For Fabian and Hannah
Edwin Hoffman
For my father Paul, from whom I learned so much
Arjan Verdooren
Diversity competence
Cultures don’t meet, people do
Edwin Hoffman
Arjan Verdooren
u i t g e v e r ij
coutinho
bussum 2018
c
www.coutinho.nl/diversitycompetence
This book has a companion website. Available on this website are: extra study
assignments, extra case discussions and TOPOI cards.
© 2018 Uitgeverij Coutinho bv
All rights reserved.
No parts of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, storing in an informational retrieval system or otherwise, without prior permission from the publisher,
unless it is in accordance with the exemptions established in the Copyright Law of 1912.
For reprographic reproduction as permitted on the basis of Article 16h of the Copyright
Law of 1912, the legally required fee should be paid to Stichting Reprorecht (PO Box
3051, 2130 KB Hoofddorp, the Netherlands, www.reprorecht.nl). Enquiries concerning
the reproduction of parts of this publication in anthologies, readers and other compilations (Article 16, Copyright Law 1912) should be made to the publication and reprographic rights organization: Stichting PRO, PO Box 3060, 2130 KB Hoofddorp, the Netherlands, www.stichting-pro.nl).
Uitgeverij Coutinho
PO Box 333
1400 AH Bussum
The Netherlands
info@coutinho.nl
www.coutinho.nl
Cover design: Concreat, Utrecht
Cover image: section of ‘Coloured Drawings’ by Marlene Dumas (collection KIT Royal
Tropical Institute)
Layout: studio Pietje Precies bv, Hilversum
Note from the publisher
Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders. Persons or organizations wishing
to assert specific rights are kindly requested to contact the publisher.
ISBN e-book: 978 90 469 6713 3
ISBN boek:
978 90 469 0598 2
NUR:
812
Foreword
We chose the artwork ‘Coloured Drawings’ for the cover because to us it represents one of the main notions of this book. ‘Coloured Drawings’, by South
African-born painter Marlene Dumas, consist of portraits of people of various
ethnic backgrounds; some in detail, some in sketch. At first glance the portraits
seem to clearly depict certain groups, but a closer look reveals the uniqueness
of every face. They form a reference to attempts to categorize people throughout the ages and, at the same time, to the unlikeliness of meeting individuals
who neatly conform to constructed categories. The problem with stereotypical
categorizations is that, in the end, they rarely do justice to individual people.
This book is itself the result of an international cooperation; it was written
mainly in Sweden and Austria, for a publisher located in the Netherlands.
The cooperation between ourselves – Edwin and Arjan – goes back several
years, when Arjan got in touch with Edwin after having been inspired by Edwin’s earlier publications on the TOPOI model. This led to an intensive cooperation on an ambitious project for a client in the Netherlands. When the opportunity for this book arose, it felt very natural to take it on together. It was a
very enjoyable and enriching journey to share and sharpen our ideas along the
way, and we can only hope that this mutual inspiration can be felt while reading
this book.
However, we could not have written this book without the help, support and
inspiration from many others during – and even before – the writing process.
This also gives us the opportunity to remember and thank Leonel Brug, Arjan’s
main mentor when entering this field, who sadly passed away in 2013. Leonel
was the first person to make him consistently understand intercultural communication primarily as communication between people. Though writing was not
among Leonel’s many unique talents, we are confident that some of his ideas
and convictions live on in this book.
Many others have helped with the creation of this book. First of all, we would
like to thank the great people at Coutinho Publishers who contributed in various ways in different stages: Marianne Kruyskamp, Michel van de Graaf, Josée
Bierlaagh, Louise Prompers, Simone Baddou, Sjoukje Rienks, Andrea Verbeek,
Steffie van der Horst, Lorenzo de Jongh, Asaf Lahat (freelance editor) and Bren-
da Vollers (freelance proofreader). Several people have been willing to give their
feedback on the publication proposal or early versions of chapters: Marcel van
der Poel, Sushy Mangat, Marcel Catsburg, Pauline Hörmann, Astrid Schiepers,
Job Arts, Hans Hasselt, Katarina Tucker Spijksma, Bram van Renterghem, Patrick Gruczkun, Sinan Çankaya and Jasper Verdooren – thank you all!
A special thanks to Francien Wieringa and Everard van Kemenade who both
proofread and commented on every single chapter, and to Alice Johansson for
being a patient and critical sounding board at any time of the day, seven days a
week. All remaining flaws are obviously entirely our own responsibility.
Last but not least, many thanks to the participants of our workshops, lectures
and training programmes over the years. Their experiences, questions and reflections have been a key inspiration and resource for this book: thank you, bedankt, danke schön, tack så mycket, terima kasih!
Edwin Hoffman, Velden am Wörthersee, Austria
Arjan Verdooren, Göteborg, Sweden
January 2018
Contents
Introduction: intercultural communication in a globalized world
15
1 Culture: everywhere and nowhere
23
Introduction
1.1 What is culture?
1.1.1 Culture is everywhere – and nowhere
1.1.2 Culture and groups
1.1.3 Culture as repertoire
1.1.4 Cultures and history
1.1.5 Cultural heterogeneity
1.1.6 Transnational cultures
1.2 The workings of culture
1.2.1 Culture as a model of and for reality
1.2.2 Culture and familiarity
1.2.3 Cultural mixing
1.2.4 Not every difference is cultural
1.3 Cultures and individuals
1.3.1 Multicollectivity
1.3.2 Radical individuality
1.3.3 People as products and producers of culture
1.3.4 First-order and second-order desires
1.3.5 Culture and context
1.4 Study assignments
23
24
25
26
27
29
31
33
34
34
35
36
39
40
40
42
43
44
45
47
2 From intercultural competence to diversity competence
49
2.1
2.2
49
50
51
52
54
55
57
58
61
Introduction
Intercultural perspective
2.1.1 Intercultural interactions
Strangeness
2.2.1 Strangeness and unfamiliarity
2.2.2 Strangeness as a threat
2.2.3 Selective perception and hostility
2.2.4 ‘Allergic reactions’
2.2.5 Strangeness and identity
2.3 Intercultural competence
2.3.1 Response patterns
2.3.2 Normalization
2.3.3 Multicollectivity and intercultural competence
2.3.4 Knowledge, attitude and skills
2.3.5 Developing intercultural competence
2.3.6 Complexity and not-knowing
2.3.7 Diversity competence
2.4 Study assignments
61
63
64
66
68
72
73
75
76
3 Critical diversity issues: power and ethics
77
Introduction
3.1 Power
3.1.1 Power and culture
3.1.2 Power, groups and privilege
3.1.3 Power, professions and positions
3.1.4 Stories and stereotypes
3.1.5 Stories and power: history and present
3.1.6 Defining ‘the other’ and intercultural communication
3.1.7 Exclusion and unconscious bias
3.2 Ethics
3.2.1 Universalism, relativism and pluralism
3.2.2 Universalism (monism)
3.2.3 Relativism
3.2.4 Universalism versus relativism
3.2.5 Pluralism
3.2.6 Pluralism and dialogue
3.2.7 Human universals, capabilities and commonalities
3.2.8 Human rights
3.2.9 Criticizing other cultures
3.2.10 Ethics in practice: circle of influence
3.3 Study assignments
77
78
78
80
82
83
86
88
89
92
93
94
95
97
98
100
103
105
109
110
111
4 Diversity-sensitive communication and the TOPOI model
113
Introduction
4.1 Discussion of concepts
4.2 Culturalizing is very understandable
4.3 Risks of a culturalizing approach
4.4 Intercultural communication is interpersonal communication
113
114
114
115
116
4.5
4.6
4.7
4.8
4.9
4.10
Interpersonal communication: content, relationship and
common sense
4.5.1 Common sense as collective experiences
4.5.2 Common sense as prejudice and stereotype
Interpersonal communication: a circular process
The TOPOI model
The TOPOI model in a scheme
Applying the TOPOI model to a practical situation
Study assignments
119
121
123
123
125
128
130
135
5 The TOPOI area Tongue: verbal and non-verbal language
137
Introduction
5.1 Context
5.1.1 Contextual cues
5.1.2 High-context and low-context communication
5.2 Verbal and non-verbal language
5.3 Verbal language
5.3.1 Importance of native language
5.3.2 Speaking in the native language
5.3.3 Awareness of language positions
5.3.4 International English
5.3.5 Language transfer
5.3.6 Pronunciation and accent
5.3.7 Vocabulary
5.3.8 Denotative and connotative meaning of words
5.3.9 Translation and connotation
5.3.10 Interpersonal verbal communication styles
5.3.11 Implicit language
5.3.12 Meanings of ‘yes’ and ‘no’
5.3.13 Humour
5.3.14 Topics
5.3.15 The principle of cooperation in a conversation
5.3.16 Turn-taking
5.3.17 Giving verbal attention: backchannels
5.3.18 Forms of address
5.3.19 Politeness
5.3.20 Email communication
138
139
141
142
144
146
146
147
147
149
150
151
152
153
155
156
159
160
161
162
162
163
164
165
165
167
5.4 Non-verbal language
5.4.1 Perception
5.4.2 Forms of non-verbal language
5.4.3 Facial expressions
5.4.4 Expression of feelings and intentions
5.4.5 Haptics
5.4.6 Emblematic gestures
5.4.7 Giving attention non-verbally
5.4.8 Eye contact
5.4.9 ‘Taboo’ gestures
5.4.10 Walking and moving
5.4.11 Laughing
5.4.12 Key
5.4.13 Paralinguistics or prosody
5.4.14 Proxemics: use of space and distance
5.4.15 Chronemics: the communicative value of time
5.4.16 Silence
5.4.17 Olfactics: odours and smell
5.4.18 Artefacts, clothing and appearance
5.4.19 Colour
5.4.20 Greetings
5.4.21 Non-verbal polite behaviour
5.5 Language and common sense
5.6 Core reflections on Tongue
5.7 Study assignments
168
168
169
170
170
171
172
172
173
173
174
174
175
175
177
178
179
181
181
182
182
183
184
185
185
6 The TOPOI area Order: views and logic
187
Introduction
6.1 Punctuation: a process of ordering
6.2 Subjective views
6.3 The influence of collective world views
6.4 Collective world views
6.4.1 Utilitarianism
6.4.2 Confucianism
6.4.3 National world views
6.4.4 Dimensions of collective world views
6.5 Cognition and logic
6.5.1 What do you see, what do you think?
6.5.2 ‘Eastern’ and ‘Western’ thinking
6.5.3 Inductive and deductive thinking
187
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
199
200
202
209
6.6
6.7
Core reflections on Order
Study assignments
210
210
7 The TOPOI area Persons: identity and relationship
213
Introduction
7.1 Recursivity in communication
7.1.1 Recursivity in groups
7.2 Interpersonal perspectives
7.3 How people want to engage with one another
7.3.1 Collectivistic vs. individualistic
7.3.2 Masculine and assertive vs. feminine and humanely oriented
7.3.3 Division of roles between men and women
7.3.4 Hierarchical and sensitive to status vs. egalitarian and informal
7.3.5 Universalistic vs. particularistic
7.3.6 Specific vs. diffuse
7.4 Face and honour
7.5 Multiple identity
7.6 Symmetrical or complementary relationship?
7.7 The impact of ‘common senses’ on interpersonal perspectives
7.7.1 Norm images
7.8 Core reflections on Persons
7.9 Study assignments
213
215
217
218
220
221
221
222
223
225
226
230
232
233
238
240
241
241
8 The TOPOI area Organization
243
Introduction
8.1 Culture or organization?
8.2 The macro-institutional context
8.2.1 Globalization: social media
8.2.2 Legislation and regulations
8.2.3 The political context and structural power relations
8.2.4 The socio-economic context
8.2.5 The geographical context
8.3 The meso-institutional context
8.3.1 Diversity management
8.3.2 Leadership style
8.3.3 Virtual international teams
8.3.4 Establishing a cooperation and communication culture
243
244
245
246
248
249
250
250
251
251
253
257
258
8.4 The micro-institutional context
8.4.1 Meetings
8.4.2 Participation in meetings
8.4.3 Decision-making and meetings
8.4.4 Confirming agreements and decisions in writing
8.4.5 Time
8.4.6 The seating arrangement
8.4.7 Business cards
8.5 Core reflections on Organization
8.6 Study assignments
260
260
261
262
264
264
265
266
266
267
9 The TOPOI area Intentions: motives
269
Introduction
9.1 All behaviour is communication: you cannot not communicate
9.1.1 Inner side and outer side: intentions and effects
9.2 The hypothesis of the best: behind every behaviour there is
positive intention
9.2.1 When positive intentions are difficult to recognize
9.3 What motivates people?
9.3.1 The stability layers in cultures as a way to ground emotions
9.3.2 The value orientations of Florence Kluckhohn and
Fred Strodtbeck
9.4 Recognition, rejection and disregard
9.4.1 Recognition
9.4.2 Rejection
9.4.3 Disregard
9.5 Common sense and intentions
9.6 Core reflections on Intentions
9.7 Study assignments
269
271
272
278
280
280
281
282
283
285
285
10 TOPOI interventions
287
Introduction
10.1 Deculturalize and normalize
10.2 Involvement, attention and trust
10.2.1 ‘Reading the air’
10.2.2 Active listening
10.2.3 Empathy
287
288
289
290
291
291
274
274
275
276
10.3
10.4
10.5
10.6
10.7
10.8
The hypothesis of the best
10.3.1 Take a detour
10.3.2 Recognition
10.3.3 Avoiding truth battles
10.3.4 Reframing and transformative learning
10.3.5 Giving space
10.3.6 Focusing on the effects of communication
Asking for and giving clarification
10.4.1 Making explicit and checking
10.4.2 Asking for and giving feedback
10.4.3 Metacommunication
10.4.4 Observing, informing and adapting
Language positions and speaking one’s own language
Attention for social contexts: common senses
Reflections and interventions of the TOPOI model in a scheme
Study assignments
292
294
297
298
300
303
304
306
306
307
309
310
311
312
313
315
11 Applications of the TOPOI model
317
Introduction
11.1 ‘Cultural boundaries impacting the effectiveness of my global team’
11.2 Unexpected requests
317
319
323
Literature
326
Index
345
Information about the authors
352
Website
This book has a companion website, which can be accessed at
www.coutinho.nl/diversitycompetence. Available on this website are:
■■ extra study assignments;
■■ extra case discussions: applications of the TOPOI model;
■■ TOPOI cards.
Introduction: intercultural
communication in a globalized world
1
Why this book?
To say that people today live in a dynamic and diverse world sounds like stating
the obvious. Globalization – however you define it – implies more frequent
and intense connections between people of various ethnic, national and religious backgrounds than ever before; be it through travel, migration or virtual
communication through internet, email and social media. Paying attention to
cultural differences and intercultural communication and competence in the
workplace, whether in the classroom or in the private sphere, therefore seems
logical. Confrontations with people of different cultural backgrounds are often,
and unavoidably, expected to lead to confusion, miscommunication or even
conflict.
This premise follows an understanding of culture that connects it exclusively to nationality, ethnicity and (more recently) religion. It is a premise from a
time when cultural differences were associated with travelling or moving to
other countries or regions. Much of the traditional literature on intercultural
communication and competence reflects and follows this premise, as it was
often aimed at adapting to another culture or engaging with newcomers to a
society. Both the common sense and the academic view implicitly regarded culture as something static, which would continue to steer its members’ behaviour,
thoughts and feelings in consistent ways, regardless of context, period or individual.
While intercultural communication and competence remains an important
field and resource, it should be questioned if the same conceptualization of culture that guided early approaches should be applied to interactions in today’s
world. First of all, the context of today’s ‘intercultural’ interactions is much more
dynamic and diverse than before. Migration has made many societies and cities
‘superdiverse’ (Vertovec, 2007), with communities hosting within themselves a
wide range of generations, beliefs and religions, political convictions, migration histories and socio-economic positions. Corporations employ people from
multiple nationalities who often have living and working experience in several
countries or even continents. Both governance and politics are characterized
by a complex interplay of institutions on the local, national and supranational
15
Diversity competence
level. Intercultural communication and competence hence needs to address not
just a single adaptation to another cultural environment or community, but the
ability to continuously adjust to a wide array of needs, habits and expectations.
Secondly, culture itself in such a diverse context should be reconsidered. Even
though cultures have often wrongly been seen as static and uniform ‘straightjackets’, in an environment with so much interconnection and exchange, the diversity and dynamics within and between cultures need to be taken even more
seriously.
There are then two common scenarios for how globalization relates to cultural diversity. The first scenario is that it leads to an increasingly homogeneous
world where everyone is influenced by the same worldwide, ‘Westernized’ culture. This view is often criticized, because it denies the diversity between the
varied globalized discourses and cultural influences; the ‘West’ itself is far from
homogeneous. Additionally, these discourses and influences do not only flow
from ‘West’ to ‘non-West’, or from the powerful to the less powerful, but also
vice versa. McDonald’s is globalized, but so are yoga and sushi. ‘Hollywood’ is
globalized, but so are various branches of Islam and Black Lives Matter.
The second scenario is that globalization only leads to superficial changes where
everyone uses the same smartphones and tablets, watches the same movies and
listens to the same music, yet at the same time continues to be steered by deep
and time-independent core values that almost magically create homogeneous
national groups. This view ignores the diversity, developments and conflicts
within groups, as well as the fact that people can be truly and deeply affected
by cultural phenomena outside their own ‘traditional’ heritage, as we will see
later in this book.
The first view would claim that globalization will soon make attention for intercultural communication and competence obsolete, whereas the second view
would argue that traditional intercultural models and approaches will invari­
ably remain relevant.
We subscribe to the view that globalization does thoroughly change the scene
for cultural and intercultural phenomena, by offering people a more diverse
and dynamic range of cultural influences and inspirations. On the one hand,
this makes people more different, because within national, ethnic or religious
groups they can be influenced by many other cultural patterns outside their
‘traditional’ heritage. On the other hand, it can make people more similar across
16
Introduction
those groups, because their participation in globalized cultural fields can bring
unexpected common references, ideas and habits.
We believe that an approach to intercultural communication and competence
should take these developments into account. This does not mean that previous
theories or approaches have become irrelevant: it does mean that they should
be reviewed, interpreted and, where necessary, expanded in the light of the current global context. This book is an attempt to do so.
2
What is the aim of this book?
Our aim has been to write a practice-theoretical book, i.e. one that provides
practical guidelines that are firmly based in theory and research, while at the
same time exploring the practical implications of relevant theories and studies.
By doing so, we hope to contribute to the existing literature on intercultural communication and competence. In our view, this literature is either highly practically oriented, often relying on anecdotal sources (which is useful for
practical reflection, but not for academic development), or highly theoretical
(which serves academic purposes but rarely provides feasible practical applications). We hope that this book will, to some extent, bridge this gap.
For this reason, the book provides a generous amount of theory, and can therefore be read as an overview of ideas on and studies of intercultural communication and competence. At the same time, we will argue for a specific vision of
and approach to intercultural communication and competence, which will also
provide the structure and build-up of the subsequent chapters.
However, we make our argument from the conviction that there is no definitive truth about or approach to intercultural communication. We do not subscribe to the science-philosophical view that science can provide an absolute
and definitive answer to social matters by researching and measuring social life
(known as positivism). This is not to say that such studies cannot yield interesting insights and suggestions, and from that perspective we gladly make use of
their results in this book. We believe that a more critical approach to any kind
of knowledge and its sources (known as constructivism) brings highly important questions to the intercultural field, yet often offers relatively few answers
– especially for practitioners. In this book we try to carve out some of the implications of such questions.
In the end, what this book offers is a proposal on how to see and ‘do’ intercultural communication. This proposal is based on existing theory and research
17
Diversity competence
as well as our own experiences from many years of intercultural training and
consultancy. Many examples mentioned here come from our training sessions,
workshops, lectures and consultancy projects. We can only hope that this book
will contribute to the ongoing dialogue on intercultural communication as an
academic and practical discipline.
This book is structured in such a way that each chapter offers an increasing level
of complexity and detail to our approach. We hope that each chapter will offer
some satisfying thoughts and guidelines which are further enhanced and elaborated in subsequent chapters. Most chapters can also be read independently
and more or less in random order, especially for those already familiar with the
field of intercultural communication and competence. Every chapter, except for
the last one, closes with two study assignments for further reflection. The last
chapter is devoted to a case discussion based on the TOPOI model. Many more
study assignments and case discussions can be found online at www.coutinho.
nl/diversitycompetence.
Finally, we should add that in writing this book we have not been completely
objective – who or what truly is? – as we have been guided by the normative
underpinnings of our own thinking and writing. In a time of distrust and hostility between people of different backgrounds, when fear of the other and fear of
strangers is often encouraged and cultivated, and some once again look to walls
between people as a solution to global and social challenges, we cannot help but
believe that greater understanding and better communication between people
of different national, ethnic or religious backgrounds could indeed contribute
to the well-being of the world’s many different inhabitants.
3
For whom is this book intended?
This book is intended for everyone who wants to learn more about the theory and practice of intercultural communication and competence. Firstly, it is
aimed at students of universities and universities of applied sciences following
programmes in the fields of business and management, project management,
governance, organizational science, migration, human resources, media, communication, journalism, international/global development, education, pedagogy, teaching and psychology. Secondly, the book is aimed at trainers and
consultants in the field of (cultural) diversity, intercultural communication and
competence, and international business and cooperation. Thirdly, we hope this
book can be of interest to anyone working in an international or multicultural
environment, be it in the corporate world, the public sector, at an NGO or as
a volunteer. And last but not least, it is aimed at anyone interested in reading
18
Introduction
and learning about intercultural communication and competence. It is our profound hope that this book will bring something valuable to all readers.
4
What is the main approach of this book?
The following aspects form the main elements of the approach followed in this
book:
Focus on intercultural interaction, not cultural transitions
The focus of this book is on intercultural interaction: encounters between people of different cultural backgrounds. This means that we do not take culture
as such as a starting point, but rather the interactions between individuals with
different cultural backgrounds. We look at the potential barriers that can arise
in those situations, and at approaches and interventions to deal with them. This
is different from an approach that, for example, takes cultural transitions as a
starting point. Such an approach looks at the individual who comes into contact with another culture and society, often by moving or travelling there, and
faces the challenges of having to adjust to that new society.
This distinction is obviously not absolute – someone who moves to another
country will unavoidably engage in interactions with local people. We believe,
however, that cultural transitions provide quite different challenges as compared to interacting with people of a wide variety of nationalities or ethnicities
in changing settings – which is often the case in today’s business, governmental
and educational environments. In these cases, it is not so much a matter of adjustment (which furthermore raises the question: who should adjust to whom?)
as of identifying, pursuing and achieving mutual goals. Consequently, this also
requires a somewhat different competence than one aimed at adjustment.
Dynamic and multifaceted approach to culture
When considering the impact of culture on interactions, we take its dynamic
and multifaceted nature as a starting point. Culture is indeed a very significant
social force, but its impact is not always very straightforward. Cultures host different possible positions, are subject to change and incorporate influences from
other cultures. People are therefore both products and producers of culture. At
the same time, cultures provide its members with an experience of stability and
familiarity; with its consistencies as well as its inherent differences. In a way,
feeling at home in a culture means being familiar with its contradictions and
conflicts. In the words of Klaus Hansen: ‘We know (…) the (differing) points of
views, and when we hear them, we know we are at home’ (Hansen, 2000, p. 232
quoted in Rathje, 2009).
19
Diversity competence
One way to reconcile both the stability and the constant changes culture undergoes in the hands of its members is to view it as a repertoire of behaviours,
ideas and symbols that help its members to go about their lives. These members
– people – subsequently apply, expand, change, re-invent, adjust, ignore or negotiate their repertoires in real-life experiences. One of the main arguments of
this book is thus that intercultural communication and interaction always takes
place between people, not cultures.
Focus on international, interethnic and interreligious interactions
Culture is generally related to nationality (national culture), ethnicity (ethnic
culture), and increasingly also to religion (e.g. ‘Islam’ or ‘Buddhism’). People
tend to consider situations intercultural when they involve individuals of different national, ethnic or religious backgrounds. On the one hand, we argue
that almost any social group is characterized by a particular culture of behaviours, ideas and symbols; companies, regions, families, sports associations, cities, professional groups and generations, for example, all have a particular culture. Consequently, any interaction between people from different groups is an
intercultural one, and since people are unavoidably also members of different
groups, virtually any interaction could strictly speaking be considered intercultural. This is an important point, because it enables us to see that in the interactions that most people consider ‘intercultural’, there are often very basic and
general interpersonal dynamics at work.
On the other hand, throughout this book we have chosen to focus on interactions between people of different national, ethnic or religious backgrounds,
because, justifiably or not, these are often associated with cultural difference
and considered as more challenging or difficult. There is therefore a psychological, professional and even political need to address these kinds of interactions
– with the paradoxical subtext that ethnicity, religion and nationality are not
necessarily the most important factors in these interactions. A British teacher
and an Italian student may misunderstand each other not so much because of
their different nationalities as because of a generational gap. A conflict between
an Islamic doctor and a Christian nurse need not be related to their religions,
but could derive from their different professional backgrounds.
Diversity competence transforms strangeness into normality
From the perspective that any situation can technically be considered intercultural, we follow Stefanie Rathje (2009) by stating that – from a competence
perspective – interculturality is caused by an experience of strangeness or unfamiliarity. Given that cultures provide their members with a feeling of familiari-
20
Introduction
ty, normality and stability, it makes sense that intercultural experiences revolve
around feelings of strangeness, unfamiliarity and foreignness.
The main challenge in such situations is thus to normalize the strangeness in
the interaction, creating a normality and familiarity in the interaction that enable the interaction to continue and offer participants the opportunity to pursue their interaction goals. To this end, it is not necessary for people to adapt
to each other, but rather to create a connection or even a state of mind, from
where differences can be further explored, negotiated or even safely ignored.
As mentioned above, differences can relate to other group memberships (and
hence cultures) besides ethnicity, religion or nationality. In addition to Rathje’s approach, we would argue that the differences that cause experiences of
strangeness need not be cultural in nature at all; instead, they could be personal, socio-economic or technological in nature. We therefore prefer not to speak
of intercultural competence, but of diversity competence: the ability to turn
experienced strangeness that occurs as a result of a difference of any kind into
an experience of familiarity that enables the participants of the interaction to
continue their pursuit of interactional goals. This competence is not a ‘magic
bullet’ guaranteeing successful interaction, but it is an important precondition
for eventual success.
Increasing complexity of diversity competence development
The development of diversity competence entails an increasing complexity
that people can employ in intercultural situations. The more people become
acquainted with various cultural phenomena and intercultural dynamics, the
more different scenarios and interpretations they can employ in intercultural situations that can help them to normalize the situation and create a sense
of familiarity. Paradoxically, this increased knowledge and development enables them to realize how much they do not know and to accept the complexity
and unpredictability of (intercultural) interactions, thus fostering an attitude of
openness, empathy and reflectiveness, which is in turn decisive for the outcome
of interactions. In this regard, Paul Mecheril (2013, p. 16) speaks of the importance of ‘competenceless competence’.
Power and ethics are critical diversity issues
Even though we argue that international, interethnic and interreligious interactions are not necessarily more challenging than other interactions, and that
normalization is the main strategy for responding to experiences of strangeness, we believe it is important to point to two critical issues around diversity:
power and ethics.
21
Diversity competence
Differences between people rarely take place on a completely level playing field;
power differences, however subtle, often play a role. Frequently, this is also tied
to mechanisms and histories of exclusion between individuals and groups. Additionally, cultural differences between people of different ethnic, national and
religious backgrounds often lead to challenges around ethics, when one person
or group’s values or habits create tension with those of others. Awareness, reflection and sometimes taking position around these issues can be essential for
just, satisfying and mutually sustainable interactions and relations.
TOPOI as a communicative approach to diversity
All things considered, we propose the TOPOI model (Hoffman, 2013) as a communicative approach to intercultural interaction. In interaction, communication is the means people have to influence, understand and connect to each
other. To this end, we make use of the work of renowned communication scholar Paul Watzlawick (Watzlawick, Beavin & Jackson, 2011), famous for the adage
you cannot not communicate. This means that communication entails verbal
and non-verbal communication as well as messages on the content and the relationship level. It also implies a system-theoretical approach that considers the
wider influence of the social environment in which people interact on individual interactions.
TOPOI offers five areas where differences that cause strangeness in interactions
can be identified: Tongue (verbal and non-verbal language), Order (views and
logic), Persons (identity and relationship), Organization (rules and agreements)
and Intentions (motives and concerns). Based on an attitude and mindset of
not-knowing, empathy, openness and reflectiveness, the TOPOI areas offer
various hypotheses to understand and reconcile differences, as well as possible
areas to intervene. The relationship between communication and the normalization of strangeness can be twofold: communication can follow normalization
– once familiarization is achieved – to identify and potentially address the issue
at hand, or communication as such can be a way to achieve normalization. In
practice, the two will often go hand in hand, and back and forth.
Alternatively, the TOPOI areas can be used as a way to categorize the rich available knowledge around inter- and cross-cultural communication from various
academic fields including linguistics, (social) psychology, anthropology, neuroscience, history, philosophy and anthropology. From a practical point of view,
it is not necessary to know – let alone memorize – all the different facets of the
various TOPOI areas. In any case, we believe that learning about these areas
enhances one’s sensitivity to the various differences that can manifest themselves in communication and interaction.
22
1
Culture:
everywhere and nowhere
Introduction
1.1 What is culture?
1.1.1 Culture is everywhere – and nowhere
1.1.2 Culture and groups
1.1.3 Culture as repertoire
1.1.4 Cultures and history
1.1.5 Cultural heterogeneity
1.1.6 Transnational cultures
1.2 The workings of culture
1.2.1 Culture as a model of and for reality
1.2.2 Culture and familiarity
1.2.3 Cultural mixing
1.2.4 Not every difference is cultural
1.3 Cultures and individuals
1.3.1 Multicollectivity
1.3.2 Radical individuality
1.3.3 People as products and producers of culture
1.3.4 First-order and second-order desires
1.3.5 Culture and context
1.4 Study assignments
Introduction
‘Culture’ has become a popular concept to mention both in academic discussions and public debate. Where once culture was associated mainly with arts
such as architecture, music and painting, it is now commonly related to people’s everyday behaviour as well. It has even become quite common to use culture as an explanation for various phenomena, ranging from marketing and
consumer habits to international relations (Nyteri & Breidenbach, 2009).
23
1 Culture: everywhere and nowhere
Even though people have become much more aware of cultural differences, we
believe it is worthwhile to take a closer look at what culture actually is and how
it influences people and interactions. Whether you are a student in an international programme or a professional working in an international or multi-ethnic
environment, if you want to improve your ‘intercultural competence’, a greater
awareness of the role of culture is an important start. We are convinced that it
is imperative, especially in today’s world, to go beyond a simplistic and deterministic understanding of culture.
In this chapter we will discuss various perspectives, theories and aspects of
culture in order to lay the foundation for our approach to intercultural communication, competence and interaction, which will be discussed in the following
chapters.
1.1
What is culture?
Culture as a phenomenon is famously difficult to describe or to define. There
is a huge variety of definitions in the scientific literature: an inventory by Kroeber and Kluckhohn as early as 1952 (p. 181) identified 164 different definitions
of culture, and it can safely be assumed that many more definitions have been
added since.
Yet what most definitions have in common is that culture 1) refers to habits
(so not one-time phenomena), 2) is a characteristic of a social group (not of
individuals), and 3) refers to learned aspects of social life (thus not biological
or inherited traits) (Hansen, 2009a, p. 9). Consequently, we define culture as a
complex set of habits that characterize a social group. This set of habits encompasses cognitive resources (knowledge, beliefs, values) and behavioural patterns (Rathje, 2009). Different social groups come to different views and behavioural patterns, therefore creating different cultures and cultural differences.
This approach to culture was first applied by cultural anthropologists. After
studying the habits and beliefs of people outside the ‘Western’ world, they argued that these should no longer be seen as inferior, as was commonly understood by Western Europeans at the time, but as different (Lemaire, 1976).
This perspective on culture proved of great value in battling ethnocentrism: the
tendency to consider one’s own views and customs as normal, self-evident, and
often superior to those of others. The awareness that your own habits are commonly just as strange to others as other’s habits are strange and unfamiliar to
you, is often a good first antidote to such ethnocentrism.
24
1.1 What is culture?
Unfortunately, nowadays one of the main problems of the concept of culture is
that it is easily used simplistically or even opportunistically. This leads to statements such as ‘I don’t think that is part of his culture’, ‘My culture does not allow
me to do this’, or ‘Those cultures do not mix’. Instead of creating deeper understanding and effective communication, such views can lead to either-or and usversus-them scenarios. This section is devoted to providing a deeper and broader understanding of the nature of culture by discussing its various aspects.
1.1.1
Culture is everywhere – and nowhere
When trying to understand the significance of culture for human experience
and interaction, one could state that culture is both everywhere and nowhere.
It is everywhere, in the sense that it affects people’s feelings, thoughts and actions on many levels and occasions. Human beings need to make sense of their
experiences to properly function. In doing so, they can develop different understandings of their lives and the world they live in. People need to give meaning
to what they do, since there is no inherent meaning in their actions as such. Culture plays a crucial role in giving meaning to experiences. For instance, shaking
hands in itself has no meaning, unless people give it meaning, e.g. as a way of
greeting and paying respect. Culture, in its broadest sense, thus has to do with
everything that is developed by people to organize their lives and experiences.
In this sense, culture is like the wind (thanks to Maarten Bremer for this metaphor): invisible yet always there, somehow steering people in one direction
while making it difficult for them to go in another direction. And as with the
wind, you notice it most when you go against it. People are often unaware of
how they are influenced by culture, until they are confronted with unfamiliar
cultural patterns. People are ‘socialized’ into a culture from a young age, by
their parents, their family, teachers, peers and others. It may come as a shock
when they learn that other people have been raised in different ways, and their
first response is often to reject ideas or behaviours they are unfamiliar with.
A professor says, ‘When I first started teaching international groups of students,
I was often very upset when some of my students didn’t look me in the eye while
I was talking to them. I felt they were not listening to me or even disrespecting
me. When I told this to a colleague, he explained to me that many of our students
are taught that it is considered polite to avoid eye contact, especially between
people of different social registers (like a student and teacher, or a child and his
elder relatives). For many of them, it is considered disrespectful to look someone
straight in the eye when being talked to, especially by teachers.’
25
1 Culture: everywhere and nowhere
At the same time, culture is nowhere because it does not exist in any specific
or ‘real’ sense. Culture is obviously a concept invented by people – and in that
sense culture as a concept is also part of culture. Culture is in itself something
abstract – a helpful tool to analyse phenomena on the collective level (Baumann,
1996) and to make distinctions between the behaviour and ideas of groups of
people (Scollon, Wong Scollon & Jones, 2012). But in itself, it is often an explanation that does not explain: to say that a culture is such and such does not
provide an explanation, but merely an observation about a group of people or a
particular place (Bennett, 2005). The fallacy of thinking that cultures are actual
‘things’ with clear borders that exclusively separate groups of people and determine their behaviour is called ‘cultural essentialism’ (Holiday, 2011), and it is this
essentialism that we try to avoid throughout this book. By discussing the many
aspects and complexities of cultures, we will try to show that ‘culture’ is a very
significant phenomenon, without implying that it does anything on its own.
1.1.2
Culture and groups
Often when people speak of ‘culture’, they are referring to groups on the basis of
nationality: people that are from and live in the same country, or on the basis of
ethnicity: people that share a common kinship and history. Nationality and ethnicity can overlap but are not necessarily the same. Nations (or countries) can
comprise several ethnic groups, and migrants and their children often hold the
nationality of the host country but are still considered to have a different ethnic background. Sometimes, people use culture to refer to even bigger groups
based on geography, e.g. Asian, African or even Western culture. Many examples in this chapter refer to culture at the level of nationality or ethnicity.
However, culture is a characteristic of any human group. Nearly every group
that shares something in common, has a mutual culture. Aside from national or
ethnic groups, professional groups (police culture, banking culture, IT culture),
regions (Mid-West culture, Bavarian culture), city cultures (Beijing culture, Parisian culture), groups around sports and leisure activities (gaming culture, FC
Liverpool culture), family cultures or company cultures (IKEA culture, IBM
culture, KFC culture) are all characterized by certain habits and traditions. In
today’s world, we can even speak of ‘online’ cultures where communities are
formed through the internet, enabling people in different locations to communicate around a videogame, a common interest or fanship via social media,
forum discussions, chat, blogs and vlogs.
Such cultures are often dubbed ‘subcultures’, implying that they are somehow
less powerful or relevant than national or ethnic cultures. This can be mislead-
26
1.1 What is culture?
ing, since they are not necessarily less influential or meaningful to people than
national or ethnic cultures. Moreover, organizational and professional cultures
sometimes differ greatly from what is common on a national level.
An American academic working in the Netherlands was amazed the first time
he was present at a Dutch PhD ceremony. He had considered the Dutch to be
quite informal and direct in their communication, and was consequently very
surprised that the ceremony involved professors in traditional gowns discussing
the research in an indirect and diplomatic fashion. Every question or comment
started with ‘Esteemed candidate’, and was followed by extensively complimenting the candidate’s thesis before coming to the point. The PhD candidate would
then respond with ‘Thank you for your question, highly esteemed professor’, before addressing the issue.
In interactions and specific situations, many people tend to look for explanations in ethnic, religious or national cultures. Depending on the situation, however, other cultural influences can be much more meaningful or relevant to
people’s behaviours or experiences.
A group of students are having coffee after a lecture, and at one point discuss
their experiences of having moved to Stockholm. One of the students, with a
Somalian-Swedish background, says she very much had to get used to living in
Stockholm, because people were so distant and reserved in public. ‘You mean
when you compare it to Somalia?’ one of the students asks. ‘No, I never lived in
Somalia’, she responds. ‘I grew up in a small town in the North of Sweden. People there all know each other and say hello when they run into each other on the
street. That’s so different from here!’
The multitude of cultures on various levels form a myriad of influences that are
sometimes intertwined and at other times operate independently of each other. If one would make a map of the cultures of the world, rather than drawing
clearly defined and neighbouring areas, it would be more appropriate to draw
a mosaic of bigger and smaller shapes in various sizes, sometimes overlapping
and sometimes not.
1.1.3
Culture as repertoire
Cultures provide their members with a repertoire of ideas, behaviours and symbols that they can apply in daily life. These form a resource to solve problems,
make decisions and guide their responses. We choose the word ‘repertoire’ because it implies that people are not completely free to choose what cultural
27
1 Culture: everywhere and nowhere
elements they have access to, but nor is it predetermined whether, and when,
they make use of cultural elements. It is in the practice of interaction and communication that repertoires can be applied, reviewed, ignored, developed and
expanded. To give an idea of what elements can be part of people’s cultural
repertoires, we will describe the elements of knowledge, values and norms, language, as well as heroes, traditions and rituals.
To start with, people in a given culture share a certain knowledge. This can relate to practical ‘everyday knowledge’ of ‘how things work around here’. At the
level of society this could refer to such things as the opening hours of shops and
public institutions, traffic rules, and the legal and political systems. Knowledge
of these things helps to function on a practical level in a group and to avoid accidents, closed doors or invalid votes. Moreover, cultural knowledge can also
relate to more abstract knowledge – e.g. philosophy, arts, history or science –
that is prevalent and plays a role in a group. This kind of knowledge can serve
as a source of ideas, inspiration and discussion, which together can constitute a
group’s collective ‘frame of reference’.
Values indicate what people find ‘valuable’ in a group: what is considered important, good, healthy, appropriate and desirable? For instance, the age at
which one is expected to move out of one’s parents’ house can be related to the
degree to which the value ‘independence’ is rated. Values are rarely made explicit, but often lead to statements that sound ‘logical’ to its members (‘It would
be healthy if John moves out of the house soon’).
Norms are the practical expressions of a social group’s values; the specific criteria by which people and their behaviour are judged within (and sometimes
outside) a group. For instance, ‘the norm’ may be to move out of your parents’
house in your early twenties, or the norm may be to live with your parents until
you get married. Groups may also contain norms to judge whether or not people uphold certain values: for instance, norms about whether or not someone is
a good father, a good manager, a good policeman or a good teacher often reflect
a group’s underlying values.
People of a common culture also share a language. Language literally gives
words to people’s experience: without those words it would be difficult to imagine or recognize some things that are valued in a group. Language can take
the shape of official languages or dialects but also of slang, terminology or humour. Language is functional in the sense that it expresses ideas, but it is also of
symbolic value: people communicate their shared group membership through
familiar words and expressions, creating a sense of belonging and familiari-
28
1.1 What is culture?
ty. This can even be found in online cultures, around certain expressions (e.g.
‘YOLO’ – ‘you only live once’) or memes (recurring images or other cultural
elements with varying subtexts). The impact of language differences on interactions is discussed more thoroughly in Chapter 5 on the TOPOI area Tongue.
Heroes, traditions and rituals are cultural components with a high symbolic
value. Heroes are people that members of a culture look up to: think of people
like Steve Jobs in the United States (or in the IT industry), Lao-tze in China or
Jay Z in the hip-hop community. Generally, heroes have certain traits and characteristics that are valued in a group, e.g. optimism and innovativeness (Steve
Jobs) or assertiveness and self-confidence (Jay Z). Traditions and rituals are
displayed at certain occasions and moments that give a group a sense of collectiveness, unity or reflection. Examples include national commemorations,
painting eggs for Easter, bowing before a martial arts class or cheering for an
encore at a concert.
To a large degree, the elements of a culture work together as a system: knowledge, values, norms and symbols often reinforce each other. It may therefore be
tempting to believe that cultures are neat, predictable and coherent entities that
can easily be analysed and overseen – like a jigsaw puzzle where all the pieces
fit in neatly, forming a clear picture. As we will see later on, this is not always
justified.
1.1.4
Cultures and history
Cultural repertoires are not created randomly: they do not just ‘happen to be’
a certain way but are in many ways the result of historical developments. Previous events and the ideas and circumstances of previous group members can
exert influence even long after their lifetime, especially if they are somehow
integrated in the institutions of society or a group. For instance, one can identify the history of the early settlers in several elements of United States culture. In Dutch society, elements of its trading history can still be found, as can
influen­ces from Calvinist Protestantism (even though a large part of Dutch society now self-identifies as ‘atheist’). The same goes for culture on other levels:
a multinational company that was founded by cooperative farmers decades ago
can still be characterized by a conservative atmosphere in which risk-taking is
avoided.
A historical perspective of a group’s culture can provide background and shed
light on present behaviour, as the following example illustrates:
29
1 Culture: everywhere and nowhere
A manager from Denmark working for a former state-owned company in Romania felt increasingly frustrated with his older team members. In his view, they
would never take initiative or responsibility, leaving all the decisions up to him.
The Danish manager, however, was trying to apply his ideas of a coaching leadership style in which team members expected to be proactive and independent. He
did notice that younger team members responded better to his approach. When
he voiced his frustration to another Danish manager who had worked in Romania much longer, the latter explained that this had to with the country’s political
past: in the Communist era, people were discouraged from taking initiative and
severely punished for any mistakes.
This example shows, on the one hand, the longevity of cultural patterns: even
though the political system had changed decades ago, many of the team members found it difficult to break the habits it had created. At the same time, the
example reveals aspects of cultural change, as the younger team members responded differently to a ‘coaching’ management style. Cultural change often
becomes visible when one considers the different attitudes and habits of different generations within a culture: different generations grow up under different
economic and political conditions that emphasize different values and lifestyles
(Scollon et al., 2012).
In addition to recognizing the historical background of cultures, one should
also recognize their continuous change. This is not to say that ideas or behaviours are replaced by new ones ‘at random’, but that new cultural patterns always build on existing ones. Usually gradual, these changes can also be very
rapid, especially when they are the result of sudden developments. Technological developments, for instance, can have a very strong and intense cultural
impact. A case in point is the invention of the contraceptive pill, which changed
values around sexuality and gender roles in the Western world, or the way that
internet has changed patterns of information and communication. Political developments can also have a strong impact on the values and rules of a society or
group. Consider the following example:
In the 1960s, Swedish women often went to Poland to have abortions. Under
Communist rule, Poland allowed abortions while Sweden did not. Since the
1990s – after the Cold War – possibilities for abortion had become much more restricted in Poland whereas Sweden had adopted more lenient abortion policies.
These also allowed foreign women to have abortions in Sweden. In 2008, the Polish were the second largest national group to make use of this option (bulletinen.
org; thanks to Patrick Gruczkun).
30
1.1 What is culture?
This example also shows that cultures do not always develop in the same linear
way: countries or groups that are now considered progressive were at one time
conservative compared to others, and vice versa. In sum, cultures are shaped by
their history, but sometimes we tend to forget that history is itself an ongoing
process. What we consider ‘culture’ at a given moment is always a snapshot of
time.
1.1.5
Cultural heterogeneity
Even though cultures encompass general patterns and habits, they are not always as coherent as may seem at first glance. At a closer look, there is always
a good deal of diversity within cultures as well. In one and the same culture
we can find various, sometimes opposing, elements that create inconsistencies,
paradoxes or even conflicts (Rathje, 2006; Hansen, 2009a). In what is considered ‘Western’ culture, for example, we can find ideas influenced both by religion and by science (indeed, often in conflict with each other). English society
is known for values such as politeness and restraint (exemplified by the saying,
‘An Englishman, even if he is alone, forms an orderly queue of one’) yet it’s hard
finding evidence for this when you’re in a British football stadium. The Thai
are known for their peace-loving ‘Thai smile’, yet many Thai are also fond of
full contact Thai boxing, which traditionally often takes place around or even
inside Buddhist temples (Fang, 2012). Cultures then host a variety of positions,
ideas and behaviours for members to engage or identify with and are inherently
‘fuzzy’ (Bolten, 2013).
In more traditional thinking about culture and interculturality these differen­
ces were considered ‘exceptions’ to the rule. Instead, it is more plausible to assume that every culture involves a degree of heterogeneity and diversity, creating interconnections and contrasts (Verdooren, 2014). This does not mean
that it is not possible or desireable to identify and describe dominant patterns
in a group, for instance when travelling or moving to a specific country. If one
would move to China, for instance, it will be useful to become acquainted with
the general or dominant patterns and perspectives one is likely to come into
contact with. Of course, this does not imply that these patterns or ideas will be
shared by every individual or apply in every situation. Additionally, patterns
can be at once dominant and contested. For instance, it is possible to describe
dominant patterns concerning gender relations in a society or group, while at
the same time these patterns are likely to be challenged by some members.
Who then is to be considered the ‘true’ representative of that culture?
31
1 Culture: everywhere and nowhere
In this regard the Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has warned
against ‘the danger of the single story’: when we are aware of only one ‘story’
about a group or culture this leads to stereotypes, and ‘the problem with stereo­
types is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete’ (Adichie, 2009).
The forming of stereotypes and ‘single stories’ is often tied up with issues of
power, which we will discuss more thoroughly in Chapter 3.
In situations where we tend to understand a culture (or group) from a one-sided or stereotypical point of view, it is often worthwhile to consider if there are
other ‘stories’ about that culture that would create a broader picture. Below is
an example of a conversation where someone consciously breaks through the
single story – in this case of Russia.
A (Dutch) yoga teacher tells some of his students after class that he is planning to
give yoga workshops in Russia in the near future. One of the students responds
with disbelief: ‘I’ve met many Russians on holiday and I really cannot imagine
Russians being interested in yoga!’ The yoga teacher responds: ‘Those people
represent at best one side of Russia. There is also another side with a broad history of arts, music and ballet. It is to this side that I believe that yoga connects
better.’
Trying to understand another group’s culture requires a constant ‘zooming in’
and ‘zooming out’ on the smaller and larger patterns within that culture. In the
first encounters with a national culture, one generally notices the ‘top layer’:
the dominant characteristics in terms of behaviour, ideas and symbols. Often,
these characteristics are also communicated and encouraged by national institutions such as media, schools and the legal system. Once one gets to know the
particular culture more closely, one will notice the diversity within the culture
in terms of local, regional, professional, generational and gender differences
(Bolten, 2013).
A Belgian sinologist who had lived in China for several years says that at first he
was always focusing on things that were ‘typically Chinese’, but the longer he
stayed in the country the more difficult he found it to generalize. ‘I remember
how I was riding the tram and looking around me when I suddenly recognized all
these different types of people. In the back, I saw the “intellectual type” reading
the newspaper. In addition to me were two young students, discussing exams
and career opportunities. And near the door was a Chinese macho man, trying
hard to look cool. Ever since, I’ve found it incredibly hard to speak of “the Chinese”.’
32
1.1 What is culture?
For insiders, these differences are so self-evident that they often find it difficult
to generalize about their own group, whereas outsiders often recognize general patterns first before noticing the diversity within another group (Benhabib,
2002). Learning about ‘another culture’ should thus involve both a discussion
of dominant patterns, which can often be recognized in (national) institutions,
and of relevant differences or even conflicts, which always exist in any group.
1.1.6
Transnational cultures
It will be clear by now that cultures do not have neat, clear borders that coincide exactly with national borders. Not only are there smaller ‘subcultures’
within larger national or ethnic cultures, but some cultures are ‘transnational’
in nature. Transnational cultures transcend national borders and connect, inform and influence people in various countries or even continents. They become ‘global’ rather than national cultures. These cultures’ transnational character means that ideas, behaviours and symbols are expressed and experienced
throughout different countries and even continents.
Examples of such transnational cultures can be found in many ‘globalized’ phenomena, ranging from football to yoga to hip-hop. In these cultures one can
recognize how they are shaped by historical developments yet at the same time
continue to develop, how they produce ideas, behaviours and symbols yet at the
same time host different positions and perspectives, and how they can be the
result of various cultural influences. This becomes clear if we take a closer look
at hip-hop culture:
The origins of hip-hop go back to The Bronx, New York in the late 70s and early 80s. In the face of increasing gang violence due to the rise of crack cocaine
trade, African American and Latino youngsters created hip-hop to express their
daily experiences of city life. The expressions of hip-hop were MC-ing (rapping),
DJ-ing with a turntable, graffiti and breakdance: all these activities could be
pursued with a minimum of means and were a positive way of reclaiming the
streets that were so often the scene of gang violence and police brutality (Asante,
2008). Thanks to this history, hip-hop culture emphasizes values such as honesty and authenticity (‘keeping it real’), assertiveness and positive self-image. Its
symbols and expressions (‘peace’, ‘word’, the three finger ‘East Coast’ or ‘West
Coast’ signs) are known all over the world. At the same time, hip-hop like any culture has proven to be dynamic and multifaceted: where the early MCs would rap
about political and social issues, later generations would focus on or even glorify
drug trade and financial success (‘get rich or die trying’) or sing about heavy partying and sex – creating an almost constant discussion between hip-hop fans and
33
1 Culture: everywhere and nowhere
artists about the nature of ‘real hip-hop’. Today, hip-hop is embraced by youngsters all over the world who often sing in their own language (an innovative and
inventive use of language is important in hip-hop), and address local issues or
concerns. According to some, hip-hop has become an important medium for
expressing social problems and marginalization, especially for minority groups
(Neate, 2003; Verdooren & Holleran, 2008).
Even though today’s ‘globalized’ world probably hosts more transnational cultures than ever before, these are not new phenomena. Most religions can be
considered transnational cultures as well, in the sense that they provide ideas,
behaviours and symbols to people across countries and even continents. For a
better understanding of intercultural interaction, it therefore makes sense to
approach religion as a type of culture. Many people perceive interactions with
members of another religion – besides nationality and ethnicity – as intercultural encounters, and assume, whether or not justifiably, that their religion is
highly influential to the other person and to the interaction.
1.2
The workings of culture
Now that we have discussed the main traits of culture, we will look at how and
where culture exerts influence.
1.2.1
Culture as a model of and for reality
To understand how culture operates, it is important to consider its influence
on perception. A helpful distinction to explain the ways in which culture affects
perception is that between culture as a model of reality and a model for reality
(Tennekes, 1995, p. 20).
Culture as a model of reality refers to the way culture helps people to interpret
and understand situations quickly, without much active contemplation. A civil
servant who walks into a room and sees a group of people sitting behind desks
with notebooks and pens in front of them, may deduce that this is a meeting. A
rock fan who goes to a concert knows that when the band suddenly leaves the
stage and other people start cheering and whistling, the band will soon come
back for an ‘encore’. Culture as a model of reality helps people to interpret the
events around them based on familiar experiences and examples.
Culture as a model for reality refers to how cultures also prescribe how situations should be judged and evaluated: what is good and what is bad, what
34
1.2 The workings of culture
is appropriate behaviour and what is inappropriate, what is normal and what
abnormal. It tells us whether it is good hospitality if at a dinner party a friend
suggests ordering pizzas at their own expense (‘Going Dutch’), or whether one
should appreciate an employee criticizing his manager openly during a meeting. Culture as a model for reality helps people to judge and evaluate events and
experiences.
In many ways, people are unaware of the way cultures influence them. It is often
not until people come into contact with other people holding other beliefs or
with other habits that they become aware that certain ideas or behaviours are
not universal, but cultural. These confrontations can often lead people to judge,
or dismiss, unfamiliar behaviour and ideas, as in the following example:
After his studies in Germany, Mark travels to Mexico to do volunteering work for
several months. In the first few weeks he is annoyed with Mexican people’s behaviour when queuing up. Whenever he gets in line at a bank or a phone booth,
people are queue-jumping. Mark decides that Mexican people must be very impolite. The next time this happens, he tells a man going in front of him in his best
Spanish that he was first in line. The Mexican man apologizes and takes place
behind Mark, who then concludes Mexicans must not only be impolite but also
hypocrites. A few days later, Mark walks down a street and sees people standing
in line for a shop. All of a sudden he realizes that they are standing very close to
each other. Every time Mark got in line, he was keeping at least one metre distance from the person in front of him. Mexican people, being used to queuing up
much closer to each other, must not have been able to recognize he was in line at
all. Now Mark feels stupid for having dismissed Mexicans as impolite.
Culture as a model of and for reality explains why people often unconsciously
interpret and judge situations based on their own cultural repertoire. This can
lead to misunderstandings and misconceptions when this is projected on people with other cultural backgrounds that may not share the same norms and
expectations.
1.2.2
Culture and familiarity
Another important aspect of culture is that it provides its members with a sense
of familiarity and normality. This means that being a member of a certain culture does not imply participation or agreement with its ideas, behaviours and
symbols, but typically it does imply being familiar with them (Rathje, 2007;
2009). Consider the following example.
35
1 Culture: everywhere and nowhere
In India, the caste system (which created inequality between different groups
based on their inherited ‘caste’ position, see also section 3.1.2) has been an important aspect of society for centuries. Although it is officially abolished, the
system continues to have an impact on Indian society and culture. Even though
practically every Indian is familiar with the system, this does not mean that
everyone supports it: the caste system remains a recurring topic of political discussion.
One could even say that it is the understanding of the conflicts and contradictions within a culture that creates a true sense of familiarity. Klaus Hansen: ‘We
know (…) the (differing) points of views, and when we hear them, we know we are
at home’ (2000, p. 232 quoted in Rathje, 2009).
Imagine visiting Thailand, and seeing a poster for the upcoming elections. The
poster is in Thai, but someone could translate it for you, so that you know what
it says. This would probably not give you much more understanding of Thai
society, unless someone explains to you how the party presenting itself on the
poster relates to the other parties in Thailand and the ongoing political debate.
Only then can you truly build more familiarity with Thai society and its political
landscape.
Stefanie Rathje (2009) concludes that cultures do not function as moulds that
cut all its member to the same size and shape, but rather as glue that keeps
things together. The glue in cultures is expressed by a sense of familiarity or stability that people experience when they are surrounded by that culture’s ideas,
symbols and behaviours, including its contradictions and conflicts.
This means that your own cultural repertoire can include elements that you
do not agree with or participate in, yet are familiar with.
If cultures create a sense of familiarity and stability, what we experience in intercultural situations is often characterized by the opposite: a sense of unfamiliarity
and strangeness. This type of experience is discussed at length in Chapter 2.
1.2.3
Cultural mixing
Another important aspect of the way cultures operate is that they always influence one another. Their borders are never completely closed but rather ‘porous’,
allowing a constant exchange of ideas, behaviours and symbols between cultures. Strictly speaking, every culture is a product of multiple influences. This is
often referred to as cultural hybridity (Bhabha, 1994) or creolization (Hannerz,
1999), but nearly every culture and cultural element is a product of multiple
36
1.2 The workings of culture
influences. In many cases, cultural phenomena that are considered typical for a
specific national or ethnic culture are in reality the product of various influences.
The colourful gowns and fabrics worn in many West African countries are often considered ‘typically West African’. A closer look shows that many of these
clothes are made and designed by a Dutch company called Vlisco. This is a result of the Dutch colonial past, in which Indonesia was colonized by the Dutch.
Vlisco’s predecessor decided to imitate the traditional handmade ‘Batik’ fabrics
from the island of Java and produce them in factories to increase its profit margin. The Javanese population rejected the imitation, however, leaving the company with large stocks of fabrics. Since the Netherlands had trading posts in West
Africa (partly to ‘trade’ enslaved Africans), they tried to sell it to local merchants.
It was a huge success, and to this day West Africa is Vlisco’s biggest market. Javanese inspired fabrics produced by a Dutch company have thus become ‘typically
West African’ clothes.
This is by no means a unique example. ‘Italian’ spaghetti was probably ‘imported’ from China by Marco Polo. ‘Western’ science would have never evolved this
far if the Arabs had not developed algebra, including the numeric system that is
common today. In fact, many ideas and things that are now considered Western
are in reality shaped by ideas developed outside the West. Historians increasingly trace important Western ideas back not only to Greek and Roman civilizations but also to the Babylonians, Egyptians and Arabs (Lendering, 2009).
This means that the demarcations and borders between cultures are arbitrary
and subjective: who is to say where one culture ends and another begins? How
a culture is defined and to which culture an idea, artefact or habit ‘belongs’ is
not easy to determine and often depends on the political and historical context
and power relations – this is further discussed in Chapter 3.
However, as mentioned above, contact and exchange between cultures are by
no means a new phenomenon. What is different in this age of ‘globalization’ is
the intensity and frequency of those contacts. High-speed internet connections
and intercontinental travel have become affordable for more people than ever
before, bringing people into direct contact with cultural habits and events far
from their countries of residence. Smartphones and social media make us ‘hyperconnected’ (Government Office for Science, 2013), making it possible to get
or remain in contact with people and events in different locations.
Globalization thus implies that people today have access to more and wider cultural influences than ever before, and that there is extensive mixing of cultural
37
1 Culture: everywhere and nowhere
influences on both the collective and individual level. Examples of cultural influences mixing on a collective level include ‘fusion’ cuisine (e.g. Mexican-Korean), mixed musical styles (e.g. ‘kwaito’, a mix of traditional South African music
with house music) or new film genres (e.g. ‘the 99’, a superhero cartoon based
on Islamic stories). It also means that business cultures constantly exchange
ideas and habits; the business culture in a city like Shanghai today incorporates
ideas and habits from traditional Chinese philosophies like Feng Shui as well as
from global capitalism.
On the individual level it means that people have access to a host of cultural
repertoires outside of their traditional national, ethnic or religious cultures, as
in the following example:
‘Ho Man is a university student in Hong Kong (…). Late in the evenings after she
has finished her schoolwork she likes to catch up with her friends on Facebook.
(…) One of Ho Man’s best friends is Steven, a university student in Southern California (…). They met on an online fan forum devoted to a Japanese anime called
Vampire Hunter D, and when they write on each other’s Facebook walls, much of
what they post has to do with this anime. This is not, however, their only topic
of conversation. Sometimes they use the Facebook chat function to talk about
more private things such as their families, their boyfriends (Steven is gay), and
even religion. Ho Man is still mystified by the fact that her friend in America is a
Buddhist. Ho Man is a Christian and has been since she entered university two
years ago. She goes to church every Sunday and belongs to a Bible study group
on campus. (…) she still has trouble understanding why her friend Steven, who
is the same age she is, believes in the same religion that her grandmother does’
(Scollon et al., 2012, p. 1).
As can be seen in this example, globalization further blurs and complicates people’s cultural identities, making the question ‘to what culture someone belongs’
increasingly difficult to answer (notice how in the example this also includes
online cultures). People of immigrant background are often portrayed as examples of ‘globalized identities’ since they are influenced by both the culture of
the country they live in and of their country of origin. However, they should at
most be considered more extreme examples of such globalized identities; in today’s world, nearly everyone has access to a wider array of cultural repertoires.
Consider, for instance, the Dutch manager who takes his inspiration mainly
from Taoist philosophy; the Polish engineer who practices mixed martial arts
(MMA) and commits to a vegan lifestyle; or the Dutch house music DJ who
practices Zen-Buddhism. Their experiences and perspectives are profoundly
influenced by cultural features from outside their traditional ethnic, national or
38
1.2 The workings of culture
religious cultures. People should hence be considered able to expand their repertoires by exposure to and contact with other cultures and groups.
A relevant phenomenon is one that researchers call ‘superdiversity’ (Vertovec,
2007; Maly, Blommaert & Ben Yakoub, 2014; Prins, 2013; Crul, Scheider & Lelie,
2013). The ‘super’ part refers not to its quality, but to its scope (not ‘supergood’
but rather ‘superhigh’). Superdiversity describes the state of many societies and
cities where there is a large diversity between as well as within ethnic groups –
regarding generations, socio-economic positions, religion and migration history. Superdiversity implies that the diversity in such societies and cities has become so extensive that simple distinctions between natives and immigrants, or
even general distinctions between ethnic communities, are often inadequate.
An understanding of the dynamics and developments in superdiverse environments should always look at factors such as ethnicity, nationality and religion
in combination with factors such as age group, socio-economic background,
migration history and living environment. This coincides with the multidimensional perspective that we apply to individual interactions in this book.
1.2.4
Not every difference is cultural
When discussing the workings and impact of culture, it is essential to point out
that there are always factors which are not cultural in nature. In this book the
focus is on interactions between people of different ethnic, religious and national backgrounds. Even if we consider that culture refers not only to ethnicity,
nationality or religion but also to age group, region or profession we should still
be wary not to see culture in everything (thanks to Baukje Prins for this insight).
Group memberships bring certain cultural factors with them, but often also
imply other factors.
Being part of a social class brings with it certain cultural habits, values and
heroes, but also socio-economic aspects such as income and access to housing, education and healthcare. Parents who do not allow their child to go on a
school trip are not necessarily motivated by ideas about education or upbringing, but perhaps by the fact that they cannot afford to pay for it. A young man
who rebels against his teachers is not necessarily motivated by ‘youth culture’
but is also ‘just’ a teenager, with all the biological and psychological changes
that this brings about. Being part of a professional group can carry certain values and traditions but also professional and even legal standards and requirements; for instance, a lawyer who refuses to speak to a journalist about a client
is often bound by confidentiality rules.
39
1 Culture: everywhere and nowhere
In interactions between people of different ethnic and national backgrounds,
many people tend to attribute differences to ethnic and national cultures or
to religion. But sometimes the encountered difference may have nothing to do
with culture – on whatever level.
A football trainer posed a question to an intercultural trainer during a workshop
on intercultural management: ‘There was a player from Sierra Leone who got the
opportunity to prove himself during a 6-week test period. At one point in a match
he was in possession of the ball and approached the opponent’s goal. A Serbian
teammate was taking position at the far post, and all the Sierra Leonean guy had
to do was pass the ball sideways and the Serbian guy could have tipped it in. But
instead, he took a shot at the goal himself. So I was wondering: was that because
of his culture or not?’ The facilitator thought about it for a while and asked if
there could be other explanations than culture. Another participant said, ‘Well, if
he only had 6 weeks to prove himself, the best way to do that was to make a goal.
So I don’t see why we would want to bring culture into this discussion.’
Often, the focus on culture – in particular ethnic, national or religious culture
– can blind us to other influences, such as circumstances and individual factors.
This focus on culture as the only explanatory factor is called culturalizing, and
the risky implications of culturalizing for interactions are further explored in
sections 4.2 and 4.3.
In sum, acknowledging people’s multicollectivity should also imply the acknowledgement that other factors besides culture can influence interactions
between people of different national, ethnic and religious backgrounds. The
TOPOI model (Chapters 5-9) is a helpful tool to identify the different factors
that impact interethnic and international interactions.
1.3
Cultures and individuals
In the last section, we discuss the role culture plays for individuals. What is the
relationship between people and the cultures they are members of?
1.3.1
Multicollectivity
Considering that nearly every group, on every level, is characterized by a certain culture, and that people are members of several groups, this means that
people are always automatically members of several cultures at the same time.
40
1.3 Cultures and individuals
They are always on the intersections, so to speak, of different group memberships (Crenshaw, 1991). They can belong to an ethnic or national group, a generation, a professional group, a religion, a specific city or region and a certain
political ideology. All people move through various cultures at different moments and spaces. This means that their decisions, values and behaviours are
informed and influenced by all the groups that they are members of. The phenomenon that people are members of several cultures and groups at the same
time is called multicollectivity (Rathje, 2007).
Multicollectivity is related to the diversity within cultures. An American may
at the same time be part of the group of political liberals (or conservatives), a
Chinese person may be part of an artist collective (or an employee of a regional
government institution), and a Turkish person may be an inhabitant of a small
rural town community in eastern Anatolia (or of the centre of Istanbul). In all
of these cases, people’s multiple group memberships can lead to different – or
even conflicting – habits, ideas and views within the broader national culture.
On an individual level, multicollectivity implies that two people that share the
same national or ethnic background can have vastly different views or experiences. Consider the perspectives of an Ethiopian man from a small town who
has received no formal education, is a father of five, a Christian and works on
a farm, as compared to a woman from the same country who grew up in the
capital, studied business economics at university, lives alone, is a Muslim and
has visited relatives abroad on several occasions while working for an international NGO. In spite of their common nationality, their views, experiences
and references will be different in many ways. Conversely, people can often feel
they have more in common with certain people of another ethnic or national
background than with some of their compatriots, as in the following example:
A Dutch human rights lawyer says, ‘I grew up in a mining community in the south
of the Netherlands. When I moved to the urbanized west of the Netherlands to
study, I never quite felt at home. But when I moved to Egypt, I immediately felt a
connection with the people there. I felt I had more in common with the people I
met there than I ever had during my college years in the Netherlands.’
The multicollective nature of people’s identities implies that approaching people solely on the basis of their national, ethnic or religious background provides
a very narrow basis for understanding. It is crucial to take into account the influence of other group memberships; how this plays out will depend on the situation. Sometimes, actions and thoughts are influenced by several group memberships at the same time. For instance, how someone feels about topics such
41
1 Culture: everywhere and nowhere
as abortion and homosexuality may depend not only on their nationality, but
also on their religion, political views and the generation they belong to. In other
situations, a specific identity serves as a guideline for behaviour: for instance,
a man who goes to football practice after work will know that on the football
field he can make jokes that are unacceptable around his colleagues, and that
it is fine to be 15 minutes late for practice, but not for a business meeting. In
many cases, people do not consciously distinguish between their various group
memberships, but routinely flow from one cultural setting into another. Sometimes, however, people make conscious decisions about which identity guides
their behaviour in specific situations.
Ali, a British policeman, practices an orthodox form of Islam. He does not shake
hands with women in his leisure time. Whenever he is on duty as a policeman,
however, he does shake hands with female colleagues or citizens. ‘When I’m off,
my interpretation of Islam is leading, but as soon as I put on my police uniform I
do not shake hands as a Muslim, but as a policeman’, he says.
The different groups people belong to all provide them with a certain repertoire
of ideas, behaviours and symbols. Again: membership of these groups does not
guarantee participation or agreement with these ideas, symbols and behaviours
from these repertoires, but it does imply familiarity.
1.3.2
Radical individuality
The way someone’s cultural repertoire is processed then remains highly dependent on the individual. This is what Stefanie Rathje (2009) calls ‘radical individuality’: the notion that people are shaped by a unique combination of cultural influences that they process in an individual way.
Not only do people’s multicollective identities form virtually unique combinations of different group memberships – in the end, a person’s identity should be
considered as something more than just the sum of all these different influences. All things considered, it is up to individuals to process the combination of
their multiple group memberships. This is not to say this cannot be problematic; if people participate in cultures with contradictory or colliding (dominant)
values, ideas and views, they will have to find some consensus for themselves.
This is likely, for instance, if an individual is both openly homosexual and orthodoxly religious. Even if there is no actual prohibition in religious doctrines
to be in a same-sex relationship, the social pressure from either group may
make it very challenging to remain involved in both groups. In extreme cases,
42
1.3 Cultures and individuals
people will have to end certain group memberships. It will be very difficult, for
example, to be part of both a neo-Nazi group and a multi-ethnic reggae band.
1.3.3
People as products and producers of culture
Another aspect that sheds light on the relation between culture and individuals is the phenomenon that people are both products and producers of culture
(Tennekes, 1995). People are products of culture because they ‘inherit’ ideas, behaviours and symbols through their groups. As mentioned before, people need
culture to function and it is impossible to – completely on one’s own – develop
interpretations and habits to go through life and give it meaning. Seeing people
as products of culture implies that people are not completely free in how they
see the world – they are socialized, shaped and influenced by the cultures they
are part of.
At the same time, people are producers of culture: cultures obviously exist by
virtue of their members – people. In practice, people need to actively apply
their cultural repertoires to sustain them. This means that people can pass on
certain ideas or habits, but not others. It can also mean that they may slightly
or radically depart from certain norms or ideas, or even reject them altogether.
They may decide to add aspects that they feel are necessary. In practice, this
means that cultures almost always change in the hands of their members.
This can happen very explicitly. For instance, when Chinese students interpret
the relevance of the ideas of the philosopher Confucius for modern-day China
in special discussion groups at university (Tegenlicht, 2012), or when Islamic
bankers develop ‘halal’ mortgages that are in line with their religious prohibitions against interest loans. It can also be less explicit, when people develop responses to new or changing situations to which their cultural repertoires
do not offer satisfying solutions or approaches. In some situations, people can
even feel forced to take up behaviour that runs contrary to their previous beliefs
and habits:
A researcher who studied cultural diversity in social work says, ‘In a shelter
for homeless youngsters with a Muslim background, the organization wanted
to make sure that there was a ban on alcohol on the premises so that young
Muslims would feel comfortable. This turned out to be counterproductive: the
youngsters had started to use alcohol to stay warm during cold nights out on the
streets. A ban on alcohol would have been ineffective in attracting the youngsters to the shelter.’
43
1 Culture: everywhere and nowhere
If enough individuals adapt, develop or reject certain aspects of a culture, this
may eventually influence the patterns within the group as a whole. Even if this
does not happen, at least it means that the significance of a habit changes for
the individuals in question. This also means that people should be considered
capable of simply getting used to things outside their original cultural repertoire.
A manager working for a large Dutch multinational was assigned to lead the Japanese office. After visiting the office several times, he received from a Japanese
culture expert a country briefing tailored to Japanese business culture. The expert discussed several ‘typically Japanese’ behaviours that the manager did not
recognize at all from his experiences with company staff. After a while the manager and the expert came to the conclusion that the Japanese staff, having worked
for a Dutch company for a long time, had adapted their working style to what was
expected in a Dutch (or international) office.
1.3.4
First-order and second-order desires
In what way, then, do cultures influence people’s decisions in specific situations?
In this regard, Frankfurt’s (1971) distinction between desires of the first and the
second order is helpful. Desires of the first order are the reactions and needs that
come to us instinctively and intuitively. They often inform our first impressions
and judgments. Desires of the second order are formed by our conscious reflection on or contemplation of our first-order responses. Second-order desires are
unique to man: unlike animals, people have the capacity not only to have desires
and needs, but to consciously relate to those desires and needs as well.
First-order desires relate to culture in the sense that first impressions or responses are often shaped by culture. For instance, the way someone presents or
introduces him or herself in a meeting can invoke immediate feelings of trust or
distrust, depending on what is considered an appropriate and trustworthy way
to present oneself in a group. Culture (as a model for reality) is hence likely to
influence first impressions.
‘We see things not as they are, but as we are.’
Anaïs Nin (1961, p. 124)
At the same time, people also have the ability to reflect upon these responses
and impressions, creating desires of the second order: the response or preference that comes after some deliberation and contemplation. When you sense a
strong judgment or feeling about something or someone, you have the possibil-
44
1.3 Cultures and individuals
ity to reflect and ask yourself where this feeling comes from and what it is based
on: how is your perception shaped by your own assumptions, expectations, and
norms?
Without second-order desires, interactions and conversation between people
from different groups would be futile. Fortunately, and obviously, people are
not ‘cultural robots’ and have the ability to contemplate and (re)consider their
initial responses. A precondition for individual decision-making is to take adequate time and attention for reflection.
A research into cross-cultural marketing provided a good example of desires of
the first and second order. In this research, groups of Anglo- and Asian American
respondents were exposed to two different product advertisements for grape
juice. One of the advertisements emphasized ‘typically American’ values such
as achievement and accomplishment, whereas the other advertisement emphasized ‘typically Asian’ values, such as interdependency and security. In the
first research condition, the respondents had to answer immediately which message they preferred, and this confirmed the expected cultural preferences of the
groups: most Asian American respondents chose the ‘typically Asian’ message
and most Anglo-American respondents chose the ‘typically American’ message.
In the second research condition, participants were asked to take more time to
think about their preference. In this instance, the difference between the two
groups was no longer significant (Briley & Aaker, 2006).
Claiming that it is a universal human capability to reflect on one’s first-order
desires sometimes leads to the question whether individual decision-making
(autonomy) is a ‘Western’ construct. In response, we would argue that individuals in ‘non-Western’ cultures possess the same autonomy in the sense of a
human capacity, a human ability to make individual choices. It is thus impor­
tant to distinguish between 1) autonomy as an ideal, in which values such as
independence and personal development play a key role, and 2) autonomy as
the capacity to make free choices. Autonomy as a life ideal is indeed generally
a ‘Western’ ideal. Autonomy as the capacity to make free choices, however, is a
general human capacity and hence not typically Western (Musschenga, 2007).
1.3.5
Culture and context
A final perspective on the relation between culture and individuals has to do
with the distinction between the essentialist and the constructivist perspective
on culture. Essentialism, as referred to at the beginning of this chapter, takes
cultures as a given. It approaches the current diversity of cultures as the natural
45
1 Culture: everywhere and nowhere
order of things, comparable to the biodiversity of flora and fauna. In the essentialist view, people naturally ascribe to ‘their’ cultures that determine their behaviour and thinking to an almost complete degree. Previously, the essentialist
perspective was useful in making people aware of culture as a significant aspect
of human behaviour and avoiding ethnocentrism. However, essentialism leads
to a very deterministic view on the relation between culture and people that
fails to explain cultures themselves: why are they there in the first place and
what function do they have for their members?
Constructivism, on the other hand, assumes cultures always need to be constructed by their members and explores why, how and under what circumstances people activate elements of their cultural repertoires. A constructivist
view on culture reveals that people often apply, adapt or reconsider their cultural repertoires depending on the situation.
In the 1990s, the Dalai Lama toured Europe, meeting leaders and heads of state.
On his visit to Sweden, upon arrival he approached the Swedish King by folding
his hands in front of his chest and bowing – the traditional ‘namaste’ greeting
common in South Asia. Meanwhile, the Swedish King was holding out his hand
expecting a handshake, which resulted in a confusing situation. Days later, the
Dalai Lama visited Norway, and the Norwegian King had practised a ‘namaste’
greeting to prevent any awkwardness in the interaction. The Dalai Lama, however, had also adapted his greeting and approached the Norwegian King with his
arm outstretched (Dahl, 2014).
So people apply their cultural repertoire to certain, for instance, socio-economic or psychological situations and conditions. It has often been shown that in
cases of experienced inequality, conflict or hostility, people tend to hold on to
or even exaggerate certain habits and patterns (Verkuyten, 2007). In situations
of trust and equality, people are often much more motivated to change their
perspectives, consciously or unconsciously.
Research showed great variation in the views on gender equality among second-generation Turkish immigrants in various European countries. This could not
be explained by differences in the ‘integration policies’ of the various countries,
or by different attitudes of the first generation. It turned out that countries that
provided more equal education opportunities (such as Sweden) created more
‘progressive’ views of gender equality among ‘Turkish’ youngsters. As young
women of Turkish descent had a better education, they developed more career
ambitions and consequently perceived men and women to be more equal. The
same applied to men of Turkish descent (Crul at al., 2013).
