COMMUNICATING ACROSS CULTURES AT WORK 2ND EDITION COMPANION WEBSITE CHAPTER SIX COMMUNICATING INTERCULTURALLY As in earlier editions, this

chapter is core, dealing as it does with the how to of intercultural communication. The structure is similar to that of previous editions, and the content is mainly an updated version of the contents of those. Consistently with the increased emphasis on the links to work, business and organization in the rest of the book, however, there is a note on intercultural work communication which makes the point that much of the research on cultural difference has been undertaken in the context of work environments. ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS ON THE EXERCISES

Q.2 Like most ethical proposals, they conflict with the vested interests and the apathy of the
powerful. However, there are ways of making the abuse of power too costly (see Chapter 9 of Interactive Behaviour at Work) and some power holders have ethical consciences. Q.3 Possible examples: trying to get the highest possible interest rate on savings; in the light of the Islamic prohibition, is this usury? French secularism and the hijab in schools or the burqa in public; US gun culture. Q.4 Awareness of self, cultural sensitivities, context and perceptual barriers to intercultural communication. I think the text is explanatory. Q.5 This can be answered from the suggestions in the subsection on awareness of cultural sensitivities, though other ideas should be welcomed. Q.6 There is an assumption here (probably justified) of cross-cultural agreement on how contexts affect expectations and behaviour. Q.7 Obviously, the stance of the book is that it can, through avoiding them, but there is a debate about how controllable communication behaviour really is. Q.8 Self-awareness awareness of ones own prejudices is the essential first step; after that the various learning methods can be applied. Q.10 Most important is using open questions and active listening to get the junior to talk freely; the Consultant should be open to and aware of the possibility of there being an acceptable reason for the juniors behaviour such as a misunderstanding of priorities. The aim is to make the junior see for him/herself that the behaviour is harming both the work and his/her own prospects and to motivate him/her to do better. Q.11 This could be an occasion for using Appreciative Inquiry. The HR manager should suspend judgement about the causes of the senior managers complaint and should explore the perceptions that have led to it. If it turns out that his/her suspicions that the partial cause is a lack of deference shown by the staff, he/she should find some way of helping the senior manager to realise that respect in this country is not shown by deference; that it is earned rather than given automatically to position-holders; and that his/her achievements undoubtedly mean that the staff do respect him. Q.12 The three processes are: creating new categories, being open to new information and being aware of more than one perspective. For example, while working with Moslem women colleagues who wear the hijab, a Westerner might learn that for them it is a symbol of their faith and does not imply submission to men; the Westerner might then create a new category of pious but independent-minded Islamic women. Q.14 Those shown in Figure 6.3 Q.15 Greater realism, based on more cultural awareness and knowledge of how culture influences behaviour, is the main way. Q.17 This list probably underestimates the importance of preserving harmony for people from collectivist cultures. Q.20 The manager will need to ensure that his or her replies do not reflect prejudice. In one role play of this scenario observed by the author, the manager said things like, If I let you

have 4 weeks, theyll all want the same,; How do I know if youll come back you hear things,; You need to decide where your loyalties lie,; and What about health issues?

If we assume this manager cannot or should not concede, to ensure this is understood and accepted s/he will need to use assertiveness, clarity and obtain feedback, and to show
empathy to support the staff members face. If the request is negotiable, all the above plus negotiating skills will be needed. Q.21 More focus on others and their needs; more emphasis on feelings, less on

principles.
Q.22 The receptionist should use active listening and grounding to ensure she fully understands the problem; self-monitoring to ensure not giving an impression of being irritated; a display of empathy, anxiety/uncertainty management, and communicating a relationship as well as a task orientation all to deal with the queue jumping and apparent aggression. Q.26 Nine implications of Adaptation theory are given in the text. Q.27 Understanding how people from a different culture think about interactions and so coming to have shared representations of interaction episodes; thinking about interactions in more complex ways and being generally socially skilled. EXTRA QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 1. Complete the questionnaire. Strongly Agree 1. I am guarded about the impression I make on others. 2. I adapt my behaviour to the response I get from others. 3. I have little difficulty in managing my feelings in new or unpredictable situations. 4. In new or unpredictable situations I use trial and error until I see what works. 5. I do not mind taking decisions in uncertain situations. 6. In new and unpredictable situations I set my own feelings aside and act according to objective facts. 7. I consider that other cultures are equal to my own, though different. 8. Even with unfamiliar people or strangers I usually feel confident that I know why they say the things they do. 9. I think it is very important to my sense of who I am that my mother tongue is the language that it is. 10. My mother tongue is a Agree Neither Disagree agree nor disagree Strongly disagree

major world language. 11. I have an independent selfconstrual. 12. I am a competent speaker of a second language. Scorimg: For all questions, score 5 for Strongly agree, 4 for Agree, 3 for Neither agree nor disagree, 2 for Disagree and 1 for Strongly disagree. This questionnaire scores states and traits associated with intercultural effectiveness (IE). Question 1 scores mindfulness; item 2 empathy; 3 to 6 tolerance for ambiguity; 7 cultural relativism; 8 attributional confidence; 9 and 10 ethnolinguistic identity strength; and 11 and 12 are obvious. For an overall measure of intercultural effectiveness, add scores for all questions except Question 11. Scores of 44 and above indicate high IE, 33 to 43 moderately high IE, below 11 very low IE, 12 to 23 moderately low IE, between 24 and 32 are indeterminate. Equivalent interpretation can be made of the scores on individual or groups of items.

