1. Cultural differences between East and West, Cultural communication
Mendel University, Summer school 2017
Jiří Čeněk

2. Jiří Čeněk
ÚSR FRRMS MZLU
PSÚ FF MU
Research interests:
Cross-cultural differences in perception and cognition
The process of cultural adaptation
Book:
Čeněk-Smolík-Vykoukalová: Interkulturní psychologie – vybrané kapitoly (Grada)

3. Rulez
No wrong answers!
If you dont know the answer, say it in Chinese, someone will translate.
We are all here to learn! Even the teacher.

4. Content Culture Communication East- West What is culture?
Dimensions of culture
Comparison of Central European and Chinese culture
Communication East- West
Communication process
Differences in verbal and non- verbal communication

5. What is a culture?

6. A general framework for studying culture

7. Cultural transmission – elements of culture
Environment → Culture → Person → Mental state/Behavior
Elements of culture
Symbols
Values
Power structure
Organisation
Processes
Rituals …
Culture as a product of past behavior and determinant of future behavior.
Example:

8. Culture Internal and external culture
Internal culture: „part of an individual“
Ideals
Philosophy
Attitudes
Believes
External: „conditions“
Ecological and social context
Climate
Economy (GDP, etc.)
Social institutions
Art, etc.
To what extent should be culture conceptualized as part of the person and to what extent as a set of conditions outside of the person?

9. What are the differences between Chinese and Czech (culture)?

10. Comparing cultures

11. Geert Hofstede – Cultural dimensions
Comparison of values
IBM employees
More than 70 countries
More than participants
!!!Limits of the VSM08 in class according to the manual.!!!
Professor Geert Hofstede conducted one of the most comprehensive studies of how values in the workplace are influenced by culture. He analyzed a large data base of employee values scores collected by IBM between 1967 and 1973 covering more than 70 countries, from which he first used the 40 largest only and afterwards extended the analysis to 50 countries and 3 regions. Subsequent studies validating the earlier results have included commercial airline pilots and students in 23 countries, civil service managers in 14 counties, 'up-market' consumers in 15 countries and 'elites' in 19 countries. In the 2010 edition of the book “Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind”, scores on the dimensions are listed for 76 countries, partly based on replications and extensions of the IBM study on different international populations. Dimensions of National Culture The values that distinguished countries from each other could be grouped statistically into four clusters. These four groups became the Hofstede dimensions of national culture:
Power Distance (PDI)
Individualism versus Collectivism (IDV)
Masculinity versus Femininity (MAS)
Uncertainty Avoidance (UAI)
A fifth Dimension was added in 1991 based on research by Michael Bondwho conducted an additional international study among students with a survey instrument that was developed together with Chinese employees and managers. That Dimension, based on Confucian dynamism, is Long-Term Orientation (LTO) and was applied to 23 countries. In 2010, research by Michael Minkov allowed to extend the number of country scores for this dimension to 93, using recent World Values Survey data from representative samples of national populations.  In the 2010 edition of Cultures and organizations, a sixth dimension has been added, based on Michael Minkov's analysis of the World Values Survey data for 93 countries. This new dimension is called Indulgence versus Restraint. On 17 Jan 2011, Geert delivered a webinar for SIETAR Europe called 'New Software of the mind' to introduce Cultures & Organizations 3rd ed. Culture only exists by comparison The country scores on the dimensions are relative - societies are compared to other societies. Without make a comparison a country score is meaningless.  These relative scores have been proven to be quite stable over decades. The forces that cause cultures to shift tend to be global or continent-wide. This means that they affect many countries at the same time, so that if their cultures shift, they shift together, and their relative positions remain the same.

12. Geert Hofstede – Cultural dimensions
Power distance (PDI)
Individualism versus collectivism (IDV)
Masculinity versus femininity (MAS)
Uncertainity avoidance (UAI)
Long-term versus short-term orientation (LTO)
Indulgence versus restraint (IVR)
Please note:  culture is defined as the collective mental programming of the human mind which distinguishes one group of people from another.This programming influences patterns of thinking which are reflected in the meaning people attach to various aspects of life and which become crystallized in the institutions of a society. This does not imply that everyone in a given society is programmed in the same way: there are considerable differences between individuals.Statements about culture do not describe “reality”; they are all general and relative.
Without making a comparison, a country score is meaningless.

13. Power distance (PDI)

14. Power distance (PDI)
The extent to which the members of a society accept that power in institutions and organizations is distributed unequally.
High PDI:
Accept inequality between leaders and and the led (also the breadwinners and rest of the family)
No defence agains power abuse, people are told what to do
Arab Countries, Central America, South-East Asia, China, Russia, Serbia, Slovak republic (104 PDI!!!)
Low PDI: Most of EU (Highest in Scandinavia), Australia, New Zealand, Israel, Canada, Costa Rica
Czech Republic: 57 PDI = average

15. Individualism/collectivism (IDV)

16. Individualism/collectivism (IDV)
Who are you?

17. Individualism/collectivism (IDV)
The degree of interdependence a society maintains among its members
Individualistic cultures:
„I“
Loosely-knit social framework
Individuals take care of themselves
Collectivistic cultures:
„We“
Group norms form individual behavior
Harmony-enhancing strategies of conflict resolution.
In-group preference
Out-group hostility

18. Masculinity versus femininity (MAS)
Masculine cultures
Competitiveness, achievement, success
Winner takes all
Slovak (110 MAS!!!), Austria, Japan, Mexico
Feminine cultures
Consensus-seeking, caring for others, gentleness, values of modesty
Scandinavia, Baltic states
From this dimension it is harder to name only regions – coutries within one geographic region differ more.