46
1.4 Study assignments
This study illustrates that even when the cultural repertoires that people ‘inherit’ are similar, the way people expand and develop them can depend greatly on
the opportunities and position they receive in society at large.
1.4
Study assignments
Complete these assignments together with one or more colleagues or fellow
students. Compare your answers with those of your colleagues or fellow students:
■■ What was the same?
■■ What was different?
■■ What do you notice?
1 People often have strong associations and expectations of others based on
their nationality.
a What notions, expectations and generalizations do others often have
about people of your nationality? Try to think of neutral characteristics
(not just negative stereotypes).
b Which of these apply to you?
c Which of these do not apply to you?
2 Everyone is a member of several cultures at the same time: multicollectivity.
a Mention at least ten groups you yourself are a member of.
b What are the differences between the cultural repertoires of your groups
– different norms and values, heroes, rituals, etc.?
c Do you ever consciously think about the differences between these
groups or do you automatically switch between them without reflection?
47
2
From intercultural competence to
diversity competence
Introduction
2.1 Intercultural perspective
2.1.1 Intercultural interactions
2.2 Strangeness
2.2.1 Strangeness and unfamiliarity
2.2.2 Strangeness as a threat
2.2.3 Selective perception and hostility
2.2.4 ‘Allergic reactions’
2.2.5 Strangeness and identity
2.3 Intercultural competence
2.3.1 Response patterns
2.3.2 Normalization
2.3.3 Multicollectivity and intercultural competence
2.3.4 Knowledge, attitude and skills
2.3.5 Developing intercultural competence
2.3.5 Complexity and not-knowing
2.3.6 Diversity competence
2.4 Study assignments
Introduction
Interacting with people of different cultural backgrounds – in particular different nationalities, ethnicities and religions – is often viewed as extra difficult and
challenging. In recent years the focus in the field of intercultural research and
training has shifted from knowledge of different cultures and cultural differences to intercultural competence. Considering the heterogenic and dynamic nature of cultures, cultural knowledge cannot always be used to understand – let
alone predict – the actions, thoughts and feelings of individuals in specific situations. Intercultural competence, though not without its pitfalls and shortcomings, provides a more promising framework to help people prepare for work in
international, multi-ethnic and multireligious environments.
49
2 From intercultural competence to diversity competence
At the end of this chapter we will argue that diversity competence is a more
appropriate term for the competence discussed here. But before arriving at this
conclusion, we will take a closer look at intercultural competence, building on
the several notions and aspects of culture as discussed in Chapter 1.
2.1
Intercultural perspective
Before we start exploring intercultural competence, it is important to describe
what is understood by ‘intercultural’. A helpful distinction in this regard is that
between cross-cultural and intercultural. Even though these concepts are often
used interchangeably in both literature and in the world of intercultural (or
cross-cultural) training, they have a significantly different focus. Cross-cultural
refers to the comparison of different cultures in terms of values, behavioural
patterns and communication styles. Intercultural refers to what happens between people with different cultural backgrounds. Many well-known models
of intercultural communication are in fact cross-cultural in nature, as they describe dimensions or typologies to compare (national) cultures. They state, for
instance, that France has a higher ‘power distance’ than the United States (Hofstede, 1980) or that Vietnam should be considered to have a ‘reactive’ culture
whereas Mexico would be ‘multi-active’ (Lewis, 1996). From these comparisons, those models offer hypotheses of what might happen when representatives of these cultures meet and what miscommunications could take place as
a result.
Such a cross-cultural perspective falls short when trying to understand interpersonal interaction for two reasons. Firstly, predicting the behaviour of individual
members of a culture is highly problematic due to its heterogenic and dynamic
nature. The dimensions or typologies offered by such theories describe general
tendencies and, statistically speaking, provide only the thoughts and behaviours
of the average members of a culture. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, a
cross-cultural approach takes the comparison between cultures as a whole as a
starting point, not the actual interaction between members of different cultures.
Many other factors could play a role in those interactions other than the dimensions or differences described in the cross-cultural model. Moreover, by focusing on the comparison instead of the interaction, we do not gain any information
about the process of the interaction: comparisons tell us little about the effects,
experiences and possible approaches for such interactions.
Partly, these shortcomings result from the fact that many cross-cultural models
traditionally target situations where people move or travel to other countries
50
2.1 Intercultural perspective
– which is why many of these models provide ‘scores’ or rankings of national
cultures only. The cross-cultural perspective is still relevant when people transition from one (national) cultural environment to another, where it can help
to identify the possible differences between one’s own expectations and norms
and those dominant in the host society. However, it falls short of understanding
situations on the interactional level, especially in the more complex and diverse
environments many people face in today’s world.
Since cultures cannot meet outside the interactions between their members,
an intercultural perspective is necessary to explore what happens when people
from different cultural groups meet, interact and communicate: what happens
at the interplay of different cultural world views, habits and identities? The focus
in this chapter will be on the competence that is helpful in such intercultural interactions or encounters. We believe that this kind of intercultural competence
should take interpersonal interaction, not cultures as such, as a starting point:
what are the challenges when people with different cultural memberships meet,
and what does the competence to deal with those challenges consist of?
2.1.1
Intercultural interactions
One of the reasons why there is so much attention for intercultural interactions
in the form of research, education and professional training is because they are
often considered to be particularly challenging. But when is an interaction ‘intercultural’? Building on the previous explorations of culture in Chapter 1, we
would take quite a broad approach to what qualifies as intercultural and hence
as intercultural interaction. If culture is a phenomenon that can be recognized
in various groups on different levels, almost all interactions could be considered
intercultural. Since people are members of several cultures at the same time and
nearly everyone has his or her own unique combination of group memberships,
this means that strictly speaking each interaction is an intercultural one.
When people speak of intercultural interactions, they often refer to international, interethnic or interreligious interactions. Such interactions take place
all the time and it is important to consider that they are not necessarily more
challenging or difficult (Spitzberg, 2009, p. 432). Many, if not most, of these interactions pass without any problems. Interactions in an international or multi-ethnic context should therefore not be problematized as such: they do not inevitably lead to a collision of world views, values, perspectives or habits. Many
people interact with friends, colleagues, neighbours and partners of different
backgrounds on a daily basis without necessarily running into miscommunication or conflict, at least not on the basis of their ethnicity, nationality or religion.
51
2 From intercultural competence to diversity competence
A group of teenagers with various ethnic backgrounds are being interviewed
about the role ethnic-cultural differences play at school. The teenagers respond
in surprise. ‘We never think about that’, they reply. ‘The biggest differences here
are between supporters of different football clubs.’
Additionally, when differences in such interactions lead to challenges or misunderstandings, the difference is by no means necessarily cultural. By this we
mean, first, that the difference encountered could be related to another collective than nationality, ethnicity or religion, for example to a generation, region or
profession. And second, as discussed in Chapter 1, that the nature of the difference could be personal, psychological, economic or technological, for instance,
rather than cultural.
An international business programme at a Belgian university was preparing for
the arrival of a new group of students from various countries. The counsellors
had decided to put all information about the first week at university online. However, they continued to receive emails from Chinese students with requests for
information. At first, the programme coordinator assumed this misunderstanding must be related to their command of English, or their cultural background;
perhaps Chinese people were used to checking things over and over again to
avoid uncertainty? After a while they analysed what the problem was: they had
put the information on a Facebook page, whereas access to Facebook is blocked
everywhere in China. The students had never received the information in the first
place and hence kept asking for it.
2.2
Strangeness
If differences can occur in any interaction because of the multicollectivity of
every individual, then it is impossible to make an objective account as to what
interactions should be regarded intercultural. For the aim of exploring and describing the required competence for intercultural interactions, we will only
look at those situations in an international or multi-ethnic context where differences pose an extra challenge to the interaction. In practice, differences become challenging when they lead to an experience of strangeness in interactions
(Rathje, 2006; 2009; Gudykunst & Kim, 1984). This often occurs when someone from another group acts or responds in a way that is somehow unknown,
strange or unexpected.
52
2.2 Strangeness
An Australian university teacher gives feedback by email on an Indonesian student’s paper. To his surprise, the student responds to his comments within a day,
which makes the teacher wonder if the student has thought through the comments. His surprise is further enhanced by the response from the student, who
writes: ‘Thank you for your feedback. I have obeyed all your orders. Please find
the corrected paper enclosed.’ The teacher does not identify with formal and
hierarchal interpersonal relations, and the student’s response makes him feel
awkward. He is unsure how to understand the situation, let alone respond to it.
(This case study is discussed online, see www.coutinho.nl/diversitycompetence.)
In this example, the teacher is confronted with an unexpected and unfamiliar
response, positioning and phrasing from the student, leading to an experience
of strangeness that even makes him feel incompetent. ‘Strangeness’ occurs not
only when interacting with someone from a group one has little experience
with. It can also occur when people actually have considerable experience with
a group, but at some point come across behaviour or ideas that they do not understand. It can even surface between people who have known one another for
years (partners, friends, family members), but are suddenly confronted with an
unknown habit or perspective from the other person.
Strangeness then means that there is a difference at play in the interaction that
one does not understand or is not familiar with. In some situations this might
be a mutual experience; both or all people involved will feel uneasy and unsure
about the interaction and their communication. However, it is also possible
that one person experiences no strangeness him or herself, and is unaware of
the strangeness that he or she creates for the other person. In the above example, the teacher feels strange and uncomfortable with the student’s reaction,
but perhaps the student felt his or her response was completely normal and
accepted.
Strangeness for the sake of exploring intercultural competence is then a subjective phenomenon: what is strange to one person need not be strange to someone else. From a competence perspective, it is hence neither possible nor necessary to objectively determine when a situation is intercultural: what counts is
the experience of the people involved for whom the interaction is challenging.
Especially in interactions with others that have different national, ethnic or religious backgrounds, people tend to link strangeness to ‘culture’ or to the person in question. Differences are attributed to culture because people believe
that they do not understand the situation because of an unknown cultural difference. In other situations, however, people attribute the strangeness to per-
53
2 From intercultural competence to diversity competence
sonality; they consider the person they interact with strange or, in some cases,
stupid, immoral or impolite. In many cases, people’s experiences fall in between
these two options: not knowing whether the encountered behaviour is personal
or cultural is part of the confusion and disorientation. Hence in intercultural
training and education, participants often ask who is responsible in a specific
situation: the individual or his or her culture?
The challenge this strangeness creates is twofold. There is the ‘actual’ difference
in perspective or behaviour, but also the experience of strangeness that creates
confusion and insecurity, and often makes it more difficult to find a constructive response to the encountered difference. The teacher in the above example
needs to interpret and handle an ‘actual’ message from a student, but is also
confronted with his own experience of discomfort and disorientation about this
message, which creates an extra obstacle to finding an appropriate and effective
response. In our further exploration of strangeness in intercultural encounters,
we will touch upon both aspects.
2.2.1
Strangeness and unfamiliarity
The experience of strangeness is caused by unfamiliarity with another person
or group’s behaviour, ideas or symbols. Bearing in mind that one of the characteristics of culture is that it creates a sense of ‘familiarity’, it makes sense that in
intercultural situations, people come across phenomena that they are unfamiliar with (Rathje, 2007; 2009). As these phenomena could have another background than culture, we define interculturality or an intercultural situation as
an experience of strangeness due to unfamiliarity with a difference of any kind.
Unfamiliarity in intercultural interactions can relate to relatively subtle things,
such as gestures, facial expressions or body language that one does not quite
know how to interpret or place. It can also relate to larger phenomena, such
as the traditions or principles of a religion, the way organizations operate or
the way an education system is structured. People often tend to understand or
judge unfamiliar phenomena by comparing them to their own habits. This can
lead to ethnocentrism when this judgment assumes that one’s own way is the
only normal or natural way.
Ivanka, a business administration student from Russia, is doing her internship at
a Dutch company as part of her master’s programme. At first, she is shocked by
the way meetings are conducted. While discussing this with a friend on Skype,
she complains: ‘They have so little discipline here! People don’t bother to listen
to each other and interrupt each other constantly. It seems like everyone feels
54
2.2 Strangeness
entitled to an opinion about anything! I’m afraid that the manager does not have
things under control either; whenever she tries to explain something, people
question her decisions and she does not even use her authority to correct their
behaviour. That’s really no way to lead an organization! I’m afraid that this department will explode any day now and I might have to look for another place for
my internship!’ However, by the end of Ivanka’s internship the department still
existed, and she tells her friend: ‘I realized that it’s not as bad as I first thought;
people seem to really enjoy discussing things quite strongly. And the manager
actually asks for feedback, which is not to say that she always goes along with it.
And it seems they are getting good results. I always thought there was just one
right way to do business, but I guess that’s not true.’
Ivanka’s response to the meeting and communication styles at her internship
are at first clearly ethnocentric in that she seems to dismiss them for being different from what she is used to and thus for being unfamiliar. Yet she overcomes
this and finds there are also positive sides to this unknown behaviour.
2.2.2
Strangeness as a threat
The experience of strangeness in intercultural encounters creates a challenge
that is partly psychological in nature. It is a gradual experience: people can experience different degrees of strangeness in their interactions (Gudykunst &
Kim, 1984). The more strangeness people experience, the more challenging the
interaction becomes, up to the point where this can pose a feeling of threat
(Van der Zee, Van Oudenhoven & Grijs, 2004). Strangeness then makes people
insecure and doubt their own competence to handle the situation, especially in
the eyes of others. Gudykunst and Kim (1984) have shown that an interaction
that involves experiences of strangeness creates both anxiety and uncertainty. Uncertainty refers to the cognitive experience of strangeness caused by the
unfamiliarity with another person’s behaviour or ideas. This has to do with the
lack of knowledge of the situation. Anxiety refers to the emotional experience
of strangeness: heightened feelings of stress, which can hamper an effective response to the situation.
Strangeness can obviously play a role in interactions where there are no differences in nationality, ethnicity or religion. However, when people experience
strangeness in international, interethnic or interreligious interactions, they often attribute an extraordinary strangeness (‘exoticness’) to their interaction or
to the other person. So it is not surprising that the experience of strangeness
can stimulate people to withdraw from, avoid or ignore intercultural interactions, and in some cases even respond with frustration or anger (Van der Zee &
55
2 From intercultural competence to diversity competence
Van Oudenhoven, 2006). These responses may not be an expression of hostility
as such, but a response to the psychological threat of feeling incompetent, inapt
or not in control. People will then, for instance, make up an excuse to not have
to go to a wedding ceremony of an unfamiliar group, or explode with anger at a
bus driver when he tells them their ticket is not valid.
A specific kind of psychological threat can arise in interactions between people from groups that have different degrees of power and privilege in society
(see Chapter 3 for further discussion). It can be confronting for both sides to
learn about national or global inequalities that influence how one is treated and
which opportunities one receives, causing people to avoid meeting, let alone
discuss such topics (Perez et al., 2015; DiAngelo, 2011). In the following example, people shy away from discussing experiences of exclusion, and the responsibility to confront them is eventually passed on to someone else.
Susanna is a teacher at a German secondary school. She notices that Merve, a girl
of Turkish descent, often sits alone in class. Merve is the only student in her year
with a different ethnic background. Once, after class, Susanna asks Merve how
she is doing and Merve says everything is fine. A few weeks later, Merve hangs
around after class when the other students have gone. Susanna asks her again
carefully if everything is all right and Merve softly says that she is considering
changing school. ‘I am the only dark girl here, and sometimes I don’t feel comfortable.’ ‘Do the other students pick on you?’ Susanna asks. ‘Sometimes,’ Merve
responds, ‘but the biggest problem are the teachers. They are sometimes treating me differently from the others and I feel that some think I don’t belong in this
school. The other day one of them even asked me why I didn’t change to a school
with more people of immigrant background. So now I’m thinking that might be
better for me anyway.’ Susanna struggles with the idea that her own colleagues
could be behaving this way towards Merve and possibly towards other students
with immigrant backgrounds. She doesn’t know what to do or say. She decides
to put Merve in contact with an acquaintance of Turkish-German background:
maybe he can give her advice?
At the same time, it is important to mention that strangeness need not necessarily lead to feelings of threat or other negative experiences. Strangeness can
be stimulating, enriching, exciting and enjoyable as well. People often even seek
out strangeness and unfamiliarity by travelling or by attending lectures or exhibitions. During such experiences, however, people are prepared and open to
strange phenomena: the experience of strangeness hence stays between manageable thresholds and the demand placed on one’s interactional competence is
not too high, also because the potential consequences of misunderstanding and
miscommunication are not very severe.
56
2.2 Strangeness
2.2.3
Selective perception and hostility
Another complicating factor of intercultural interactions is that they bring
about a heightened risk of ‘in-group and out-group’ mechanisms, which impacts the perception and judgment of supposed cultural others. ‘In-groups’ are
the groups you consider yourself part of; the collectives that together constitute
your multicollective identity. ‘Out-groups’ are groups you do not identify with
and do not experience any belonging to (Tajfel & Turner, 1979). In international, interethnic or interreligious interactions where you experience strangeness,
the others are easily perceived as strangers that form an out-group (Gudykunst
& Kim, 1984), and this affects how you perceive and judge their behaviour.
The most important and significant effect of in/out grouping on perception is
known as the ‘ultimate attribution error’ (Pettigrew, 1979). This mechanism
makes people interpret behaviour from their in-groups differently than from
their out-groups. When people are confronted with negative behaviour by
someone from an out-group (‘the others’), they tend to think that this behaviour
defines that person and her or his group; it has to do with who he or she is and
must be an innate characteristic of the wider group. When someone from one’s
in-group (‘my own people’) portrays the same behaviour, people tend to see it
as an exception to the rule or an accident that does not reflect the character of
the group as such. People tend to interpret positive behaviour the other way
around: positive behaviour from an in-group member is related to the character and traits of the group: this is who ‘we’ truly are and what we stand for. The
same behaviour from a member of an out-group, is often seen as an exception,
or a result of luck.
An intercultural business consultant says, ‘I hear a lot of stories from clients with
bad experiences regarding international business deals. In most cases there
were careful negotiations, but afterwards they feel the other side has not been
honest. Then they assume that this is somehow part of the other side’s culture
and generalize one bad experience to the country as a whole. But ironically, in
many cases I have heard stories from people about their own country with similar experiences. So it seems everyone feels that they themselves negotiate fairly
and ethically and that in their culture this is natural, whereas it is in the other’s
culture to take advantage of you.’
It is important to emphasize that in/out grouping and attribution errors are
tendencies; fortunately you do not need to resort to them all the time, but you
can find yourself ‘slipping into’ them in certain situations and circumstances.
Especially when there is a situation of conflict or competition between indi-
57
2 From intercultural competence to diversity competence
viduals or groups, those involved are often tempted to blame it on the others’
group characteristics, even more so when these confirm previously held stereotypes. A disappointing outcome of a business deal with a French company may
lead to the conclusion: ‘You see, these French people just cannot be trusted.’ A
conflict with a patient of Arab descent may tempt a doctor to think: ‘So it’s really true that these Arabs are aggressive people.’
The risk of these mechanisms is largest when it concerns people from groups
that already carry strong negative societal images and stereotypes. Their behaviour is then often explained and even predicted based on those stereotypes,
leading to a sense of superiority and little critical self-reflection, as in the following example:
A group of professionals are receiving an intercultural training in preparation for
their mission in the Dutch Antilles. When discussing their expectations of and
experiences with Antilleans, one of the participants states confidently that ‘(…)
they are lazy. They don’t like to work. It’s in their culture, I’ve seen it many times!’
When the group goes to lunch and takes the elevator, the same participant says,
‘We should push all the buttons so the elevator gets stuck! I do that sometimes
so I don’t have to go back to work. It always works!’
Conversely, people can tend to interpret positive experiences with members of
a stereotyped out-group as an exception to the supposed nature of the group,
instead of a reason to reconsider the legitimacy of the stereotype as such.
A German woman with a Muslim background talks to a (native) German man at a
party. The man previously had very negative perceptions of Muslims, but writes a
blog about his positive experience with the woman at the party. ‘I have to reconsider my judgment of Muslims’, he writes. ‘Before I thought all of them were bad
but now I have learned that there really are exceptions.’
We will discuss stereotypes and prejudice in more detail in Chapter 3.
2.2.4
‘Allergic reactions’
Another kind of selective perception in intercultural interactions is the socalled allergic reaction. This interaction describes a process where people recognize certain negative traits in, or project them onto, others. The allergic reaction is part of a model by Daniel Ofman (2001) to understand and improve
interpersonal dynamics in cooperation and teamwork. The Antillean/Surinamese-Dutch interculturalist Leonel Brug applied Ofman’s model to analyse
58
2.2 Strangeness
international and interethnic relations. This proved to be extremely helpful in
emphasizing and understanding the dynamics of intercultural interaction as a
process where individuals apply particular perspectives and ideas.
Originally, Ofman’s model described how a person’s strength or merit can also
lead to certain pitfalls, allergies or challenges. A positive trait can turn into a
pitfall whenever someone exaggerates this trait. For example, a creative person
could get caught in a pitfall if her creativity leads to chaos and disorganization.
In order to avoid a pitfall, people need to face up to their challenge. The creative
person should then, in order to avoid being chaotic, bring some structure into
her creative ideas and plans. The associated allergy is the behaviour that would
be the exaggeration of the challenge, which is then also the opposite of someone’s strength or merit. If the creative person would overdo her attempts to
structure, it would lead to rigidity: this is also – considering her creative nature
– her allergy. The main insight here is that due to her propensity for creative
ideas, she would easily identify someone who is more orderly and structured
as rigid and mechanical. Conversely, someone whose main merit is organizing
and planning, could tend to experience the creative person as chaotic and irresponsible. In sum, one person’s pitfall is often another person’s allergy.
Strength
Too much of a
good thing
Opposite
Allergy
Pitfall
Opposite
Too much of a
good thing
Strength
Figure 2.1
Ofman’s model of ‘Core Quadrants’, 2001
Leonel Brug noticed that this dynamic is relevant for individual as well as collective perspectives, and is hence often at play in international, interethnic and
interreligious interactions. Due to ethnocentrism, people tend to judge behaviour in other groups by their own positive traits – their values, norms and
standards. Subsequently, they often see the opposites of those traits – their
allergies – reflected in other groups, just as in Ofman’s model. For example,
if someone is used to a very confrontational and outspoken decision-making
style, they may perceive a more cautious and consensus-oriented approach as
59
2 From intercultural competence to diversity competence
unclear or even dishonest. Vice versa, the person with the more confrontational approach may be perceived as blunt and arrogant. These perceptions are a
result of the norms and expectations of their respective groups, which are projected on others. Neither of them may recognize that these qualifications say
at least as much about themselves as about the other person or group. When
‘strange’ behaviour triggers one’s own allergy, it is often not seen as something
that has a merit of its own and is a product of good intentions, but as a deficiency. In the following example, the team defines itself through the value of assertiveness, and are only able to see a more reflective approach (their allergy) as a
lack of that assertiveness, instead of something of value in its own right.
A sales team for a large American company emphasizes pro-activeness and assertiveness in their work. ‘Assertiveness’ is even mentioned as one of their key
competences. An applicant (of Indian descent) for a new position in the team
has a perfectly fitting CV but in the job interview, the team manager feels that
the applicant comes across as very introvert. The manager mentions that they
value assertiveness and the applicant responds honestly that he is not very outgoing but that he has achieved great results in the past by calmly and quietly
making assessments of clients’ needs and providing tailor-made offers and proposals. The manager decides to give him the job, very much against the opinion
of the other team members: ‘How can someone who is not assertive be a good
salesman?’ they ask. At quarter-end, the new team member has the highest sales
numbers of the department.
If not reflected upon, your own (cultural) values, norms and expectations can
cause you to perceive others negatively. People then see their stereotypes of
others confirmed in the form of their own allergies, while simultaneously overlooking their own shortcomings or pitfalls. That is not to say that there is never any truth in such negative evaluations of behaviour in other groups; these
behaviours could also be the pitfalls of another group or individual. Even so, it
is good to remind yourself that these are often the extremes and exceptions in
another group, rather than the norm.
Among a group of newly arrived immigrants in Sweden there is great shock
about the news of an old lady who was found dead in her apartment weeks after
she passed away. ‘Do they really not care about each other in this country?’ one
of them asks. ‘In my country, you check on your neighbours if you haven’t seen
them for two days.’ Another person who has been in Sweden longer responds:
‘Well, it is true that people live a bit more independently here than in some other
countries. Older people themselves often like not to be completely dependent
on their family. But this was an extreme case, and all my Swedish friends were
also utterly shocked by this story.’
60
2.3 Intercultural competence
2.2.5
Strangeness and identity
A specific kind of strangeness in intercultural encounters is caused by a mismatch between the way someone experiences his or her own identity and the
way this is perceived by others. When people interact and feel that they are approached on the basis of an identity that they do not subscribe to or that is not
important to them at that moment, this also leads to experiences of strangeness. In those situations there is a lack of connection between how people experience and (want to) view themselves, and how others see them (Collier &
Thomas, 1988; Durovic, 2008).
A young British woman of Caribbean descent is undertaking a job interview for
the position of HR adviser. In the interview, the application committee asks her
view on the case of an employee with a terminally ill family member: how much
time and space would she grant this employee to attend to his family matters?
The applicant responds that she thinks it is important that the employee in question has the time and space he needs to take care of his ill family member before
he returns to work. One of the interviewers then asks: ‘I assume that this is because of your cultural background, where family is valued highly?’ The applicant
responds: ‘Well actually, it is rather because – as a psychologist – I am convinced
of a sustainable relationship between organization and employees.’
Such identity-related strangeness can result in feelings varying from mild awkwardness to intense feelings of exclusion. Sometimes, there can be an arbitrary
line between well-intended but incorrect or inappropriate assumptions about
one’s identity, and exclusive or even discriminatory behaviour. We will discuss
this in more detail in Chapters 3 (Critical diversity issues: power and ethics) and
7 (The TOPOI area Persons: identity and relationship).
2.3
Intercultural competence
After this exploration of the nature and effects of the experience of strangeness, we now turn our attention towards the competence that enables people
to respond to such experiences. Again, this is not to say that cultural strangeness necessarily surfaces in international or interethnic interactions; but when
it does, there is a need for approaches that avoid, minimize or neutralize the
negative effects on the interaction. Conversely, one could also claim that intercultural competence prevents the experience of strangeness and unfamiliarity
in intercultural situations; people who navigate contacts with people of various
61
2 From intercultural competence to diversity competence
backgrounds without experiencing extraordinary strangeness, or creating this
experience in others, can rightfully be called interculturally competent as well.
The effect of intercultural competence, however, is not necessarily the success
of an interaction or situation as such, since there are far too many other possible constraints that can hinder the desired result (Verdooren & Bremer, 2012).
A project manager who works for an NGO in a remote rural area on projects
around HIV/AIDS will not only face different attitudes and experiences of illness
and health, but also potentially a lack of information and support from local
governments. A social worker working with newly arrived refugees may face the
consequences of inconsistent or inadequate government policies regarding migration, aside from different attitudes and expectations among his clients.
Intercultural competence, in spite of its importance, is perhaps too often considered a ‘magic bullet’ that provides a guarantee for success in situations that
are very complex and also ‘happen’ to be intercultural. Intercultural competence is then mystified as an extraordinary skill, trait or knowledge that ­en­ables
people to get a pass in situations that would be extremely challenging even
without any associated ‘cultural’ difference.
In a video interview, an intercultural consultant is asked to give an example of his
expertise. In response, he tells a story about how he ended up in a nightclub in
Turkey, where he suddenly found himself at the table of local mobsters. When the
mobsters started intimidating him into paying for an outstanding bill, he was afraid
at first but reminded himself that ‘he knew about culture’. His reaction – screaming
and making threats in retribution – was in his own view a consciously ‘intercultural’ response that managed to get him out of a pressing situation unharmed.
This is an example of an overbearing understanding of intercultural competence as an almost magical skill for any kind of problem where people of different nationalities or ethnicities are involved. In this case, it remains unclear what
this competence actually means or does.
The literature provides a large number of definitions and approaches to intercultural competence – sometimes alternated with (inter)cultural sensitivity or
intelligence. There seems to be an intense search for a definition that will make
all other definitions obsolete (for an overview, see Deardorff, 2009; Spitzberg &
Changnon, 2009). Often, the scope, goal and application of these approaches
are unclear (Rathje, 2007). Milton Bennett (2013) warns against the tendency
to consider intercultural competence as a ‘trait’ that one can ‘possess’ and that
is distributed unevenly among a group, instead of working from the mere ob-
62
2.3 Intercultural competence
servation that some people are somehow better able to deal with intercultural
contact than others. What we can consider competence is then mainly an evaluation of what is considered appropriate and effective (Spitzberg, 2009).
Taking Bennett’s warning seriously, it should be considered what the relationship is between general social competence and intercultural competence. Since
intercultural interactions are obviously interactions between people, it seems
indisputable that to be successful in intercultural situations one needs interpersonal skills as an important base (ibid.), such as the ability to meta-communicate or reflect on one’s role (Bolten, 2006). It is then fair to say that intercultural
competence can best be seen as an extension of general social, personal, professional or strategic competences, with the added challenge of performing them
in an intercultural situation (ibid.).
As discussed, the potential extra difficulty in intercultural interactions comes
from the strangeness and unfamiliarity that these interactions can bring. Intercultural competence prevents the strangeness and unfamiliarity in intercultural
interactions becoming a barrier to pursuing one’s interactional goals (Rathje,
2006). It is then a condition – not a guarantee – for the eventual success of the
interaction as such. Being modest about the ambitions of intercultural competence allows us to be more specific about its characteristics, goals and applications.
2.3.1
Response patterns
For a further understanding of intercultural competence, it is valuable to distinguish between different types of responses to intercultural strangeness. Research by psychologists Karen van der Zee and Jan-Pieter van Oudenhoven
(2013) shows that people can respond to these experiences either in constructive ways – e.g. with curiosity, openness and exploration – or in unconstructive
ways – e.g. with denial, withdrawal or aggression.
Van der Zee and Van Oudenhoven (2013) point to two general aspects of human functioning that are relevant in this respect. The first revolves around
self-management of the potentially threatening feelings that strangeness can
bring about. The second aspect is related to the ability to explore the situation
and be open to the different responses and approaches the situation may require and to the different possible outcomes. People vary in their inclination
towards either ability; people who excel in remaining calm and unbiased, may
not necessarily be good at connecting to, and understanding, people who are
different (and vice versa). These two abilities also impact one another; people
63
2 From intercultural competence to diversity competence
who have a strong disposition to explore and understand but are not equally
good at dealing with the psychological threat of difference can be distraught if
the experience of strangeness is too overwhelming.
A German couple travel to India for a friend’s wedding. Even though they have
extensive travel experience and are generally interested in and open to cultural
diversity, they have a hard time dealing with the poverty they encounter in India,
the travel conditions and frequent approaches by local salesmen, taxi drivers
and beggars – many of whom are children. When they arrive at the wedding, the
wedding couple is surprised by their friends’ complaints and negative attitude
and their impatient or even hostile response in interactions with Indians.
This example illustrates how two people who are generally open to and interested in cultural difference, become closed off and even hostile when the environment and the encountered differences become too challenging – and hence
threatening. The threat does not have to lie in the interaction itself; if the social
environment or context is generally experienced as very challenging or threatening this can impede people’s ability to respond with openness and empathy
towards others (Van der Zee, Van Oudenhoven & Grijs, 2004).
2.3.2
Normalization
If strangeness and unfamiliarity pose the main challenges in intercultural situations, then the competence to deal with those challenges should be aimed
at normalizing the situation (Rathje, 2006). Normalizing in this sense does not
refer to ignoring the encountered difference and pretending that all is normal,
but rather to creating a situation where these differences can safely be examined, negotiated and explored, enabling the constructive response that allows
the interaction to continue.
On the interactional level, normalization involves creating an atmosphere and
mindset in which people can examine their similarities and differences and negotiate meanings, so that the interaction can continue in the pursuit of mutual
goals.
A social worker in the Netherlands has a client of Surinamese descent. She finds
out that the client is involved in Winti, an Afro-Surinamese traditional religion
involving supernatural aspects (somewhat related to Caribbean voodoo). At first,
the social worker is startled and a bit uncomfortable with this, since she has always associated Winti with ghosts and dark forces. Yet she tries to overcome her
initial discomfort by asking the client open questions about Winti and what this
64
2.3 Intercultural competence
means to him. Learning more about Winti helps her develop a trusting relationship and together they manage to fit his beliefs into her approach to his personal
situation (Hoffman, 2013, p. xiv).
It can be argued that an important aspect of normalization is paradoxically to
deculturalize intercultural interactions. By this we do not mean that the influence of collective cultural repertoires on people’s actions or thinking should
be denied. Rather, the interaction should be approached not as a meeting of
cultures but as a meeting of individuals – who are obviously shaped but not
determined by the various cultures in which they participate. Deculturalizing
means to approach others not merely as representatives of an alien and different
culture, but as unique individuals drawing on their cultural repertoire in specific situations, with specific concerns and specific people. Such a perspective
allows for other responses besides adaptation, such as negotiation, exchange
and mutual learning, as in the following example.
A manager of a large multinational company is assigned to a project where he
will manage a project team with members of various nationalities. He is very
uneasy about this: will he be able to manage all these different ‘cultures’ within the team? He decides not to treat the team members differently because of
their diverse backgrounds but to approach them as team members who may or
may not have different perspectives. He starts by setting common agreements
about such things as working hours, decision-making and giving feedback. Even
though differences in approach and style between the different team members
remain, a spirit of cooperation develops and the project is completed without
serious conflicts or issues.
A deculturalizing approach also brings the ability to approach allergies and pitfalls in intercultural interactions as confrontations between different individual
perspectives and approaches (which are potentially shaped or influenced by cultural backgrounds), instead of as an incomprehensible ‘culture clash’.
Last but not least, deculturalizing allows for the possibility that someone’s actions in a specific situation have nothing to do with their cultural repertoire but
with their personality, the situation, or with sheer coincidence.
Hasib, an Englishman of Pakistani descent, enters a business meeting. One of his
colleagues asks him: ‘Do you want coffee?’ ‘No, no thanks’, Hasib answers. ‘Oh,
right, it’s Ramadan, isn’t it?’ his colleague asks. ‘No, that’s not it’, Hasib says. ‘My
stomach is just a bit upset, but could I have some tea please?’
65
2 From intercultural competence to diversity competence
By creating normality in intercultural interactions, the experience of extraordinary strangeness is diminished to a ‘normal’ level so that general social and
communicative skills get the chance to respond to the situation.
2.3.3
Multicollectivity and intercultural competence
As discussed in Chapter 1, people should be considered members of different
collectives and hence participants of different cultures (multicollectivity). For
several reasons, the acknowledgement of multicollectivity in interactions is also
an important resource for intercultural competence.
First of all, the recognition of the several group memberships of people involved in an interaction creates the possibility to find similarities and build
connections. For example, a Japanese and German backpacker meeting in a
hostel in Brazil may find out that they are both science-fiction fans. Alternatively, a Christian and Jewish neighbour may find out that they are both fathers
who share the same worries about their children. When you are able to identify similarities, and not just differences, with another person the experience of
strangeness becomes less threatening (Gudykunst & Kim, 1984), so that it does
not damage your ability to empathize, explore and negotiate.
A (native) French woman recalls the first time she went to her son’s football
game, after he had been accepted to a prestigious club’s youth academy. ‘At first,
I felt a bit insecure when I saw that the other kids’ parents were from all these
different ethnic backgrounds. I was a bit unsure whether I would be able to connect and interact with all of them. But as soon as the game started and everyone
started to root for their children and for the team, we all connected as “parents”
and all these differences faded to the background.’
Secondly, when we identify others as members of several collectives, we can develop different interpretations and hypotheses about their behaviour. It enables
us to ‘ask the other question’ and consider other explanations when we tend to
assume something is about ethnicity, religion or nationality (Botman, Jouwe &
Wekker, 2001). As we have seen in section 1.2.4, not every difference is cultural
and it can be important to recognize other factors and issues.
This is helpful both because it increases the probability of understanding others
‘correctly’ – meaning that we can see them as closely as they see themselves in
that situation (Collier & Thomas, 1988) – and because it helps us to manage
our own strangeness. When people recognize that the other person, like themselves, is a member of several collectives their feelings of strangeness diminish
66
2.3 Intercultural competence
and they can focus on solutions to the encountered situation (Gudykunst &
Kim, 1984).
In an international master’s course in Sweden, the students are mostly of various Asian and African nationalities. Emma, one of the teachers, notices that students always leave their empty coffee and tea cups on the table after lecture,
and as a result she ends up cleaning up after them. She feels frustrated, and gets
the impression that the students do not respect her, partly perhaps because she
is a woman. The idea of a possible culture clash between her and the students
makes Emma feel both insecure and angry: perhaps these students should be
told to leave their cultures behind when signing up for this course! When she
discusses the matter with a colleague, she finds out that most students are from
upper-class backgrounds and are used to having staff both at home and at work
that serve coffee and tea and clean up afterwards. Emma feels relieved that their
behaviour is probably not ill-intentioned, and decides to ask the students kindly
after each lecture to help her clean up since there is no staff available for these
things at the university. Her request is promptly met, and after a few weeks, the
students start cleaning up without her asking.
Thirdly, recognizing the multicollective nature of identities opens up room for
negotiation based on common concerns, common roles and a common frame
of reference. This can be especially helpful in cases of conflict. A football trainer from Germany and a player from Peru can discuss the time to arrive at daily
practice based on what’s best for the team’s performance, instead of just what
is common in either Peru or Germany. An agnostic teacher and a Christian
student can discuss what theories one should understand to be a professional
psychologist, instead of whether or not one needs to accept evolution theory
as a fact.
‘Unfamiliarity’ in intercultural interaction is then technically always partial
unfamiliarity, in the words of Stefanie Rathje (2006; 2009). Intercultural interactions do not take place between two completely distinct and exclusive realities, but between people who share both similarities and differences. Strangeness is caused by a difference that becomes meaningful and creates confusion
and disorientation. If one can perceive unfamiliarity as partial instead of total this means that one can identify strategies and opportunities to respond
to it without having to debunk or distance oneself from one’s own identities,
­competences and habits. Intercultural competence should enable people to create a connection and common ground from where differences can be further
explored, negotiated or, sometimes, safely ignored.
67
2 From intercultural competence to diversity competence
2.3.4
Knowledge, attitude and skills
A common way to look at competence is through knowledge, skills and attitudes. This distinction is helpful in order to zoom in on the various aspects of
intercultural competence. Obviously, the distinction between knowledge, attitude and skills is somewhat artificial. In many ways, these aspects overlap and
reinforce each other. Nonetheless, it provides a good way to further discuss the
components of intercultural competence aimed at interaction.
Knowledge
An obvious component of knowledge for intercultural competence is cultural
knowledge: the knowledge of different behaviours, ideas and symbols in various groups. Concerning intercultural encounters, people often feel a need to
increase their knowledge of other cultures to prevent or manage intercultural
misunderstanding.
There are numerous ways to acquire knowledge of different cultures, varying
from travelling to reading or watching documentaries. Although the most valuable cultural knowledge comes from experience, even reading or hearing about
certain traditions or customs can be helpful because it provides a framework
for understanding other people’s actions or thoughts. Since culture is also an
embodied affair (Bennett & Castiglioni, 2004), knowing about an aspect of culture does not always guarantee an appropriate response. For instance, one may
have heard that in a certain group it is common to talk relatively loudly or stand
at a short distance, but this does not prevent the physical experience of strangeness and discomfort that these situations bring. The most useful knowledge,
then, is probably the knowledge acquired while interacting with people from
different groups and places, since this provides the opportunity to get used to
other behaviour patterns and even add them to one’s own repertoire.
An Indian man who moved to Germany was warned beforehand that street life
would be much quieter than he was used to: there would be fewer people and
less interaction and ‘life’ in the German streets than he was used to. Despite
having been warned, he was surprised at how different it was and how much he
missed the hustle and bustle in India. Over the years, though, he came to appreciate the calmer and quieter street life in Germany, and whenever he would visit
India, he needed a few days to get used to the intensity of it.
There is, however, a large downside to cultural knowledge, since it creates the
risk of stereotypes. The problem with stereotypes is both that many – if not
most – people in a given culture do not conform to them exactly and that they
68
2.3 Intercultural competence
leave many of the encountered phenomena unexplained. The aforementioned
research by Gudykunst and Kim (1984) has shown that, due to the risk of misinterpretation and misunderstandings, stereotypes lead to increased anxiety and
uncertainty when reality turns out to be more complicated and the stereotype
was insufficient to explain one’s experiences. That is why Gudykunst and Kim
stress that knowledge should always consist of ‘flexible categories’. This means
that the knowledge you acquire and apply should always be open to further refinement, specification or extension.
A French mechanic who is sent on a project to the UK will perhaps tend to understand his experiences through the image he has acquired of ‘the British’. After
a while, he may realize he is in Britain, and more specifically in Manchester, that
the British people he works with mostly have a working-class background, appreciate different jokes depending on their age and gender, and that the sense
of hierarchy at the office is not so much ‘typically British’ as an expression of the
specific company culture.
Flexible categories are helpful in making specific generalizations to analyse one’s
experiences: in the previous example, the mechanic begins to understand his
experiences by generalizing about ‘the British’ but gradually makes these generalizations more specific for the people he works with. By applying a flexible category that starts with ‘the British’ and then develops into ‘my British co-workers’ he develops a frame of reference to understand his colleagues’ ­ideas and
behaviours, without unnecessary stereotyping or overgeneralizing.
Another important aspect of knowledge for competence is knowledge related
not to the other but to oneself. This kind of self-knowledge can help to identify
assumptions and expectations in interactions one has taken for granted. These
kinds of assumptions are always partly influenced by one’s own cultural repertoires and may include, among others, a preference for a direct communication style, the vocabulary to talk about one’s ‘personal development’ (and being
comfortable about it), and familiarity with certain types of jokes or humour.
Awareness of your own assumptions regarding such matters can help you to
realize that these do not necessarily come natural and normal to others. This
can be of crucial importance when, for instance, someone interviews a job applicant who does not talk about his or her career and ambitions in a familiarly
explicit way, and does not make the right jokes at the right moment. Instead of
evaluating the applicant as ‘unsuitable’, or even ‘incompetent’, one could realize
that those evaluations are a reflection of one’s own – or the larger company’s
– unspoken assumptions and norms. To quote Anaïs Nin once more: ‘We see
things not as they are, but as we are’ (1961, p. 124).
69
2 From intercultural competence to diversity competence
A last aspect of knowledge that is helpful for intercultural competence is the
knowledge of mechanisms and factors at play in intercultural interactions.
These relate both to culture and to language, power, psychology and identity.
We will discuss these aspects in the chapters on the various TOPOI fields in
Chapters 5-9.
Attitudes
Even an extensive amount of knowledge is not helpful unless it is combined
with certain attitudes. Knowing about something does not necessarily change
the way people feel or act; for example, knowledge can be used to both help
people as well as to manipulate them. It is attitudes that steer how and why people use certain knowledge and skills. Attitudes are thus people’s tendencies or
urges to act or feel in a particular way.
The first important part of that attitude is empathy, in the sense of a desire to
understand another person. Empathy is the ability to imagine someone else’s
feelings or experiences by considering what it would be like to stand in that person’s shoes. Cultural knowledge can help to create hypotheses about someone
else’s experiences in intercultural situations, but it is empathy that motivates
people to engage with other people’s thoughts and feelings.
A second – related, but distinctive – aspect is openness; the desire to learn more
about one’s social world including the diversity of cultural phenomena. Openness helps to realize that one is never finished learning about such things and
that it is important to maintain intellectual curiosity about different cultural
and social phenomena.
The difference between empathy and openness can be illustrated by thinking of
different professional groups. One can then imagine that – stereotypically – interviewers need to be highly empathetic to be able to understand interviewees’
feelings and views. However, they are not necessarily open in the sense that they
are motivated to look at reality from different angles. Philosophers, on the other
hand, generally need to display great openness in order to consider all the different kinds of ways the world can be understood. At the same time, this gives no
guarantee that they understand how another person feels and thinks.
A third component of attitudes is inclusiveness: the desire to involve other people and make them feel comfortable and appreciated, and to treat them equally
and fairly. Even empathy and openness can theoretically be used to another
person’s disadvantage; inclusiveness is then important to steer towards a positive outcome for the other person. An important note: being inclusive does not
70
2.3 Intercultural competence
necessarily entail adapting to the other person’s preferences or demands; it does
mean that these are taken into serious consideration.
This points to the fourth attitude, reflectiveness: the willingness to critically analyse and evaluate one’s own thoughts and actions. To make fair judgments in intercultural situations, one must be willing to consider how one’s own convictions,
preferences, biases and habits influence one’s judgment or actions. Reflectiveness
is crucial to consider which approach or action to take in a given situation.
The last relevant attitude is flexibility: the willingness to engage in different or
unfamiliar behaviours and approaches if the situation so demands. In intercultural situations, this can imply the flexibility to go along with certain habits
or traditions that you are unfamiliar with, even when this leads to a certain –
though obviously not limitless – degree of discomfort or disorientation – for
instance, when a wedding, a meeting or a lecture proceeds differently than you
are used to. Alternatively, it can refer to taking action or intervening differently
than you would normally do. For instance, departing from your habitual approach to facilitating a meeting, conducting a job interview or selling a product
when this can lead to a better result in a specific context or situation.
Skills
The last part of competence consists of skills. In this case, ‘skills’ refers to the
ability to apply certain adequate behaviours or interventions in a given situation.
Having certain skills implies that you have a high degree of control over whether
and when these interventions or behaviours are portrayed. We can distinguish
between two important aspects of intercultural skills, building on the aforementioned need for a constructive response to cultural differences, or rather: an experience of strangeness (Van der Zee & Van Oudenhoven, 2013).
Firstly, skills are required to manage one’s own experience of strangeness, so that
it does not interfere with a constructive response to the situation. Intercultural competence literature has many different names and definitions to describe
these skills, including managing uncertainty (Brinkmann & Van Weerdenburg,
2014), anxiety uncertainty management (Gudykunst & Kim, 1984), emotional
stability (Van der Zee & Van Oudenhoven, 2000) and tolerance of ambiguity
(Bolten, 2006). This type of skill relates to managing one’s own emotions and
thoughts and entails the ability to remain calm when confronted with strangeness, to suspend judgment, to avoid resorting to stereotypes, generalizations or
negative attributions, and to manage one’s fear of making mistakes.
Secondly, the skills involved that help to explore the situation and potentially resolve the miscommunication or problem, are largely communicative in na-
71
2 From intercultural competence to diversity competence
ture. In order to explore and resolve the situation, one needs to draw on a broad
basis of communication skills to investigate, discuss and negotiate misunderstandings or even conflicts and to connect, build trust or reframe the interaction. Again, these skills obviously build on ‘general’ social and communicative
skills such as conversational skills, conflict management and problem-solving.
The ‘intercultural’ aspect then consists of applying these skills in situations
where strangeness and unfamiliarity play a role. Our approach to communication in intercultural situations revolves around the TOPOI model as discussed
in Chapters 4-9.
Even though it may sound as if these skills are two separate phenomena, they
are often applied in conjunction, reinforcing and building on one another. The
self-management of the experience of strangeness creates space and opportunity for exploration, whereas asking open questions, considering different explanations or building a connection can help to make the situation less unfamiliar
and ‘threatening’. The application of these skills leads to a normalization of the
interaction. In some situations, this will also create a resolution to the issue or
problem involved. In other situations, it can at least create the conditions under
which other skills or competences can be used.
2.3.5
Developing intercultural competence
A recurring question with regard to intercultural competence is whether it can
be developed and, if so, to what degree. As we have just seen, intercultural competence is a relatively broad concept that entails quite diverse factors. Some of
them are probably fairly closely tied to one’s personality. For instance, the disposition to experience anxiety and uncertainty when confronted with strangeness
is probably related to one’s proneness to what psychologists call neuroticism
(Van der Zee & Van Oudenhoven, 2013). For attitudes such as ‘inclusiveness’ it
may be a matter of ‘having it, or not having it’, whereas communicative skills can
most likely be developed – in a continuing spiral of experience, experimentation and reflection – to increase one’s repertoire of strategies and interventions.
The possibility to develop one’s cultural knowledge over a long period of time
seems hardly disputable. Most importantly, the different competence components of knowledge, attitudes and skills do not develop in isolation. An increase
in knowledge of different cultural repertoires can facilitate attitudes like empathy and flexibility – and vice versa – and managing one’s feelings of strangeness
by suppressing the urge to generalize or stereotype can foster more openness
and inclusiveness. Rather than focusing on learning strategies for the separate
elements of intercultural competence in isolation, it is probably more fruitful to
create learning experiences that set in motion a broad and overall development
72
2.3 Intercultural competence
towards greater competency in the various aspects in conjunction. In the next
section, we will discuss what such learning experiences can aim for.
2.3.6
Complexity and not-knowing
The focus point for the development of intercultural competence can be found
in an important aspect: the degree of complexity that one allows in one’s intercultural experience. Milton Bennett (1986 and onwards) speaks of the development of cultural sensitivity as the ability to construct one’s experience of the
(cultural) other into increasingly complex categories. Bennett claims people go
through several phases in order to become more culturally sensitive. In the denial phase, people basically have no notion of cultural difference. In the defence
phase, they only distinguish between ‘us and them’; and in the minimization
phase, they can only recognize superficial cultural differences (e.g. eating habits, clothing styles). In the acceptance and adaptation phases, other world views
are recognized as valid in their own right, and in the integration phase, people’s
ability to recognize cultural complexity enables them to engage with cultural
differences more or less continuously.
Even though it is debatable whether people always go through all these phases,
and in this order, the notion of an increased complexity of intercultural experience seems helpful and plausible to target the development of intercultural competence. This is further supported by the empirically tested approach of Rosemary Perez, Woo-jeong Shim, Patricia King and Marcia Baxter Magolda (2015)
who speak of ‘intercultural maturity’. This maturity grows over time when one is
confronted with people of different national, ethnic and religious backgrounds
and relates to three dimensions: a cognitive dimension (understanding cultural
differences), an intrapersonal dimension (the capacity not to feel threatened by
differences) and the interpersonal dimension (the capacity to interact interdependently with others). Interestingly, this implies and confirms that there is a relationship between, on the one hand, the way people interact and whether or not
they feel threatened, and on the other, the way they construct their experience of
cultural difference. Perez et al. (2015) show that experiencing intercultural interactions in increasingly complex and multifaceted ways goes hand in hand with
better interactions and a decreased experience of threat.
This idea is supported by a general finding in social psychology on competence
and knowledge, known as the Dunning-Kruger effect (named after psychologists David Dunning and Justin Kruger). Basically, Kruger and Dunning (1999)
have shown that when people study a certain field, they tend to overestimate
their knowledge while they are learning: as soon as they have some knowledge,
73
2 From intercultural competence to diversity competence
they tend to think they know almost everything. As they continue learning,
they start to realize how much they did not know, and how much more there
still is to learn. According to Dunning and Kruger, experts go by the Socratic
axiom that true wisdom is knowing how much you do not know, making one
prone to make nuanced, contextual and layered judgments instead of simplified or stereotypical ones. However, the Dunning-Kruger effect also shows that
those with more knowledge and experience are also more competent, often
without realizing it.
Knowledge
How much more
I realise there is to know
How much I
think I know (%)
How much I
actually know
The
‘I know nothing’
phase
The
‘I’m an expert’
phase
The
‘I know nothing’
phase
Beginner
Risico
Expert
Expertise
Figure 2.2
The Dunning-Kruger effect (Wijnberg, 2014)
Applied to intercultural competence development, the Dunning-Kruger effect supports the idea that continued learning about the subject of culture and
interculturality leads to an increasingly complex understanding of it. Gaining
more knowledge of differences between and within cultures humbles people
into an awareness of how much they do not know, and that it is difficult, especially in specific situations, to tell what is actually going on.
The concept of ‘competenceless competence’ (Mecheril, 2013) as an important
aspect of intercultural competence underlines that being interculturally competent does not mean that you are able to master each and every intercultural
74
2.3 Intercultural competence
situation. In interacting and communicating with people, there always remains
an amount of uncertainty and not-knowing who the other person is and how
she or he will react: the situation and the people involved can be different in a
different way than you expected. Awareness and acceptance of this uncertainty
and not-knowing is a fundamental condition for professional intercultural competence. It is exactly this position of not-knowing that enables people to explore, understand and eventually handle unfamiliar situations that makes them
truly competent.
To resume, intercultural competence can be developed by allowing increasing
complexity in understanding culture and intercultural interactions. This process not only entails increasing cultural knowledge, but also stimulates and depends on attitudes such as openness, empathy and reflectiveness. The multitude
of possible categories, perspectives and interpretations for and of intercultural
encounters can serve as a resource for both the management of one’s own discomfort (for instance, to resist the urge to stereotype) as well as the exploration
of the situation (by providing a wide range of hypotheses that can be tested). The
awareness that one’s knowledge, no matter how far developed, is always limited
stimulates people to explore and inquire rather than assume and judge.
2.3.7
Diversity competence
We have so far largely followed Stefanie Rathje’s (2007) description of intercultural competence as the ability to transform an experience of strangeness as
a consequence of an unfamiliar difference into normality (familiarity), which
allows people to pursue their interaction goals.
One important aspect relating to intercultural competence remains to be addressed. This is the notion that by using the adjective ‘intercultural’, it is mistakenly implied that the experience of strangeness in interactions is always –
necessarily – caused by ‘cultural differences’. However, as has been argued in
Chapter 1, not every difference is cultural as such. Even if an encountered difference is a consequence of someone’s membership of another group than ethnicity, religion or nationality, it does not have to be cultural. Rather, the difference could be biological, economic or psychological in nature. Often, however,
people tend to attribute an experience of strangeness in ‘intercultural’ situations to matters of culture or religion.
At an intercultural training for government job consultants, one of the participants asks the trainer for information about Islam. She had an experience the
other day when a man of immigrant background seemed very uncomfortable
75
2 From intercultural competence to diversity competence
and restless; and as soon as their meeting was over, he rushed out of the office.
She thought this probably had to do with his religion and she had heard that
Muslim men were not allowed to talk to women for longer than 10 minutes. One
of her colleagues responds that this is nonsense: she had the same situation the
other day, and it turned out the man just ran out of parking money and had to
rush back (Hoffman, 2013).
Differences in intercultural interactions that lead to strangeness need not in
any way be cultural in nature; recognizing this often leads to normalization
of that difference. Paradoxically, intercultural competence also enables people
to establish that some things are, in fact, not cultural. For this reason we propose to speak of diversity competence rather than intercultural competence:
the competence to normalize strangeness of any kind in interactions, whether
this strangeness is rooted in cultural differences or not.
2.4
Study assignments
Complete these assignments together with one or more colleagues or fellow
students. Compare your answers with those of your colleagues or fellow students:
■■ What was the same?
■■ What was different?
■■ What do you notice?
1 Think of the interactions you have in some of your contexts, for example at
school/university, at work or in your circle of friends. How important is it
for understanding and communicating in those contexts to have knowledge
of each other’s cultures?
2 Recall and describe an experience of ‘strangeness’ (sections 2.2.1 and 2.2.2)
that you’ve had with: a) a stranger (someone you did not know before), and
b) someone you know well (a colleague, acquaintance, friend, family member, partner). Describe for both experiences:
■■ What made the experience strange to you?
■■ What did you think and feel?
■■ How did you respond?
■■ How did the other respond?
■■ Did you find out the reason or background of the ‘strange’ behaviour?
■■ In retrospect: could, or would, you have wanted to respond differently
in that situation?
76
3
Critical diversity issues:
power and ethics
Introduction
3.1 Power
3.1.1 Power and culture
3.1.2 Power, groups and privilege
3.1.3 Power, professions and positions
3.1.4 Stories and stereotypes
3.1.5 Stories and power: history and present
3.1.6 Defining ‘the other’ and intercultural communication
3.1.7 Exclusion and unconscious bias
3.2 Ethics
3.2.1 Universalism, relativism and pluralism
3.2.2 Universalism (monism)
3.2.3 Relativism
3.2.4 Universalism versus relativism
3.2.5 Pluralism
3.2.6 Pluralism and dialogue
3.2.7 Human universals, capabilities and commonalities
3.2.8 Human rights
3.2.9 Criticizing other cultures
3.2.10 Ethics in practice: circle of influence
3.3 Study assignments
Introduction
In this chapter we will discuss two critical issues concerning diversity competence: power and ethics. In the previous chapters, we have presented a dynamic
and multifaceted view of intercultural interaction and diversity competence,
and have stated that we believe that interethnic, international or interreligious
interaction is not fundamentally different from ‘normal’ interpersonal interaction. However, we believe it is important to point to certain critical issues
77
3 Critical diversity issues: power and ethics
that can – in practice – lead to intense challenges and dilemmas when living or
working in an international, multi-ethnic or multireligious environment; power
and ethics. We choose to mention these issues separately and explicitly because
we believe they often go unmentioned in much of the intercultural literature
and unrecognized in people’s daily practice.
3.1
Power
Power is an important and often overlooked factor in interactions between
people of different nationalities, ethnicities or religions. A very general way to
describe power is as the ability to influence situations or people. Power in intercultural situations and interactions can play a role in direct or indirect ways,
making it sometimes difficult to recognize and pinpoint. Often, when people
think of power in regard to intercultural situations they think of formal power
relations; for example, who is in charge during a merger and acquisition process, or whether someone represents a client or a supplier in a certain situation.
These more explicit forms of power are discussed in Chapter 8, which deals
with the TOPOI area Organization. The point we will make here goes more
to the heart of power as an essential part of culture. Understanding the relationship between power and culture can help tremendously to recognize how
power impacts international, interethnic an interreligious interactions. Often
in these interactions, power comes with the power to exclude others. Recognizing, preventing and responding to cases of exclusion – or the experience of
exclusion – is a recurring challenge in international, multi-ethnic and multireligious environments.
3.1.1
Power and culture
In order to understand the impact of power on international, interethnic and
interreligious interactions, it is pivotal to reflect on the relation between culture
and power. Culture and power are inextricably linked: it is almost impossible to
talk and think about culture without taking power into consideration.
The kind of power that is so deeply intertwined with culture is what sociologists
call ‘definition power’ (Bourdieu, 1990). Definition power is the ability not to
directly steer events, decisions or actions, but to define what they are judged on;
what is normal, desirable, correct and good? The norms and standards dominant within a culture at a given time are – in a way – always a result of power;
certain individuals or subgroups within a group have made a certain behaviour,
idea or symbol ‘normal’ and taken for granted.
78
3.1 Power
There can be dominant views on, for instance, gender relations, sexuality,
health or education. And there can be dominant habits with regard to, for instance, how to greet, dress or talk (see also section 6.4, Collective world views).
This explains why, when people suggest or try to change the norm or standard
in a society or group, this is often met with resistance. See the example below,
where men are actively trying to change the power balance concerning gender
relations in their society.
In Iraqi Kurdistan, a growing group of men want to change the traditional role of
men in Kurdish society. Especially in times of war and conflict, ‘real men’ were
expected to be strong, armed, hospitable and dominant. A director of an NGO
fighting against female genital mutilation says, ‘The social infrastructure for the
old way of masculinity is gone. The patriarchy no longer has any socio-economic
basis. Men are nothing, they cannot even feed their own families anymore. Most
of them work for the government, in jobs that women can do equally well or better. They are in crisis.’ A Kurdish human rights activist who stood up for a female
colleague that was bullied by her boss, was told: ‘You are not behaving like a
real man.’ ‘That’s correct’, he answered. ‘That’s not the kind of man I want to be’
(Vreeken, 2014).
Discussions like these in fact reflect power struggles over who gets to decide
over what in a society or group. This example shows that power struggles regarding ‘what is normal’ are often tied up with historical and political developments. As was discussed in Chapter 1, cultures are dynamic and host a diversity
of positions. What is considered ‘the norm’ in a culture often essentially reflects
the status quo of an ongoing power struggle. Virtually all societies have discussions about issues such as gender relations and sexuality. A country such as the
Netherlands, with a strong self-perception for having progressive gender norms,
was much more conservative by current standards only a few decades ago.
In sum, power is essential for thinking about culture: the two cannot be disentangled. An important point, however is that power – like culture – should
not be seen as a thing, but as a relational phenomenon that takes place between people. From that perspective, it is important to see that, in principle,
everyone has power: power is not merely a question of the powerful and the
powerless. Norbert Elias (1981, p. 81) explains power in terms of mutual dependencies and speaks of continuously shifting power balances. Elias uses the
metaphor of society as a playing field, a game in which each player has relative
playing strength, competing with others for possessions and status, but also
for freedom and justice. People’s playing strength depends on their social position, their network and their knowledge and skills. Each member of society is
79
3 Critical diversity issues: power and ethics
a participant and has the power to influence the game of society, even though
the most powerful player normally wins. How much power players have, and
how successful they are in using it, can obviously change over time, as we could
see from the previous example from Kurdistan where the definition power of
traditional men is challenged.
3.1.2
Power, groups and privilege
Since culture and power are intrinsically related, power differences play out not
only between individuals but also between groups. Being a member of a group
then provides people with more influence over what happens to them, how they
are treated, and what opportunities they have.
As a result, being part of a powerful or dominant group means that society
and its institutions are structured to more or less fit your needs. It means that
acceptable social codes coincide with your habits and lifestyle and that institutions use methods that are geared to your preferences and views. Concretely:
you get time off on days when your traditional holidays are celebrated, your
taste in formal clothes is probably just right for a job interview, your GP is familiar with your diet and lifestyle, and the history classes in school cover the actions of your ancestors (and probably in a quite favourable way). Being a member of a more powerful group provides people with more influence over what
happens to them and how they are treated, and what opportunities they have.
These differences in power and ‘privilege’ often develop over a long period of
time, as in the following example, where the position of a group goes back quite
far in history:
The caste system in India defines a hierarchy between groups that have different
levels of status and rights in society. Originating in ancient India, it was furthered
under British colonialism, where people were rigidly administered according to
the caste system. The system was officially abolished but, after so many centuries, has left its mark on Indian society. A woman who is originally from the Dalit
caste (‘untouchables’), the lowest status group in India, says, ‘No matter how
much I have studied and travelled or how high my salary is, if I apply for a rental
apartment, people from a higher “caste” will often turn me down, no matter if
they have less education or income than me. Knowing that I am Dalit from my
name or looks is enough for them to discriminate me.’
Often, but not always – as we can see from the Indian example – power in­
equalities between groups relate to majority-minority relations. These inequalities can be very obvious and open, as in the caste system, but often also more
80
3.1 Power
subtle and hidden. Being a member of a more powerful group then brings certain expectations and experiences one takes for granted. This phenomenon is
sometimes referred to as ‘privilege’. The term privilege can be confusing, because in this case it often does not refer to additional or exceptional treatment
or status. Rather, it is the certainty to receive equal or fair treatment, to get the
benefit of the doubt and to be judged on one’s individual merit or performance
rather than on (supposed) group belonging, and not to be treated as an outsider. Sociologist Peggy McIntosh (1988) famously made a list of ‘privileges’ pertaining to white Americans but not necessarily to ‘people of colour’, e.g. African
Americans, including, among others:
■■ I can be pretty sure that my neighbours will be neutral or pleasant to me.
■■ I can go shopping alone most of the time, pretty well assured that I will not
be followed or harassed.
■■ I can turn on the television or look at the front page of the paper and see people of my background widely represented.
■■ I can go into a music shop and count on finding the music of my background
■■
■■
■■
■■
■■
■■
represented, into a supermarket and find the staple foods which fit with my
cultural traditions, into a hairdresser’s shop and find someone who can cut
my hair.
Whether I use checks, credit cards or cash, I can count on my skin colour not
working against the appearance of financial reliability.
I can swear, or dress in second-hand clothes, or not answer letters, without
having people attribute these choices to the bad morals, the poverty, or the
illiteracy of my group.
I am never asked to speak for all the people of my group.
I can criticize our government and talk about how much I fear its policies and
behaviour without being seen as a cultural outsider.
I can easily buy posters, postcards, picture books, greeting cards, dolls, toys
and children’s magazines featuring people of my ethnic background.
I can choose blemish cover or bandages in flesh colour and have them more
or less match my skin.
It can be confronting to recognize that there are certain privileges in society
which give you an advantage or disadvantage. This can partly be explained by
what social psychologist Melvin Lerner (1980) calls the ‘just-world hypothesis’;
the phenomenon that people have the psychological need to see the world as
a righteous and fair place where people generally get what they deserve. The
just-world hypothesis makes it difficult for the privileged to recognize that their
achievements may not only be the result of their personal merit; and for the less
privileged to recognize that their fate is not completely in their own hands. It is
81
3 Critical diversity issues: power and ethics
important to mention that these kinds of ‘privilege’ are tied not only to ethnicity or nationality, but also to gender, class, sexual preference or religion (see
e.g. itspronouncedmetrosexual.com).
Due to the dynamics between majorities and minorities, one could argue that
interactions in multi-ethnic societies are generally more often characterized
by issues of power and privilege than interactions in an international setting.
However, in international situations too, being a member of certain groups, for
instance ‘Western’ ones, can provide certain privileges or power positions.
A young man from Greece goes to Trinidad and Tobago to do fieldwork for his
master’s thesis. He quickly becomes very popular with his local peers. One of
the reasons for this is that when they go clubbing together, they always get in
because they are with a white foreigner.
3.1.3
Power, professions and positions
Differences in definition power can be further amplified when they are related
to the positions, professions or responsibilities of the people involved. Certain
professions or positions by direct implication provide people with more power
than others. Examples include managers, doctors, policemen/women or teachers. You could even say that it is their job to decide things for their patients, students or citizens. When people have such an official authority or a formalized
power position, they are not only in the position to decide what will be done but
often also how things are done. When the people in question hold ethnocentric
views in those situations, sometimes they dismiss or reject things for the mere
reason that these differ from what is considered normal or common.
An employee of an Austrian company asks his manager if he could take next Friday off to go to mosque. The manager denies his request with the argument: ‘In
Austria we go to church on Sunday, not on Friday!’
Often, people’s judgments in those situations are not just based on their own
preferences, but are influenced by wider social notions of what is good, acceptable and normal in their own group(s). This can have far-reaching consequen­
ces, as in the example below:
In his book Yemma, the Moroccan-Dutch writer Mohammed Benzakour described his experiences with Dutch healthcare institutions when his mother was
treated after a stroke. She needed speech therapy to learn again how to speak.
82
3.1 Power
Since Benzakour’s mother was illiterate, this was not possible. ‘By then, I had
looked up quite some things about speech therapy and found out about successful therapies based on sound and melody (abroad). Since my mother had recited
the Quran her entire life, singing and based on rhyme, I thought I had found the
perfect solution. So I gave the speech therapist these golden suggestions to use
recitations of Quranic verses for practice. Her response: “Sorry Sir, but I’m not
going to study Islam.”’ Benzakour sadly concludes: ‘We are always talking about
living together multiculturally (multicultureel samenleven). But we also need to
discuss dying together multiculturally (multicultureel samensterven)’ (own translation of Benzakour, 2017).
When professionals take decisions on which ‘deviations from the norm’ are acceptable and desirable, it is important that they reflect on the degree to which
their decisions are influenced by their own cultural norms and on their position
of power to enforce these on others.
3.1.4
Stories and stereotypes
Power relates not only to the ability to define oneself or one’s own group in
a certain way, but also to define other people or groups. Chimamanda Ngozi
Adichie (2009) describes power as the ability not just to tell the story of another
person, but to make it the definitive story of that person. Adichie explains and
gives an example:
‘There is a word, an Igbo word, that I think about whenever I think about the
power structures of the world, and it is “nkali”. It’s a noun that loosely translates
to “to be greater than another”. Like our economic and political worlds, stories
too are defined by the principle of nkali. How they are told, who tells them, when
they’re told, how many stories are told, are really dependent on power. (…)
I recently spoke at a university where a student told me that it was such a shame
that Nigerian men were physical abusers like the father character in my novel.
I told him that I had just read a novel called American Psycho – and that it was
such a shame that young Americans were serial murderers. Now, obviously I said
this in a fit of mild irritation. But it would never have occurred to me to think that
just because I had read a novel in which a character was a serial killer that he was
somehow representative of all Americans. This is not because I am a better person than that student, but because of America’s cultural and economic power,
I had many stories of America. I had read Tyler and Updike and Steinbeck and
Gaitskill. I did not have a single story of America’ (Adichie, 2009).
83
3 Critical diversity issues: power and ethics
‘Stories’ in this context should be understood in a broad sense. Stories can be
fictional, but also ‘realistic’, in the form of news coverage or political accounts.
Stories can come from the media, from politicians, friends, family, school and
even science. Our world view is in many ways dependent on the stories we hear
around us. They form what sociologists call ‘discourses’, the patterns and assumptions that shape our view of reality (see also section 6.4, Collective world
views). Dominant stories in the media, arts and science are expressions of power. They tell us who the ‘winner’ and who the ‘loser’ is, who is a failure, who is a
perpetrator, who a victim, who is powerful and who is weak, etc. They inform
expectations and assumptions and create stereotypes; perceptions of people
that are either extreme simplifications or downright untruths and limit one’s
understanding of people and situations.
People often fail to recognize that their views are formed or informed by a particular story or stereotype until they are confronted with something contradicting it. The following example shows how people in ‘Western’ countries are often
accustomed to stories of ‘the West’ as more advanced and developed than the
rest of the world.
Hans Rosling, a Swedish professor of International Health, in later years made it
his mission to inform the general public about international development and
global inequality. He felt that most people were misinformed because they relied on faulty generalizations and stereotypes. In a TED Talk called ‘How not to
be ignorant about the world’, he gave the audience multiple choice questions
about things like the number of victims of natural disasters, the number of people receiving education, and global poverty. For all these aspects, people underestimated global developments and improvements outside the Western world.
Rosling compared their answers to those he received from a group of chimps he
claimed he questioned in the zoo, who answered at random. The chimps’ answers turned out to be more accurate than those of the audience. Rosling: ‘You
were beaten by the chimps! This is because chimps don’t watch the
evening news’ (retrieved from youtube.com).
Our world views and perspectives of other people and groups are almost unavoidably shaped by power and dominant stories. Within the context of intercultural interaction and communication, it is important to be aware of the
dominant stories that surround you and inform your expectations and communication; a competence that Jonas Stier (2004) aptly calls discourse awareness.
When you become aware of the impact a story or stereotype has on you, you
can make the conscious choice to make an effort to find other stories that con-
84
3.1 Power
tradict, complement or balance a dominant story. We again turn to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie for an example:
‘A few years ago, I visited Mexico from the US. The political climate in the US at
the time was tense, and there were debates going on about immigration. And,
as often happens in America, immigration became synonymous with Mexicans.
There were endless stories of Mexicans as people who were fleecing the healthcare system, sneaking across the border, being arrested at the border, that sort
of thing. I remember walking around on my first day in Guadalajara, watching the
people going to work, rolling up tortillas in the marketplace, smoking, laughing. I
remember first feeling slight surprise. And then, I was overwhelmed with shame.
I realized that I had been so immersed in the media coverage of Mexicans that
they had become one thing in my mind, the abject immigrant. I had bought into
the single story of Mexicans and I could not have been more ashamed of myself
(…). So what if before my Mexican trip, I had followed the immigration debate
from both sides, the US and the Mexican?’ (Adichie, 2009)
Bearing Elias’ description of power in mind as a relational phenomenon that
grants different degrees of playing strength, it is important to consider that
power is not necessarily one-sided or one-directional. Stereotyped groups can
take ownership of their (self-)definition and identity by countering dominant
(negative) stories with positive ones. One could think for example of the legendary soul singer James Brown who coined the phrase ‘Say it loud, I’m black
and I’m proud’. Sometimes, people find ways to confront others with the stereo­
types they face and at the same time stimulate them to break through those
stereotypes:
In an effort to break down stereotypes and distrust of Muslims, a young Canadian Muslim conducted a social experiment. While blindfolded, he stood next to a
sign saying ‘I am a Muslim, I am labelled as a terrorist. I trust you, do you trust
me? If so, give me a hug.’ Many people came up to hug the man (retrieved
from youtube.com, blind trust project).
In section 4.4, we will discuss in more detail the communicative manifestations
of power and stories, which we will call ‘common senses’. In the TOPOI model
presented in Chapters 4 to 9, one of the main recommendations is to regularly
reflect on the way dominant stories and ‘common senses’ influence our actions
and perceptions.
85
3 Critical diversity issues: power and ethics
3.1.5
Stories and power: history and present
An important aspect of dominant stories about ourselves or others is that they
generally do not appear randomly, but are often rooted in history. Even when
the conditions and power relations that produce those stories change, they can
linger on and continue to inform and influence people’s expectations, stereotypes and (self-)perceptions. Colonialism, for example, created the idea that
there are different human races that are supposed to have different, innate characteristics comparable to the racial distinctions biologists made for animals and
plants (Stuurman, 2017). This categorization ranked human groups hierarchically on a range of inherent superiority.
Western Europeans were ranked highest, as civilized, rational and natural leaders. Asians, and native Americans were valued lower than Europeans, and Africans were often considered to be lowest in rank, due to their supposed primitive nature – making them childish, lazy, instinctive, violent and ‘hypersexual’
(Hall, 1997; 2000). Due to Europe’s political, economic and definition power,
racist ideas became a dominant story that was spread through science (in race
biology), books or paintings and sometimes through religion where biblical
verses were quoted that supposedly supported slavery (it should be mentioned
that Christianity also inspired many abolitionists that opposed slavery. The role
of Christianity concerning slavery is not a ‘single story’) (Hall, 1997; Stuurman,
2017). Note that besides biological traits, notions of cultural difference were
also implicit in colonial racism: the idea was that the role of ‘Europe’ was not
only to rule but often also to civilize the ‘savage’ inhabitants of other continents.
Asians, native Americans and Africans were hence repeatedly portrayed as
submissive, dumb, primitive, unreliable and, at best, entertaining or exotic. This
served as a legitimization and justification for colonial domination and slavery, and probably protected the perpetrators from shame or guilt about their
actions; only if others could be seen as subhuman, could they be treated inhumanely (consider the ‘just-world hypothesis’ in section 3.1.2). Such processes
obviously also applied to other groups in history, such as Jews during centuries
of European anti-Semitism, various Roma and Sinti groups all over Europe, and
the ‘untouchables’ in the Indian caste system.
Stereotypes then often serve to justify the power that certain groups or individuals exert over others, but that does not mean they disappear when the direct and open domination ends. Racial and ethnic stereotypes are still strongly
present in many of today’s national and global media, for example in films, literature and advertising (Hall, 1997). What is considered ‘Western’, ‘European’
86
3.1 Power
or ‘white’ has often become the dominant global norm. Western clothes and
beauty ideals, for example, are to this day often associated with success, beauty
or sophistication.
In many areas in Latin America, curly Afro hair is often referred to as ‘pelo malo’,
meaning ‘bad hair’. Worldwide, there is a thriving (online) industry of skin bleaching creams for people of colour.
Stories inform people’s expectations and create stereotypes that impact their
expectations of others, and sometimes themselves. Social psychologists have
even identified something called ‘stereotype threat’: a phenomenon that a stereotyped group can be paralyzed by the existence of that stereotype, leading to
underperformance.
In a famous experiment, African American students were asked to perform an
exam that was said to measure their ‘intellectual ability’, after first being asked
to self-identify their ‘racial background’ on the test. In this setting, they scored
significantly lower than their ‘European American’ peers. In another setting, the
exam was said to be a random test, and students were not asked to mention their
‘race’. The latter group showed no difference in the test scores between white
and black students. The conclusion was that by asking the students to mention
their racial background and by connecting the test results to their ‘intellectual ability’, the stereotype that black people are less intelligent was activated in
students’ minds. This created extra pressure for the African American students,
leading them to underperform and – unconsciously – conform to the stereotype
about their group (Steele & Aronson, 1995).
Stories, like cultures, are both rooted in history and subject to continuous change.