2. Complete the questionnaire:

Strongly Agree 1. An expert who doesnt come up with a definite answer probably doesnt know too much. 2. I would like to live in a foreign country for at least a year. 3. There is really no such thing as a problem that cant be solved. 4. People who fit their lives to a schedule probably miss most of the joy of living. 5. A good job is one where what is to be done and how it is to be done are always clear. 6. It is more fun to tackle a complicated problem than to solve a simple one. 7. In the long run it is possible to get more done by tackling small, simple problems rather than large and complicated ones. 8. Often the most interesting and stimulating people are those who dont mind being different and original. 9. What we are used to is always preferable to what is unfamiliar. 10. People who insist upon a yes or no answer just dont know how complicated things really Agree Neither Disagree agree nor disagree Strongly disagree

are. 11. A person who leads an even, regular life in which few surprises or unexpected happenings arise really has a lot to be grateful for. 12. Many of our most important decisions are based upon insufficient information. 13. I like parties where I know most of the people more than ones where all or most of the people are complete strangers. 14. Teachers or supervisors who hand out vague assignments give one a chance to show initiative and originality. 15. The sooner we all acquire similar values and ideals the better. 16. A good teacher is one who makes you wonder about your way of looking at things. Scoring: Questions 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16: score 5 for Strongly agree, 4 for Agree, 3 for Neither agree nor disagree, 2 for Disagree and 1 for Strongly disagree. Questions 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13 and 15, score 1 for Strongly agree, 2 for Agree, 3 for Neither agree nor disagree, 4 for Disagree and 5 for Strongly disagree. This questionnaire scores tolerance for ambiguity. Scores above 70 indicate high tolerance for ambiguity; scores below 50 indicate low tolerance for ambiguity. 3. Which, if any, of the following are ways to increase predictive accuracy in intercultural encounters? a. examining and modifying stereotypes, implicit theories and rules b. making more extreme and confident attributions c. heightening awareness of sensitive issues, language and nonverbal behaviour d. asking open-ended questions. 4. Which, if any, of the following are ways to increase tolerance for ambiguity in intercultural encounters? a. self-monitoring b. avoiding over-generalising c. having flexible short-term aspirations or goals d. projecting confidence to oneself through positive messages ) 5. List behaviours that support and communicate a non-judgemental perspective. 6. Which, if any, of the following does expectations states theory put forward? a. Interactors predict what communication strategy the other participants will follow b. Interactors use cultural, social and personal information about other participants to make predictions c. The more familiar interactors are with other participants, the greater their need to make inferences d. Interactors expect high-status people to behave strictly in accordance with cultural norms

7. According to expectancy violation theory, which of the following, if any, are true and which are false? a. Interactors pay close attention to another persons behaviour when it violates their cultural norms b. when expectancies are violated, evaluations are generally strengthened 8. How can clarity be achieved in intercultural communication? 9. Which, if any, of the following arguments do constructivists put forward? a. People in communication act like naive scientists. b. Peoples communication goals are often to respond appropriately and keep the conversation on track. c. Culture and cultural difference have their greatest effect in initial meetings. d. People in intercultural encounters should use person-centred messages. e. Person-centred messages are simpler because when using them a speaker can ignore the effects of culture. 10. How can empathy be communicated effectively? 11. Explain in your own words what is meant by appropriate and inappropriate assertiveness. 12. How can appropriate assertiveness be communicated? 13. Define communication resourcefulness. How do its key elements improve an individuals intercultural communication? 14. Which of the following, if any, are stated by communication resourcefulness theory? a. Cognitive resourcefulness implies developing a wide range of verbal and non-verbal repertoires. b. Individuals in intercultural encounters experience emotions caused by conflicting claims between the self and others. c. Individuals need affective resourcefulness to be responsive to strangers and open to learn from them. d. Behavioural resourcefulness implies resolving conflicting claims through invoking impartial rules or principles. 15. What steps might you take to increase your own level of self-monitoring? 16. How can the ability to manage anxiety and communication fear be developed? 17. Explain in your own words the differences among ethical relativism, cultural relativism and biculturalism. 18. Give examples of each of the five categories of sexual harassment identified by the European Union, and discuss how victims can counteract each example. 19. Devise work-related examples of both successful and unsuccessful grounding. 20. Which of the following statements about communication accommodation theory (CAT), if any, are true and which are false? a. A focus on the interlocutors conversational needs will lead to the use of slower speech, questioning to check understanding and the choice of familiar topics. b. People from collectivistic cultures use politeness to create distance. c. If an interlocutor is attuning, they perceive the 'costs' of diverging as lower than the

