reader Scanning a Page From Johnson-Sheehan, R. (2006). Technical communication today, 2 nd Ed., p. 59 Scanning Text

Writing Dates UNITED STATES 8/25/11 JAPAN 11/8/25 EUROPE 25/8/11 August 25, 2011

People from different cultures are different in a variety of ways, including:  Different ways of greeting each other  Different ways of looking at things  Cultural Dimensions (93-98)

Variance in Cultural Dimensions  High Context vs. Low Context  Monochronic vs. Polychronic  Future vs. Present vs. Past Orientation  Power Distance  Individualism vs. Collectivism

High Context vs. Low Context  High context culture:  Communicators assume a great deal of commonality of knowledge and views  Less is spelled out explicitly and much more is implicit or communicated in indirect ways  More responsibility is placed on the listener to keep up their knowledge base and remain plugged into informal networks  Include the Japanese, Arabs and French  Low context culture:  Things are fully (though concisely) spelled out  Things are made explicit  Considerable dependence is put on what is actually said or written  Is vulnerable to communication breakdowns when they assume more shared understanding than there really is. This is especially true in an age of diversity.  Is not known for their ability to tolerate or understand diversity, and tend to be more insular  Include the Anglos, Germanics and Scandinavians

Interactions  Can be problematic  Examples  Japanese can find Westerners to be offensively blunt  Westerners can find Japanese to be secretive, devious and bafflingly unforthcoming with information  French can feel that Germans insult their intelligence by explaining the obvious  Germans can feel that French managers provide no direction

Monochronic vs. Polychronic (94-95)  Monochronic cultures:  Like to do just one thing at a time  Value a certain orderliness and sense of there being an appropriate time and place for everything  Do not value interruptions  Typically include the Germans  Polychronic cultures:  Like to do multiple things at the same time  Typically have an open door, a ringing phone and a meeting all going on at the same time in a manager's office  Include the French and the Americans Modern Representation of Chronos Picture from

Interactions between types:  Can be problematic  Examples  A German businessman cannot understand why the person he is meeting is so interruptible by phone calls and people stopping by. Is it meant to insult him? When do they get down to business?  Similarly, the American employee of a German company may be disturbed by all the closed doors - it seems cold and unfriendly.

Future vs. Present vs. Past Orientation I  Past-oriented societies:  Concerned with traditional values and ways of doing things  Conservative in management and slow to change things that are tied to the past  Include China, Britain, Japan and most Spanish-speaking Latin American countries

Future vs. Present vs. Past Orientation II  Present-oriented societies:  Include the rest of the Spanish-speaking Latin American countries  See the past as passed and the future as uncertain  Prefer short-term benefits

Future vs. Present vs. Past Orientation III Future-oriented societies:  Are optimistic about the future  Think they understand it and can shape it through their actions  View management as a matter of planning, doing and controlling (as opposed to going with the flow, letting things happen.)  Include the United States and, increasingly, Brazil

Quantity of Time  Time is seen as being a limited resource which is constantly being used up OR  Time is more plentiful, if not infinite. In old agricultural societies, time was often seen as circular, renewing itself each year.

Time-limited societies  Punctuality becomes a virtue  It is insulting to waste someone's time, and the ability to do that and get away with it is an indication of superiority/status  Time is money  Time-limited cultures don't have time to develop trust and so create other mechanisms to replace trust (such as strong rule-by-law)

Time-plentiful societies  View no problem with making people wait all day, and then tell them to come back the next day  Tend to rely on trust to do business  Include India or Latin American

Power Distance  The extent to which people accept differences in power and allow this to shape many aspects of life.  High Power vs. Low Power

Implications In high power distance countries (most agrarian countries), bypassing a superior is insubordination. In low power distance countries (US, northern Europeans, Israel), bypassing a superior is not usually a big deal In the US, superiors and subordinates often interact socially as equals. An outsider watching a party of professors and graduate students typically cannot tell them apart. How, and to what extent, do power- holders separate themselves from the less powerful? Is the boss always right because he/she is the boss, or only when he/she gets it right?

Individualism vs. Collectivism I  Individualist cultures believe:  Individual uniqueness and self-determination is a valuable trait  A person is all the more admirable if they are a "self-made man" or "makes up their own mind" or show initiative or work well independently  Tend to believe that there are universal values that should be shared by all  Include Anglo cultures  Collectivist cultures:  Expect people to identify with and work well in groups which protect them in exchange for loyalty and compliance  Tend to accept that different groups have different values  Include Asian cultures

Basic Communication Problems  Being able to interpret others comments and actions  Correctly predicting behavior  Dealing with conflicting behavior  How can we avoid these problems?  What you know  What you can research  Social cues