They are often applied and (re)considered in a specific context. Groups that were
considered inferior can then be portrayed as helpless victims, while groups that
were once associated with exotic sensuality are later seen as prude and oppressed.
Sometimes, new stereotypes are formed or old ones re-emerge, such as the stereotype of southern Europeans as unreliable and opportunistic in the wake of the
recent euro crisis. The following example shows how such images – together with
those of women as objects of pleasure – can creep up in conversations.
Responding to a question about solidarity between northern and southern euro
countries, the Dutch Eurogroup chairman of finance ministers, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, said, ‘As a Social Democrat, I attribute exceptional importance to solidarity. But whoever demands it also has obligations. I cannot spend all my money
on drinks and women and then ask for your support. This principle applies on a
87
3 Critical diversity issues: power and ethics
personal, local, national and also European level.’ After southern European politicians responded furiously, Dijsselbloem recognized that the statement was unfortunate. He said, ‘Fatigue may have played a role. At another moment, I would
have probably phrased it more carefully.’
In this case, another stereotype was employed to serve as a justification. Dijsselbloem also added: ‘It was direct, and can be explained from strict Dutch, Calvinistic culture, with Dutch directness.’
3.1.6
Defining ‘the other’ and intercultural communication
Edward Said famously argued in his book Orientalism (1978) that the domination by the ‘Western world’ during colonialism went hand in hand with the process of defining the non-Western other. This process of defining was not only
part of the governing policies of colonial powers but also present in literature,
arts and even science. This was broader than the above-mentioned phenomenon of race theories; in general, non-Western peoples and cultures became
something to be studied, defined and explained. This led to specific scientific
disciplines occupied with understanding the non-West. Even though this came
out of an effort to rule, exploit or ‘civilize’ other peoples, this tendency can still
be found today when intentions are positive or constructive.
In concrete international and interethnic interactions, too, there is often a
pitfall of wanting to define who the other is. ‘Knowing’ and ‘showing that you
know’ about someone else’s culture – even though well-intended – can then
easily become patronizing, pedantic or even humiliating.
‘Jeremy is a lecturer in an Australian university. He was very pleased when he
heard he was going to supervise a black student from South Africa [i.e. Jabu].
Several years ago he had been involved in a three-year science education project
in secondary schools in South Africa, and he felt he knew the place more than
his colleagues. He felt he would clearly be the best person to help Jabu to get
through her research project. (…)
Jabu first met Jeremy during a class he was teaching on introducing science research. She was the only “overseas” student there and felt quite angry when,
during introductions, he announced to all the other students that he knew her
“context” very well. (…) Then he began to explain to her that he understood
something about what he called “black culture in South Africa” and would therefore be able to help her to meet deadlines and to “understand concepts” that
might be “alien” to her. He even said that he knew what it was like, with “the
88
3.1 Power
history of black people” that she “suddenly had to compete in every sphere”’
(Holiday, Hyde & Kullman, 2004, pp. 31-32).
‘Defining the other’ is rarely completely free of power relations and inequalities.
Approaching people as ‘others’ from an alien culture that needs to be studied,
defined and categorized has the additional problem of strengthening the usversus-them divisions from the dominant stories that surround us, rather than
breaking through them. Much theory in intercultural communication and intercultural relations also tends to explain, categorize and analyse the unfamiliar
‘other’ (Holiday, 2011). Avoiding this pitfall is an important challenge for the
theory and practice of intercultural communication.
3.1.7
Exclusion and unconscious bias
The stories and stereotypes from history, media coverage and peers not only
inform and influence people’s ideas and perceptions, but sometimes also their
actions. Negative ideas and stereotypes about groups can lead to conscious and
intentional exclusion or mistreatment of people on the basis of their nationality,
ethnicity or religion. Fortunately, this is generally frowned upon and punishable
by law in most countries and societies – which is not to say that it is banned.
However, it is often more difficult to pinpoint when exclusion takes place unconsciously in the form of implicit bias (Aronson, 2011). Often, this kind of bias
leads to lower or more negative expectations of people of certain backgrounds,
or negative associations with e.g. violence or danger (Dijksterhuis, 2007), which
subsequently informs their judgment, decisions or responses.
Few people in, say, the Netherlands today would admit – or, in many cases,
aim – to exclude or discriminate others based on their ethnicity. However, research in the Netherlands has shown that people from ethnic minorities regularly receive unequal treatment and are excluded from opportunities and even
physical spaces. A sample of different studies shows that Dutch people of ethnic
minority background:
■■ Have a lower chance of being invited for a job interview – even when the
same letter cum CV is sent to employers, when a ‘foreign’ sounding name is
used instead of a traditional ‘native’ Dutch name (Blommaert, Van Tubergen & Coenders, 2012).
■■ Are more often denied entry into cafes and clubs (Landelijk Bureau Rassendiscriminatie, 2005).
■■ Have a higher chance of being checked and interrogated by patrolling police
officers (Çankaya, 2012; Mutsaers, 2015).
89
3 Critical diversity issues: power and ethics
■■ Face lower expectations from teachers, which leads to poorer school performance and results (Van den Bergh et al., 2010).
In many cases, these mechanisms are expected to take place unconsciously.
Similar effects have been shown in other European and Western countries. Biases and negative associations affect people most when they are under (time)
pressure, when they want to avoid ‘risks’ (for example when selecting a job candidate or when deciding who gets entry into a club or bar) or when they are
tired or unfocused (see the example of the Dutch Eurogroup chairman of finance ministers, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, in section 3.1.5).
Even though such forms of exclusion and unequal treatment form a pattern in
many societies, they can be difficult to prove or identify in individual situations
due to their unspoken and often unconscious character. Sometimes, people
suspect exclusion or discrimination when it is not justified in that particular
situation:
A Belgian insurance company had local offices where clients could come for reimbursements and registration. As a general rule, customers were always asked
for their identification when reporting to the desk. This regularly led to hostility,
mainly from young Moroccan-Belgian men, who believed this was asked out of
distrust or even discrimination. The company decided to hang up a sign at the
entrance that everyone was expected to identify themselves, to make sure that
clients knew that this rule applied to all.
When it comes to their own employees, organizations can also face the challenge of dealing with employees’ experiences of exclusion and discrimination,
not only within but also outside the organization. In many organizations, it
is believed that, like in politics, it is better to leave such things undiscussed.
Nonetheless, organizations could make a difference by providing their employees with support and safety, like the companies in the following example:
A survey in the US showed that a majority of white collar professionals of black,
Asian and Hispanic descent feared discrimination and exclusion both outside
and within the workplace. In response, a group of CEOs decided to make a statement. Tim Ryan, US chair and senior partner at Price Waterhouse Coopers, said,
‘We are living in a world of complex divisions and tensions that can have a significant impact on our work environment.’ After a recent series of shootings of
unarmed black men by the police, Ryan initiated a series of discussion days to
ensure that all employees at PwC understood the experiences of their black colleagues better. Michael Roth, CEO of Interpublic Group, issued an email implor-
90
3.1 Power
ing co-workers to ‘connect, affirm our commitment to one another, and acknowledge the pain being felt in so many of our communities’. Bernard Tyson, CEO
of Kaiser Permanente, published an essay in which, in a plea for empathy, he
shared his own experiences of discrimination. And in an emotional recounting
of his black friend’s experience outside the office which went viral on YouTube,
AT&T chairman Randall Stephenson encouraged employees to get to know each
other better (Hewlett, Marschall & Bourgreois, 2017).
On the collective and the individual level, the only way to avoid or minimize the
effects of unconscious bias is to acknowledge it. Only when you accept that your
own perceptions and expectations are unavoidably influenced by wider images
and stereotypes in society, can you consciously choose to push them aside and
maintain an open mind (Bargh, 1999). Being open-minded is not just a state of
mind, but something that requires hard work and regular maintenance.
Exclusion and stereotypes in communication
Exclusion can also take a symbolic form, when people are not directly excluded from situations or opportunities. Rather, they are excluded from a sense of
belonging to society or a community, or from being considered ‘normal’ or capable individuals. This kind of exclusion is reflected in communication through
low expectations, negative associations or stereotypical expectations based on
the other’s ethnic, national or religious background.
Two (native) Swedish employees of a government institute talk about another
colleague: ‘She is Iranian, but very good at her work!’
A (female) researcher of Pakistani descent walks into a British school to interview
several teachers for a study, and is told by reception that the cleaning materials
are in the room to the right.
It is probably not so much the separate incidents as the repeated, regular and
hence ‘everyday’ (Essed, 1984) character of such experiences that can make
people feel unwelcome, insecure, unaccepted or just generally excluded. The
tragedy of many such comments is that they are regularly well-intended, but
have an adverse effect (see section 9.1.1 for a more thorough discussion of intentions and effects). We would not claim that questions, comments or even
jokes concerning someone’s background are always off-limits. Rather, we want
to encourage people to be mindful of their possible exclusive effects and to be
willing to repair any damage that’s been done. Sometimes, it can be worth asking yourself why someone’s ethnic, religious or national background is relevant
or meaningful to you in a situation, instead of allowing the other person to pres-
91
3 Critical diversity issues: power and ethics
ent themselves as they wish to. We will go further into the communicative side
of interpersonal relationships in Chapter 7.
Finally, it should be stated that everyone has stereotypes and biases, and can
potentially make others feel excluded – after all, people from different groups
are often subject to dominant stories about themselves and each other. On a societal level, it is the exclusion and bias from more powerful or majority groups
that have the most impact; because of their power positions and privileges, they
are in the position to exclude others from essential opportunities and experiences. Furthermore, research has shown that the experience of exclusion activates the same parts of the brain as physical pain (Bernstein & Claypool, 2011).
This means that psychologically every kind of exclusion can literally be painful.
In a documentary, young Dutch people of various ethnic backgrounds recount
their experiences with different kinds of exclusion. A woman of Ghanaian descent retells with tears in her eyes how, on her first day of school in the Netherlands, her fellow students of mostly Dutch-Caribbean descent, ridiculed her for
being ‘from Africa’ when she was presented to the class and shouted things
like ‘But don’t you have these nasty diseases from Africa?’ (2doc.nl)
Lisa, a (native) Danish girl, seeks contact with her classmates who are of Turkish
and Arab descent. However, they do not really want to hang out with her. ‘Lisa
is really nice and all’, one of them says. ‘But she is just not one of us. She is not
multicultural like the rest of us.’
3.2
Ethics
The second critical issue to discuss regarding international, interethnic and
interreligious situations is ethics. Ethics is the philosophy of morality and revolves around questions of values: What is good for people and societies? Individuals and groups can obviously have very different ideas about what is good
and bad or right and wrong. Sometimes, people even argue this explicitly on the
basis of their culture or religion, using arguments such as ‘this happens to be
our (or their) culture/religion’, ‘that is just how we do things’, or ‘you are now in
this country so you must adapt!’
These situations can create intense conflicts and difficult dilemmas. Sometimes, the behaviour and ideas prevalent in other cultures can violate your own
feelings of right and wrong. However, this raises questions such as: On what
92
3.2 Ethics
grounds can you judge other values and norms? Is it at all possible to judge
values and norms in other cultures or collectives? And if so, how to weigh arguments against or in favour of something, when they are based on culture or
religion?
Generally, ethics is a largely neglected issue in the literature on intercultural
communication. Often, the discussion is limited to the establishing of differences between cultures, without any indication on how to judge, let alone act,
on them. Consider, for example, this excerpt from a textbook on intercultural
business about the mistreatment of – mostly Filipino – migrant workers in the
Middle East:
‘The frequent reports of abuse by their employers are widely known. This derives
from the fact that Saudi-Arabians and Arabians from the Emirates strongly value
inequality in social status (…). In a society where one of the basic assumptions
of a culture is inequality of humans based on social or ethnic status, the abuse is
an abuse for the victims, but a right, or something “natural”, for the perpetrators’
(Huijser & Huijser, 2011, p. 85).
This excerpt raises many questions concerning ethics. The authors describe a
situation that gives rise to ethical concerns, and describe an explanation of it
based on Saudi-Arabian or Emirati culture. How to judge the situation remains
unclear. Whose norms should be taken into account in this situation: only those
of the Arab employers, or also those of the Filipino employees? And how exactly should we read the role of culture in an affair like this? Is it even up to
outsiders who are not part of any involved group to judge or intervene? And
can there be norms and values to judge such a situation that are not bound to a
specific culture, but can rightfully be considered ‘universal’? These are the kind
of ethical questions discussed in this section, drawing on insights from various
philosophers and philosophical ideas.
3.2.1
Universalism, relativism and pluralism
Many questions of intercultural ethics have to do with two main systems of
thought: universalism and relativism. These two systems each represent a very
different way of dealing with differences. Both systems encompass a huge variety of different philosophies and ideologies. For our purpose of discussing intercultural ethics, we will need to simplify and summarize a great deal in order
to highlight the merits and pitfalls of both. We will rely greatly on the writings
of the philosopher Henk Procee (1991), who can also be credited with sketching
an alternative third approach under the heading ‘pluralism’.
93
3 Critical diversity issues: power and ethics
3.2.2
Universalism (monism)
We begin our exploration of ethics with universalism, which also unavoidably
entails a discussion of one of its most common variants: monism. Universalism is the system of unity and represents the quest for universal truths, morals and rules to engage with the world. Universalists believe that it is possible
to create a single (mono = one) belief system through which all the different
ideas and phenomena of the world can be judged and evaluated. A universalistic perspective on cultures also assumes that there are comparable historical
developments that impact cultures, and that differences between cultures can
sometimes be understood as different phases in this process.
Universalism encompasses an ambition for equal treatment and judgment. The
difficult part is obviously establishing which norms or requirements equal treatment should be based upon. The main pitfall then is that this leads to the conclusion that it is one’s own belief system that should be considered universal. Universalism can turn into monism when it is believed that one’s own belief system or
culture represents the only legitimate way of understanding the world.
When projected on intercultural situations, it is easy to see that monism is very
similar to ethnocentrism: the tendency to see one’s own world view and beliefs
as ‘normal’ and ‘natural’. Cultural monism then creates a vertical order between
cultures, with one’s own culture on top; ‘cultural differences’ are mainly perceived as expressions of different levels of development and degrees to which
they approach one’s own culture. This can lead to attitudes and even policies
that focus on assimilation: the idea that immigrants and newcomers should
give up their original traditions, ideas and habits to adopt the culture of the majority. It can also lead to a kind of exportation of ideas to other groups or areas.
Sometimes, this is even considered to be in others’ best interests, since they will
be introduced to a ‘superior’ way of life.
Culture A
Culture B
Culture C
Etc.
Figure 3.1
Monism: vertical hierarchy between cultures
There are obvious similarities between monism and colonialism, and even racism, in the sense that cultural monism also builds on a sense of superiority over
other groups and cultures. Instead of seeing one’s supposed superiority in kin-
94
3.2 Ethics
ship and genetics, it is found in one’s supposedly inherited culture. Additionally, it can be argued that monism and universalism can create a certain rigidity. If
one believes the truth has already been found, or even that there can be a single
truth, this can make one inflexible and unwilling to learn from others.
A universalistic ethical position assumes that a universal morality with general
norms and criteria is possible and in the end preferable – the challenge is then
where this universal morality can be found and on what it can be based. For
a monist, this search is easily solved, by taking any deviation from one’s own
belief system as a sign of ‘backwardness’ and hence as a reason for rejection.
A more profound universalism could imply that one’s own cultural norms and
habits will not necessarily stand the test of a universal morality either.
It may come as no surprise that monism, or even universalism with its emphasis
on commonality rather than difference, has little support among thinkers and
practitioners of interculturality. However, neither should we underestimate its
merits: universalism stands for norms and criteria that can be applied across
cultures and groups and hence a sense of justice for every individual irrespective of the culture or tradition they (supposedly) belong to.
3.2.3
Relativism
Relativism can be seen as a response to universalism. Whereas universalism
stands for unity, relativism stands for the opposite: diversity. Relativism emphasizes the relativity of phenomena: everything exists in its own specific context.
There can never be but one truth, no matter how hard you look. Everyone’s
truth is relative and bound by one’s own experience and position.
Projected on culture, this leads to cultural relativism: the assumption that every culture is a unique way of life that cannot be understood from the outside.
Each culture then has its own morality: one can only judge phenomena within
a culture through the specific morality of that culture. Instead of vertically, relativists would categorize cultures horizontally, next to each other. Historically,
cultural relativism represented an argument against colonialism and racism.
It was used to argue that people’s behaviour was not determined by their race,
but by culture and that those cultures were inherently equal: every culture was
a unique response to local circumstances and concerns. Consequently, colonial
powers had no business trying to civilize, let alone govern, other people (Van
Asperen, 2003).
95
3 Critical diversity issues: power and ethics
Ethically, relativism encourages a position of non-judgment and acceptance of
difference from the conviction that a universal morality is impossible and undesirable, as it could lead to feelings or actions based on superiority. Relativism
thus encourages tolerance as a main virtue: since one cannot judge phenomena in
other cultures from one’s own culture, the appropriate response is to be tolerant.
Culture A | Culture B | Culture C | Etc.
Figure 3.2
Relativism: horizontal equality between cultures
Relativistic thinking is dominant in most approaches to interculturality and
cultural difference. In the previous example about mistreatment of workers in
the Persian Gulf, the implicit relativistic argument goes something like this: it
just happens to be part of Saudi and Emirati employers’ culture to treat their
staff unequally, so they cannot really help themselves. Nothing can really be
done about it, no use thinking about it. As you can see in this situation, and
many others, the problem with relativism is that it can lead to a ‘moral vacuum’
where no one is supposed to judge things outside their own groups. A common
dilemma concerning tolerance is the accompanying tolerance of intolerance
(Popper, 1945): if it is a virtue to be tolerant, should this include tolerance of
those who are intolerant?
Consequently, relativism with tolerance as a main strategy may sound appealing if one imagines the world as an archipelago of separate cultural islands
(Prins, 2013), but falls short in a reality with many interconnections and interactions between people from different cultures and groups. In a context of frequent interaction and exchange, tolerance does not always provide a satisfying
way out: in some situations one cannot refrain from judgment. From a relativist
point of view, however, judging behaviour in other cultures is often associated
with discrimination and racism (Van Asperen, 2003), making people reluctant
to take a stance.
Moreover, relativism runs the risk of ‘trapping’ people into their cultural background. They are expected to stay within the confines of their supposed culture,
sometimes even against their own interest, as in the following example.
‘A German judge who refused a Moroccan woman a fast-track divorce on the
grounds that domestic violence was acceptable according to the Qur’an has been
removed from the case following a nationwide outcry. The judge (…) said the
German woman of Moroccan descent would not be granted a divorce because
96
3.2 Ethics
she and her husband came from a “Moroccan cultural environment in which
it is not uncommon for a man to exert a right of corporal punishment over his
wife”, according to a statement she wrote that was issued by a Frankfurt court.
“That’s what the claimant had to reckon with when she married the defendant.”
The 26-year-old mother of two had been repeatedly beaten and threatened with
death by her husband. When the woman protested against the judge’s decision,
Ms Datz-Winter invoked the Qur’an to support her argument. In the court she
read from verse 34 of Sura four of the Qur’an, An-Nisa (Women), in which men
are told to hit their wives as a final stage in dealing with disobedience. The verse
reads: “(…) as to those on whose part you fear desertion, admonish them and
leave them alone in the sleeping places and beat them.” The woman’s lawyer,
Barbara Becker-Rojczyk, protested, saying, “When Christians are arguing for a
divorce they don’t use the Bible”’ (Conolly, 2007).
Conversely, cultural relativism creates the opportunity for people to use ‘cultural excuses’ and hide behind their supposed cultural or religious traditions
without acknowledging their own responsibility as ‘producers’ of culture. Cultural relativism then emphasizes the equality between cultures, but falls short of
dealing with the inequalities that can exist within or across cultures.
3.2.4
Universalism versus relativism
As you can see, universalism and relativism both lead to dilemmas – and create their own dilemma of choosing between unity and equality versus difference and tolerance. Ethically, the universalism versus relativism dilemma
limits judgments to either unconditional acceptance or hostile rejection. In
practice, people often move between these positions or mix arguments from
both perspectives. For instance, people may believe that Western culture is superior (monism), but at the same time that democracy just does not work in
non-Western cultures (relativism). Or they may say that an outsider will never
understand their culture (relativism), but also point to the fact that the norms
in their culture are no different than a generation ago in another culture (universalism). The universalism vs. relativism dilemma in itself can then impose
psychological fight-or-flight responses; behaviour from ‘other cultures’ is treated with tolerance as long as it is at a safe distance, but met with rejection or
aggression if it comes too close or poses a feeling of threat (Van Asperen, 2003).
In our view, the key to breaking through the universalism vs. relativism dilemma lies in the emphasis on culture. As you may have noticed, cultural universalism/monism and cultural relativism have something in common. Both view
culture as something static, determining and homogeneous. As we have dis-
97
3 Critical diversity issues: power and ethics
cussed throughout this book, the perspective on the role of culture in people’s
lives is very limiting and incomplete. People are members of several cultures;
cultures host contradictions and opposing views; and cultures change and develop in the hands of their members: people. Cultures are not closed systems
and there is always exchange and mutual learning between various cultural systems. This puts both monism and relativism in another light.
Monism becomes untenable since every culture has always learned from other
cultures. The idea that there could be one superior culture cannot stand the test
of history. The idea of pure cultures that can be compared in their entirety is not
feasible because of the complexity, diversity and contradictions that cultures
encompass. Relativism becomes problematic as well since a closer look would
reveal that there is always moral disagreement within cultures: whose position
within a culture should then be taken as representative and worthy of tolerance? And considering that people are products and producers of culture (see
section 1.3.3) and hence have the ability to reflect and reconsider their cultural
heritages, those members that persist in damaging or hurtful practices can often rightfully be condemned.
Looking outside the box of closed cultural systems shows that the universalism
vs. relativism dilemma is partly a false one. Yet the question remains how to
honour the merits of both systems, while avoiding their pitfalls.
3.2.5
Pluralism
Pluralism is the name of Procee’s (1991) alternative approach to overcome both
relativism and universalism. Pluralism is an effort to honour the strength of
human diversity, while acknowledging similarity and equality. It asserts that
progress and innovation always come from an exchange between different perspectives, positions and traditions. No one individual or group has the monopoly on ‘the truth’, and people should see their understanding of the world
as a constantly evolving process. There can never be one definitive all-encompassing vision of the truth. Interaction and exchange, and the forming of new
practices, ideas and cultural borders, are an ongoing process that should be
encouraged to enhance our understanding of the world. Pluralism is the system
of interaction and diversity.
However, in order to guarantee interactive diversity, there must be two ethical
minimum standards that transcend any cultural or ideological world view. It is
imperative that respect is guaranteed for the smallest possible agent of cultural
development: the individual human being. No one has the right to deny oth-
98
3.2 Ethics
er people’s human dignity by excluding them in advance from interaction and
participation in the exchange of ideas. The bare minimum norm for interactive
diversity to work is non-exclusion: there can never be any cultural, religious or
ideological argument to exclude other people from interaction.
‘I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be stuffed. I want the culture of all lands to be blown
about my house as freely as possible. But I refuse to be blown
off my feet by any.’
Mahatma Gandhi (1924, p. 460)
In the words of the Ghanian-British philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah (2006):
‘Each person is entitled, in the context of his or her community, to seek a life of
significance and dignity. Well, that sets a boundary on tolerance, because you
can’t tolerate those who actively prevent people from doing that. So cosmopolitans have to be hard-line about that; they can’t be tolerant of people, say, who
think that torture is just fine, or that it doesn’t matter what a woman wants – if a
male member of her family wants her to marry someone that’s the way it’s going
to be’ (Brookes, 2006).
In addition to non-exclusion, an important pluralistic norm is the advancement
of interaction. In order to coexist, cooperate and learn, people need to be willing to explain, argue and exemplify their ideas, motivations, views and traditions. Without communication, interactive diversity is futile.
A pluralistic approach coincides with the view on culture that has been argued
in this book so far. It states that there is a diversity of ideas and world views,
but that people do not coincide with the cultures they are members of: they
have the ability to reflect on their views and presumptions and share them with
others.
In the end, people themselves must speak out and explain what cultural traditions and habits mean to them. Everyone has a limited perspective and understanding of reality, and of the realities of others. It is possible to exchange and
learn from each other’s views, although that understanding will also inevitably
be limited and temporary. Nonetheless, there may be situations where you need
to judge traditions, habits or ideas you are not part of. From the humble perspective that your understanding may always be limited – like everyone’s – you
can try to evaluate a phenomenon and come to a judgment that you may have
to give up as other perspectives present themselves.
99
3 Critical diversity issues: power and ethics
Olle is a Swedish man who works for an NGO in Mali. A few weeks after his arrival he is invited to a birthday party of one of his colleagues. To his surprise,
he notices that the men and women are in separate rooms. His first association
is that this must be gender discrimination – the women are not allowed to sit
with the men! He decides to make a statement and cross over to the room where
the women sit. He asks politely if he is allowed to sit down at the table where
the women are chatting and eating. The women giggle a bit but allow him to sit
down and include him in the conversation. The men seem a bit surprised, but in
no way offended or angry. During the rest of the night Olle discovers that there
is no rule prohibiting women from talking to men or vice versa. Rather, it is just
customary that the men sit together and talk about ‘men’s’ topics whereas the
women gather to discuss ‘women’s’ topics. Although it is uncommon for men
and women to sit together at such gatherings, it does happen occasionally.
In this example, the situation turns out to be different than it seemed at first impression. Whereas one could perhaps – on another level – problematize a habit
where men are expected to discuss ‘men’s’ topics whereas women are expected
to resort to ‘women’s’ topics, it is something different altogether from men and
women not being allowed to socialize together. By the way, the phenomenon of
men or women discussing certain things amongst each other is obviously not
alien to other groups – including the Swedish – either.
In ethical discussions, pluralism in practice means that arguments based on
culture or religion can never have the last word. But they are not a reason to
reject or discredit a point of view a priori either. They can form a reason to further inquire and explore someone’s motivations or needs (see Chapter 9 on the
TOPOI area Intentions), with the basic threshold that there can be no viable
justification for excluding others from participation and interaction.
3.2.6
Pluralism and dialogue
Interactive diversity does not necessarily come easily. Whereas universalism/
monism assumes an explanation and dissemination of its ‘superior’ norms and
ideas, and relativism provides tolerance as a main strategy, pluralism’s advancement of interaction implies active engagement with each other’s perspectives
and motivations. This can lead to an intense confrontation with the other’s
­ideas as well as your own. The form of communication and exchange that fits
best with pluralism’s aim is dialogue.
In this case, dialogue means more than a mere meeting and polite conversation. True dialogue requires that participants go beyond their opinions and pre-
100
3.2 Ethics
sumptions and challenge both their own and the other’s views. This is where
dialogue is essentially different from debate. In a debate, the goal is to defend
your position and to convince the other person that you are right and they are
wrong (Kessels, 2006). In that sense, debate coincides greatly with universalism/
monism. Conversely, the main goal of dialogue is not to convince or defend, but
to understand and be understood. Where debate focuses on, and emphasizes,
the differences of opinion, dialogue tries to identify the deeper roots and causes
behind those opinions. This also creates more space to find common experiences, concerns and emotions underneath the differences.
At an international school in Amsterdam, there is increasing tension about the
celebration of Sinterklaas, the biggest Dutch children’s holiday. In the traditional celebration, people dress up as Sinterklaas (Saint Nicholas) and Zwarte Pieten (Black Petes) – who, according to legend, arrive from Spain by steamboat
each year to bring children gifts (or discipline them). The figure of Zwarte Piet has
become increasingly controversial: he is portrayed by people wearing black or
brown face paint, red lipstick, a curly wig and golden earrings. For some people,
this bears a striking resemblance to caricature images of a black slave, especially
since Zwarte Piet is traditionally Sinterklaas’ servant and hence subordinate. To
many (mostly American and British) teachers and parents, Zwarte Piet represents
a hurtful and demeaning representation of black people reminiscent of slavery
(see section 3.1.4). To other (mostly Dutch) teachers and parents, he is part of an
innocent tradition of make-believe (it should however be mentioned that Zwarte
Piet has become controversial within Dutch society as well). The school decides
to organize a dialogue session where opponents and proponents of Zwarte Piet
can exchange their views at a deeper level. Participants are urged to focus on
understanding, instead of convincing each other. At the end of the session, an
(African) American teacher says about the exchange: ‘After this dialogue, we can
see that in spite of our differences we have something in common: we both feel
threatened in our identities. The Dutch people who are in favour of Zwarte Piet
feel that a tradition that they never associated with anything negative, is taken
away from them. Those of us that are against Zwarte Piet feel threatened because to us he is a reminder of a history of oppression and exploitation that is
often left undiscussed. Now, for the first time, we feel that we understand each
other and that we must be able to find a solution we can all live with.’
The basic assumption in dialogue is that no one can ever know the full truth,
and that conversation with someone else is an opportunity to get a fuller picture of reality. There are various approaches to dialogue, especially in formalized settings. From our perspective, dialogue is not so much a technique as
an approach and attitude, involving a willingness to challenge both the other’s
101
3 Critical diversity issues: power and ethics
and one’s own views. Engaging in dialogue does not mean withholding judgment: it means suspending judgment until a deeper understanding of an issue
is gained. It represents a willingness or even enthusiasm to broaden your view
and learn from others in the pursuit of a deeper and broader understanding.
This may sound idealistic and problematic in daily reality with time constraints
and pressure to perform. But we believe that one can almost always maintain a
core of dialogic attitude in one’s communication and interaction, by suspending
immediate judgment and showing curiosity for someone’s deeper motives and
position.
A German job applicant for a position as a network administrator is invited for
an interview. He is the perfect candidate for the job and has all the qualifications and experience. At the start of the interview, he explains that he does not
shake hands with female colleagues because of his religious convictions. Both
his potential managers, one male and one female, are present at the interview.
The male manager is quiet for a bit. ‘So what does this mean exactly? If I give
you a task, I assume you will accept the assignment, but what if she gives you
an assignment?’ he asks, nodding towards his female colleague. ‘For me that is
entirely the same’, the candidate answers. ‘I accept you both equally as my managers. It is out of respect for her that I do not want to shake her hand. For me, it
is disrespectful to touch a woman’s hand who is not an immediate relative.’ After
some deliberation, the managers decide to hire the candidate. Because of his
position, he will mainly have internal contacts, allowing him to explain to all of
his colleagues at the same time why he does not shake hands. If it were another
position with many external contacts, they might have taken a different decision,
since it could be a barrier to his professional effectiveness. After the applicant
was hired, he became a highly appreciated and respected colleague. There were
never any issues concerning his acceptance of female colleagues as equals or
superiors.
This example shows that a dialogic attitude, expressed through a suspension of
judgment and curiosity for the other’s position, also brings the context of the
situation – in this case the exact work requirements and situation – into focus.
You may notice how this connects to the competence aspect of deculturalizing
as discussed in Chapter 2: even when people bring arguments based on culture or religion into the discussion one can try to deculturalize by approaching them (depending on the context) as a colleague, employee, student, client,
partner, etc., rather than merely a representative of a religion or culture. From
this position, one can inquire further about the exact motivations, concerns
and consequences of this argument, as in the above example. This enables one
102
3.2 Ethics
to apply more functional and professional criteria to judge someone’s position
or request.
Obviously, this does not mean that functionality is the only criterion to judge
by; in the above example, the minimum standard of non-exclusion is tested by
asking for the candidate’s general acceptance of equality (or even leadership) of
a woman.
Dialogue, like any strategy, can carry limitations. Apart from time constraints
and pressure, a limitation lies in power, or more precisely: power inequalities. Differences in power positions can hinder an equal and safe exchange
of perspectives, motivations and concerns. The challenge then is to allow for
less powerful views and perspectives to speak and be heard – without leaving
them unquestioned either. Pre-existing hostility, inequality or conflict between
groups can lead to suspicion or distrust in a dialogic exchange. In those situations it can be very challenging to participate in – or facilitate– a conversation
and to create a meaningful and open exchange.
3.2.7
Human universals, capabilities and commonalities
An important aspect of a pluralistic and dialogical approach to intercultural
ethics is the search for common human concerns, needs and resources that
underlie differences in cultural practices and ideas. Could there be universally
human aspects that can serve as criteria to judge cultural practices and environments by?
Philosopher Martha Nussbaum has answered this question affirmatively. Based
on the work of Amartya Sen, Nussbaum (1992) developed the ‘capabilities approach’ to human well-being as an alternative approach to human development
(see hd-ca.org). Nussbaum argued that, firstly, there are certain universal aspects to human life – e.g. mortality, having a human body, the capability to experience pleasure and pain, sexual desire, the capacity to perceive, imagine and
think, to feel affection for others, humour and to play.
Secondly, she argued that there are ten central capabilities for human well-being that enable people to ‘flourish’:
1 to have a life (of normal length and worth living);
2 to have bodily health;
3 to have bodily integrity (to decide over your own body);
4 to use one’s sense, imagination and thinking;
5 to experience emotions (to have attachments to things outside oneself );
103
3 Critical diversity issues: power and ethics
6
7
8
9
10
to use practical reason;
to have affiliations with others;
to have concern for and live with other species;
to play and relax;
to have control over one’s own environment.
The capabilities approach practically argues that certain things are essential to a
good human life; for example, the ability to live one’s own life, to avoid unnecessary pain and to have pleasant experiences, to engage with others, to experience
sexuality and to play and relax.
These capabilities are both ‘thick’ and ‘vague’: thick in the sense that they are
specific and practical enough to provide a way to evaluate and judge the conditions and opportunities that certain groups and cultures provide. And vague
in the sense that they can be expressed and pursued in various ways by various
groups and individuals. The pursuit of health, the way to grieve and the need
to play and relax can be expressed in vastly various ways, but they all appeal to
human needs and abilities. The point is not that Nussbaum’s approach necessarily represents a definitive list of universally human aspects of life: as she has
admitted, the list is not static. The point is mainly that it shows it is and should
be possible to judge phenomena in other cultures by standards and virtues that
are universally human, rather than ethnocentric projections that lead to monism. It is possible, for example, to problematize female genital mutilation, not
as ‘just a backward tradition’ but as a violation of bodily integrity, a threat to
health, a failure to avoid unnecessary pain, and an impediment to pursuing sexual satisfaction.
Acknowledging common, human interests and needs can also greatly help a
dialogic approach. It can help us find common concerns and needs, albeit expressed differently in different groups, and avoid unconstructive us-versusthem dynamics.
A group of Nepalese and Dutch women talk about the differences between romantic marriages, where people marry after falling in love, and arranged marriages, where the family chooses the marriage partner. When the Nepalese women say that they are in favour of the latter practice, the Dutch women are highly
surprised: ‘Do you really mean that?’ they ask. The Nepalese women answer
‘yes’: ‘Our parents are much better at judging who is a good candidate than we
are. And you see that in the West one in four marriages ends in divorce, even
though they were self-chosen. That shows that your way does not always work
either.’ The conversation threatens to become an us-versus-them discussion, but
104
3.2 Ethics
the women manage to pick up a more dialogic approach again. The Dutch women ask: ‘What are the criteria for a good candidate, then? For us, he has to be attractive and romantic.’ The Nepalese women mention ‘a sense of responsibility’,
‘loyalty’ and ‘strong character’. During the discussion, without anyone distancing
themselves from their vision of marriage, the women find each other. ‘If the goal
is to stay together your whole life,’ the Dutch women agree, ‘attractiveness and
romance don’t suffice and your criteria are definitely relevant in a romantic marriage.’ The Nepalese women emphasize that both candidates have to agree with
the marriage, otherwise it could never work. A basic sense of self-determination
is essential (own translation of Van Asperen, 2003, p. 144).
Commonalities can also be found on a more abstract level. As is argued throughout this book, the borders between cultures are highly arbitrary. It is obvious
and understandable that one feels more involved in certain areas and with certain groups than with others, based on the idea of a shared heritage. However,
the writer Amin Maalouf (1998) proposes a shift in perception to rethink what
constitutes such a heritage. Maalouf makes the distinction between a vertical
and a horizontal heritage. Your vertical heritage is the connection you have
with your direct ancestors from your own group. Often, people tend to focus
on this heritage in moral and ethical discussions: it seems that our vertical heritage decides deeply who we are and with whom we share things in common.
Yet, according to Maalouf, we also have a horizontal heritage, which covers
those people with whom we share the world during our lifetime. Your horizontal heritage represents the possibilities, resources and concerns of your time. It
can be argued that in a way, you share more with people of the same horizontal
heritage than with those of the same vertical heritage: an Englishman in today’s
world, for example, will in many ways have more in common with a contemporary in Rio than with someone in 19th-century Victorian England. Both of them
live in a time of internet, football, human rights, films, open homosexuality and
sushi: all phenomena that were unfamiliar or unimaginable to people from their
groups only a few generations ago.
3.2.8
Human rights
By far the most well-known and developed advanced attempt to create a legal
and moral framework to safeguard human dignity, non-exclusion and the pursuit of universal human needs is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Strangely enough, human rights rarely play a role in people’s conceptions of ethical dilemmas concerning cultural differences (Van Asperen, 2003). We believe it
is useful for anyone engaging in intercultural interaction, either locally or globally, to reflect on the relevance and validity of human rights across cultures.
105
3 Critical diversity issues: power and ethics
Human rights are inherent to all human beings, argued by the mere fact of their
humanity, irrespective of nationality, place, religion, ethnicity, colour, language
or any other status. Universal human rights are often expressed and guaranteed
by law, in the form of treaties, customary international law, general principles
and other sources of international law (ohchr.org). Even though initiatives and
attempts to identify human rights have been made in many cultures and civilizations in history, the current Universal Declaration of Human Rights was
adopted by the United Nations assembly in 1948. Article 1 of the declaration
states:
‘All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.’
The declaration comprises 30 articles including the freedom from slavery, the
right to fair public hearing, the right to marriage and family, and the right to
education. Since its inception, several covenants have been added and the declaration has been ratified by an increasing number of countries.
From the outset, the human rights declaration has been controversial because
of its universalist ambitions. At first, it was criticized from a cultural-relativist
perspective by the American Anthropological Association, who claimed that
the declaration took insufficient account of cultural factors and variations (Van
Asperen, 2003). Notable other criticism has come from non-Western countries,
mainly on the principles guaranteeing individual rights which allegedly did not
correspond with a focus on community in African or Asian societies. At the
same time it should be mentioned that – regarding individual rights – several
African philosophers have explored their heritages in search of ideas on individual human dignity. For example, the Kenyan philosopher Dismas Aloysius
Masolo and the Ghanian philosophers Kwame Gyekye and Kwasi Wiredu state
that individual rights – mainly those that relate to basic human needs – have
already been clearly included in the traditional ideas and practices of some African societies, such as the Akan in Ghana (Wiredu, 2004). The notion that individual rights are somehow alien to, and unsuitable for, non-Western societies
is hence a contested one.
From a pluralistic perspective, dialogue and ongoing efforts to improve and
develop human rights should always be encouraged. The argument that human
rights are an inherently Western invention and hence not applicable elsewhere,
can be refuted by several counterarguments:
■■ The original declaration was not exclusively written by Western lawyers, as
many people think. Lawyers and activists from all continents were included
in its conception. Whereas for most Western contributors, the atrocities of
106
3.2 Ethics
■■
■■
■■
■■
■■
two world wars, and notably the Holocaust, formed a major point of reference for human rights, many non-Western contributors were motivated by
the experiences with colonialism and slavery (Saghal, 2014).
Additionally, it is important to distinguish between, on the one hand, the
universal validity of human rights as a norm, and on the other, the practice
of the effectuation of human rights. Concerning the effectuation of human
rights, annual reports of the United Nations, Amnesty International and
other human rights organizations show that there is no universal compliance with human rights. However, this primarily says something about the
effectivity of the mechanisms of supervision, and the lack of socio-economic conditions (e.g. as regards child labour) to bring them into practice; not
about the validity of human rights as such.
If human rights were an exclusively Western idea, one would expect that not
only non-Western governments but also their political opponents would reject them. This is often not the case: while repressive governments often
cast doubt on the universality of human rights, dissidents and political opponents make regular appeals based on human rights. Additionally, political
refugees often flee to escape human rights violations.
Local and international human rights organizations are often active in
Asian, African and Latin American countries. If human rights were purely
‘Western’, these organizations would not be able to exist.
Today, all United Nations members have ratified the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights. Most covenants have been signed by the vast majority of
countries. The only country not to sign the covenant on children’s rights is
the United States.
European governments themselves have been criticized by the European
Court of Human Rights for violating human rights. In 2015, the UN criticized the Netherlands for making insufficient efforts to combat racism and
discrimination and for its treatment of refugees.
The claim that human rights are intrinsically and exclusively a Western phenomenon is in the end not only a culturalistic and relativistic, but also an ethnocentric argument. It implies that non-Western cultures are inherently cruel
and immoral and have no basis for respecting the dignity of fellow human beings. A large problem in discussions regarding human rights and their universality is that Western governments or groups often appropriate them as inherently Western, arguing from the monistic position that it is up to them to teach
the world about human rights, instead of seeing it as a common project to be
advanced by all.
107
3 Critical diversity issues: power and ethics
Conversely, non-Western governments of countries where human rights are
violated sometimes justify this from a cultural-relativist position – by arguing
that human rights are ‘Western’ and hence do not apply to their ‘non-Western’
contexts. In the 1990s, for example, human rights were criticized by the governments of Singapore and Malaysia (Li, 2001).
Former Malaysian Vice Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim once called the emphasis
on ‘cultural differences’ or ‘Asian values’ as a way to counter criticism of human
rights violations ‘an offense to our sense of morality’. He refused to position the
discussion of human rights into an East-West opposition. Anwar said, ‘We are
certainly not oblivious to the crimes against humanity perpetrated by non-Western people. The fact of the matter is that more states have been impoverished by
authoritarianism (…) authoritarian rule more often than not has been used as a
masquerade for kleptocracies, bureaucratic incompetence and, worst of all, for
unbridled corruption and nepotism’ (address to the Conference on Rethinking
Human Rights, Kuala Lumpur, 1994).
In this regard a comparison can be made with democracy – another supposedly ‘Western invention’. Not only have there been democratic mechanisms and
traditions in many countries, places and civilizations in history (Sen, 2006), the
Western conceptualization of democracy itself has incorporated many ideas
from outside the West. This includes the idea of meritocracy in Confucianism
that inspired European Enlightenment scholars as well as the writings of the
Moorish philosopher Ibn Rushd (Averroes) whose ideas inspired the notion of
a separation of church and state (see also section 6.5.2). The notion of exclusive,
separate and pure cultures proves to be an illusion time and time again.
This is not to deny that at this point in time human rights, like democracy,
are safeguarded relatively best in Western countries (relatively, because human
rights violations continue to occur in Western countries as well). It is, however,
an entirely different argument to state that human rights are inherently Western and (by implication) that those of people outside the West should not be
taken seriously. There is a strong case to take account of the human rights of
clients, suppliers or other stakeholders when working on international projects
or businesses. The example at the beginning of this chapter regarding abuse of
domestic workers presents a clear case of human rights violations for which
there is hence no viable (cultural) excuse.
108
3.2 Ethics
3.2.9
Criticizing other cultures
In summary, from a genuine involvement with other people it is possible,
and sometimes necessary, to criticize the traditions, habits and ideas of other
groups. It is worth considering the following points:
■■ Since cultures are fundamentally heterogeneous, dynamic and open, it is
not possible to judge a culture as a whole, but obviously one can judge and
criticize specific practices, traditions or notions. In many cases, there will be
criticism of that practice from within a culture as well. For example, one can
have good arguments to criticize bullfighting in Spain, and there are actually many people in Spain who oppose bullfighting themselves. The criticism
is therefore not targeted towards something abstract and complex such as
‘Spanish culture’, but towards a specific tradition.
■■ The heterogenic and dynamic nature of cultures also implies that a tradition
cannot be defended by the argument that it is tradition as such: traditions
always change and are typically appreciated differently by group members.
Instead, the discussion may revolve around what is valuable about a tradition and what is potentially damaging.
■■ It is only fair that if one criticizes another group’s culture, the same measure
is used to judge one’s own culture as well. Criticizing the position of women
in other groups is more convincing if it takes account of related shortcomings in one’s own group. If not, the criticism may come from a sense of superiority rather than sincere involvement, in this case with women’s rights.
■■ Cultures are not (necessarily) completely equal, although it is impossible to
rank them hierarchically. The complexity of cultures and the fact that they
have always taken ideas and practices from other cultures makes the discussion where one culture begins and ends difficult in itself. Nonetheless, one
can argue that every culture has its stronger and weaker points.
■■ Cultural members – people – are obviously strictly equal. Cultures are thus
valuable insofar as they have value for their members. Cultural change and
merging of cultures is a natural process: it thus makes little sense to preserve
cultures at all costs for their own sake. Cultures provide people with repertoires to pursue a good life; as long as people within a considerable position
of freedom choose to uphold traditions or habits these hold value, because
they provide people with a way to approach, understand and organize their
lives. Yet people should not be forced to be bound by their traditions or habits through pressure from within or outside their groups.
■■ In specific situations, one should distinguish between values and norms. Even
though often mentioned in conjunction or interchangeably, values and norms
mean different things: values refer to the deeper motivation and meaning of
behaviour, whereas the norm is the behaviour or habit itself. In the second
109
3 Critical diversity issues: power and ethics
example in section 3.2.6 about handshaking, the managers explore the value
behind the norm of the applicant’s greeting habits. In this case, the value is not
inequality between men and women but – from his perspective – respect for
women that makes touching them physically feel unethical.
■■ As stated in previous chapters, it is important to consider that not everything
should be considered cultural. Crime or violence, for example, are not generally accepted or condoned in any national, ethnic or religious culture.
Many phenomena are caused by wider socio-economic, political or psychological factors. For example, an over-representation in criminal behaviour
by a particular ethnic group does not mean that it is part of this group’s culture to commit crime. Cultural factors (such as family structure and parenting styles) can obviously play a role but often in combination with poverty,
housing and employment opportunities and group pressure from peers (see
e.g. De Jong, 2007). It does not need to be a taboo to discuss or analyse this,
which is entirely different from blaming a whole ethnic or national group.
3.2.10 Ethics in practice: circle of influence
The discussion of ethics so far has provided arguments for ethical judgments in
intercultural situations based on human universalia, human rights and non-exclusion. We have argued that engaging in interaction through dialogue provides
the best chances for fruitful outcomes and fair judgments.
In practice, however, this may not always be easy to live up to. Not all situations and environments lend themselves for dialogue, and sometimes one can
witness violations of human rights or human dignity without the authority or
possibility to intervene or create a meaningful change in the situation. In those
situations it is wise to consider your own ‘circle of influence’: what is the best result that you could accomplish within the confinements of the situation? Sometimes, this is limited to staying true to a moral or ethical position, and hoping
that this plants a seed for reflection in others.
In an interview, Dutch interculturalist Gerrit van Roekel tells about an experience
in India. While travelling by train with his wife, a man from the Brahman caste –
the highest social order – sits across from them, taking up two seats by himself.
After a few stops, a woman with Dalit background (the lowest caste) steps in and
attempts to take the seat next to the Brahman. He refuses to let her sit down,
curses her and shoos her away. After a few seconds, Van Roekel’s wife decides to
stand up and offer her seat to the Dalit woman, who gladly accepts. The Brahmani man looks astonished but can do nothing to prevent the Dalit woman from
sitting across from him (CAOP, 2008).
110
3.3 Study assignments
By acknowledging the ethical dimensions of intercultural interactions, you have
the possibility to exert influence – however small – and so contribute to a more
just and fair world. It also provides a way to maintain a sense of moral integrity,
which makes working internationally more sustainable, especially in the long
run. A key factor is that this moral integrity does not build on a sense of moral
superiority, but on a sincere involvement in the global community (your horizontal heritage) and the belief that there are certain basic, universally human
values that apply to everyone.
The remaining chapters of this book focus on communication. The TOPOI
model will provide many insights, tips and suggestions that can also benefit
dialogue on ethical dilemmas.
3.3
Study assignments
Complete these assignments together with one or more colleagues or fellow
students. Compare your answers with those of your colleagues or fellow students:
■■ What was the same?
■■ What was different?
■■ What do you notice?
1 Revisit section 3.1. Imagine you are in a position of authority as manager
of an international team with employees from various backgrounds. From
your position as manager, in what ways do you have power over the cultural
repertoires of your employees regarding how, when and whether they use
certain behaviours or ideas from their collectives? How would you use this
position and why?
2 Revisit the discussion about relativism and universalism (sections 3.2.23.2.4). Which approach are you inclined to choose: a universalistic approach
that focuses on similarities and judging people and phenomena on the basis
of universal principles; or a relativistic one that focuses on differences and
judges people and phenomena as much as possible on their specific conditions and environments? Explain your position in at least 200 words.
111
4
Diversity-sensitive communication and the TOPOI model
Introduction
4.1 Discussion of concepts
4.2 Culturalizing is very understandable
4.3 Risks of a culturalizing approach
4.4 Intercultural communication is interpersonal communication
4.5 Interpersonal communication: content, relationship and common sense
4.5.1 Common sense as collective experiences
4.5.2 Common sense as prejudice and stereotype
4.6 Interpersonal communication: a circular process
4.7 The TOPOI model
4.8 The TOPOI model in a scheme
4.9 Applying the TOPOI model to a practical situation
4.10 Study assignments
Introduction
As mentioned in Chapter 2, many of the skills regarding diversity competence
have to do with communication. This chapter will focus on what we call diversity-sensitive communication. In short, diversity-sensitive communication refers
to a mindful approach to the differences and similarities as they become apparent in communication. Diversity-sensitive communication helps to normalize
strangeness that can be experienced in communication.
When referring to communication between people of different national and
ethnic backgrounds, it is still common to speak of intercultural, cross-cultural,
transcultural or intracultural communication. These concepts often rely on culturalism; the phenomenon where culture or religion is used as an explanation
for all kinds of things (Schinkel, 2008). Culturalizing is a very understandable
tendency and, certainly, knowledge of cultural backgrounds is an important
resource. But a culturalizing approach to communication comes with certain
113
4 Diversity-sensitive communication and the TOPOI model
risks. That is why we propose to approach intercultural communication as interpersonal communication, which is a circular, layered process of content and
relationship, influenced by ‘common senses’. The TOPOI model is introduced
as a diversity-sensitive tool for identifying and responding to possible misunderstandings and miscommunications, and experiences of strangeness in interactions.
4.1
Discussion of concepts
Concepts such as inter-, cross- and transcultural are often used interchangeably and inconsistently, as already mentioned in section 2.1. Regarding communication, the main distinction is that intercultural communication refers to
communication between people of varied cultural – and sometimes linguistic
– backgrounds; cross-cultural communication focuses on the comparison of
different cultures and their respective influence on communication; and transcultural communication focuses on a supposed third culture that arises as a
result of the interaction between people of varied cultural backgrounds. Intracultural communication then refers to the communication that people share
within a culture.
What all these concepts have in common is that culture – used mainly in the
sense of national or ethnic culture or religion – is attributed a central role in
communication. We consider this a culturalizing approach to communication.
People often emphasize nationality, ethnicity or religion, both their own and
other people’s – not just in theory but in everyday encounters as well. Communication is then culturalized when the conversation partners focus on their
perception of the other as culturally different.
4.2
Culturalizing is very understandable
In interactions with people with a different national, ethnic or religious background, people often have a strong tendency to relate differences to their culture. Especially if one knows another person’s origin or religion, or when they
are recognizably different in terms of appearance, language or name, and seem
to display different habits and views, we tend to perceive the other as culturally
different and to refer to their ‘culture’ as an explanation. In part, this has to do
with a (genuine) desire to understand someone else’s actions or thoughts, and
culturalizing then provides a quick and easy way out.
114
4.3 Risks of a culturalizing approach
Of course, it is possible to make general statements about the characteristics
of social groups. For example, one can study and describe the cultures of societies on a national level, as Geert Hofstede (2001) has. Also, one can meet
people who obviously and noticeably display characteristics of their national,
ethnic and religious cultures. This leads to statements that someone is, say, a
‘typical’ – or even ‘real’ – Dutchman or that certain behaviour, attitudes and
opinions are, say, ‘typically Indonesian’. Indeed, it is quite possible that certain
cultural differences impacting communication are related to someone’s country of origin, ethnic group or religion. Cultural knowledge is hence important
and relevant, especially when one works, studies or lives in another country, or
works with specific groups such as refugees, migrants and ethnic minorities,
e.g. Sami, Aboriginals, Roma and Sinti. This should not be limited to knowledge
of the national culture, but should also include the historical, socio-economic,
migration and political context (Hera et al., 2012, pp. 16-23). Being informed
helps to recognize certain patterns in others’ behaviour and ideas. It decentralizes one’s own frame of reference and so avoids ethnocentrism: the tendency to
negatively judge other cultural phenomena based on one’s own ethnic or cultural standards which are often considered better or superior.
An amusing illustration of ethnocentrism comes from Kumbel, pseudonym for
the Danish poet, writer, inventor and mathematician Piet Hein (spurvely.dk):
‘When the time is 11.00 AM in Denmark, it is 05.00 AM in USA, 10.00 AM in London
and 05.00 PM in China and app. 01.00 PM in Moscow. We Danes are certainly a
chosen people; we are born in this small, blessed country where the time is 11.00
AM, when it is 11.00 AM!’
All in all, this implies that culturalizing is a very understandable phenomenon.
At the same time, as everyone is unique, someone’s culture – be it national, ethnic, regional, religious or otherwise – can never be the only frame of reference
to predict or interpret their behaviour and ideas.
4.3
Risks of a culturalizing approach
Culturalizing interactions with people of another cultural background poses
several risks.
■■ People in interaction tend to approach one another merely as members of
another cultural group or religion. Other roles or identities such as social
position, education, age, parental role, gender are not considered.
115
4 Diversity-sensitive communication and the TOPOI model
■■ People in interaction attribute the views and behaviours of others, and potential misunderstandings and conflicts in communication, exclusively to
culture or religion. As such, each person’s contribution as a unique individual and other possible important factors such as organizational, material,
legal, social, political, physical, psychological, linguistic and interpersonal
aspects are ignored.
■■ People in interaction do not apply rational arguments to explain or legitimize situations, but instead present ‘culture’ or ‘religion’ as reasons or justifications: ‘in our culture/religion …’, ‘in our country …’, ‘that’s how we do
things …’, ‘in that culture/religion it is normal to …’, ‘that’s how they are …’.
As we have seen in section 3.2, this can also lead to (ethical) dilemmas.
■■ People in interaction may feel unsure and incompetent if they worry they
have insufficient knowledge of the ‘other’ culture.
■■ Alternatively, people in interaction approach the other on the basis of (supposed) cultural knowledge, inadvertently predefining the other (section
3.1.4) and blocking open communication.
■■ In sum, people in interaction tend to stereotype and generalize, due to the
aspects mentioned above, as is clear from the next example.
In a German-Thai joint venture, Lars says to Somchai: ‘Somchai, you are handling
this project the Thai way. But in Germany we do things differently. Let me show
you.’
Somchai: ‘My project plan is my own creation! Why does he reduce me to my nationality? Germans are really as rude as the books say!’ (Rathje, 2014)
4.4
Intercultural communication is interpersonal communication
We have chosen to approach the interaction between people of different cultural backgrounds in a communicative way. This implies that our focus is not on
culture as such but on interpersonal communication, situational contexts and
unique individuals who are embedded in several social groups and contexts.
The starting point – as has been explained in previous chapters – is that every
person is part of many different social groups or collectives: family, gender, city
or town, religion, sexual orientation, profession, education, etc. Each of these
collectives has a culture of its own, creating as many cultures as there are collectives. Furthermore, people can derive identities and loyalties from all the
collectives that they belong to. Consequently, every person is characterized by
multicollectivity, multiculturality and multiple identities and loyalties. Quotes
from American dating advertisement profiles illustrate how people define their
116
4.4 Intercultural communication is interpersonal communication
multicollectivity and multicollective identities: ‘Atlanta-based white Southern upper-middle-class lawyer’ or ‘black lesbian urban Northern professional’
(Hansen, 2009a, p. 21).
Another example would be a participant of an international workshop who began her contribution by saying, ‘As a Berber woman from Algeria, with Arabic,
Berber and English as her mother tongues, coming from a large international
family, currently living in France and working as a banker in an office of this bank
in Paris, I would like to say …’ (Nazarkiewicz, 2016, p. 29).
Consequently, in any communicative situation – also between people from
the same collective – cultural differences may occur, because interlocutors
are always part of several collectives and by implication cultures that lead to
both similarities and differences. The cultures of the various collectives people participate in influence their communication: their verbal and non-verbal
language, their views, images and expectations about their interactions with
others, and their motives, values and norms. In the words of Gary Kreps and
Elisabeth Kunimoto: ‘Every individual is composed of a unique combination of
different cultural orientations and influences, and every person belongs to many
different cultural groups. It is important that we recognize the influences of many
cultures on our lives. Based on our heritage and life experiences we each develop
our own idiosyncratic multicultural identity’ (1994, p. 3).
Taking this perspective helps to deculturalize the communication between people of different cultural backgrounds. This implies releasing the communication
from the culturalistic niche, where people are trapped into their national, ethnic
or religious identities and every difference in the communication is traced back
exclusively to ‘cultural difference’. Deculturalizing communication changes the
focus from culture as such to the unique individuals who are communicating
and to their social contexts. For that reason the outcome of an encounter with
someone of another national, ethnic or religious background – like any other encounter – cannot be predicted in advance. The people involved develop
a new, negotiated culture during the communication in a process of mutual
learning and knowledge acquisition (Barmeyer & Davoine, 2016, p. 104). Deculturalizing creates space to normalize conversations with people of any background into an interpersonal encounter. After all, ‘Cultures don’t meet, people
do’ (Jaksche & Hoffman, 1998).
Such an inclusive approach to intercultural communication as interpersonal
communication creates the possibility to connect to others on the basis of a
shared humanity of universal needs, emotions and competences (Rober & De
117
4 Diversity-sensitive communication and the TOPOI model
Haene, 2013) and shared social identities, such as education, profession, age,
sexual orientation, family context, religion, hobby, musical preferences and socio-economic background. The commonalities are mainly important to prevent a culturalizing focus on what separates rather than what connects people.
Henry Murray and Clyde Kluckhohn effectively summarize the uniqueness,
the shared collectivity and the universal humanity of each human being: ‘Every
man (a human regardless of sex; a person) is in certain respects a) like all other
men, b) like some other men, c) like no other man’ (Murray & Kluckhohn, 1953).
Figure 4.1 represents a meeting between three persons from different countries, e.g. Indonesia (A), Congo (B) and Iceland (C).
Cultures don’t meet, people do
Personalities
Unique
individuals
Multicollectivity
Multiculturality
Multiple social
identities
Humanity
A
B
C
‘I am like no one’
Cultures
Human nature
‘I am like
some people’
‘I am like all
other people’
Universal needs, emotions and competences
Figure 4.1
Humanity, culture and personality: a conceptual scheme (based on a figure by Geert Hofstede, 1991)
When these three people meet it is important to realize, first of all, that they all
share universal basic needs such as food, shelter, safety and recognition; basic
emotions such as happiness, sadness and anger; and basic capabilities such as
rationality, logics and communication. This is the lower level in the figure: ‘I
am like all other people’. The second level is that of culture, or rather cultures.
How people deal with, and express, their basic needs, emotions and capabilities
is learned and taught. It is influenced by the various cultures of the collectives
to which people belong (or belonged) together with others: ‘I am like some
people.’ Once again a warning is in place: various cultures can relate not only
118
4.5 Interpersonal communication: content, relationship and common sense
to ethnicity, nationality or religion but also to gender, age group, sexual preference, education, socio-economic status, profession, geographical background
and so on. This implies that the Congolese person B, in spite of having another
ethnic, national and linguistic background, may have much in common with
the Icelandic person C, because they share the same gender, age, educational
background and music preference.
Communication between these three people eventually takes place on the third
and highest level, that of unique individuals. What kind of person someone is
– his or her personality – is formed by a combination of unique physiological
and psychological traits that she or he shares with no one else: ‘I am like no
other’. These unique traits are partly inherited and partly culturally acquired.
Someone’s personality and life history together make them unique in the way
they give meaning and content to being human (i.e. human nature) and to the
various collectives and cultures they are (or were) part of.
The above scheme is of great importance in communication and interaction,
especially with people of other national or ethnic backgrounds. It shows that
communication always takes place on the interpersonal level: in encounters between unique individuals. As mentioned earlier, cultures don’t meet, people do!
4.5
Interpersonal communication: content, relationship and
­common sense
Communication is more than just the exchange of information. It is a layered
process that takes place on three levels: 1) content, 2) relationship, and 3) common senses. The first two layers – the content and relationship level in communication – clarify that interlocutors not only share information, knowledge,
questions and views (content) with each other, but also influence one another
personally and relationship-wise (Watzlawick et al., 2011, p. 51). An example
can illustrate how a simple message (content) can affect someone personally
(relationship):
Looking for her mobile phone a manager says to her employee: ‘My phone was
just here on my desk.’ The employee responds irritated: ‘You don’t have to blame
me!’
Aside from these two aspects of content and relationship, there is a third layer
in interpersonal communication that plays an influential – be it often unconscious – role: the common senses of the different social contexts or groups that
119
4 Diversity-sensitive communication and the TOPOI model
people are part of. Common sense is a system of thinking, social practice and
communication that characterizes a group of people. At the core of the common sense are assumptions regarding such things as what is true and false,
what is good and bad, what is right and wrong, and what is normal and abnormal (Scollon et al., 2012, p. 111).
‘Sense’ refers to a quality of awareness that forms the pre-reflected and unconscious actions and thoughts around what is meaningful, valuable and normal (Van Leeuwen, 2003, pp. 232-239). In this regard, common sense can be
considered as the self-evident communicative influence of culture and cultural
repertoires. ‘Common’ here refers to ‘shaped in a community’, ‘together with
others’. Common sense cannot be identified on an individual basis. It exists
independently from the individual, although every individual participates in
the creation of the common sense in a social dialogue: the shaping of public
opinions. In other words, in everyday communication people give their opinion
on various topics and act in certain ways. As such, everyone contributes to the
reproduction, reinforcement and modification of the common sense. Common
sense is thus the result of an ongoing social dialogue that takes place in several
groups in society. Common sense can be recognized in what ‘one’ thinks, believes, says or does, and what ‘they’ think, believe, say and do in certain groups.
Not all people share the same common senses, since every person is part of
several groups with more or less specific social dialogues and associated common senses. What is common sense to some – obvious, true, correct, good
and normal – may not be the same for others. In a situation where a woman
is irritated by a man who does not look her in the eye, she is influenced by her
common sense that ‘you should make eye contact while talking’. She is probably
not aware of this – to her it’s self-evident but to the man it isn’t. His common
sense tells him that ‘looking away during a conversation is a sign of respect, and
looking the other straight in the eyes is impolite’.
The dominant common sense has considerable impact on people’s personal
lives and on their interpersonal relations and communication. As cultures are
always affected by power dynamics (see section 3.1) and common senses are
the communicative manifestations of cultures, power is also very relevant concerning differences in common sense. In practice, this means that one common
sense may be more dominant than another and that people experience this
common sense as social pressure, as a norm they have to comply with.
120
4.5 Interpersonal communication: content, relationship and common sense
In a letter to the editors of a newspaper, a young woman – working at an international marketing agency in Amsterdam – writes about her struggle with her
career ambitions. On at least four occasions in the letter, she mentions the influence she has experienced from a prevailing common sense about womanhood
and career.
‘What a revelation, the interview with A. about, amongst other things, the confusion she has regarding Western feminism. I am a 29-year-old woman living independently in the capital and have a high-profile job at an international advertising firm. In brief, a woman like a woman ought to be in the year (…). However,
since last November, I have been at home following a burn-out. This hectic, materialistic life I have always justified and kept up, knowing that this is the life of
a young, modern woman. However, I started feeling increasingly estranged from
all the abstract things I was occupied with. Eventually this led to me being at
home, feeling very confused. Quite frankly, I know exactly what the issue is: I
have been busy with non-essential things for too long. Now I am searching for
something more substantial. I want to give “meaning”. I want to go back to my
source, as A. puts it so nicely. I have lost myself. I want to move towards care-­
taking, nurturing and giving meaning to human values and norms. But this side
of me, I push away again immediately. After all, in our society it is completely
inappropriate and unfeminist to think like that. I condemn myself and feel ridiculous for having these desires: this is not how you should think as a highly educated, modern woman. The interview with A., however, really struck a chord with
me. I found back something of myself. For now I still need someone else’s story
for this, but I hope one day to be strong enough to talk about this side of myself
and to re-design my life accordingly’ (own translation of de Volkskrant, 1995).
4.5.1
Common sense as collective experiences
Another aspect of common sense is a kind of orientation a group of people
takes towards itself as a whole and its individual members, towards people
outside the group, towards the group’s history and heritage, and towards the
group’s future (Scollon et al., 2012, p. 112).
Common sense thus includes the ‘dominant stories’ (section 3.1.4) that
groups have of themselves and others.
The common sense aspect of a group’s orientation to its history and heritage
refers to – besides cultural heritage – the collective experiences of the group
as a result of historical and current structural circumstances: socio-economic,
political, colonial, racial and other power conditions (Auernheimer, 2013, p. 49
121
4 Diversity-sensitive communication and the TOPOI model
and 52; Bourdieu, 1989, p. 14). In a conversation these collective experiences,
even though they occurred in the past and have not directly affected the people involved, can play a role in the background of their communication and
suddenly surface in certain circumstances and influence the conversation. Referring to French colonial history, Pierre Bourdieu described this as follows: ‘If
thus a Frenchman speaks to an Algerian, it is ultimately two histories talking to
one another, the whole colonization, the whole history of a simultaneously economic and cultural power relation’ (Bourdieu, 1989, p. 14). This is not to say, of
course, that individuals cannot become aware of the collective experiences of
their groups and choose how to deal with them in specific situations.
Not recognizing the possible influence of each person’s social contexts and
common senses can lead to an interpersonal struggle: to misunderstandings
and conflicts on an interpersonal, relationship level. The common sense influence is then noticeable in the communication of the people in interaction and
how they interpret and understand things. In other words, people are not always completely free in how they phrase things and how they understand one
another, as the following example shows.
A student of Afro-Surinamese background at a Dutch college violates the prohibition on smoking at school. The (native) Dutch janitor confronts the student,
who puts up some resistance, to which the janitor responds: ‘You have to adapt
like all others.’ The student responds furiously to these words and things almost
turn physical.
Afterwards, the incident is discussed with the student and the janitor, since both
were surprised by what happened, partly because they knew each other well
and had a good relationship. In the conversation, the student says, ‘I don’t know
what happened to me but because of the janitor’s words “You have to adapt”, I
all of a sudden felt addressed not as a student but as a “black” Surinamese reprimanded by a white Dutchman.’
The janitor says that his remark referred to the social context of school; he had
meant to say: the student should respect the rules like all other students. The
word ‘adapt’ however affected the student because he interpreted it within the
social context of Dutch society in which it is commonly said (common sense) that
‘those foreigners should adapt’. This infuriated the student. The janitor was then
asked whether he would have chosen the same words to approach a ‘white’ student. He answered in all honesty: ‘Maybe I would have said something else.’
This incident shows also that in spite of the awareness of collective experiences
and conscious handling of this, people can still be suddenly overwhelmed by
common sense. The student in question considered himself a proud, self-con-
122
4.6 Interpersonal communication: a circular process
scious Afro-Surinamese who claimed he was surprised by his own emotions
concerning the collective experience of Dutch slavery history in Surinam. This
history gave the student an unexpected negative association with the conflict
since he felt he was being addressed as a ‘black’ Surinamese by a ‘white’ Dutchman.
4.5.2
Common sense as prejudice and stereotype
The orientation of a group towards people outside their group can contain positive images of others, but also negative generalizations, stereotypes and prejudices, as discussed previously. How everyone is influenced by common sense
and its implicated stories, stereotypes and prejudices in their communication
is illustrated by the following anecdote from Nobel Prize winner bishop Desmond Tutu:
‘I went to Nigeria when I was working for the World Council of Churches, and I
was due to fly to Jos. And so I go to Lagos airport and I get onto the plane and
the two pilots in the cockpit are both black. And whee, I just grew inches. You
know, it was fantastic because we had been told that blacks can’t do this. (…)
And we have a smooth takeoff and then we hit the mother and father of turbulence. I mean, it was quite awful, scary. Do you know, I can’t believe it but the
first thought that came to my mind was, “Hey, there’s no white men in that cockpit. Are those blacks going to be able to make it?” And of course, they obviously
made it – here I am’ (quote in Tippett, 2014).
4.6
Interpersonal communication: a circular process
The mutual exchange of information, the personal, relational influencing and
the influence of the social contexts in the communication all develop simultaneously – in other words, in a ‘circular’ way. Communication as a circular
process differs from the common description of communication as a linear process, where people alternatingly take the role of sender and receiver. In such a
linear model, the sender encodes her message in a number of language symbols. The source, or sender, sends this message over a channel to the receiver,
who receives and decodes it. This means that the receiver attaches meaning
to the symbols and consequently gets an idea of what the sender means, after
which he or she takes action, or not. The source notices this effect and uses the
observed effect to evaluate the message and if possible respond as a sender.
Linear thinking in communication revolves around a sender and a receiver, a
123
4 Diversity-sensitive communication and the TOPOI model
beginning and an end, cause and effect and consequently also guilt and innocence: ‘I act this way because the other acts that way.’
System thinking, on the contrary, assumes that there is a circular influence. Circular influence means that in communication, there are constantly ongoing circles of feedback. Taking the axiom ‘one cannot not communicate’ (Watzlawick
et al., 2011, p. 50) to heart, every communicating person is seen as both sender
and receiver. After all, even when you do not speak, you communicate through
body language and other non-verbal language.
Every behaviour in an exchange is simultaneously a stimulus, a response and a
confirmation. Circular thinking creates another vocabulary and consequently
another approach to reality. It is no longer about guilt, the guilty or the perpetrator (i.e. cause) or about innocence, the innocent or victim (i.e. effect). There
is only a share. Each of the interlocutors has a share in how things develop. This
means that someone’s behaviour cannot be one-sidedly explained from frames
such as powerful vs. weak, leader vs. follower and speaker vs. silent party. That
would be another form of linear thinking. Too often, it goes unnoticed that the
‘weakest’ side also influences the actions of the other side. Furthermore, the
circular influence doesn’t only take place between the people in interaction. As
we indicated before, there is also a circular influence between the conversation
partners and their broader social context: social dialogues or common senses.
In communication, the awareness of circularity helps to reflect on one’s own
share when conversations get impaired:
1 What is my share? What do I do? What do I say that makes the other person
act in this way?
2 What is the other person’s share that makes me act in this way?
3 What is the influence of the social contexts (common senses) making the other person and myself act in this way?
In summary, interpersonal communication can be described as the process in
which people simultaneously exchange information and personally influence
one another, embedded in social contexts, the common senses. In a scheme,
the interpersonal communication between a person A and a person B looks
like this:
124
4.7 The TOPOI model
Social contexts:
common senses / social dialogues
A
B
Figure 4.2
Interpersonal communication (the ‘lemniscate model’, adopted from the ‘double-swing
model’ by Muneo De Yoshikawa, 1987)
What has been discussed so far shows that communication, due to its layeredness and complexity, is a process that easily leads to miscommunication. One
could even say that miscommunication is part and parcel of communication.
This awareness helps to take away a focus on ‘guilt’ in communication: to not
blame yourself or the other immediately when things get rough in communicative situations.
4.7
The TOPOI model
The TOPOI model (Hoffman, 2013; 2018) is a tool to address the impact that
differences can have on interactions in an interpersonal and communicative
way. It helps to normalize strangeness in the communication. TOPOI stands for
the five areas where differences in the communication can take place: Tongue,
Order, Persons, Organization and Intentions.
The Tongue area contains verbal and non-verbal language of people in interaction (the term ‘Tongue’ was chosen over ‘Language’ so as to maintain the acronym TOPOI). The area Order is the content level in communication and represents the views and logic of the interlocutors concerning the issues in question.
The Persons area is the level of relationship in communication and refers to the
mutual relationship and identity. The Organization area refers to the organizational, institutional context in which the communication takes place. The area
of Intentions contains the underlying motives, needs, emotions, beliefs and values of the interlocutors.
125
4 Diversity-sensitive communication and the TOPOI model
The five assumptions put forward by Paul Watzlawick et al. (2011, pp. 48-71),
who developed a grammar for interpersonal communication, form the starting point of the TOPOI areas: Tongue is based on the axiom ‘Human beings
communicate both digitally and analogically’. Order is based on the axiom ‘The
nature of a relationship is contingent upon the punctuation of the communicational sequences between the communicants’. Persons follows the axioms ‘Every
communication has a content and a relationship aspect such that the latter classifies the former (…)’ and ‘All communicational interchanges are either symmetrical or complementary, depending on whether they are based on equality or difference’. Finally, Intentions is based on the axiom ‘One cannot not communicate’.
We will return to these axioms in the following chapters on the TOPOI model.
The fifth area – Organization – is added separately because of the influence of
organizational aspects on communication. Many misconceptions and conflicts
in communication are a consequence of organizational factors.
The acronym TOPOI (plural of ‘topos’) in Greek means ‘places’ (think of topography). Analogous to this, Tongue, Order, Persons, Organization and Intentions are the places or areas in communication where differences can occur. The
five TOPOI areas are a communicative concretization of possible differences as
they can be encountered in interactions and conversations. This concretization
helps to manage differences in a communicative way. We deliberately speak of
differences and not cultural differences, since the background of a difference is
not necessarily cultural, as previously discussed.
Being aware of the effects of the five TOPOI areas helps to be prepared for differences as they occur in communication. In practice, the various areas cannot
always be distinguished: they are closely interrelated and dependent upon one
another. In communication, you are confronted with all of these areas at the
same time. The areas have been separated and distinguished in order to show
as clearly as possible how the various aspects may influence communication.
From there, TOPOI offers equally as many tools to repair the communication if
it has been, or could be, impaired.
In a reflection during or after a challenging interaction, it is not necessary to always consider the five TOPOI areas. A change in one area alone can significantly improve communication and consequently have a positive effect on the four
other areas. For instance, in a conversation where the participants give different
meanings to the word ‘deadline’ in the area Tongue, this can lead to misunderstandings in the area Order concerning the view of what it means to deliver ‘in
time’. This difference in view can have a negative influence on the mutual relationship in the area Persons, and can lead to practical problems in the area Organiza-
126
4.7 The TOPOI model
tion, even though each person’s motives are positive in the area Intentions. So, an
intervention in the area Tongue alone (i.e. clarification of the term ‘deadline’) has
a positive effect on the other four TOPOI areas.
Furthermore, reflections can start in any area. It is not necessary to consider
the TOPOI areas one by one from top (Tongue) to bottom (Intentions).
The TOPOI model forms a framework for reflection that helps to reflect on
possible differences during or after an encounter. Donald Schön (1983) speaks
of ‘reflection in action’ and ‘reflection on action’. This does not necessarily include an awareness of all cultural characteristics of national, ethnic or religious
groups. Contrary to a culturalistic approach that provides generalized information in advance about the other culture and its representatives – this is what
they are like, how they act – the TOPOI model helps to build hypotheses of
what might be at play in communication. Consequently, interlocutors get space
to present themselves according to their own preference, based on their own
unique meaning-making.
Because the TOPOI model is based on general communication and systems
theory (Watzlawick et al., 2011), it is a general model that can be applied in
any communicative situation, including with a person from one’s own group.
After all, it revolves around general communicative rules (see also section 2.3
describing intercultural competence as an extension of general social, personal,
professional or strategic competences, with the added challenge of applying
them in an international situation).
The value of the TOPOI model, especially in international encounters, is that in
case of miscommunication, one does not have to resort directly to national, ethnic or religious backgrounds (‘their culture’) or discrimination and racism as an
explanation, and to blame oneself or the other. Instead, one can reflect whether the miscommunication has to do with: Tongue, the verbal and non-verbal
language that each person is using and the meaning they associate with this;
Order, the views and logic of each person; Persons, the way each person sees
themselves, the other person and the relationship; Organization, the possible
differences in terms of familiarity with positions, rules, procedures and other organizational aspects; or with Intentions, seeing and recognizing each person’s underlying motives, feelings, needs, desires, assumptions and values of
why interlocutors act the way they do. Subsequently, one can use general conversational skills like giving conscious attention, recognition, listening actively,
inquiring, feedback and metacommunication in order to manage the misconceptions that have arisen.