perceived rewards. d. If an interlocutor is diverging they desire to signal differences in experience/ knowledge/ intellectual capability/communicator style. e. Diverging consists of minimising interruptions, correction and evaluations. 21. List and explain in your own words five factors that promote attuning in communication accommodation theory. 22. Which, if any, of the following statements about adaptation theory are true and which are false? a. Adaptations are the changes that individuals make in their affective and cognitive identity and in their relative power as they interact in a new cultural environment; b. When only one participant has a motive to adapt, no adaptation will occur; c. Culture-based differences in belief disrupt adaptation; d. Except when culture-based differences in beliefs are invoked, problems of territoriality or status are likely to be overcome; e. A shift from inequality toward parity in adaptive behaviour will accelerate progress toward task completion; f. The more adaptation displayed by a participant, the more the other participants attitudes to and perceptions of them and the culture they represent will change; g. Experience increases competence in intercultural communication 23. In episode representation theory which, if any, of the following, directly relate to the degree to which participants have shared episode representations with intercultural communication effectiveness? a. positive or negative evaluations b. the importance of task orientation versus relationship orientation c. the degree of intimacy, involvement and friendliness entailed d. whether the encounter is seen as an intergroup one. 24. Which, if any, of the following are implied by AUM theory? a. Uncertainty in initial interactions with strangers is reduced by communication. b. Uncertainty in initial interactions with strangers is reduced by the expectation that the strangers will be encountered in future. c. Interactors attempt to reduce uncertainty in initial interactions with strangers. d. Uncertainty in initial interactions with strangers is increased when the strangers act in a deviant fashion in the terms of the individuals own (sub)culture. 25. Define strangers in anxiety/uncertainty management theory. 26. Which, if any, of the following statements concerning anxiety/uncertainty management theory, are true and which are false? a. Effective intercultural communication requires that individuals from one culture can make attributions that are the same as those that individuals from the target culture would make in the same circumstances. b. Effective intercultural communication requires that participants attach similar meanings to the messages transmitted c. When uncertainty is too high for comfort, interactors end the interaction. d. Anxiety is based on not being able to predict what strangers attitudes, feelings, beliefs, values and behaviour will be e. When uncertainty is too low for comfort, interactors may not care what happens in the interaction, not pay attention and miss important cues. f. Attempts to adapt to the ambiguity of new situations involve tension-reducing and information-seeking behaviours. g. Initial encounters take place at a low level of awareness of the rules being followed

and the game being played. 27. Which of the following statements are true and which are false? a. Conversational improvement strategies are used for conflict resolution. b. Individuals mental models can be developed mutually in interactions. c. Low-context cultures attempt dispute resolution through adaptation and an emphasis on technical ways to break problems down into their component parts. d. Lack of cultural similarity is a significant factor in leading people in conflict to adopt a cooperative, integrative approach. 28. How do needs differ from interests? What are the implications of these differences for resolving conflict? 29. Which, if any, of the following have been particularly associated with effectiveness in intercultural communication? a. high self-monitoring b. low cognitive complexity c. low tolerance for ambiguity d. high cultural relativism e. high status f. high attributional confidence. EXTRA MATERIAL AND COMMENTS ON THE TEXT 6.1 INCLUSIVE LANGUAGE p.230 most women managers chose to use the masculine form rather than the feminine form of their professional title. The women managers disliked men stressing their views on womens maternal responsibilities; the women felt that making reference to their feminine characteristics was a method men used to remind women of the traditional gender hierarchy. p.232 Box 6.2 More from the article on Effective workplace communication with employees with psychiatric disability Note any fluctuation in the interpersonal behaviour of an employee and be alert to any situations where you think an employee's behaviour is making demands upon others. Help build communication skills. Assess the employee's functional social skills. Do they know: how to open a conversation how to finish a conversation how to make a plan to tell someone something and carry it through how to ask for information or get directions how to let someone know that they're listening to them when they're talking to them? Then work on a plan to assist them to develop these skills. 6.2 ETHICAL ISSUES

p.232 What is needed (and sufficient), according to Brinkmann (2002), is an intercultural

consensus about an ethical minimum.

a. Brinkman (2002) suggested that the following conventions are useful for handling intercultural ethical problems: One should keep cultural and ethical relativism apart conceptually. Unprejudiced empirical description and understanding (i.e. cultural relativism) is not the same as a denial of any moral or cultural outsider criticism of non-acceptable practices (i.e. ethical relativism). One should reserve the term of ethics for a qualified consensus about moral issues, brought about by fair dialogue (or defendable by fair dialogue), interculturally or intraculturally. He went on to refer to two models as embodying a relevant ethic. One is M.J. Bennetts Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity, which is similar to the model by Bennett that I have described in Chapter 7 of the text. He comments, As the name of this model suggests, there is a learning process assumption from lower to higher stages, such as growing into a culture and replacing biased and superficial understanding of a culture by an in-depth understanding of such a cultures emics and etics. Another is L. Kohlberg's classical continuum of moral sensitivity and judgement maturity. He commented, C. Gilligan has criticized Kohlberg for a focus on male rule-oriented ethics while females rather understand ethics as a question of caring or empathy. Here is no space to discuss if a caring-approach to ethics would offer better bridge-building possibilities to a need of intercultural empathy. Brinkmann (2002) continued, Cultural and moral relativism are different, but interdependent. One can understand a culture on its own premises without accepting it, and one can accept it without understanding it. Finally, he put forward the following theses as a summary and instead of a conclusion. 1. There is an important distinction between morality and ethics, i.e. between empirical description and understanding of moral phenomena and their critical-normative evaluation. 2. Two (moralistic) dangers must be observed: the use of moral perspectives where other perspectives would be equally or even more appropriate, and a reduction of moral analysis to an identification of sinners. 3. Case examples and issues within cross-cultural business ethics seem to have at least two common denominators, power and moral judgement insecurity. On the one hand, globalisation of business creates power and legal vacuum situations where mega-size company power can't be matched by small countries. More company power and more stakeholder powerlessness create more moral responsibility. On the other hand, cultural and moral relativism become at the same time more tempting and more exposed to criticism. 4. Cultural and ethical relativism should not be mixed up but treated as dialectic, i.e. different, interdependent and conflicting. A simplified four-fold table can be useful as a start. 5. Moral standpoints and moral conflicts should not be sacrificed for the benefit of intercultural understanding. Cultural relativism does not necessarily imply moral opportunism. The right order of procedure is crucial: non-biased description and understanding should always come before critical evaluation . 6. Individuals, groups or organisations should ask themselves and prepared to be asked critical questions about their moral acceptability and responsibility thresholds, e.g. core human rights, child labour, health-environment-and safety. 7. When it comes to moral conflict management there is no moral alternative to fair and open intercultural communication. 8. The more its issues are clearly inter-cultural or inter-subcultural, the more can business ethics as an academic field profit from intercultural communication competence. 9. Intercultural communication as an academic field can profit from using highly controversial business ethics cases for testing its competence and for staying humble.

