Intercultural Communication
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TIEM 03 – 4 ECTS Credits, Autumn 2015
2015-11-09
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Professor Hossein Dadfar , IMEI, Linköping University
Objectives of this session
An overview of the course objectives:
What you can learn in this course
How you can benefit from your learning in your social and business life
The course organization
- The course events
- Evaluation
The challenges of intercultural communication
The confusing concepts
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“The reasonable person adapts himself to the world,
while the unreasonable one persists in trying to
adapt the world to himself.”
George Bernard Shaw
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An Overview of Course Objectives
By the end of this course, you should be able to:
Understand, classify and analyse culture
Learn how culture influences management and business practices
Understand the challenges of intercultural communication
Learn the intercultural communication barriers and how to overcome them
Use your skills and knowledge for an effective communication
with people of different cultures
Live and work in the cultures different than your own national culture.
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Course organisation
Lecture
Seminar
Total
Course Literature:
Compendia
Handouts
Course website:
22h
8h
---------30 h
http://www.iei.liu.se/indmark/utbildning/teim03?l=en
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Evaluation-Grading
Criteria:
- Assignment: for passing the course with 3- 4
(grade D, C, B),
-  Test: adds +1 grade to your final grade
-  Extra points:
-  Active participation: up to 5 points bonus
- Role Play: up to five points bonus
Note: the test and assignment are not repeatable after the course
is finished.
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Assignment and Important dates
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Each group of 5 students
PM1
09/11, 17:00
PM2
13/11, 12:00
presentation of research proposal/problem 16/11
Role play
16/11,
TEST
20/11, 08:30
Submission of final report 10/12 , 17:00
Presentation of assignment 14/12
About 15 pages excluding list of references and appendixes
Harvard referencing style
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Classroom Norms
ü Respect all cultures
ü Be punctual
ü Avoid to be talkative
ü Be participative
ü Enjoy your course, there is a lot of fun there
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Why Culture?
Because it shapes:
The way we think
The way we act and interact
The way we communicate
The way we transmit knowledge to the next generation
The way we behave
Finally, the way we organize our life
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Why ICC is so Scary?
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Growing Social Complexity of
International Business
2 people, 1
communication
N=n(n-1)
4 people, 6 communications
2
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3 people, 3 communications
5 people, 10 communications
20 PEOPLE, 190 CHANNELS!
Adapted from Frame, 1994
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Why ICC
The most important thing in
communication is hearing what isn't
said
Peter F. Drucker 1909-2005, American management guru
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Why ICC
You can have brilliant ideas, but if you can't
get them across, your ideas won't get you
anywhere
Lee Iacocca 1924- , former CEO of Ford and famous for reviving the Chrysler brand
Why ICC- Avoiding Anxiety
•  Fear of offending
•  Fear of revealing ignorance
•  Fear of being misunderstood
•  Fear of appearing foolish
•  Fear of conflict
•  Fear of misunderstanding
•  Fear of losing …
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Why ICC- Beliefs and Assumptions
•  Culture is a learned way to see the world common
to your community/group
•  We take our ways for granted as true and are often
doing it unconsciously
•  What is obvious to you may not be obvious to
others
•  People often perceive the same things differently
•  What is right to you may be wrong to others
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Why ICC- You have different
perceptions
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How do you perceive nature?
How do you perceive gender roles?
How do you perceive time?
How do you perceive friendship?
How do you perceive a problem?
How do you perceive the way business should be
done?
•  What do all these perceptions tell you about the
lenses you use to see the others?
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Cultural Orientations
Culture
Behavior
Values
Source: Adler (1991:16)
Attitudes
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What is Culture?
Culture is the collective programming of the mind
which distinguishes the members of one group or
category of people from another (Hofstede 1980)
Culture is everything that people have, think, and do
as members of their society (Ferraro 1990)
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What is Culture?
Something that is shared by all or almost all members of
some social group
Something that the older members of the group try to pass
on to the younger members
Something (as in the case of morals, laws and customs)
that shapes behaviour, or structures one’s perception of
the world
(Adler 1997)
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What is Culture?
Culture is a learned, shared, compelling, interrelated
set of symbols whose meanings provide a set of
orientations for members of a society. These
orientations, taken together, provide solutions to
problems that all societies must solve if they are to
remain viable.
(Terpstra & David 1991)
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Culture is a deposit of…
Knowledge
Experience
Beliefs
Values
Attitudes
Meanings
Social hierarchies
Religion
Notions of time
Roles
Spatial relationships
Concepts of Universe
Concepts of material possessions
Acquired by a group of people in the course of generations through individual
nd group striving
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Cultural Elements
Material Culture
Language
Social Interactions
Rituals
Religion
Education
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Aesthetics
Values
Attitudes
Norms
Mores
Beliefs
Symbols
Social customs
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Cultural Elements
Material Culture
Tools and artifacts
Production
Consumption
Language
systematic communication by vocal symbols
Organization of symbols that allow allows group to communicate
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Tree Model
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Elements of Culture ...