127
4 Diversity-sensitive communication and the TOPOI model
The TOPOI model’s main quality is that it creates space in the communication.
In cases where communication becomes impaired, people tend to hold on to
their own truth and vision. By questioning yourself and the other through the
several TOPOI areas – around each person’s expression and interpretation of
the message, each person’s views and logic, the perception of themselves and
the other, the organizational aspects that could play a role, and each person’s intentions – a broader view is created and communication opens up. In Chapters
5 to 9, we will elaborate on each of the five TOPOI areas.
4.8
The TOPOI model in a scheme
The TOPOI model contains a reflection and an intervention framework. The
reflection framework helps to become aware of the differences that may play a
role in communication or what aspects may cause miscommunication. The intervention framework offers suggestions for how to intervene in the misconception after it has occurred. The starting point for developing the TOPOI reflection frame are three basic reflections that – considering the circular character
of communication – are essential for addressing disruption in communication:
1 What is my share? What do I do? What do I say that makes the other person
act in this way?
2 What is the other person’s share that makes me act in this way?
3 What is the influence of the social contexts (common senses) making the other person and myself act in this way?
When acting from a mediating or supporting position as a third party – e.g. a
formal mediator, manager or colleague – in a certain situation, the basic questions are:
1 What is each person’s share?
2 What is the influence of the social contexts (common senses) on the communication?
Applying these basic questions to the TOPOI model leads to several reflective questions per area. These reflective questions can help to build hypotheses
about possible sources of misunderstanding. Subsequently, specific interventions can be made to restore the communication.
128
4.8 The TOPOI model in a scheme
The TOPOI model
Reflection
Tongue: verbal and non-verbal language.
What is my share? What do I say, how do I
say it, and what do I express non-verbally? What is my interpretation of what the
other says, and what he or she expresses
non-verbally?
What is the other person’s share? What
does the other say, and express non-verbally? What is his or her interpretation of
what I say, and what I express non-verbally?
What is the influence of the social contexts
(common senses) on what each person
says and expresses, verbally and non-verbally, and on the interpretation of each
other’s verbal and non-verbal language?
Order: views and logic.
What is my share? What are my views and
logic concerning the issues at hand?
What is the other person’s share? What are
the other person’s views and logic con­
cerning the issues at hand?
What is the influence of the social contexts
(common senses) on each person’s views
and logic and on the meanings they attribute to each other’s views and logic?
Persons: identity and relationship.
What is my share? In which role and with
what image do I approach the other? How
do I see and experience the mutual relationship?
What is the other person’s share? In which
role and with what image does the other
approach me? How does the other person
see and experience the mutual relationship?
What is the influence of the social contexts
(common senses) on how each person presents her or himself and on how they view
each other and their mutual relationship?
Intervention
Tongue: verbal and non-verbal language.
■■ ‘Reading the air’: sensing what the other is trying to
convey (between the lines).
■■ Taking each person’s language command and position into account.
■■ Observing body language with all senses.
■■ Checking and explaining the meanings of each person’s verbal and non-verbal messages.
■■ Allowing acceptable differences.
■■ Giving and inviting feedback.
■■ Clarifying the influence of the social contexts (com-
mon senses) on what each person expresses, verbally and non-verbally, and on the interpretation of
each other’s verbal and non-verbal language.
Order: views and logic.
■■ ‘Reading the air’: sensing how the other person
views the issues and what her or his logic is.
■■ Checking and recognizing the views and logic of the
other person.
■■ Clarifying one’s own views, logic and assumptions.
■■ Clarifying differences and/or letting them be, emphasizing commonalities.
■■ Reframing: creating a new (mutual) view or logic.
■■ Clarifying the influence of the social contexts
(common senses) on each person’s views and logic
and on the meanings they attribute to each other’s
views and logic.
Persons: identity and relationship.
■■ ‘Reading the air’: sensing what roles, expectations
and nature of the relationship are at play.
■■ Clarifying and recognizing the roles and expectations of the other.
■■ Clarifying one’s own role and expectations.
■■ Exploring the images each person has of the other.
■■ Clarifying the mutual relationship.
■■ Clarifying the influence of the social contexts (common senses) on how each person presents her or
himself and on how they view each other and their
mutual relationship.
129
4 Diversity-sensitive communication and the TOPOI model
Organization: the organizational and societal context.
What is my share? What are the organizational factors from my side and the power
relations that impact the communication?
What is the other person’s share? What are
the organizational factors and power relations from his or her side that impact the
communication?
Organization: the organizational and societal context.
■ ‘Reading the air’: sensing how things are organized
and what the societal context is.
■ Clarifying the functional framework of the interaction.
■ Realizing and raising the issue of power relations
and mechanisms of exclusion.
■ Rearranging one’s own ‘organization’: inclusive diversity management.
■ Utilizing difference as an added value for reaching
organizational goals.
What is the influence of the organizational
and societal context on the communication?
■ Checking and recognizing the organizational factors
Intentions: motives, emotions, values,
needs and desires (appeal).
What is my share? What motivates me? Do
I see and recognize what motivates the
other person?
Intentions: motives, emotions, values, needs and desires (appeal).
■ ‘Reading the air’: observing with all senses what
motivates the other person and what appeal he or
she is making.
■ Clarifying what motivates the other person.
■ Observing the other person’s emotional responses,
recognizing and validating them.
■ Making one’s own motivations, desires and needs
explicit.
■ Awareness of the distinction between intentions
and effects.
■ Focusing on the effects of the communication.
■ Clarifying the influence of the social contexts
(common senses) on each person’s motivation and
ability to see and recognize the other’s motivation
and appeal.
What is the other person’s share? What motivates the other person? Does the other
person see and recognize what motivates
me?
What is the influence of the social contexts
(common senses) on each person’s motivation and recognition of the other’s motivation and appeal?
from the other side.
■ Clarifying the influence of the organizational and
societal context on the communication.
Figure 4.3
The TOPOI model
4.9
Applying the TOPOI model to a practical situation
In Chapter 11 – see also the website – we discuss various practical applications
of the TOPOI model. Here, we give a first illustration of how the TOPOI model
can be applied to a practical situation. It concerns the negotiations around a
German-Chinese joint venture.
After travelling to China several times for contract negotiations, the manager
representing a German company starts to get increasingly frustrated with the
process. Even though the meetings took place in a good atmosphere and the
Chinese representatives seemed very interested in his proposals, he felt that not
130
4.9 Applying the TOPOI model to a practical situation
enough progress was made. Additionally, the German manager is under increasing pressure from the management of his own company, that was not content
with the progress of the negotiations.
‘When the next round of negotiations did not seem to lead to an agreement either, the manager thought he could finally see through his Chinese negotiation
partners’ tactics. They seemed to want to delay any process in order to get as
much information out of him as possible, so that they could play the company
off against the competition. He was furious and irritated about his negotiation
partners. Additionally, there was the pressure of the exhausting week-long negotiations. Eventually, he responded in a way that Germans call “denen mal ordentlich Bescheid sagen” (to confront someone head-on) and “kräftig auf den Tisch
hauen” (to put your foot down). Completely unexpectedly, the manager started
to scream to his Chinese partners that he was not willing to be played any longer;
it was time to stop beating around the bush; he wanted clarity and reliability
and had run out of patience. The Chinese partners stared at him blankly and in
silence. The negotiations were broken off’ (own translation of Thomas, 1999, pp.
95-96).
To explain the TOPOI model’s application clearly, we will follow the order of
the TOPOI areas. As mentioned before, though, it is possible to start in any
area; also, not every area necessarily needs to be considered each time. A reflection and intervention in one area could thus impact the other areas positively.
What follows are a number of reflections and hypotheses per TOPOI area on
what may go wrong, and finally some suggestions for interventions.
Reflections and hypotheses based on the TOPOI model
The Tongue area: each person’s verbal and non-verbal language, meaning and
interpretation. It is vital to consider in what language the negotiations take
place and what each interlocutor’s level of language proficiency is. Does each of
them understand what is being said and discussed? Can everyone express him
or herself sufficiently? Another point of attention is communication style; in
the above example, the German manager seems to use an explicit, direct way of
communication and to expect the same from his partners. His partners, however, may be using a more implicit, indirect communication style. If this is the
case, does the manager give attention to this and does he sense what his partners mean? Then there is the concept of ‘progress’: according to the manager,
no real progress has been made. But what does this imply: what does he consider ‘progress’ and what does it mean to his partners? Perhaps his partners attach
a different meaning to ‘progress’ than the manager, feeling that in fact progress
has been made? Finally, it would seem that the manager’s outburst during the
last round of negotiations, both verbally and non-verbally, is surprising, incomprehensible and offensive to the partners.
131
4 Diversity-sensitive communication and the TOPOI model
The Order area: each person’s views and logic concerning the issue at hand.
Understandably, the manager assumes that his own common sense, i.e. what
to him seems normal, acceptable and obvious, applies to everyone, including
the Chinese. The manager departs from his own views and logic concerning his
understanding of negotiations and how these should develop. As such, he automatically assumes that his partners apply the same logic and view, which is not
the case however. Unfortunately, habits that differ greatly from one’s own common sense are easily classified as unacceptable, ill-intentioned and backward.
This is also the case in this practical example: both the company’s manager and
management seem to have a vivid perception of how the negotiations ought
to develop. When their interpretation proves unsuccessful and no progress is
made they become irritated and distrustful, and communication gets impaired.
The manager seems to have no knowledge of the views and logic of his Chinese
partners: how do they see the negotiations, what is their logic concerning the
process and content of the negotiations?
The Persons area: identity (role, image) and relationship. Initially, the relationship in the communication between manager and partners seems good, considering that the first four discussions take place in an exceptionally positive
atmosphere. It remains unclear whether the manager has enough attention for
this relationship level in the negotiation process. He seems very focused on
the content of the communication: the progress regarding the formal contract.
Since in his opinion progress is disappointing in this respect, the manager develops a distrustful image of his partners – possibly further enhanced by existing images and prejudices concerning the Chinese (influence of the common
sense) and in-group/out-group mechanisms. Eventually, this leads to his furious outburst in the last round of negotiations which destroys the trust that was
built thus far.
The Organization area. This is where the main problems seem to be. The partners in China seem to organize negotiations in another way than the manager
considers normal and natural. Organizational problems that surface include:
How do partners approach the negotiation process; what are the steps, the negotiation rounds and the accompanying goals and backgrounds? Who participates in each round and with what positions and authority? Who are the decision-makers? Additionally, what is the influence of the social contexts: the
broader organizational, social and political context in which the partners operate? Perhaps mandatory internal procedures or local rules and legislations are
partly responsible for the seemingly slow negotiation process.
132
4.9 Applying the TOPOI model to a practical situation
Another important organizational aspect is the manager’s relationship with the
main office in Germany. In this case it becomes clear that the manager experiences pressure from the main office to achieve success. The question is then
how much time the manager received to realize a successful joint venture with
the Chinese partners and how he is expected to report to head office. The negotiations are extremely intense and tiresome for him. This is also an organizational aspect that deserves attention: what could help the manager to remain fit
and rested during the negotiations?
The Intentions area: the underlying motives, needs, emotions, assumptions and
values of those involved. The Intentions area forms an invisible category. In
communication it often remains unclear why people act the way they do; what
are their underlying motives, needs, emotions, beliefs and values? This is also
true for the manager: he seems unaware of his partners’ underlying motives for
negotiating the way they do. Instead of trying to find out what their motives
are, he starts to suspect bad intentions on their side and experiences increasing
feelings of irritation, anger and fatigue, and finally bursts out unexpectedly and
harshly. His intentions, though positive as such – to complete the contract and
create clarity about the progress – have a contrary effect on the partners.
Suggestions for intervention
The first suggestion is that the manager prepares for and is open to possible differences in the five TOPOI areas (attitude of openness and reflectiveness). Furthermore, it is important that he takes a sincere attitude of inclusiveness (also
non-verbally) and has trust in his partners’ positive intentions. This attitude is
called the ‘hypothesis of the best’ (see also section 9.2), i.e. to suspend judgment
when experiencing strangeness and to assume that positive intentions underlie
all behaviour; that the other has good reasons for acting the way they do, even
if their behaviour seems strange, incomprehensible or irritating at first. Accordingly, the manager in the negotiations should apply this principle and have faith
in his partners’ good intentions regarding the way they negotiate.
Attention for the relationship development is crucial in this regard. This could
mean that the manager is flexible and participates in informal encounters
outside the formal meetings (say in restaurants, bars, excursions, karaoke or
sports). ‘Progress’ in the negotiations could then also refer to strengthening the
mutual relationship, in addition to ongoing steps concerning the formalization
of the joint venture in a contract.
Considering the pleasant atmosphere in the first negotiating rounds, which
could imply that trust was established, the manager could at the right moment
133
4 Diversity-sensitive communication and the TOPOI model
approach the partners to discuss how they are experiencing the negotiating
process, what the backgrounds to that process are and which questions need
to be further addressed. If the partners have an indirect, implicit style of communication, making it tricky to get explicit answers about their intentions, it is
good to develop what is called in Japan ‘kūki wo yomu’: ‘to read the air’ (Shaules,
2015, pp. 137-139; Spacey, 2015). Reading the air means understanding the environment or the situation based on what you can feel or notice but is not made
explicit. It means inferring what people mean from the context, from what they
have not explicitly voiced. To read the air is to learn to observe with all your
senses and to use empathy and intuitiveness so as to find out what in a given social situation could be the implicit significance of signals, social factors, words
and body language.
On an organizational level the manager should be granted sufficient time, space
and confidence to lead the negotiations, taking into account the added difficulty
of working abroad and communicating in a second language. During the negotiations, the manager could be attentive to those present: what positions are
represented, who are the decision-makers, who does the talking and who mostly listens? Another important organizational aspect is the reporting process:
are minutes taken during each round and what should the manager communicate to his main office? The manager could – in an indirect manner – cover
several bases at once by saying that his main office demands a progress report
in order to evaluate the developments in the negotiations (cf. Thomas, 1999, pp.
110-111). He could then suggest discussing with the partners what information
is important to convince the main office that the negotiations have progressed
positively so far and that those involved are making further efforts to reach
agreement. Doing so, the manager achieves several things at the same time: he
shows his partners his positive feelings about the negotiations; he is optimistic
about the progress of the negotiations, and he needs their input to convince
the main office to continue on this path. If the partners agree to think along, he
will receive specific information about the status quo on their side considering
the negotiation and decision-making process. This information provides the
manager clarity, a way to test his suspicions and a guideline for continuing the
negotiations. If his partners refuse – either directly by saying ‘no’ or indirectly
through phrases such as ‘That is difficult’, ‘We don’t know whether it is a good
idea’, ‘We are very busy, maybe later’ – the manager could ‘read the air’ to find
out where he stands. He could then tell his partners that he needs to return to
Germany for a longer period for other obligations but that he will be available
at all times in case they wish to continue the exchange.
134
4.10 Study assignments
4.10
Study assignments
Complete these assignments together with one or more colleagues or fellow
students. Compare your answers with those of your colleagues or fellow students:
■■ What was the same?
■■ What was different?
■■ What do you notice?
1 Revisit section 4.3, Risks of a culturalizing approach.
a Collect four examples from the media (newspapers, TV, social media)
or conversations around you regarding culturalizing. For each example,
analyse the risks of such a culturalizing approach.
b Have you yourself ever been approached in a culturalizing way because
someone reduced you to your national, ethnic or religious background
or skin colour? You can also mention an experience of an acquaintance
who was approached in a culturalizing way.
■■ If yes, which of the risks of a culturalizing approach mentioned in
section 4.3 did you – or your acquaintance – experience?
■■ How did you/your acquaintance deal with this? How did you/your
acquaintance respond?
2 Revisit section 4.4, Intercultural communication is interpersonal communication. A guideline for doing business abroad states the following:
‘Non-Western cultures show attention and respect in conversation by looking
away. Looking people in the eyes is perceived as impolite in these cultures.’
a Explain why this is a culturalizing statement.
b Having reread section 4.4, try to rephrase the previous statement about
doing business abroad from an interpersonal, communicative approach.
135
5
The TOPOI area Tongue:
verbal and non-verbal language
Introduction
5.1 Context
5.1.1 Contextual cues
5.1.2 High-context and low-context communication
5.2 Verbal and non-verbal language
5.3 Verbal language
5.3.1 Importance of native language
5.3.2 Speaking in the native language
5.3.3 Awareness of language positions
5.3.4 International English
5.3.5 Language transfer
5.3.6 Pronunciation and accent
5.3.7 Vocabulary
5.3.8 Denotative and connotative meaning of words
5.3.9 Translation and connotation
5.3.10 Interpersonal verbal communication styles
5.3.11 Implicit language
5.3.12 Meanings of ‘yes’ and ‘no’
5.3.13 Humour
5.3.14 Topics
5.3.15 The principle of cooperation in a conversation
5.3.16 Turn-taking
5.3.17 Giving verbal attention: backchannels
5.3.18 Forms of address
5.3.19 Politeness
5.3.20 Email communication
5.4 Non-verbal language
5.4.1 Perception
5.4.2 Forms of non-verbal language
5.4.3 Facial expressions
5.4.4 Expression of feelings and intentions
137
5 The TOPOI area Tongue: verbal and non-verbal language
5.4.5 Haptics
5.4.6 Emblematic gestures
5.4.7 Giving attention non-verbally
5.4.8 Eye contact
5.4.9 ‘Taboo’ gestures
5.4.10 Walking and moving
5.4.11 Laughing
5.4.12 Key
5.4.13 Paralinguistics or prosody
5.4.14 Proxemics: use of space and distance
5.4.15 Chronemics: the communicative value of time
5.4.16 Silence
5.4.17 Olfactics: odours and smell
5.4.18 Artefacts, clothing and appearance
5.4.19 Colour
5.4.20 Greetings
5.4.21 Non-verbal polite behaviour
5.5 Language and common sense
5.6 Core reflections on Tongue
5.7 Study assignments
Introduction
The TOPOI area Tongue concerns the verbal and non-verbal language in which
people express themselves. It is the means of communication through which
individuals and groups express their identity, who they are and the meaning
they give to their social and physical reality. In the language of individuals or
groups – vocabulary, language use, grammar – one can recognize their knowledge, views and values. From a young age onwards, people explore, appreciate,
express, give words and bring order to their environment through language.
The language thus acquired is – in the social contexts where people are located – influenced by a shared common sense of self-evident assumptions of what
is true, just, good and normal. Based on their common sense, people express
themselves in a certain way and interpret other people’s language expressions.
When communicating with someone who holds a different common sense
from yourself, and consequently does not share the same assumptions, it is
sometimes difficult to assess what the other is trying to say and how they will
respond to your messages. Successful communication, after all, has a bigger
138
5.1 Context
chance of success when the interlocutors share the same assumptions both as
to the expressions of each person’s intentions and the interpretation of their
messages.
In this chapter we discuss the most important differences in the area of verbal and non-verbal language that can surface in interpersonal communication.
Even though from a research perspective we discuss each aspect of language
separately, in daily practice the various aspects never occur in isolation but always in conjunction and mutual interaction. The meanings of these communication aspects can strengthen or weaken each other: an enthusiastic voice,
a convincing facial expression and a confident choice of words support an oral
report of positive progress on a project. On the other hand, a hesitant voice,
looking away and an unsure choice of words, e.g. ‘I believe so’, will probably
make the same report sound much less credible.
It is expressly not our intention to have readers memorize all the language elements in detail. Rather, this chapter should be read as a journey through the extensive TOPOI area of Tongue, providing an introduction to the many aspects
of verbal and non-verbal language. You can make the journey in different steps
or take small excursions to the subjects of your choice. The goal is to develop
sensitivity to the many differences that can occur in terms of language, both in
the expression as well as the interpretation of another’s verbal and non-verbal
language.
Earlier, we stated that the examples provided relate to ethnicity, nationality and
sometimes religion. They have been provided by those involved or described
this way in the literature. This is also the case in the present chapter. We would
like to emphasize again that these differences are not limited to a particular
group, nationality, ethnicity or religion: they can occur in and across all social
groups. Additionally, the differences can have other backgrounds than merely
cultural or religious ones.
5.1
Context
The context is the situation in which the communication takes place. It is the
circumstances that help you to understand the communication and know how
to act. Edward Hall writes: ‘Context is the information that surrounds an event;
it is inextricably bound up with the meaning of that event’ (Hall & Hall, 1998,
p. 20).
139
5 The TOPOI area Tongue: verbal and non-verbal language
In the following two scenes, the interlocutors do not share the same assumptions regarding the context. They have different views and expectations about
how to act in such a situation; therefore, they misunderstand each other.
Scene 1
At a petrol station in Belgium, a newly employed (Iranian) attendant says to a
customer: ‘Good morning, madam, how are you?’ The (Flemish) woman is surprised, and promptly responds: ‘Full, please.’
Scene 2
In the Netherlands a (Somalian) youngster together with his work mediator visits
a potential (Dutch) employer and greets him with the words: ‘Hello friend.’ The
employer responds irritated with the words: ‘I am not your friend.’
In the next scene, there is a matter of shared knowledge of the context and the
communication runs smoothly and successfully.
Scene 3
Chairman:
Secretary:
Chairman:
‘Do you have the minutes?’
‘Yes, here they are.’
‘Good. Thanks’ (Scollon et al., 2012, p. 29).
Based on the grammar of context of Scollon et al. (2012, pp. 29-39), six key
components of context can be distinguished. In high-context situations especially (see section 5.1.2), involving implicit and indirect communication, paying
attention to these components – also called ‘reading the air’ – helps one to understand the people and the situation.
The six main components of a grammar of context are:
1 Scene, including:
■■ setting: physical location (e.g. conference room, lunchroom, lobby), time
(e.g. at what time, during business hours, international time differences,
use of time), space (e.g. use of space, seating or other positions in space,
personal comfortable space or distance);
■■ purpose of the communication (e.g. meeting, job interview, negotiation);
■■ topic (e.g. the agenda of a meeting, the topic of a lecture, the relevant
topics in an application letter);
■■ genre and script: genre is any speech event, spoken or written, which
has fairly predictable sets of speech acts (i.e. script), participants, topic,
settings or other regularly occurring and conventional forms – meeting,
greeting, making acquaintance, business lunch, small talk, jokes, lecture
etc.
140
5.1 Context
2 Participants:
■■ who they are; the roles they take; their authority, power position, status;
■■ communication style: the way people tell their story and how they structure their argument: direct or indirect; formal or informal; familiar, deductive, inductive or deferential; succinct, exact or elaborated;
■■ conversational rules: what rules do participants apply to structure the
conversation; beginning and end of a conversation, repair strategies.
3 Key: a communication’s tone or mood: relaxed with free conversation and
laughter, serious, embarrassed, enjoyable.
4 Message form: speaking, writing, silence, other media like video.
5 Sequence: the internal structure of the speech situations, which determines
in which order (sequence) events can occur, e.g. a set agenda or an open
agenda for the meeting; question/answer; greeting, a first acquaintance.
6 Manifestation: tacit, implicit or explicit. Some of the components of communication are manifested in explicit language, while others are conveyed
in implicit language or remain tacit, that is to say, unexpressed.
In some of the following subsections regarding verbal and non-verbal language,
a further explanation of key components of the grammar of context will be provided. The component participants will be addressed in Chapters 7 and 8 on
the TOPOI areas Persons and Organization, respectively.
5.1.1
Contextual cues
Contextual cues are a key concept in the work of John Gumperz (1982a; 1982b;
Gumperz & Roberts, 1991). His research includes studies on communication
between people of different ethnic backgrounds. Contextual cues contain all
the verbal and non-verbal language acts during conversation, through which
the genre of the speech event can be established and interpreted. An example
of a contextual cue is the language act ‘How are you?’ through which the genre
of the speech event as a greeting can be established.
The language acts that are characteristic for each genre are the aforementioned
scripts, also called scenarios, schemes or frames. According to Gumperz, interlocutors can understand and express genres and their scripts in various ways.
Miscommunication occurs, according to him, as a result of dissimilar culture-related individual conclusions, presumptions and interpretations by the
interlocutors regarding the ongoing communication. Consider the examples of
the greeting at the petrol station and the employer, where those involved applied different scripts in the same genre of ‘greeting’.
141
5 The TOPOI area Tongue: verbal and non-verbal language
People acquire knowledge of the different genres and their scripts actively during their socialization. In the course of their socialization history, these become
unconscious, self-evident conventions. As a result, these culturally bound conventions reside outside the conscious control of the communication. In communication, they form a commonly unnoticed source of misunderstanding, because interlocutors do not consider that genres and scripts of their language
acts may differ. In the following example, interlocutors unconsciously hold a
different image of the genre ‘business discussion’ and consequently apply a different script of the language acts.
In a Chinese-Dutch business discussion, a Dutch businessman misunderstood
the message (i.e. language act) of his Chinese partner. During the conversation,
the Chinese businessman at one point said, ‘One thing we need more is to have
support from you.’ This request for support was meant as a compliment: ‘You
are able to support me.’ The Chinese businessman saw the conversation as a
positively developing relationship of good faith, reciprocity and a feeling of mutual duties (in China known as the principle of Guanxi). The Dutch businessman,
on the other hand, saw the business discussion as a negotiation between opponents and interpreted the other party’s statement as a sign of distrust (language
act): ‘Apparently, you assume that I did not intend to do so’ (own translation of
Houtkoop & Koole, 2000, p. 125).
5.1.2
High-context and low-context communication
Edward Hall’s concept of ‘high-context and low-context communication’ (1976,
pp. 105-117) is very useful as it reminds us that in some situations, context
plays a larger role in the communication than in others. Hall emphasized that ‘a
high-context communication or message is one in which most of the information
is either in the physical context or internalized in the person, while very little is in
the coded, explicit, or transmitted part of the message’ (1976, p. 91). High-context communication is implicit and not outspoken. Most of the information is
within the context; in other words, in the (assumed) pre-existing knowledge of
the other person. Only a small fraction of the message is verbalized and thus
made explicit; the information is not to be found in verbal messages. Not only
‘what’ is said is important, even more so who says it, how it is being said and also
what is left unsaid. The meaning of the communication is to be deduced from
all kinds of contextual cues, e.g. the setting, non-verbal signals (body language,
silences, hesitation), the characteristics of the person involved (role, status, age,
history), personal relationships, shared background knowledge and implicit
verbal expressions (grammar of context).
142
5.1 Context
In low-context communication, meaning is explicitly communicated through
language. The speaker transfers the information explicitly through verbal messages. In low-context communication, it is mainly about ‘what’ is being said and
less about ‘how’. Low-context communicators emphasize clarity, logics, rationality and effectiveness. Feelings are less important. They have a preference for
communication that is linear and straight to the point. Ambiguity and uncertainty need to be prevented within a low-context style. If the information is not
explicit, detailed and precise, it is considered misleading. Another characteristic is asking for further explanation when things are unclear. Consequently, expressions such as ‘Get to the point’, ‘Don’t beat around the bush’ and ‘Say what
you mean’ reveal a low-context communication style.
Compare this low-context style with what Hall says about someone with a
high-context communication style: ‘When talking about something that they
have on their minds, a high-context individual will expect his interlocutor to
know what’s bothering him, so that he doesn’t have to be specific. The result is
that he will talk around and around the point, in effect putting all the pieces in
place except the crucial one. Placing it properly – this keystone – is the role of his
interlocutor’ (1976, p. 98).
An illustration of a mix of low-context and high-context communication:
Mrs Fatima has come to Amsterdam for three days to visit her son Mohammed,
who is studying there, in his small apartment. She finds out that his fellow student Najat has a room in the same apartment. Mrs Fatima notices how pretty
Mohammed’s flatmate is and how they interact. She thinks that they are having
a relationship and this makes her even more curious. Reading his mother’s mind,
Mohammed says, ‘I know what you’re thinking, but I assure you Najat and I are
just flatmates.’
Two days later Najat says to Mohammed: ‘Since your mother left, I can’t find the
silver sugar pot anywhere. Do you think she took it?’ ‘I doubt it, but I will email
her to check’, Mohammed says.
So he sits down and writes: ‘Dearest mother, I am not saying that you took the
sugar pot from my house and I am not saying you didn’t. But the fact remains
that ever since you left the sugar pot has been missing. Love, Mohammed.’
A few days later Mohammed receives an email from his mother: ‘Dearest son, I
am not saying you’re sleeping with Najat, and I’m not saying you’re not. But the
fact remains that if she were sleeping in her own bed, she would have found the
sugar pot by now. Love, mother.’
143
5 The TOPOI area Tongue: verbal and non-verbal language
Rather than referring to high-context and low-context ‘cultures’ like Hall does
and relating them to countries, e.g. Arab, African, Asian and southern European countries, we prefer to speak of high-context and low-context communication styles and situations to bring attention to the differences within cultures
and between people (see Scollon et al., 2012, pp. 40-41). Even in a country like
Japan, which is known for its high-context culture, some people have a preference for low-context communication, as in the following example about Renhō
Murata, the first woman to be elected leader of the Democratic Party of Japan
in 2016.
Renhō Murata distinguishes herself through straight talk and avoidance of the
vague and diffuse sentence constructions of many Japanese politicians. In her
autobiography she explains: ‘I was raised to speak my mind’ (Knittel, 2016).
On the other hand, in many countries with a dominant low-context culture, a
first-time dinner with the parents of one’s new partner will often be a high-context situation with lots of implicit communication. The interlocutors will probably first closely observe the context – each other’s appearance, age, roles, body
language and other non-verbal acts, tone of voice, language use, choice of topics, etc. – and deduce all kinds of meanings without discussing them explicitly.
5.2
Verbal and non-verbal language
The Tongue area is based on Watzlawick et al.’s (2011, p. 57) axiom: ‘Human
beings communicate both digitally and analogically.’ Instead of the concepts
‘digital’ (digit as in number) and ‘analogue’ (from the Latin analogia: in accor­
dance, similar) we use the concepts ‘verbal’ and ‘non-verbal’. Verbal language,
including written language, is the language of words (verbum = word). Verbal language contains the words and sentences through which people express
themselves and whose meanings are decided by consensus, for instance that a
table is called ‘table’. The connection between the meaning and the subject is
random: ‘There is nothing particularly five-like in the number five; there is nothing particularly table-like in the word “table”’ (Bateson & Jackson quoted in
Watzlawick et al., 2011, p. 55).
The meaning of verbal language can largely be verified, for instance through
dictionaries. Conventions about the meaning of verbal language apply within
a collective. In other collectives, other conventions are followed and other languages are commonly used. One can think of national and local languages, regional languages, dialects, professional and organizational languages, religious
144
5.2 Verbal and non-verbal language
and youth languages, or SMS and chat languages. Verbal language contains a
refined grammar. Sentence constructions allow for nuances, expressing different meanings and incorporating a sense of time. In spite of all this, the meaning
of many verbal messages is multifold: they can be interpreted in various ways.
In this regard, language is ambiguous by nature (Scollon et al., 2012, p. 11).
A simple sentence like ‘I feel like tea’ can have and invokes many meanings,
depending on the situation, on how and to whom it is said – ‘I am going to
make tea’, ‘Would you like to make me a cup of tea?’, ‘Do you also feel like tea?’,
‘Could we have a break?’ etc. Additionally, there is the question as to what imag­
inations interlocutors have of ‘tea’: what kind of tea, in what form and served
in what way? In this regard, there is a distinction between ‘sentence meaning’
and ‘speaker’s meaning’ (Scollon et al., 2012, p. 27). The sentence meaning of ‘I
feel like tea’ is the meaning of the different words in the sentence, which can be
found in a dictionary. The speaker’s meaning, or meta-message, is the meaning
the speaker is trying to express by ‘I feel like tea’. To these concepts, one could
add the receiver’s meaning, the meaning the listener attributes to the words ‘I
feel like tea’. The receiver’s meaning and the speaker’s meaning do not always
coincide in practice (see Chapter 9 on the TOPOI area Intentions for the distinction between intentions and effects in communication).
Non-verbal language is all non-spoken language: gestures, facial expressions,
body language, voice, clothing, make-up, jewellery, the way a room is decorated, response to silence, time and space, smells and colours. Non-verbal language is strongly ambiguous and the same body language can even have contradictory meanings: there are tears of joy and tears of sadness, a clenched fist can
symbolize aggression or containment, silence can be diplomatic or indifferent,
and a smile can express both compassion and contempt.
People constantly convey something non-verbally through body language. Expressions like ‘a disarming smile’, ‘expressive eyes’ and ‘if looks could kill’ all refer to the communicative meaning of the human body’s non-verbal language.
In this regard, people are constantly communicating, even when they are not
speaking. Consider the previously mentioned axiom of ‘one cannot not communicate’ (Watzlawick et al., 2011, p. 50). Non-verbal language plays an important
role in interpersonal relations. It is particularly important for expressing and
interpreting the relationship level of the message. Merely the words ‘I love you’
cannot convey the message that you love someone. Your non-verbal language,
facial expression, voice and posture are needed to make the message convincing.
145
5 The TOPOI area Tongue: verbal and non-verbal language
Albert Mehrabian found that the receiver is more likely to trust the predominant form of communication of a message pertaining to feelings and attitudes,
which according to his findings is non-verbal: the literal meaning of the words
then accounts for just 7%, the way the words are said for 38%, and facial expressions for 55%. This is known as ‘the 7%-38%-55% rule’ (Mehrabian, 1971, pp.
42-43).
This fact is caricatured in the following conversation from a Peanuts cartoon
between Lucy and Schroeder (in Watzlawick et al., 2011, p. 80):
Lucy:
I think I have a very cute smile. (To Schroeder:) I’ve never heard you
say I have a cute smile, Schroeder (…) Do you think I have a cute
smile?
Schroeder: Oh yes, I think you have the cutest smile of anyone since the world
began.
Lucy:
Even when he says it, he doesn’t say it!
A side note to Mehrabian’s rule is that the choice of words remains of great
importance. For example, saying ‘Yes, and …’ is more likely to make the listener less defensive than routinely saying ‘Yes, but …’ in negotiations (Oestreich,
1999, p. 14).
As a result of the ambiguity of both verbal and non-verbal language you can
never have complete control over the meanings, as these are interpreted by the
receiver depending on what you say, express (non-verbally) or write. Consequently, intentions and effects in communication do not always coincide. When
a well-intended manager asks an employee about a project’s progress to see if
she needs any help, this can have an undesired effect, making her feel that she
is being checked up on. ‘Why,’ she responds, ‘do you think I can’t manage by
myself?’
We will now discuss the key aspects in the area of verbal and non-verbal language that can play a role in interpersonal communication.
5.3
Verbal language
5.3.1
Importance of native language
One’s native language or mother tongue is an expression of one’s own personal
identity: who you are and where you are from. Consequently, native language is
146
5.3 Verbal language
deeply connected to self-esteem and emotions. The value of native language is
often underestimated in interactions and conversations with people who have
a different linguistic background. People express their thoughts and feelings
easiest in their native language and can feel inhibited to do so when having to
speak another language. Moreover, native language can have an impact on the
ability to acquire and speak another language through language transfer (see
section 5.3.5).
5.3.2
Speaking in the native language
Considering the importance of native language, it is no wonder that people,
especially in a foreign environment, come together to converse in their native
language. This can become an issue in social situations, for instance during
work breaks or other informal moments. It is understandable that those without command of the language in question feel excluded in such situations. They
do not know what the others are talking about and may sometimes fear that
they are talking negatively about them. Especially when people are laughing
and joking, this can make outsiders feel uncomfortable, because they do not
know why – and perhaps at whom – the others are laughing.
How you – as an outsider – experience others talking in their native language
is partly dependent on your attitude towards that particular language. If you
consider the ‘foreign’ language beautiful and interesting and it gives you positive and pleasant associations, you will likely rate it more positively than when
you find it ‘ugly’ or uninteresting and it gives you negative images. Someone’s
mother tongue can no doubt have added value in a setting where another language is the majority language. Many companies in Austria, for instance, have
Arab-speaking clients and are thus happy to have Syrian employees (former
refugees) who speak Arabic.
5.3.3
Awareness of language positions
In international encounters it can be necessary to resort to a common language.
Often, at least one of the parties needs to have a good command of a foreign
language. In practice, more than just a technical command of the language is
needed: a large vocabulary, good knowledge of the grammar and the right pronunciation. You can be confronted with a high speaking rate of native speakers
and with expressions, slang and jargon you are unfamiliar with.
‘Vijay is a student from India who has just arrived in the United States to attend
graduate school at a major university. Vijay began to learn English in primary
147
5 The TOPOI area Tongue: verbal and non-verbal language
school, and his field is engineering, even his classes in the program leading to
his bachelor’s degree were conducted in English. Vijav considers himself to be
proficient in the English language. Nevertheless, during his first week on campus the language of those around him is bewildering. People seem to talk so
fast that Vijay has difficulty differentiating one word from another. Even when he
recognizes the words, he cannot quite understand what people mean by them.
His dormitory roommate seemed to say, “I’ll catch you later” when he left the
room. The secretary in the departmental office tried to explain to him about his
teaching assistantship and the students assigned to the classes he was helping
to instruct. Her references to students who would attempt to “crash” the course
were very puzzling to him. His new faculty adviser, sensing Vijay’s anxiety about
all of these new situations, told him to “hang loose” and “go with the flow”. When
Vijay inquired of another teaching assistant about the meaning of these words,
the teaching assistant’s only reaction was to shake his head and to say, “Your
adviser’s from another time zone!” Needless to say, Vijay’s bewilderment continued’ (anthropology.msu.edu).
In international encounters, the language position of the interlocutors is a point
of attention. Native speakers of the lingua franca (the decided common language) obviously have a stronger position than those for whom it is a foreign
language. For both parties it demands patience, understanding, time and an
extra effort to come to an equal communicative relationship.
Ming, a student from China, wants to participate in the discussions during classes, but feels overwhelmed by the native speakers in his group. ‘They talk like a
machinegun’, he says, and before he knows how to phrase his contribution in
English and wants to express this, the others have moved on to another topic (retrieved from youtube.com, A different place, the intercultural classroom).
A non-native speaker’s lack of fluency may also influence his/her perceptions
of status or competence.
‘An American member of a US-Japanese team that was assessing the potential
expansion of a US retail chain into Japan, described one American teammate
this way: “He was not interested in the Japanese consultants’ feedback and felt
that because they weren’t as fluent as he was, they weren’t intelligent enough
and, therefore, could add no value.” The team member described was responsible for assessing one aspect of the feasibility of expansion into Japan. Without
input from the Japanese experts, he risked overestimating opportunities and underestimating challenges’ (Brett, Behfar & Kern, 2006, p. 87).
148
5.3 Verbal language
Language differences can make a native speaker doubt someone’s capacities,
or alternatively, make people doubt themselves because communication with a
native speaker is faltering.
Shiva Motaghi Tabari (2012) from Iran mentions the following story:
‘Receptionist:
Shiva:
Receptionist:
Shiva:
Help yourself to a cap!
Pardon me?
Help yourself to a cap!
[blank stare]
This was a conversation I had in the reception area of a storage company on
one of my first days in Australia. (…) As someone who had studied English as
a foreign language in Iran for many years, the general thrust of all these (Merriam-Webster Dictionary) meanings of “cap” was clear to me. The problem was
that none of these meanings of “cap” seemed to make sense in the context in
which I found myself.
While I was frantically trying to figure out in my mind what I was supposed to
help myself to, the receptionist noticed my incomprehension and beckoned me
to follow him into a corner where there was a coffee machine. He pointed at the
coffee machine and slowly started to explain that this was a coffee machine, that
coffee was a beverage, that it was nice, and that Australians liked to drink coffee,
and that there were different types, and that a cappuccino was particularly nice
because it had a frothy top.
As it dawned on me that in the receptionist’s variety of English “cap” had nothing
to do with “coverings” of any kind but was short for “cappuccino”, I was mortified. The receptionist had thought my lack of comprehension was a sign not of
a linguistic problem but of my ignorance and backwardness. I was so offended
that anyone would think a sophisticated Tehrani like myself didn’t know about
coffee! Iranian coffee culture, by the way, dates back to the 9th century! How
dare he be so ignorant, insular and condescending?! Even so, I could not confront
him. Fuming inside, I meekly accepted my bitterest-ever cappuccino. I took all
the blame to myself for not having adequate English to have a smooth communication with “a native speaker”’ (Motaghi Tabari, 2012).
5.3.4
International English
International encounters where all persons involved speak ‘international English’, English as a foreign language with none of the interlocutors having English
as a native language, are nowadays a common situation (Mader & Camerer,
149
5 The TOPOI area Tongue: verbal and non-verbal language
2010, pp. 103-104). However, it would be a mistake to assume that communication in international English is always successful as long as interlocutors
speak sufficient English. After all, international English, as opposed to English
as a native language, is considered not to have any cultural roots, making it
free from ‘intercultural’ differences and misunderstandings. However, hidden
cultural codes, even if not rooted in international English itself, influence the
communication anyway. It is the cultural codes that interlocutors unconsciously transmit through language transfer from their own native language to the
international English, leading to misunderstandings (Mader & Camerer, 2010).
5.3.5
Language transfer
Language transfer can cause unwanted mistakes while speaking a foreign language. Language transfer means that the mother tongue influences the acquisition and use of the foreign language. During the acquisition and use of the
foreign language, a transfer takes place of structures, elements and forms from
the first language to the second. Self-evident rules and principles of the mother
tongue are then transmitted, mostly unconsciously, through generalization to a
second language, for instance English. Language transfer can take a positive or
a negative form. In positive transfers the first and second language are similar.
Using a particular linguistic construction from the first language does not lead
to an error in the second language. If, for instance, the Dutch or German adjective–noun order – ‘een intelligente persoon’ (Dutch) or ‘eine intelligente Person’
(German) – is transferred to English – ‘an intelligent person’ – it has a positive
effect. If it were a transfer to French, it would be a negative transfer because the
correct order in French is noun–adjective: ‘une personne intelligente’. Negative
transfers lead to mistakes in the second language at the level of pronunciation,
intonation, words, form or sentence construction.
A woman who has migrated to Austria from Romania had, when speaking German, referred first to herself and then to others, as she was used to in Romanian, e.g. ‘Ich und meine Freundin’ (‘Me and my [lady] friend’). In German and various other languages, it is more polite to mention the other person first and then
yourself, perhaps from an assumption that it is egocentric to put yourself first.
Often, this had led to the comment, ‘Ja, der Esel nennt sich immer zuerst’ (‘Yes,
the donkey always mentions itself first’). For a long time she did not understand
what was meant by this. She sensed she was doing something wrong, but did
not know what.
In particular, the form – the way in which you say things (or not) which is normal to you – can differ from what a native speaker is used to. Examples of po-
150
5.3 Verbal language
tential critical communication functions are refusing/rejecting, contradicting,
instructing, criticizing, disagreeing, making and receiving compliments, complaining and dealing with complaints (Mader & Urkun, 2010, p. 17). A French
teacher sums up several frequent misunderstandings in the use of the French
language, based on her experiences with students in Flanders, Belgium:
‘My main experience is that learning/teaching a language at a more advanced
level is not just a matter of grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary. Even if a student speaks French quite correctly, his or her attitude can be considered rather
rude in certain contexts:
■■ Students are quite direct. During the first courses, I spend quite a lot of time
on “l’accueil” i.e. the way you greet and welcome someone, social talk, how
you ask him/her a question, how to say thank you and bye. French-speaking
partners repeat their “formules de politesse”: “Merci, merci beaucoup, c’est
très gentil de votre part.” Or: “Merci, au revoir, à la prochaine. Bonne continuation et bonne journée à vous”, while Flemish students say this once.
■■ I ask my students to introduce their question, e.g. by saying, “Excusez-moi,
Madame, j’ai une petite question à vous poser” or “Pardon Madame, pourriez-vous m’aider?” Flemish students tend to be very direct and to the point.
Their way of asking a question can be considered as too intrusive by the
French-speaking partner. Students use a lot of questions with “où/quand/
comment/combien/pourquoi” e.g. during a job interview a student may ask:
“Combien je vais gagner?”’
5.3.6
Pronunciation and accent
Correct pronunciation of a foreign language can be very difficult, especially
when certain sounds of letters and words don’t exist in one’s own language. The
Korean author Chang-rae Lee writes in his novel Native speaker:
‘I thought English would be simply a version of our Korean. Like another kind
of coat you could wear. I didn’t know what a difference in language meant then.
Or how my tongue would tie in the initial attempts, stiffen so, struggle like an
animal booby-trapped and dying inside my head. Native speakers may not fully
know this, but English is a scabrous mouthful. In Korean, there are no separate
sounds for L and R, the sound is singular and without a baroque Spanish trill
or roll. There is no B and V for us, no P and F. I always thought someone must
have invented certain words to torture us. Frivolous. Barbarian. I remember my
father saying, Your eyes all led, staring at me after I’d smoked pot the first time,
and I went to my room and laughed until I wept. I will always make bad errors
151
5 The TOPOI area Tongue: verbal and non-verbal language
of speech. (…) Sometimes I’ll still say riddle for little, or bent for vent, though
without any accent and so whoever’s present just thinks I’ve momentarily lost
my train of thought. (…) In kindergarten, kids would call me “Marble Mouth” because I spoke in a garbled voice, my bound tongue wrenching itself to move in
the right ways’ (Lee, 1995, pp. 233-234).
Correct pronunciation of the language is important in order to be understood
clearly and to be evaluated positively, especially by native speakers (Horner,
2010, p. 50). Some native speakers are more intolerant of pronunciation errors
than of mistakes in the grammar or choice of words.
Accent, how one sounds, also has a big impact on how a person is perceived.
There is substantial evidence that non-native accents are subject to negative
evaluations by native speakers, and may ‘be personally downgraded because of
their foreign accent’ and accorded ‘a lack of competence in many spheres’ (Leather & Ryan quoted in Horner, 2010, p. 50). The evaluation of a person based on
his or her accent is dependent on the strength of the non-native accent and the
status that some foreign accents have for certain groups of native (and non-native) speakers. The social context in which native speakers encounter a foreign
accent plays an important role in their evaluation of the relevant accent. Naturally, some native speakers show understanding for the pronunciation and accent of non-native speakers, especially in cases where a majority of non-native
speakers are conversing. Mistakes in pronunciation and lack of mutual understanding can be amusing as well.
A Chinese participant in a workshop complained about the fact she was repeatedly asked whether it was true that the Chinese really ate dog meat. In the discussion that followed, a participant from Italy carefully participated. He hesitantly admitted that he had eaten duck only last week, that he thought it was really
tasty and that in Italy it was quite common to eat duck. The other participants,
and he himself, burst into laughter when they realized that he had consistently
mistaken ‘dog’ for ‘duck’.
5.3.7
Vocabulary
Differences in the vocabulary of a language are partly caused by the differing
demands that physical and social circumstances impose on people. In other
words, a community develops a language that gives words to the differentiation
of the prevailing social and physical life circumstances that are relevant in that
community. Language is not, however, a reproduction or direct representation
of the outside world, but a reconstruction of the world. This reconstruction is
152
5.3 Verbal language
always incomplete and non-identical. Alfred Korzybski says that language can
be compared to an area map. You must keep in mind, he says, that like a map,
imaginations of reality that people create through language can never really
display the full reality. In other words, ‘A map is not the territory it represents
…’ (Korzybski, 1994, p. 58).
Language does not mirror reality, but reconstructs reality in words; language
gives words to reality. The wording of reality can differ per collective, thus leading to different languages and different meanings given to the same reality. In
the following example a difference in climatological circumstances gives a different meaning to the concepts ‘sun’ and ‘shade’.
A Moluccan organization organized a conference titled ‘Sombar dalam hidup’.
(‘Moluccan’ refers to the indigenous inhabitants of the Maluku Islands, also called
the Moluccas, which have been part of Indonesia since 1950. A large number of
Moluccans have since emigrated to Europe, with the Netherlands as the chief
destination.) The meaning of this title gave rise to misunderstanding. Sombar
dalam hidup in Bahasa Indonesia – the Indonesian language – means ‘the shady
sides of life’. Most Dutch participants interpreted this differently than the organization had intended. With shady sides of life, the organization – from a ‘tropical’
perspective – had referred to the cool resting places in life where one can relax. In
the Netherlands, on the other hand, with its sea climate and relatively little sun,
shady sides of life will more likely refer to sad events, and sunny sides to pleasant
and good moments. A difference in natural environments makes for a difference
in the meaning of the expression ‘the shady sides of life’.
A similar case due to climate differences struck a Somalian immigrant to the
Netherlands regarding the Dutch expression for giving someone a lot of attention and care: ‘We zullen moeder eens lekker in het zonnetje zetten’, literally
translated: ‘We will put mother in the lovely sun’ – a quaint expression from a
Somalian point of view.
5.3.8
Denotative and connotative meaning of words
The objective, public meaning of a word that can be looked up in a dictionary
is the denotative meaning of a word. The connotative meaning of a word are the
side meanings, associations, thoughts, images and feelings that a word invokes,
as in the earlier example about ‘sun’ and ‘shade’. These are subjective and can
differ greatly between groups and individuals.
Words and expressions have their own connotations for people, partly as a
result of experiences people have had in their social contexts.
153
5 The TOPOI area Tongue: verbal and non-verbal language
‘Many Indonesian participants could not manage to do an oral assignment in a
Dutch language course. Based on several pictures, they were supposed to tell a
story with the title “Pieter has a new dog”. The pictures showed different situations that you can experience with a new, untrained dog as a pet. Because the Indonesian participants were unfamiliar with having dogs as pets, the word “dog”
raised very different connotations than what could be seen on the pictures’ (own
translation of Van Baalen, Beheydt & Van Kalsbeek, 2003, p. 39).
Misunderstandings take place when interlocutors share more or less the same
concepts, but attach different meanings to them. When they use the same concepts in communication, they often assume to know what the other person
means and that she or he has the same interpretation of it. One such assumption almost led to a very expensive misunderstanding in the international cooperation between KLM and Alitalia.
Airline company KLM was liable to pay Alitalia a 270-million fine for breaking off
cooperation with the Italians. This was the outcome in 2002 of an arbitration
case started by Alitalia in 2000. The arbitration committee came to its decision
based on an interpretation of three words: ‘in good faith’. Alitalia and KLM had
made several agreements in good faith about their intended merger. The Italian legislation attaches a much heavier weight to the words ‘in good faith’ than
Anglo-Saxon law, which KLM could have checked when it started the merger
process with Alitalia. KLM was now liable to pay 270 million euros because of a
different connotation of three words (NRC Handelsblad, 2002; Brinkmann, n.d.).
This shows the importance of inquiring what the various concepts, even if they
appear self-evident, mean to the persons involved and trying to make explicit
how they interpret them.
Some examples:
■■ ‘negotiation’: ‘creating a framework for building trust, relationship and
long-term cooperation so that two parties can work together for the benefit
of both’ or ‘drafting a one-time agreement with contract-based absolutes’
(Neidel, 2010);
■■ ‘contract’: ‘a detailed, definitive, not-to-be-altered business agreement’; ‘a
general, to be altered, provisional agreement to serve as a basis for establishing trust personally and business-wise’ or ‘a basic agreement for further
discussion within one’s own organization’;
■■ ‘deadline’: ‘an established date that may absolutely not be exceeded’ or ‘a
date in principle that can be exceeded by with some days or even weeks’;
154
5.3 Verbal language
■■ ‘copyright’: ‘legal protection against copying a product’ or ‘the right of others to copy a product’;
■■ ‘cooperation’: ‘collectively working on a product’ or ‘everyone working individually on their contribution to a collective product’;
■■ ‘family’: ‘parents and their children’ or ‘the wider family including grandparents, aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews’.
5.3.9
Translation and connotation
The many previous examples show the wideness of the distance that can exist between the cultures that languages are embedded in. People who learn a
foreign language are not only confronted with unfamiliar linguistic elements
such as new words and grammar, but sometimes even more so with cultural
and individual differences in connotation. Consequently, in spite of a correct
translation, a word can still have a different connotative meaning to someone,
and the meaning of a word to someone can then only be expressed in one’s own
language. Consider the next example:
‘Two German-Jewish emigrants who have fled Nazism in Europe run into each
other in New York years later. “Well, are you happy?” the first one asks. “Yes, I am
happy, aber glücklich bin ich nicht”, the other one answers’ (own translation of
Beheydt, 2003, p. 17).
This anecdote illustrates once again the importance of the native language in
which people can express themselves best, especially when it comes to feelings.
The following example shows how during the Bush administration the translation of the words ‘sorry’ and ‘regret’ into Chinese by the US government did not
satisfy the Chinese government. They considered this a grave error and as such
expected different words for the apology.
‘An American espionage airplane had collided with a Chinese fighter plane, an
incident that resulted in the Chinese pilot’s death. The US had expressed its sorrow for the loss of the pilot’s life and Foreign Secretary, Colin Powell, had even
uttered the word “sorry”. In Chinese, however, nuances are very important. The
expression of regret and sorrow was translated by the official press agency Xinhua with “yihan”. For the Chinese, this is an expression of sorrow without admitting one’s own fault. Beijing hence called this expression of sorrow “a step in
the right direction”, but emphasized that a full apology including recognition of
the responsibility for the accident had to follow. In that case, a simple “duibuqi”
would have sufficed. This is the equivalent of “sorry” when accidently standing
on someone’s toes. But no, the Chinese were aiming for “daoqian”, which liter-
155
5 The TOPOI area Tongue: verbal and non-verbal language
ally means “I speak of my mistake”. It is the most formal way to admit that one
has made a big mistake. Just to show how fine the lines between these words
are: the comparable term “baoqian” is slightly too weak. The difference is hard
to assess. “Baoqian” would rather mean: “I cherish the feeling of failure”’ (own
translation of Vermeulen, 2001).
5.3.10 Interpersonal verbal communication styles
Someone’s communication style, talking style or register is a meta-message:
a message-about-the-message expressing how the receiver should accept and
interpret a verbal message. It is what gives colour and packaging to a message.
In addition to the aforementioned high-context and low-context styles, other communications styles can be distinguished which are mutually connected,
and sometimes overlap and mix. William Gudykunst and Stella Ting-Toomey
(1988, pp. 99-116) distinguish four dimensions of interpersonal verbal communication styles (see Figure 5.1).
Comparable to the distinction between personal and contextual style is that
between inductive and deductive style (Scollon et al., 2012, p. 92). An inductive
communication style places the minor points of the argument first and then derives the main point (or comment) as a conclusion from those arguments. The
inductive structure can be sketched out as follows:
Because of
Y (topic, background or reasons) leads to
X (comment, main point or suggested action)
An example of inductive communication style is Erin Meyer’s experience during a workshop for Chinese CEOs on how to work effectively with Europeans:
‘I asked the class: “What steps should the team leader in this case study take to
manage different attitudes towards confrontation on the team?”
Lilly Li (…), who had been running operations in Hungary for two years, raised
her hand: “Trust has been a big challenge for us, as Hungarians do not take the
same time to build personal relationships as we do in China.”
Now I was a little confused, because the question I’d asked was about confrontation, not trust. Had she misunderstood me? (…) Lilly Li continued to talk for several minutes about trust, hierarchy, and her experiences in Hungary. The Chinese
participants listened carefully.
156
5.3 Verbal language
1a Direct style: a direct style of verbal communication means that a
speaker formulates his or her goals,
intentions and wishes rather explicitly in verbal messages. The speaker
uses precise and concrete words like
‘I’, ‘absolutely’, ‘with certainty’ and
‘most definitely’.
1b Indirect style: an indirect style of communication is characterized by more implicit
phrasing of a speaker’s goals and intentions.
Verbal messages hide and camouflage the
speakers’ intentions. In the indirect talking
style, emphasizing occurs through intonation, by accentuation or by repeating words
several times.
2a Instrumental style: an instrumental
communication style is characterized by goal-oriented and sender-oriented language. The speaker
takes her/himself, and the message
she or he wants to transfer to the
other person, as a starting point.
2b Affective style: an affective style is receiver-­
oriented and process-oriented. The speaker
utilizes expressive non-verbal language in
the form of strong and emotional intonation
and a high vocal pitch. He or she expects
that the listener has a more intuitive sensitivity to meanings that exceed the literal
meaning of the words. Spoken words should
merely be interpreted as indications of
reality, not as accurate facts (see also Park,
1979; Okabe, 1983).
3a Personal style: the personal style cen- 3b Contextual style: in a contextual style lantralizes the individuality, the ‘I’. Typiguage is used to focus on the group; not
cally, the expression of the s­ peaker’s
everything is formulated explicitly, because
identity is emphasized through
much can be deduced from the context.
the use of personal pronouns and
This style is more oriented on status, foradverbs of place and time. In the permality and hierarchal relations of power or
sonal style the emphasis lies more
authority. Korea, for instance, uses special
on informality and equal relations,
vocabularies based on differences in gender,
aiming at main issues first and side
social status, degree of intimacy and formal
issues later.
situations (Yum, 1987). A speaker with a
contextual style begins with background
information before carefully sensing how
the other responds to comments that are
indirectly related to the topic, and only then
addresses the real issue.
4a Succinct style: the succinct style is
characterized by understatements,
pauses and silence. In this dimension Gudykunst and Ting-Toomey
(1988, p. 105) also distinguish an
exacting communication style, which
means that a speaker’s contribution
contains ‘neither more nor less information than is required’.
4b Elaborate style: an elaborate style is characterized by flowery language. The elaborate
style is a talking style, mainly aimed at sharing the experience of the story. The stories
are expressive and rich in metaphors, exaggerations, elaborations and adjectives. It is
about the experience rather than the words.
As one Surinamese man said, ‘Mi graboe, na
tori’ – ‘I fully understand and feel the story’
(Budike, 1984).
Figure 5.1
Four dimensions of interpersonal verbal communication styles
157
5 The TOPOI area Tongue: verbal and non-verbal language
After several long minutes of interesting comments that had – from my perspective – absolutely zero to do with the question I’d asked, Lilly came to the point:
“If the team leader had spent more time helping the team build relationships
outside of the meeting, they would have been much more comfortable dealing
with debate and direct confrontation.”
All afternoon long, the participants’ answers followed a similar pattern: After taking several minutes to discuss peripheral information, they would loop back to
the point’ (Meyer, 3 April 2014).
A deductive communication style, on the other hand, places the topic at the beginning, after which the minor or supporting arguments are presented. Graphically, the deductive structure is as follows:
X (comment, main point or suggested action)
Because of
Y (topic, background or reasons)
Often, you don’t immediately realize the difference in communication style.
This leads to miscommunication, with a negative evaluation as a possible consequence: those with a direct, deductive communication style judge the other
– with an indirect, inductive talking style – as vague, unmotivated, uncooperative, secretive, too general, not on point or not an expert.
An example is an Indian applicant who is questioned about the main tasks in his
previous job. He starts by listing his ancillary tasks before going on to mention
his main tasks. The (English) interviewers lose their attention and do not even
hear the applicant’s real answer (Gumperz, 1979).
Conversely, someone with an indirect talking style can experience the other
person – with a direct style – as too direct, curious, impolite, aggressive, business-like and cold.
A (Dutch) manager says, ‘Our production facilities are based in Malaysia (…). Whenever there were problems, we would email our questions: sharp, direct questions
with a certain undertone of irritation. That didn’t work with the people there. They
are used to saying something indirectly. They thought there was a catch to the direct questions. After two or three months, someone dared to respond by saying,
“Don’t be so angry.” After that, I started writing emails in a different way: I asked a
question in such a way that I gave them the feeling I needed them to solve a problem. In that way, I showed my appreciation. From then on, things went smoothly’
(own translation of Van Bemmel, Krolis & Machielse, 1993, p. 28).
158
5.3 Verbal language
Some higher education teachers that work from a low-context style have problems with the inductive style of some students in their international groups
(McLean & Ransom, 2005). In the eyes of their teachers, these students do not
come to the point when writing; they come across as doubting, elaborating too
much, addressing the main issue very late in their papers, digressing and not
being able to distinguish between main and side issues. Possibly, these students
are trying to develop a relationship with the reader and establish a common basis of concepts and views. These students could see a linear logic style of writing
as a ‘giveaway’: there is no point in continuing reading, because the most important statements are typically made in the first sentence.
5.3.11 Implicit language
One characteristic of a high-context and indirect communication style is an
implicit use of language: what is being said should not be taken literally but can
have another, sometimes even contradictory meaning. Metaphors, expressions,
imagery and proverbs are obvious examples of such implicit language.
Reasons for someone’s implicit use of language may be: being less used to emphasizing ‘I’, caution and safety (can the other be trusted?), not wanting to speak
openly about one’s feelings, or politeness. To understand what is meant by ‘You
must come for dinner’, the receiver must be attentive to more aspects than the
mere content of the message. The intonation, choice of words, body language
of the speaker, the relationship with that person and the context as a whole will
indicate the credibility of such a message.
Duncan Green, a strategic adviser for Oxfam, posted a translation table explaining the truth behind British politeness (Philipson, 2013). He described it as ‘a
handy guide for our fellow Europeans and others trying to fathom weaselly Britspeak’. The table reveals that when a person from Britain begins a sentence with
‘With the greatest respect …’, she or he actually means ‘I think you are an idiot’,
and ‘I’m sure it’s my fault’ actually means ‘It’s your fault’ (The Telegraph, 2013).
Implicit expressions intended ironically can also be confusing. In those situations, the speaker says something different or opposite from what they actually
mean, such as the Dutch expressions ‘Jij bent een mooie!’ (literally: you are a
beautiful one, but actually meaning: you are being mean/unfriendly), or ‘Dat
moet je vooral doen’ (literally: you should definitely do that, but actually meaning: don’t even think about it!).
159
5 The TOPOI area Tongue: verbal and non-verbal language
Moreover, greetings are often implicit in the sense that they should not be taken literally. In many cases they are a form of socially desirable behaviour, aimed
at maintaining and confirming relationships with others. A greeting with the
question ‘How are you’ is often not intended to hear how the other is really
doing.
An (Austrian) student on holiday in Mexico was initially annoyed with the Americans and Canadians he met while travelling, who would greet him with ‘How are
you?’ or ‘How are you doing?’ without being interested in his reply. Some would
not even wait for a reply, but simply walk away and, without giving him a chance
to answer, say ‘Me too’. Only later, the student found out that this was merely a
greeting and that a reply like ‘I’m fine’ was sufficient.
5.3.12 Meanings of ‘yes’ and ‘no’
A frequently mentioned challenge regarding implicit language is when someone says ‘yes’ without necessarily meaning that an agreement will be met or that
something is understood.
Saying ‘yes’ can have different meanings; in addition to confirming a question or request it can also mean ‘maybe’, ‘I’ll think about it’, ‘I hear what you’re
saying’ or ‘go on with your story’. The latter meaning of ‘yes’ in conversation is
called a verbal backchannel (see section 5.3.17). The listener is only trying to
express politeness and attention. For example, native English-speaking teachers
have sometimes reported misinterpreting students’ nods coupled with vocalizations of ‘yes’ and ‘mhm’ at seemingly appropriate times as displays of understanding, rather than simply polite expressions of attention. When much later
those teachers discovered that students have not understood them, they have
reported feeling perplexed and/or even slightly irritated by what they perceived
to be mixed signals (Cutrone, 2010, p. 15).
Moreover, answering ‘yes’ to a question whether something is understood or
will be done can be an answer on the relationship level rather than an answer
to the content of the question. The ‘yes’ on the relationship level is then, for instance, a politeness phrase to avoid loss of face, either of oneself or of the other.
Of oneself, because someone finds it difficult to confess that he or she did not
understand, or is in fact unable or unwilling to fulfil the request. Loss of face of
the other because it might seem as if he or she did not explain it well or because
he or she may be disappointed. In case of the latter, a positive answer to a request can mean ‘I will try to do it’, and not ‘I will definitely do it’.
160
5.3 Verbal language
A Gambian partner in a development project talking about his Dutch partner,
Fred: ‘In our culture you don’t outwardly say no to somebody’s request. You tend
to agree and make a trial. (…) If Fred tells me, “You think we can do this”, even
if it is difficult, I’ll say yes (…). Then I make several attempts to make sure we do
that. But when we fail, Fred always tells me: “But you promised you were going
to do this and you didn’t do it!”’ (Zindel, 2009, p. 71)
The opposite, ‘no’ actually meaning ‘yes’, also happens.
In Java (Indonesia), if you are from a European country and answer ‘no’ when
asked to join someone for dinner, this is sometimes followed by a second question: ‘Is that a Javanese “no” or a European “no”?’ The European ‘no’ stands for
a sincere ‘no’, while the Javanese ‘no’ means ‘Yes please, but you will have to
insist a little longer.’ Out of politeness and as a formality, people may turn down
an offer several times before accepting. They find it impolite to take an offer for
granted.
It can occur that, even when you have indicated that you do not want anything
(more) to eat or drink, your host keeps insisting on you having food or drinks.
Perhaps this means that your refusal was taken for ritual politeness rather than
a sincere ‘no’.
5.3.13 Humour
Humour is also a form of implicit language. Humour is often used as a powerful
speech act for breaking the ice, building relationships or defusing a difficult situation. However universal, the idea of ‘funny’ is rarely translatable and is highly
personal and context-specific (Reimann, 2010).
A British marketing director working for a Japanese car company stated: ‘The
Dutch and German directors were arguing, vehemently putting their points of
view forward and aggressively disagreeing with each other. The Japanese managing director became increasingly uncomfortable with this atmosphere and intervened, saying, “Perhaps now you would like to hear my comments.” The British sales director [Mike] responded, “Oh, we don’t want to hear your comments.”
The Japanese managing director then walked out of the meeting, presumably to
avoid losing face as he was close to losing his temper. The marketing director ran
after the managing director to impress upon him that “Mike was just joking.” The
Japanese managing director replied, “I realize that, but it was not appropriate.”
Clearly Mike was trying to lighten the atmosphere with a bit of sarcasm, but it
went badly wrong’ (Rudlin, 2014).
161
5 The TOPOI area Tongue: verbal and non-verbal language
5.3.14 Topics
‘It was my first dinner party in France and I was chatting with a Parisian couple.
All was well until I asked what I thought was a perfectly innocent question “How
did the two of you meet?” My husband Eric (who is French) shot me a look of
horror. When we got home he explained: “We don’t ask that type of question to
strangers in France. It’s like asking them the colour of their underpants”’ (Meyer,
30 May 2015).
The topics that are addressed in a conversation can be sensitive, and in some
cases this can be related to taboos. In any conversation, it can be wise to be
attentive when it comes to potentially sensitive topics. At the same time, an
attitude of respect, friendliness and openness is in the end decisive in communication; often, being an outsider allows you to address topics that would
otherwise be taboo.
In the Dutch TV documentary Langs de oevers van de Yangtze (Along the shores
of the Yangtze river) Ruben Terlou visits a mother and daughter. Ruben asks the
daughter: ‘What do you think about marriage?’ The mother laughs and when Ruben asks why she is laughing, she answers, ‘You’re asking a sensitive question.
We shouldn’t do that, but you can’ (npo.nl, 11:25’’).
5.3.15 The principle of cooperation in a conversation
Who opens the conversation? When can I take the turn to speak? May I interrupt someone? How long can I speak during my turn? How is the question-and-answer process structured? How to end a conversation? How to respond to pauses and silences? How a conversation develops is always uncertain
beforehand. Interlocutors construct a conversation together. While doing so,
they unconsciously apply Paul Grice’s ‘cooperation principle’. Grice (1975) suggested that conversation is based on a shared principle of cooperation, i.e. that
participants expect that each will make a ‘conversational contribution such as
is required, at the stage at which it occurs, by the accepted purpose or direction
of the talk exchange’ (1975, p. 41). But the conversational contribution as is required and the purpose or direction of the talk exchange are subjective.
They can be fulfilled in various ways. For many people, it is common that a
question is followed by an answer. For others this is not self-evident: not every
question needs to be answered. An illustration of this is the following Yiddish
joke.
162
5.3 Verbal language
A young man is sitting next to an older gentleman on the train. When the young
man asks the gentleman if he knows what time it is, he answers ‘no’. The young
man asks for clarification: ‘What do you mean?’ The man answers, ‘If I tell you
what time it is, we will start a conversation. You will ask me where I’m going. It
will turn out we have the same destination. I will have to invite you over for dinner. I have a young unmarried daughter at home; and I don’t want her to marry
someone that doesn’t own a watch’ (own translation of Vink, 2001, p. 35).
In order to mutually construct a conversation, several interactional rules are
relevant (Appel, 1992, p. 23):
■■ How a conversation is started and ended.
■■ Turn-taking: how the changing of turns is organized.
■■ Various ways to connect, such as:
• Correcting the other, interrupting, letting the other finish.
• Verbally and non-verbally confirming that you are following the story
and are awaiting what happens next.
• Connecting on a content level: a request for information, for example, is
then followed by a message.
• Being actively involved by making suggestions, agreeing, and making
counterarguments.
■■ Consecutive expressions, e.g. greeting–greeting in response, apology–minimization (e.g. ‘no problem’), promise–acceptance/denial, question–answer,
request–granting, statement–response.
The content and shape interlocutors give to these interactional rules can vary.
As this can give rise to misunderstanding, below we elaborate on a few of them.
5.3.16 Turn-taking
From a young age, people learn to take turns in communicative situations, and
this helps to give shape to conversations later in life (see the youtube.com link
(turn-taking) in the literature references).
How and when someone changes turn in a conversation can vary greatly: a
person can wait (sometimes with a longer silence than the other person is used
to) until someone has finished or until she or he is invited to say something; a
person can interrupt the speaker; the speaker can verbally or non-verbally communicate that it is the listener’s turn to say something, for instance by asking a
question or lowering her or his tone to show that she or he is done speaking and
is waiting for a response. All these ways of turn-taking can be appreciated to
various degrees. Interrupting someone can be seen as impolite or as active in-
163
5 The TOPOI area Tongue: verbal and non-verbal language
volvement. Letting someone finish completely, allowing for silence before starting to speak, can be experienced either as pleasant and calm or as stiff and slow.
A (Dutch) professor visiting Finland says, ‘While visiting Finland, a dinner with
Finnish colleagues was organized in my honour. I did not leave to the hotel with a
pleasant feeling afterwards. The conversations stalled, the atmosphere was stiff,
even though the people were not unfriendly to me. As I came to Finland more often, I came to realize it had not been a bad night at all. The Finns show little emotion and have a different speaking rhythm. They let each other finish, allow for
silence, and only then the other person starts speaking. For us Dutch-speaking
people, this leads to very slow conversations from our perspective, since people are used to interrupt each other and to complement each other’s sentences’
(own translation of Eskes & Bergman, 2010, p. 20).
5.3.17 Giving verbal attention: backchannels
During conversation, you show that you are listening and giving attention to
the speaker. You show that you are involved and that you are trying to make
contact with the speaker. Giving attention to the speaker happens through socalled ‘backchannels’ (Yngve in Lambertz, 2011). Backchannels are short verbal
and non-verbal messages that the listener is sending out during a conversation
without claiming the conversational floor. Examples of non-verbal backchannels are nodding, gazing, smiling, laughing, pursing one’s lips, brow furrowing
with eyes widening and other facial expressions. Giving attention non-verbally
is further discussed in section 5.4.
Verbal backchannels can be distinguished in three categories: 1) non-lexical
backchannels, which are vocalic sounds that have little or no referential meaning, such as in English ‘uh-huh’, ‘yeah’, ‘hm’, ‘right’, ‘okay’ and ‘oh’; 2) phrasal backchannels, which are typical expressions of acknowledgement and assessment,
such as ‘really’ and ‘yes’; and 3) substantive backchannels, being turns with referential content such as a repetition, sentence completion, brief statements or
a clarifying question (Wasaki in Lambertz, 2011).
For the speaker, backchannels are very important to know whether the listener
is following, is involved with, empathizes with and understands the story. Misunderstanding can occur when, in the speaker’s experience, the listener does
not show, with the right frequency or in the right way, that she or he has attention for the speaker. There can be differences in timing, amount or style of attention giving. In case of too few (recognizable) backchannels, the speaker can
164
5.3 Verbal language
feel uncomfortable, sensing that the other does not have real attention for him
or her or is not really making contact.
5.3.18 Forms of address
The forms of address in a language mirror the social structure of a language
community. German, for example, has two forms of address: ‘Sie’ (‘you’, formal)
and ‘du’ (‘you’, informal), which is comparable to the French ‘vous’ versus ‘tu’
and the Spanish ‘usted’ versus ‘tú’. English does not seem to distinguish between
a formal and informal tense, and only provides ‘you’. However, English-speaking communities do have social differences too. These are expressed in a different way, for instance through the difference between the direct address by first
name or by last name added to Mr, Mrs/Ms or Miss, or the use of Madam/Sir.
A (Belgian) businesswoman in Thailand was bothered by the fact that Thai men
often address her with ‘sir’. She thought these men were making fun of her. On
one occasion, she lashed out irritated to a man and asked him to stop calling
her ‘sir’. The man was shocked and did not seem to understand what she meant.
Kat Tosi explains that this is a matter of a mistake in language transfer. ‘The English language as spoken in Thailand is special indeed. At first it left me scratching
my head in bewilderment. I was especially confused that the majority of Thai
men were calling me “sir”. “Sawadee ka” is how a woman says hello in Thai [to
men and women] with “Sawadee krap” being the male version. The “ka” is a
speaker-based gender marker that defines a woman speaker, just as the “krap”
lets the listener know the speaker is a man. Almost every sentence in Thai ends
with a “ka” (for female speakers) or a “krap” (for male speakers) because it is the
polite form of speech. I become a “sir” as the result of Thai being translated into
English when a male speaker translates the “krap” on the end of his sentence [as
“sir”, actually referring to himself as a male speaker]’ (Tosi, 2000).
Differences in address are often related to the mentioning of titles, such as Dr
or Professor or addressing a person by their first or last name. International students socialized in a more hierarchal system where they have learned to address
their teachers with ‘Professor’, their title and their last name, often have trouble
getting used to an educational culture where teachers prefer to be called by
their first name and to be addressed with the informal ‘you’.
5.3.19 Politeness
Politeness (or courtesy) is concerned with the building of positive relationships,
particularly in first and second encounters (Camerer & Mader, 2010, p. 17). It is
165
5 The TOPOI area Tongue: verbal and non-verbal language
often in these encounters that the ground is laid for the nature of the relationship and its success or failure rate in the medium to long term. The ability to
interact with a required degree of politeness in encounters with people with a
different cultural background is not easy to acquire, as politeness conventions
and strategies differ so greatly from culture to culture, language to language
and person to person. Additionally, within cultures there are different forms
of politeness, depending on, amongst others, social positions, profession, hierarchical positions, kinship, age, gender and setting (business, friends, family).
Politeness can be expressed non-verbally (see section 5.4) and verbally. Verbal
expressions are performed by language use, e.g. the frequent use in German of
the so-called ‘Zauberwort’ (magic word) ‘bitte’ (please); the choice of words,
e.g. ‘we’ plus ‘need to’ or ‘have to’ rather than their more direct and face-threatening semantic counterparts, ‘you’ and ‘must’ (Handford & Matous, 2011, p.
95); communication style (straightforward, explicit or avoiding/implicit); and
form of address (formal or informal). There are various ways for people to show
politeness towards one another, and different people may have different expectations about how these should be applied. What may be regarded as a perfectly
acceptable and appropriate convention for one person may be totally unacceptable for another. You should therefore have some knowledge of the existing
politeness conventions that apply in a particular encounter (see the example of
the French teacher in section 5.3.5), and you should be aware of possible signals
and reactions which may signify irritation, confusion or even anger. As well as
perceiving these signals, it is also necessary to be able to deal with them in an
appropriate way. The ability to use language politely to maintain, or possibly
repair, relationships is therefore a key factor in diversity-sensitive communication (Camerer & Maderer, 2010, p. 17). Here is an example of someone who in
spite of having a good command of three foreign languages is still considered
impolite and hence unpleasant.
