Intercultural Communication Contexts PDF

Intercultural Communication Contexts Types of cross- cultural traveler Sojourner: Someone who travels to another culture for a longer term, but with intent to return home Immigrant: Someone who travels to another culture, with intent to stay permanently Refugee: Someone who travels...

Intercultural Communication Contexts Types of cross- cultural traveler Sojourner: Someone who travels to another culture for a longer term, but with intent to return home Immigrant: Someone who travels to another culture, with intent to stay permanently Refugee: Someone who travels to another culture or location by force, such as through fleeing violence or oppression in one’s own land  The processes of adjustment Adjustment: the transition process in adjusting to a new culture How do we adjust? When you arrived at Manchester University, what was it like for you during the first few days....weeks or months? Adjustment is not always easy Models of cross-cultural adjustment: The U-Curve (Stage models)  Models of cross-cultural adjustment: Kim’s (2005) theory Stress-adaptation- growth Adjustment is not just about the individual, but the environment also has an impact Hostile versus welcoming host culture Prejudice from dominant culture Social and economic constraints Pressures to adjust and rate of adjustment may differ if the new environment has many people of the same culture as the Models of cross-cultural adjustment: Kim’s (2005) theory Stress-adaptation- growth Stress: The traveler confronts new stimuli, contributing to stress Adaptation: Most people find a way to adjust to the stress, stretching themselves in new ways— which is not always comfortable! Growth: In the end, we learn new ways of thinking, feeling, and acting that make us more competent interculturally Models of cross- cultural adjustment: Kim’s theory Two steps forward and one step back: Rather than a U-curve, Kim sees adaptation as a cyclical process of stress and growth  Models of cross-cultural adjustment: Is Kim’s view of adjustment too simple? Domain models suggest that there are different aspects of adjustment; someone might fare well on one and not another 3. Different Domains of Adjustment Psychological adjustment: Emotional satisfaction, psychological well-being or cross-cultural adjustment Sociocultural adjustment: One’s ability to get around and get tasks done in the new culture, or fitting in or cross-cultural adaptation Revisiting: Cross- cultural travelers & adjustment Sojourner: Someone who travels to another culture for a longer term, with intent to return Immigrant: Someone who travels with the intent to stay permanently Refugee: Someone who travels to another culture or location by force, or escaping unrest How might these travelers differ in the sort of adjustment issues they face? What happens when groups live side-by-side?​ The dominant culture’s response can have an influence in the way a traveler behaves toward people of the culture, which can either lead to: Segregation or separation of the cultures Cultural pluralism or assimilation – expectation that they become like the mainstream Selective adaptation – Accepting some elements of the dominant culture but not others. What happens when groups live side-by- side? Diaspora: When a group leaves their home country and ends up settling in a new country. Often such groups maintain some or many elements of their culture of origin Ex: African Diaspora, India Diaspora, Jewish Diaspora Hybridity: A blend of cultural elements experienced (differently) by the host and the immigrant group. Ex: Louisiana Creole - combination of African, French, and English languages. Ex: elements of culture such of food and language also count! Returning home Coming home: Will it be as easy as it sounds? Factors leading to return cultural adjustment difficulties: A change in ourselves A change in relationships Unrealistic expectations and disillusionment with home culture Lack of appreciation: Some people are not interested in the experience abroad  Stay in contact with people from the Easing new culture. the Share your experiences with others. transitio Seeking counseling, if necessary, to deal with emotions. n back The return transition varies from home person to person. Adaptation Activity: With a partner, share about a time that you experienced cultural shock and how you adjusted to the situation? How long did it take? What helped you adjust? What about return cultural adjustment? How did people back home react or respond to you? Did your relationships change? Did your values change? Write down one of these ideas this in a text entry in "In-Class Assignments and Homework" Prepare to discuss!  