Professional Documents
Culture Documents
1
Communicating Across Cultures
2
What is Communication?
3
How Do Cultural Factors Pervade the
Communication Process?
“Culture not only dictates who talks with whom, and how
the communication proceeds, it also helps to determine
how people encode messages, the meanings they have for
messages, and the conditions and circumstances under
which various messages may or may not be sent, noticed,
or interpreted. In fact, our entire repertory of
communicative behaviors is dependent largely on the
culture in which we have been raised. Culture,
consequently, is the foundation of communication. And,
when cultures vary, communication practices also vary.”
Samovar, Porter, and Jain
4
The Communication Process
(Exhibit 4-1)
Noise
Culture
Feedback
5
Terms in Communication
6
Guidelines for Creating Trust
(as suggested by John Child)
7
Cultural Variables Affecting
Communication
8
Cultural Variables Affecting
Communication
(contd.)
9
Cultural Variables Affecting
Communication
(contd.)
10
Forms of Nonverbal Communication
(Exhibit 4-4)
Facial expressions
Body posture
Gestures with hands, arms, head, etc.
Interpersonal distance (proxemics)
Touching, body contact
Eye contact
11
Forms of Nonverbal Communication
(contd.)
12
Context
13
Cultural Context and its Effects on
Communication
(Exhibit 4-5)
high context/implicit
High Japan
Middle East
Latin America
Africa
Context
Mediterranean
England
France
North America
Scandinavia
Germany
Switzerland
low context/explicit
Low
Low Explicitness of communication High
14
Guidelines for Effective Communication in
the Middle East
15
Guidelines for Effective Communication in
the Middle East
(contd.)
16
Differences between Japanese and American
Communication Styles
(Exhibit 4-8)
17
Differences Between Japanese and
American Communication Styles
(Contd.)
19
Differences Between Japanese and
American Communication Styles
(Contd.)
20
Differences Between Japanese and
American Communication Styles
(Contd.)
21
Managing Cross-Cultural Communication
22
Behaviors Most Important to Intercultural
Communication Effectiveness
(as reviewed by Ruben)
Respect (conveyed through eye contact, body posture, voice tone and
pitch)
Interaction posture (the ability to respond to others in a descriptive,
nonevaluative, and nonjudgmental way)
Orientation to knowledge (recognizing that one’s knowledge,
perception, and beliefs are valid only for oneself and not for everyone
else)
Empathy
Interaction management
Tolerance for ambiguity
Other-oriented role behavior (one’s capacity to be flexible and to
adopt different roles for the sake of greater group cohesion and group
communication
23
Personality Factors For Effective
Intercultural Communication
(as reviewed by Kim)
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