‘A Hungarian chemical engineer (…) working for a multinational company, was
fluent in English, French and German. She had been using these languages in
day-to-day professional communication both formally and informally for over
a decade. Yet, it took her several years to discover that the reason why she was
experiencing some difficulty in personal communication with her native speaker
partners was that she seemed too blunt and straightforward to them, especially
with her complaints and criticism. (…) they could not understand why someone
who was fluent in her language use was not “fluent in her attitudes”. Her partners
had interpreted this as contradictory and put it down to a disagreeable personality’ (Huber-Kriegler, Lázár & Strange, 2003, p. 34).
166
5.3 Verbal language
5.3.20 Email communication
In international contact, email is a frequently used means of communication.
Often, people do not realize that email communication has its own unique
characteristics. In addition to the points mentioned with regard to verbal language, email communication is sensitive to misunderstandings and conflict due
to its particular form.
Research suggests that there is an altering or reduction of the normal conventions of politeness in email discourse (Murphy & Levy, 2015). The lack of social
context cues such as certain body language messages, which are apparent in
face-to-face communication, may pose a barrier in email communication. In
face-to-face contact, one receives immediate feedback through body language
cues, word choice and voice intonation and so on, to adjust strategies for any
necessary face-saving or face-building work during the course of the interaction. According to Erving Goffman, ‘Face [is] the positive social value a person
claims for himself’ (1967, p. 5). In email communication, however, the participants cannot immediately adjust to the necessary and expected level of politeness in the interaction. This is due to the lack of shared contexts of communication and a difficulty in clarifying or repairing breakdowns in communication. In
addition, the decontextualized nature of email may hinder the writer in knowing how to express politeness in the message, especially if the communication
partner is unknown and ‘culturally different.’ It is often not obvious what forms
of social etiquette are appropriate at any given time in international email communication (Baron & Ma in Murphy & Levy, 2015). Consequently, there are no
fixed prescriptions with regard to writing an email, since it is very personal how
an email message is received.
Consider the words of a Korean participant in a research on international email
communication between Australians and Koreans:
‘(…) one of my English speaking acquaintances considered my email sexually
harassing. I began my mail to her as “Dear Alexandra”. She wrote (to) me that I
could not use “Dear” or “Dear First Name”. I showed my email (the same email)
to another English native speaker lady, and she said my email was quite alright’
(Murphy & Levy, 2015).
167
5 The TOPOI area Tongue: verbal and non-verbal language
5.4
Non-verbal language
People who focus mainly on verbal aspects in communication are often not
aware of their own and others’ non-verbal behaviour, even though this can have
an important expressive function. A non-verbal code often complements, accentuates, substitutes, repeats or even contradicts verbal message. For example,
a speaker may complement the verbal message ‘This dinner is delicious!’ with
a smile and increased vocal volume. Politicians sometimes accentuate their
speeches by pounding their fists on podiums. When asked how many minutes
are left to complete an exam, the professor might simply raise five fingers to
substitute for the words ‘five minutes.’ Persons often repeat their verbal message ‘yes’ with affirmative head nodding. Sometimes, however, a person’s verbal
and non-verbal messages contradict each other. When this happens, people
usually believe the non-verbal message (Neuliep, 2012, p. 286). Imagine a doctor who says, ‘You don’t need to worry’, with a rather worried expression on her
face. Non-verbal communication also regulates and manages your conversations with others. For instance, you can regulate the flow and pace of a conversation– if this is your cultural norm – by engaging in direct eye contact, affirmative head nodding, and stance, thus signalling your conversational partner to
continue or stop the communication.
Non-verbal behaviour and its interpretation are strongly influenced by culture.
The interpretation through your cultural norms of an interlocutor’s non-verbal
behaviour that applies different norms, can then lead to misunderstandings.
A well-known example is eye contact during conversation: for one person, the
norm is to look somebody straight in the eye as a sign of attention and respect. Misunderstanding then occurs when looking away is seen as insincere
and disrespectful, while making eye contact is seen as intrusive and disrespectful. Awareness of possible differences in non-verbal behaviour – and the resulting misunderstandings – can avoid mutual feelings of offense and blame.
Consequently, in the following sections, some forms of non-verbal behaviour
and their possible meanings are described, starting with perception.
5.4.1
Perception
It has already been mentioned in Chapter 1 that culture operates as a model for
and of reality. The anthropologist Franz Boas used ‘cultural glasses’ as a metaphor for the way people look at the world from the perspective of their own
cultures. From birth, people form cultural glasses through their socialization in
particular collectives.
168
5.4 Non-verbal language
An example is that people look at faces in a different way. Consider a case study
in which faces appeared on a screen. As soon as a face appeared, the Asian participants first looked at the expression of the eyes, whereas the European participants focused first on other parts of the face, such as position of the mouth
(Jack et al., 2012). The same outcomes were found by Yuki (Yuki, Maddux &
Masuda, 2007; Jansen, 2007), who came into contact with American peers
during his studies, and was confused by the emoticons in their emails. First of
all, because he had to tilt his head sideways to recognize the faces: smiling :-)
and sad :-(.
Japanese emoticons are different, because they stand up straight. But even
so, Yuki could not place the happy :-) and sad :-( emoticons. It took him a while
to realize that the emoticons meant different things to his American friends
than to him. Even though in his emails he also used emoticons, but the emphasis was more on the eyes and less on the face, as in the laughing face (^-^) and
the crying face (;_;).
The meaning of your perception is related to values and norms and the connected emotions. Feelings of disapproval, fear and offense easily surface when
divergent non-verbal behaviour is immediately interpreted negatively. Prejudice can further strengthen these negative interpretations and feelings.
In a workshop, a trainer demonstrated how for instance some Islamic men greet
women by putting their hands on their hearts. One participant responded with
shock: ‘I didn’t know that gesture was a greeting. I was once greeted that way
during a business trip abroad and I thought he was wiping his hand with his shirt
in preparation because I was a woman. Oh, I am so ashamed!’
Perception includes sight as well as the four other senses in interactions: hearing, smell, touch and taste. Think of the culturally and personally incorporated
– and hence spontaneous – feelings of approval or rejection that arise as a response to certain images, sounds, scents, touch and flavours.
5.4.2
Forms of non-verbal language
Non-verbal language contains nearly all non-spoken language. Research on the
various forms of non-verbal language is vast, going back a long way (Hall, 1959;
1984; 1990; Argyle, 1988). The most important types of non-verbal language
can be categorized as follows:
■■ kinesics: gestures, facial expressions, eye movement, posture, walking pace
■■ paralinguistics or prosody: pronunciation, variations in voice: stress, pitch,
tone, rhythm, loudness, intonation, melody and pace of speech
■■ haptics: different types of touching
169
5 The TOPOI area Tongue: verbal and non-verbal language
■■
■■
■■
■■
proxemics: use of space and distance
chronemics: the communicative value of time
olfactics: odours and smell
artefacts: clothing and appearance
We will continue discussing some types of non-verbal language that commonly
lead to misunderstandings in international environments and interethnic contact.
5.4.3
Facial expressions
Imagine how someone looks who is very happy; or someone who is very sad.
You can probably see quite clear facial expressions in front of you. There is increasing evidence that facial expressions are not as universal as once thought
(Böke, 2012). In their research, psychologist Rachael Jack and colleagues (2012)
found clear differences between the way British and Chinese students evaluated
faces. Participants mostly agreed that some faces expressed the emotion ‘happiness’ or ‘sadness’. But compared to their British counterparts, the Chinese participants turned out to distinguish much less between the expressions angry,
surprised, afraid and disgusted.
5.4.4
Expression of feelings and intentions
People commonly express their feelings and intentions non-verbally. Greetings
are expressive with physical contact, kisses or hugs. Expressing feelings like
happiness, sadness, pain and anger can happen in either a passionate or unrestrained way, where the former can wrongly be interpreted as aggressive, overly
emotional or exaggerated behaviour.
In international communication, a distinction is sometimes made between neutral and affective orientation among people (Trompenaars & Hamden-Turner,
1998, pp. 69-81). People with a neutral orientation do not express their feelings easily in interaction with others. They remain reasonable in conversations,
do not let feelings take over (ratio over emotion) and respond soberly without
much emotion. Business relations are for these people mainly instrumental and
goal-oriented.
Emotionally oriented people, on the other hand, are spontaneous and easily
show their emotions, both happiness and anger. Doing business for these people is a human affair, where the whole range of human emotions can surface.
Speaking loudly, laughing out loud, smacking the table to emphasize some-
170
5.4 Non-verbal language
thing, or leaving the meeting room in anger during a meeting or negotiation
– it’s all possible.
A Spanish employee in an international team found it hard to understand why
his colleagues felt it was ‘unprofessional’ to show emotions at work. ‘How can I
have a strong and professional opinion about something if I don’t feel any emotion about it?’ he asked. At the same time, he jokingly said he had managed to
turn this aspect to his advantage. ‘If I’m in a meeting and one of these colleagues
disagrees with me about something, I just say: Calm down, there’s no need to get
emotional about this! Then that colleague will not dare to speak anymore for the
rest of the meeting!’
Using gestures to make a request – beckoning or tapping on the desk – is for
many people a common and polite thing to do from their (cultural) perspective.
In another context, however, people can experience this as arrogant, patronizing and offensive.
Someone from the administrative staff at a university mentioned that some students tapped on the desk to get her attention. She felt treated like a servant and
made them wait even longer.
5.4.5
Haptics
Haptic or tactile communication refers to the use of touch. Haptic communication varies widely across cultures and individuals, and the amount and kind of
touch depends on the situation and varies with age, sex and relationship of the
people involved. Some examples:
A Philippine CEO took his German business partner by the hand and led him
around in the company, holding his hand during the whole time.
A (Polish) female student stated: ‘During our trip two new students J. and A.
from Cuba joined our group. They are very friendly, open and talkative. During
the lunchbreak half of the group took a walk around the place to better know
each other. While walking, the atmosphere was very friendly, we were joking and
laughing. Every now and then J. and A. would touch or squeeze my shoulder,
put a hand on my arm, squeeze my hand or bump on me. Every time when we
were talking, they were standing very close to me. First time when it happened
I instinctively moved away but I didn’t say anything. Afterwards I didn’t pay it
any more attention because I saw them doing the same thing towards other stu-
171
5 The TOPOI area Tongue: verbal and non-verbal language
dents. At first I felt very uncomfortable. I am not used to situations when people I
know just for few hours, touch my shoulder or hands. My first reaction was based
on instinct, I didn’t think about what’s happening at all, I just felt it’s not natural
and that’s why I moved away. Afterwards I gave it a thought and I realized that
such behaviour is part of their culture’ (Hoffman, 2015, pp. 264-265).
5.4.6
Emblematic gestures
Emblematic gestures, also called emblems or symbolic gestures, are verbal
messages encoded in body movements (Matsumoto & Hwang, 2013). They deliver verbal messages, a word or a phrase, as in the peace sign (or V-sign; index
and middle fingers raised and parted, palm facing outward) or ‘good’ (thumb
up, hand in fist). Each social group develops its own emblem vocabulary, encoding verbal messages into hand and body movements. Sometimes, it can be
difficult when it turns out a gesture has a divergent meaning. The ‘OK’ or ‘fine’
gesture made by pressing thumb and index finger together while stretching out
the other fingers, can mean ‘money’ (for example in Japan), ‘zero’ or ‘useless’
(for example in France) and can have obscene meanings (for example in some
parts of Latin America). If you were to communicate to a French host that the
wine is excellent by using this sign, it could actually communicate to him that
you think the wine is useless. However, your face and drinking behaviour will
probably send the message that you are enjoying the wine, and this incongruence may be a reason to clarify what you mean.
In many groups, people express ‘yes’ and ‘no’ non-verbally in their own way,
with differences causing confusion. Someone from, say, India or Sri Lanka can
indicate ‘no’ by moving their head up and down, and ‘yes’ by shaking their head
back and forth. For many others, these head movements are the opposite: nodding means ‘yes’, shaking means ‘no’. In Greece the common way to express ‘yes’
is yet another movement, turning one’s head sideways, ear to shoulder. To others, this looks a lot like ‘no’.
5.4.7
Giving attention non-verbally
Listening behaviour contains a wide range of verbal (see section 2.2) and
non-verbal behaviour that gives direction to the conversation. Examples of
non-verbal listening behaviour are head and eye movements and facial expressions. For instance, people will wobble their heads during a conversation to
show that they are following. In conversation, divergent codes can cause mis-
172
5.4 Non-verbal language
understanding. The speaker then feels as if the listener is not really following
her or him.
5.4.8
Eye contact
In some cultures eye contact during a conversation counts as a sign of attention
and respect. And considering the expression ‘looking someone straight in the
eyes’, eye contact also expresses honesty and openness. In other social groups,
people have learned to look away or look down respectfully while talking to an
elder or to someone in a higher position. For them, looking someone straight in
the eyes signifies impertinence, threat and lack of respect. Looking away during
a conversation does not necessarily have to do with a lack of interest, impoliteness or confessing guilt. Conversely, making eye contact does not necessarily
express impertinence or threat.
5.4.9
‘Taboo’ gestures
‘Taboo’ comes from Polynesian languages and means under prohibition (thefreedictionary.com). Certain gestures collide with the ‘taboos’ of certain groups.
For instance, in Arabic and Asian regions, it is inappropriate to eat or accept
or give anything with the left hand. This is because the left hand is used when
visiting the toilet and is considered unclean, even after washing one’s hands.
Other examples of taboo gestures are touching someone’s head (for instance
in Thailand), since this is considered the soul’s home; entering a mosque, temple or home with shoes on; showing the back of one’s feet to others, pointing
a finger at someone, making photographs of people or places of worship, etc.
Especially while abroad, it is useful to be aware of these taboos. However, the
notion that neither you nor the other can be fully aware of each other’s communication codes also applies here. The other will probably realize – either in the
moment or afterwards – that you are a newcomer or an outsider. This allows
you to make ‘mistakes’ that you can repair by focusing on the effects of your
communication. It is important not to lose your spontaneity.
A (Dutch) woman wanted to photograph a temple in India when two Indians
started to gesture wildly and pointed at her camera. She was alarmed and, thinking it was probably a taboo to photograph the temple, apologized. However,
when the men kept pointing at her camera, she realized that they tried to warn
her that the cover was still on the lens.
173
5 The TOPOI area Tongue: verbal and non-verbal language
5.4.10 Walking and moving
The way that people walk and move, sends different messages, consciously or
unconsciously.
People walk and move differently, depending on their cultural socialization.
At a Dutch college, an intern with a background from the Netherlands Antilles
failed his internship, one reason being his supposed lack of interest and effort.
To illustrate this, his mentor mentioned that the intern walked around the office
as if he were at a club. The student felt very hurt by this, saying he simply walked
the way he was used to – which was perhaps with a bit more ‘swing’ than the
average native Dutch person – but that he was actually very motivated about his
internship.
5.4.11 Laughing
Laughter can have many meanings. Laughing expresses emotions like happiness and being in love, but it can also hide emotions like sadness, tension, fear
and nervousness. Thus laughter by Asian groups sometimes leads to confusion
with others. Asians sometimes – not unlike many non-Asians, by the way –
laugh in situations that for others are anything but funny.
In her novel A Many-Splendored Thing, the author Han Suyin gives a fine description of the meaning of laughing in China. It is also a good illustration of holistic
thinking where all things are connected and even seeming contradictions are in
harmony. In this excerpt the I-figure is thinking about her conversation with her
fifth brother about a big fire and the meaning of their laughing in that context.
(Mark is her friend.)
‘Fifth Brother and I sat, and fanned ourselves, and talked (…) of the great fire
which had destroyed the business section of the city and had burned for many
days, and was still smouldering. It made Fifth Brother laugh to talk of it, in the
way we have of laughing at disaster. That disparaging ironic self-laughter, which
comes after we have shed all the tears we can shed. The laughter that seizes all
the Chinese when tragedy has become comical and ridiculous, as it often does.
Fires and floods, accidents, death and revolutions. It is quite true that the direct
impact of a personal catastrophe afflicts us with sorrow, and that for a time we
too wear the trappings of grief, and weep as genuinely as anyone ought to, and
mourn as fervently. But it is also true that we can laugh at the same things a little later, and at ourselves for grieving (…). (…) we must fit what we can into the
174
5.4 Non-verbal language
patterns of living, and everything must be fitted with laughter, for laughter alone
will show us the enormity of our grief. (…)
I too laugh at things which ought to shock me, even at accidents (…), it is a happy
protection which keeps me balanced’ (Suyin, 1989, pp. 103-104).
5.4.12 Key
The different meanings of the previous topic (laughing) all have to do with the
‘key’ in communication. ‘Key’ is a term borrowed from music to refer to the
tone or mood of a communication (Scollon et al., 2012, pp. 34-35). There is
much variability across social groups in their expectations about the key of topics and about how and when different keys should be expressed. A difference in
key of the topic ‘funeral’ is expressed in the following example:
Dance, Laugh, Drink. Save the Date: It’s a Ghanaian Funeral
‘At 2 a.m. on a Saturday in the Bronx, the dance floor was packed, the drinks were
flowing and a knot of young women with stylish haircuts and towering heels had
just arrived at the door, ready to plunge into the fray. It could have been any
nightclub or wedding hall – except for the T-shirts, posters and CDs bearing the
photo of an elegant older woman. The raucous party was, in fact, a funeral for
Gertrude Manye Ikol, a 65-year-old nurse from Ghana who had died two months
earlier. (…) “To us it’s a celebration, but to an American they see it as a place of
sadness”, Manny Tamakloe, 27, an aircraft mechanic, shouted over the music as
he sipped a Guinness at Mrs. Ikol’s funeral’ (Dolnick, 2011).
5.4.13 Paralinguistics or prosody
‘Paralinguistics’ refers to vocal qualities that usually, though not necessarily,
accompany speech (Neuliep, 2012, p. 283). Paralinguistics can be divided into
two categories: voice qualities and vocalizations. Paralinguistic voice qualities
include pitch, rhythm, tempo, articulation and resonance of the voice. Paralinguistic vocalizations include laughing, crying, sighing, belching, swallowing,
clearing of the throat, snoring, and so forth. Other paralinguistic vocalizations
are intensity and non-fluencies, such as ‘um’, ‘ah’, ‘uh’. Silence is also considered
within the domain of paralinguistics. Speaking loudly or softly and using a low
or high voice all invoke different meanings. For some people ups and downs in
speech suggest that the speaker is not serious; the more important the subject,
the calmer the voice should be. Speaking at high volume can indicate conflict,
anger and aggression: people may find this intimidating. Speaking loudly is also
175
5 The TOPOI area Tongue: verbal and non-verbal language
said to express arrogance or bad manners. Other people find speaking with
much variation in tone proof of having heart in the matter, and raising one’s
voice a sign of concern.
A British manager posted in Nigeria found it very effective to raise his voice for
important issues. His Nigerian subordinates saw this unexpected explosion by
a normally self-controlled manager as a sign of extra concern. After a successful
stay in Nigeria he was reassigned to Malaysia. There, however, shouting was considered a sign of loss of face; his colleagues did not take him seriously and he was
transferred (Trompenaars & Hamden-Turner, 1998, p. 75).
People are used to intonation, to a tone of voice. Intonation shows the intentions and emotions of a speaker and invokes a certain feeling. In some languages, the intonation determines the meaning of a word. The appreciation
and meaning of intonation are shaped by culture and thus may differ. Intonation sometimes leads to misunderstanding, for instance because to some people something sounds dominant or funny. In the film Crosstalk, John Gumperz
(1979) gives an example of differences in voice pitch and volume that lead to
miscommunication and failed attempts to repair the communication.
An Indian-English customer visits a bank where the following conversation
takes place with a (native) English bank employee. The customer emphasizes
certain words (in italics) and speaks at a pitch that is appropriate and natural
within his communicative context, his script:
Customer:
Bank employee:
Customer:
Bank employee:
Customer:
Bank employee:
Customer:
Bank employee:
Customer:
Bank employee:
Customer:
Bank employee:
Excuse me.
Yes Sir?
I want to deposit some money.
Ah I see. You need a deposit form then.
Yes. No, no, this is the wrong one.
Sorry.
I got my account in Wembley.
Oh, you need a giro form then.
Yes. Giro form.
Why didn’t you say so the first time?
Sorry, didn’t know.
All right.
The bank employee, from his self-evident cultural conventions, interprets the
emphasis of certain words and voice pitch of the customer as dominant and accusatory. The customer’s attempt to repair the communication at the end of the
176
5.4 Non-verbal language
exchange sounds more like a reproach because he emphasizes the word ‘know’
rather than ‘sorry’. The means to repair misconception in communication that
is familiar and natural for the customer – to apologize – has a reverse effect,
worsening the miscommunication.
Gumperz indicates in Crosstalk that even though the customer and bank employee both follow the same script of ‘apologizing’, they assume different contextual clues or language acts: the intonation of the Indian-British customer deviates from the native bank employee’s expectations and this creates irritation.
According to Gumperz, it is very likely that the bank employee is influenced by
social representations (common sense) to project his irritation on ethnic stereotypes. In this case, the stereotype that ‘Indians’ are dominant and difficult in
communication.
5.4.14 Proxemics: use of space and distance
The amount of personal space that people prefer varies (Hall, 1990). Personal
space is the minimum distance to other people in which an individual feels
comfortable. When strangers breach this comfortable distance, the interlocutor will respond with defensive behaviour to reduce the invoked tension. This
defensive behaviour takes the form of taking distance, turning away or moving
the arms into the space between the interlocutors. Edward Hall (1959, pp. 204205) describes the kind of dance that can be performed between individuals
whose comfort zones differ, so that one can be literally spurred to walk backwards by an interlocutor who is simply trying to maintain a comfortable distance for herself (Scollon et al., 2012, p. 33).
‘At a horse-riding club in São Paulo where many receptions were held for newly
arrived business representatives, the terrace railings had to be raised and made
sturdier after several people from the United States and northern Europe had
fallen over backwards while trying to take distance from their Brazilian interlocutors, who kept standing closer to them than they were comfortable with’ (own
translation of Knapp, 1988).
What is too distant for one person can feel pleasant to another. What one person experiences as imposing or intrusive, to another feels like familiarity and
closeness.
177
5 The TOPOI area Tongue: verbal and non-verbal language
5.4.15 Chronemics: the communicative value of time
The appreciation for time is reflected in the language use of a collective. For
instance, in many societies time is a valuable asset, with ‘valuable’ having different meanings: ‘time is money, so don’t spoil it’ or ‘time is gold, a precious
gift to be enjoyed’. In a monochroneous time orientation time is money and an
activity is considered time consuming. (In Greek, chronos = clock time, and in
pre-Socratic philosophy, Chronos is the personification of Time. He is usually
portrayed as an old, wise man with a long, grey beard, similar to Father Time.)
Monochroneous people frequently suffer from lack of time, are pressed for
time, have deadlines, arrive late, lose time or waste time. Waiting, having nothing to do – in other words, enduring time – is an annoyance they try to avoid or
curtail. Hence the expression ‘killing time’. Social systems with a monochroneous time orientation, like workplaces, often emphasize appointments, scheduling, ‘deadlines’ and punctuality. People with a monochroneous time orientation
are more task-focused than relationship-focused. Furthermore, their activities
and invested time are structured linearly in a precise way, and they do only one
thing at a time.
In addition to monochroneous time there is polychroneous time, or kairos:
time that becomes ripe with waiting. In Greek mythology, Caerus or Kairos
(Greek: Καιρός) was the personification of opportunity, luck and favourable
moments. He was depicted with only one lock of hair, by which he could easily
be seized upon arrival. But once he had passed by, no one could grasp him, the
back of his head being bald. The moment of action had disappeared along with
his hair. The moral: a neglected occasion cannot be recovered. People who use a
polychroneous time, deal with time flexibly and are able to do several activities
at the same time.
A Gambian in an international project with Dutch partners says, ‘Our informal
way of life tends to reflect in everything we do, while the Dutch are very programmed. They don’t like to have much room for mistakes. They think that you
should do things straight and that is all.’ He also mentions that everyone is always allowed to step into his office and that phones can be answered even during important meetings, though his Dutch partner does not find this acceptable
(Zindel, 2009, pp. 70-71).
In a polychroneous time orientation, the right time is what counts. Time is
something to be respected. Polychroneous people believe that time should not
be disrupted by hastening it. Things happen and come whenever the time is
178
5.4 Non-verbal language
ripe and everyone is ready for it. Time will tell. Some languages, like Sioux Indian, have no words for ‘waiting’ (Oomkes, 1986, p. 101). Bahasa Indonesia (the
official language of Indonesia) knows the concept of yam karet, ‘yam’ meaning
‘hour’ or ‘time’ and ‘karet’ ‘rubber’ or ‘elastic’: flexible time. People with a polychroneous orientation are less strict with time.
In polychroneous collectives, time is rarely something that can be wasted, but rather something precious that should be enjoyed (time is gold). Social-emotional needs are more integrated in carrying out tasks. In other words,
maintaining good social relations is important for performing the task. Fons
Trompenaars illustrates the difference in time orientation by referring to the
more synchronic (i.e. polychronic) time orientation of Italians and the more
sequential (i.e. monochronic) time orientation of the British: ‘“In Britain,” an
Italian female researcher told me, “everything needs to be planned from start to
finish. When the environment changes, everything needs to be recalculated from
the start.” For the more synchronous Italians the goals are what is most important, and the more paths you can devise to their realization, the better you fare
against unforeseen events that block one path or another’ (1993, p. 121).
5.4.16 Silence
The expression ‘silence is golden’ says something about one’s attitude towards
communication and silence. There are people who feel uncomfortable in company while no one is speaking, whereas others enjoy being together without
saying much. The conversation of the Athabaskan people in Alaska is silence:
people truly enjoy having a nice, quiet sit together with no topics being raised
at all (Scollon et al., 2012, p. 101).
Raden Mas Hadjiwibowo, an Indonesian businessman of noble background, recalled the family visits from his youth to Java: ‘There we sat, but nobody spoke.
We were not embarrassed by this silence; nobody felt nervous about it. Every now
and then, thoughts and news were exchanged. But this was not really necessary.
We enjoyed being together, seeing each other again. After the first exchange of
news, any other communication was utterly redundant. If one did not have any­
thing to say, there was no need to recite platitudes’ (Hofstede, 1991, pp. 81-82).
In the traditions of Confucius and Zen-Buddhism, it is believed that the most
important things cannot be communicated in language, which is only useful for
somewhat secondary and trivial messages. These traditions still have a major
impact on Chinese, Korean and Japanese societies (Scollon et al., 2012, p. 141).
In these societies there is also a tendency to be suspicious of words because
179
5 The TOPOI area Tongue: verbal and non-verbal language
words have the power to hurt people’s feelings (an Indonesian course participant once said, ‘My mouth is my tiger’). A conflict can arise when one person
regards talking as a means of solving problems, whereas the other regards talking as the cause of problems. Silence, as a pause in a conversation, has the important function of regulating turns between the interlocutors. Important differences can occur during silences. The risk is that a person with a slower pace
of turn-taking, being used to longer silences, will regularly fail to take the floor
to speak. Correspondingly, the faster speaker is doing all the talking.
Erin Meyer asked Bo Chen, a Chinese country expert, why he didn’t jump in during a joint consultation session.
Bo’s explanation was: ‘In China, we often feel Westerners speak up so much in
meetings that they do this to show off, or they are poor listeners. Also, I have
noticed that Chinese people leave a few more seconds of silence before jumping
in than in the West. You Westerners practically speak on top of each other in a
meeting. I kept waiting for Erin to be quiet long enough for me to jump in, but my
turn never came. (…) I would have liked to make one of my points if an appropriate length of pause had arisen. But Erin was always talking, so I just kept waiting
patiently. My mother left it deeply engrained in me: You have two eyes, two ears,
but only one mouth. You should use them accordingly’ (Meyer, 12 April 2014).
When building up an argument, people may take longer pauses to consider
what they want to say or to find the right words. This is especially the case for
people for whom the lingua franca is not their native language. Longer pauses
are easily perceived as insecurity, although this is often not justified.
Different approaches to silence and pauses in job applications, meetings or lectures can lead to misunderstanding. Teachers who in class try to stimulate critical thinking expect (international) students to express their ideas and opinions.
However, they often relate to the students by asking questions and participating
in discussion with critical thinking, and often mistake silence for ignorance. But
silence does not necessarily signify a lack of ideas or knowledge. Silence can express involvement, attention and deep thinking (McLean & Ransom, 2005, p. 50).
Social Psychologist Heejung Kim recalled that as a graduate student from Korea
studying psychology at Stanford, she became exasperated with the constant demand from her American instructors that she speak up in class. She was told repeatedly that failure to speak up could be taken as an indication of failure to fully
understand the learning material and that, in any case, speaking up and hearing
the reactions of the instructor and her classmates would help her to understand
it better. Kim didn’t believe this was true. Instead, she felt that she and her fellow
180
5.4 Non-verbal language
Asian and Asian American students would not benefit from speaking because
their fundamental way of understanding the material was not verbal (Nisbett,
2003, pp. 210-211).
There certainly is a long tradition in the East of equating silence rather than
speech with knowledge. East Asians consider states of silence and introspection to be beneficial for high levels of thinking, such as the pursuit of truth.
As the sixth-century BC sage Lao-tze said, ‘He who knows does not speak, he
who speaks does not know’ (Nisbett, 2003, p. 211). Besides this difference in
the meaning of silence and talking, Kim explains the difference by calling on
the distinction between analytic and holistic thought. Analytic thought, which
dissects the world into a limited number of discrete objects having particular
attributes that can be categorized in clear ways – category–member classifications – lends itself to being captured in language. Holistic thought, which
responds to a style of reasoning in which many elements are held in thought at
the same time in order to grasp the ‘gestalt’ of the parts. A much wider array
of objects and their relations and thematic resemblances, which makes fewer
sharp distinctions among attributes or categories, is less well suited to verbalize
(Kim, 2002, p. 830).
5.4.17 Olfactics: odours and smell
The way someone smells can invoke all kinds of meanings and people can
choose to consciously send certain messages (think of perfume) or to mask natural body odours by using deodorants, perfumes, soaps and shampoos; others
rather prefer natural body odours.
An Aruban-Dutch man greeted a friend he had not seen for a long time with the
words: ‘Long time no see, no smell.’
5.4.18 Artefacts, clothing and appearance
The way someone dresses and uses make-up also transfers information. Collectives can have different styles of clothing. Company cultures are characterized
in part by the clothing style of their employees.
A company refused to hire a woman for arriving at a job interview too formally.
She was not expected to fit into the team, since most team members dressed
informally in jeans.
181
5 The TOPOI area Tongue: verbal and non-verbal language
Many people make conscious choices about their style of clothing or make-up
to make a certain impression. At the same time, social norms play a large role
in the choice of clothing. People can hesitate for a long time about what to wear
to a party, to the theatre, a job interview, a conference, the office or a first date.
Clothing can carry a certain meaning and can trigger varied communicative
responses.
5.4.19 Colour
The meaning of colours is culture-dependent. Colours communicate different
meanings to people and can therefore lead to misunderstandings.
When the Chinese and Japanese stock markets are in the red, unlike European
or American stock markets this does not imply loss, but profit. Conversely, green
letters on the stock market screens in Japan and China mean loss (Blommaert,
2015).
5.4.20 Greetings
Greeting rituals are an important component in any person’s communicative
repertoire. The awareness that your style of greeting is only one of numerous
different ways worldwide is a first important step to making a good start in
international or interethnic encounters. Shaking hands alone can be done in
countless ways: firm, gently, loose, short, long, holding the other’s right upper
arm with the left hand, grasping his or her own right arm somewhere in the
proximity of the forearm during the handshake, with both hands, with or without eye contact, with the left hand on the heart and so on.
What goes for handshaking can equally be applied to bowing, which is mainly
common in parts of Asia (Neuliep, 2012, pp. 292-293). The bow can be performed in various ways: with various degrees of depth, with or without eye
contact; cupping one’s hands (left over right), placing them about chest height
or raising them. A traditional Sri Lanka greeting is done by placing the hands
together, palms touching at chin level, bowing slightly while saying ‘namaste’ (‘I
salute the God-like qualities in you’). Other greeting practices that can be found
across the world are: smiling; nodding; cheek-, air-, forehead-kissing; nose-rubbing; sticking out the tongue; spitting; shoulder bump embracing; raising one’s
hand; high five; fist bump etc.
182
5.4 Non-verbal language
Which greeting is used, and in what order people are greeted, in any culture
partly depends on the situation (formal/informal), social status, man/woman,
age, position, personal relation and last but not least, personal preference. The
point is not to know all the different greeting rituals that occur across the world
(which would be impossible anyway), but to be prepared for different greetings
than you are used to. Of course, in international encounters, it is conceivable
that the other person has prepared for your greeting style just as well.
A (Belgian) woman and her family visit her partner’s family in Argentina in order
to make their acquaintance. The woman had prepared her family, saying the Argentinian family would greet them with an embrace, and asked them to return
this gesture. Upon arrival in Argentina, the woman’s family members wanted to
embrace her partner’s family, but they kept their distance and instead tried to
greet the Belgians with a handshake. It turned out the Argentinean family had
likewise been briefed by the woman’s partner about the arrival of the Belgians.
5.4.21 Non-verbal polite behaviour
Non-verbal polite behaviour consist of the non-spoken acts that are more or
less required or allowed by the social rules and conventions (etiquette) of a collective. This includes, in addition to the examples given above: how to accept or
offer business cards, what gifts to bring, whether or not to bring flowers (and if
so, what colour), whether or not to unpack a gift immediately after reception,
eating behaviour (slurping, finishing your plate or not), blowing your nose in
the presence of others, letting someone go first, holding the door for someone,
standing up for someone on a bus or tram and offering them your seat, and how
to sit as a woman or as a man.
Like many aspects of a culture, these social rules are also subject to change. For
example, nowadays it is customary for social groups to open gifts immediately,
which did not use to be the case. Exchanging gifts is for many people a custom
allowing them to express their good relation with someone or to express respect and courtesy. It then has nothing to do with bribery to get things done.
Business gifts are often presented at the first business meeting to set the foundation for the relationship. Sometimes, though, this can lead to misunderstandings, as can presents from international students to their professors.
183
5 The TOPOI area Tongue: verbal and non-verbal language
5.5
Language and common sense
A German student was very uncomfortable at his Dutch university with the then
common abbreviation SA, for ‘Sociaal Agoog’ (‘Social Educator’), as it invariably
reminded the student of the abbreviation SA used in Nazi Germany (i.e. ‘Sturmabteilung’, or ‘Assault Division’).
This example shows that the meaning of words is influenced by the common
sense of collective (historical) experiences, as pointed out in Chapter 4. As previously argued, this implies that you are not always free in your choice of words
and their meaning, nor in the interpretation of the words of others. Consider
in this regard the example from section 4.5.2 about the meaning of ‘to adapt’ in
the conversation between the student and the janitor.
The influence of common sense as ideology – the world view or prevailing philosophy of a social group (Scollon et al., 2012, p. 11) – is also recognizable in the
use of language. Examples include expressions like ‘the discovery of America’,
‘Eastern Europe’ versus ‘Central Europe’, referring to concepts like ‘expat’ or
‘immigrant’. These concepts are attached to certain images and consequently
judgments about one’s own group and others.
To be sure, we are not arguing for extreme cautiousness or making certain
words taboo. Having said that, you can be sensitive about the perspective from
which the vocabulary of a language is developed, the dominant meaning that
certain concepts have in the context of prevailing power relations and the effect that a specific use of language can have on communication in the way you
name people:
In Hong Kong, just who is an expat, anyway?
‘Like other global cities, Hong Kong is a portal of immigrants and emigrants.
Chinese people head West to work on Wall Street, while Americans seek business opportunities in China. Some arrivals are described as expats; others as
immigrants; and some, simply migrants. It depends on social class, country of
origin and economic status. (…) It’s strange to hear some people in Hong Kong
described as expats, but not others. Anyone with roots in a Western country is
considered an expat. (…) Filipino domestic helpers are just guests, even if they’ve
been here for decades’ (DeWolf, 2014).
184
5.7 Study assignments
5.6
Core reflections on Tongue
Considering the circular character of communication, as an interlocutor the
following three core reflections are important for addressing communicative
disruptions on Tongue:
1 What is my share?
■■ What do I say and what do I express non-verbally?
■■ What is my interpretation of what the other person is saying and expressing?
2 What is the other person’s share?
■■ What does the other person say and express non-verbally?
■■ What is her or his interpretation of what I am saying and non-verbally
expressing?
3 What is the influence of the social contexts (common senses) on what each
one of us is saying and non-verbally expressing, and on everyone’s interpretation of each other’s verbal and non-verbal language?
5.7
Study assignments
Complete these assignments together with one or more colleagues or fellow
students. Compare your answers with those of your colleagues or fellow students:
■■ What was the same?
■■ What was different?
■■ What do you notice?
1 Revisit section 5.1. Assume you get involved in the following conversation.
Try to explain what Jesse and Gene are talking about.
Jesse: Yeah, I’m thinkin’ ‘bout getting some new ink.
Gene: Really, where you gonna put it?
Jesse: Oh, I don’t know. I’ve still got some clean spots (Ellis & Maoz, 2003,
p. 223).
Read the note with the answer at the end of the study assignments (signalled
by a *), but only after finishing the exercise.
185
5 The TOPOI area Tongue: verbal and non-verbal language
2 Reread the following scenes from section 5.1:
Scene 1
At a petrol station in Belgium, a newly employed (Iranian) attendant says to
a customer: ‘Good morning, madam, how are you? The (Flemish) woman is
surprised, and promptly responds: ‘Full, please.’
Scene 2
In the Netherlands a (Somalian) youngster together with his work mediator visits a potential Dutch employer and greets him with the words: ‘Hello friend.’ The employer responds irritated with the words: ‘I am not your
friend.’
Scene 3
Chairman: Do you have the minutes?
Secretary: Yes, here they are.
Chairman: Good. Thanks (Scollon et al., 2012, p. 29).
Describe for each of the three scenes the first six components of the grammar of context. Apply the following scheme:
Scenes
1 Scene:
■■ setting
■■ purpose
■■ topic
■■ genre
■■ script
2 Participants:
■■ who they are
■■ communication
3 Key
4 Message
5 Sequence 6 Manifestation
style
■■ conversational
rules
Scene 1
Scene 2
Scene 3
Describe for the first two scenes which assumptions of the people involved
are different with regard to the components of the grammar of context.
* Note: If you knew the context, you would know that Jesse and Gene are tattoo enthusiasts, who are talking about ‘new ink’ (i.e. new tattoos) on ‘clean spots’ (i.e. places on
the body that as yet have no tattoos).
186
6
The TOPOI area Order:
views and logic
Introduction
6.1 Punctuation: a process of ordering
6.2 Subjective views
6.3 The influence of collective world views
6.4 Collective world views
6.4.1 Utilitarianism
6.4.2 Confucianism
6.4.3 National world views
6.4.4 Dimensions of collective world views
6.5 Cognition and logic
6.5.1 What do you see, what do you think?
6.5.2 ‘Eastern’ and ‘Western’ thinking
6.5.3 Inductive and deductive thinking
6.6 Core reflections on Order
6.7 Study assignments
Introduction
The TOPOI area Order is the content level of the communication. It entails
the exchange of the views and logic of the participants of an interaction concerning the relevant issues. Views and logic come from people’s fundamental
need to understand the world and give meaning to it. From an early age, people
are offered a world view (culture as a model of reality) that helps to organize,
interpret and rationalize their reality (logic). In the course of their lives, they
develop more or less their own personal points of view. Through this process,
they simultaneously contribute to the confirmation and shaping of the prevailing world views in their social groups: the common senses created in social
dialogues. Because of the diversity of world views and personal points of view
that people apply to look at reality, communication is often characterized by
differences in views and reasoning: differences can revolve around what the
187
6 The TOPOI area Order: views and logic
main or side issues are, what is centre stage and backstage, and what conclusions can be drawn.
‘Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson go on a camping trip. After a good dinner and a
bottle of wine, they retire for the night, and go to sleep. Some hours later, Holmes
awakes and nudges his faithful friend.
“Watson, look up at the sky and tell me what you see.”
Watson replies, “I see millions of stars.”
“What does that tell you?”
Watson ponders for a minute.
“Well, astronomically, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets. Astrologically, I observe that Saturn is in Leo. Horologically,
I deduce that the time is approximately a quarter past three. Meteorologically, I
suspect that we will have a beautiful day tomorrow. Theologically, I can see that
God is all-powerful, and that we are a small and insignificant part of the universe.
What does it tell you, Holmes?”
Holmes is silent for a moment. “Watson, you idiot”, he says. “Someone has stolen
our tent!”’
(richardwiseman.com)
This joke illustrates how you can look at reality from different points of view.
Every person orders reality in their own way and thus everyone has their own
reading and view of events, issues and histories. Apart from having different
views, the way people think and argue can vary as well. Consequently, there is a
difference between deductive and inductive thinking, which can be recognized
by a deductive and inductive communication style, respectively (see section
5.3.10).
In Japan, for example, there is the inductive logic of the kisho-tenketsu tradition
(Kopp, 12 July 2012). In this tradition, the order of reasoning and thus explaining an issue is inductive: you start with ‘ki’, mentioning a subject, followed by
‘sho’, a more detailed discussion, then ‘ten’, a change in the point of view of the
discussion, and finally ‘ketsu’, the conclusion (see also section 6.5.3, Inductive
and deductive thinking).
This inductive logic – which is by the way not specific to Japan but can be found
in several groups – is different from deductive thinking and explaining that begins directly with the conclusion, followed by an explanation with arguments,
and finally a repetition of the conclusion.
188
6.1 Punctuation: a process of ordering
An example of an inductive (kisho-tenketsu) logic:
‘I’m really worried about all the papers the conference participants will receive. It
may be very inconvenient for them to have to juggle all those papers. They could
become frustrated. We need to do something about it don’t you think? I’m sure
everyone will expect it. I was thinking, could we give people something to hold
the papers? Is there enough money in the budget to buy some bags?’
The same message as it would be phrased by a deductive thinker:
‘I think we should give each conference participant a bag when they arrive. Because they will be collecting many papers, and will appreciate having something
to hold them. And people carrying the bags will be recognizable as being connected with our conference. So it will be a kind of PR too. That’s why I think it
would be good to give each participant a bag.’
In conversation, differences in logics can lead to misunderstanding. Inductive
thinkers can come across as incoherent, vague and off-topic to deductive thinkers. Conversely, to an inductive listener the explanation and argumentation of
deductive thinkers can be confusing because the listener is not guided towards
the conclusion through ‘ki’, ‘sho’ and ‘ten’.
In this chapter we first explain how through punctuation as a process of order,
individual differences in view come about. Subsequently, we discuss a number of prevailing collective world views that – due to the circular character
of communication – deeply influence individuals’ views. In addition to their
views, people’s styles of thinking and reasoning are also influenced by dominant
collective systems of thought. We discuss two examples of this: ‘Western’ and
‘Eastern’ thinking, and return once again to inductive and deductive thinking.
The chapter closes with key points of reflection for the TOPOI area Order.
6.1
Punctuation: a process of ordering
The Order area in the TOPOI model is based on the axiom of punctuation developed by Watzlawick et al.: ‘The nature of a relationship is contingent upon
the punctuation of the communicational sequences between the communicants’
(2011, p. 54). Punctuation is derived from the Latin ‘interpungere’, meaning ‘to
divide by points’. Punctuation is hence basically ordering by placing punctuation marks. How punctuation works can be illustrated by the following anecdote. When you see a series of words, you cannot do anything but bring order
and so try to give meaning to it. Depending on where you place the commas
189
6 The TOPOI area Order: views and logic
and periods (punctuation), you create a particular order in the series of words,
which leads to a particular reading and meaning.
An English professor wrote the words:
‘A woman without her man is nothing.’
on the chalkboard and asked his students to punctuate it correctly.
All the males in the class wrote:
‘A woman, without her man, is nothing.’
All the females in the class wrote:
‘A woman: without her, man is nothing.’
Back to the punctuation axiom quoted above. By this Watzlawick et al. (2011)
mean that the way (conversation) partners define their mutual relationship depends on how each of them orders or ‘reads’ the development of their communication. The following well-known joke clearly shows the significance of this
punctuation axiom within a relationship:
During Bill Clinton’s US presidency, he and his wife Hillary are taking a trip
through Hillary’s home state. Being low on fuel, Bill pulls into a gas station for a
fill-up. The attendant comes out and begins to pump gas into the tank. As he is
doing this, he looks through the passenger window. ‘Hey, Hillary. Remember me,
we used to date in high school?’ he asks. They chat for a few minutes, Bill pays
and they leave. As they drive off Bill is looking over at Hillary, feeling very proud
of himself. ‘You used to date that guy? Just think what it would be like if you had
married him’, he says smugly. Hillary looks at Bill and shrugs. Then she replies:
‘Oh Bill, in that case he would have been president.’
6.2
Subjective views
Punctuation plays an important role in the communication process. Depending
on their reading of reality, people will express certain things and behave and
position themselves in certain ways. Punctuation then organizes the behaviour
and is of vital importance for the human interaction. Differences in the ordering of reality – in other words, different interpretations – can lead to misunderstanding and disagreement. Napoleon Bonaparte reportedly said that ‘(…) wars
are not started because of facts, but because of interpretations of facts’ (Peeters,
1989, p. 7).
190
6.3 The influence of collective world views
Watzlawick et al. speculate that ‘at the root of (…) punctuation conflicts lies the
firmly established and unquestioned conviction that there is only one reality,
the world as I see it, and that any view that differs from mine must be due to the
other’s irrationality or ill will’ (2011, p. 95).
However, every individual orders or ‘reads’ reality in a subjective way. Every
person is unique. Everyone has their own personality, history and unique social
contexts unlike those of others. The uniqueness of people implies that every
person has a subjective view and logic, which are by definition somewhat different from those of others. The consequence of this subjective meaning-making
is that what is true for one person is not necessarily true for others. This leads
to expressions such as:
■■ My truth is not the truth.
■■ There is no such thing as the truth.
■■ The truth is relative.
■■ We can look at reality in various ways.
■■ …
(Note how this relates to the earlier discussion of universalism versus relativism
in Chapter 3.)
Everyone experiences differences in the way reality is ordered on a daily basis
in conversations, meetings and discussions. Additionally, everyone can experience the possibility of consensus between people. What is ‘true’ for the people involved is then what is agreed upon through exchange and negotiation, or
what is supported by facts that they can all verify or witness.
6.3
The influence of collective world views
The circular character of communication implies that each individual conversation takes place in a social dialogue within a social context. This means
that conversation partners’ individual views contribute to the prevailing world
views of their social groups. At the same time, these collective world views influence their communication on an interpersonal level.
A (French) coordinator of a university medical cooperation with a hospital in
Congo writes about a case in which she had a conversation with the coordinator in Congo: ‘The conversation initially focused on how the organization of the
local hospital could be improved, but developed into a discussion about the
position of women. The perspective of my Congolese partner basically meant
191
6 The TOPOI area Order: views and logic
that (and it was clearly a generally accepted cultural point of view and not a personal opinion) men were hierarchically placed above women. As an argument,
he mentioned the Bible, in which woman is created from man’s rib, and other
statements from “God” that would supposedly “prove” this. Another real-life example that he gave, and which he argued was also based on the Bible: a man is
allowed to perform adultery, while a woman is expected to look the other way,
but if the woman does this it is met with terrible punishment in certain regions.
And this is a discussion with highly educated people (…). I analyze that we cannot change the whole culture, nor is that our intention, but from our organization
we are convinced of the equality between men and women, and we would like
to respect this principle. How best to deal with these situations?’ (We will discuss
possible responses to this situation in sections 7.5 and 10.3.3.)
In this example, the coordinator phrases the influence of – according to her
– a collectively experienced world view in Congo when she says, ‘(…) and it
was clearly a generally accepted cultural point of view’. At the same time, the
personal opinion of the coordinator is equally influenced by collective world
views (for example gender egalitarianism, women’s emancipation, feminism)
common in her social groups. However, this also applies to her phrasing of ‘a
generally accepted point of view (in Congo)’, which possibly reveals certain expectations from her own groups about Congolese gender relations.
6.4
Collective world views
Each social group, large or small, is characterized by a world view of assumptions regarding such things as what is true and false, good and bad, right and
wrong, normal and abnormal. There is an important distinction between ‘assumptions’ and ‘beliefs’ (Scollon et al., 2012, p. 111). Unlike most beliefs, world
views and their assumptions often go unquestioned and uncontested. World
views are the fundamental assumptions upon which more conscious and debatable beliefs are built. That is not to say that world views are always unconscious
and unquestioned. Throughout history there have been times of vigorous debate over world views, e.g. in Christianity, Islam, humanism, communism, socialism, liberalism, capitalism, feminism; the ideologies of national, ethnic and
other social groups; the paradigms within various sciences, and the philosophies (visions) of companies. A collective world view is hence an important element of the (cultural) orientation of a social group and influences its members’
individual views.
192
6.4 Collective world views
We will discuss several world views that influence interpersonal communication, mainly in international contexts, starting with utilitarianism and Confucianism. This is followed by a discussion of several world views on a national
level, as they have come forward in research by Hofstede (1991; 2001) and the
studies by GLOBE (Global Leadership and Organizational Behaviour Effectiveness) (House et al., 2004). These studies provide examples of different underlying world views that impact the basic assumptions through which people look
at the world and that play a role in international (business) affairs.
6.4.1
Utilitarianism
Utilitarianism as a philosophy originated in the European Enlightenment, or the
‘Age of Reason’, and has remained dominant mainly in the ‘West’ (see also section 3.2.8). The Enlightenment was a response to the absolute authority of the
state and the church. It emphasized reason (science) and individual freedom.
The term ‘utilitarianism’ was coined by Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832). Bentham
developed the ‘principle of utility’ as an ethical standard to replace the idea that
‘good’ is defined by the authority of God or the Christian church. For Bentham,
good is whatever follows the principle of utility: something is good if it produces pleasure or happiness; the best society is therefore the one which provides
the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people. In other words, from
a utilitarian perspective, ‘good’ is primarily related to the physical and mental
state of the individual: the more individuals are happy, the more of ‘the good’
exists (Bentham in Scollon et al., 2012, p. 115). The goal of a society is progress
toward greater happiness / material wealth and individuality, which can also be
translated into, say, ‘progress in reducing carbon emissions’ or ‘progress in sustainability’. Such progression is achieved through technology and inventions.
This philosophy of progress assumes a linear conception of time in which the
future must necessarily be better than the past, based on an unavoidable prog­
ress in scientific knowledge and technical innovation driven by human ratio
and individual freedom.
Customs and traditions are seen as barriers to progress. In that sense, utilitarianism is a typical example of a universalistic system of thought, as discussed in
Chapter 3. The basis of a utilitarian society is the free and equal individual who
sees people as rational, economic entities. The most valuable members of society are creative, inventive (wealth-producing) individuals. Finally, utilitarians
see quantitative measures such as statistics as the best means of determining
values.
193
6 The TOPOI area Order: views and logic
6.4.2
Confucianism
A counterpart of utilitarianism can be found in Confucianism (related to ‘Eastern’ thinking, see section 6.5.2), going back to the philosophy of the Chinese
thinker Confucius, who lived from ca. 551 to 459 BC (Puett & Gross-Loh,
2016). Confucianism influenced practically all aspects of East Asian social and
political life and is still relevant today. Confucius and his followers saw ‘the
good’ not so much as a matter of the individual (like in utilitarianism) but of
relations between individuals and between man and nature.
‘The good’ from this perspective is not ‘happiness’ in the sense of material
wealth, but ‘honour’, ‘righteousness’ and ‘harmony’. Harmony stands for balance
and order. Order in social relationships for Confucianists is related to nature.
Consequently, natural disasters like earthquakes and hurricanes are often seen
as reflections, as a resonance of disorder in the social world.
Confucianists see time in a cyclical way and believe traditions should be honoured. Confucius himself looked back to the sage kings of the early Chou
dynasty, who ruled more than 500 years earlier, for models to which society
should aspire. In Confucius’ China, and until very recently, it was felt that the
present time was worse than the times of the past, in which human society was
more reasonably ordered, justice and kindness prevailed, and benevolent rulers
concerned themselves with the well-being of their subjects. Changes in society
were justified from the point of view of restoring the better conditions of the
past. This is not to say that the Confucian philosophy should be regarded as
‘regressive’, denying the notion that things can get better over time. Progress in
the Confucian sense, however, has less to do with the material advancement of
society and more with learning and moral cultivation, which lead to the realization of the human potential of which the ancestors are held up as exemplars. In
this view, learning and self-cultivation, rather than technology and invention,
are regarded as the sources of societal wealth. Contrary to utilitarianism, human beings are not viewed as ‘rational, economic entities’, but as moral entities,
characterized by what Confucius referred to as ‘ren’ (‘humanity’): the potential
for human goodness and compassion that all people innately possess. The latter
aspect is different from the utilitarian assumption that humans begin life as tabula rasa or ‘blank slates’. The most valuable members of a Confucianist society
are moral individuals who respect their superiors and cultivate their natural
humanity and benevolence. Confucius referred to such people as ‘junzi’, sometimes translated as ‘superior men’ (Scollon et al., 2012, p. 126). Finally, values or
virtue could not be determined based on some mathematical equation as in the
194
6.4 Collective world views
utilitarian system. For Confucius only wisdom born from learning forms the
legitimate means for determining what is valuable and what is not.
These two world views – utilitarianism and Confucianism – appear so distinct
that they may seem mutually incompatible. However, in East Asia these world
views exist side by side: anyone who visits a big city in modern-day China can
notice how both systems influence daily life at the same time. And it is less well
known that the Enlightenment and utilitarianism were influenced by Confucianist ideas. For instance, Enlightenment philosopher Francois Quesnay took
from Taoism (another ancient Chinese teaching) the idea of wu wei (‘non-doing’) which he translated into the economic principle of laissez-fair, which later
became a central tenet in Adam Smith’s model of free market capitalism (Scollon et al., 2012, pp. 126-128).
6.4.3
National world views
In the field of intercultural communication and intercultural management,
much research has been done into national differences in world view. Famous
studies and related cultural models are those by the aforementioned Edward
Hall (1959; 1984; 1989; 1990), the value orientations of Florence Kluckhohn and
Fred Strodtbeck (1961; Hills, 2002), the cultural dimensions of Geert Hofstede
(1991; 2001), the GLOBE study (House et al., 2004), and the cultural orientations of Fons Trompenaars and Charles Hamden-Turner (1998).
These cultural models are only relevant with regard to the collectives that were
studied, and even then you have to take into account controversies concerning
methodology, which are partly due to the heterogeneity of any national culture
(Hansen, 2009a; 2009b; 2009c). They do not necessarily reveal anything about
an individual’s perspective. As argued previously: it is not cultures that meet,
but unique individuals in unique situations. Because of the unicity of people
and situational contexts, cultural models do not offer a guideline for interpersonal communication. One should not project the characteristics of a group
on a unique individual in order to determine how this person thinks and acts.
A person’s group membership is a poor predictor of their personal frame of
reference concerning values, norms and opinions. Everyone participates in various groups, and their respective world views, which they additionally process
in their own unique way. In the end, it also depends on the context which view
someone brings forward in a specific situation.
195
6 The TOPOI area Order: views and logic
However, taking notice of collective world views is useful for becoming aware
of your own world view and those of your social groups – which you take for
granted. It helps to consider that social groups can order reality in various ways.
It decentralizes your frame of reference, making you aware that your frame of
reference is not the only possible one; that your perspective is only one of many.
This helps you to expand your own frame of reference. You are prepared for differences in expression and opinions and it becomes easier to place them.
Consequently, in this book we describe a number of dimensions of national
world views. We do this from a communicative point of view and thus categorize the different dimensions of cultural models into the five areas of the
­TOPOI model. Edward Hall was mentioned in Chapter 5 (Tongue). In the following sections we discuss the more general world view dimensions of Hof­
stede and GLOBE. The cultural dimensions by Fons Trompenaars and Charles
Hamden-Turner, Geert Hofstede and the GLOBE study, which are chiefly related to interpersonal relations, are included in Chapter 7 (Persons). Finally,
Florence Kluckhohn and Fred Strodtbeck’s value orientations are addressed in
Chapter 9 (Intentions).
6.4.4
Dimensions of collective world views
GLOBE (Global Leadership and Organizational Behaviour Effectiveness) distinguishes nine dimensions that can characterize a social group’s world view.
Six of the nine GLOBE dimensions find their origin in the first four dimensions
(both in italics) by Geert Hofstede (see Figure 6.1).
GLOBE dimensions
(House et al., 2004, p. 30)
Geert Hofstede
(1991; 2001; geert-hofstede.com)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
1 Power distance
2 Uncertainty avoidance
3 Collectivism/individualism
Power distance
Uncertainty avoidance
In-group collectivism
Institutional collectivism
Gender egalitarianism
Assertiveness
Performance orientation
Humane orientation
Future orientation
4 Masculine/feminine
5 Long-term/short-term orientation
6 Indulgence/restraint
Figure 6.1
Cultural dimensions by GLOBE and by Geert Hofstede
196
6.4 Collective world views
As mentioned above, in Chapter 7 (Persons) we will discuss those dimensions
that mainly concern the interpersonal relations with others. Here, we will discuss the following six dimensions:
1 uncertainty avoidance
2 institutional collectivism
3 performance orientation
4 future orientation
5 long-term orientation
6 indulgence/restraint
1
Uncertainty avoidance (House et al., 2004, p. 30 and pp. 603-654)
Uncertainty avoidance is the extent to which a society, organization or group
relies on social norms, rules and procedures to alleviate the unpredictability of
future events. An alternative way of thinking about uncertainty avoidance is
that it is about the extent to which ambiguous situations are felt as threatening
– i.e. the extent to which deliberate measures such as making and enforcing
rules and procedures are used to reduce ambiguity. In societies with a high uncertainty avoidance people tend to avoid risks, are resistant to change, and are
less tolerant when rules are broken.
2
Institutional collectivism (House et al., 2004, p. 30 and pp. 437-513)
Institutional collectivism is the degree to which organizational and institutional social practices encourage and reward collective distribution of resources
and collective action. In other words, to what degree a society or organization
encourages and rewards collective action. On the level of society this concerns
questions such as: Is group loyalty at the expense of individual goals, and does
the economic system emphasize individual or collective concerns? On the organizational level this concerns questions such as: Do managers in this organization encourage group loyalty even if at the expense of individual goals, and is
the system of rewards in this organization aimed at maximizing the individual
or the collective concerns?
3
Performance orientation (House et al., 2004, p. 30 and pp. 239-282)
Performance orientation reflects the extent to which a community encourages
and rewards innovation, high standards, excellence and performance improvement. According to GLOBE this dimension can partly be derived from principal values in Protestantism – reliability and hard work – as well as in Confucianism with its core teachings of hard work, acquiring new skills, schooling
and education, patience, perseverance and thrift. The principles of Confucianism are sometimes said to explain the economic success of East Asian countries
in the 1980s. Remarkable in this regard – concerning the use of ‘culture’ as an
197
6 The TOPOI area Order: views and logic
explanatory factor – is the conclusion by professor Kam Louie at Hong Kong
University that twenty years earlier, Confucianism was considered the main obstacle to modernization in East Asia (Louie in Caroll & Ryan, 2005, p. 20).
Social groups that have a low performance orientation mostly respect the quality of life, a sense of belonging, family and social relations and loyalties. Assertiveness is seen as socially unacceptable and mutual competition is associated
with defeat and punishment. Who you are as a person is more important than
what you do or how you perform.
4
Future orientation (House et al., 2004, p. 30 and pp. 282-343)
Future orientation is the extent to which individuals engage in future-oriented
behaviours such as delaying gratification, planning and investing in the future.
It is the extent to which members of a society or an organization believe that
their current actions will influence their future, focus on investment in their
future, believe that they will have a future that matters, believe in planning for
developing their future, and look far into the future to assess the effects of their
current actions.
5
Long-term orientation (geert-hofstede.com)
Long-term orientation, as opposed to short-term orientation, is also referred to
as Confucian dynamism in Geert Hofstede’s work, because almost all the values
of this dimension seem directly derived from Confucius’ teachings. Long-term
orientation relates to values such as: perseverance, a sense of status (relations
and their associated respect are hierarchically ordered by status), thrift, frugality, a sense of shame, and dedication to achieve results in the long run. Shortterm orientation is related to calmness, balance, avoiding loss of face, achieving
quick results, respect for tradition and obligations to be met.
6
Indulgence/restraint (geert-hofstede.com)
Indulgence is the tendency to allow the free satisfaction of the natural human
needs concerning the enjoyment of life. In indulgent societies, people enjoy life,
have fun, are joyous and easily express this. Extraversion is encouraged. In restrained societies, on the other hand, there is a conviction that this satisfaction
of needs should be controlled by strict social norms.
An example of a difference between indulgence and restraint is a story about
a McDonald’s branch in Russia. According to Hofstede, American culture is
an indulgent and joyous culture, in which smiling is considered normal and
as such characteristic of McDonald’s staff. Russian culture is considered more
restrained, and smiles from staff are an exception. According to Hofstede, on
198
6.5 Cognition and logic
a scale of 1-100, America scores 68 and Russia 20 (geert-hofstede.com). The
relativeness of such statements and the dynamic nature of ‘cultures’ – in other words, the ability of people to change – is illustrated by this report by Gus
Lubin:
Russia’s retail workers smile more than America’s, in shocking reversal
‘When McDonald’s opened its first store in Russia back in 1990, one of the biggest challenges was getting employees to smile. (…) Three decades later, things
have changed radically. Russia’s retail workers now smile more than America’s,
according to the 2016 Smiling Report (smilingreport.com), compiled by Better
Business World Wide from more than 1 million mystery shopper evaluations
across a spectrum of industries. Russia ranked 10 on the Smiling Report with
90% of retail workers smiling. This is a major improvement from 2005, when only
45% smiled. America – once famous for its smiling customer service – ranked 19
at 87%’ (Lubin, (2016).
Again: the chief merit of the dimensions of Hofstede and others is that in interaction, they help you to reflect on your own views and underlying world views
and potentially those of others.
6.5
Cognition and logic
People differ in their views as well as in the way they gather information (cognition) and the way they think and reason (logic). Understanding how other people think and see the world is crucial in international communications, because
human cognition does not take place in the same way everywhere.
Similar to our previous discussion of collective world views, our aim is to sensitize you to possible differences in systems of thought, to various ways people
process information, think, judge and come to conclusions. We will do this on
the basis of Richard E. Nisbett’s (2003) research into ‘Eastern’ and ‘Western’
systems of thought. First, as an introduction, we will give some examples of
difference in perception and thought.
199
6 The TOPOI area Order: views and logic
6.5.1
What do you see, what do you think?
Look at Figure 6.2. Write down the first thing that comes to mind: what do you
see?
Figure 6.2
Based on a picture in Masuda & Nisbett, 2001
Look at Figure 6.3. Which two go together, chicken and cow or cow and grass?
Why?
A
Figure 6.3
Based on a picture in Chiu, 1972
200
B
C
6.5 Cognition and logic
Look at Figure 6.4. Decide what emotion the person in the centre is feeling and
why.
Figure 6.4
Based on a picture in University of Alberta, 2008
The answers for these three pictures can vary and express something about
your way of perceiving reality, gathering information and reasoning. A wellknown distinction is that between holistic, contextual and relational perception and reasoning on the one hand, and analytical and categorical perception
and reasoning on the other.
Holistic or contextual perception and reasoning means that you see the whole
picture, and judge everything in cohesion and mutual dependency. Analytical
refers to perceiving and judging the separate parts – each component separately, independently of each other and apart from the environment or context. Holistic, contextual answers for Figure 6.2 are: ‘I see an aquarium, a part of a lake,
sea or ocean’, ‘I see water with animals and plants’. Analytic answers for Figure
6.2 are: ‘I see three large fishes’, ‘I see a frog, a snail, a small fish …’.
Relational is perceiving and thinking in relationships and connections. Categorical is perceiving and thinking in categories. A contextual-relational answer
for Figure 6.3 would be the connection between cow and grass, based on the
fact that cows eat grass – drawing a contextual relation between the two. Identifying an object-category relationship is grouping the cow with the chicken
because they both belong to the category animals.
Thomas Avery (2012), who describes himself as a Westerner and his wife Emjay
as Asian, comments on Figure 6.4:
201
6 The TOPOI area Order: views and logic
‘Happy or sad? If you’re a Westerner like me you were probably in no doubt that
the person in the middle is happy. Just look at that smile; he’s clearly having
a good day. I didn’t even realize that the people behind him weren’t smiling. It
didn’t matter to me. I couldn’t imagine another answer, either.
My wife, upon seeing the picture, wasn’t so sure. (…) She concluded that even
though the person in the middle is smiling, he cannot actually be happy since the
people around him clearly aren’t.
At first this was a big surprise to me, but it really seems to be the case. One way I
can see this is in the way my wife and I take photos. Say a couple walked up to us
on the street and asked us to take a photo of them together. I would do just that:
take a picture of them. It might be a portrait shot or a full body shot, but it would
be what they asked for. A photo of just them.
If Emjay had the camera she would take a step back and get a good amount of
background in the shot (…)’ (Avery, 2012).
To put this distinction between ‘Western’ (analytic) and ‘Eastern’ thinking (holistic/relational) in perspective, we mention the answer that a Belgian workshop participant (i.e. a supposed representative of ‘Western’ thinking’) gave as
an interpretation of Figure 6.4: ‘Triumphant and mean, because he has done
something nasty to those kids that are looking really sad in the background.’
6.5.2
‘Eastern’ and ‘Western’ thinking
Richard E. Nisbett’s research (2003) looks into the differences between ‘Western’ and ‘Eastern’ thought processes. Whereas Nisbett speaks of ‘Easterners’
and ‘Westerners’ we prefer to use the concepts ‘Western’ and ‘Eastern’ thinking
because we use it to describe two different styles of thought that are not exclusively tied to particular groups. Both systems of thought are typically present in
all groups, although one can be more dominant in some groups than in others.
‘Eastern’ thinking originates in Asian (i.e. Eastern) countries where Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism have shaped people’s view on life. ‘Western’ thinking is named as such because its origins lie in the ‘West’ and started in Greece
with the philosophers Plato and Aristotle. We should emphasize that obviously
other valuable and influential systems of thought exist too, but for now we restrict ourselves to these two systems.
‘Eastern’ thinking
Eastern thinking originated from a mix of three Asian philosophies: Taoism,
Confucianism and, much later, Buddhism. All three orientations share concerns about harmony, holism and the mutual influence of everything on almost
everything else. There is a style of reasoning in Eastern thought called dialec-
202
6.5 Cognition and logic
ticism, which means that it focuses on contradictions and how to resolve or
transcend them, or find the truth in both. This Eastern dialectic is not quite the
same as the Western Hegelian dialectic in which thesis is followed by antithesis, which is resolved by synthesis with the ultimate goal of reasoning to resolve
contradiction. The Eastern dialectic instead uses contradiction to understand
relations among objects or events, to transcend or integrate apparent oppositions, or even to embrace clashing but instructive viewpoints. In the Eastern
intellectual tradition there is no necessary incompatibility between the belief
that A is the case and the belief that not-A is the case. On the contrary, in the
spirit of the Tao or yin-yang principle, A can actually imply that not-A is also
the case, or at any rate soon will be.
Dialectical thought seeks to see things in their appropriate context. Events do
not occur in isolation from other events, but are always embedded in a meaningful whole in which the elements are constantly changing and rearranging
themselves. To think about an object or event in isolation and apply abstract
rules to it is to invite extreme and mistaken conclusions.
Kaiping Peng has articulated three principles that are important to Eastern dialecticism (quoted in Nisbett, 2003, pp. 174-175; Peng & Nisbett, 1999, pp. 747748):
a the Principle of Change
b the Principle of Contradiction
c the Principle of Relationship, or Holism
a
The Principle of Change
The Eastern tradition of thought emphasizes the constantly changing nature
of reality. Reality is a process; it does not stand still but is in constant flux. The
world is not static but dynamic and changeable. Being in a given state is just a
sign that the state is about to change. Because reality is dynamic and flexible,
the concepts that reflect reality are also active, changeable and subjective rather than being objective, fixed and identifiable entities. At the deepest level of
Eastern philosophical thinking, the question is not ‘to be or not to be’ (to take
Shakespeare’s famous quote from Hamlet), because life is a constant passing
from one stage of being to another, so that ‘to be is not to be’, and ‘not to be is to
be’ (Peng & Nisbett, 1999, p. 748).
b
The Principle of Contradiction
This principle states that reality is not precise or ready-made but is full of contradictions. Because change is constant, contradiction is constant. Old and new,
good and bad, strong and weak, and so on coexist in everything. The founder of
203
6 The TOPOI area Order: views and logic
the Taoist school, Lao-tze, said, ‘When the people of the world all know beauty
as beauty, there arises the recognition of ugliness; When they all know the good
as good, there arises the recognition of evil. And so, being and nonbeing produce
each other’ (quoted in Nisbett, 2003, p. 175). According to the Taoists, the two
sides of any contradiction exist in active harmony, opposed but connected and
mutually controlling.
The yin-yang sign of the Tao – which means ‘the Way’ to exist with nature and
with one’s fellow human beings – symbolizes the two sides of any contradiction. Yin-yang consists of two forces in the form of a white and a black swirl.
But the black swirl contains a white dot and the white swirl contains a black dot.
And ‘the truest yang is the yang that is in the yin’ (Nisbett, 2003, p. 14). Yin (the
feminine and dark and passive) alternates with yang (the masculine and light
and active). Yin and yang only exist because of each other, and when the world
is in a yin state, this is a sure sign that it is about to be in a yang state.
Figure 6.5
Yin-yang sign
The principle of yin-yang is the expression of the relationship that exists between opposing but interpenetrating forces that may complete one another,
make each comprehensible, or create the conditions for altering one into the
other. To understand and appreciate one state of affairs requires the existence
of its opposite; what seems to be true now may be the opposite of what it seems
to be. The I Ching (quoted in Nisbett, 2003, p. 13) says, ‘For misery, happiness is
leaning against it; for happiness, misery is hiding in it. Who knows whether it is
misery or happiness? There is no certainty. The righteous suddenly becomes the
vicious, the good suddenly becomes the bad.’
204
6.5 Cognition and logic
‘There is an ancient Chinese story (…) about an old farmer whose only horse ran
away. Knowing that the horse was the mainstay of his livelihood, his neighbours
came to commiserate with him. “Who knows what’s bad or good?” said the old
man, refusing their sympathy. And indeed, a few days later his horse returned,
bringing with it a wild horse. The old man’s friends came to congratulate him. Rejecting their congratulations, the old man said, “Who knows what’s bad or good?”
And, as it happened, a few days later when the old man’s son was attempting to
ride the wild horse, he was thrown from it and his leg was broken. The friends
came to express their sadness about the son’s misfortune. “Who knows what’s
bad or good?” said the old man. A few weeks passed, and the army came to the
village to conscript all the able-bodied men to fight a war against the neighbouring province, but the old man’s son was not fit to serve and was spared.
The story, which goes on as long as the patience of the audience permits, expresses a fundamental of the Eastern stance toward life. The world is constantly
changing and you cannot draw conclusions about good or bad too early’ (Nisbett, 2003, p. 13).
Zhou Enlai, the first Premier of the People’s Republic of China from 1949 until his death in 1976, when asked whether he thought the consequences of the
French Revolution – at that point 150 years ago – had been beneficial, reportedly responded: ‘It’s too early to tell’ (ibid.).
c
The Principle of Relationship, or Holism
As a result of change and opposition, nothing exists in isolation and independently, everything is connected to a multitude of different things. Eastern
thinkers pay attention to a wide range of events; they search for relationships
between things; they believe you cannot understand the part without understanding the whole, like individual musical notes embedded in a melody. Holism also indicates that a thing is different in one context than in another. A man
is literally a different person within his family than in his role as businessman.
A key idea is the notion of resonance. If you pluck a string on an instrument,
you produce a resonance in another string. The holism of the ancient Chinese
extended to a sense of the unity of human existence with natural and even supernatural occurrences. What happened on earth resonated with events in nature and in heaven. If the emperor does something wrong, it throws the universe out of harmony and off balance (Nisbett, 2003, p. 17).
The three principles of dialectical reasoning are related. Change produces contradiction and contradiction causes change; constant change and contradiction
imply that it is meaningless to discuss the individual part without considering
205
6 The TOPOI area Order: views and logic
its relationships with other parts and prior states. The principles also imply
another important tenet of Eastern thought, which is the insistence on finding
the Middle Way between extreme propositions. There is a strong presumption
that contradictions are merely apparent and to believe that ‘A is right and B is
not wrong either.’ This stance is captured by the Zen Buddhist dictum that ‘the
opposite of a great truth is also true’ (Nisbett, 2003, p. 176).
Dutch football legend – and an ‘Eastern philosopher’ of sorts – Johan Cruijff once
said, ‘Elk nadeel heb z’n voordeel’ (‘Every disadvantage has its advantage’).
In Eastern thinking, the law of non-contradiction applies only to the realm of
concepts and abstractions. The rejection of conclusions because they seem formally contradictory can be mistaken, because concepts are merely reflections
of things and sometimes it makes more sense to admit that an apparent contradiction exists than to insist that either one state of affairs or its opposite is
correct. That is why in Eastern thinking there is a greater preference for compromise solutions – the Middle Way – and for holistic arguments and a larger
willingness to endorse both of two apparently contradictory arguments instead
of referring to a dominating principle.
Thinking in terms of ‘both/and’ rather than ‘either/or’ also applies to negotiations. Someone who thinks from a ‘Western’ perspective will tend to choose
between two clear-cut alternatives, either option A or B. ‘Eastern’ negotiation
implies thinking in terms of ‘both/and’, and thus means exploring whether option A and B can be combined.
An illustration of Western negotiations is the well-known story of two sisters in
conflict about who gets to have an orange. The sisters come to an agreement
that both get half. One of them eats her half of the orange, and throws away the
skin. The other one uses the skin to bake a pie, and throws away the flesh (Fisher,
Ury & Patton, 1991).
Western negotiations often imply a positioning in which an ‘either/or’ or a ‘win/
lose’ outcome is strived for: either you or the other will win and have the orange.
Eastern negotiations are aimed at a ‘both/and’ or ‘win-win’ outcome. The sisters
could have first checked both their underlying needs and both would have had a
whole orange: one all of the skin, the other all of the flesh.
206
6.5 Cognition and logic
Just to illustrate that systems of thought do not always correspond with their
associated groups:
A Dutch businessman doing business in China was engaged in negotiations with
a Chinese counterpart and was dedicated to focus on a win-win outcome. The
Chinese negotiator, however, negotiated ‘tough’ and seemed to focus only on
his own needs and concerns. After a while, the Dutchman had to give in to his
demands, but complained that the Chinese negotiator did not want to create a
win-win situation. ‘But it is win-win’, the Chinese negotiator said. ‘Two wins for
me, no win for you!’
‘Western’ thinking
As mentioned, Western thinking is strongly shaped by the ancient Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle. Interestingly, the Muslim world played a large
role in the dissemination of Greek philosophy in the West. After the demise
of ancient Greece around 400 CE, Greek philosophy fell into oblivion. In the
early Middle Ages, Aristotle and Plato were practically unknown. In the Islamic world, on the contrary, Aristotle in particular had been studied intensively
since the 9th century. The Islamic scholar Ibn Rushd (1126-1198 CE), known
in Europe as Averroes, for instance, wrote detailed and scientific comments on
Aristotle’s work. It was Averroes’ books that rekindled interest in Aristotle. The
first Latin translations of Aristotle’s teachings were from Arabic and only later
from the Greek writings by Aristotle himself (Griffel, 2014).
Just as Eastern thought, Western thought too has a dialectical tradition. However, some logical principles in Western thinking conflict directly with the spirit of ‘Eastern’ dialecticism. Three logical principles in particular stand out:
a the law of identity, which holds that a thing is itself and not some other
thing;
b the law of non-contradiction, which holds that a proposition cannot be both
true and false at the same time;
c the law of the excluded middle, which says that a statement is either true or
false.
a
The law of identity
The law of identity insists on cross-situational consistency: A is A regardless of
the context; if a proposition is true then it is true. If a statement such as ‘this is
a wooden table’ is true, then the statement is true. More generally, it says that
statement P is the same thing as itself and is different from everything else.
