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Cultural differences between East and West, Cultural communication

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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!


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