Intercultural Communication Competence The Dialogue (nationalgeographic.org)  Intercultural communicator competence: Factors Many scholars have defined Charisma intercultural communication competence in Flexibility different ways Empathy One way to look at it is in terms of skills and attitudes linked Optimism to intercultural competence Self-efficacy Brian Spitzberg (1994) lists Ability to facilitate communication dozens of such factors Intercultural communicator Aspects of competence competence: Factors Spitzberg and Cupach (1984) narrowed the wide list of factors defining competence into three main divisions: 1. Motivation- valuing the communication of others 2. Knowledge- to know how to communicate well in other culture(s); gain the knowledge (language or otherwise) 3. Skills- develop or practice the skills to communicate verbally/nonverbally; successfully engage in interpersonal interactions; task oriented  Intercultural communication competence Effectiveness: one’s ability to accomplish tasks —that is, having successful interactions with people Appropriateness: following rules of the situation, such as preserving relationships How can we become more competent? Sensitivity to others Respect for cultural differences Approaching situations with empathy Listening Think about an intercultural relationship you have (romantic or not) and consider, what drew you to that relationship? Part 1 – record in Canvas Culture and relationships: Some basic terms Miscegenation: Marrying individuals across racial or ethnic lines Intermarriage: Marriage between people of perceived out-groups regardless of the grounds —religious, cultural, racial, and so on Relationship: A connection between individuals in which they have rights and responsibilities toward each other beyond what is expected in interaction with strangers Exogamy: Marrying outside of one’s perceived group, as opposed to endogamy, marrying within one’s group Aspects of intercultural relationships What partners bring with them to the relationship: Cultural values: These might impact the definition of the family, such as whether partners focus on the nuclear family or the extended family (collectivist vs individualistic values) Definitions and expectations for the relationship: For example, what are expectations for partners’ relational or sexual fidelity? What are the rules? What does a friendship look like? Motives for engaging in intercultural romance or friendship (positive and negative) Genuinely like someone, want to raise our awareness of another group, want to feel more tolerant, personal gains, prove a point Processes of intercultural relationships: A summary of theories of relational development What causes relationships to grow? Closer distance: propinquity Perceived similarity: similarity-attraction hypothesis Self-disclosure: social penetration theory Ability to predict and explain the other person & Ability to manage uncertainty and anxiety: Uncertainty reduction theory Processes of intercultural relationships: A summary of theories of relational development Relational Maintenance Dialectics: Navigating tensions within relationships Culture-specific views about relationships: reciprocity (each partner give and takes) and propriety (proper behavior for relationships) Societal Power: stereotyping or stigma of the relationship by outside society. Activity: Processes of intercultural relationships p 275- 280 In the small group that you are assigned to, discuss how individuals in intercultural relationships manage, engage with, or are impacted by the following processes. Tell us as much as you can about each term including, a definition, discussing a model/theory and specific examples associated with your assigned term. Choose one: Relational Development (how do we arrive at intercultural relationships?) Relational maintenance (managing often competing tensions) Societal Power (society’s influence) over intercultural relationships Someone from your team will write your summary and you  Conflict and Negotiation The Dialogue (nationalgeographic.org) Cross-cultural conflict: Stages of conflict Latent conflict – the potential for conflict; competition for resources. Perceived conflict- parties are fully aware of the conflict and usually open communication can resolve the issue or it can persist if adaptation occurs Felt conflict- “personalization of conflict” meaning emotions such as tension, stress, and anxiety take over and may lead to displaced anger Manifest conflict- the conflict is out in the open with public displays such as aggressions, verbal expression, dysfunctional behaviors Conflict aftermath- the outcome of a conflict episode either positive or negative Culture impacts how partners perceive and Cross-cultural conflict resolution: Conflict negotiation Negotiation A three-phase Orientations intercultural conflict Avoiding/ model withdrawing 1. Background phase: Planning the negotiation Accommodating/ session yielding 2. Process phase: Actual negotiation, with Competing/ collaboration or dominating competition: Distributive or positional Collaborating/ negotiation (competitive/pushing one’s own agenda and goals) integrating Integrative or principled Compromising/ negotiation (collaborate/considers needs of Points about politics Politics: One notion is that of politics as the realm of government and refers to the identification and public negotiation of competing interests. We’ve talked about politics before as political engagement. Politics 2.0 or the politics of consensus and consent: How social structures and institutions work to maintain their authority, often through various parts of society (sports, religion, family) reinforcing dominant political systems. Everyday actions we regard as “natural” that  How is this so? Politics 2.0 leads to We combine communicative engagement… meaning participation in civic dialogue to critical influence democracy communic With politics. 2.0…recognizing the ative everyday actions that advance the goals of the dominant political system engageme nt The Goal: To ensure that discourses of the Other are heard, or making sure all groups have equal access to engagement opportunities This may lead to political resistance.  