Intercultural Communication and listening7/24- Chapters 9&5I. Role of Intercultural Communicationa. In communicating effectivelyi. Communication skills determine how well knowledge is acquired and appliedii. With globalization, the “knowledge class” is growing and becoming more important1. The knowledge class is supported solely by its participation in the new information industries with little, if any, reliance on traditional manufacturing, production, or agriculture.b. In strategic flexibilityi. First step (anticipate) – you will have a new slant or angle from which to think about potential communication situationsii. Second step (assess)- the factors, elements, and conditions of situations in which you find yourself will be differentiii. Third step (evaluate)- you will more accurately be able to determine the value and worth of the factors, elements an conditions and how they bear on your own skills and abilitiesiv. The fourth step (select) – you will find it easier t select those most likely to affect the situationII. Influence on the Communication Modela. Intercultural communication influences the communication modeli. Senders and receivers1. As the differences among communicators becomes greater, the results in thoughts, feelings, and messages become more divergent as wellii. Messages and feedback1. Both verbal and nonverbal messages are affected by intercultural communicationiii. SettingIII. Culturea. Culture is the ever-changing values, traditions, social and political relationships, and worldview created and shared by a group of people bound together by a combination of factorsb. Factors may include:i. Common historyii. Geographic locationiii. Languageiv. Social classv. Religionc. The word worldview means an all-encompassing set of moral, ethical, and philosophical principles and beliefs that govern the way people live their lives and interact with othersd. Cultural identity is the degree to which you identify with your culturei. Composed of:1. Ethnicity2. Culture3. Gender4. Age5. Life stage6. Beliefs/ values7. Assumptionse. The word co-culture represents nonwhites, women, people with disabilities, homosexuals, and those in the lower social class that have behaviors that set them off from other groups within a culturef. Three things to understand about possessing a cultural identity:i. Cultural identities are learnedii. Cultural identities vary in strengthiii. Cultural identities vary in their contentg. When a message is created by a member of one culture, and this message needs to be processed by a member of another culture, intercultural communication takes placeIV. Studying Intercultural Communicationa. Studying intercultural communication can help you:i. Understand your own identityii. Enhance personal and social interactionsiii. Solve misunderstandings, miscommunications, and mistrustiv. Enrich the quality of civilizationv. Become an effective citizenV. Studying Cultural Differencesa. Power distancei. Measuring social inequality within family customs, the relationships between students and teachers, the young and the elderly, language systems and organizational practicesii. US has low power distanceb. Individualism vs. collectivismi. Examining the degree of integration and orientation of individualsii. In individualist countries such as the US, Canada and Frances, people value self-expression, view speaking out as a way to solve problems and use confrontational strategies.iii. In collectivist countries such as many Arab, African and Asian countries, people have unquestioning loyalty to the group, and when in conflict, us avoidance, intermediaries and other face-saving techniquesc. Femininity vs. masculinityi. Examining the division of roles between men and womenii. High-feminine cultures believe women should be nurturant, concerned for the quality of life, and reveal sympathy for the unfortunate.iii. High masculine cultures believe men should be concerned about wealth, achievement, should be competitive and tough.1. More likely to maintain strictly defined gender rolesd. Uncertainty avoidancei. Capturing tolerance for the unknownii. Low-uncertainty-avoidance cultures need few rules and accept and encourage dissenting views and risk taking (Ex: Japan, Africa, Latin America)iii. High-uncertainty-avoidance cultures are threatened by ambiguous and uncertain situations and try to avoid them by having formal rules to control social behavior (Ex: China)iv. The US is considered “medium”e. Long-term orientationi. Measuring the trade-off between long-term and short-term gratification of needsii. Those with long term orientation admire persistence, ordering relationships by status and emphasize care for others and being loyal. Ex: china, japaniii. Those with short term orientation value personal steadiness and stability but don’t have as much respect for tradition because it prevents innovation. Ex: US, France, Germanyf. High context vs. low contexti. Examining the degree to which most of the information is carried in the communication context, or in the code or messageii. In high context communication, most of the information is already in the person; very little information is in the coded, explicit, intentionally transmitted part of the messageiii. Most western cultures prefer low context messages in which the majority of the information is the communication itself, not in the context.1. Ex: computer instructions are low context because they require that every space, period and letter be precisely in the right location.VI. Barriers to Intercultural Communicationa. Ethnocentrism- the belief that one’s own cultural groups behaviors, norms, ways of thinking and ways of being are superior to all other cultural groups and are thus the right ones.b. Stereotyping- oversimplified or distorted views of another race, another ethnic group, or even another culturec. Prejudice- a negative attitude toward a cultural group based on little or no experienced. Discrimination- the overt actions one takes to exclude, avoid, or distance oneself from other groupsVII. Non-dominant & Dominanta. Communication strategies between non-dominant- and dominant- group membersi. Assimilation- they drop cultural differences and distinctive characteristics that would identify them with the nondominant group1. Nonassertive assimilation- minority members want to belong to the majority group but don’t want to use aggression. They emphasize what they have in common with the dominant group to