As can be seen, the text (necessarily) gives a highly curtailed version of this argument.
Brinkmann, J. (2002) Business ethics and intercultural communication: Exploring the overlap between two academic fields, Intercultural Communication, 5, URL: http://www.immi.se/intercultural/nr5/abstract5.htm#brinkmann References: Bennett, M.J. (ed.) (1998) Basic Concepts of Intercultural Communication, Yarmouth ME. Buchholz, R.A. and Rosenthal, S.B. (1998) Business Ethics, Englewood Cliffs NJ Kohlberg, L. (1985), A Current Statement on some Theoretical Issues, in Mogill, S. and Mogil, C. (eds) Lawrence Kohlberg, Consensus and Controversy, Philadelphia, pp. 485546 Kohlberg, L. (1972) Moral Development, in Sills, D.L. (ed.) International Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences, New York : Macmillan.

b. Munshi and McKie (2001) challenged the ethical basis of the whole field by referring to Western biases in the texts and approaches of intercultural communication and to the connection between the field's neo-colonial business present with its colonialist past.
Munshi, D. and Mckie, D. (2001) Toward a new cartography of intercultural communication: mapping bias, business, and diversity, Business Communication Quarterly, 64:

6.3 INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION BEHAVIOURS Enhanced intercultural understanding of others Intercultural social perceptiveness p.237 A British study showed that in contact between White and Black people, the White
person typically controls access to valued resources that the Black person needs or wants. The author concluded, gloomily, that this is the socio-political context in which crosscultural encounters take place: one in which there is no possibility of an equal exchange between black and white.
Mason, D. (1995) Race and Ethnicity in Modern Britain, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Edition 2 included the following passage at this point: Box 6.4 I think if they are talking to people from their own cultures, its much more its very tiring for people to work in a second language or third language all the time. Whats quite interesting cause you get used to it. It doesnt worry you. I mean in some situations out in sort of the real world, people talk in another language, people might get kind of upset about this. What are they talking about? Well, after a while, you realize theyre just talking about what everyone else is talking about anyway. So, its not worth getting worried about (laughter).
Source: Quoted in Harris, H. (2001) The Perceived influence of culture and ethnicity on the communicative dynamics of the United Nations secretariat, Business Communication Quarterly, 64: 20510

Adapting in initial intercultural encounters p.255 In Edition 2, the following material was supplied: as Box 6.9 In a British joint venture in Taiwan, the secretary appointed to a British executive had lower English language proficiency than the executive was used to. The appointment was a success, however, because her guanxi gave the CEO access to and provided understanding of the communication and decision-making process in Taiwan. The executive accommodated by not pointing out grammatical errors and awkward English paragraph and sentence construction, speaking as precisely and simply as possible, avoiding slang and colloquial expressions, and

providing illustrations and examples. The result was that the Chinese secretary could make accurate translations of the executives English messages into written Chinese and oral Mandarin, despite her low English language proficiency. In another case in the same joint venture, an expatriates secretary had obtained an advanced degree in the USA, so she possessed excellent oral and written English communication skills. She was also comfortable working in an English-speaking environment and interacting with Westerners. In this case, it was she who accommodated to the direct style of her boss. Where neither party has adequate language proficiency in the others language (or a third language), to adjust successfully both need to converge towards a common vocabulary and communication style. They may also seek to increase the proportion of messages exchanged directly and thereby expand the outer boundaries of the communication zone. For example, a Taiwanese product manager had negotiated previous sub-contracting agreements for small appliances with the same French engineers and designers, and the parties had developed an effective communication channel. One time, however, the language proficiency required for specifying the appliance prototype exceeded their capacity, so they were unable to finalize the prototype arrangements, but they were able to communicate well enough to pinpoint the source of their communication difficulties and agree on the initial steps towards developing a workable prototype: namely, to purchase a competitors product, take the product to Taiwan for disassembly and analysis, and thereby learn the required circuitry for French appliances.
Source: Babcock, R.D. and Du-Babcock, B. (2001) Language-based communication zones in international business communication, The Journal of Business Communication, 38: 372412

Applications of skills to particular situations p.252 Inter-ability communication Fox et al (2000) argued that a group of theories can work together in explaining the individual motivations, attitudes and behaviour of interactors involved in inter-ability situations. First, they criticised uncertainty reduction theory (URT) and another theory, positive outcome value theory (POV) for being unidirectional and not addressing the transactional nature of the interactions occurring between persons with and without disabilities. They focus instead on the person without a disability, ignoring the uncertainty and information seeking a person with disabilities may be experiencing.

