How a Persons Culture Influences His/Her Personal Relationship and Communication Style - Essay Example

Running head: BUSINESS COMMUNICATION Business Communication Partha kar 19-February-2007 The study shows how a person's culture influences his/her personal relationship and communication style. Intercultural communication, defined by Richard Porter and Larry Samovar as occurring "whenever a message producer is a member of one culture and a message receiver is a member of another," has been of interest to communication scholars since the 1960s. The constituents of intercultural communication as identified by scholars such as Porter, Samovar, and Penington points to which significant differences may occur in communication patterns, habits, and traditions across cultures. Occurrences of differences at these points suggest we are dealing with intercultural communication. Business Communication An American and a Chinese were visiting a cemetery where their friends had been buried. The American was carrying a bunch of flowers and the Chinese a bowl of cooked rice and fruits. The American found it ridiculous that one would leave food at a grave. On his enquiring the Chinese mentioned that his friend will come and eat the food around the time the other friend comes out to smell the flowers. It was a friendly dig at each other's culture. Culture is the way we live, the air we breathe, the thoughts we think, the clothes we put on, the glasses we wear and look through (Monippally 2001, p 44-45). Culture is what shapes our perception. It is defined as the complex system of values, traits, morals and customs shared by a society. Prof. Geert Hofstede conducted perhaps the most comprehensive study of how values in the workplace are influenced by culture. From 1967 to 1973, while working at IBM as a psychologist, collected and analyzed data from over 100,000 individuals from 50 countries and 3 regions. From the initial results, Hofstede developed a model that identifies four primary dimensions to assist in differentiating cultures: Power Distance1, Individualism2, Masculinity3 and Uncertainty Avoidance4. Hofstede added a fifth Dimension after conducting an additional international study with a survey instrument developed with Chinese employees and managers. That dimension, based on Confucian dynamism, is Long-Term Orientation5 and was applied to 23 countries. These five Hofstede Dimensions can also be found to correlate with other country (See figure 1) and cultural paradigms (Geert Hofstede, 2003). On another hand Schein acknowledges that, even with rigorous study, we can only make statements about elements of culture, not in its entirety. The six fundamentals patterns of cultural differences are as follows: 1. Different Communication Styles: The way people communicate varies widely between, and even within, cultures. One aspect of communication style is language usage. Across cultures, some words and phrases are used in different ways. For example, even in countries that share the English language, the meaning of "yes" varies from "maybe, I'll consider it" to "definitely so," with many shades in between. Another major aspect of communication style is the degree of importance given to non-verbal communication. Non-verbal communication includes not only facial expressions and gestures; it also involves seating arrangements, personal distance, and sense of time. In addition, different norms regarding the appropriate degree of assertiveness in communicating can add to cultural misunderstandings. For instance, some white Americans typically consider raised voices to be a sign that a fight has begun, while some black, Jewish and Italian Americans often feel that an increase in volume is a sign of an exciting conversation among friends. Thus, some white Americans may react with greater alarm to a loud discussion than would members of some American ethnic or non-white racial groups. 2. Different Attitudes Towards Conflict: Some cultures view conflict as a positive thing, while others view it as something to be avoided. In the U.S., conflict is not usually desirable; but people often are encouraged to deal directly with conflicts that do arise. In fact, face-to-face meetings customarily are recommended as the way to work through whatever problems exist. In contrast, in many Eastern countries, open conflict is experienced as embarrassing or demeaning; as a rule, differences are best worked out quietly. A written exchange might be the favored means to address the conflict. 3. Different Approaches to Completing Tasks: From culture to culture, there are different ways that people move toward completing tasks. Some reasons include different access to resources, different judgments of the rewards associated with task completion, different notions of time, and varied ideas about how relationship-building and task-oriented work should go together. When it comes to working together effectively on a task, cultures differ with respect to the importance placed on establishing relationships early on in the collaboration. A case in point, Asian and Hispanic cultures tend to attach more value to developing relationships at the beginning of a shared project and more emphasis on task completion toward the end as compared with European-Americans. European-Americans tend to focus immediately on the task at hand, and let relationships develop as they work on the task. This does not mean that people from any one of these cultural backgrounds are more or less committed to accomplishing the task, or value relationships more or less; it means they may pursue them differently. 