207
6 The TOPOI area Order: views and logic
b
The law of non-contradiction
The law of non-contradiction demands that a proposition and its negation cannot both be true: A and not-A are impossible. A statement such as ‘the sun is
shining’ cannot be both true and false in the same sense. This principle says
that it is impossible that the sun is shining and not shining at the same time in
the same place.
c
The law of the excluded middle
The law of the excluded middle says that a statement such as ‘the sun is shining’
is either true or false. There is no other alternative. The discussions about categories of the either/or sort run through Western intellectual history and form
the basis for debates: for example, the controversies ‘mind–body’, ‘emotion–
reason’ and ‘nature–nurture’.
Eastern and Western thinking: a summary
Below, the differences between Eastern and Western thinking are summarized
in a scheme:
Cognition and logic
Eastern thinking
Western thinking
Basic world view
The world is complex and highly
changeable and its components
interrelated. Events are moving
in cycles between extremes and
control over events requires
coordination with others.
The world is more or less deterministic. The focus is on salient
objects or people rather than on
the larger picture. Events can be
controlled if you know the rules
that govern the behaviour of
objects.
Basic assumptions
about the composition of the world
The world consists of sub­
stances.
The world consists of objects.
Habits of organizing
the world
Emphasis on perceived similarities and relationships: the
potential relevance of every fact
to every other fact.
(a) Greater tendency to categorize objects; (b) it is easier to
learn new categories by applying rules about properties to
particular cases; (c) more inductive use of categories: generalize
from particular instances of a
category to other instances or to
the category as a whole.
Preferred patterns
of explanation for
events
Broader attention for the
environment and to relations
between object and field.
Focus on objects and attention
primarily for the focal object or
person.
208
6.5 Cognition and logic
Causality
Belief that behaviour has a
number of causes which can be
intrinsic as well as extrinsic by
the context.
Behaviour has a single cause,
either intrinsic or extrinsic.
Tendency to assume that events
are caused by the object, and to
attribute behaviour to the actor.
Use of formal logical
rules
Less inclination to use logical
rules to understand events.
More inclination to use logical
rules to understand events.
Application of dialec- Inclination to seek the Middle
tical approaches
Way when confronted with
apparent contradiction of one
belief versus another. Avoid
controversy and debate.
Stronger inclination to insist on
the correctness of one belief versus another. Faith in the rhetoric
of argumentation.
Logic
The Middle Way, the ‘both/and’
approach: ‘there’s truth on both
sides’.
Two-valued logic with the binary, ‘either/or’ approach to the
evaluation of propositions.
Formalism
The Eastern view is articulated
by the Chinese philosopher S.H.
Liu, who says, ‘Chinese are too
rational to separate form from
content’ (quoted in Nisbett,
2003, p. 203).
Formal, logical approach that
insists on separation of form and
content, so that reasoning can
be carried out using abstract
logical principles.
Figure 6.6
‘Eastern’ and ‘Western’ thinking
6.5.3
Inductive and deductive thinking
A last distinction to be discussed is that between the previously mentioned concepts of inductive and deductive thinking. Deductive thinking is the drawing of
conclusions or facts from general principles. Deductive thinkers first mention
the ‘why’, the background, before moving to conclusions, facts or action to be
taken. Inductive thinkers start with the conclusion(s), the facts or the action,
and then – if necessary – move on to describing the why, the background and
how they arrived at that.
Here is an example of an inductively oriented speaker who comes into conflict
with deductively oriented listeners:
Erin Meyer (29 October 2014) writes about her first presentation in France: ‘I
started by getting right to the point, introducing strategies, practical examples,
and next steps. But the group did not seem to be responding as usual, and soon
the first hand came up. “How did you get to these conclusions?” “You are giving
us your tools and recommended actions, but I haven’t heard enough about how
209
6 The TOPOI area Order: views and logic
you got here. How many people did you poll? What questions did you ask?” Then
another jumped in: “Please explain what methodology you used for analyzing
your data and how that led you to come to these findings.” The interruptions
seemed out of place, even arrogant. Why, I wondered, did they feel the need to
challenge my credibility? The material was practical, actionable and interesting.
Their questions on the other hand – if I were to spend the necessary time answering them – were so conceptual they were sure to send the group into a deep
slumber. So I assured them that the methodology behind the recommendations
was sound, and was based on careful research, which I would be happy to discuss with them during a break. I then moved back to my conclusions, tools and
practical examples. Let’s just say things got worse from there.’
6.6
Core reflections on Order
To summarize, you can ask the following questions concerning the Order area
and possibly explore:
1 What is my share?
■■ What is my view or logic concerning the issue at hand?
■■ What for me is the heart of the matter?
■■ What for me is the commonality with the other in this matter?
2 What is the other person’s share?
■■ What is the view or logic of the other concerning the issue at hand?
■■ What to him or her is the heart of the matter?
■■ What for the other is the commonality with me in this matter?
3 What is the influence of the social contexts (common senses) on each person’s views and logic and on each person’s attributed meaning to the other
person’s views?
6.7
Study assignments
Complete these assignments together with one or more colleagues or fellow
students. Compare your answers with those of your colleagues or fellow students:
■■ What was the same?
■■ What was different?
■■ What do you notice?
210
6.7 Study assignments
1 Revisit section 6.5.1, What do you see, what do you think? Discuss with one
or two colleagues what your description was of the three pictures in this
section.
2 Revisit section 6.5.2, ‘Eastern’ and ‘Western’ thinking.
a To get a feeling for different views and ways of thinking, discuss the figure below with a colleague or fellow student, before reading Nisbett’s
findings. To which group (1 or 2) is the target object the most similar?
Explain to each other how you come to your views (your logic).
Group 1
Group 2
Target object
Figure 6.7
Example of item measuring whether judgments of similarity are based on family
­resemblance or rules (Nisbett, 2003, p. 143)
b Now read the outcome of Nisbett’s research below and discuss with your
colleagues or fellow students whether your points of view and logic are
typically ‘Western’ or ‘Eastern’.
Nisbett (2003, pp. 142-143) found: Most of the Koreans thought the target object was more similar to the group on the left, because the target
object bears a more obvious family resemblance to the group on the left.
211
6 The TOPOI area Order: views and logic
Most of the European Americans thought the object was more similar
to the group on the right because of the invariant rule ‘has a straight (as
opposed to curved) stem’.
212
7
The TOPOI area Persons:
identity and relationship
Introduction
7.1 Recursivity in communication
7.1.1 Recursivity in groups
7.2 Interpersonal perspectives
7.3 How people want to engage with one another
7.3.1 Collectivistic vs. individualistic
7.3.2 Masculine and assertive vs. feminine and humanely oriented
7.3.3 Division of roles between men and women
7.3.4 Hierarchical and sensitive to status vs. egalitarian and informal
7.3.5 Universalistic vs. particularistic
7.3.6 Specific vs. diffuse
7.4 Face and honour
7.5 Multiple identity
7.6 Symmetrical or complementary relationship?
7.7 The impact of ‘common senses’ on interpersonal perspectives
7.7.1 Norm images
7.8 Core reflections on Persons
7.9 Study assignments
Introduction
The Persons area represents the relationship level in the communication, and
entails the identities of the conversation partners and their mutual relationship.
This area is extremely important for intercultural communication, since people,
when it comes to experiences of strangeness, often feel directly and personally affected as to who they are and how they experience their relationship with
others.
The Persons area depends on two axioms by Paul Watzlawick et al. (2011, p. 51
and 58): ‘Every communication has a content and a relationship aspect such
213
7 The TOPOI area Persons: identity and relationship
that the latter classifies the former’ and ‘All communicational interchanges are
either symmetrical or complementary, depending on whether they are based on
equality or difference’. By the first axiom, Watzlawick et al. mean that people in
conversation not only exchange content and information, but at the same time
– mainly unconsciously – relational messages: This is how I see you, this is how
I see myself and this is how I see our relationship. The second axiom of symmetry and complementarity refers to the position of conversation partners in
the communication: this can be symmetrical, equal (leading–leading: they alternate in taking the lead, for instance in negotiations) or complementary (leading–following: one partner is more leading and the other follows, for example
during a presentation in which the presenter is more leading).
In every communicative situation, people unconsciously have certain assumptions about their interaction with the other, how they see themselves, what approach they would like for themselves, what image they have of the other and
how they want to treat her or him. Some will present themselves by their first
name (‘Just call me Margaret’); others expect to be addressed by their title or
with ‘sir’ or ‘madam’ (‘Frau Dr. Baumgarten’). One employee may spontaneously start discussing private matters at work whereas the other will respond in
surprise, since to her or him work and private life are strictly separated.
Aside from having different assumptions when engaging in interaction, people
negotiate their relationship in their communication as well. This is a natural
process of exchange that takes place in every interpersonal interaction. Consequently, a first contact can begin in a formal, distant way and later develop into
a more amicable, informal atmosphere and vice versa.
The messages that conversational partners exchange on the relationship level
during interaction are highly determining for how they receive one another’s
messages on the content level. When you do not feel treated respectfully on
the relationship level, it will be hard to accept the content of the other’s message. Consequently, the relationship level in the communication is crucial for
every interaction and most definitely in international or interethnic encounters,
where the first, unspoken, question is often: Am I accepted, can I be myself and
am I treated with respect?
Differences and misunderstanding in communication in all TOPOI areas can
have an immediate impact on the relationship between the people involved.
Disruptions due to Tongue (verbal and non-verbal language), Order (different
views), Persons (the mutual interaction), Organization (organizational ambiguities) or Intentions (misreading each other’s intentions) can affect people per-
214
7.1 Recursivity in communication
sonally, and take them by surprise, because they feel disadvantaged or treated
disrespectfully. The following example illustrates a misunderstanding due to
different uses of language.
A (British) boss asked a new, young (American) employee if he would like to have
an early lunch at 11 AM each day. The employee answered, ‘Yeah, that would be
great!’ The boss, hearing the word ‘yeah’ instead of the word ‘yes’, assumed that
the employee was rude, ill-mannered, and disrespectful. The boss responded
curtly, ‘With that kind of attitude, you may as well forget about lunch!’ The employee was bewildered. What had gone wrong? (Adler, 1991, p. 2)
7.1
Recursivity in communication
As mentioned before, in communication one always transfers more than just
content wrapped up in language. All information, every message you transfer
to someone, is simultaneously a comment on the other person at the level of
the relationship. Whatever you say unavoidably includes a message about how
you perceive the other person. Whether you want to or not, whether or not intended, in communication you cannot not communicate how you see the other
person. Conversation partners can never withdraw from the mutual sending
and receiving of views of one another. People’s glances, smiles or facial expressions, as well as their way of speaking, often reveal their view or image of the
other person. This continuous and mutual personal influencing at the level of
relationship within communication is called the recursivity of communication
(Peeters, 1989).
Recursivity is derived from the Latin recurrere, which means ‘to recur’ or return. Recursivity in communication means the following: when you communicate with someone, not only do you transmit a message on the content level,
but you invariably make an implicit statement about the other person. When
the other person says something, this communicates an implicit message about
yourself as well. In other words, everything the other communicates can be
read implicitly as a message about yourself, and everything you communicate
can be read by the other as a statement about her or him. Through the way in
which the other experiences your communication (her or his reaction) you receive a comment on your view of that other person. Conversely, you send back
your vision of the other person in the way you experience the effect of his or her
communication (your reaction).
215
7 The TOPOI area Persons: identity and relationship
Due to the circularity of the communication, the recursive effect takes place simultaneously on both sides. In a conversation, the listener sends information
about the speaker through her or his non-verbal language (expression, attitude,
voice) while she or he is talking. In communication, then, people continuously and unintentionally confront each other with their perspective of each other,
their responses to these perspectives and hence how they feel about each other
personally. The recursive effect of this continuous, simultaneous sending of personal comments in a conversation (between A and B) can be presented as follows:
Content
A
B
Relationship
(Recursivity)
Figure 7.1
The recursivity of communication
The recursive effect of the communication can have negative consequences for
those involved.
Being confronted by someone else with a comment on one’s perspective
then feels like an unexpected, unpleasant blow from the communicative boomerang that you yourself threw, as in the example below.
A woman from Croatia working in Belgium said, ‘I recently had an informal conversation with my co-workers where I said that I do not see how anyone can live
in a country that has a king. For me this is very “fairy tale”-like and completely
inappropriate for the 21st century. It would even be a bit insulting to have someone “above me” based merely on birth. However, I noticed my colleagues (and
my boss) felt my comment was inappropriate and insulting, because they really
like their king. Something that I expected to be just small talk turned out to be an
uncomfortable moment.’
In this case, the woman unexpectedly and unintentionally, through seemingly
innocent ‘small talk’, expresses a negative judgment of her colleagues concerning their identity as Belgian citizens who are potentially pro-monarchy. At the
same time, she almost immediately gets feedback from her colleagues on her
comments as being unpleasant and inappropriate: ‘I noticed my colleagues (and
my boss) felt my comment was inappropriate and insulting’. The fact that her
conversation partners were so unexpectedly affected by a comment about the
royal family without any bad intentions, even if they may not be pro-monarchy,
216
7.1 Recursivity in communication
shows that cultural patterns are often stored unconsciously and physically. Culture is not something that only takes place on the level of thinking; something
that is ‘only in people’s heads’. Rather, culture is a lived experience that is felt
physically by the ‘urges, heartbeats and movements of our liver, heart, stomach,
skin and mind’, as Vincent Welten (1988, p. 20) says.
That is why a difference in opinion or behaviour with someone can be experienced as a personal attack on one’s identity. You can easily become angry or agitated when a symbolic part of yourself – e.g. your ideas, country or traditions
– is under attack. Your own reaction can be surprising to you as well – you may
not have imagined that such a thing would hurt your feelings – but even when
you try to be non-judgmental, this does not mean you are completely indifferent (Shaules, 2015, p. 97). All this once again shows how important the relationship level in communication is.
7.1.1
Recursivity in groups
When several people are in conversation, their communication impacts everyone involved. The communication with one person in a group indirectly affects
others on the relationship level. This indirect effect on others subsequently affects the person who was addressed directly. This shows the effect of recursivity
of the communication in a group. In a group, a statement about one person is
implicitly a statement about the others. An example of how recursivity works
in a group is a personal compliment to one member: the other members of the
group can experience this as personal criticism (‘we are apparently not as competent’) or as encouragement (‘we are doing OK, but we could try even harder’).
This possible effect on others and the influence this exerts on the individual involved can be a reason for an employee not to want to receive compliments in
the presence of colleagues: ‘What would they think!’
The same applies to criticism of a person in the company of others. Receiving
criticism in a group can give the people involved the feeling that they are being humiliated in front of the others. The person in question may think that
the others will now think negatively about her or him. Sometimes, people consciously make use of the recursive effect of communication in groups – for
example, managers who prefer to give someone feedback in front of others as a
managerial technique.
‘Many (…) managers feel that by discussing problems in front of others, they are
killing two birds with one stone: addressing the individual’s need for improvement as well as educating everyone around him’ (Kopp, 19 April 2012).
217
7 The TOPOI area Persons: identity and relationship
7.2
Interpersonal perspectives
The perspectives of themselves and the other that conversation partners exchange are known as ‘interpersonal perspectives’ (Laing, Phillipson & Lee,
1966). In communication, the images of the other are transmitted back and
forth with each message – mostly unconsciously. Interpersonal perspectives
can be divided into direct personal and indirect interpersonal perspectives.
Direct personal perspectives contain personal and direct statements about how
someone:
■■ sees her/himself: the perspective of oneself;
■■ sees the other: the perspective of the other.
These personal perspectives are direct, because they are the only two personal
perspectives that can be directly known: you can retrieve them from yourself.
Indirect interpersonal perspectives include presumptions about what people
think about each other. For instance:
■■ ‘what I think the other thinks about me’;
■■ ‘what I think the other thinks about herself or himself ’;
■■ ‘what I think the other thinks I think about myself ’;
■■ ‘what I think the other thinks I think about her or him’;
■■ ‘what I think the other thinks about what others think about her or him’.
These interpersonal perspectives are indirect because you cannot verify on
your own how the other sees you: this has to be checked with her or him. In
communication, you can form a presumption, but you are dependent on the
other person to know whether your idea coincides with that of the other.
As mentioned before, explicated interpersonal perspectives may sound farfetched but in practice, such interpersonal perspectives can have an influence
on how the communication is going.
First an example of the fifth indirect interpersonal perspective ‘what a student thinks a professor thinks about what others think about him as professor’.
A student with a different ethnic background got an insufficient grade from a
professor with the same ethnic background. The student said that she believed
that the professor was extra strict towards her, because he thought that other
students would otherwise think that he benefitted her because they shared the
same ethnic background.
218
7.2 Interpersonal perspectives
Next an example of two indirect interpersonal perspectives creating barriers
to the communication: (1) ‘what others think that I think about them’, and (2),
‘what I think the other thinks I think about him’.
An employee with a Moroccan background at a French company told, ‘When I
started working here, I noticed that two homosexual colleagues were avoiding
me a bit in the beginning. After a few weeks, over lunch, they admitted that they
were a bit hesitant because I am Muslim. (1) They presumed I would have issues
with their homosexuality, which was really not the case. They filled in what they
thought that I thought about them. But honestly, I have to admit, I did something
similar. There was also a colleague who was Jewish, and in the beginning I was a
bit cautious when having contact with him. (2) I thought that he perhaps thought
that I thought negatively about Jews, because of my Moroccan and Islamic backgrounds. This was not the case either; my father even had several companies together with Jewish Moroccans. But I noticed that I somehow kept some distance
just to avoid any awkward situations.’
What this example shows is that the interpersonal perspectives – how you
think the other thinks about you – are strongly influenced by dominant prejudices and ‘single stories’ in the social environment (see section 1.1.5): in this
case, what Muslims supposedly think about homosexuals; what Jews supposedly think of Moroccans and vice versa.
Furthermore, the example illustrates how interpersonal perspectives are often
not explicitly expressed in communication, even though people are affected
and bothered by them. In those situations, it is wise to verify whether you are
right to presume this interpersonal perspective in the other person instead of
jumping to conclusions that form a barrier to communication. An example of
the latter is the case of the manager mentioned in section 4.9. He thought his
(Chinese) negotiation partners were just delaying the process so as to get as
much information as possible out of him, which could then be used to pit his
company against the competition. Perhaps the manager had the feeling that
they took him for a fool who could easily be exploited, leading him to burst out
in anger.
Another example of jumping to conclusions without verifying is the following
story by Paul Watzlawick:
‘A man wants to hang up a painting. He has nails, but no hammer. His neighbour
does have one. Therefore, the man decides to go to him to borrow it. However,
at that moment he begins to have doubts. Imagine that the neighbour does not
219
7 The TOPOI area Persons: identity and relationship
want to lend me his hammer? Yesterday when he greeted me he also was a bit
short. Maybe he was in a hurry. Or maybe he just pretended and he really has
something against me. What then? I’ve never done anything to him; who does he
think he is. If somebody would want to borrow my tools, I would lend them to him
right away. Why wouldn’t he? People like that guy make your life miserable. And
I’m sure he imagines that I am dependent on him, just because he has a hammer.
That does it! The man storms over to the neighbour’s door, rings the doorbell, but
even before he has had a chance of saying “Good morning”, the man yells at him,
“You can keep your hammer, you jerk!”’ (Watzlawick, 1982, p. 39)
7.3
How people want to engage with one another
How people want to engage with one another can differ greatly. We mentioned
before that some people enjoy talking about private matters at work while others keep their work and personal life strictly separated. Some people are very
informal, even to strangers, others place a lot of value on status based on age
or position. Some prefer to be in constant presence of family, friends and acquaintances; others prefer to be by themselves, and so forth.
A man was happily travelling alone in Indonesia. Often, he would sit on the veranda of his losmen (hotel) alone, enjoying himself greatly. Many (Indonesian)
guests staying in the same losmen would invite him to come join them or would
even spontaneously join him on his veranda. They could not imagine that he
chose to travel without company and felt sorry for him when seeing him sitting
alone on the veranda.
Considerable research has been done into the various ways people relate to each
other (Hofstede, 1991, 2001; Trompenaars & Hamden-Turner, 1998; House et al.,
2004). In the following sections, we discuss six orientations, each with two opposite positions towards relating to others. For the relationship level of communication, these orientations and their positions give an idea of the various ways
people can relate to others, depending on the situation and the people involved.
These six orientations are:
1 collectivistic vs. individualistic
2 masculine and assertive vs. feminine and humanely oriented
3 division of roles between men and women
4 hierarchical and sensitive to status vs. egalitarian and informal
5 universalistic vs. particularistic
6 specific vs. diffuse
220
7.3 How people want to engage with one another
7.3.1
Collectivistic vs. individualistic
People with a collectivistic or communitarian orientation feel strongly connected to others, feel dependent on one another, are loyal to their family and
the group or community they belong to, are involved with each other, and tend
to put group concerns before their own concerns. An example of communitarianism, besides Confucianism (see section 6.4.2), is the African Sub-Sahara
concept of ‘ubuntu’. Desmond Tutu explains this as follows:
‘Ubuntu (…) speaks of the very essence of being human. When we want to give
high praise to someone we say, “Yu, u nobuntu”; “Hey, so-and-so has ubuntu.”
Then you are generous, you are hospitable, you are friendly and caring and compassionate. You share what you have. It is to say, “My humanity is caught up, is
inextricably bound up, in yours.” We belong in a bundle of life. We say, “A person
is a person through other persons.” It is not, “I think therefore I am.” It says rather: “I am human because I belong. I participate, I share.” A person with ubuntu is
open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that
others are able and good, for he or she has a proper self-assurance that comes
from knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when
others are humiliated or diminished, when others are tortured or oppressed, or
treated as if they were less than who they are’ (tutufoundationusa.org).
Individualistically oriented people tend to place a higher value on their own
concerns, personal freedom and personal satisfaction. They believe that one
should take one’s own decisions and take care of oneself. In interactions, a difference in orientation – collectivistic vs. individualistic – can lead to an allergy,
an irritation (see section 2.2.4, ‘Allergic reactions’). Collectivists may see individualists as egocentric, antisocial or soloistic. The individualist, in turn, may
experience the collectivist as dependent or docile, a ‘sheep’.
7.3.2
Masculine and assertive vs. feminine and humanely oriented
A masculine or assertive orientation means that people focus on financial gains
and material success. Progress is important and competition is an important
precondition to attain economic prosperity and be successful in, say, sports,
science or arts. People with a masculine attitude want to be ‘winners’ and not
‘losers’. Men are expected to be assertive, ambitious and hard; women to be
soft, modest, caring and focused on the quality of life. Conflicts are resolved by
fighting them out. A society focused on performance is the ideal. A feminine
orientation – comparable to a humane orientation – on the contrary is characterized by caring for others, for the weak. Women and men are expected to be
221
7 The TOPOI area Persons: identity and relationship
modest and soft and show attention to interpersonal relations. There is sympathy for the weak and for the loser. Conflicts are resolved through negotiation
and compromise. The ideal of a feminine orientation is a welfare society with
tolerance and equality of women and men, and where institutions have social
programmes.
This orientation especially creates a lot of discussion (‘What is a real man?’) and
is associated with many contradictions within societies. In the United States,
for example, one can find the assertive, masculine American dream of ‘Just do
it’ and ‘The sky is the limit’, but on the other hand, also many protests against
such a competitive culture and initiatives for a more feminine, humane society
with care, equality and tolerance.
7.3.3
Division of roles between men and women
Differences in the division of roles between men and women is a phenomenon
that can be encountered in various ways. There are many social groups (relationships, families, organizations, communities, societies) in which different
roles are attributed based on people’s (biological) sex. In many of such groups,
women have less status, education, influence and rights than men. In Saudi
Arabia, for example, women are not allowed to drive. Only men can drive, and
women often need to hire male drivers to bring them somewhere. In 2016 a
Saudi prince called for an end to the impediment to women driving, partly for
economic reasons, through a letter on Twitter.
Let women drive, a prince in Saudi Arabia urges
‘A prominent Saudi prince and business magnate has added his voice to the debate over women’s rights in his country, urging it to abandon its driving ban for
women.
“Stop the debate”, the prince, Alwaleed bin Talal, wrote on Twitter (…). “It’s time
for women to drive.”
In a four-page letter posted on his personal website [alwaleed.com], he argued
that “it is high time that Saudi women started driving their cars” and he couched
his views in economic terms, noting that foreign drivers are typically paid 3,800
riyals, or about $1,000, a month to shuttle women around. (…)
Prince Alwaleed wrote that the ban could not be defended under religious law.
“Such a ban on driving is fundamentally an infringement on a woman’s rights,
particularly as it continues to exist after she had won her right to an education
and a salaried employment”’ (Chan, 2016).
222
7.3 How people want to engage with one another
In September 2017, the Saudi king Salman ordered the reform through a royal
decree, requesting that drivers’ licences be issued to women who wanted them
(Chulov, 2017).
7.3.4
Hierarchical and sensitive to status vs. egalitarian and
­informal
A young (German) director of a company in Malaysia used to work until late in
the evening in his office. One evening, he walked through the company and saw
several employees still working in their offices and some employees had even
fallen asleep on their desks. Upon inquiry it turned out that the employees didn’t
dare to go home as long as the director had not left the building. Since then, the
director would leave the building for a walk at the end of the working day, so the
employees would dare to finish their tasks and go home.
In social groups that are hierarchically oriented, subordinates (employees, students, young people) expect that their superiors (managers, officials, teachers,
elderly) tell them what to do. Asking critical questions, mutual agreements and
participating in decision-making are not expected. Subordinates often find it
difficult to approach their superiors.
Another example from the Center for Creative Leadership in Ethiopia, where
healthcare leaders work in remote areas of western Ethiopia, is that employees
rarely feel comfortable asking questions to their superiors. If a superior tells an
employee what tasks to complete, the employee is expected to do them. The
employee would rather do it wrong than ask for clarification from his or her boss
because asking for clarification can be seen as insubordination (Baker & Campbell, 2016, p. 9).
From the opposite perspective: in a training for expatriates working for a Dutch
multinational, several participants complained about their managers. They said
they met their manager only once after they arrived to get acquainted. In most
cases, the manager said something along the lines of: ‘Good luck! You know how
to find me if you have any questions or problems’, after which they would not
hear from him or her for weeks. ‘How am I supposed to know what to do? It’s like
the manager really doesn’t care about me being here’, one of them said.
How people deal with hierarchy is an important aspect of any society and has
been an intriguing topic for researchers and scientists for centuries. In China,
for example, Confucius distinguished between five hierarchical types of relationships, each with their own norms and obligations: ruler and servant, father
223
7 The TOPOI area Persons: identity and relationship
and son, older brother and younger brother, husband and wife, and older friend
and younger friend. In these relationships – implying a hierarchy based on age
and life experience (and sex) – the junior partner is expected to show respect
and obedience whereas the senior partner offers protection, help and support
in personal and spiritual affairs. This reciprocity that traditionally protects the
less powerful in a relationship shows that an aversion of power differences, because it is associated with power abuse, is not always justified.
In other words, in some groups hierarchy is natural, positive and a fundamental
trait of an orderly society. In this respect, it is not fair to evaluate people with
such a hierarchical orientation as necessarily ‘passive’ or ‘submissive’, or conversely as ‘dominant’ or ‘overpowering’.
Another aspect is the sensitivity to someone’s status. A distinction can be made
between status based on performance or based on ascription (Trompenaars &
Hamden-Turner, 1998, pp. 102-119). The former is status achieved through education, performance or merit. The latter, ascribed status, is based on age, family background, sex, social networks or the institution someone was educated at.
People who value ascribed status will ask you where you studied, expecting to
hear the name of a well-reputed school or university. People who value achieved
status will ask you what you studied (ibid., p. 9). The difference in appreciation
of achieved (in this case education and position) versus ascribed status (age)
becomes apparent in the following example, involving a young Belgian (male)
coordinator:
‘As a 24-year-old, I was a project coordinator of an international education programme. (…) When visiting the partner university in Palermo, we discussed the
status of the project with one of the coordinators in Palermo. There are three of
us. My 45-year-old colleague and I are sitting at the desk opposite from the associate professor from Palermo. The topics of discussion are related to my expertise. I am talking and answering questions. However, the associate professor is
ignoring me while he speaks and directs his questions to my older colleague who
is sitting next to me. She then looks at me, after which I answer the question. During the conversation, the man realized that in fact he had to deal with me, but it
took him a lot of effort to direct his questions to me.’ (This case study is discussed
online, see www.coutinho.nl/diversitycompetence.)
224
7.3 How people want to engage with one another
7.3.5
Universalistic vs. particularistic
(Trompenaars & Hamden-Turner, 1998, pp. 29-49)
The Lord of She instructed Confucius, saying, ‘There is an upright man in my district. His father stole a sheep, and he testified against him.’ Confucius said, ‘The
upright men in my district are different. Fathers cover up for their sons and sons
cover up for their fathers. Uprightness lies therein’ (Confucius in Eno, 2015).
In this example, the Lord of She takes a universalistic orientation. A universalistic orientation means that you want to engage with people based on general
(universal) rules, norms, laws and values. Personal relationships are of less value because ‘rules are rules’ and ‘everyone is the same’. Confucius, on the other
hand, takes a particularistic position, stressing filiality as an essential foundation for virtue and an inalienable component of good character. By contrast, a
particularistic orientation means that personal relationships, personal duties
and special circumstances, instead of general rules, are decisive for dealing with
others and to judge what is right or wrong. For people with a particularistic
attitude the relationship is relevant for determining right and wrong. Consequently, in equal situations, family, friends, acquaintances and strangers can all
be treated differently.
To establish the universalistic versus particularistic orientations of people,
Trompenaars and Hamden-Turner (1998, pp. 33-34) offer the following wellknown dilemma:
‘You are riding in a car driven by a close friend. He hits a pedestrian. You know
he was going at least 35 miles per hour in an area of the city where the maximum
allowed speed is 20 miles per hour. There are no witnesses. His lawyer says that if
you testify under oath that he was only driving 20 miles per hour it may save him
from serious consequences.
1 What right has your friend to expect you to protect him?
a My friend has a definite right as a friend to expect me to testify to the lower figure.
b He has some right as a friend to expect me to testify to the lower figure.
c He has no right as a friend to expect me to testify to the lower figure.
2 What do you think you would do in view of the obligations of a sworn witness
and the obligation to your friend?
a Testify that he was going 20 miles an hour.
b Not testify that he was going 20 miles an hour.’
225
7 The TOPOI area Persons: identity and relationship
Trompenaars mentions this example during lectures all over the world (see for
example his TED Talk on youtube.com) and people everywhere find it a difficult dilemma, since it touches upon matters of individual integrity. For universalists, integrity means that the law applies to everyone, even if this is to disadvantage of a friend or family member. For particularists, loyalty to family and
friends are more important than the law, and integrity could mean testifying to
a friend’s advantage. Consequently, a universalist may accuse a particularist of
lying, corruption or clientelism, while a particularist may accuse a universalist
of betrayal and being merciless.
A Japanese respondent once gave an answer that attempted to reconcile and
transcend the contradictions (the Middle Way) by convincing his friend to tell
the truth, in the expectation that the judge would reward his honesty with a
lower punishment (Trompenaars, 2013).
When discussing this dilemma in an international group, an important argument for many participants was that in some societies, you cannot trust your
friend will receive a fair trial. The police and government are not necessarily
trustworthy and honest, which is an important reason to help your friend to
prevent him becoming a victim of random and unjust treatment by the police.
An Egyptian participant said, ‘Considering the situation in Egypt, I would lie
there, but in Sweden I would tell the truth.’
7.3.6
Specific vs. diffuse
People with a specific orientation prefer keeping their work and private life separate. To those with a more diffuse orientation, this distinction is not important
(Trompenaars & Hamden-Turner, 1998, pp. 81-102). Here are two examples of
people with a diffuse orientation:
A Chinese engineer working in Switzerland was told the Swiss tend to distinguish
quite strongly between work and private life and that working with a close friend
could make even many Swiss people a bit uncomfortable. The engineer replied:
‘I really don’t understand that. How can I work with someone that I don’t consider a friend?’
An Italian woman also thought the distinction between friends and colleagues
was weird: ‘In Italy, everyone that’s not trying to kill me is my friend!’
People with a specific orientation have little contact with colleagues outside of
work, and their professional performance does not rely on having good rela-
226
7.3 How people want to engage with one another
tions at work. They work together with others, even if the personal relationship
is not ideal. People with a specific orientation are used to receiving feedback
and criticism without taking it personally. Colleagues can deeply disagree and
engage in intense discussions, and still happily share a coffee afterwards.
Erin Meyer gives an example from a group-coaching day for international executives. Each executive had the opportunity to describe a cross-cultural challenge she or he was experiencing at work and to get feedback and suggestions
from the others. Willem, one of the Dutch participants, recounted an uncomfortable snafu when working with Asian clients and asked, ‘How can I fix this
relationship?’ Maarten, the other Dutch participant who knew Willem well,
jumped in with his perspective:
‘“You are inflexible and can be socially ill-at-ease. That makes it difficult for you
to communicate with your team”, he asserted. As Willem listened, I could see his
ears turning red (with embarrassment or anger? I wasn’t sure), but that didn’t
seem to bother Maarten, who calmly continued to assess Willem’s weaknesses
in front of the entire group. Meanwhile, the other participants – all Americans,
British and Asians – awkwardly stared at their feet.
That evening, we had a group dinner at a cosy restaurant. Entering a little after the others, I was startled to see Willem and Maarten sitting together, eating
peanuts, drinking champagne, and laughing like old friends. They waved me
over, and it seemed appropriate to comment, “I’m glad to see you together. I was
afraid you might not be speaking to each other after the feedback session this
afternoon.” Willem, with a look of surprise, reflected, “Of course, I didn’t enjoy
hearing those things about myself. It doesn’t feel good to hear what I have done
poorly. But I so much appreciated that Maarten would be transparent enough
to give me that feedback honestly. Feedback like that is a gift. Thanks for that,
Maarten” he added with an appreciative smile’ (Meyer, 11 February 2014).
Specifically oriented people are task-oriented and prefer ‘getting down to business’ in communication. Diffusely oriented people are more relationship-oriented in their work. They need good personal relationships in order to work
or do business together. Work and private life are not separate but overlap; the
borders are diffuse. They have personal contacts with colleagues, business partners and clients that extend beyond the workplace.
For many people, and in many places, developing personal relationships is essential in order to get things done. This relationship development needs time
and requires other activities and locations than the usual meetings and meeting
places. Decisions may be taken in restaurants, karaoke bars or bathing houses.
227
7 The TOPOI area Persons: identity and relationship
A survey of Chinese business opinion in Beijing and Shanghai, comprising interviews with business owners and senior purchasers, revealed that: ‘(…) One of
the most commonly mentioned and extreme differences between supplier-client
contact in Western companies, in comparison with China, is Westerners’ tendency to think that “work is work” and is therefore limited to the workplace. In China, relationship building and negotiations take place not only during the working
day, but also at a restaurant afterwards. Taking a business guest for a meal is a
basic common courtesy. The comment below is typical: “The British don’t understand Chinese culture. Their technology and quality check system is mature and
comprehensive, and they are professional in their field and everything they do.
They are polite, but that is not enough. We’d like to invite them to join our supper
after finishing working, but they can’t understand and will go back to the hotel
directly”’ (Harrison & Hedley, 2009).
An important component of relationship building is building trust. Trust is the
willingness to make oneself vulnerable to another person despite uncertainty
regarding their motives and prospective actions (McAllister, 1995, p. 25). Analogous to the specific versus diffuse orientation in personal relationships is the
distinction between building trust ‘from the head’ versus ‘from the heart’ – or
cognition-based versus affect-based trust (Chua, Ingram & Morris, 2008, pp.
1-2).
Cognition-based trust refers to trust ‘from the head’ – a judgment based on evidence of another’s competence and reliability. Cognition-based trust is a calculated and instrumental inference one makes from information about the other’s
behaviour under specific circumstances.
Affect-based trust refers to trust ‘from the heart’ – a bond that arises from
one’s own emotions and sense of the other’s feelings and motives. This type
of trust includes empathy, rapport and self-disclosure, allowing individuals to
express care and concern for the welfare of their partners and believe in the
intrinsic virtue of such relationships. Affect-based trust usually involves emotional investment and is more enduring and generalizable over situations than
cognition-based trust. These two types of trust align with the broader distinction in social psychology between two basic dimensions on which people map
others: competence and warmth (ibid., p. 2).
An example of such a difference in building trust comes from Erin Meyer:
‘Consider this story from John Katz, an Australian negotiating a joint venture in
China. Initially, he felt he was struggling to get the information his side needed,
so he asked his company’s China consultant for advice. The consultant suggest-
228
7.3 How people want to engage with one another
ed that Katz was going at the deal too quickly and should spend more time building trust. When Katz said he’d been working hard to do just that by supplying a
lot of information from his side and answering all questions transparently, the
consultant replied, “The problem is that you need to approach them from a relationship perspective, not a business perspective. You won’t get what you want
unless you develop trust differently”’ (Meyer, December 2015).
With regard to approaching clients with a more diffuse and affect-based trust
orientation, Trompenaars and Hamden-Turner give the following example.
‘A Swedish company beat an American company who had a technically superior product for a contract with an Argentinean customer. The Swedes invested
a whole week in the selling trip, the first five days of which were not related to
the business at all. They just shared the diffuse life spaces of their hosts, talking about common interests. Only after a “private space” relationship had been
established were the Argentinians willing to talk business. And that had to include several life spaces, not just one. In contrast, the Americans invested only
two days in the trip, knowing they had a superior product and presentation, and
were turned down’ (Trompenaars & Hamden-Turner, 1998, p. 87).
The distinction between diffuse and specifically oriented people is also regularly presented as the difference between ‘peaches’ and ‘coconuts’ (Lewin, 1936;
Trompenaars & Hamden-Turner, 1998, pp. 81-83). ‘Peaches’ are people who
easily and early on seem to share personal things and also seem to be personally interested in the other (this is the soft part of the peach). However, it takes
quite long and it is sometimes difficult to build a really personal, intimate bond
with a ‘peach’. After the soft and accessible part you hit the rock-hard pit of the
peach, so to speak. ‘Peaches’ quite easily call someone a friend without necessarily having a deep personal bond. Others would probably call such a person
an ‘acquaintance’.
Simbarashe Runyowa (7 December 2011), a student from Zimbabwe, writes in
a blog on the website ‘Voice of America’ (voanews.com) about his experiences
in the United States: ‘The concept of friendship in the US is fluid and dynamic.
Unlike friendships in other parts of the world, friendship in America can assume
various gradients of depth and commitment, yet still be deemed as friendship. A
person you say hi to occasionally can be labelled a friend. A person you collaborate with on one class project can be a “friend”.
This is a great departure from what friendship entailed back in Zimbabwe. There,
friendship was reserved for relationships with greater devotion and a more substantial connection, which appear to not be a requisite element of friendship in
the States.’
229
7 The TOPOI area Persons: identity and relationship
By contrast, ‘coconuts’ are initially a bit harder to access (due to their thin but
hard shell), but once the shell is broken, they open up and are able to develop a
friendship characterized by a deep, committed, personal bond.
An example of the difference between a ‘coconut’ and a ‘peach’ is the story of an
encounter between the Russian ‘coconut’ Igor Agapov and an American ‘peach’
fellow passenger.
‘Igor Agapov (…): “I sat next to a stranger on the airplane for a nine-hour flight to
New York. This American began asking me very personal questions: was it my first
trip to the US, what was I leaving behind in Russia, had I been away from my children for this long before? He also shared very personal information about himself.
He told me he was a bass player and talked about how difficult his frequent travelling was for his wife, who was with his newborn child right now in Florida.”
In response, Agapov started to do something unusual (…). He shared his personal story thinking they had built an unusually deep friendship in a short period
of time. The sequel was quite disappointing: “I thought that after this type of
connection, we would be friends for a very long time. When the airplane landed, imagine my surprise when, as I reached for a piece of paper in order to write
down my phone number, my new friend stood up and with a wave of his hand
said, ‘Nice to meet you! Have a great trip!’ And that was it. I never saw him again”’
(Meyer, 30 May 2015).
7.4
Face and honour
It is often said that diffuse and collectivist-oriented people are very concerned
with avoiding ‘loss of face’. In East and Southeast Asia, in particular, ‘face’ is
a well-known concept (Scollon et al., 2012, p. 46). ‘Face’ has many meanings,
based on the core concept of ‘honour’. It has been described as ‘(…) the negotiated public image, mutually granted each other by participants in a communicative event’ (Scollon et al., 2012, pp. 46-47). This definition of face includes the
concern in the interpersonal interaction for respect, esteem, dignity, honour
and status. People can both give face and lose face. The importance to certain
people of avoiding loss of face in communication can partly be derived from the
following signals: having difficulty receiving and giving feedback, especially in
the presence of others; feeling uncomfortable saying ‘no’ directly; not expressing one’s opinion or disagreement; avoiding confrontation and conflict; talking
about something else around a difficult question or sensitive topic; giving socially desirable or evasive answers. All this to avoid loss of face of oneself or the
other.
230
7.4 Face and honour
A Japanese businessman wants to tell his Norwegian client that he is uninterested in a particular sale. To be polite, the businessman says, ‘That will be very difficult.’ The client interprets the statement to mean that there are still unresolved
problems, not that the deal is off. He responds by asking how his company can
help solve the problems. The Japanese businessman, believing he has sent the
message that there will be no sale, is mystified by the response (Adler, 1991, p. 2).
In Arab, African and Asian countries especially, giving respect and avoiding
loss of face and honour in the communication is highly cultivated in language
and behavioural codes, Hence a dominant presumption is that in these countries ‘face’ is much more important than in ‘Western’ countries.
Stella Ting-Toomey (2010), however, mentions as a first core assumption of her
face-negotiation theory: ‘people in all cultures try to maintain and negotiate
face in all communication situations’.
Thomas Jansseune, who worked as a general manager for a multinational in
Taiwan for a long period, confirms Ting-Toomey’s position. Jansseune (in Boden,
2006, pp. 185-186) has noticed that ‘giving face’ is very important, but it does not
seem much more important to him than taking into account someone’s sense of
honour in the West. In general, Jansseune advises, always to remain yourself, not
to play a role and argue all your decisions and statements through logic.
Additionally, he points to the strategic use of the said assumption that ‘face’
is very important to Asians and, consequently, that creating loss of face would
also have to be avoided during negotiations with Asians. But, Jansseune read
an example in Chris Patten’s book, East and West, where Patten reports on the
negotiations between the Chinese and British concerning the return of Hong
Kong to China. Patten describes that the Chinese negotiators try to obtain extra
benefits by referring to ‘face’, which ought to be given to the Chinese. Chris Patten responds to the Chinese negotiators that there is also such a thing as British
‘face’ (Patten, 1999, p. 53). Jansseune recounts a similar experience:
‘(…) the president of an important Taiwanese company (…) tried several times
to refer to this [‘face’], merely as a means to have an extra discount. (…) he asked
for a discount because he was the president of the company and he would suffer
loss of face if he would not get a discount in the negotiations. (…)
It can also work in another way: he asked me, for example, to grant him another
high discount immediately even though this really had to be calculated first. “But
you, as general manager, can decide those things immediately.” In this way, by
making use of a sense of honour, the opposition is coerced into making concessions. In this case, I answered that this was indeed up to me to decide, but also
to decide to not do it. Eventually, we came to an agreement about the price (…)’
(own translation of Jansseune quoted in Boden, 2006, pp. 185-186).
231
7 The TOPOI area Persons: identity and relationship
Honour, status and ‘saving face’ are hence relevant in all communication. They
are a result of the universal human need for recognition. Tzvetan Todorov (quoted in Prins, 2010, p. 38) says that people as social beings have two basic needs:
the need for recognition of their existence and the need for confirmation that
what they do is of value. Considering the crucial importance of the relationship
level in the communication, this universal human need further underlines the
significance of recognition.
7.5
Multiple identity
The relationship level of the communication also entails the other person’s
identity: how do you see him or her and based on what identity do you approach him or her?
An international student (from Ghana) goes into a photography shop in France
to buy a camera. He browses around a bit but cannot find the price of a certain
camera. The student asks the salesman for the price of the camera, to which the
salesman immediately responds: ‘We don’t negotiate about prices here. This is
not Africa.’
In international encounters, people often tend to approach each other exclusively on the basis of their national identity, or as in the previous example,
their skin colour, and their associated stereotypical traits (the aforementioned
culturalistic approach). For the Ghanaian student, this can be experienced as
identity-related strangeness and an intense feeling of exclusion. It is often overlooked that everyone has several identities or roles and that from an inclusive
perspective, it is the context that determines how someone is approached initially: in a shop, someone is foremost a customer.
The awareness of multiple identities makes it easier, beyond the borders of national identities, to connect to others through commonalities based on age,
parenthood, education, hobbies and interest.
Stefanie Rathje mentions in an interview (Schmidt, 2015, pp. 4-5). ‘I studied this
[corporate culture] at several German subsidiaries in Thailand. I wanted to find
out if and how it is possible to create something like a common corporate culture with a Thai workforce and German managers. At the time I was influenced
by the traditional literature on interculturality, looking for differences between
the groups. But there was an incident that led me to another path. I was invited
to a dinner party with German and Thai guests. I expected it would be easier to
232
7.6 Symmetrical or complementary relationship?
talk with Germans but I wasn’t really getting along with the ones next to me, so
I began talking with a Thai employee. After a couple of minutes we realized we’d
both just seen the same movie and we’d both laughed hard at a joke that no one
else in the theatre seemed to get. I suddenly felt so close to this person and it became clear to me that human connection and understanding haven’t anything to
do with where we come from. It got me thinking whether problems attributed to
cultural differences might be more basic.’
Sometimes it can be helpful to address someone on the basis of another identity or role to steer the conversation in another direction. In section 6.3, we gave
the example of a French coordinator of a medical university cooperating with
a hospital in Congo. She wrote in her case description that she had a conversation with the coordinator in Congo which turned into a discussion about the
position of women. Her conversation partner’s point of view implied that men
were hierarchically placed above women. From her organization, the coordinator was convinced of the equality between men and women, and they hence
wanted to see this principle respected. Her learning goal was: how to best deal
with these kind of situations? On the relationship level, the coordinator could
intervene by approaching her conversational partner on his role as a coordinator. She can do this by asking him – as local coordinator of the project – what
his views about women mean for the hospital organization. And subsequently
address the issue, How should the hospital deal with female employees and
patients? In this way, the coordinator creates specific functional arguments, if
necessary, to address her organization’s precondition: the principle of gender
equality.
7.6
Symmetrical or complementary relationship?
As stated above, ‘All communicational interchanges are either symmetrical or
complementary, depending on whether they are based on equality or difference’
(Watzlawick et al. 2011, p. 58). Consequently, the interaction between people
depends on equality (symmetry) or difference (complementarity), depending
on the mode of interaction that people choose. Timothy Leary (1957) developed a model that maps the types of interaction between people (Mulder, 2012;
Susilo et al., 2013; Van Dijk, 2009). Because Leary was inspired by a wind rose,
the model is called Leary’s Rose. The heart of Leary’s Rose is formed by two
axes crossing each other, each with two poles (see Figure 7.2). On both axes are
the different types of interaction that people can engage in:
233
7 The TOPOI area Persons: identity and relationship
■■ the horizontal axis with the poles Against–Together represents the degree to
which people focus on mutual acceptance in their relationship;
■■ the vertical axis with the poles Below–Above represents the degree to which
people want to exert influence in a relationship.
On the horizontal axis, Together is a mode of interaction focused on accep­
tance, whereas Against is aimed at other behaviours. Within a relationship, the
interaction mode Against can even counteract acceptance. On the vertical axis,
Above is a mode of interaction focused on having influence. In a relationship,
Below is a mode of interaction that hardly aims for influence.
Combinations of the poles on both axes lead to the following four modes of
interaction:
1 The combination Against–Above is an offensive mode of interaction that
does not aim for acceptance but for influence.
2 The combination Above–Together is leading, aimed at influence and acceptance.
3 The combination Together–Below is following, aimed at acceptance but not
influence.
4 The combination Below–Against is defensive, aimed neither at influence nor
at acceptance.
Schematically, the four interaction modes, also called positions, can be categorized as follows:
Above
Against
Leary’s
Rose
Below
Figure 7.2
Leary’s Rose
234
Together
7.6 Symmetrical or complementary relationship?
There is no inherent judgment in the different terms for Leary’s Rose’s interaction modes. An offensive mode of interaction is not necessarily and by definition bad, and neither is a defensive (or withdrawing) one. The meaning and
value of the different interaction modes cannot be established in advance, but
become clear through the mutual relationship and in specific situations. When
evaluating the interaction modes within a relationship, it is hence preferable to
speak of effective and non-effective.
The four modes of interaction in Leary’s Rose can be further distinguished.
Above
Competitive
Leading
Aggressive
Helping
Leary’s
Rose
Against
Defiant
Together
Cooperative
Withdrawn
Following
Below
Figure 7.3
Leary’s Rose (elaborated)
In Figure 7.4, the various positions or types of interaction are described in keywords to characterize the relevant behaviours in the accompanied position. As
you can tell, each mode of interaction has both qualities and pitfalls.
235
7 The TOPOI area Persons: identity and relationship
Positions in
interaction
Behaviours
Leading
Structuring the conversation; explaining; arranging; assigning; making
choices; deciding; advising; convincing; problem-solving; dominating
Helping
Taking initiative; stimulating others; taking care of others and the process;
reassuring; encouraging; problem-solving; inviting to cooperate; accommodating; tolerating mistakes
Cooperative
Showing interest; active listening; participating; offering help; showing
appreciation; having attention for personal relations and group processes;
invitations for cooperation
Following
Asking for advice, guidance, explanation; respectful to others; agreeing with
others; admiring others; letting others decide; accepting things immediately
Withdrawn
Waiting it out; staying silent; accepting; retreating into oneself; moping in
silence; being indifferent; blaming oneself; feeling responsible for criticism, anger and failure in interaction; discouraging others to work with
him/her
Defiant
Voicing criticism; ostentatious silence; distrusting others; skeptical or even
cynical; provoking conflict; distrusting others’ statements; denying or
ignoring positive feelings
Aggressive
Determined; open; honest; direct; firm interventions; negative evaluations;
dismissing; demanding; showing anger; proving other’s incompetence;
frequently interrupting others
Competitive
Countering suggestions; controlling; decisive interventions; constructively
dismissing; making clear demands/counter-demands; enforcing positive
alternatives; emphasizing own qualities; ignoring criticism; trying to impress; no interest in others
Figure 7.4
Leary’s Rose: positions and possible behaviour
Obviously, everyone to some degree has access to these different modes of interaction and behaviour. You can establish for yourself which position has your
preference in interactions with others. Leary’s Rose can help you become aware
of your own position of preference; the way that you mostly and preferably
position yourself in relationships with other people. The crucial point Leary
wanted to make is that everyone has a choice either to act in accordance with
their natural tendency or to become aware of this tendency and take a different,
possibly more effective, approach. Leary’s Rose helps people become aware of
a wider range of possible reactions during interactions, and how to choose a
reaction that helps to better position themselves on the two axes. When people
with a higher hierarchical position take the ‘above’ position, the other person
does not inevitably have to respond from the ‘below’ position. One can choose
to select a more equal position.
236
7.6 Symmetrical or complementary relationship?
Leary’s Rose was used in role playing in a training in Indonesia for nurses who
had to negotiate in the patients’ interest with the doctor while maintaining partnership relationship with and avoiding opposition to the doctor. Below is an excerpt from the description of a scenario for a role play (Susilo et al., 2013, p. 56).
‘The nurse and the cardiologist are in the position of “against” and “above” when
both of them are acting defensively.
Nurse Eka: I think you have not told him [i.e. the patient] everything about the
procedure.
Dr Saputri: Excuse me, Nurse Eka. I have explained everything very clearly.
This situation can be changed into collaboration when one of them starts moving
into the “together” position.
Nurse Eka: Perhaps it will be better if you and I visit him and talk with him
together.’
Obviously, it is not necessary in every interaction to find out where each person is positioned in the Rose. Someone’s position depends on several factors:
the other person’s positioning, personal preference, the situation, their goal and
the issue at hand. ‘Normally’, people’s positions can jump from one location on
the Rose to another. Sometimes, the interaction can freeze, and people take up
the same position towards each other all the time. If this leads to frustration or
ineffectiveness, Leary’s Rose can help change things around.
Another important insight that can be drawn from Leary’s Rose is that neither
your own mode of interaction nor that of another is completely random. Your
own interaction mode can provoke the other person’s interaction mode and
vice versa. This insight offers the opportunity to influence other people’s mode
of interaction during communication – and hence the relationship. By consciously choosing your own mode, you can influence the other person’s mode.
The interactive position people take up in an interaction depends, apart from
the individual person and context, on someone’s cultural repertoire. For example, people can be socialized into being subservient and cooperative vis-à-vis
superiors: managers, teachers, elderly and officials.
A management lecturer used to teaching in an educational culture with little
power distance – in a spirit of togetherness, with more or less equal, critical interaction and independence (reflection) from students – writes about a teaching
237
7 The TOPOI area Persons: identity and relationship
experience: ‘In [the] first lesson of a course on Human Resource Management in
China I asked all the students to tell something about themselves and the problems of HRM they were familiar with as managers. After this session, one of the
students came to me in private and complained about this assignment: “How
can you ask us to give answers before you have taught us what we need to know
to give a good answer? We are not used to this style of teaching.” I had to change
my approach drastically. I began with presenting a theoretical framework and a
method to solve cases. Then I presented the case and made them solve it according to clear norms that I explained to them’ (De Man, 2005, p. 3).
Depending on the educational goal, the teacher could also – after having informed in an appreciative way what teaching style the students are used to – have
clarified and executed his own educational concept (goals, methods, expectations of students). Additionally, he could have tried to equip the students with
the necessary academic skills. In Leary’s Rose he could have repositioned the students from following–leading to cooperative–helping, for example through the
following assignment: Present a case and prepare peer exchange or brainstorm.
7.7
The impact of ‘common senses’ on interpersonal perspectives
In the earlier example of the camera shop, the salesman’s reaction made clear
that the way people see each other, and what images they have of one another, is
influenced by common senses; in this case, dominant prejudices and stereotypes.
Earlier, we wrote that no one is completely immune to the influence of common
senses, which are often unconsciously internalized (see also Chapter 3).
Since influence is inevitable, the point is not so much not to have any prejudice or stereotypes, but to be aware of having them, so you can subsequently
suspend judgment and break prejudices down by informing yourself and approaching the other with an open mind.
A (Belgian) project leader seeking PhD/postdoc candidates for his research group
writes in his case description: ‘I am also more and more confronted with applications for PhD/postdoc vacancies from non-European countries, especially India
and Iran. When I interview these candidates (video calls), I find it more difficult to
assess them in an objective way. Often, I have the feeling that they tend to be less
open, and try to answer my questions in a way they think will please me the most
(even more than European applicants). At the same time, I must admit that I am
probably already biased from the beginning, as I tend to think that their (educational, cultural) background might create more risks for performing successful
and independent research.’
238
7.7 The impact of ‘common senses’ on interpersonal perspectives
An HR recruiter was very conscious of the potential impact of prejudice and stereotypes on her perception of a job candidate. ‘I always write down my first impression at the beginning of an interview’, she says. ‘That helps me to consciously distance myself from that image, and to seek for things that contradict rather
than confirm my impression.’
Prejudices and stereotypes are often the result of ‘single stories’, as the Nigerian
writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (2009) calls them (see section 1.1.5). Simbarashe Runyowa, the aforementioned student from Zimbabwe, wrote a blog
on the website ‘Voice of America’ (voanews.com) about the multiple single stories of Africa he was confronted with while staying in the US:
‘During my first week in the United States, I went to lunch with a group of American students to whom I had just been introduced. Pleasantries were being exchanged around the room, as was some great food and conversation. Everyone
was immersed in those typical introductory conversations that revolve around
hometowns, majors, dorm choices and so on.
Someone then brought up the excellent idea that it would be a great thing if we
could all share our Facebook usernames so that we could contact each other in the
future. With everyone agreeing that this was indeed a brilliant suggestion, a piece
of paper was circulated around the room by a girl who we shall refer to as Girl X.
Girl X went around the table and collected everyone’s details, and then just as I
was about to append my own username to the list, Girl X snatched up the piece of
paper from my grasp and haughtily declared: “Oh wait, you don’t have Facebook
in Zimbabwe, right?”
As soon as those words penetrated my body, my appetite evaporated completely. I was stunned and disappointed. Not just by Girl X’s tragic assumption that being African somehow disqualified me from knowing what Facebook is, but also
by the emphatic assuredness and certainty in her tone.
In her mind, she was absolutely convinced that my being African automatically
made me technologically inept, and had extrapolated that assumption to reach
the conclusion that I obviously had never used internet, never mind dared to break
new African ground by creating an account on a social networking website. (…)
While these comments all made me cringe inwardly in disbelief, none of them
topped a remark I received while eating in the college dining hall early this semester, when somebody (Let’s call him Boy Z) remarked, “It must hurt you to
see people throwing away food when so many people in Africa are starving.” (…)
Yes, Africa is not without dire problems, and there certainly is a lot of poverty and
hunger on the continent. Yes, it is disappointing that so many people here waste
perfectly good food that could feed people in need of it. But to reduce the whole
continent to a one-line narrative that begins and ends with hunger and malnutrition is flawed and unhelpful’ (Runyowa, 23 April 2012).
239
7 The TOPOI area Persons: identity and relationship
In her closing words of her TED Talk, ‘The danger of a single story’ (2009), Adichie voices a hope: ‘I would like to end with this thought: That when we reject the
single story, when we realize that there is never a single story about any place, we
regain a kind of paradise.’
7.7.1
Norm images
One type of stereotyping that can require attention in interactions with others
are so-called norm images (Gowricharn, 2011). Norm images are the dominant
– often stereotypical – expectations of how members of a collective are supposed to behave and what characteristics they should have. Norm images have
a compulsory effect: not conforming to expectations (the norm image) can lead
to exclusion. Such norm images can come from outsiders as well as from people
who belong to the same collective.
A blogger writes about the experience of a friend who told him: ‘I’m a black man
who grew up surrounded by white people. Growing up, I was the only black person in my neighbourhood, my school, and sometimes it felt like the entire town.
I never played basketball. I can’t rap or dance well – I don’t even like hip-hop. I’m
really good at video games and I watch baseball. When I got to college, my skin
made me too black to fit in with the white kids, and my skills/hobbies weren’t
black enough to fit in with the black kids.’ The blogger adds: ‘It sucks to feel like
you’re in the minority sometimes. It sucks even more to feel like you’re not even
good enough for the minority’ (Killermann, n.d.).
When people oppose the dominant norm images in their collectives, this can
lead to criticism from other members. This concerns things like belief, relations, education and naturalization (for example, whether to take up another
nationality). Norm images either implicitly or explicitly put pressure on group
members to behave in a certain way, but can also raise certain questions. Does
a ‘good’ Muslim need to dress in a certain way (with a veil or by avoiding ‘provocative’ clothes) and refrain from drinking alcohol, smoking and eating during
Ramadan? Should a ‘real’ man hide his emotions and vulnerabilities and pursue
only ‘masculine’ interests such as sports, cars and videogames? Does a fraternity member’s status depend on how much he drinks, with how many people he
sleeps and how tough he is against people of other fraternities? Norm images
can on the one hand be unconscious and unspoken, and on the other also a topic of heated debate and discussion.
240
7.9 Study assignments
7.8
Core reflections on Persons
To summarize, you can ask yourself the following questions for the TOPOI area
Persons and explore:
1 What is my share?
■■ What are my orientations and expectations regarding the interaction
and relation with the other person?
■■ What are my images of the other person?
■■ In what role and ‘as who’ do I present myself?
■■ What position in the communication do I take up (Leary’s Rose)?
2 What is the other person’s share?
■■ What orientations and expectations does the other person have regarding the interaction and relationship with me?
■■ What images does the other person have of me?
■■ In what role and ‘as who’ does the other present her/himself?
■■ What position does the other take up in the communication (Leary’s
Rose)?
3 What is the influence of the social contexts (common senses) on myself and
the other person: on each person’s orientations and expectations regarding
the interaction, the images of one another and the positions in the communication?
7.9
Study assignments
Complete these assignments together with one or more colleagues or fellow
students. Compare your answers with those of your colleagues or fellow students:
■■ What was the same?
■■ What was different?
■■ What do you notice?
1 Revisit section 7.3.5, Universalistic vs. particularistic.
a Reread the following conversation.
The Lord of She instructed Confucius, saying, ‘There is an upright man in my
district. His father stole a sheep, and he testified against him.’ Confucius said,
‘The upright men in my district are different. Fathers cover up for their sons
and sons cover up for their fathers. Uprightness lies therein’ (Confucius in
Eno, 2015).
241
7 The TOPOI area Persons: identity and relationship
■■ Whose point of view do you share, that of the Lord of She or that of
Confucius? Please elaborate.
■■ Would you call your point of view universalistic or particularistic?
Please explain.
b Reread the following dilemma by Trompenaars and Hamden-Turner
(1998, pp. 33-34) and tell your colleagues or fellow students what answer
you would give to these two questions and why:
‘You are riding in a car driven by a close friend. He hits a pedestrian. You know
he was going at least 35 miles per hour in an area of the city where the maximum allowed speed is 20 miles per hour. There are no witnesses. His lawyer
says that if you testify under oath that he was only driving 20 miles per hour
it may save him from serious consequences.
1 What right has your friend to expect you to protect him?
a My friend has a definite right as a friend to expect me to testify to the
lower figure.
b He has some right as a friend to expect me to testify to the lower figure.
c He has no right as a friend to expect me to testify to the lower figure.
2 What do you think you would do in view of the obligations of a sworn
witness and the obligation to your friend?
a Testify that he was going 20 miles an hour.
b Not testify that he was going 20 miles an hour.’
2 Revisit section 7.5, Multiple identity. On an A4 page, draw a circle in the
middle and write down your name there. Think of all the groups to which
you belong, or belonged in the past, and that are or were important for who
you are now. Draw new circles for each group and place these group circles
around your name circle. Then draw new circles for each group and indicate
how important this group has been to you, determined by the distance to
your name circle. In each circle write the sub-identity that you derive from
this group. For example, in the group circle ‘family’ you write as sub-identities: daughter, aunt, cousin, grandchild. In the group circle ‘cricket club’ you
write: cricket player, youth trainer, supporter of (name of club). Sometimes,
your sub-identity corresponds with the name of the group, e.g. the group
‘students’, sub-identity ‘student’.
Discuss your drawing with colleagues or fellow students.
242
8
The TOPOI area Organization
Introduction
8.1 Culture or organization?
8.2 The macro-institutional context
8.2.1 Globalization: social media
8.2.2 Legislation and regulations
8.2.3 The political context and structural power relations
8.2.4 The socio-economic context
8.2.5 The geographical context
8.3 The meso-institutional context
8.3.1 Diversity management
8.3.2 Leadership style
8.3.3 Virtual international teams
8.3.4 Establishing a cooperation and communication culture
8.4 The micro-institutional context
8.4.1 Meetings
8.4.2 Participation in meetings
8.4.3 Decision-making and meetings
8.4.4 Confirming agreements and decisions in writing
8.4.5 Time
8.4.6 The seating arrangement
8.4.7 Business cards
8.5 Core reflections on Organization
8.6 Study assignments
Introduction
The TOPOI area Organization is the institutional context in which interpersonal communication takes place. The Organization area does not rely on one of
the axioms by Paul Watzlawick et al. (2011), but has been added to the TOPOI
model because communication is always embedded in an institutional context.
243
8 The TOPOI area Organization
Consequently, many cultural differences become manifest in how things are organized and arranged. In other words, the culture of a collective, a social group,
can also be recognized by the way things are organized.
Well-known examples of this are driving on either the left or right side of the
road, queuing before entering a bus, or having baby-changing facilities in men’s
toilets (like in Sweden). However, we want to add immediately that differences
and misunderstandings in communication can also be merely organizational
and not connected to a collective’s wider culture (see section 8.1 below).
The institutional context of the communication can be divided into three levels:
macro, meso and micro.
■■ The macro level concerns the global, national, regional and/or local context
in which the communication takes place.
■■ The meso level is the organization in which people interact, e.g. a company
or institution, (international) project, merger or joint venture, company department, team, sports club, family, etc.
■■ The micro level concerns the specific circumstances in which the conversation takes place, e.g. the way in which a meeting is organized, the physical
space and interior, the agenda and time available.
Considering that the TOPOI area Organization refers to the institutional context in which interpersonal communication takes place, several organizational
aspects overlap with other TOPOI areas. For example, ‘leadership style’ (section 8.3.2) has an overlap with the Persons area, while ‘time’, ‘seating arrangement’ and ‘business cards’ (sections 8.4.5-8.4.7) overlap with the Tongue area
(language), especially with non-verbal language aspects (section 5.4).
Before discussing the different levels of the institutional context, we first address a common pitfall: to immediately culturalize apparent differences in the
communication and to not pay attention to – in the case of the Organization
area – organizational aspects that are not related to culture.
8.1
Culture or organization?
In a tech company, a group of new (Jamaican) employees repeatedly failed to
follow safety procedures, resulting in regular conflicts with management. At first,
managers blamed this on the employees’ Jamaican cultural background: supposedly, they took risks less seriously due to their culture. However, a security
investigation showed that the new employees were insufficiently aware of secu-
244
8.2 The macro-institutional context
rity procedures and that some simply followed the example of ‘older’ employees
– who did not always conform to safety rules but had learned when and how
to bend the rules without it being noticeable. The solution was found in again
communicating safety policies, testing whether everyone had comprehended,
followed up by strict monitoring of compliance.
As in other practical examples used earlier, this example reveals a similar fallacy. The new employees’ behaviour is directly and exclusively attributed to their
national-cultural background, while in fact organizational factors – insufficient
information and monitoring of compliance – are the cause. A hasty (culturalistic) conclusion prevents seeing the real causes and impedes an effective approach. It is therefore important in such situations to suspend conclusions and
to further investigate the underlying reasons of behaviour.
Likewise, in the following example, organizational policy intervention turns out
to be the reason behind a problematic communicative relationship, not national
culture. This had a negative effect on the relationship level of the communication (TOPOI area Persons) between the employees at headquarters and those
at the new office.
A large Danish NGO approached an intercultural training company with a request
for a training programme. A few years back, they had opened a new office in Venezuela, and for some time now, communication had been very problematic. Management assumed this must be a result of cultural differences between the two
countries and requested a session to further investigate these differences. The
consultant suggested analysing the situation more thoroughly (using the TOPOI
model). In the exploration of the TOPOI field Organization, it appeared that the
NGO’s main office had ordered an integrity investigation into the Venezuelan office some time ago. The investigation freed the branch office from any suspicion,
but for some reason they were never informed. Meanwhile, the Venezuelan employees were still under the impression that their integrity was questioned. This
made the Danes consider that cultural differences were probably not the main
cause of communication difficulties after all.
8.2
The macro-institutional context
The macro-institutional context entails issues such as processes of globalization, legislation and regulations, political and social constellations, structural power relations, social positions and associated privileges, opportunities or
245
8 The TOPOI area Organization
disadvantages; geographical conditions, climate, space, infrastructure and historical context (Barmeyer & Davoine, 2016). Below, we provide a further explanation of several of these aspects influencing interpersonal interactions, mainly
in an international context.
8.2.1
Globalization: social media
An essential characteristic of globalization is the explosive development of internet and mobile communication and information technology. Internet, social
network sites, mobile telephony, video channels, Skype, online games, virtual
societies, blogs, vlogs and Twitter have created a surge in international contacts
between individuals and groups.
Not being restricted to mere ‘face-to-face’ encounters, people use information
and communication technology worldwide to communicate directly with others, engage in relationships, and start virtual communities regardless of geopolitical and cultural borders, space and time (Shuter, 2012; Chen, 2012).
A student at a Russian university talks about his friends on social media: ‘I have
a lot of friends from abroad. All my friends I know personally. My friends are from
all over the world and it’s hard to list all the countries: Spain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, China, the Philippines, Indonesia, Colombia, Mexico, Ecuador,
Australia, New Zealand (…)’ (Lebedko, 2014, p. 37).
Social media have simplified and accelerated international communication and
this especially benefits people who go abroad to find their way and feel at home
in the new situation. We will illustrate this development with statements from
interviews with international students about their use of social media:
■■ Preparing, finding your way and feeling at home in a new country. A student
on studying and staying in Turkey:
‘It would have been exponentially more difficult to adapt without the help of
social media. Social media helped in two distinct ways. Firstly, connecting to
people living in Turkey via social media helped me compare my experience to
the experience of others and allowed me to discern what’s normal, and to reach
out for help when I needed it. Secondly, social media has allowed me to stay in
close contact with my friends and family in England, which has been really important for coping with the stress of cultural adaptation/assimilation’ (Seyfi &
Güven, 2016, p. 32).
246
8.2 The macro-institutional context
■■ Deconstructing prejudice and stereotypes. In a study, several of the interviewed international students in Lithuania said that YouTube videos helped
them to get to know the country better. Some said they were positively surprised that Lithuania ‘is a civilized and developed European country’ (Prakapas
& Prakapiené, 2016).
■■ Enhancing one’s diversity competence. An international student in Turkey:
‘I feel like I have an enhanced awareness of current events and international cultural trends because I have connections with many different cultures on social
media. Social media allows us to connect on a personal level from a distance;
in the past, the most thorough information we had of international culture and
news was through magazines, newspapers, news shows, etc. Now we have firsthand information from our friends and have access to a more intimate understanding of cultural developments’ (Seyfi & Güven, 2016, p. 30).
■■ Learning the language. An international student in the US:
‘The first thing I found was that it was hard to understand the language. I spent
a lot of time with the books because I couldn’t understand anything from class.
I think social media helped me because after coming here I started talking to
people and I came to know the differences, so I became adjusted to the culture.
I would have to say Facebook helped me, from the language perspective, learn
the short, slang words and shortcuts, especially when people post things on
their walls’ (Sawyer, 2011, p. 19).
■■ Exchanging information. A Chinese student in the US:
‘When I use Renren (a Chinese social networking site), I share a lot of articles.
Most students are very critical about the government, and we share pictures and
news links on what’s happening in China. Personally, I use QZone to talk to my
family, but I don’t post anything on that site because it’s censored by the government’ (Sawyer, 2011, p. 14).
Another important contribution of social media to international relations is the
potential strengthening of civil political engagement, international solidarity
and social change. In addition to the many online organizations and initiatives
that commit themselves to a better world, individual citizens can communicate, protest and demonstrate with each other and outsiders directly thanks
to digital media. This started in late 2002 with an Iraqi blogger who reported
under the pseudonym Salam Pax (the words for ‘peace’ in Arab and Latin, re-
247
8 The TOPOI area Organization
spectively) on the lives of Iraqis before and after the US invasion of Iraq. Since
then, citizens in many countries have coordinated and communicated protests
internationally through social media. There has been mention of ‘Twitter revolutions’ in, among other countries, Iran, Egypt, Ukraine and Tunisia (Pfister &
Soliz, 2011; Windek, 2010).
Finally, besides these merits, social media – as is well known – can also bring
many disadvantages, risks and dangers. Without further elaboration we mention the threats to privacy and personal safety, abuse of personal information,
misleading by false identities and profiles, offense, threats, intimidation, stalking and distortion, ‘cyber-bullying’, spreading false information (‘fake news’),
filter bubbles and self-confirming algorithms, and the publication of shocking
events (violence, crime, obscenities).
In sum, social media bring many potentially positive opportunities as well as
risks. For understanding and enhancing interpersonal communication in an international or multi-ethnic context, both aspects should be taken into account.
8.2.2
Legislation and regulations
Government legislation and regulations can play an important role in the background of interpersonal issues and communication. Take, for example, a personal conflict between a Japanese and German manager of a Japanese-German
joint venture about whether or not to take off three consecutive weeks for summer holiday. Aside from a difference in personal opinion (TOPOI area Order)
about the time employees can and should reserve for personal life in relation
to the time they invest in the company that employs them, there is also a social
context of legislation in the background.
A Japanese manager in a German office refused to allow a German manager
to take his three-week summer leave, which had been scheduled for a certain
time and coincided with the start-up of the joint venture. The Japanese manager insisted that the German manager change his plans. Thereupon the employee complained to the German co-president, who in turn informed the Japanese
co-president that the employee had a legal right to take his holiday as scheduled. The Japanese co-president then overruled the Japanese manager’s decision, highlighting a critical difference between Japanese and German concepts
of work. Whereas Germans are sanctioned by law to take a three-week consecutive holiday during summer for family time and spiritual renewal, Japanese typically take no more than five consecutive holidays, even though they may have
several weeks of bank holiday time (Brannen & Salklate, 2000).
248
8.2 The macro-institutional context
8.2.3
The political context and structural power relations
How the political context and structural power relations – social positions and
associated privileges, opportunities and disadvantages (see sections 3.1 and 3.2)
– can influence interpersonal interactions is illustrated by the Pakistani-American writer Ayad Akhtar in his acclaimed book and theatre play Disgraced (2012).
Amir Kapoor, one of the main characters, is a successful lawyer. He hopes to shortly become partner of the firm where he works. However, things go wrong when
during a conversation with two of the firm’s partners, it emerges that Amir is Pakistani and not Indian as he had mentioned when he was hired, having swapped his
Muslim name Abdullah for the Hindu name Kapoor. This was all part of a strategy
to achieve success in American society. In Amir’s goal to increase his opportunities,
the political and colonial history of India and Pakistan plays an important role.
Below is the scene from Disgraced where Amir, who is in a bad mood due to the
incident with his firm’s partners, tells his wife Emily what happened:
‘EMILY
AMIR
EMILY
AMIR
EMILY
AMIR
EMILY
AMIR
EMILY
AMIR
EMILY
AMIR
What’s wrong?
Nothing.
Something’s wrong.
(pause)
I had a meeting with a couple of the partners today. I mean, if you could
call it that. I’m in my office, redlining a contract due at six. Steven comes
in. With Jack. Sits down. Asks me where my parents were born.
Pakistan.
I said India. That’s what I put on the form when I got hired.
Why?
Technically, it was India when my dad was born.
Okay.
But the names of the cities you’ve listed are not in India, Steven says.
They’re in Pakistan. My father was born in 1946. When it was all one
country, before the British chopped it up into two countries in 1947 [India and Pakistan]. And your mother was born when? 1948.
So it wasn’t India anymore, was it? It was Pakistan? My clock is running,
and I’m wasting time on a fucking history lesson. Turns out, Steven’s
trying to ascertain if I misrepresented myself.
It sounds like you did.
It was all India. So there’s a different name on it now. So what?
(beat)
He knew about my name change. Your birth name is not Kapoor, Steven
says. It’s Abdullah. Why did you change it?’ (Akhtar, 2012, pp. 33-34)
249
8 The TOPOI area Organization
8.2.4
The socio-economic context
The socio-economic context concerns the living standard, level of welfare and
associated opportunities and possibilities of a social group. In the following
example of an international exchange between German, French and Romanian
youngsters, socio-economic context plays a role in the mutual relations and
communication:
‘The programme’s German-French-Romanian preparation group comes together in a city in France. The Romanian supervisor explains that it is impossible for
the Romanian youngsters to pay their own contributions for the exchange. The
French supervisors, being aware of the difference in living standards between
the three countries, accept this without further discussion. During the first encounter, the supervisors ask the French and German participants to take the differences in living standard into account, and for example not to suggest having
drinks together too often, since this could embarrass the Romanian youngsters.
During the exchange programme, the Romanian youngsters are often found
spending every free minute in shops, coming out with giant plastic bags full of
merchandise. Without the Romanian supervisors or youngsters noticing, the
Germans and French discuss the incongruity between what the Romanian supervisors said about the Romanians’ financial situation and their current consumption behaviour’ (own translation of Carpentier et al., 2014, pp. 158 ff.). (This case
study is discussed online, see www.coutinho.nl/diversitycompetence.)
