Importance of intercultural
communication
From the US Census for 2000
Nearly 18% of people in the US speak a language
other than English at home.
Racial minorities own nearly 15% of US companies. Slightly more than 11% of people counted by the US
Global trade
From a report about global trade (Lustig &
Koester, 1993)
One-third of US corporate profits are earned
in international trade.
The 23 largest US banks do almost half of
This suggests…
You are going to face a multicultural and multiracial
workforce.
You need to learn to communicate successfully with
people who have different cultural background from you in the workplace.
You need to learn to recognize and positively
respond to culture-specific attitudes, actions, tools and artifacts (such as documents, oral
Think about a workday
Workdays in U.S. culture: 8 am-5 pm, M-F
Sunday is a workday in Israel
People in Mexico don’t work from 1 to 3 pm
Categories of cultural
patterns
Values and beliefs Business customs Legal systems
Language use
Vocabulary and sentence length Numbers, dates and magnitude
Rhetorical patterns: Document development &
Context & communication
Low-context culture stresses the importance
of explicit verbal messages to convey
personal thoughts, opinions, & feelings
High-context culture stresses the importance
of multi-layered contexts (e.g., historical
context, social norms, roles, situational &
Low-context culture High-context culture
Individualistic values Group-oriented values
Linear logic Spiral logic
Direct style Indirect style
Sender-oriented style (the sender assumes the responsibility of communicating clearly)
Interpreter-oriented style
Self-enhancement style Self-effacement style
Verbal-based
Context Square
context Information implicitly
Visual Exercise
Map three screenshots to the context square
How different are three screenshots?
Context and Writing
Writing is a way of organizing and presenting ideas.
Cultural markings are embedded in your writing.
Different cultures take different approaches to
present information.
High-context culture: meaning is often implied in
communication, conveyed through the context.
Low-context culture: meaning is best expressed through
Rhetorical patterns across
cultures
Rhetorical "patterns" vary from culture to
culture:
U.S., UK: Straight
Comparing American &
Mexican business letters
ABC format Address
Salutation
Main Point of Letter
Body of Letter
Action(s) to be Taken
Close
Address
Salutation
Set Context
Background Information
Main Point of Letter
Elaborations
Re-Set Context
“Culture is ordinary.”
Guidelines for
cross-cultural fluency
Understand our own cultural contexts first
Learn about rhetorical patterns and conventions of
the other party
Be less concerned about finishing negotiations,
more concerned about establishing long-term relationships
Listen carefully before asserting own views about a
project
