CULTURE, CONFLICT AND
COMMUICATION IN THE
GLOBAL WORKFORCE
March 27, 2008
University of Illinois
Dr. Gary R. Weaver
American University
WHY IS DIVERSITY
IMPORTANT?
Changing demographics
Not just in urban areas
“Globalization”
The American Culture
Today
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Not a Cultural Cookie Cutter or Melting Pot
Patchwork Quilt
Salad Bowl
Mosaic
Tapestry
Minorities in USA Today
12% African American
15% Hispanic
4% Asian and Pacific
Islanders
1% American Indian
TO MORE EFFECTIVELY
SERVE YOUR CLIENTS
Conveying information
Developing skills
Overcoming barriers caused by differences
Using differences to create synergy
TRAITS THAT CORRELATE
WITH FAILURE IN CROSSCULTURAL INTERACTIONS
• Low tolerance to ambiguity or high
uncertainty avoidance
• Overly task-oriented or high need
for individual achievement
• Overly closed-minded and inflexible
What is “Culture?”
• culture - the way of life (values, beliefs
and behaviors) of a people passed
down from one generation to the next
through learning
Generalization vs.
Stereotype
• Cultural Generalization
• Cultural Stereotype
– Never applies to everyone
– Applies to everyone
in every situation
in every situation –
no exceptions
– Only a first “guess”
– Retained even when
– Discard it when no longer
no longer accurate or
accurate or useful
useful
Culture
is like an
Iceberg.
Most of it
is
UNDER
the water.
BEHAVIOR
BELIEFS
VALUES AND
THOUGHT
PATTERNS
As we interact, differences will
become LESS important.
• Leon Festinger
– Theory of Cognitive Dissonance
• Muzafir Sherif
– Development of a “Superordinate Goal”
CULTURAL CONTINUUMS
To Do
To Be
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•
•
•
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•
•
Earned Status
Individual Achievement
Individual Action
Equality
Immediate family
Self Reliance
Independence
Individual Competition
Individualism
Guilt
Future
Class Mobility
•
•
•
•
•
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Ascribed Status
Affiliation
Stability
Inequality
Extended Family
Reliance on Others
Interdependence
Cooperation
Collectivism
Shame
Past or Heritage
Caste Rigidity
CROSS-CULTURAL
COMMUNICATION
What Doesn’t Fit?
Nice weather we’re having!
Sunny, high in the 70s.
Haven’t we met before?
What Doesn’t Fit?
•
•
•
•
Nice weather we’re having!
Haven’t we met before?
High-Context - Relational - Associative
To Be - Poets
• Sunny, high in the 70s.
• Low Context - Abstractive - Analytical
• To Do - Memo Writers/Lawyers
Communication Styles
A
B
Communication Styles
A
B
Communication Styles
A
B
Communication Styles
A
B
Project Timeline
Stage One
0-6
Months
Stage Two
6 - 12
months
Stage Three Stage Four
12 - 18
18 - 24
Months
months
Project Timeline
Stage One
0 - 12
Months
Stage Two
12 - 18
Months
Stage Stage
Three
Four
18 - 22 22 -24
Months Months
NONVERBAL
COMMUNICATION
We send messages, not meaning
To Do people tend to be verbally-oriented
To Do people trust vision
Cross-Cultural
Conflict
QUESTIONS:
How do you know if it’s a conflict?
Is it escalating or de-escalating?
When do you resolve it?
When it is beyond resolution?
How do you resolve the conflict?
Resources
• Hall, Edward. Beyond Culture.
• Weaver, Gary R., ed. Culture, Communication
and Conflict, 2nd edition. Boston, MA:Pearson
Publishing, 2000.
• Weaver, Gary R. and Adam Mendelson,
America’s Midlife Crisis: The Future of a
Troubled Superpower, Boston, MA: Intercultural
Press, 2008
• www.interculturalpress.com
• www.imi.american.edu