Instead, Fox et al (2000) proposed an intergroup approach to interability communication that is an amalgam of the interactive acculturation model (AIM), social identity theory (SIT), communication accommodation theory (CAT), and intergroup contact theory (IGCT), which, they claimed contributes to our understanding of the communication occurring within, and the consequence of, interability situations.
IAM proposes that relational outcomes are the product of the acculturation orientations of both the host majority and immigrant groups as influenced by state integration policies. The model makes predictions regarding the acculturation combinations most likely to produce consensual, problematic, and conflictual relational outcomes between immigrants and members of the host community. SIT predicts that some people with disabilities will attempt to pass as a person without a disability, thereby having a more positive social identity as a member of the dominant nondisabled group; and that some nondisabled people will avoid contact with disabled others, choosing not to have their social identity threatened because of the negative attitudes people have toward disabled people. When nondisabled people adopt a helper role, this may be the best way to maintain a positive identity, as well as the dominant

group status, even though there is also a conflicting norm that maintains that people with disabilities should not be treated as different. CAT explains the communicative strategies people choose to assert a positive identity and fulfil goals and intentions. Through linguistic convergence and divergence, people can attempt to assert a positive social identity. For example, patronizing speech toward a person with a disability may be a way a nondisabled person asserts an identity as a caring, compassionate dominant group member. Intergroup contact theory can explain why mainstreaming programs (in which children with disabilities are placed in regular classrooms) may increase interpersonal relationships between people with and without disabilities but negative attitudes toward people with disabilities as a group persist. Interactive acculturation, social identity, communication accommodation, and intergroup contact theories can be interwoven to create an explanatory theory of why situations involving people with and without disabilities result in intergroup rather than interpersonal communication. If the nondisabled interactant considers an interability situation to be intergroup in nature, and sees the disabled person as typical, then his or her attitude, and arguably future behavior, will be generalized toward all members of the group. On the other hand, if the nondisabled person sees the person with a disability as atypical and the situation as interpersonal, the disabled person's behavior will be discounted as being not representative of the whole group. Referring to the patronizing speech example, even if a person with a disability linguistically rejects behavior such as patronizing speech, the assertion will not necessarily have a longterm impact on the behavior of the nondisabled person because the disabled other can be seen as an exception to the rule.
Fox, S.A., Giles, H., Orbe, M.P. and Bourhis, R.Y. (2000) Interability communication: Theoretical perspectives, in Braithwaite, D.O. and Thompson , T.L. (eds) Handbook of Communication and People with Disabilities: Research and Application, New York: Lawrence Erlbaum.

p.253 Coping with others harassment, bullying, prejudice or discrimination

Black writers advocate a staged progression of self-definition among Black people (Cross). It is contended that the process is similar regardless of race, social class, political orientation and so forth. The Womanist model (as opposed to the feminist), says that weakness results from using external standards from either gender to govern identity development. Therefore to become a Womanist, women must overcome the tendency to use male (or female) social stereotypes of womanhood and define for themselves what being a woman means. In Stage 1, Pre-encounter, the woman conforms to societal views about gender, holds a constricted view of women's roles, and nonconsciously thinks and behaves in ways that devalue women and esteem men as reference groups. In Stage 2, Encounter, she begins to question the accepted values and beliefs of the Preencounter stage as a result of contact with new information and/or experiences that heighten the personal relevance of womanhood. In Stage 3, Immersion-Emersion, she actively rejects male-supremacist definitions, idealises women, especially feminists, seeks self-affirming definitions of womanhood and intense affiliations with women. In Stage 4, Internalisation, the woman incorporates into her identity constellation a positive definition of womanhood based on personal attributes, view other women and their shared experiences as a source of information concerning the role of women, but refuses to be bound by external definitions of womanhood. Studies have found that women with high internalisation levels have lower perceptions of gender bias. Likely explanations are that: to develop internalisation attitudes, women learn to screen out environmental cues concerning what is appropriate for them as women (intellectualisation is a primary



defence strategy in other minority-status theories (Cross, 1971)) women with high levels of these attitudes elicit more positive cues women develop their own support systems (e.g. joining groups).

Communicating Across Cultures, 1st edn. Ossana, S. M., J. E Helms, and M. M. Leonard (1992) Do 'Womanist' identity attitudes influence college women's self-esteem and perceptions of environment bias? Journal of Counseling and Development, 70, 4028. Reference: Cross, W. E.(1971) Negro-to-black conversion experience. Toward a new psychology of black liberation, Black World 20(9): 13 27.

6.4 INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION PROCESSES p.255 This section discusses processes that increase intercultural communication effectiveness; most of them require both parties to co-operate. a. I decided to leave out cultural identity negotiation theory from this edition, as it is complex and there were complaints of the difficulty of this section in the earlier edition. This does not mean it is not important and useful and teachers with more advanced students might wish to cover it. The concept of cultural identity was introduced on pages 468. Cultural identity negotiation theory concerns the way in which cultural identities are created and negotiated with others. Throughout an intercultural encounter, people negotiate meanings, such as that this particular meeting is a social gathering, not a business meeting, concepts of time, rules, activities and so on, which differ from one (sub)culture to another. Only if they succeed in reaching implicit agreement on these kinds of points will the encounter be useful and successful. If it is successful, the culturally different identities of the participants will be positively enhanced. Intercultural communication is seen as contact between persons who identify themselves as distinct from one another in cultural terms. Identity negotiation theorists believe that the extent to which communication is intercultural is in large part decided by the interpretations of the persons present in a given encounter. Cultural identities are always a potential frame in which interactors may interpret communication. Whereas interpersonal communication refers to contact in which the distinctiveness or uniqueness of a person is emphasized, especially their person-specific qualities, intercultural comunication refers to contact in which a persons cultural identity is emphasised. Intercultural communication is functional to the extent that positive outcomes are experienced overall. Positive outcomes include reinforcement of a persons self-concept, affirmation of cultural identity, desire to maintain the relationship and goal accomplishment. However, even if the intended goal is not accomplished, the encounter can be functional provided a net positive balance of outcomes results. This figure shows the elements of the model:

The cultural identity negotiation approach acknowledges that all individuals have many potential (sub)cultural identities. It can be used to identify similarities and differences in behaviours, interpretations and norms. It also treats an individuals culture, not as static and unaffected by intercultural interactions, but as influenced by the dynamic of their encounters. To achieve intercultural competence within the framework of this theory, people at work need to do the following: assess, as realistically as possible, whether a particular interaction is intercultural. Is the frame in which this interaction is viewed, by the other party as well as yourself, that of their cultural identity or is it primarily interpersonal? negotiate mutual meanings (e.g. an encounter must be mutually understood as a social gathering or a medical consultation), rules, concepts of time, space, activities and positive outcomes with the other party. In formal meetings, some of these aspects should be clarified in the course of setting the agenda - which should not, therefore, be determined unilaterally. Even so, the process of negotiation will continue throughout the meeting. It may be advantageous to make this process explicit - for instance by asking When you say that, do you mean....?. At other times, the negotiation will be implicit but there should be an endeavour to reach a higher level of awareness of how it is proceeding and whether understanding and agreement is being reached learn to evaluate encounters in terms which go beyond task accomplishment. Positive outcomes can include self-concept reinforcement, affirmation of cultural identity and desire to maintain the relationship, as well as goal accomplishment. To identity theorists, interpersonal communication refers to contact in which the distinctiveness or uniqueness of a person is emphasised, especially their person-specific qualities. Competence is defined as the successful enactment of identity and interpersonal competence is seen as mutually appropriate and effective conduct in particular contexts i.e. communication which validates the identities of the participants. Issues of identity are considered to thoroughly saturate communication.
Communicating Across Cultures, 1st edn. Collier, M. J. and Thomas, M. (1988) Cultural identity: An interpretive perspective in Kim, Y.Y. and W.B. Gudykunst (eds) Theories in Intercultural Communication Newbury Park, CA.: Sage.

p.256 Communication accommodation a. CAT, it is claimed, has both an objective and a subjective focus: an objective focus on

predicting communication outcomes such as competence or adaptation and a subjective focus on understanding the interactive process of communication. The essential vocabulary used in the other objective theories tends to reduce interaction to a state of individual achievement, but CAT predicts the motivated communication processes of convergence and divergence. It is also claimed for it that it meets an essential requirement of intercultural communication theories: that they must at least take into account both intergroup and interpersonal factors and give equal importance to each of them. CAT is complex, but, in the authors view highly practical: a careful study of what is involved in attuning, for instance, yields clear ideas on how to improve intercultural communication. In encounters which are salient in interpersonal terms, attuning will be to the behaviours of the partner which are seen as personal; in encounters which are salient in intergroup terms, it will be to the behaviours of the partner which are seen as group. The degree of attuning or counter-tuning used depends on the speaker's repertoires, his or her norms about maximal and minimal degrees of attuning, the relative weight of individual, social and contextual factors and the extent to which receivers actual communication matches the speaker's expectations. Reactions to the other speaker's behaviour affect future orientations for the rest of the interaction or future encounters. Reactions include labelling the behaviour as accommodating or not and attributions about why the behaviour occurred. Evaluations may be positive or negative, and the other individual may be seen as typical or atypical of his or her group. This theory is a development of Speech Accommodation Theory. It, too, deals with moves of speech convergence and divergence and maintenance, that is moves to increase, decrease or maintain communicative distance; CAT, though, covers non-verbal communication as well as speech. It postulates that communication involves a constant movement towards and away from others. CAT is concerned with the communication moves speakers make in interactions relative to the social and psychological contexts that are operating and relative to each other's communication characteristics.
Communicating Across Cultures, First Edition

b. Ellingsworth (1988) put forward a number of propositions that express his intercultural communication theory: An increase in the amount of functional adaptive behaviour will speed up progress toward task completion When adaptive behaviour occurs and proves to be non-functional, the other participant will respond by invoking culture-based differences in belief, which are likely to be disruptive A shift from inequity toward parity in adaptive behaviour will accelerate progress toward task completion. When participants share a purpose or goal, they will move towards equity in adaptation, regardless of status differences or territorial advantage. When interaction reveals that only one person will benefit from task completion, that person will accelerate adaptive behaviour. When one person has a territorial advantage, it will have limited effects on adaptation unless invoked; then the other person will display an increase in adaptation. When the initiator has more status or power than the other participant, he or she will initially use that advantage as a substitute for adaptive behaviour and may continue to do so throughout the interaction. The more adaptation displayed by a participant, the more change will occur in their attitudes to and perceptions of the other and the culture they represent. (This is because behaviour affects attitudes at least as much as attitudes affect behaviour.) The more adaptation displayed by a participant, the more change that will occur in that person's perceptions of themself and the culture s/he represents.