4. Different Decision-Making Styles: The roles individuals play in decision-making vary widely from culture to culture. For example, in the U.S., decisions are frequently delegated -- that is, an official assigns responsibility for a particular matter to a subordinate. In many Southern European and Latin American countries, there is a strong value placed on holding decision-making responsibilities oneself. When decisions are made by groups of people, majority rule is a common approach in the U.S.; in Japan consensus is the preferred mode. Be aware that individuals' expectations about their own roles in shaping a decision may be influenced by their cultural frame of reference. 5. Different Attitudes Toward Disclosure: In some cultures, it is not appropriate to be frank about emotions, about the reasons behind a conflict or a misunderstanding, or about personal information. Keep this in mind when you are in a dialogue or when you are working with others. When you are dealing with a conflict, be mindful that people may differ in what they feel comfortable revealing. Questions that may seem natural to you -- What was the conflict about What was your role in the conflict What was the sequence of events -- may seem intrusive to others. The variation among cultures in attitudes toward disclosure is also something to consider before you conclude that you have an accurate reading of the views, experiences, and goals of the people with whom you are working. 6. Different Approaches to Knowing: Notable differences occur among cultural groups when it comes to epistemologies -- that is, the ways people come to know things. European cultures tend to consider information acquired through cognitive means, such as counting and measuring, more valid than other ways of coming to know things. Compare that to African cultures' preference for affective ways of knowing, including symbolic imagery and rhythm. Asian cultures' epistemologies tend to emphasize the validity of knowledge gained through striving toward transcendence. Recent popular works demonstrate that our own society is paying more attention to previously overlooked ways of knowing. You can see how different approaches to knowing could affect ways of analyzing a community problem or finding ways to resolve it. Some members of your group may want to do library research to understand a shared problem better and identify possible solutions. Others may prefer to visit places and people who have experienced challenges like the ones you are facing, and touch, taste and listen to what has worked elsewhere (Marcelle). A person's culture influences his/her personal relationship in a great way. Within the same culture it's not a big deal, as they communicate with people of their own dimension and style. However, an external environment with countable elements of varied culture they find it often difficult to get their ideas across. It gets hard to understand what the other person in a group is looking for and their likes and dislikes for a certain style of communication. Most important among them are 'time'-some culture stress punctuality while others do not. 'Space'-in some, people love closeness and in others far apart. 'Frankness'- high content cultures6 are more frank and explicit than low content cultures (Lesikar 2002). Differences in cultures influence communication styles dramatically. Failure to 'read the cue' and 'misreading the cue' (Monippally 2001, p 59) are some of them. First, misreading cues. Several people get impressed with lovely smiles of the sales assistants and never learn to believe that they are wearing a veil to get the customers in their way of thinking. Secondly read the cues would mean high degree of precision, keenness to draw up detailed plans in advance, flexibility and ways of expressing emotions go a long way to understand each others culture and observe patience to get the appropriate communication across. To some, correct words do matter and another gets insulted by merely mentioning a word contract; a man's word is more binding (Guffey, 2000). In fact, it is difficult to discuss differences in worldviews without talking about language, since our view of the world is expressed through language and other symbol systems. Language also reflects differences in social status between genders. Research on gender and language reveals that female language strategies invariably emulate the subordinate, non aggressive role of women in Western society. And, language about women does no better differences in language usage and worldview are woven together and difficult to separate. And, nonverbal behavior is another form of "language" which demonstrates differences between men and women. Corporate Culture is shaped by sour past and learning, formed from a pattern of commonly held attributes values, beliefs and assumptions. The culture of a group of people putting together an organization remarkably varies with business practices followed in different countries. In some, working individually is given priority while others love to take help. Turning down an offer at someone's face is considered decisive and to another is an insult. Calling someone by their first name is taken as frank and a mark of equality whereas another puts a tag of indiscipline. Some draw a bold lie between their work and life and compartmentalize their relationships, this helps them to be blunt in criticizing and take the same without loss of face where people of other culture may find it utterly terrifying at the thought of it. Visit Japan's top social-networking site, the 8-million-strong 'Mixi'. You'll see prim, organized columns and boxes of stamp-size photos - not the flashy text and teen-magazine-like layout of its American counterpart, MySpace.com. The difference in appearance between the two online hangouts reflects a broader clash of cultures and illustrates the challenge News Corp.'s MySpace faces as it jumps into the Japanese market (The Mercury News, 2007). Existence of cultural differences provides us enough opportunity to learn new things and negotiate better. Curbing ethnocentrism, avoiding judgementalism, looking beyond stereotypes and speaking clearly helps reducing cross-cultural communication. End Notes Read More