19. Uncertainity avoidance (UAI)
Feeling uncomfortable or threatened by uncertainity and ambiguity.
How society deals with the fact that future can never be known – control the future or let it happen?
High UAI cultures:
Need for norms of beliefs and behavior
Intolerant to unorthodox behavior or ideas
Greece, Guatemala, Uruguay, Portugal
Low UAI cultures:
Maintain non-conform behavior, new forms of thinking
Vietnam, Sweden, Singapore, Jamaica
Czech republic (74 UAI = relative high)

20. L-T versus S-T orientation (LTO)
Normative
Resistant to change
Dont save resources for the future
Focus on quick results
USA, African countries, Middle-East
L-T:
Pragmatic
Truth depends on situation, context and time
Ability to adapt traditions to changed conditions
Save and invest money
Perseverance in achieving results
Western Europe, Asia

21. Indulgence versus restraint (IVR)
Indulgent cultures:
Free gratification of basic and natural human drives related to enjoying life and having fun.
Central and South America, some African countries
Restraint Cultures:
Supressing gratification of needs and regulating it by means of strict social norms.
Most of Arabic countries, Slovakia, Poland (In general – countries with strong accent on religion.)

22. Cultural dimensions

23. Cultural dimensions

24. Cultural dimensions - summary
China
Central Europe
Power distance
Higher
Lower
Individualism/collec.
Collectivistic
Individualistic
Masculinity
Masculine
Uncertainity avoidance
Low
High
L-T/S-T orientation
Pragmatic
Indulgence
Restrained

25. Communication East - West

26. Process of communication

27. Sources of noise Different experience Different context
Language barriers
Non-verbal communication
Etc.
Noise  Misunderstanding

28. Verbal communication

29. Language 2 aspects of language: Prosodic (acoustic aspect)
Emphasis (pitch, loudness)
Intonation
Pragmatic (the use of language)
Both aspect are sources of communication problems between cultures.

30. Prosodic aspects
Gumperz (1982): Indian and Pakistani women working in cafeteria in Britain.
Seen as unpleasant and uncooperative.
Some words they said could be interpreted negatively.
Example: Question „Gravy?“ when serving food.
With rising intonation: Question „Is everything fine?“
With falling intonation: Statement of fact (redundant/rude)

31. Pragmatic aspects Common across cultures: Taking turns in conversation
Exchange of compliments
Politeness

32. Pragmatic aspects Cross-cultural differences: Meaning of words:
Most words have multiple meanings.
Denotative meaning:
As written in dictionary.
Home = „a place where one lives; a residence“
Connotative meaning:
Associations that word brings to mind.
Home = a place of security, comfort, family
Differs across cultures

33. Indirect vs. direct style of communication
Direct: meaning of the message is communicated via words
Indirect: Meaning is not only in words but also in the context of conversation (non-verbal, status of communicating people…)

34. Reasons for indirect communication
Situation: We were working together at a classroom project and my part was not of a good quality. What would you tell me to improve the quality of my part of the project?

35. Reasons for indirect communication
Chinese concept of Face (面子):
ren hou lian, shu hou pi
“Men can’t live without face, trees can’t live without bark.”
mei you mianzi
someone “has no face” (insult)
Mianzi = face

36. Face 面子 You need to get used to situations like this:
Being openly criticized
Being called a liar
Seeing not enough respect to elders
Hearing NO (not MAYBE)
Being interrupted by talking
Someone being angry at you …

37. Face 面子 The concept of Face is generally unknown in Europe
Asians seem to be sensitive to Europeans
Europeans seem to be rude to Asians
Being frank/sincere is of a high value in Europe/USA
Respect to objectivity and facts
Despise to a lie
Personal integrity

38. Suggestions for communicating With EU.
Be direct, honest
Dont be afraid to say NO/unpleasant things
Express your emotions (even negative)
Dont get offended (e.g. by Face threatening situations)

39. Non-verbal communication

40. Non-verbal communication
Facial expressions (see L5)
Posture
Gestures
Proxemics
Kinesics
Haptics

41. Gestures How do you count with your hands?
What gestures are considered to be rude in China?
Come to me?
Go away!
I dont know.
Yes.
No.
What other gestures are typical for Chinese?

42. Gestures
Military hand signals: tactical signals
Our interpretation?

43. Gestures - examples Video 1: American hand gestures
Video 2: Gestures across cultures

44. Personal space and body position

45. Personal space and body position
Arabs, Southern Europeans, Latin americans – stand close together.
USA, Northern Europe – need for greater physical distance.

46. Haptics - touching Contact and non-contact cultures
Contact cultures: Latin Americans, Middle Easterners, souther Europeans, Arabs, Africans
Non-contact cultures: Northern America, Norther Europe, Asia
Contact cultures touch more, stand closer

47. Touching in public in China?
Haptics - touching
Touching in public in China?

48. Haptics - touching In Central Europe:
You generally dont touch foreigners
Acceptable:
Hand shake (man + man):
Cheek kiss (woman + man, woman + woman)

49. Haptics - touching Generally not acceptable:
Acceptable: displays of affection between romantic partners in public

50. References
East Meets West -  Yang Liu

51. Thank you for your attention!