Symbols- anything which represents meaning
and is recognized by a group ; flag, hand
signal, sign
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Chinese symbol
I’m revolutionary
I’m loyal
Promise
Respect
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Respect
for empire
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Insulting
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Chinese symbols
Satisfaction
Hesitation
Agreement
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How do you interpret …?
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Your interpretation?
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What does Bush Mean?
This sign
became a
problem
when he
visited
Norway!
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Test
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Animals symbolize certain meaning
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Animals
Rat in western society: not respected
In China: the rat is a respected creature,
so much so that it is one of Zodiac animals.
Rat is associated with creativity, honesty,
and generosity.
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Zodiac Animals
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Rituals in a Society: Cultural Elements
Type
Exchange Rituals
Examples
Giving gifts; the practice of dowry
in India
Possession Rituals House warming party; worship
ceremony in India, China, Japan
before starting a business
Grooming Rituals
Divestment Rituals
Bathing; using or not using scents
or perfumes
Redecorating a house; exorcising
ghosts or spirits
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Rituals in a Society: Cultural Elements
Type
Family Rituals
Examples
Mealtime, bedtime, and so on
Public Celebrations
Cultural/Civic celebrations; fireworks
or parades on national holidays
Social Interaction/
Relational Rituals
Greeting, mating and so on
Rites of Passage
Marriage, graduation, birthday
Religious Rituals
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Sunday church (Christians)
Praying 5 times a day (Muslims)
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Values and Norms
•  Values:
Culturally defined standards that serve as
broad guidelines for social living (like beauty,
freedom, etc.). Think of values as what ought
to be.
•  Norms: Rules and expectations by which society
guides behavior of its members.
Question: Do norms develop out of values or do values develop out
of norms?
Norms develop out of values
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Discovering Values
Proverb:
Value:
Cleanness is next to
godliness
Cleanness
Daily shower, clean & tidy
house
A penny saved is a penny
earned.
Thriftiness
Action:
Only buy things on sale.
Value :
Action:
Proverb:
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Example of sayings from different cultures illustrating cultural values
“Don’t beat around the bush.” American
“To be chatty is silver, to be silent is gold.” Swedish
“Flies do not enter a closed mouth.” Colombian
“Those who keep on smiling seldom loose their teeth” and “Ceremony is the smoke of friendship.”
Chinese
“He who speaks first loses” and “The truth is one, though the wise state it in many ways.” Indian
“Whoever goes softly, goes far.” French
“Only little children and drunks always tell the truth.” Mexican
“If I have regretted my silence once, I have regretted my chatter many times.” Arabic
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The 3Hs of Culture
•  Head
•  Heart
•  Hand
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Characteristics-Nature of Culture
Learned
Culture is acquired by learning and experience
Shared
People as members of a group, organization, or society share culture
Transgenerational
Culture is cumulative, passed down from generation to generation
Symbolic
Culture is based on the human capacity to symbolize
Interrelated
Culture has, elements, integrated components
Adaptive
Culture is based on the human capacity to change or adapt
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Transmission of Culture
Vertical Transmission: through education and
social (cultural) reproduction
Horizontal Transmission: through contact with peers
Media Transmission: rising importance, through role models
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Terms Related to Culture
Cultural patterns that set apart some
•  Subculture: segment of a society’s population
(yuppies, sports fans, etc.). They do value
civil rights, equality, etc.
•  Counterculture: Cultural patterns that strongly oppose
those that are widely accepted in society.
They don’t value things like civil rights,
equality, etc.
Personal disorientation that
•  Culture Shock: comes from experiencing an
unfamiliar way of life.
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Humans and Culture
Humans have innate capacity to learn culture but
no genetic predisposition to learn a particular culture
Humans are creatures of culture
Humans are creators of culture
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The Challenges of ICC
Why this people
are so crazy?
Have you heard remarks like these?
•  She's so cold and uncommunicative. She never shows any
emotion."
• “Why does he talk like that? I wish he would get straight
to the point instead of beating around the bush that way.”
• "He's so direct and brash.”
• "Doesn't he know that it's rude to keep people waiting like
this? He's an hour late!”
• "She talks so much. I get tired just listening to her talk.“
• "He's so direct and brash.”
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Confusing concepts
Inter, Intra, Cross Cultural Communication
Intra-cultural Communication is communication between members of the same culture.
It includes all forms of communication between members of racial, ethnic or
other co-cultures
Inter-cultural communication involves interactions among people from different
cultures. (Communication between people from different cultures)
Cross-cultural is a study of a particular idea or concept within many cultures
to compare one culture to another on the aspect/s of interest.
.
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Cultural Shock
A Fish Out Of Water
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The Essence of ICC Is ”UMPI”
Un
de
rst
od
s to
an
r
e
din
nd
gU
g
n
i
k
Ma
UMPI
I
g
cin
n
ue
nfl
Pe
rs
u
ad
in
g
Source: Dadfar (2002)
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Implications:
Understand &
makning undestood
Winning
negotiation
Improve
Relations
Overcome
Conflict
Promote
Teamwork
Influence buyers
Adapt products to
the market
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