Communicating Across Cultures First Edition.

c. Since Tajfel (1978) interpersonal or intergroup salience is understood as a crucial dimension: in an interpersonal-salient encounter, unique features of the participants are attended to and vice-versa. When people first meet, group membership is always potentially salient (important) because they have high awareness of differences in their values, codes and background characteristics. There are, however, individual differences in the way group members view their own situation, which influence their initial orientation. In particular, if they are relatively dependent on their ingroup, and if their sense of solidarity with their ingroup is high, they will be more likely to define the encounter in inter-group terms. Orientations may change during the course of the interaction.
Communicating Across Cultures, First Edition. Tajfel, H. (1978) Social categorization, social identity and social comparison, in Tajfel, H. (ed.) Differentation Between Social Groups, London: Academic Press.

Developing shared representations of intercultural episodes p.261 Intercultural communication is made more effective when the participants think of interactions in similar ways. Differences among theorists notwithstanding, they all maintain that a relation exists between the subjective meaning of the situation (i.e., how it is cognitively represented by the individual) and ensuing behavior. Because the meaning that individuals attribute to a situation is thought to be a critical component in behavior, it is hoped that a better understanding of social behavior will be gained by focusing on individual, in addition to group, representations of social episodes.
Rooney, S.M. and Schmelkin, L.P. (1996) Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 18(1): 97110.

p.262 This guidance on factors and skills for reducing uncertainty and anxiety in intercultural encounters comes from Anxiety/Uncertainty Management (AUM) theory. a. An expanded treatment of this theory is given in the first edition of this text (pp.20612) and in Gudykunst, W.E. (1988) Uncertainty and anxiety in Kim, Y.Y. and Gudykunst, W.B. (eds.) Theories in Intercultural Communication, Newbury Park: CA: Sage pp.123-56. b. Goldsmith (2001) asserted that uncertainty reduction theory (Berger & Calabrese, 1975) was formulated to explain relationships between the frequency of communication behaviors, level of uncertainty, and level of relational qualities. In this essay, she advocated attention to an alternative set of research questions addressed to the meanings and evaluations of uncertainty and communicative responses to uncertainty. This normative approach entails a shift in focus from measuring level of uncertainty to examining multiple and potentially conflicting meanings of uncertainty, a shift from measuring communication behaviours to evaluating communication practices, and a shift from predicting what people will do to predicting and explaining the effectiveness and appropriateness of what they do in response to uncertainty. Four case studies from various socio-cultural contexts illustrated phenomena that are explained by a normative approach to uncertainty and communication.
Goldsmith, D.J. (2001) A Normative approach to the study of uncertainty and communication, Journal of Communication, 51: 51433.

c. Thomson (2003) had a number of useful pointers to improve intercultural communication: p.56 Narrative use of stories to make sense of our lives or particular aspects of them: used as the basis for helping people solve problems in their lives or move beyond blockages which are holding them back. p. 118 Political correctness is nave in its failure to realise the importance of changing meanings, not just words. He cited the example of the terms terrorists vs freedom fighters.

p.120 Skill in interpersonal encounters requires integrating learning from research and from experience, not just applying research-based learning. p. 129 Implications of face: At its simplest level, the basic rule is to treat people with respect but, in particular, to recognize that [because of hypersensitivity] certain groups who are traditionally treated less respectfully present an additional challenge. p. 129 Emotional intelligence: This concept has two main strengths ability to recognize and deal with our own feelings and those of others. Thompson criticised the overemphasis on biological factors in, for example, Goleman 1996. p.131 Framing Thompson gave an example of someone who is unhappy with the level of service they have received: using the language of complaints will tend to elicit a defensive response, using the language of a request for help will tend to elicit help. p.131. Solution vs problem orientation If you use the language of problems, people will think in terms of problems, but if you use the language of solutions, people are more likely to think in terms of solutions. p. 133 Power Schirato and Yell (2000): Power is manifested in general by asymmetry in the meaning choices available to the powerful and less powerful. Those who exercise power in a speech interaction tend to: control turn-taking in dialogue interrupt control what is under negotiation (through speech function) control the topic being discussed control the degree of directness or indirectness (indirectness, euphemism and watching your words are associated with the less powerful; and control the use of address terms (use of titles rather than first names shows status) p. 134 Discriminatory language excludes by implying that certain activities are reserved for certain groups depersonalises eg the elderly rather than elderly people stigmatises those with negative or derogatory implications: dirty black mark, girl for woman reinforces stereotypes legitimises discrimination domestic p. 136 Thompson argued against dominants complacency .. I have had people say to me that everybody knows that the use of black in a derogatory or negative sense is not intended as a way of being racist towards black people. However, two black participants objected strongly to the complacency of their white colleagues contributions to the discussion. Their argument was that, if you are part of the majority group and you are therefore not stigmatised through use of particular forms of language, you may well find it difficult to understand the need to change such language. However, if on a daily basis an important part of your identity is presented as something which is bad, poor or to be ashamed of, then the need for linguistic sensitivity becomes more than apparent. p.141 The power of putting it in writing: Western cultures ascribe additional importance to matters put in writing: undeniability; permanence.
Thompson, N. (2003) Communication and Language: A Handbook of Theory and Practice, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

p.263 I have omitted from this edition the material on marginalized groups strategies: Co-cultural communication theory, introduced in Chapter 3, creates a framework for understanding the processes by which marginalized group members negotiate attempts by others to mute their voices within dominant societal structures. Most commonly used are three strategies separation, accommodation and assimilation; to each of these there corresponds a non-assertive, assertive or aggressive pattern of communication as shown in Table 6.1 of Edition 2. p.268 6.5 INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION EFFECTIVENESS