8.2.5
The geographical context
The geography of a country or place can also influence interpersonal interactions. An example is an issue that played in the Alleo joint venture founded by
the German (Deutsche Bahn) and French railways (SNCF). Alleo was set up to
offer travellers between Germany and France a better connection with highspeed trains. A difference in the French and German railway systems was the
reason why ‘walking together through the train’ meant something different for
the German and French train supervisors.
‘For the first joint train rides by French-German supervisor teams, it was decided
to walk together (“zusammen”/“ensemble”) through the train. This caused great
surprise for the French supervisor when his German colleague got on at the other end of the train, assuming that his French colleague would walk toward him
from the beginning of the train. The French supervisor had expected to get on together with his German colleague onto the same train wagon and walk through
250
8.3 The meso-institutional context
the train together. The underlying reason for this misunderstanding turned out
to be the respective train systems. The Germans were used to the German ICE
(InterCity-Express) trains, with short rides between stops, which makes it more
efficient for supervisors to walk towards each other, each from their own end of
the train. The French, on the other hand, acted from their own experience with
high-speed trains (TGV, or “train à grande vitesse”) covering large distances between stops. This gives French supervisors plenty of time to walk through the
trains together’ (own translation of Barmeyer & Davoine, 2016, pp. 105 ff.).
8.3
The meso-institutional context
The meso-institutional context concerns aspects like an organization’s policies,
management, structure and culture, internal procedures and regulations, facilities and services, hierarchical lines, leadership styles, meeting structure and the
organization of teams. We will give a number of practical situations in which
the meso-institutional context influences the development of communication
and cooperation in an international context.
8.3.1
Diversity management
Diversity management is a first requirement for organizations striving to deal
with differences in a smooth manner and gain synergy from them. In short, diversity management can be described as an organizational strategy which sees
diversity as a resource and not as a problem. This strategy should concern all
divisions and aspects of the organization and help an organization to use variety to the advantage of both employees and customers, and to reach its goals.
Cooperation between people of various socio-cultural backgrounds can also
create synergy and added value. Synergy is a process of creative synthesis of the
different attitudes, values, thinking and behavioural styles of people who work
together (Barmeyer & Davoine, 2012). Synergy increases the quality of cooperation such that the result is greater than the sum of the individual actions.
Synthesis results from mutual interpretative and adaptive processes utilizing
the competences and strengths of the differences.
Synergy hence makes innovative and unexpected solutions possible. We illustrate this process with two statements, from a French and a German employee
of the European television channel Arte (Association Relative à la Télévision
Européenne), a French-German joint venture.
251
8 The TOPOI area Organization
‘I don’t believe that we are a priori more creative than other enterprises, but I
believe that it is the result of the way in which we have to work together. This
means that we communicate deeper, question considerably more issues than a
nationally homogeneous enterprise would do. Because of this, something new
keeps arising’ (own translation of Barmeyer & Davoine, 2012, p. 17).
‘We are aware that we have to apply a French working style when we are asked
to respond to something quickly. When a complex project comes up, with many
documents, plans and everything, we have to apply a German working style. And
often, from both approaches comes a good combination, covering the whole
spectrum’ (ibid.).
As a result of the complementary perspectives and competences, cultural diversity can be enriching and creates added value for organizations. The synergy
effect of diversity management can be further illustrated by a statement by Carlos Ghosn, a highly successful former CEO of Renault-Nissan, a French-Japanese alliance.
Carlos Ghosn (Lebanese parents, born in Brazil, studied in France), in an interview about the beginning of the Japanese-French alliance, says: ‘I could give you
lots of other examples where in one national or organizational culture something
is a blind spot or weakness and in another culture it’s a strength, and by working together, synergy is created. We all know that the Japanese culture is very
strong in engineering, very strong in manufacturing, very weak in communication, and very weak in finance. The Renault culture generally is very strong in
some of the places where the Nissan culture is weak – for example, in finance,
in telling the company narrative, and in artistic and emotionally evocative advertising and marketing. That’s why I think the Renault-Nissan Alliance works so
well – because the cultures are different, yet complementary’ (Stahl & Brannen,
2013, p. 496).
Diversity management is also an important strategy for the recruitment and
management of employees in a multicultural society. After careful analysis of
many companies’ diversity management policies, Thomas and Ely (1996) state
that diversity management should go further than hiring people from minorities merely for moral concerns or for representing and connecting to ethnic
minority clients and target groups. Ideally, diversity management represents a
strategy to integrate employees’ different ideas and perspectives into the strategic position of the organization. Ely and Thomas give the example of a US law
firm whose mission it is to protect and advance the rights and well-being of
economically disadvantaged women:
252
8.3 The meso-institutional context
‘The law firm had developed a successful practice in its first ten years (…). Nevertheless, in light of their mandate to protect and advance the economic rights and
interests of all low-income women, the firm’s attorneys viewed their inability to
attract women clients of colour as a significant shortcoming. (…) Over the next
ten years, they underwent a transition from a staff composed entirely of whites
to one that included a program staff that was at least half people of colour. More
importantly, however, this change (…) entirely reshaped the character and priorities of the firm’s work in unanticipated ways as members learned from their
diversity and integrated what they had learned into the core work of the organization. Several staff members, both current and former, described the change
as follows:
“Our mission is still the same – the economic empowerment of women. (…)
But our diversity made us look at the organization’s program and how we had
to change the work that we do – the substantive legal stuff that we do. So now
we’re looking at minimum wage, manufacturers’ liability (…). That’s not traditional sex discrimination, but these are primarily women workers who are affected by these things”’ (Ely & Thomas, 2001, p. 241).
To conclude: diversity management is not about nationality or ethnicity as such,
but about providing space to employees of all identity groups to contribute to
the organizational goals from their unique perspectives and competences. It
creates an environment where all employees can enjoy safety and appreciation
(inclusion). This does not apply exclusively to employees from minority groups
but often benefits them greatly.
8.3.2
Leadership style
The style of leading a group influences both the communication between manager and group, as well as the mutual communication between group members.
Leadership styles can vary greatly. Which style a manager applies, and which
type of leader a group or team prefers, depends on many factors: first of all, the
manager as a person (age, personality, gender, education, national or ethnic
background); and additionally, the country, company organization, organizational level (a manager at the top is expected to have different qualities than a
department or team leader), the team or group members, the type of work, etc.
In a blog, Erin Meyer (15 October 2014) gives an example of a difference in leadership style. Erin has American roots and later moved to Europe, where her first
boss, Per Engman, was Swedish. Per introduced himself as a consensus-building manager. In the beginning, Erin was delighted with Per as an inclusive boss
253
8 The TOPOI area Organization
who listened carefully to his staff and weighed everyone’s views before making
a decision. Later she discovered that she did not like this style of working at all.
Conversely, Per tried to explain to Erin what it feels like as a Swede to work with
Americans, who are ‘too busy to be good team members’ and ‘always trying to
impose a decision for decision’s sake without soliciting feedback’. Erin writes:
‘One morning, this message arrived:
“Hey team, I thought we should meet for an annual face-to-face on December
6th. We could focus the meeting on how to be more client-centric. What do you
think? Per”
Our firm was a small consultancy with more work than we could handle and
my colleagues, mainly energetic young Swedes, worked long hours to meet targets and keep our clients happy. I didn’t feel I had much of an opinion on Per’s
question, so my automatic response was to hit the delete button and get back to
work. But in the hours that followed, my Swedish colleagues began sending their
responses, adding suggestions and views on what to focus on. Occasionally Per
would inject an email with a few comments. Slowly, they began to reach agreement. I then got an individual email:
“Hi Erin, Haven’t heard from you, what do you think? Per”
I really wanted to respond by saying, “I have absolutely no opinion, please make
a decision so we can get back to work.” But remembering how delighted I felt
when Per had told me that he favoured consensual decision-making, I simply
replied that I supported whatever the group decided.’
In order to build sensitivity to possible differences in leadership, once again
we turn to the GLOBE study (House et al., 2004; Chhokar, Brodbeck & House,
2007). In the GLOBE project, middle managers (about 75% male, from organizations in 62 countries in the food processing, financial services, and telecommunication services industries) were asked to what degree certain characteristics or behaviour traits contributed to or impaired effective leadership. GLOBE
defines leadership as ‘the ability of an individual to influence, motivate, and enable others to contribute toward the effectiveness and success of the organization
of which they are members’ (House et al., 2004, p. 15). In addition to questionnaires, the project used individual and group interviews with managers. There
was also a focus on the characteristics of an outstanding manager in their own
country.
254
8.3 The meso-institutional context
Based on this research, GLOBE distinguishes six styles of leadership, and hence
six leaders with certain characteristics (House et al., 2004, pp. 7, 14 and 674675; Koopman et al., 2003):
1 Charismatic/value-based (or: performance-oriented and transformational)
leadership: The ability to inspire, to motivate and to expect high performance outcomes from others on the basis of firmly held core beliefs. These
leaders are visionary, inspirational, engage in self-sacrifice, demonstrate integrity and are decisive and performance-oriented.
2 Team-oriented leadership: emphasizes effective team-building implementation of a common purpose or goal among team members. Team-oriented
leaders are collaborative integrators who are diplomatic, benevolent, administratively competent and procedural.
3 Participative leadership: reflects the degree to which leaders involve others in making and implementing decisions. Participative leaders emphasize
democratic and participative decision-making.
4 Humane oriented leadership: reflects supportive and considerate leadership, but also includes compassion, modesty, generosity and an emphasis
on being humane.
5 Self-protective leadership: focuses on ensuring the safety and security of
the individual and group through status enhancement and face-saving (see
the example below of the manager and the bike). Self-protective leaders are
characterized by self-centredness, elitism, status consciousness, narcissism
and conflict-inducement, and emphasize procedures and saving face.
6 Autonomous leadership: refers to independent and individualistic leadership attributes. Autonomous leaders have a high degree of independence
from superiors and a high degree of social distance from subordinates, a
tendency to be aloof and to work alone. They emphasize individualism, independence and autonomy and have unique attributes.
The GLOBE study shows that both charismatic, value-based leadership and
team-oriented leadership are quite ‘universal’: most middle managers in virtually all participating countries recognize these two styles as essential.
As mentioned above, we refer to these leadership styles to create awareness of
the variety in styles. It is expressly not our intention to label countries with a
particular style of leadership. First of all, there are many other categorizations
of leadership and, in addition, we stress that the GLOBE leadership styles are
not uniform. Within any country there are various, combined leadership styles,
depending in part – as mentioned – on the organization, the type of company,
the team, the individual employees.
255
8 The TOPOI area Organization
Moreover, styles are subject to change. To illustrate, first we provide an example from an article that suggests that a particular style of leadership (in this
case: egalitarian leadership) is attached to a national culture (Australian), and
that this style of leadership does not fit in another country (China) where status-based leadership is said to be the favourite style.
Steve Henning is a senior vice-president raised in egalitarian Australia. For Steve,
the best boss is ‘just one of the guys’. Steve is a cycling enthusiast and his Austra­
lian staff thought it was great that he rode a bike to work, as did many of them.
So he decided to bring his bicycle with him when he was assigned to a new job
in China. Unfortunately, Steve’s decision backfired: his team was humiliated that
their boss rode a bike to work like a common person. There are plenty of bikes
on the road in China but none carry vice-presidents. The team felt Steve’s cycling
suggested to the entire company that their boss was unimportant, and that by
association, they were unimportant (Meyer, 16 September 2015).
The following reaction to Erin Meyer’s example shows that not the country but,
as said before, other factors – in this case the type of organization – are decisive
for the preferred style.
Morgan Gallup writes as a response: ‘I’m also an expat director in China who
rides a bike to work, but I haven’t had the same experience. So, I’m wondering
how industry and company culture come into play. Our company is in IT, so we’re
a laid back and fairly young team’ (quoted in Meyer, 16 September 2015).
The possibility of changing leadership style and a leader’s personal attitude as
a determining factor are illustrated in the following remarkable story about a
university in Vietnam:
‘I was abroad for the first time as a trainer to give a five-day training course about
quality management for middle managers at a university in Vietnam. After extensive meetings with the client, the Excellence Model of the European Foundation
for Quality Management (EFQM) was chosen as a framework for the training. After an explanation of the model, I started discussing leadership during the first
afternoon. I wanted to provide “modern” ideas about leadership. About motivating and inspiring your staff. About the importance of finding meaning in your
work as an employee and experiencing autonomy. Leaders should give much
more responsibility to their employees. In this case, this even concerned academics. The response was devastating. After ten minutes, the auditorium turned
completely quiet. Everyone looked at me as if I were an alien from Mars. I felt the
tension and eventually decided to stop talking and ask what was going on. For a
256
8.3 The meso-institutional context
long time, at least in my experience, it remained quiet. Then, the highest ranking
person dared to carefully speak his mind: “This was nonsense. You should just
tell employees what to do and then they should just do that. No ‘purpose’, no
‘autonomy’. That doesn’t work in a hierarchically organized country such as Viet­
nam.” Immediately, this was confirmed by one participant after another. They
were ready to eat me alive. But up to this point, I refuse to believe they were right.
At that moment, I could not think of anything better than to take a break. During
the break, the president of the university came to check how things were going.
I told him what had happened. When I wanted to continue, he went up to the
pulpit and addressed his employees. The president saved me. He confirmed that
we had extensively prepared the training, that he was very interested in my i­ deas
and that other notions of leadership were indeed welcome in Vietnam. After that,
this became one of my most successful training programmes ever: together with
me, participants went searching for the usefulness and possibilities of applying
“Western” organization theories in their country. Now, they had received an order from their highest boss to listen to someone who was saying, “He is not your
boss; you should give yourself orders!”’ (thanks to Everard van Kemenade).
8.3.3
Virtual international teams
A message from the leader of a virtual team: ‘I’ve run a virtual team for the past
18 months in the development and launch of [name of a website]. I am located in
Toronto, Canada. The website was designed in Zagreb, Croatia. The software was
developed in St. John’s, Newfoundland; Zagreb, Croatia; Delhi, India; and Los Angeles, USA. Most of the communication was via email with periodic discussions
via Skype. I had one face-to-face meeting with the team lead for the technology
development this past December’ (Watkins, 2013).
Virtual teams do not work together in one location but are spread over various
locations in several countries. As companies expand geographically and as tele­
commuting becomes more common, work groups often span far-flung offices,
shared workspaces, private homes, and hotel rooms. Armed with laptops, WiFi and mobile phones, many professionals can do their jobs from anywhere. The
appeal of forming virtual teams is clear. Employees can manage their work and
personal lives more flexibly, and they have the opportunity to interact with colleagues around the world. Companies can use the best and lowest-cost global
talent and significantly reduce their real estate costs.
But there are challenges as well. Research shows that when team members
come from different countries and different functional backgrounds and are
257
8 The TOPOI area Organization
working in various locations, communication can rapidly deteriorate, misunderstanding can ensue, and cooperation can degenerate into distrust (Neeley,
2015; Ferrazzi, 2014). That is why it is of organizational importance to assemble
a team carefully. In particular, attention should be paid to:
■■ selecting a reasonable number of employees who are diversity competent,
communicative, sensitive to differences and similarities, flexible, emotionally stable and familiar with communication technology;
■■ equipping employees with the right technological tools;
■■ establishing a communication and cooperation culture from the start (see
next section).
8.3.4
Establishing a cooperation and communication culture
As an introduction, here are two examples that both reflect a different perspective on communication during a meeting.
‘Kenichiro Hayashi is sitting in yet another meeting with the division’s management team, made up of both Japanese and Americans. He looks at his watch.
Three of the American associates are heatedly debating, but Kenichiro lost the
thread of the conversation at least five minutes ago. He wonders why, if they
have such big differences in opinion, they didn’t meet beforehand to iron them
out rather than subject everyone else to this embarrassing display. Besides, he
has something that he wants to say, but no one has bothered to ask his opinion,
and he can’t get a word in edgewise’ (Kopp, 19 March 2012).
‘Susan Jasinski is sitting in yet another meeting with the division’s management
team, made up of both Japanese and Americans. Yet again the Japanese seem
to be sitting back, not saying anything. Why don’t they tell us what they are
thinking? It’s so frustrating to not know what’s on their minds. Why can’t they
speak up with their opinions, rather than leaving all the talking to us? And, most
importantly, why can’t they tell us when they don’t understand? Last time the
group had a meeting three hours were spent discussing the new budget. After
the meeting, Inohara-san had come up to her and asked the meaning of a crucial
word. If he hadn’t understood that, he probably hadn’t understood anything in
the presentation, which meant the whole thing had been a waste of time!’ (ibid.)
As these two examples show, participants in international settings can differ
in their degree of language proficiency, their style of communication, their assumptions and expectations concerning their roles and the goals of gatherings.
Similarly, there are various ways of dealing with feedback, agreements and
deadlines, as well as general working styles. Consequently, the need in coop-
258
8.3 The meso-institutional context
erating teams is to explicitly establish a communication culture that is collectively practised and that helps the mutual interaction to proceed successfully.
After inquiring appreciatively among the group members about each individual’s style and expectations concerning various aspects of communication and
cooperation, a number of guidelines or norms about communication and cooperation can be discussed and established together. Establishing and complying
with mutual rules helps to reduce uncertainty in groups – how to deal with
each other – and to strengthen mutual trust.
These rules can concern agreements of what respectful communication entails,
in what way issues are discussed (pre-structured, through improvising), how
decisions are made, how to give feedback and ask for clarification, how to deal
with mutual questions and requests and how to make sure everyone participates (Dignen, 2009; Kopp, 25 October 2012; Ferrazzi, 2014).
Tsedal Neeley (2015) gives an example. In order to enhance each team member’s active
participation, the leader of a virtual team required all his team members ‘to post the three
communication rules in their cubicles [see below]. Soon he noted that one heavily accented
European team member began contributing to discussions for the first time since joining
the group 17 months earlier. The rules had given this person the license, opportunity, and
responsibility to speak up.’
Fluent speakers
Dial down dominance
Less fluent speakers
Dial up engagement
Team leaders
Balance for inclusion
■■ Slow down the pace and
■■ Resist withdrawal
■■ Monitor participants and
use familiar language
(fewer idioms).
■■ Refrain from dominating
the conversation.
■■ Ask: ‘Do you understand
what I am saying?’
■■ Listen actively.
or other avoidance
­behaviour.
■■ Refrain from reverting to
your native language.
■■ Ask: ‘Do you understand
what I am saying?’
■■ If you don’t understand
others, ask them to repeat or explain.
strive to balance their
speaking and listening.
■■ Actively draw contributions of all team
members.
■■ Be prepared to define
and interpret content.
Figure 8.1
Rules of engagement for team meetings (Neeley, 2015)
Discussing and building a communication culture collectively and reviewing on
an ongoing basis makes it possible to manage the risks of diversity and capture
its opportunities (Neeley, 2015).
259
8 The TOPOI area Organization
8.4
The micro-institutional context
The micro-institutional context concerns the specific situation of the conversation: practical issues such as the organization and process of a meeting, reporting, physical space, seating arrangement, dress code, business cards, desired
behavioural codes for the occasion and available time. Several of these aspects
have already been addressed in Chapter 5 in the discussion of non-verbal language (TOPOI area Tongue).
In a way, these issues are related to definition power (as discussed in section 3.1):
Who determines the accepted ways to work in an organization or situation, when
is it allowed to deviate and what are the potential sanctions for doing so? In international cooperation and mergers and acquisitions, especially, this can lead to a
power struggle over ‘symbolic’ practices or habits in the organization.
In a Dutch organization acquired by an American competitor, monthly ‘most
valu­able employee awards’ were set up. This led to strong resistance from Dutch
employees. Much to the Americans’ surprise, the Dutch kept sending back the
certificates, cups and even money prizes because employees refused to accept
or hand them out.
8.4.1
Meetings
Meetings can be organized in various ways. A common distinction is between
polychroneous and monochroneous meetings. Monochroneous or linear
meetings follow a fixed course; agendas are sent in advance; starting time is
fixed beforehand; everyone has to be on time or preferably early; the agenda
is discussed systematically, issue by issue, without the possibility of going back
to a previous point; issues not mentioned on the agenda are not discussed, nor
(formally) added to the agenda; participants at the meeting do not speak simultaneously (plenary discussion only); breaks are planned and minutes are taken.
In the following example, a monochroneously oriented manager clashes with
someone with another perspective on the process of a meeting:
A Brazilian manager at an American company who was negotiating to buy Ko­rean
products destined for Latin America says, ‘On the first day, we agreed on three
points, and on the second day, the US-Spanish side wanted to start with point
four. But the Korean side wanted to go back and rediscuss points one through
three. My boss almost had an attack’ (Brett et al., 2006, p. 88).
260
8.4 The micro-institutional context
Polychoroneous meetings follow a less structured order: participants can come
later and some invitees do not show up: the agenda is not established in advance but topics arise during the meeting. Issues that have been handled in
a previous meeting can be revisited. Participants sometimes discuss things in
smaller groups. There are unplanned breaks; participants make phone calls,
leave the meeting temporarily or permanently, and new visitors can join in.
Erin Meyer (28 September 2015) describes her experience of a meeting in New
Delhi: ‘Our first meeting was properly scheduled. But, about ten minutes in, people in the room seemed to be breaking into subgroups and talking about other
important topics that had unexpectedly arisen. Three attendees were huddled
together discussing how we could record sections of the new programme. Sapna
and Rakesh left the room in an animated debate about the seating plan, only to
return five minutes later with Varun, who had important technical information
to contribute. The main discussion continued simultaneously and action items
arose – such as Nitin needs to contact Rishi to assure the date is now 100% finalized. But to my great surprise Nitin picked up the phone right there and then and
made the call while the rest of us continued the meeting.’
8.4.2
Participation in meetings
Rochelle Kopp (7 June 2012) mentions a complaint she often hears from foreigners in Japan who cooperate with the Japanese, that too many people participate in meetings. The question at hand is for whom the meeting is organized
and who should be invited. This can be answered in various ways. Many will
hold the notion self-evident that meetings are only to be visited by those people
who have something to contribute to the meeting or discussion. The number
of people to be invited in such a case is limited. For others it is equally self-evident to invite a large number of people; all those interested in the topic or the
progress of the currently ongoing process. The invitees get the opportunity to
hear in person what is discussed; they can taste the atmosphere and experience
the discussion.
This difference in the organization of a meeting also brings different expectations concerning the participation of those present. In one case, it is not expected of all participants to actively contribute. Showing up for the meeting is
in itself sufficient; they do not actively have to bring things up. In the following
section, this is further elaborated with examples.
261
8 The TOPOI area Organization
8.4.3
Decision-making and meetings
An American manager at a joint venture company described a meeting he had
attended in Tokyo: ‘We had gotten together people from each of the partners,
and had a three day team-building meeting to work on developing a new mission for our functional part of the organization. We thought that we had included
all the key decision-makers, but at the end of the meeting, the Japanese representatives told us that they would have to go back and discuss it with people in
Tokyo. It’s two months later, and we’re still emailing back and forth about it. Why
couldn’t we have just decided there, that was what the meeting was for!’ (Kopp,
8 March 2012)
This manager – as well as many others – is used to decisions being taken during
a meeting. For them, meetings are where people come together to discuss ideas,
analyse problems, weigh pros and cons, reach consensus and subsequently mutually decide how to proceed. Yet this is but one way in which meetings, and decision-making, can take place. For others, meetings may be intended merely for
information gathering during the early stages of the decision-making process,
or they may be a ritual at the end of the process to confirm an already made
decision. This way of decision-making includes, among others, the Japanese
Nemawashi approach, a consensus-building process applied by, among others,
Toyota (Liker, 2004; Kopp, 20 December 2012).
In the Nemawashi approach, a meeting is not the place where decisions are
taken; actual decision-making takes place in a process of one-on-one conversations with everyone involved. The final meeting is then a formal closing of
decision-making that has already taken place outside the meeting. The word
nemawashi originates from the world of Japanese gardening (Kopp, 20 December 2012). It refers to a technique for transplanting trees. Japanese gardeners
discovered that uprooting a tree and immediately transplanting it can cause it
to go into shock and possibly die. They found that spreading the process out
over several days, digging up one root at a time, resulted in a gradual change
to which the tree could adjust more easily. Likewise, in business, a ‘gardener’
should take the time to deal with each ‘root’. Thus Nemawashi interaction involves everyone that is affected by the decision and whose agreement is needed for the proposal to go forward. It takes place in one-to-one talks, either in
specifically scheduled meetings or in some cases during a meal or while playing
golf. The person advocating the proposal explains the idea, trying to get the
other to jump on the bandwagon. Any input of the other as to how to adjust
the proposal to enhance its chances is duly noted and incorporated as much
as possible. By approaching everyone involved in the decision in this way, the
262
8.4 The micro-institutional context
proponent of the proposal gradually gets everyone on-board. All questions
and issues have been vetted in the one-to-one conversations. Thus, when the
proposal reaches the meeting stage, there is no need for extended debate. The
meeting becomes a formalization of a decision already agreed upon by the decision-makers.
Andy Lund, programme manager for the 2004 Toyota Sienna, explains why he
always uses Nemawashi when he is making decisions and preparing to present
his recommendations: ‘For some decisions, I may think I already know the answer and do not need input from others. There may be a department that is not
directly involved and I think they probably do not have much to contribute. I may
in fact find the right answers on my own, but I will have a hard time presenting
it because the group I skipped will challenge my recommendations and ask why
I did not consider this and that and the presentation will become a debate. But
through Nemawashi they will agree with the presentation because they have already agreed with it. So I will go and talk to that department in advance anyway
and generally I am pleasantly surprised because I get new information’ (Liker,
2004, p. 248).
Another example of a specific decision-making could be seen during the ‘Climate Change Summit’ in Paris in 2015. The challenge was to create consensus
between 195 countries in order to arrive at a legally binding agreement. To
solve this quandary, United Nations officials brought in a unique management
strategy, ‘indaba’. Akshat Rahti describes this process:
‘The trick to getting through an over-complicated negotiation comes from the
Zulu and Xhosa people of southern Africa. It’s called an “indaba” and is used to
simplify discussions between many parties. An indaba is designed to allow every
party to voice its opinion, but still arrive at a consensus quickly. It works because
opinions and arguments can only be aired in a particular way: Instead of repeating stated positions, each party is encouraged to speak personally and state their
“red lines”, which are thresholds that they don’t want to cross. But while telling others their hard limits, they are also asked to provide solutions to find a
common ground. Different delegations rotated officials so that everyone could
get some sleep. It seems to have worked. (…) in a historic first all 195 countries
adopted [the agreement] without any objections’ (Rahti, 2015).
263
8 The TOPOI area Organization
8.4.4
Confirming agreements and decisions in writing
Whether or not meetings, agreements and decisions are confirmed in writing
can lead to misunderstandings. For one person, written confirmations signify
certainty, trust and irrevocability, for others they can be a sign of distrust. For
some, the fact that agreements and decisions are put down on paper does not
imply they are not still open to change.
‘A woman from Burundi who was working for a Dutch company says, “In my culture, if we have a discussion on the phone and come to a verbal agreement, that
would be enough for me. If you get off the phone and send me a written recap
of the discussion, that would be a clear signal that you don’t trust me.” This, she
says, repeatedly caused difficulty for her company’s negotiators, who recapped
each discussion in writing as a matter of both habit and principle’ (Meyer, December 2015).
The level of detail to which agreements and contracts should be made can also
vary significantly. For many, it is enough to describe the main issues and principles in general terms; for them, this is a sufficient basis for achieving agreement
on more specific issues at a later stage. Notably, they see a contract as a starting
point for the business relationship, not an end product. Sometimes, however,
confirmations can also be done in alternative ways, as in the following example.
An Egyptian woman is taking a master’s course in the UK. She goes back to Egypt
to do fieldwork for her thesis through interviews with parents and children at a
school. The English university has very strict rules that call for written and handsigned statements of consent from respondents, especially when it concerns
minors. Although many parents are willing to cooperate in the research and to
allow their children to cooperate, most are reluctant to sign any official papers,
for whatever reason (the researcher suspects it has to do with the political situation). After extensive discussions with her university, it is agreed that instead she
will film the parents while giving verbal consent.
8.4.5
Time
Time is a commonly disregarded, yet fundamental, organizational precondition
for working in an international context. After all, many factors are at play: language differences; different expectations and processes of negotiations, meetings, agreements and decision-making; the physical and psychological pressure
of working in a strange (foreign) environment; possibly performance pressure
264
8.4 The micro-institutional context
from one’s own organization, and unexpected political or organizational events.
All these make being relaxed and having enough time – and hence patience –
important factors for success in international communication.
In 1995, the American company Enron had to cancel a multi-billion project in
India. One of the reasons for the failed deal was time pressure, said Enron chairman Rebecca Mark: ‘We were extremely concerned with time, because time is
money for us. People thought we were pushy and aggressive’ (quoted in Salacuse, 2013, p. 296).
Additionally, it is important in international cooperation, especially around virtual teams, to take different time zones into account for planning and doing
activities.
‘Julie, a French chemical engineer, and her teammates in Marseille checked and
responded to emails only first thing in the morning, to ensure an uninterrupted
workday. They had no idea that this practice was routinely adding an overnight
delay to correspondence with their American colleagues and contributing to
mistrust’ (Neeley, 2015).
Time zone differences make it difficult to get everyone on-board at the same
time. Although members of virtual project teams enjoy the benefit of continuous, around-the-clock project work, they cannot all at the same time be readily available for communication. Locations that use different working days and
business hours add more complexity to the time zone problem (Barnwell et al.,
2014). Many countries have their weekends on Saturday and Sunday, but a team
working in, for instance, Saudi Arabia has its weekends on Friday and Saturday;
Brunei takes Friday and Sunday off. This can easily lead to longer silences and
pauses in communication than parties expect.
8.4.6
The seating arrangement
The seating arrangement in meetings is not neutral but an expression of a certain hierarchy and sensitivity to status. Consequently, where people are seated
during an encounter, what place they are appointed, has influence on the development of the communication in meetings and negotiations.
The leader of a delegation from China visiting England was dissatisfied about a
meeting with the English, because the leader of the English group had sat down at
the head of the table. The Chinese delegation leader commented: ‘(…) it shouldn’t
have been that he was the chair and we were seated along the sides of the table.
With equal status, they should sit along this side and we should sit along that side
265
8 The TOPOI area Organization
(…).’ In other words, the Chinese delegation felt that since the two teams were of
equal status, they should sit on opposite sides of the table, with the heads of each
side sitting in the middle. They interpreted the different arrangements as conveying a significant ‘status’ message (Spencer-Oatey & Xing, 2003, p. 6).
8.4.7
Business cards
To many people, business cards convey an expression of their identity and are
hence very important for interpersonal encounters. They are often treated with
great respect. By paying attention to how the other treats a business card – how
it is given, received, looked at it and put away – you get an impression of the
significance of business cards and which course of action is suitable.
A point of attention is that sometimes – for example in China – it is common to
have two titles on a name-card: a (technical) ‘expertise’ title, and a ‘position’ (or
job) title. The former shows the field in which the person is skilled or trained,
the latter the position she or he holds within the organization. When addressing a specific person it can be important to know or find out how they want to
be addressed.
A group of employees at a Chinese company visiting a British company did not
feel treated respectfully because the company’s management addressed them –
based on their business cards and expertise, not on their position – as engineers
instead of sales managers, to which the employees themselves attributed a higher status (Spencer-Oatey & Xing, 2003).
8.5
Core reflections on Organization
Considering the circular character of communication, the following reflection
questions are important to address in order to clarify the organizational influences on communication:
1 What is my share?
■■ How are things organized on my side: what are the arrangements, procedures, rules and protocols; roles, functions and authorizations; time,
facilities and management?
■■ What expectations, images and knowledge do I have of the other’s organization?
266
8.6 Study assignments
2 What is the other person’s share?
■■ How are things organized on the other’s side: what are the arrangements, procedures, rules and protocols; roles, functions and authorizations; time, facilities and management?
■■ What expectations, images and knowledge does the other have of my
organization?
3 What is the influence of the organizational and societal context on the communication?
8.6
Study assignments
Complete these assignments together with one or more colleagues or fellow
students. Compare your answers with those of your colleagues or fellow students:
■■ What was the same?
■■ What was different?
■■ What do you notice?
1 In section 8.2.1 several aspects of the meaning of social media are described.
In which aspects do you recognize your own experiences? Give examples of
your own international experiences with social media.
2 In section 8.3.2 several leadership styles or types are described:
■■ What experiences do you have with ‘leaders’ in the broadest sense of the
term? Consider, for example, teachers, parents, team leaders in a company or another organization, the chair of a project group or a trainer/
coach of a sports team.
■■ Which leadership style did these leaders have?
■■ Which leadership style appeals to you? And which type of leader?
267
9
The TOPOI area Intentions:
motives
Introduction
9.1 All behaviour is communication: you cannot not communicate
9.1.1 Inner side and outer side: intentions and effects
9.2 The hypothesis of the best: behind every behaviour there is positive intention
9.2.1 When positive intentions are difficult to recognize
9.3 What motivates people?
9.3.1 The stability layers in cultures as a way to ground emotions
9.3.2 The value orientations of Florence Kluckhohn and Fred Strodtbeck
9.4 Recognition, rejection and disregard
9.4.1 Recognition
9.4.2 Rejection
9.4.3 Disregard
9.5 Common sense and intentions
9.6 Core reflections on Intentions
9.7 Study assignments
Introduction
The TOPOI area Intentions contains people’s intrinsic motives: the reasons
why they do what they do. Intentions as everything that motivates and steers
people is an internal category; it refers to the non-visible part, also called inner side. The visible part of someone’s intentions, on the other hand, consists
of their everyday efforts in relationships with other people: their actions. It is
these visible efforts that influence and affect others. People therefore do not influence one another directly with their inner side – their intentions – but with
what they bring into the communication from their inner side: their efforts.
Their influence is then the noticeable communicative effect of their intentions
on another person.
269
9 The TOPOI area Intentions: motives
The basis for the TOPOI area Intentions lies in Paul Watzlawick et al.’s axiom
that you cannot not communicate (2011, p. 50). For interactions between people it is critical to distinguish five elements of this axiom:
1 Everyone undergoes influence from others. What people do or do not do
has an effect on others. It does not leave them unaffected.
2 Everyone has influence. One’s actions affect others. This is not always easy
to see, feel or analyse.
3 The mutual influence takes place simultaneously, circularly and continuously (all behaviour is communication: you cannot not communicate).
4 The degree of influence on someone else can be deduced from the effect of
one’s communication on another person. There are two possibilities: either
one subsequently (sufficiently) achieves the desired effect and hence keeps
track of one’s influence, or one fails to achieve the desired effect and loses
track of one’s influence.
5 If one manages to keep track of one’s own influence, it leads to a feeling of
recognition of one’s intentions and confidence in the effectiveness of one’s
communication. Conversely, losing track of one’s own influence will lead to
doubt about one’s efforts and the effectiveness of one’s communication.
Losing track of one’s influence can be the result of misunderstanding in the
communication, when intentions (motivations) and influence (effects) do not
correspond with one another. The following example illustrates how a well-intended question has a very different effect than was intended. The example
additionally shows the recursive effect of communication: what is said unintentionally about another person (the interpersonal perspective on the relationship level of the communication: see Chapter 7, Persons) while giving a
message on the content level comes back like a boomerang through the other
person’s response.
During a conference in Norway, participants are divided into subgroups. One
(Norwegian) participant asks the only person in her subgroup with a noticeably
different background where he is from. She does this with the best intentions
(sincere interest = intention). However, on the other person this has the effect
(i.e. influence) of feeling excluded from the group. Consequently, he responds
irritated by asking why she only asks him and not the others in the group.
A painful issue in communication is that conversation partners are often not
aware of miscommunications when intentions and effects each run a different
course. This can easily happen, especially when those involved do not share
enough relational history together in which they generally feel understood by
the other person. Not being aware of misunderstandings can have far-reaching
270
9.1 All behaviour is communication: you cannot not communicate
consequences for people. People can start to doubt themselves and others because their communication does not have the intended effect: the effect of their
efforts does not correspond with their intentions. Ultimately, repeatedly experienced mismatches between intentions and effects of their communication
can give people the feeling that they have no influence and no control over their
interactions with others. This can result in frustration, irritation and anger.
The difficult part of communication is that you can only develop awareness of
your influence through others. The awareness of the influence you have cannot
be developed directly on your own. Questions like, ‘Am I of influence?’ ‘Am I
of importance?’ and ‘Do I matter?’ can only be answered by others. Only when
you feel seen and recognized by the other in your intentions, so that your motivations correspond with the effects of the communication, can you develop an
awareness of your influence.
The recognition of intentions is crucial for everyone, certainly in international, interethnic and interreligious encounters. Often from the very first contact,
people wonder if their communication has the desired effect and if their contribution is valued by the other. This is related to challenges and critical issues
such as power inequalities, exclusion and in-group/out-group mechanisms, as
discussed in section 2.2.3.
People can develop an awareness in negotiations, cooperation, meetings or
conversations of whether or not they are truly important to the other and if
they will be able to reach their mutual goals. Hence the great importance of reflection on the Intentions area in order to create awareness and understanding
of possible misunderstandings in communication in this area.
9.1
All behaviour is communication: you cannot not communicate
Generally, people do not reflect on the phenomenon that they continuously and
randomly both exert and undergo influence. All people’s actions have impact.
This simultaneous and continuous mutual influence has previously been called
the circular process of the communication (section 4.6).
In the presence of others, you cannot not communicate. All behaviour is communication, as stated above. Someone who plans not to speak during a whole
meeting, still exerts influence. Being silent, doing nothing, just being present
has an influence. Everything that can be seen, heard, smelled, felt – in other
words, perceived – can be considered behaviour and hence communication.
271
9 The TOPOI area Intentions: motives
Even by being merely physically present, people unconsciously and unintentionally express meanings with their body language. The meanings that people
express and their effects on others do not necessarily correspond with their
intentions. This is because people make their own interpretations of other people’s behaviour, which can diverge completely from the intentions of the person
in question. The situation below is a case in point:
Rochelle Kopp (2011) held a presentation for a group. A senior (Japanese) person was sitting with his eyes closed and a placid expression on his face, as if he
was sleeping. Rochelle had a feeling of panic and thought to herself‚ ‘Oh no, I’m
so boring to listen to that this key person fell asleep.’ During the rest of her pre­
sentation, she continuously felt the need to look at him and saw that his eyes
were still closed. However, when her presentation was finished and there was
time for questions, the senior executive was the first to raise his hand. He asked
a very sharp question that immediately showed he had listened to her presentation very carefully.
The senior person’s behaviour ‘closed eyes’ as an expression of his intention to
listen carefully is interpreted by Rochelle completely differently as ‘no interest
and no attention’. This relates to the distinction in communication between inner and outer side, between intentions and effects.
9.1.1
Inner side and outer side: intentions and effects
Someone’s outer side refers to behaviour: it is everything she or he does or does
not do, with and without words. The inner side is dependent on what someone
desires, expects, feels, thinks, means, strives after; it is what someone’s efforts
aim for. All this is on the inside and hence hidden from others. Not being aware
of and not seeing another person’s inner side leads to misunderstanding. Only
when someone makes their inner side visible by communicating their intentions (verbally or non-verbally), can this be seen and responded to by the other
person.
In an international student group, a teacher repeatedly asks a student how to
pronounce his name. After a few times, the student responds with irritation. For
the student, it seems as if he as a person is still not important enough for the
teacher. Otherwise, she would know how to pronounce his name. The teacher
sees the reaction of the student and apologizes. She then explains that she finds
it important and tries really hard to pronounce the ‘foreign’ names in her groups
correctly. In some cases this remains difficult, however. The student then pronounces his name again slowly.
272
9.1 All behaviour is communication: you cannot not communicate
The student sees only the teacher’s behaviour and not her good intentions – nor
could he obviously. He can only imagine she has good intentions. Conversely,
the teacher does not – indeed cannot – see the student’s feelings (i.e. his intentions), only his irritated reaction. She does, however, suspect why the student
is irritated. Thus, the teacher brings her inner side of motivations to the outer
side by apologizing to the student and explaining that she would very much like
to pronounce his name correctly but that she finds it difficult to remember the
right pronunciation.
Based on this example, the distinction between inner and outer side can be displayed in a table (see Figure 9.1).
Teacher
Student
Inner side
Outer side
Outer side
Inner side
Her intentions: pronouncing the names
of her foreign students
correctly.
Asks the student
how to pronounce
his name correctly.
Irritated reaction.
His intentions: feeling offended by not
feeling recognized
by the teacher.
Her intentions: under­
standing the effect of
her communication on
the student; a sense of
involvement with the
student.
Apologizes and
explains.
Pronounces his
name again slowly,
repeats it if necessary.
His intentions:
understanding the
teacher.
Figure 9.1
Distinction between inner side and outer side in communication
From the distinction between the inner and outer side it follows that intentions
that are brought into the communication and the effect this has on the other
need not correspond with each other. In a previous example, the participant
asks another participant where he is from out of sincere interest – but also
perhaps from a common sense that a different ethnic background is something
interesting in a society to which ethnic minorities are not assumed to belong
automatically – but the unintended effect of her question is irritation in the
other person. The senior person in the penultimate example closes his eyes to
listen carefully to the presentation, but to the speaker his behaviour feels like
disinterest. The teacher repeatedly, with the best intentions, requests the student for the right pronunciation of his name, but the unexpected effect is an
irritated reaction.
273
9 The TOPOI area Intentions: motives
9.2
The hypothesis of the best: behind every behaviour there is
positive intention
Because of the frequent difference between intentions and effect, in communication it is imperative to assume good intentions. We call this the ‘hypothesis
of the best’: a presumption that people always have good reasons for acting the
way they do. The same goes for oneself: you also have good reasons for acting
the way you do, even if to someone else this means something negative. By this
we mean that behaviour that is an expression of a good intention is not necessarily positive for another person. Someone’s behaviour can be completely
strange, undesirable, offensive and unacceptable, and sometimes can – or must
– be rejected, condemned, punished or ignored. However, the assumption that
the other has good reasons for their behaviour can help tremendously to keep
the connection with the other person open. After all, a substantial risk– and indeed this happens most of the time – is that when a negative difference arises in
an interaction it affects people personally. As a result, they jump to conclusions
and immediately see the other person as bad, be it disrespectful, untrustworthy,
dumb, arrogant, loveless, immoral, unmotivated or reluctant.
In the previous chapters – specifically in Chapter 7 (Persons) about the relationship level in communication – we have mentioned many practical examples where an apparent difference instantly leads to a negative judgment about
the other as a person, even though the person involved has his or her reasons
for acting in a certain way: someone does not make eye contact during conversation and is immediately considered dishonest and untrustworthy; a man
greets a woman in a different way than with a handshake and is immediately
labelled as hostile to women.
9.2.1
When positive intentions are difficult to recognize
Taking and especially keeping up an attitude of the ‘hypothesis of the best’ is
very challenging, even more so when people are confronted with behaviour
they find offensive or undesirable. In such a case it can be difficult to assume
and especially to recognize the other’s positive intentions.
Let us revisit the example of the manager who criticizes people in the company
of others. To many employees this manager’s behaviour feels frightening, offensive and humiliating; they may experience her or him as an unpleasant person.
However, from the perspective of the hypothesis of the best, the manager probably has good, positive reasons – to him or herself – for acting this way.
274
9.3 What motivates people?
In interviews with Japanese managers working in international environments
about the underlying motives for publicly criticizing people, Rochelle Kopp (19
April 2012) was told the following reasons for their behaviour (which probably
also applies to non-Japanese managers):
■■ ‘It’s not a personal attack. The managers are often surprised when they hear
that non-Japanese do not like receiving negative feedback about their work
in public. Japanese tend to feel that such discussions are about the work itself, not the person as an individual. (…)
■■ High potential people are criticized most harshly. Strong criticism is seen by
many managers as an effective way to motivate employees to try harder and
learn more. Thus, they tend to be harsher on those who have the most potential to develop. (…)
■■ Public criticism is a way to display control. In many cases, public criticism
seems to be done as a power play for a manager to demonstrate his control
over the non-Japanese. For example (…) a middle manager may reprimand
his (…) subordinate in front of a higher level manager in order to demonstrate that he has the (…) subordinate fully under his control.’
The perspective that behind all behaviour lies a positive intention can also be
understood by looking at a deeper level at what motivates people: what steers
their considerations and feelings to do things the way they do?
9.3
What motivates people?
Humans are meaning-making creatures that want to live a life of meaning.
Every person wants to be of meaning to her/himself and to others, and everyone needs to give meaning to other people, to life and to the world. The way in
which people create a meaningful life is highly individual and can take many
forms: being innovative, creating art, leading a religious life, engaging in physical challenges, taking care of family and friends, having results, serving others,
engaging in activism for people or the environment, excelling in a profession;
having a lot of money, luxury or status; exerting power; gaining knowledge, etc.
What gives people meaning hence differs greatly per individual and is in principle not better than what gives meaning to others. However, based on what
constitutes a meaningful life for themselves, people can judge negatively about
what is meaningful to others. Here we see culture as a model for reality (section
1.2.1) at work. After all, the choices people make are not made purely individually, but are partly a result of the prevailing cultures in their groups. Through
social dialogues (common senses) in these groups, it is decided what is and
275
9 The TOPOI area Intentions: motives
what is not a meaningful life, which simultaneously leads to implicit judgments
about the meaning-making of others.
This is why it is good to reflect upon the underlying emotions, ideas and values
that form the basis of the cultural and individual variety of what constitutes a
meaningful life. These fundamental emotions, values and ideas are inherently
positive: they are the result of a given context in which they help people to survive and lead a meaningful and happy life.
We will discuss two perspectives that provide an insight into people’s driving forces. Knowledge of these driving forces helps not to judge pre-emptively about people’s intentions in interactions with others and to understand the
deeper motivations behind people’s attitudes and behaviours. Altogether, this
helps to assume the ‘hypothesis of the best’. Moreover, the different perspectives clarify the driving force that people can experience from universal human
emotions and the influence of the dominant values and ideas from people’s collectives: the aforementioned common senses.
Our discussion focuses on two visions. Firstly, Arnold Cornelis’s (1995) philosophy of the stability in cultures as a way to ground emotions, combined
with Edward L. Deci and Richard M. Ryan’s (1985) Self-Determination Theory.
Secondly, we discuss the value orientations of Florence Kluckhohn and Fred
Strodtbeck (1961).
9.3.1
The stability layers in cultures as a way to ground emotions
Arnold Cornelis (1995; Van der Zouwen, 2005) states that people are born with
three fundamental emotions: fear, anger and grief. According to Cornelis, these
three emotions are inherently negative, in the sense that they have not been
stabilized. Obviously, there are many more emotions, but the great variety of
emotions all find their origin in these three basic emotions.
Fear, anger and grief form the source of the three human social-emotional basic
needs. These basic needs are above all the desire for physical and social security
and basic safety; secondly, the desire for recognition of competences or skills and
thirdly, the desire for communicative autonomy. Communicative autonomy can
be described as people’s desire to individually shape their lives in communication with their social environment. It is the longing for self-expression and
self-realization.
276
9.3 What motivates people?
The basic emotions – fear, anger, grief – form the driving force of human desires.
They form the will to live as a human: humanely. These fundamental emotions
can be transformed into positive emotions through a cultural learning process.
The meaning of this learning process is to find or create an environment where
fear, anger and grief can be stabilized: where they can nestle and calm down.
This stabilization is expressed through the transformation of the negative emotions into positive ones: fear becomes a feeling of security, safety and love. Anger
gives way to a feeling of recognition of competence. Grief becomes an awareness
of beauty in the sense of recognizing oneself in the world. The latter is a result of
being able to steer one’s life through communication with others.
From the three basic emotions, people have a need for a culture that stabilizes
their emotions. Whenever the socio-cultural environment does not stabilize
these emotions, people resort to one of the basic emotions. Fear is then an
existential fear without reason, anger takes the shape of aggressiveness, and
grief manifests as self-denial, underappreciation, sadness or depression. The
mental problems of, say, employees – stress, sick leave, depression, burn-out
– can originate from an organizational environment that insufficiently meets
the aforementioned basic emotions and needs. In that case, the organization is
characterized by a culture that does not stabilize employees’ basic emotions or
calms them. Fear, gloom, depression, lethargy, tiredness, over-sensitivity, irritation and aggression are then the symptoms or error signals of a social environment or culture that falls short of people’s needs.
The three aforementioned emotions and the three associated basic needs – security, recognition and autonomy – are confirmed in the Self-Determination
Theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985; Korthagen, 2007). This theory lists three psychological basic needs for people: the desire 1) for connectedness (Cornelis speaks
of ‘fear that is searching for physical and social safety and security’), 2) the experience of competence (Cornelis: ‘anger searching for recognition of competence’), and 3) for autonomy (Cornelis calls this ‘grief looking for autonomy’).
Based on the Self-Determination Theory and the philosophy of stability layers
in cultures as a way to ground emotions, the continuing intentions and efforts
of people can be seen as the need to stabilize their fear, anger and grief. In other words, intentions are the result of the human desire and search for security
(connectedness), recognition (competence) and autonomy. The three fundamental emotions and the desire to stabilize these form the underlying forces
for people’s everyday actions; the motivations behind their everyday intentions
and efforts.
277
9 The TOPOI area Intentions: motives
From this perspective, people’s intentions are always essentially positive: they
are always concerned with the fulfilment of physical needs, with the stabilization of the basic emotions – fear, anger, grief – and eventually with the desire to
grow and develop into what one can become as a human being.
Hence the importance of always trying to understand and recognize people’s
positive intentions – in spite of any negative packaging of the behaviour from
another perspective – from the perspective of their desire for security, recognition and autonomy.
An example of such packaging of a positive intention out of a desire for security
and recognition – though perhaps difficult to understand – can be found in some
police organizations, where harsh jokes and humour to some extent serve as a
means of coping with the psychologically and physically confronting and threatening experiences of police work (Çankaya, 2008).
9.3.2
The value orientations of Florence Kluckhohn and Fred
Strodtbeck
Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck (1961, p. 4) describe value orientations as ‘complex
but definitely patterned (…) principles (…) which give order and direction to the
ever-flowing stream of human acts and thoughts as these relate to the solution
of “common” human problems’. Their theory of value orientations is based on
three assumptions:
1 People in all cultures (or social groups) need to find solutions for a limited
amount of general human problems.
2 The available solutions for these problems are limited but vary within a
range of possible solutions.
3 While the members of any culture may prefer one certain solution, all possible solutions occur in every culture (Gudykunst & Ting-Toomey, 1988, p.
50-51).
Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck (1961, p. 11) rank their value orientations around
the following five questions to which all social groups need to find an answer:
1 What is the character of the innate human nature (orientation to human
nature)?
2 What is the relationship between humanity and its natural environment
(orientation to nature)?
3 What is the temporal focus of human life (time orientation)?
4 What is the prime motivation for behaviour – to express oneself (activity
orientation)?
278
9.3 What motivates people?
5 What is the nature of human relationships with others (relationship orientation)?
There are more questions that social groups can be confronted with, but according to Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck, the cultures of social groups can be distinguished most clearly through these questions.
The answers to these five questions can all be categorized by the three main
characteristics of a culture (Hills, 2002, p. 5):
1 Human nature: A. people are inherently good; B. people are inherently bad;
or C. people can be both: there are good people and bad people.
It can be argued that in Christianity, which assumes that people inherited Adam
and Eve’s original sin, human nature is considered to be evil. This implies that
people must learn to control and suppress their bad tendencies. In Confucianism, on the other hand, it is assumed that human nature is good. This means that
people’s main challenge is to cultivate their inherent goodness.
2 Orientation to nature: A. people are subject to nature: fate determines people, one can only submit to this; B. people live in harmony with nature; or C.
people subdue nature for their own goals.
3 Orientation to time: A. focus on the past; B. focus on the past and present;
or C. focus on the future.
In China, references are often made to the rich past, and this is often presented
as an ideal to strive for in present times. In 2016, the Chinese Commission for Discipline Inspection posted 40 classic texts from philosophers, poets and thinkers
– some over 1000 years old – as recommended reading for Chinese Party officials
in an attempt to battle corruption (news.xinhuanet.com).
In the United States, references are often made to the future, which is usually
expected to be better than the present or the past. In his victory speech after
re-election as President in 2012, Barack Obama listed many challenges and difficulties the country would have to face, predicting difficult years ahead, only to
close with the phrase, ‘America, the best is yet to come!’ (The Telegraph, 2012).
Incidentally, both Ronald Reagan (in 1980) and Donald Trump (in 2016) won the
US presidential elections with the slogan ‘Make America great again’, referring to
a supposedly better era in the country’s history.
4 Orientation to human activity: A. focus on ‘being’, on one’s own inner motivation without having to meet other people’s expectations; B. focus on personal
279
9 The TOPOI area Intentions: motives
growth and developing one’s competence; or C. focus on doing – external
motivation for activities that are approved by others from one’s own group.
5 Orientation to personal relationships: A. focus on hierarchical principles
and respect for authority within the group; B. interaction as equals and a
focus on consensus within the extended network of equals; or C. individualistic – emphasis on the individual or individual families within the group
that take decisions independently of others.
The same distinction of main characteristics can largely be applied to several
dimension models of researchers mentioned earlier, such as Edward Hall (1959;
1984; 1989; 1990), Geert Hofstede (1991; 2001), GLOBE (House et al., 2004),
and Frans Trompenaars and Charles Hamden-Turner (1998). Kluckhohn and
Strodtbeck’s value orientations also show how the deeper motives of groups
and individuals that lie behind their thoughts and actions are the result of (positive) answers to fundamental questions that people face in a given context. In
this regard, Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck’s various value orientations can be considered as collective answers by social groups to create a culture in which basic
emotions (Cornelis, 1995) can be stabilized and grounded.
The collective answers to these questions within groups, the dominant values
and perspectives – the common senses – can consequently influence people’s
individual thoughts and actions and determine which values are acceptable and
which are deviant and inappropriate.
With these two perspectives on people’s deeper motives, we have tried to illustrate how behind all behaviour lies positive intention. We will now reflect on
the ways in which people can experience others’ reactions to their efforts. Or,
conversely, how people can respond to the efforts of others.
9.4
Recognition, rejection and disregard
Generally, people can experience the reaction of others to their efforts as recognition, rejection or neglect/disregard.
9.4.1
Recognition
Recognition is the feeling that others take notice of your efforts, that whatever
you are striving for from your emotions, values and ideas is observed by others
and has legitimacy. Recognition is a fundamental human need. In the hierarchy
of universal needs – Abraham Maslow’s figure (quoted in Hilgard & Atkinson,
280
9.4 Recognition, rejection and disregard
1979, p. 316) – the need for recognition comes in third place after physiological
needs (hunger and thirst) and the need for safety. For every human being, ‘Can
I be myself?’, ‘Am I valuable?’, ‘Do I count?’, ‘Am I accepted and do I belong?’ are
fundamental questions of life. Francis Fukuyama (1992, p. 172) sees the whole
human history as a struggle for recognition. Human beings distinguish themselves from animals through their desire for recognition from others. In other
words, people want to be wanted and recognized by others. From the outset,
people are social beings: their feelings of self-worth and identity are closely related to the value others give them.
Communicatively, to recognize is to treat people with dignity and show them
respect. When people feel recognized, it is easier for them to be open to other
ideas and perspectives as well. Recognition can empower people, give them
strength. Communication can indeed disempower people, humiliate and break
them; but a communication of recognition can give people power as well. The
powerless then feel heard; they are given back a voice and hence their legitimacy. In the next chapter, TOPOI Interventions, we provide more specific recommendations for how to recognize others in the communication.
9.4.2
Rejection
To reject means taking notice of the other’s message, only to respond with disagreement without giving recognition to that message. Rejection ignores the
intentions of the other. It does not allow for sufficient reflection – or any reflection at all – on the intentions of the other and immediately leads to an action or
opinion that opposes the other’s intentions and efforts.
An example of rejection is the case, provided in Chapter 4, of a (German) manager who unexpectedly started screaming at his (Chinese) negotiation partners
because he was tired of them stalling the negotiations. The ‘beating around the
bush’ had to stop. He wanted clarity and trustworthiness and his patience was
finished.
Disregard is also a form of rejection. It means that notice was taken of the other’s message, without engaging in it. What the other does or says is ignored. Rejection can then provoke more rejection. Conversation partners can end up in
a spiral of rejection. One can think of a discussion where people do not respond
to each other’s arguments (rejection) but are only trying to convince each other
of their own opinions. Rejection can result in people feeling offended in their
sense of self-worth and self-respect. This can strongly damage the trust between those involved.
281
9 The TOPOI area Intentions: motives
One can try to sense whether the effects of rejection are affecting others. Rejection is not by definition wrong. Consciously ignoring undesirable behaviour,
for instance a discriminating remark, can also have a positive effect. We should,
however, warn that especially rejection in conversation can invoke more rejection and lead to a negative downward spiral.
9.4.3
Disregard
Disregard is the non-observing of the other’s intentions and efforts. Disregard
is not the same as ignoring. To ignore is a type of rejection. With ignoring, the
other’s efforts are noticed, but you do not respond to them. You do not show
the other that you have taken notice. Ignoring can be intentional. Disregard
happens unintentionally. People can truly have such different views, such a different level of knowledge, that they cannot see or hear what the other is trying
to say. Someone may, for example, try to shake the other’s hand as a way of
greeting, while the other takes no notice of this, greeting her or him in another
way. Both can feel disregarded concerning their intention to greet the other.
They do not (and in many cases, cannot) see or know each other’s way of greeting. This inadvertently leads to disregard of each other’s intentions of trying to
greet the other.
Disregard also happens easily when people are unaware of each other’s efforts,
of the sacrifices people sometimes make to achieve something. See, for instance, the encounter between a (British) university staff member and an international student:
‘(…) we had dinner, and I sat next to one of our MA students, and it was June, so
she was just about to graduate, and I said, “What are you going to do now that
you’ve graduated?” She said, “I’m going back to Korea.” And I said, “Would it be
better for you in employment terms than staying here?” And she said, “Oh no, I
want to go back and see my baby.” And I said, “Well how old is your baby.” And
she said, “Nearly one.” And I said, “But this course lasts 9 months.” And she said,
“Well I left him when he was 3 months old with my mother.’ And I said, “Have you
been back to see him?” And she said “No, I’ve seen photographs.” And I thought,
Good God, how could you do this? She said, “This course really did deliver such a
good opportunity for me I was willing to pay the money and take the time away.”
And I thought, s**t, if I’d know that before, I’d never have been able to face her.
Because that’s a tremendous sacrifice for anybody to make. And to do that. She
did really well on her course. I was so impressed but also really humbled by that.
And I thought, I don’t know if we serve these people properly at all’ (Hyland et
al., 2008, p. 20).
282
9.5 Common sense and intentions
When people experience one disregard after another, when they lose sight of
signals from their environment that their efforts matter, this can lead to a feeling of confusion or estrangement. People can become insecure, and retreat or
start behaving more and more extremely because they no longer know what
effects their behaviour has. They can start to wonder if they at all exist for the
other, and hence feelings of disregard can even make people sick.
During a masterclass on diversity and inclusion for people of refugee background
in the Netherlands, the participants were asked to share stories about moments
of strength in their lives. Many of them did not want to share anything, saying
they had nothing to tell. Eventually, Sarah, a woman from Eritrea, spoke. She
had fled Eritrea ten years ago, having been a women’s and human rights activist
there. When asked why she had not told her story before, she said that after arriving in the Netherlands, she was used to hearing ‘no’ all the time; ‘No, your Dutch
isn’t good enough’, ‘No, your diplomas are not good enough’, or ‘No, your culture
does not fit with ours’. As a result, she’d lost not only her self-confidence but also
her story (Ghorashi, 2016).
9.5
Common sense and intentions
Similar to the awareness of influence, people depend on others to experience
whether their intentions and efforts make sense. This remains a difficult point,
since the recognition of intentions can only be deduced from the behaviour of
others. And since behaviour is generally ambivalent and it is not always possible
to check this with someone, one often has to rely on one’s own frame of reference to find out what the other is trying to say about the value of their efforts.
Moreover, each person’s frame of reference is not only the product of their own
individual history, but also of the many current interpersonal and wider social
influences – in other words, common senses – such as Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck’s value orientations, as discussed earlier in this chapter.
An example of the influence of common sense on (perception of ) intentions is
the following:
During a job interview, the applicant calmly awaits the employer’s questions
and tries to answer them as well as possible. When asked which qualities would
make him an ideal candidate for the position, the applicant finds it very difficult
to answer. His intention is to remain polite and modest and not to centre himself
too much during the interview. His competence should show from his degrees
283
9 The TOPOI area Intentions: motives
and experience. His intention and its manifestation are partly shaped by a common sense where modesty, respect and simplicity are prioritized. The employer,
however, participates in a different social dialogue with mainly common senses
of assertiveness, presentation, dynamics and enthusiasm as critical factors for
the recruitment of staff. Thus, he does not – indeed cannot – see the applicant’s
intentions. As a result, both employer and applicant do not feel recognized in
their intentions.
What people’s intentions are aimed at, what is considered a positive intention
and what people experience as recognition of their intentions is hence not
merely an individual matter. It is influenced by the prevailing common senses in the wider social environment, of what is seen as ‘intention’ or ‘effort’ and
what is seen as ‘recognition’.
Judging people’s intentions or efforts from one’s own self-evident norms is
common and understandable. However, in order to stimulate people to make
the efforts you would like them to, it is important to look out for, and recognize,
the other’s intentions, even if they lie in another domain or are of a completely
different order than you expected.
Here are two examples of positive intentions of international students which
proved very surprising to the (British) teachers involved.
A (Thai) student had copied large parts from a book for an assignment without
mentioning the source. When the teacher addressed her about this plagiarism,
the student got upset and exclaimed, ‘(…) but I did pay for the book!’ (McLean &
Ransom, 2005, p. 47)
A business school lecturer says, ‘Once I had a Malaysian student come up to me
after a seminar session and ask me a really good question. When I asked why she
did not raise it during the class, she replied, “(…) because then the others would
also know the answer”’ (Chuah, 2010).
In conclusion, with regard to the wider area Intentions, it is good to reflect on
the current common senses in the wider social environment. These common
senses may influence your own intentions and efforts and those of the other, as
well as the ability to recognize them.
284
9.7 Study assignments
9.6
Core reflections on Intentions
In sum, the following questions related to the TOPOI area Intentions can be
used for reflection and exploration:
1 What is my share?
■■ What are my intentions?
■■ Do I see the other’s intentions and efforts and do I recognize them?
2 What is the other person’s share?
■■ What motivates the other person?
■■ Does the other person see my intentions and efforts and does he or she
recognize them?
3 What is the influence of the social contexts (common senses) on each person’s intentions and on the mutual recognition of each other’s intentions
and efforts?
9.7
Study assignments
Complete these assignments together with one or more colleagues or fellow students. Compare your answers with those of your colleagues or fellow students:
■■ What was the same?
■■ What was different?
■■ What do you notice?
1 Revisit section 9.1, All behaviour is communication: you cannot not communicate. Imagine: one participant in a meeting has not spoken for the entire
meeting. What messages can this person have communicated to the other
participants during the meeting, even though he or she did not say anything?
2 Revisit section 9.1.1, Inner side and outer side: intentions and effects. Do you
have experiences of intentions and effects that are different from your own
communication or that of the other? Or, in other words, were the effect of
your communication or the other’s very different from your intentions or
the other’s? Please exchange experiences.
285
10
TOPOI interventions
Introduction
10.1 Deculturalize and normalize
10.2 Involvement, attention and trust
10.2.1 ‘Reading the air’
10.2.2 Active listening
10.2.3 Empathy
10.3 The hypothesis of the best
10.3.1 Take a detour
10.3.2 Recognition
10.3.3 Avoiding truth battles
10.3.4 Reframing and transformative learning
10.3.5 Giving space
10.3.6 Focusing on the effects of communication
10.4 Asking for and giving clarification
10.4.1 Making explicit and checking
10.4.2 Asking for and giving feedback
10.4.3 Metacommunication
10.4.4 Observing, informing and adapting
10.5 Language positions and speaking one’s own language
10.6 Attention for social contexts: common senses
10.7 Reflections and interventions of the TOPOI model in a scheme
10.8 Study assignments
Introduction
In the previous chapters we discussed the five TOPOI areas that play a role in
(international, interethnic and interreligious) communication by creating differences and misunderstandings. The question now is how to deal with situations and interactions that are characterized by interculturality: by differences
– of any kind – that lead to an experience of strangeness. In other words, how
287
10 TOPOI interventions
can you transform interculturality into culturality and normality, so that you
become familiar with apparent differences in interactions with others and create a basis for connection and communication?
In the previous chapters we have provided several suggestions for intervention. In this chapter, we summarize the most important interventions and add
a few other ones. The interventions are general communicative strategies that
are important in every communicative situation. At best, the strategies and interventions mentioned are specifically beneficial for interethnic, interreligious
and international encounters.
10.1
Deculturalize and normalize
In encounters with people of different ethnic, national or religious backgrounds,
the first important step is to deculturalize and normalize the interaction. By this
we mean not to consider yourself or the other as representatives of a culture,
ethnic group or religion, and not immediately to take national or ethnic culture
or religion as an explanation for behaviour. The starting point for interactions
with others should always be the interpersonal encounter between unique persons in a specific context. As we stated several times, it is not cultures that meet,
but people.
Deculturalizing and normalizing gives others space to present themselves as
they want, including potentially unexpected insights, habits, inspirations and
interests. In encounters with others, you should be aware of notions that you
have taken for granted and of the possibility that people can think, sense and
act differently. What may be logical and self-evident to you, may not be the
same to someone else. From this awareness, you can be prepared and open for
possible differences that manifest themselves in the five TOPOI areas in communication. By this we expressly do not mean that you should be informed in
advance of all the possible differences, or that you should know all the (supposedly) relevant do’s and don’ts (which is impossible anyway). It should suffice to
know that within the TOPOI areas a variety of differences can occur, regarding
verbal and non-verbal language; the ‘orderings’ or views and logic; the way each
person sees and experiences themselves, the other and the mutual relationship;
the way things are organized, and each person’s intentions and efforts.
Being open and prepared for differences means to observe with all your senses,
and not just focusing on your own preferences and actions. You have an eye,
ear and a feeling for other ways of greeting than, say, a handshake or other signs
288
10.2 Involvement, attention and trust
of attention than, say, eye contact. This clearly implies that you are also alert to
similarities, not just differences, and recognize that another person also wants to
greet you; tries to give you attention; has comparable or similar intentions, concerns, emotions, interests as yourself and shares certain group identities (parenthood, generation, profession, religion or music, film or sports preferences).
Furthermore, when misunderstandings occur, you could reflect from a circular approach to communication on your own share (what am I doing that
makes the other respond this way), the other’s share (what does the other do
that makes me respond this way) and the possible influence of the social contexts: the common senses (the world views, historical experiences and prevailing prejudices and stereotypes that influence our communication).
10.2
Involvement, attention and trust
Involvement means that you are sincerely interested in the other as a person,
in what is important for him or her. Having attention means to be alert and
focused on understanding another person. Attention and involvement give a
feeling of respect and recognition and help to create the space and trust for the
other person to open up as well. These two elements were also mentioned by a
Dutch CEO as the key factors for a successful trade mission to Japan he made
with other high-level entrepreneurs. His words are still a confirmation of the
‘hard reality of soft values’, even if it occurred quite a while ago (Eynikel, 2013).
Asked what the basis for the trade mission’s success was, Dutch CEO Wim Dik
replied, ‘Giving attention, listening …’ (own translation of quote in Tromp, 1991).
An attitude of involvement and attention – and the self-awareness that you
yourself as a person are of value and have something to offer to the other –
can give a feeling of self-confidence and emotional stability, making it easier
to venture into unknown, uncertain situations. The other person will definitely
see your attention and involvement as a positive intention – which is mainly
communicated non-verbally – and will analyse, either at that moment or later,
that neither of you can be completely aware of each other’s codes. This creates
a basis for trust where ‘failures’ are allowed and can be repaired if necessary. All
this can help to take away the fear of making mistakes in interactions as a result
of unfamiliarity with possible differences. Such an attitude of good faith and
the created basis of trust can motivate people to put differences and misunderstandings in perspective, perceive them with a sense of humour and to laugh
about them together or to oneself.
289
10 TOPOI interventions
10.2.1 ‘Reading the air’
Showing involvement and attention, which is mainly done non-verbally, can
also imply ‘reading the air’. Many of the interventions we mention are aimed
at verbally explicating, checking and explaining. But often you can encounter
situations in which, or people for whom, an explicit communication style is inappropriate. In such (high-context) situations – which can occur in any country
or culture – meanings are often implicit and people are not focused on explicitly mentioning or discussing issues. In these cases, estimating situations and
intentions without words is of great importance. In Japanese, this is called ‘kūki
wo yomu’ (空気を読む), or in English ‘reading the air’ (Shaules, 2015, pp. 137139; Spacey, 2015).
‘Reading the air’ means to understand the context or situation based on things
and signals that you can feel and notice without these being explicit. It means
that you can deduce the meaning from the context and read between the lines
what is not explicitly said. To read the air is to observe with all senses empathetically and intuitively the implicit meaning of contextual factors, signals, words
and body language in a social situation.
Erin Meyer (13 September 2014) gives an example of reading the air concerning
unfamiliar signals from participants who want to respond to a lecture. She gave
the lecture in Japan together with a Japanese colleague to a group of managers.
When at the end, Erin asked whether there were any questions or comments no
hands went up, so she went to sit down. Then her colleague reacted.
‘My colleague whispered to me: “I think there actually were some comments,
Erin. Do you mind if I try?” He asked the group again: “Any comments or questions?” Still, no one raised a hand, but this time he looked very carefully at each
person in the silent audience. Gesturing to one of them, he said, “Do you have
something to add?” To my amazement, she responded, “Yes, thank you”, and
asked me a very interesting question. My colleague repeated this several times,
looking directly at the audience members and asking for more questions or comments. After the session, I asked my colleague: “How did you know that those
people had questions?” He hesitated, not sure how to explain it, and then said,
“It has to do with how bright their eyes are.” He continued: “In Japan, we don’t
make as much direct eye contact as you do in the West. So when you asked if
there were any comments, most people were not looking directly at you. But a
few people in the group were looking right at you, and their eyes were bright.
That indicates that they would be happy to have you call on them.”’
290
10.2 Involvement, attention and trust
In this example, the explanation from her (Japanese) colleague seems culturalistic because of the generalizing suggestion that the Japanese do not make
as much eye contact as Westerners, and that those who do make eye contact
with bright eyes would gladly be invited to respond. At the same time, Japanese
people may raise their hand when they want to comment or ask questions on a
lecture (see the language example in section 9.1 about the Japanese senior who
was the first person to raise his hand after someone’s lecture).
Reading the air is important in any communication. Often, people are only
verbally oriented in their communication, focusing exclusively on what is said
without noticing non-verbal, situational and contextual signals. As a result, important implicit meanings remain unnoticed. Furthermore, the opposite is also
often the case: many people rarely reflect on what they themselves communicate or signal non-verbally to others.
10.2.2 Active listening
Another important communication skill is active listening and observing with
all your senses. This involves an awareness of different communication styles
and of preferences for direct or more implicit communication. Active listening
also entails a sensitivity to issues of (loss of ) face, perspectives on roles and
different kinds of relationships, and how these could be of influence on what
is said and what is not. It can help to be alert to the other’s facial expressions.
What questions cause him or her to wait a bit longer? What question is met
with silence? Which question is avoided or leads to the other person changing
the subject?
Active listeners slow down their communication, take more time. As a rule,
they take different interpretations of what the speaker says into account (Brinkmann & Weerdenburg, 2014, p. 43 and 77). They listen to what the speaker is
saying with words, but even more to what he or she is trying to say. Sometimes,
this also involves listening closely to what is not said. In other words, active listeners try to have attention for others’ unspoken expectations and needs.
10.2.3 Empathy
‘If we seek to understand a people, we have to try to put ourselves, as far as we
can, in that particular historical and cultural background. … It is not easy for a
person of one country to enter into the background of another country. So there
is great irritation, because one fact that seems obvious to us is not immediately
accepted by the other party or does not seem obvious to him at all. … But that
291
10 TOPOI interventions
extreme irritation will go when we think … that he is just differently conditioned
and simply can’t get out of that condition. One has to recognize that whatever
the future may hold, countries and people differ … in their approach to life and
their ways of living and thinking. In order to understand them, we have to understand their way of life and approach. If we wish to convince them, we have
to use their language as far as we can, not language in the narrow sense of the
word, but the language of the mind. That is one necessity. Something that goes
even much further than that is not the appeal to logic and reason, but some kind
of emotional awareness of other people. …’ (Jawaharlal Nehru – the first prime
minister of India – quoted in Adler, 1991, p. 1)
Empathy is to look at things form the other’s frame of reference. Empathizing with someone’s reality can be done by asking attentive, involved questions
about their reality and experiences. Empathy then leads to an understanding of
the other’s intentions.
Former American Middle East envoy Dennis Ross, who worked for four presidents as a peace negotiator, was questioned about the importance of empathy
in international negotiations and conflict resolution. Asked what the key aspect
of his style was, Dennis Ross replied: ‘Empathy. I have to completely put myself
in the other’s shoes, empathize with them. I have to understand what moves the
parties, what motivates and restricts them and what their needs are. And they
have to also understand each other’s needs, identify with each other. I spend a
lot of time on negotiators getting to know each other and sincerely start to see
each other as partners. And it is important that I clarify problems. Due to the heritage, the conflict and the suspicions, the pain and the accumulated feeling of
sadness, a party could say “X”, while the other party thinks they mean “Y”. I can
then immediately say, “You are hearing something else than he means.”. When
they are ready, they start to look at ways to bridge the differences. That’s when
they get creative’ (own translation of Van de Roer, 1999).
10.3
The hypothesis of the best
The assumption of the hypothesis of the best means that you assume and have
confidence that behind every behaviour – no matter how (culturally) different,
strange or negative – there is a positive intention. An inspiring – even though
perhaps at first estranging – example of this is given by a former CIA agent:
292
10.3 The hypothesis of the best
A former CIA agent who had worked undercover all over the world on counterterrorism and intelligence for almost ten years, said, ‘If I learned one thing from my
time with the CIA, it is this: everybody believes that they are the good guy. (…)
The only real way to disarm your enemy is to listen to them. (…) If you’re brave
enough to really listen to their story, you can see that, more often than not, you
might have made the same choices if you’d lived their life instead of yours’ (carbonated.tv).
When you experience strangeness as a result of a manifest difference, it is helpful to suspend your judgment, avoid jumping to conclusions, and assume that
the other person has his or her reasons for acting, thinking or feeling this way.
This attitude or assumption that the other has good reasons, no matter how
strange and negative their behaviour may seem at first, can help to stay in balance and not to feel offended right away.
Nael Nadif Kasri (biochemist and leader of an international research group at the
Radboud Medical Centre in Nijmegen, the Netherlands) has studied, worked and
lived in several countries and has a lot of experience with international teams. In
response to a question during a workshop whether he had ever had a negative
experience due to cultural difference, he answered that he has not. He said that
he assumed that people always have good reasons for acting the way they do
and that ‘strange’ behaviour did not affect him personally or confuse him. Additionally, he said that as a leader of a team he did not accept the national cultures
of his team members as an exclusive and definitive explanation for their own
behaviour or that of others.
By that last comment Nael means that merely citing nationality or national culture to explain someone’s behaviour is a meaningless explanation that does not
lead anywhere.
In the following case study, a colleague’s views regarding the supervision of
PhD candidates is attributed to his German background. However, such an explanation is meaningless in the sense that it implies a kind of reasoning such
as: all Germans have these views regarding the supervision of PhD candidates;
this colleague is German, so he has these views (end of explanation and hence
discussion).
‘During a lunch appointment with my (originally German) colleague, we discuss
our education and internship programme (of PhD students). The programme is
not running very well when it comes to the candidates. My colleague has the feeling that they show too little commitment for the internship and spend too much
293
10 TOPOI interventions
time on other tasks. Moreover, their attitude often disturbs him. For example,
according to him, they often interrupt during conversations or meetings and try
to push their own agendas. They redirect tasks to the supervisor and take too
little responsibility in this respect. I have the impression that cultural differences
have a strong influence on the way my colleague perceives the candidates’ role.