Social movements Social movement: Wide-scale, organized activism to advance social and political change Know the difference between revivalist vs innovative movements Intercultural communication is often central to accomplishing political resistance and critique due in part to groups ability to use communication as persuasion tool to get groups to join their cause Characteristics of social movements: define and pursue a moral good to make conditions better for people have messages directed both outward and inward often rely on vernacular discourse (locally produced meanings) and vernacular rhetoric (locally produced means of persuasion) to mediate relationships between dominant and marginalized groups A key to social movements is leadership… Intercultural political leadership: What strategies can we use to bring about change? Leadership: A process of influencing a group of individuals to achieve a common goal often in a social and intercultural context Different types of intercultural leadership: Elements of a co-cultural leader: Two-pronged attention Dispelling negative stereotypes Proof of self Servant leadership: Leadership with the goal of serving the interests of the followers only Organizations and organizational communication Organizational communication: A discipline within communication studies that focuses specifically on organizing behaviors across contexts It’s looking at all the components of an organization (Goals, structure, activities, cultural environment, messaging, exchange of information) with the focus on how members of the organization interact and communicate.  A new organizational contract: Elements Old contract New contract Employer: Employer: Lifetime job security Part-time, contingent, and Responsible pension contract work Telecommuting Flexible time, job-sharing Employee: Employee: Hard day’s work Focus on own professional Good behavior growth Commitment to work, Self-managed careers A new organizational contract: New careers Telecommuting: Working remotely, usually from one’s home, with the help of technology Boundaryless careers: The notion of individuals moving between organizations with increasing frequency Portfolio careers: Job records that balance a portfolio of different and changing opportunities instead of a single, full-time job Virtual organizations: Geographically distributed organizations whose members communicate and coordinate their work through the medium of information technology Globalization, and corporate and local cultures Globalization Changes from globalization: Globalization includes an influx of foreign-made products into domestic markets, ease of travel, cross-cultural business partnerships Globalization also impacts communication and identities (e.g., Indians in Kolkata call center) Cultural variability: How does culture shape the organization? “Organizational culture is the sum of values and rituals which serve as ‘glue’ to integrate the members of the organization.” -Richard Perrin, Harvard Business Review (2013) Culture shapes organizations because it is the sum of all the values, rituals, norms, traditions, and goals that dictate how an organization works… “Culture is how organizations ‘do things’.”— Robbie Katanga, Harvard Business Review (2013)  Cultural variability: How does culture shape the organization? Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner’s cultural differences Universalist-Particularist Individualism-Communitarianism Neutral-Affective Specific-Diffusive Achievement-Ascription Remember: Dimensions are not absolute—aspects of either side of a dimension exist in all cultur Cultural variability: Orientation towards time Sequential-synchronic: A difference in view of time as linear (monochromic) or as fluid and overlapping (polychromic) Reflective-Impulsive: A difference in using discussion (especially in formal contexts like the classroom) to show previous reflection and knowledge of the facts or to investigate knowledge through the process of communication A new world: Types of corporate culture Family: A traditional head of the household, or “father” figure at the top of the organizational hierarchy Eiffel Tower: A bureaucratic division of labor with clearly prescribed roles and functions for individual workers Guided missile: Organizations that are task-oriented, focus on the end goal, and assign responsibilities to teams or project groups with different levels and kinds of expertise Incubator: Organizations that believe in individual fulfillment and satisfaction from work A new world: Types of organizations in the multicultural world Monolithic organizations: Consist of one dominant cultural group Multinational/plural organizations: Identify with one nationality but do business in several countries Multicultural organizations: Identify with one country with recognition of internal co-cultural diversity International organizations: Identify with two or more countries, with each country personnel following their own distinct cultural attributes Global organizations: Treat the world as an integrated whole Transitional organization: Recognize that no one Corporate responsibility Most organizations cannot afford to remain silent on societal issues Corporate Social Responsibility - obligitory practices and services organizations should provide to their global communities Ex: The Body Shop (Creates a sustainable supply chain and engages in community-driven projects) works to fufill its corporate values.