A good many variations on the intercultural effectiveness theme have emerged over the years. For instance, Muzychenko (2006) used the concept of cross-cultural competence and created a model that linked it to entrepreneurial opportunity competencies and entrepreneurial self-efficacy and, therefore, the overall effectiveness of international opportunity identification.
Muzychenko, O. (2006) Cross-cultural entrepreneurial competence in identifying international business opportunities, European Journal of Management, 26(6): 36677.

p.269 Understandings of intercultural communication competence and effectiveness also

vary according to different theoretical perspectives. a. For cultural identity theorists, intercultural communication competence refers to contact in which there is a good match between an individuals own beliefs about his or her own cultural identity and those of the people with whom s/he interacts. Communication can be more or less interpersonal and simultaneously more or less intercultural. Intercultural competence is the demonstrated ability to negotiate mutual meanings, rules and positive outcomes. This means that in order to create intercultural competence: discursive meanings must be shared; for instance, an encounter must be mutually understood as a social gathering. People must negotiate relational meanings, concepts of time, activities etc throughout the gathering. rules (norms) must be agreed and adhered to; rules are communication prescriptions that specify when and how actions are to be performed for communicative purposes such as politeness, offering proper evidence and how to be properly assertive. Rules vary in scope and salience - so Mexican-Americans hold similar rules for appropriate conduct whether talking with another Mexican- American or an Anglo, but Black and Anglo North Americans use different rules for intra- and inter-cultural conversations with acquaintances. Communication is functional to the extent that positive outcomes are experienced, regardless of whether or not the intended goal was accomplished. Positive outcomes include selfconstrual reinforcement, affirmation of cultural identity, desire to maintain the relationship and goal accomplishment.
Collier, M.J. and Thomas, M. (1988) Cultural identity: An interpretive perspective in Kim, Y.Y. and Gudykunst, W.B. (eds) Theories in Intercultural Communication, Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

b. An interpretive model of intercultural communication competence treats it as conduct perceived to appropriate and effective for both cultural identities being advanced. In other words, as one member of the dyadic conversation avows a particular cultural identity, for example, being a Chicana, the conduct of the other member should be appropriate and effective for the salient identity of Chicana. The same holds for the second member's salient identity being competently reinforced by the other member of the dyad. Intercultural communication competence is mutually competent behaviour for both cultural identities being advanced.
Duran, R.J. and Spitzberg, B.H. (1995) Toward the development and validation of a measure of cognitive communication competence. Communication Quarterly, 43: 259-75.

c. An atheoretic treatment of intercultural communication competence is provided through the dimensions of the Intercultural Behavioral Assessment Indices. The seven dimensions are: display of respect, interaction posture, orientation to knowledge, empathy, relational role behaviour, interaction management and tolerance of ambiguity. A study which examined 149 international students (mainly from the Far East, Asia, Middle East, Africa, and Europe) at a large midwestern university revealed significant positive correlations between the combined dimensions of Intercultural Behavioral Assessment Indices and a combination of personal attributes, communication skills, psychological adaptation and cultural awareness, as shown in Figure 7.9. The study used both self-ratings and third person ratings of the variables.
Chen, G.M. (1988) Relationships of the dimensions of intercultural communication competence. Paper presented

at the 79th Annual Meeting of the Eastern Communication Association, Baltimore, MD. ERIC Documentation Reproduction Service No. ED 297 381.

d. A review of literature by Duran and Spitzberg (1995) indicated that there are four separate mental processes essential to cognitive communication competence: anticipating the context that may influence one's communication choices perceiving the consequences of one's communication choices immediate reflection general reflection upon the choices one has made.
Duran, R.J. and Spitzberg, B.H. (1995) Toward the development and validation of a measure of cognitive communication competence, Communication Quarterly, 43: 259-75.

p.270 Showing respect is a very important managerial skill for international business success. The following extract strongly suggests that showing respect is important also in the world of international relations at the highest level: In a rare meeting between old enemies, top diplomats from the United States and North Korea held talks in Beijing yesterday, paving the way for long-delayed six-party negotiations on ending the Norths nuclear programme. Officials from the communist state agreed to meet after [US] President Bush began to refer to their leader as Mr. Kim Jong Il, instead of using terms such as pygmy.
Macartney, J. (2005) Nuclear talks restart after rival shows a little respect, The Times of London, 26.7.05, p.34

p.272 6.6 A NOTE ON INTERCULTURAL WORK COMMUNICATION The development of multimodal approaches presents an opportunity for human beings to increase their competence in managing complexity, while at the same time brings a challenge of cross-cultural communication. Some claim that two approaches have been proposed for tackling this challenge: an approach of "frameworks" and an approach of "discourse." Some go further to contend dropping frameworks and taking up discourse. This paper argues that, if it is true that there exist these two approaches, neither the "frameworks" nor the "discourse" approach alone is sufficient. It is suggested that researchers and practitioners may be better equipped by participating in discourses with and among frameworks. Employing three metaphors, this paper proposes that, in the way "force-fields" and "constellations" require and imply each other, both frameworks and discourse are necessary for human beings to act as a "Peircian fiber-cable" in social problem-solving.
Zhu, Z. (1999) The practice of multimodal approaches, the challenge of cross-cultural communication and the search for responses, Human Relations, 52: 579 - 607.