I have tried to address this explicitly. I indicated that I hear him and understand
what he’s saying. And that I wonder whether perhaps the fact that he was raised
with another perspective could play a role. In response, my colleague immediately gets defensive and says that this has absolutely nothing to do with that: he
received his education in the Netherlands and has worked here for more than
nine years. So this argument does not apply. Verbally as well as non-verbally, he
indicates that this means “end of story”. It’s a shame, I don’t know how to avoid
ending up in a “yes-no” situation. I cannot manage to give him feedback in a way
that he will recognize or want to recognize. Other people in my surroundings
categorize his behaviour as “typically German”. His cooperation with other professionals is sometimes very complicated, due to the way he positions himself.’
(This case study is discussed online, see www.coutinho.nl/diversitycompetence.)
We understand that people mention their own national culture or those of others to explain behaviour or opinions as a way of saying, ‘This is what I am (or:
someone else is) used to’ or ‘This is normal for me (or: for another)’. As mentioned above, this only becomes problematic when people reduce themselves
or others to their nationality (or ethnicity or religion) and hence take their individuality and ‘agency’ out of the equation, not taking into account their own
personal reasons and obstructing any further exchange. This effectively closes
the conversation.
10.3.1 Take a detour
The assumption of the hypothesis of the best also helps people to venture away
from the default route to arrive at a defined goal and to be open to the other person’s habits. As often, people have a clear view in advance as to how to
achieve their goals and in what time frame: think of project plans, roadmaps,
time planning, questionnaires and protocols that are all predetermined. If the
other does not go along with this, it easily leads to irritation and frustration.
The hypothesis of the best helps to leave the predetermined road and follow the
other’s path. This may seem like a longer route, as we mentioned, but ‘Practice
shows that the longest road in this regard is often the shortest one’ (Peeters, 1989,
p. 34), or: the shortest way is often a detour.
294
10.3 The hypothesis of the best
That the longest road often turns out to be the shortest one is also the experience of the relationship management director of a multinational in the forestry industry who has led many negotiations in China (Owari, 2005). In a research
report about her experiences, this director – named Linda – says that ‘Western’
negotiators in China are generally more result-oriented. These negotiators want
to find out how to quickly close a deal. Consequently, they immediately put all
possible problems from both sides on the table, expecting that the other side
will be aiming for the same things and hence act in the same way. If this does not
happen, it leads to irritation on the part of the ‘Western’ negotiators, who get the
feeling that they have no influence on the other party and their intentions and
efforts are not seen, let alone recognized. Additionally, it gets very difficult to see
the partners’ positive intentions because their intentions are being measured by
the desired result: putting all the issues on the table and quickly closing the deal.
Since the partner organization does not meet this expectation, their intentions
and efforts cannot be rated positively either.
Linda’s strategy is to let the desired result be and take the time to explore the
reasons for the slow pace of the negotiations (positive intentions). By acting this
way, Linda finds back her sense of influence on the communication process. She
feels recognized by the other party for her efforts, since they deliver background
information and she can now see and recognize their positive intentions. The ‘hypothesis of the best’ is confirmed – as her report shows: ‘(…) she [Linda] often
discovers that they have a very logical reason for their stance’ (Owari, 2005, p. 91).
What at first seems difficult (seeing the other’s positive intentions) and a detour
(letting go of the desired outcome), turns out to be a faster and more effective
way to eventually achieve the desired result (a contract). A quote from the report:
‘Linda reported that negotiations take a very long time in China. She has negotiated with Chinese stakeholders to develop new businesses. The negotiations
deal with permission for investments, agreements with the Chinese party involved, understanding what each party wants, accepting each other’s positions,
and so forth. The expectations and targets are often so different that it takes a
long time to achieve common ground. (…) Initially, according to Linda, real issues are hidden, and it requires time and patience to understand and to arrive at
the real issues. Sometimes it can be a very tedious and time-consuming process
determining why the Chinese may be insisting on a certain point, and refusing to
give it up. In the end, she often discovers that they have a very logical reason for
their stance (…). Once she has identified the reason for their position, and starts
discussing it with them, it becomes clear to her why she might have to change
her position in order to break the deadlock’ (Owari, 2005, p. 91).
295
10 TOPOI interventions
Instead of engaging in truth battles – in case of different views –, try to see your
own truth as a possibility (not as the truth) and explore and recognize the other’s perspective. In this regard, too, the quickest route is often the detour: you
get a chance to present your own perspective sooner when the other’s perspective is heard and recognized first. If you want to expand another person’s perspective with yours, it is of utmost importance that he or she feels recognized in
his or her perspective. He or she should first feel that his or her ordering, view,
intentions, needs, motives and phrasing (articulation) are legitimate.
Science journalist John Bohannon describes how, in the international year of
astronomy, he visits a village in Fouta, Senegal together with the astrophysicist
Katrien Kolenberg, bringing telescopes. The visit, on the occasion of the 400th
birthday of Galileo’s groundbreaking observations such as the mountains on the
moon, the moons of Venus and the phases of Jupiter, is intended to enable local
villagers to see these observations themselves with the help of the telescopes.
The way in which Kolenberg adds this entirely different scientific view to the villagers’ views is a great example of first taking the detour of recognition.
‘When you arrive at a village in the Fouta for the first time, you can’t just break
out the telescopes. Long before the purpose of your visit is even discussed, you
must undergo the greeting ceremony.
It begins with a long exchange of questions – How is your family? How is your
home? Your health? Your level of fatigue? Your animals? – to which the answer is
either “fine” or “peaceful”. The visitor must then shake hands with nearly everyone and, usually, agree to share a communal meal. My clumsy attempts caused
giggles. Luckily, Kolenberg knows the ceremony by heart and speaks enough Pulaar to impress even the most skeptical villagers.
She always started with a conversation about the weather and the seasons. And
that led, inevitably, to the stars. For Westerners like me, the stars are just a backdrop to our overlit nightlife activities. But for the farmers and herders of the Fouta,
the heavens are like the Internet, constantly consulted for crucial information. If
you lose your way in the vast, featureless expanse of the Sahel at night, you can
orient yourself at a glance. The stars also serve as a calendar. For example, they
carefully watch the cluster of stars called Daccuki – known to us as the Pleiades
– which disappear below the horizon in May. Once they reappear, the dry season
will begin in 6 weeks. Preparing for possible droughts is a matter of life and death.
They even get news from the night sky. A falling star is the worst kind of news. “It
announces the death of a very important person”, explained one young man in
Mboumba. With your eyes, you follow the trajectory of the falling star to its intersection with the horizon, he explained. “That points to the home of the person
who will die.”
296
10.3 The hypothesis of the best
The instinct of many scientists would be to correct such astronomical “misunderstandings”. There were many opportunities. For example, people described the
stars as animals owned by a shape-shifting shepherd. Sometimes there are few
stars in the sky because he is a hungry hyena, culling the flock. At other times, he
becomes a hare and allows the sky to replenish. (…)
The most revered holy man in the region, the now-deceased grand marabout
of Doumgo Ouro Alfa, is famous for finding a “lost star” some decades ago. His
grandson told us that it vanished, and thanks to the grand marabout’s knowledge – “from a higher plane than our own” – it returned to the heavens. He
couldn’t tell us when this occurred or the location of the star, which he referred
to in French as a “galaxy”. (If it was after the 1960s, it may have been an orbiting
satellite, surely a strange addition to the night skies.)
But Kolenberg never dismissed or “corrected” these stories. Instead, she listened
intently and took notes. When people asked her about her work, the conversation turned naturally to science. I suspect that this respectful approach is why
people were so open to the radically different world view she was offering’ (Bohannon, 2010).
10.3.2 Recognition
Recognition is of vital importance to people. Flor Peeters says, ‘People assess
their value in relation to the degree to which their view on matters is heard. No
one can live without an answer to the question whether they are valuable’ (1989,
p. 34).
Providing recognition can feel unnatural and counter-intuitive, because it is
often confused with ‘agreeing’. To recognize, however, is to be accepting of others, to show respect. Recognizing is sincerely noticing who other people are,
so that they feel noticed and legitimized, and that this includes their identities,
language, views, emotions and values. In this regard, ‘radical respect’ is considered one of the core aspects of dialogical communication (Hartkemeyer &
Hartkemeyer, 2005, pp. 38-55). ‘Radical’ in this sense refers not merely to tolerating or respecting who people are, but also attempting to see the world from
their perspective (see section 10.2.3 on empathy). When people feel recognized
and heard, it becomes easier for them to open up to other ideas, views and behaviour.
Recognition is hence explicitly not the same as confirming. People frequently
find it very difficult to show recognition to others. They feel that this implies
agreeing, as if they believe the other is right. However, it is possible to recog-
297
10 TOPOI interventions
nize others without agreeing with them, even if you denounce and reject their
behaviour when they cross the line.
An employer was once accused by an employee of being a racist. The employer
told him: ‘I do not want to hear that word from you ever again! But tell me. What
happened that made you feel that way?’
Giving recognition is also an important precondition for creating trust. When
both conversation partners assume the other has good intentions and show recognition for this, one could after all say that there is trust between them. Once
this trust has been established, ‘mistakes’ are easier forgiven since they are not
seen as a rejection of the other; for example, speaking another language is not
assumed to be secretly gossiping about the other.
10.3.3 Avoiding truth battles
It is often challenging to deal with people who hold different opinions and reason in a way that you cannot follow. There are many misunderstandings in daily
life, and in professional collaboration, concerning what is true and what is not,
what is logical and what is illogical. In many situations, people try to convey
their own vision and arguments to others, trying to convince the other that
they are right. Since this happens by all sides simultaneously, the danger is that
everyone only has eyes for their own vision. The consequence is that there is no
space to consider the other person’s view. This leads to misunderstanding in the
sense that people do not feel acknowledged or valued. A difference of opinion
that leads to truth battles can lead to an opposition to someone’s view to the
point that negative emotions take over. Intense emotions hamper the possibility
to reflect on what is happening. The moment that someone feels that his or her
vision has no right to exist can feel destructive.
Once involved in a truth battle, it is difficult to adapt your style of communication. This is only possible after emotions have calmed down a bit and you are
able to hear the other person’s view (again). The point in communication is thus
not to end up in a truth battle. Truth battles can be avoided by, first of all, being aware of the assumptions you have taken for granted and, secondly, seeing
everyone’s view on the matter as a possibility, not as a fact. The realization that
your truth does not have to be another’s truth, helps seeing differences of opinion not as a battle about the truth but rather as differences in vision, knowledge
and context: differences you could perceive separately from unwillingness or
expertise, as Mieke de Preter (1995, p. 79) points out. This realization subsequently creates space to recognize the other. To recognize is to take notice of
someone else’s vision. The other opinion or view is legitimate.
298
10.3 The hypothesis of the best
You can recognize someone by asking supportive questions about their background, where he or she is talking from: what is important to him or her, what
makes him or her see things this way or take this position? Inquiring while
giving recognition gives the other person the feeling that they are of value and
their vision counts. Moreover, it creates space to reflect on the other person’s
vision. One’s own view is often addressed faster when it is set aside to show sincere interest for the other person’s view (‘the quickest way is to take a detour’).
Additionally, it helps to consider that every difference starts from something
mutual. In every difference there is also something mutual concerning goals,
considerations, emotions, values and visions (see also Chapter 9, Intentions).
Two business partners can agree – and make this explicit – about the fact that
both want to achieve the best result and will try to accommodate each other
as well. By merely listening to each other, recognizing each other’s visions and
concerns, this is possible.
In a conflict situation, those involved can agree about the fact that they all
suffer from the conflict. On many occasions, these commonalities are not explicitly mentioned – they can be read between the lines. The intensity with
which the conversations take place, causes the awareness of this commonality
to disappear. This leads to those involved mistaking the differences for personal criticism (the relationship level in communication). People then feel as if
they personally lack recognition and are under attack. When people analyse the
commonalities and make these explicit, they can feel recognized, while at the
same time differences in vision remain and a compromise – or third way – can
be found.
As a practical example, we revisit the case of the medical development cooperation between a French university and a Congolese hospital (see section 6.3).
In this case, the coordinator can find a way out by leaving the truth battle about
the position of men and women, allowing the differences to exist and focusing
on the mutual concerns. She can choose to step out of the conversation about
different opinions on gender roles, leaving a discussion based on oppositions,
and return to the commonality of their cooperation, i.e. to improve the local
hospital’s organization, which will also concern female staff and patients. For
instance, she can ask him, ‘How will female employees and patients be treated?’ This provides the coordinator with specific functional points of discussion
to address, if necesssary, her organization’s precondition of equal treatment of
men and women.
299
10 TOPOI interventions
10.3.4 Reframing and transformative learning
‘The social world is (…) a kaleidoscope of potential realities, any
of which can be readily evoked by altering the ways in which observations are framed (…).’
Murray Edelman (1993, p. 232)
Another way to deal with differences in vision is reframing and, as a consequence, transformative learning (Kaufman, Elliott & Shmueli, 2003). A ‘frame’
is known as an edge, a structure in which an image, e.g. a photo or painting, is
presented. In the context of communication, a frame (as in ‘frame of reference’)
is the way in which reality is perceived. In a conversation, the frame is the participants’ view of the matter at hand.
In communication, ‘to frame’ means providing meaning – comparable to the
aforementioned concept of punctuation (see section 6.1). By placing a particular event, situation or circumstance in a particular frame, you give it meaning.
For example, you see a glass of water, and frame it by giving it the meaning ‘the
glass is half empty’. Or you see a road covered with rocks, and frame it as ‘the
road is full of obstacles’.
To reframe is to place the same event, situation or circumstance in another
frame and hence give it another meaning. You now see the glass of water no
longer as half empty but as half full, and the road full of obstacles now may be a
road with steppingstones. Reframing helps people to look at things differently,
it gives new possibilities to approach things and take action. What reframing
does is make you aware that you are looking at something in a certain way, thus
giving it a certain meaning and responding to it in a certain way. You assume
to know what the meaning is. But if you look at it differently (i.e. reframing),
perhaps you can give it another meaning and respond differently. Another good
example of reframing is the ancient Chinese story in section 6.5.2 about the
farmer, his son and the horse. While the farmer has no judgment about the
different events regarding his horse and his son, his neighbours and friends do
immediately have an opinion. Their view of events is reframed each time by
what happens afterwards.
If you are capable of looking at things in various ways and thinking about them
differently, you increase your spectrum of understanding immensely. This enables you to easier and better understand people who think and act differently
from you (Sandidge & Ward, 2014). This coincides with our view of developing
300
10.3 The hypothesis of the best
intercultural or diversity competence by increasing the complexity of your intercultural experience, as discussed in Chapter 2.
When you want to change or reframe your own and other people’s frame of reference, it is necessary to critically reflect on assumptions and self-evident notions. This process of reframing is also called transformative learning (Mezirow,
2000). Transformative learning requires both objective and subjective reframing. Objective reframing implies a critical reflection upon the other’s assumptions. Subjective reframing implies a critical reflection upon one’s own assumptions and identifies five phases (Brookfield in Fisher-Yoshida, 2005, p. 8):
Phase 1: You have a surprising or unpleasant experience that works as a trigger and gives you an experience of strangeness.
Phase 2: You give a certain meaning to this event and you judge it.
Phase 3: You investigate other ways to give meaning to this event.
Phase 4: You develop alternative views and you come to a new meaning and
a new judgment.
Phase 5: You start to integrate the new view in the existing one.
How deep you go through this process of reflection depends on whether you
follow single-loop or double-loop learning (Argyris & Schön, 1996). In single-loop learning, you reflect on what you have done or thought and justify it to
yourself. Or, if appropriate, you simply adjust your behaviour or judgment without problematizing the underlying principles. This superficial learning process
does not necessarily change your view and reaction to the matter and can even
strengthen it (Fisher-Yoshida, 2005).
In double-loop learning you reflect on a deeper level by investigating the principles, assumptions and values that are at the root of the meaning you assigned.
Here, you reflect critically whether your assumptions are right. You reflect
where they come from and whether they are correct. You deconstruct, so to
speak, your own frame of reference by problematizing the frame through which
meaning is assigned to issues, situations, events and problems. This critical
self-reflection can take place individually or in dialogue with others.
Ideally, such a critical reflection enables you to assess the assumptions on which
you organize your life: are these still valid and do they help you to live, work and
engage with others in a meaningful and constructive way? The more you reflect
on what you are doing and thinking and on how you judge (‘reflection on action’), the deeper your transformative learning is rooted, so that you can already
reflect while in action and can respond adequately in the moment.
301
10 TOPOI interventions
Below is an example of double-loop learning by reflection on action. This concerns an excerpt from the journal of a (Flemish) student in an international
study programme in Belgium.
‘Yesterday in class, during break, Yi (from China) asked Johan (the Belgian professor) if in Belgium you need a licence to have a dog. Johan started to explain to
Yi the things you have to do to have a dog here. Meanwhile, Elisabeth (from Cameroon), Elvis and John (both from Nigeria) started to talk and I listened. “When
I came here I was so surprised people have dogs as pets”, said Elisabeth. “Don’t
you have them as pets in Cameroon?” I asked. The three of them laughed. “No
way! We eat them”, she said. I opened my eyes and shouted, “Do you?” Elisabeth
answered “We have them everywhere in the streets, dogs and cats”, John added,
“Yes, and dogs are so aggressive. Here they obey their owners and go when they
call them. They treat them as persons! That doesn’t happen in Nigeria. You have
to beware of the dogs. Some people keep them as guards. If you go close to one,
you’re dead. They will eat you alive!!” “Really?” I asked, “Have you ever eaten
dog?” Elvis said no and Elisabeth answered, “Yes, and cats. It’s a delicacy.” “Really?” I asked, with my eyes opened even wider. Elvis said, “Yes. I’ve never eaten it,
but my brother eats dogs and cats, they love it!”
At first, the thing that shocked me the most was that they eat cats and dogs, and
that they see it in a normal way. To me, it was something inconceivable. Later,
when I thought about it again and tried to see it from their perspective, keeping
cool and collected, I didn’t find much difference with eating cows or pigs. When I
heard that in Nigeria and Cameroon they don’t keep dogs as pets I was surprised,
but I was even more surprised when I saw my classmates’ surprise at the way we
treat them in Europe.
After our conversation, a question came to my mind. Why do we find eating dolphins or dogs offensive, but consider eating deer or rabbit normal? Who decides
that something is normal and another is a kind of a crime by our morals?
I felt proud that at that moment I didn’t panic or behave as if it was an outrage.
I felt more curious than anything else. That means that I’m learning how to deal
with differences instead of being scared of them. Another thing comes to my
mind now. If I’d been told that in some parts of Africa cats and dogs are eaten, I
would have been shocked and I’m sure that if I tell it to my friends or family who
will react that way. By knowing it through a person who has lived there and who
explained to me their own intercultural shock at our way of living, I am more able
to understand it’ (thanks to Jan van Maele and Katrien Mertens).
Objective reframing is trying to understand where others are ‘coming from’. It
requires the ability to step outside one’s own framework to perceive the situation through another person’s frames. To find the sense in the situation that
302
10.3 The hypothesis of the best
someone else sees, you have to look at it through his or her frame. Once you do
that, you will have some ground for redirecting his or her attention to looking
at it another way or through another frame. Knowing that there are various
possible frames will give you a way to engage with those different models of the
world in a deeper, more accepting way. You can then realize that those who disagree with you are speaking and acting from a different frame, perhaps a different theory of communication, a different view of doing business, of cooperation
and negotiation, or a different theory of management. By using reframing skills,
you can explore the other person’s views in order to find the frame of reference
from which they are thinking and operating. This is called appreciative inquiry.
The method of ‘appreciative inquiry’ (Cooperrider & Whitney, n.d.) is genuinely accepting every person’s ideas, attitudes, and behaviours as positive and
useful (recognition) to open one’s own perceptions to the potential rather than
the limitations of any situation. The ability to reframe practically any issue into
a positive attribute establishes an atmosphere of acceptance and cooperation.
Only then can you reframe the situation and move on to creating a frame that
will allow the deeper intention of all people involved to guide each other’s plans
and actions to a mutually beneficial outcome.
An example: Scholars studying mergers and acquisitions predict the likelihood of
agreement and terms of final deals using factors like competing offers (number,
size, financing details like all shares or all cash) and firms’ financial numbers. But
if you ask investment bankers of the acquiring company what factors are most
important in explaining the details of a deal, they will start talking about one
of the first meetings with the investment bankers of the target firm, when no
clients are present. In this meeting, the bankers attempt to agree on a common
language defining the interaction. An acquisition mutually conceived of and explained as a ‘merger of equals’, for example, results in a different subsequent
negotiation process and outcome than a deal labelled an ‘unfriendly takeover’. In
other words, the bargaining frame is determined through early and endogenous
communication, that is communication evolving in the interaction among players during bargaining. This frame shapes negotiators’ behaviours and the terms
of the final agreement (McGinn & Nöth, 2012, p. 2).
10.3.5 Giving space
Giving recognition also implies giving others recognition and hence space to
present themselves as they want. This means that people, disregarding physical characteristics like skin or hair colour or visible symbols like clothes or
religious symbols, receive space to present themselves as unique individuals.
303
10 TOPOI interventions
This prevents them from feeling boxed into a supposed identity, or restricted
in expressing themselves or in showing traits, identities or competences that
matter to them in that situation. Especially in today’s globalized world, it can
be difficult to predict someone’s interests, views, affinities and identities based
on their nationality, ethnicity and religion. Failing to recognize people’s uniqueness and individuality can then lead to a feeling of disregard or even rejection:
especially when this happens under the influence of dominant stereotype and
images – common senses (e.g. Muslim women cannot be feminists, Latino men
are dominant, white men are prejudiced). Giving space and recognition to the
other’s various (possible) identities hence partly depends on the ability and willingness to recognize and suspend one’s stereotypes.
10.3.6 Focusing on the effects of communication
Building on the ‘hypothesis of the best’ and ‘taking a detour’ enables you to
focus on the effects of communication. Since it is never clear how intentions
come across to others through behaviour, or what effect your communication
will have on another person, it is important to focus on the effects of your communication rather than your intentions. After all, it is the other who decides
the meaning of your communication, just like you decide the meaning of their
communication.
If the other responds differently than expected as a result of someone’s communication, this can easily lead to irritation, as the following example shows:
A civil servant has to screen a refugee’s background story. To this end, he has to
ask him a number of standard questions. The interview is not going very smoothly, as the refugee is not giving any direct answers but talks about things the civil
servant considers irrelevant. Both parties get more and more irritated, until finally the refugee falls on his knees and screams emotionally: ‘Please, Lord, make
this man listen to me!’
The civil servant expects the refugee to tell him his particulars, so that he can
try to make sense out of them. His intentions are completely focused on achieving this result. But as long as the refugee fails to provide the facts he finds relevant, the civil servant feels that he has no influence and that the refugee fails to
see his intentions and efforts. In the eyes of the civil servant, by talking about
his emotions and experiences the refugee is beating around the bush. Consequently, the civil servant gets irritated. He does not feel recognized in his intentions, because the only sign of recognition for him is the expected result in
the form of facts.
304
10.3 The hypothesis of the best
Rather than getting irritated, perhaps he could learn to distinguish between his
expected result and his intentions, and to focus on the effects of his communication rather than his intentions. This means that he observes closely how the
other responds to his behaviour. What does the other communicate verbally
and non-verbally as a result of his communication? The experience, the feeling
that he triggers in the other person – the effect – is then the starting point for
further behaviour. By connecting to and stepping into the other person’s story
(i.e. recognition), eventually he can achieve the same result. This gives the civil
servant back his sense of influence; he has established a connection and contact
with the refugee, which can give him a sense of recognition.
This is not intended as a means of manipulating the other person. The goal, the
desired result of the conversation, remains the same. By letting go of the desired result, however, and focusing on the effects of one’s own behaviour, other
interventions become possible. For example, one could follow the other’s way
of communication by inquiring about the reason behind the emotions. ‘What
happened that made you feel this way?’ By sincerely paying attention and making a connection, the civil servant actually gives recognition to the refugee. His
story, experiences and emotions are treated as legitimate. Communicatively,
however, the civil servant should be clear about his goals. The intention is not
to let go of the goal of the conversation, but of the manner in which this goal
is achieved. The civil servant should hence keep steering the conversation and
staying in control.
Focusing on the effects of your communication does not mean always going
along with the other person and his or her communication. In the example of
the civil servant and the refugee, the former can explain (again) to the latter the
intention behind his questions, so that the refugee can realize that he is not giving the answers that are needed. In this way, the civil servant can get back his
influence on the conversation and hence regain a sense of recognition.
A focus on the effects of communication connects well with what we previously
mentioned about accepting ‘mistakes’ in the communication. When someone
gives a response that differs from what you expected, you can take this as a
starting point for your next communication. In the example in section 5.4.6 in
which a compliment about the wine using the ‘OK-sign’ is met with a surprised
response (perhaps because it is interpreted as an obscene sign), one could focus
on this response communicatively by saying, ‘Sorry, I see that you’re surprised.
What did I do?’
305
10 TOPOI interventions
10.4
Asking for and giving clarification
When the meaning of verbal and non-verbal language remains unclear (TOPOI
area Tongue), when someone’s view or logic is not clear (TOPOI area Order),
when something disturbs the relationship level (TOPOI area Persons), when
there are organizational ambiguities (TOPOI area Organization) or it is unclear
what someone’s intentions are (TOPOI area Intentions), you can – aside from
‘reading the air’ – provide or ask for clarification. Asking or giving clarification
can be done in several ways. We discuss four options.
10.4.1 Making explicit and checking
In case of doubt about meanings or intentions, you can make your own intentions explicit and/or check what exactly the other means. For example, about
the connotative meaning of ‘deadline’: ‘By deadline, I mean that delivery should
take place on date X and not later. What does it mean to you? Can we agree now
on what the latest possible date of delivery is?’
A problem that is often mentioned in workshops and training sessions is that
people say ‘yes’ but it turns out they meant ‘no’; in that case, either they did not
really understand something, or did not agree or did not intend to do something. A question like ‘Did you understand?’ or ‘Will you do this?’ will then not
work. Aside from the aforementioned awareness that ‘yes’ can mean different
things – ‘Yes, I’m listening’, ‘Yes, I will try’, ‘Yes, because I do not want to admit I
don’t understand / you did not explain that well’ – you can also try to ask open
questions as to what someone has understood and what they are planning to
do. For example, by saying, ‘I have explained a lot now. Could you summarize
what I’ve told you / what for you is the most important thing / what you are going to do now?’ Obviously, this should be said in an equal, not patronizing tone.
Moreover, people’s body language often gives clues whether a ‘yes’ is sincere in
the sense that it means: ‘Yes, I understand’, ‘Yes, I will do it’, ‘Yes, I agree’ etc.
When in doubt about the meaning of a ‘yes’, you can mention what you see
non-verbally in the other person to find out what they are saying, for example
by asking, ‘You say yes (or no), but I get the feeling from your expression that
you are still unsure if you agree / are going to do it / have understood completely. Could you tell me?’ Another option would be to avoid the closed question
‘Do you agree?’ and immediately resort to asking open questions: what has the
other person understood, what are they going to do, or what do they want you
to repeat or elaborate on?
306
10.4 Asking for and giving clarification
10.4.2 Asking for and giving feedback
Feedback is commenting on what you have noticed in the other’s behaviour
and what effect this has on you or others. Feedback demands carefulness, since
the way in which feedback is given and received, and whether or not this is
suitable, differs both for individuals and groups. When giving feedback, all the
aforementioned aspects are essential. For example, the awareness of one’s own
self-evident notions and being open to differences. The perception and interpretation of someone’s feedback should always be factual (perceived behaviour), respectful and constructive: without blaming or judging the other person.
Giving feedback on someone’s communication can be done as follows: 1) Mention the behaviour explicitly (for example, ‘I see you looking away when I’m
explaining something to you’); 2) Give your impression or interpretation (for
example, ‘This gives me the impression that you are not listening to me’); 3)
Check whether your impression or interpretation is correct and, if possible, ask
what the meaning of the behaviour is.
Another way of giving feedback is: 1) Mention the other person’s behaviour; 2)
Say what this does to you or – when you are acting as an intermediate – indicate
what it does to the third person; 3) Check whether the meaning you or the third
person assigned to the other person’s behaviour is correct and whether the person can understand and recognize this effect; 4) If possible, indicate where you
– or the third person – would like the other person’s behaviour to change.
Rochelle Kopp (19 April 2012) provides a practical example. She mentions the
case of two (American) employees working for companies in Japan who have
had some bad experiences receiving negative feedback in front of others:
Employee 1: ‘We have this one Japanese manager who has made a habit of
chewing people out during meetings. Every time we’re about to have a meeting,
we all look at each other and ask, “Who’s it going to be this time?”’
Employee 2: ‘Soon after I joined the company, I was given a project to complete.
I worked on it very hard, including a lot of overtime and work at home on the
weekend. Then, when I presented it to the executive committee, the president
proceeded to rip the proposal apart – not to mention my pride. I wondered if I
had made a mistake in joining this company.’
One of the recommendations Kopp gives these employees is: ‘Let your supervisor know that it makes you uncomfortable. Simply tell your supervisor, “It makes
307
10 TOPOI interventions
me very uncomfortable and embarrassed when you criticize my work in front of
others. I want to do my best and improve, but I would appreciate it if you could
let me know your suggestions when we are talking together alone.”’
Another example is that of the administrative staff member at a university (in
section 5.4.4) who said that some international students would tap on the desk
to attract her attention. Instead of making the students wait longer, she could
give adequate feedback by saying, ‘If you tap the table like that to call me, I get
the feeling that I’m your servant / that you are commanding me. I would prefer
if you call my name / call me ‘madam’ / just wait until I notice you.’
At the same time, it is good to realize that certain habits are difficult to change
because they are deeply internalized and embodied. For example, the request
to look you in the eye when talking to you can be difficult for someone at first.
Another option would be to just allow and accept this difference in giving attention, knowing that there are more signals for you to consider to check whether
or not someone is listening.
Feedback does not always have to take verbal or explicit forms. Indirect and
implicit feedback can be more appropriate sometimes, for example by using
metaphors.
A man from Kenia explains how he would give feedback to a colleague who had
been rude to a third person: ‘I would say, “My grandfather always told me that if
a rhino attacks you, he bows his head to turn his horn forward. When he rushes
towards you, his eyes are facing the ground, and he cannot see you. To dodge it,
all you need to do is take a little step to the side.” I would tell this story to show
my colleague you don’t need to use big words to make your point. A subtle message can be enough.’
For people who are used to giving feedback in a direct, explicit way, it is important to be attentive to more indirect forms of feedback and to give space to this.
In the following example, an indirect feedback style is immediately rejected by
a fellow student:
In an international group of students, one (Turkish) student asks the teacher:
‘Could you please speak a bit slower, some of us find it difficult to follow?’ In response, another (Dutch) student immediately says, ‘Speak for yourself!’
Asking for feedback is also a good way to repair possible disruptions in the
communication. For example, ‘What did I do to make you respond this way?’
308
10.4 Asking for and giving clarification
10.4.3 Metacommunication
By metacommunication we refer to a communication strategy in which you
communicate or talk about the communication itself. (‘Meta’ comes from the
Greek preposition and prefix meta- [μετά-] meaning ‘after’ or ‘beyond’.) Especially when communication is proving difficult, it can be necessary to clarify
how the conversation is going. One or both conversation partners can remark
that in their experience the communication is not running very smoothly or
that they notice this is the case for the other. Subsequently, they can try to clarify what is going wrong in the communication and what is necessary to improve
it. Informing others about one’s own communication style is also a form of
metacommunication.
A (Dutch) woman is sent to a Latin American country to work at the Dutch embassy. In the preparatory training, the differences in communication styles are discussed. The participant has a very direct communication style as opposed to the
more indirect style common in the country of destination. This means that she
could come across as blunt and impolite. During training, the instructor asks her
do an exercise to adapt her communication style, but the participant just cannot
manage to communicate more indirectly: to her, it feels inauthentic and forced.
After discussing the issue, they decide the best solution for her is to explain upon
arrival to her new colleagues how she communicates: that this is not intended as
personal and they should let her know if she has offended anyone. In this case,
she should also be mindful of whether or not she may have offended anyone and
try to repair any damage after its done.
All three forms of clarification mentioned above – metacommunication, feedback and clarifying – must be used carefully and without any appearance of
superiority or arrogance on either side, and should not lead to embarrassment
for either party (Mader & Camerer, 2010, p. 18).
Although many claim the opposite, these three explicit interventions can
be equally effective towards people or situations that are characterized by a
high-context, implicit, indirect communication style (Meyer, 2014, p. 51). Consider the following example:
Rochelle Kopp (2013) recounts from their experiences in the Japanese business
world that business partners often describe their style of communication as ‘ichi
ieba ju wakaru’, which can be translated as, ‘hear 1, understand 10’. The idea is
that when the speaker expresses 10% of what he is trying to say, the listener will
be able to understand the other 90% from non-verbal signals and shared con-
309
10 TOPOI interventions
text. This communication style can be difficult for many people and hence Rochelle recommends responding to speakers with a 10% communication style by
gently insisting on more explanation and information. This can be done with follow-up questions such as, ‘Please give me some more information about this’, ‘I
would like to know more background about this’, ‘Just to make sure I understood
you completely, you would like me to …?’, ‘Is there anything else I should know
about …?’, ‘Do you have any advice for me about this?’, ‘Please help me understand why this is important’, and ‘Please explain more about the situation’.
Explicitly asking people about their intentions and meanings is not always successful or necessary. However, if it is important, you could at least try. Also, it is
often helpful to explain why you need more clarity.
A (Dutch) general physician (family doctor) has a consultation with a new (Chinese) patient. She asks him several introductory questions to which the patient
gives very short and unclear answers. The doctor then says, ‘I am asking you
these questions because I want to know more about your situation and background, as this can be important for me to know in case you become ill. Sometimes, it is also difficult for people from different countries to understand each
other. Can you help me and give a bit more explanation as to what you mean?’
From then on, the patient starts to answer the doctor’s questions more extensively and openly.
10.4.4 Observing, informing and adapting
It can be helpful, especially when it comes to non-verbal forms of politeness/
courtesy, to observe what others do. This can be done by leaving the initiative
to others and waiting in the background to see how things develop and what
is expected of you. For example, how people toast during a reception dinner;
how greetings are expressed: in what order and in what way; what is the table
setting, who sits down first and where; how do people behave during dinner;
how are business cards offered and received? For example, for many people it is
customary to offer a business card respectfully with two hands, and in the same
way receive someone else’s, followed by a close inspection of the card before
putting it away.
Sometimes, it can be helpful to mention what you yourself are used to. For example, before unwrapping a gift, you could say, ‘I’m used to unwrapping gifts
immediately when I receive them. Is that OK for you?’ Obviously, you can also
310
10.5 Language positions and speaking one’s own language
inform yourself about local customs, as long as you keep in mind that these may
differ per region, per (sub)group and per individual.
When the differences are manageable for you, you could perhaps adapt to the
habits of others and go along with their behaviour, e.g. other styles of communication, meetings or decision-making, language use and pace, in addition to
non-verbal behaviour: ways of greeting and forms of politeness, as mentioned
above.
10.5
Language positions and speaking one’s own language
In international encounters it is often helpful to reflect on possible differences
in level of proficiency of the common language. If necessary, one can make differences in language proficiency that restrict the communication explicit and
make adjustments: take more time, be more patient and attentive whether everyone participates and understands what is said.
With reference to speaking one’s own language, everyone should have the right
to speak in one’s own language with others. At the same time, this can make
others feel excluded, which should be prevented. International organizations
such as companies, joint ventures, schools, universities and project cooperations can make clear agreements about which language serves as the common
language and how to deal with other languages. In general, it can be agreed
that in formal situations – e.g. during work, classes or meetings – the common language (often English) is used. If necessary, people can use another language to explain something to a fellow speaker of that language. In informal
situations – e.g. during breaks – people can have the opportunity to speak their
‘own’ language. In these situations, people with the same language background
ought to be aware of the effect this can have on others, who may feel excluded
when they do not understand. In the company of people with another language
background, people can agree on a common language, or they can translate for
those who do not speak that language.
If necessary, people can explain to others when and why they resort to another language when speaking to someone. They can explain what they’re talking about to others who may be bothered by the fact that they cannot follow.
Outsiders, in turn, can point out when they feel excluded because they cannot
understand what is being talked about. This in itself can lead to a conversation
about how to deal with allowing people to speak different languages without
excluding others in the process.
311
10 TOPOI interventions
10.6
Attention for social contexts: common senses
In communication, it is helpful to be aware of the permanent influence of each
person’s common senses – the collective world views (what is normal, good/
bad, healthy/unhealthy), the collective experiences (historical and current) and
the collective images (self-perceptions, prejudices, stereotypes) that have been
developed in everyone’s social environments. These can unintentionally and
unconsciously have a negative influence on the conversation, for example by
misinterpreting what people say or do, or by activating prejudice and stereotypes. The following example demonstrates how, through self-reflection, you
can adjust your behaviour and communication and have a conversation about
what happened and how the common sense – in this case, historical collective
experiences – influenced the interpersonal communication.
An ambitious woman of Afro-Surinamese descent was eager to move up the career ladder quickly in her company. At some point, she wound up in an intense
conflict with her human resource manager. The (native Dutch) manager wanted
to slow down her ambition a bit and said, ‘You cannot just come from downstairs
all the way up’, after which the woman got very upset. When they discussed this
later, the woman realized that the HR manager’s words struck a nerve because
of the sudden historical, collective memory of the enslaved Africans who, during
their shipment to Surinam, had to stay below deck on the ship and were rarely
allowed to come up.
312
10.7 Reflections and interventions of the TOPOI model in a scheme
10.7
Reflections and interventions of the TOPOI model in a scheme
We close this chapter with a schematic summary and overview of the core reflections and main intervention opportunities of the five TOPOI areas.
The TOPOI model
Reflection
Tongue: verbal and non-verbal language.
What is my share? What do I say, how do I
say it, and what do I express non-verbally? What is my interpretation of what the
other says, and what he or she expresses
non-verbally?
What is the other person’s share? What
does the other say, and express non-verbally? What is his or her interpretation of
what I say, and what I express non-verbally?
What is the influence of the social contexts
(common senses) on what each person
says and expresses, verbally and non-verbally, and on the interpretation of each
other’s verbal and non-verbal language?
Order: views and logic.
What is my share? What are my views and
logic concerning the issues at hand?
What is the other person’s share? What are
the other person’s views and logic con­
cerning the issues at hand?
What is the influence of the social contexts
(common senses) on each person’s views
and logic and on the meanings they attribute to each other’s views and logic?
Intervention
Tongue: verbal and non-verbal language.
■■ ‘Reading the air’: sensing what the other is trying to
convey (between the lines).
■■ Taking each person’s language command and position into account.
■■ Observing body language with all senses.
■■ Checking and explaining the meanings of each person’s verbal and non-verbal messages.
■■ Allowing acceptable differences.
■■ Giving and inviting feedback.
■■ Clarifying the influence of the social contexts (com-
mon senses) on what each person expresses, verbally and non-verbally, and on the interpretation of
each other’s verbal and non-verbal language.
Order: views and logic.
■■ ‘Reading the air’: sensing how the other person
views the issues and what her or his logic is.
■■ Checking and recognizing the views and logic of the
other person.
■■ Clarifying one’s own views, logic and assumptions.
■■ Clarifying differences and/or letting them be, emphasizing commonalities.
■■ Reframing: creating a new (mutual) view or logic.
■■ Clarifying the influence of the social contexts
(common senses) on each person’s views and logic
and on the meanings they attribute to each other’s
views and logic.
313
10 TOPOI interventions
Persons: identity and relationship.
What is my share? In which role and with
what image do I approach the other? How
do I see and experience the mutual relationship?
What is the other person’s share? In which
role and with what image does the other
approach me? How does the other person
see and experience the mutual relationship?
What is the influence of the social contexts
(common senses) on how each person presents her or himself and on how they view
each other and their mutual relationship?
Organization: the organizational and societal context.
What is my share? What are the organizational factors from my side and the power
relations that impact the communication?
What is the other person’s share? What are
the organizational factors and power relations from his or her side that impact the
communication?
What is the influence of the organizational
and societal context on the communication?
Intentions: motives, emotions, values,
needs and desires (appeal).
What is my share? What motivates me? Do
I see and recognize what motivates the
other person?
What is the other person’s share? What motivates the other person? Does the other
person see and recognize what motivates
me?
What is the influence of the social contexts
(common senses) on each person’s motivation and recognition of the other’s motivation and appeal?
Figure 4.3
The TOPOI model
314
Persons: identity and relationship.
■■ ‘Reading the air’: sensing what roles, expectations
and nature of the relationship are at play.
■■ Clarifying and recognizing the roles and expecta■■
■■
■■
■■
tions of the other.
Clarifying one’s own role and expectations.
Exploring the images each person has of the other.
Clarifying the mutual relationship.
Clarifying the influence of the social contexts (common senses) on how each person presents her or
himself and on how they view each other and their
mutual relationship.
Organization: the organizational and societal context.
■■ ‘Reading the air’: sensing how things are organized
and what the societal context is.
■■ Clarifying the functional framework of the interaction.
■■ Realizing and raising the issue of power relations
and mechanisms of exclusion.
■■ Rearranging one’s own ‘organization’: inclusive diversity management.
■■ Utilizing difference as an added value for reaching
organizational goals.
■■ Checking and recognizing the organizational factors
from the other side.
■■ Clarifying the influence of the organizational and
societal context on the communication.
Intentions: motives, emotions, values, needs and desires (appeal).
■■ ‘Reading the air’: observing with all senses what
motivates the other person and what appeal he or
she is making.
■■ Clarifying what motivates the other person.
■■ Observing the other person’s emotional responses,
recognizing and validating them.
■■ Making one’s own motivations, desires and needs
explicit.
■■ Awareness of the distinction between intentions
and effects.
■■ Focusing on the effects of the communication.
■■ Clarifying the influence of the social contexts
(common senses) on each person’s motivation and
ability to see and recognize the other’s motivation
and appeal.
10.8 Study assignments
10.8
Study assignments
Complete these assignments together with one or more colleagues or fellow
students. Compare your answers with those of your colleagues or fellow students:
■■ What was the same?
■■ What was different?
■■ What do you notice?
1 Revisit sections 10.3.3, Avoiding truth battles, and 10.3.4, Reframing and
transformative learning. In the coming period, keep an eye out for truth
battles in discussions or meetings among friends, in class, on the internet,
on television etc.
Choose two examples, elaborate on them and describe how a truth battle in
each example could have been prevented.
2 Group assignment: In the previous five chapters, you were introduced to
the different TOPOI areas and the potential differences and misunderstandings that could occur concerning verbal and non-verbal language, views and
logic, relations between people, the way things are organized and people’s
non-visible drives: their motives, emotions, needs and values. In this chapter, several possibilities have been presented as to how to respond to differences and misunderstandings.
The assignment is to form groups and then come up with two scenarios:
a First, an intercultural scenario of interaction between people of different
ethnic, national or religious backgrounds. In this interaction, the people
involved experience strangeness because they are confronted with differences in behaviour and views that are completely strange to them and
possibly oppose their own views. You may find inspiration and ideas in
the relevant chapters on the TOPOI areas. You can use a case or example
from the book as a basis for the scenario (consider especially Chapter 11,
Applications of the TOPOI model), and then elaborate on it. Alternatively, you could use something from your own experience – an experience
of strangeness that you yourself have had. This scenario is in the form of
a role play and is then turned into a video.
b Second, a scenario which uses the experience of strangeness from the
first scenario as a point of departure, but now the people involved use
their diversity competence. Every person normalizes the differences by
creating familiarity with differences that can manifest themselves, so
that there is a basis for connection and further communication between
315
10 TOPOI interventions
participants. This normalization takes place by applying one or more of
the interventions described in this chapter. In this scenario as well, you
will perform a role play and make a video registration.
Present the two videos to your class. During the presentation, you can first
show the first video and ask the class to analyse the situation using TOPOI:
where in the different TOPOI areas do problems arise? The class can then
be asked which interventions are possible in order to normalize the experience of strangeness. Afterwards, you can show the second video and discuss
it further.
316
11
Applications of the TOPOI model
11.1
11.2
Introduction
‘Cultural boundaries impacting the effectiveness of my global team’
Unexpected requests
Introduction
In this chapter, we illustrate two practical applications of the TOPOI model.
Other applications of the model to a variety of situations can be found on the
website. Each case is the focus of reflection and analysis, followed by possible
interventions. The reflection and analysis of a practical situation are not always
in the chronological order of the TOPOI areas. Sometimes, for example, the
Persons area will be discussed first, because misunderstandings in that area
stand out the most. Furthermore, not all five TOPOI areas are necessarily relevant. Often, differences o ccur in one area only, and an intervention there is
enough to open up the communication.
After all, in practice the five TOPOI areas cannot be completely distinguished
from each other. They are inextricably linked and mutually affect one another.
For example, a different c onnotation o f t he c oncept ‘deadline’ i n t he Tongue
area can lead to a misunderstanding of the view ‘to submit in time’, which can
in turn have a negative effect on the mutual cooperation in the Persons area.
Consequently, an intervention merely in the Tongue area (for example, a clarification of the concept ‘deadline’) can have a positive effect on the other areas. As
mentioned above, the distinction between the different TOPOI areas is made
to provide theoretical and practical insight into communication and to find as
many tools as possible to repair the communication.
TOPOI model applications are always based on subjective hypotheses. These
hypotheses are explanations for what may be going on in each case; we do not
claim to always know exactly what is happening. Thus, unlike a culturalistic
approach, we do not directly and exclusively turn to national or ethnic cul-
317
11 Applications of the TOPOI model
ture or religion as the only and all-encompassing explanation. Aside from our
hypotheses, several other explanations can be imagined. When experiencing
strangeness in an encounter with others of different national, ethnic or religious backgrounds, people often have a need for straightforward and unambiguous explanations and answers. Only those directly involved, however, can
state what the true reason for their behaviour is or what mattered to them in
that situation. Many suggestions for intervention are hence aimed at retrieving
the backgrounds and causes of behaviour from the people in question.
In each case, the starting point for reflection on and analysis of the practical
situations is a system-theoretical approach, keeping in mind the layeredness of
communication (the TOPOI model) and the unique individuals, their multiple
identities and their own subjective meanings in unique situations.
As mentioned before, considering the circular character of communication, the
following three core reflections are the starting point for the application of the
TOPOI framework for reflection and analysis:
1 What is my share? What do I do? What do I say that makes the other person
act in this way?
2 What is the other person’s share that makes me act in this way?
3 What is the influence of the social contexts (common senses) making the other person and myself act in this way?
When acting as a third party from a mediating or supporting position – for instance as a formal mediator, a manager or colleague – in a particular situation,
the basic questions are:
1 What is each person’s share?
2 What is the influence of social contexts (common senses) on the communication?
The practical examples that follow have been mentioned as case situations by
professionals in training sessions and workshops on ‘intercultural communication’ or ‘intercultural competence’, or were retrieved from literature and online
sources. The original descriptions have been maintained as much as possible,
except for having been anonymised and possible clues for identification having
been removed.
The core of each of the practical situations is that those who brought it up experienced the misunderstanding or conflict as intercultural and hence define it as
such. The persons involved have come forward with the cases as a preparatory
assignment for workshops and training sessions around intercultural commu-
318
11.1 ‘Cultural boundaries impacting the effectiveness of my global team’
nication. As a result, the national or ethnic backgrounds of participants are
mentioned in the case descriptions.
Considering that at the core of each case description is the experience of
strangeness and not the professional context as such, the reader should be able
to translate the cases to their own professional context. In one of the online case
discussions the TOPOI model is projected on four cases at the same time, because they strongly correspond with each other. The cases can also serve as reflection assignments to practice the application of the TOPOI model. We start
off with a case to illustrate the difference between a culturalistic approach and a
system-theoretical approach using the TOPOI model in practice.
11.1
‘Cultural boundaries impacting the effectiveness of my global
team’
(Meyer, 22 September 2014)
‘Hi Erin,
After attending your presentation at our annual conference last week, I’ve been thinking
about the invisible cultural boundaries impacting the effectiveness of my global team.
When I moved to China, I thought the difficulty would be in bridging the cultural differences
between Asians and Europeans. And it is true that the Asian members of my team are uncomfortable with the way our French and German members publicly disagree with them
and give them negative feedback. I’ve coached the team members on how to moderate
their approaches and reactions to work more effectively together. But to my surprise, the
most serious difficulties we have on the team are between the Chinese and the Japanese.
The Chinese gripe that the Japanese are slow to make decisions, inflexible, and unwilling
to change. The Japanese complain that the Chinese don’t think things through, make rash
decisions, and seem to thrive in chaos. Not only do these two Asian groups have difficulty
working together, but also the Japanese in many ways behave more like the Germans than
like the Chinese – something I never anticipated.
I’d appreciate any thoughts and suggestions you may have.
Olivier’
Reply by Erin Meyer:
‘Dear Olivier,
Start addressing your problem by creating a simple culture map using the eight scales. Plot
out each culture on the eight dimensions and draw a line connecting all eight points. This
line represents the overall pattern of that culture on the map. I’ve done that for you with the
four cultures from your team.
319
11 Applications of the TOPOI model
Low-context
Direct
negative feedback
GERMANY
Communicating
FRANCE
Evaluating
CHINA
JAPAN
High-context
Indirect
negative feedback
Egalitarian
Leading
Hierarchical
Consensual
Deciding
Top-down
Task-based
Trusting
Relationshipbased
Confrontational
Disagreeing
Avoids
confrontation
Linear time
Scheduling
Flexible time
Specific
Persuading
Holistic
Figure 11.1
A categorization of national cultures on the basis of eight management styles
Now check the lines for Japan and China. On several scales, they are close together. As
you’ve experienced, both the Chinese and Japanese cultures are less comfortable with direct negative feedback and open disagreement than Europeans. Reflecting that fact, on
scales 2 (Evaluating) and 6 (Disagreeing), the Europeans are on one side and the Asian cultures on the other. But in most cases, the Japanese perceive the Chinese as very direct –
note the difference between these cultures on scale 2 (Evaluating). The French see the Germans in the same way. Next, take a closer look at scales 4 (Deciding) and 7 (Scheduling), and
you’ll see the likely source of the frustration on your team. Although in Japan, like China,
there is a strong deference to authority (scale 3, Leading), Japan is a consensual society
where decisions are often made by the group in a bottom-up manner. That means decisions
take longer, as input from everyone is gathered and a collective decision is formed. By contrast, in China decisions are most often made by the boss in a top-down fashion (scale 4,
Deciding). Once the decision is made, there is a great rush towards the finish line.
Furthermore, the Japanese have a linear-time culture (scale 7, Scheduling). They build
plans carefully and stick to the plan. Being organized, structured, and on time are all values
that the Japanese share with their linear-time German colleagues. Indeed, on both scales 4
(Deciding) and 7 (Scheduling), the Japanese are rather close to the German culture, far from
France and quite far from China. In comparison, the Chinese (especially younger Chinese
in big cities working for public companies such as yours) tend to make decisions quickly
and to change plans often and easily, valuing flexibility and adaptability over sticking to the
320
11.1 ‘Cultural boundaries impacting the effectiveness of my global team’
plan. On these two scales (Deciding and Scheduling), the Chinese are closer to
the French than to the Japanese.
Given these differences, it’s understandable that your Japanese and Chinese
team members are having difficulty working together. Can the problem be
solved? Absolutely. The next step in improving these dynamics is to increase the
awareness of your team members about how culture impacts their effectiveness.
All the best, Erin’
Reflection and analysis
Erin Meyer has developed a model to categorize national cultures on the basis
of eight management styles (see Figure 11.1). In this case, Meyer explains the
problems in Olivier’s global team on the basis of the members’ national cultures and their scores on the different management styles in her model. Erin’s
suggested intervention is to make the team members aware of their (national) cultural backgrounds and how these influence the effectiveness of the team
cooperation. From a system-theoretical approach, nationalities are not part of
Olivier’s team, but individuals are.
An analysis based on the TOPOI model shows that the differences in each
person’s work style, communication and cooperation are manifested in all five
TOPOI areas: Tongue, Order, Persons, Organization and Intentions.
Concerning Tongue, there are differences between individuals when it comes
to communication styles (direct/indirect, explicit/implicit). In the Order area,
team members differ in their views of what a good working style is and what
cooperation entails. In the Persons area, team members have negative images
of each other as a result of differences concerning Tongue and Order, which has
led to a negative work relationship (see also ‘in-group/out-group mechanisms’
in section 2.2.3). The Persons area shows that in mutual interaction the team
members primarily emphasize their nationalities. Unfortunately, the team leader approaches his team members in a similar fashion and speaks not of individuals but of ‘the Chinese’, ‘the Japanese’, ‘French team members’ and ‘the German
team members’. Moreover, the influence of other sources of differences besides
nationality – e.g. age, professional background, language proficiency and position – is disregarded.
In her reply, Erin further strengthens this national-culturalistic approach by
dividing up the team by nationality and characterizing the problems as national-cultural blocks that confront each other (‘we’ versus ‘them’; Japanese versus
Chinese, Europeans versus Asians). Partly as a result of the fact that parts of
the team approach each other as Chinese or Japanese – in the Persons area
321
11 Applications of the TOPOI model
regarding prejudice and images – the common senses concerning (historical)
relations between China and Japan could influence the mutual interpersonal
relations.
In the Organization area, it seems that after the first coaching interventions
there is a lack of consistent management of the differences in working, communication and cooperation styles. Concerning Intentions, all team members
contribute to the team goals in their own ways, but due to the above-mentioned
differences they are unable to recognize their intentions. They even reject and
dismiss each other’s intentions: they condemn each other, believing the others
are ill-intentioned.
Possible interventions
The most important intervention is to manage the differences in the team and
to emphasize the commonalities. This implies that the team leader consciously
works from the perspective that everyone is part of the team, not as a nationality but as a team member: unique, competent people with names (not: ‘the Chinese’) cooperating and working towards a common goal. The team members
hence interact on this basis and avoid any us/them thinking in national boxes.
Subsequently, in team meetings, each person’s working style and perspective on
cooperation can be clarified on a personal level and in an appreciative way (thus
without filling in the roles in advance based on national cultures). This clarification takes place without judgment and on a personal level, without referring
to national backgrounds or cultures, and without arguments like ‘We Japanese
…’, ‘For us in China …’, ‘You Germans …’ or ‘The French approach is …’. In that
regard it would be interesting to apply the eight dimensions of Erin Meyer’s The
culture map (2014) to clarify and discuss each team member’s personal preference. Perhaps this would reveal surprising differences and similarities beyond
nationality.
Next, consensus can be reached and agreements made with regard to working
styles, cooperation and communication. Within the framework of team goals,
there can be space and recognition for individual differences (each person’s intentions and working styles are valuable), while at the same time commonalities (‘we’ the team) and common goals are emphasized. The team manager can
further strengthen the common team identity and culture by introducing certain (work) habits, organizing opportunities to get to know each other better
(regular common meals or drinks; presentations of each other’s activities and
tasks; team-building activities), or developing a motto, slogan or other symbols
for the team.
322
11.2 Unexpected requests
11.2
Unexpected requests
(Thanks to Jan van Maele)
A Belgian and a Chinese tobacco company want to set up a joint venture in China
to produce cigars and sell them in China and elsewhere. This is impossible without the permission of one of the general administrations of the central Chinese
government. As the two companies are getting closer to an agreement, at some
point the Belgian partner is expected to invite a Chinese delegation to Belgium
made up of both officials of the administration and representatives of the partner company. The Belgian partner is aware of the importance of the visit and is
prepared to go to great lengths to please the delegation. They expect to sign a
contract by the end of the four-day visit. Soon after the delegation has arrived,
the Chinese express their wish to revise the schedule and organize additional excursions to Paris, Trier and Luxembourg. They also ask the interpreter to arrange
for pocket money on top of the agreed coverage of expenses such as accommodation and meals.
Reflection and analysis
The employees of the Belgian company seem taken by surprise by the sudden
and unexpected requests from the Chinese delegation (experience of strangeness). On the level of Organization, this is probably enhanced by unclarity as
to the exact nature of the cooperation between the Chinese partner and the
government administration office, why government members have come along,
and on whose initiative the additional demands are made. All this adds up to
the question of how to read and judge the requests (Order and Intentions): does
the Chinese delegation expect the Belgian company to both organize and pay
for the excursion? What are the delegation’s underlying motives? Do they want
to put pressure on the Belgian company to accept their demands because the
government official might otherwise not give permission for the joint venture?
Or are they asking for something extra in the context of the relationship that
has been developed with the Belgian company (area Persons) and do they see
their requests as a favour between friends – one you would naturally ask to
maintain business relations and close the deal?
Another important reflection in the Persons area is whether the Belgian company takes a culturalistic point of view and thinks the requests are characteristic for ‘the Chinese’. This could lead to certain common senses – activating and
confirming stereotypes of the Chinese – where it is tempting to immediately
assume corruption and bribery. From such a culturalistic point of view, it is
a small step for the Belgian company – if it really is a case of corruption and
323
11 Applications of the TOPOI model
bribery – to a moral relativistic position of corruption as ‘simply part of certain
cultures’, in this case the Chinese, which should therefore be tolerated and accepted. However, there are good universal ethical arguments to reject potential
corruption and there is no reason to respond differently because this concerns
the Chinese or any other culture. Finally, some caution is appropriate, in the
sense that language or communication barriers (Tongue) could have played a
role in creating misunderstandings about the programme and the allowances.
Possibilities for intervention
First of all, before looking at the situation from a communicative perspective, it
is important to deculturalize the situation and not consider the request as ‘typically Chinese’. Additionally, the Belgian company could assume the hypothesis
of the best and approach the delegation’s requests as part of close business relations, an opportunity perhaps to see some of Europe. At the same time, they
should take an ethical position in determining how much investment in the
entertainment of delegations is justifiable and morally acceptable. This can be
difficult to determine: if the company has a code of conduct for business ethics,
stating maximum allowances and such, the Belgian representatives can use this
as a point of reference. If there is no policy, it may be wise to set up one in the
near future. Of course, they can try to be flexible about the programme and allow time for travelling between activities or afterwards, provide assistance and
advice on the travel itinerary and various possibilities (without assuming to pay
for this). If the delegation’s requests exceed the allowances provided for by the
code of business ethics and the delegation sticks to their demands, this should
make the Belgian company wonder if cooperation with this partner organization is really desirable and sustainable in the long run.
In terms of communication, considering the unclarity and possibly delicacy of
the relation between the Chinese partner and the government office, it seems
wise to approach the situation with diplomacy (high-context situation). This
means that a firm position does not necessarily require firm words. Without
references to ‘corruption’, the Belgians can refer to company or national policies
concerning expense allowances and travel they are bound by (which should not
be unfamiliar to the Chinese representatives considering the frequent discussions about such topics in China), and apologize for any misunderstanding or
unclarity on their side about the programme. Instead of taking the requests of
the delegation as a reason for conflict or division, they can – after explaining
the restrictions – make it a common challenge to decide on a new programme
in which both parties can further develop their business plans and relationship.
They can again emphasize how important and valuable this visit is to them,
making sure to approach their visitors with attention, involvement and hospi-
324
11.2 Unexpected requests
tality. They can see to it that the parties spend time together not only during the
formal meetings but also during meals and visits, thus investing in the relationship to build more trust and understanding. In the meantime, it would be wise
to remain open and flexible about the outcome of the visit. Perhaps expecting
to sign the contract after four days is too ambitious. The Belgians can use the
four-day visit to get a sense of their counterparts’ queries and needs and to see
where they stand in the process. By ‘reading the air’, building trust and asking
and informing, they can get a sense of whether it is appropriate and timely to
close the deal or if this will need some more time.
325
Literature
Adichie, C. (2009). The danger of a single story (TED Talk). Transcript retrieved from
ted.com/talks/chimamandaadichiethedangerofasinglestory/transcript?language=en
Adler, N.J. (1991). Communicating Across Cultural Barriers. Retrieved from researchgate.net/profile/Nancy_Adler4/publication/237783520_Communicating_across_
Cultural_Barriers/links/53e21a190cf2d79877aa08e7/Communicating-across-Cultural-Barriers.pdf
Akhtar, A. (2012). Disgraced (final production draft). Retrieved from du.edu/studentlife/
religiouslife/media/documents/bookclubdocs/disgraced.pdf
Appel, R. (1992). Inleiding algemene taalwetenschap. Dordrecht: ICG Publications.
Argyle, M. (1988). Bodily communication. New York: Methuen & Co. Ltd.
Argyris, C. & Schön, D. (1996). Organizational learning II: Theory, method and practice.
Boston: Addison Wesley.
Aronson, E. (2011). The Social Animal. New York: Worth.
Asante, M.K.J. (2008). It’s Bigger Than Hip Hop: The Rise of the Post-Hip-Hop Generation. New York: St. Martin’s Press.
Asperen, E. van (2003). Interculturele communicatie en ideologie. Utrecht: Pharos.
Auernheimer, G. (Ed.) (2013). Interkulturelle Kompetenz und pädagogische Professionalität. Wiesbaden: Springer Fachmedien.
Avery, T. (2012). East vs. West: The Way We Think. Retrieved from englishandkorean.
wordpress.com/2012/04/30/east-versus-west-the-way-we-think/
Baalen, C. van, Beheydt, L. & Kalsbeek, A. van (2003). Cultuur in taal. Utrecht: Nederlands Centrum Buitenlanders.
Baker, C. & Campbell, M. (2016). Context Matters: An Ethiopian Case Study Adapting
Leadership Development Methods to Serve Different Cultures. Addis Ababa: Center
for Creative Leadership.
Bargh, J.A. (1999). The cognitive monster: The case against controllability of automatic
stereotype effects. In Chaiken, S. & Trope, Y. (Eds.), Dual process theories in social
psychology. New York: Guilford.
Barmeyer, C. & Davoine, E. (2012). Internationale Zusammenarbeit: Von ‘Critical Incidents’ zu interkultureller Synergie. Wirtschaftspsychologie aktuell, 3. Retrieved from
unifr.ch/rho/assets/files/wirtschaftspsychologie-aktuell-3-2012-barmeyer.pdf
Barmeyer, C. & Davoine, E. (2016). Konstruktives interkulturelles Management: – Von
der Aushandlung zur Synergie: Constructive intercultural management – From negotiation to synergy. Interculture Journal, 15(26), 97-117.
Barnwell, D., Nedrick, S., Rudolph, E., Sesay, M. & Wellen, W. (2014). Leadership of International and Virtual Project Teams. International Journal of Global Business, 7(2). Retrieved from gsmiijgb.com/Documents/IJGB%20V7%20N2%20P01%20Dwayne%20
Barnwell%20-International%20and%20Virtual%20Project%20Teams.pdf
326
Literature
Baumann, G. (1996). Contesting culture: Discourses of identity in Multi-ethnic London.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Beheydt, L. (2003). Culturele identiteit, beeldende kunst en literatuur. Neerlandica extra
muros 41(1), 12-21.
Bemmel, L.P. van, Krolis, H.P. & Machielse, C. (1993). Internationaal ondernemen in de
praktijk. The Hague: SER.
Bennett, M. (1986). A developmental approach to training intercultural sensitivity. In
Martin, J. (Guest Ed.), Special Issue on Intercultural Training, International Journal
of Intercultural Relations, 10(2), 179-186.
Bennett, M. (2005). Paradigmatic assumptions of intercultural communication. Retrieved from idrinstitute.org/allegati/IDRI_t_Pubblicazioni/3/FILE_Documento.pdf
Bennett, M. (2013, 23 September). The mismeasure of intercultural competence. Retrieved from idrinstitute.org/page.asp?menu1=14&post=3&page=1
Bennett, M. & Castiglioni, I. (2004). Embodied Ethnocentrism and the Feeling of Culture: A Key to Training for Intercultural Competence. In Landis, D., Bennet, J. &
Bennet, M. (Eds.), Handbook of intercultural training (pp. 249-265). London: Sage.
Benhabib, L. (2002). The claims of culture: Equality and diversity in the global era. Prince­
ton: Princeton University Press.
Benzakour, M. (2017, 3 March). Kuzu’s ‘stekker’ raakt aan serieus zorgfalen. NRC Handelsblad. Retrieved from nrc.nl/nieuws/2017/03/03/kuzus-stekker-raakt-aan-serieus-zorgfalen-7097946-a1548679
Bergh, L. van den, Denessen, E., Hornstra, L., Voeten, M. & Holland, R.W. (2010). The
implicit prejudiced attitudes of teachers: Relations to teacher expectations and the
ethnic achievement gap. American Educational Research Journal, 47(2), 497-527.
Bernstein M.J. & Claypool H.M. (2012). Social exclusion and pain sensitivity: Why exclusion sometimes hurts and sometimes numbs. Personality and Social Psychology
Bulletin, 38, 185-196.
Bhabha, H.K. (1994). The location of culture. London: Routledge.
Blommaert, L., Tubergen, F. van & Coenders, M. (2012). Implicit and Explicit Interethnic Attitudes and Ethnic Discrimination in Hiring. Social Science Research, 41(1),
61-73.
Blommaert, S. (2015). De Chinese beurs kraakt in haar voegen. Retrieved from deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws/opinieblog/analyse/1.2403257
Boden, J. (2006). De essentie van China: Communicatie – Cultuur – Commitment. Bussum: Coutinho.
Bohannon, J. (2010). Galileo in Senegal. Science, 328(5976), 296. Retrieved from science.
sciencemag.org/content/328/5976/296.2.full
Böke, N. (2012). Universele uitdrukkingen: Gezichtsuitdrukkingen lijken toch niet in
elke cultuur hetzelfde. Retrieved from kennislink.nl/publicaties/universele-uitdrukkingen
Bolten, J. (2006). Interkullturelle Kompetenz. In Tsvasman, L.R. (Ed.), Das grosse Lexi­
kon Medien und Kommunikation (pp. 163-166). Würzburg: Ergon.
327
Diversity competence
Bolten, J. (2013). Fuzzy Cultures: Konsequenzen eines offenen und mehrwertigen Kulturbegriffs für Konzeptualisierungen interkultureller Personalentwicklungsmaßnahmen. Retrieved from www2.uni-jena.de/philosophie/IWK-neu/typo3/fileadmin/
publicationen/Bolten_2013_Fuzzy_Cultures.pdf
Botman, M., Jouwe, N. & Wekker, G. (2001). Caleidoscopische visies: Zwarte, migrantenen vluchtelingen-vrouwenbeweging in Nederland. Amsterdam: KIT.
Bourdieu, P. (1989). Satz und Gegensatz: Über die Verantwortung des Intellektuellen. Berlin: Wagenbach.
Bourdieu, P. (1990). In other words: Essays toward a reflexive sociology. Oxford: Polity
Press.
Brannen, M.J. & Salklate, J.E. (2000). Partnering across borders: Negotiating organizational culture in a German-Japanese joint venture. Human Relations, 53(4), 451-487.
Brett, J., Behfar, K. & Kern, M.C. (2006). Managing Multicultural Teams. Harvard Business Review, 84(11), 84-91. Retrieved from researchgate.net/publication/6666162ManagingMulticulturalTeams
Briley, D.A. & Aaker, J.L. (2006). When Does Culture Matter? Effects of Personal Knowledge on the Correction of Culture-Based Judgments. Journal of Marketing Research,
43(3), 395-408.
Brinkmann, U. (n.d.). Kommunikation hinweg über unterschiedliche Rechtsordnungen
und Kulturen: Auf dem Weg zum europäischen Einheitsbürger? Retrieved from notar.at/uploads/vortragbrinkmann.pdf
Brinkmann, U. & Weerdenburg, O. van (2014). Intercultural readiness: Four competences
for working across cultures. New York: Palgrave and Macmillan.
Brookes, J. (2006). Cosmopolitanism: How To Be a Citizen of the World. Retrieved from
motherjones.com/politics/2006/02/cosmopolitanism-how-be-citizen-world/
Budike, F. (1984). Ik kom morgen zeker langs. Amsterdam: IVABO.
Camerer, R. & Mader, J. (2010). Intercultural Competence and the CEFR: What’s the
connection? In Mader, J. & Urkun, Z. (Eds.), Putting the CEFR to Good Use: Selected articles by the presenters of the IATEFL Testing, Evaluation and Assessment
Special Interest Group (TEA SIG) and EALTA Conference in Barcelona, Spain (pp.
11-27). Retrieved from ealta.eu.org/documents/resources/IATEFL_EALTA_Proceedings_2010.pdf
Çankaya, S. (2008). ‘Welkom’ in Politië: Een antropologisch onderzoek naar in- en uitslui­
ting van etnische minderheden binnen de Politie Amsterdam-Amstelland. Amsterdam: Elco Drukkerij.
Çankaya, S. (2012). De controle van marsmannetjes & ander schorriemorrie: beslissings­
proces tijdens proactief politiewerk. The Hague: Boom Lemma.
Carpentier, M.-N., Demorgon, J., Lenhard, H. & Müller, B. (2014). Les situations interculturelles critiques et leurs interprétations. Paris/Berlin: Office franco-allemand
pour la Jeunesse & Deutsch-Französisches Jugendwerk.
328
Literature
Chhokar, J.S., Brodbeck, F.C. & House, R.J. (Eds.) (2007). Culture and Leadership Across
the World: The GLOBE Book of In-Depth Studies of 25 Societies. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
CAOP (2008). Omgaan met Culturele dilemma’s. Expertmeeting voor de publieke sector.
The Hague. Retrieved from luutjeniemantsverdriet.nl/uploads/images/pdf/Expertmeeting%20voor%20de%20publieke%20sector.pdf
Carroll, J. & Ryan, J. (Eds.) (2005). Teaching international students. London: Routledge.
Chan, S. (2016). Let women drive, a prince in Saudi Arabia urges. Retrieved from
­nytimes.com/2016/11/30/world/middleeast/saudi-arabia-women-driving.html?r=1
Chen, A. (2014). The Laborers Who Keep Dick Pics and Beheadings Out of Your Facebook Feed. Retrieved from wired.com/2014/10/content-moderation/
Chen, G.M. (2012). The impact of new media on intercultural communication in global
context. China Media Research, 8(2), 1-10.
Chiu, L.-H. (1972). A cross-cultural comparison of cognitive styles in Chinese and
American children. International Journal of Psychology, 7(4), 235-242.
Chua, R., Ingram, P. & Morris, W. (2008). From the Head and the Heart: Locating Cognition and Affect-Based Trust in Managers’ Professional Networks. Retrieved from
ink.library.smu.edu.sg/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4838&context=lkcsb_research
Chuah, S.-H. (2010). Teaching East-Asian Students: Some Observations. Retrieved from
economicsnetwork.ac.uk/showcase/chuah_international
Chulov, M. (2017). Saudi Arabia to allow women to obtain driving licences. Retrieved
from theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/26/saudi-arabias-king-issues-order-allowing-women-to-drive
Collier, M.J. & Thomas, M. (1988). Cultural Identity: An Interpretive Perspective. In
Kim, Y.Y. & Gudykunst, W.B. (Eds.), Theories in intercultural communication (International and Intercultural Communication Annual, 12). Newbury Park: Sage.
Conolly, K. (2007). German judge invokes Qur’an to deny abused wife a divorce. Retrieved from theguardian.com/world/2007/mar/23/germany.islam
Cooperrider, D.L. & Whitney, D. (n.d.). A Positive Revolution in Change: Appreciative
Inquiry (draft). Retrieved from appreciativeinquiry.case.edu/uploads/whatisai.pdf
Cornelis, A. (1995). Logica van het gevoel. Amsterdam/Brussel/Middelburg: Stichting
Essence.
Crenshaw, K. (1991). Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color. Stanford Law Review, 43(6), 12-41.
Crul, M., Scheider, J. & Lelie, F. (2013). Superdiversiteit. Amsterdam: VU.
Cutrone, P. (2010). Helping Japanese ESL/EFL Learners Overcome Difficulties in Intercultural Communication. Journal of the Faculty of Global Communication, 11,
11-22. Retrieved from reposit.sun.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/10561/661/1/v11p11Pino.pdf
Dahl, Ø. (2014). Is Culture Something We Have or Something We Do? From Descriptive Essentialist to Dynamic Intercultural Constructivist Communication. Journal of
329
Diversity competence
Intercultural Communication, 36. Retrieved from immi.se/intercultural/nr36/dahl.
html
De Volkskrant (1995, 25 March). Geachte redactie. Retrieved from volks­krant.nl/archief/
geachte-redactie~a389864/
Deardorff, D. (Ed.) (2009). The handbook of intercultural competence. London: Sage.
Deci, E.L. & Ryan, R.M. (1985). Intrinsic motivation and selfdetermination human behavior. New York: Plenum.
DeWolf, C. (2014). In Hong Kong, just who is an expat, anyway? Retrieved from blogs.
wsj.com/expat/2014/12/29/in-hong-kong-just-who-is-an-expat-anyway/
De Yoshikawa, M. (1987). The Double-Swing Model of Intercultural Communication
between the East and the West. In Kincaid, L.D. (Ed.), Communication Theory: Eastern and Western Perspectives (pp. 319-329). New York: Academic Press.
DiAngelo, R. (2011). White fragility. International Journal of Critical Pedagogy, 3, 54-70.
Dignen, B. (2009, 12 October). Making international project team meetings work
for you: Building a meetings culture. Retrieved from yorkassociates.wordpress.
com/2009/12/10/making-international-project-team-meetings-work-for-youbuilding-a-meetings culture/
Dijk, B. van (2009). Influence others? Start with yourself: On behaviour and Leary’s Rose.
Zaltbommel: Thema.
Dijksterhuis, A. (2007). Het slimme onbewuste. Amsterdam: Prometheus.
Dolnick, S. (2011). Dance, Laugh, Drink. Save the Date: It’s a Ghanaian Funeral. Retrieved from nytimes.com/2011/04/12/nyregion/12funerals.html
Durovic, J. (2008). Intercultural Communication and Ethnic Identity. Journal of Intercultural Communication, 16. Retrieved from immi.se/intercultural/nr16/durovic.htm
Edelman, M. (1993). Contestable categories and public opinion. Political Communication, 10(3), 231-242. Retrieved from tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10584609.19
93.9962981
Elias, N. (1981). Wat is sociologie? Utrecht: Het Spectrum.
Ellis, D.G. & Maoz, I. (2003). Dialogue and Cultural Communication: Codes between
Israeli Jews and Palestinians. In Samovar, L.A., Porter, R.E. & McDaniel, E.R. (Eds.),
Intercultural Communication: A Reader (pp. 223-230). Belmont: Thompson-Wads­
worth.
Ely, R.J. & Thomas, D.A. (2001). Cultural Diversity at Work: The Effects of Diversity Perspectives on Work Group Processes and Outcomes. Administrative Science Quarterly, 46(2), 229-273. Retrieved from pdfs.semanticscholar.org/bb65/
af86101279d503b66d08e4a75c54ea4cbbdd.pdf
Eno, R. (2015). The analects of Confucius. Retrieved from indiana.edu/%7Ep374/Analects_of_Confucius_(Eno-2015).pdf
Eskes, C. & Bergman, S. (2010). The world is flat. Groningen: Hanzehogeschool.
Essed, P. (1984). Alledaags racisme. Amsterdam: Van Gennep.
Eynikel, J. (2013). De harde realiteit van zachte waarden. Retrieved from etion.be/kennisbank/de-harde-realiteit-van-zachte-waarden
330
Literature
Fang, T. (2012). Yin Yang: A New Perspective on Culture. Management and Organization Review 8(1), 25-50.
Ferrazzi, K. (2014). Getting Virtual Teams Right. Retrieved from hbr.org/2014/12/getting-virtual-teams-right
Fisher-Yoshida, B. (2005). Reframing Conflict: Intercultural Conflict as Potential Transformation. Journal of Intercultural Communication, 8. Retrieved from citeseerx.ist.
psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.738.1349&rep=rep1&type=pdf
Fisher, R., Ury, W. & Patton, B. (1991). Getting to yes: Negotiating agreement without
giving in. New York: Penguin Books. Retrieved from fd.unl.pt/docentesdocs/ma/
AGONMA25849.pdf
Frankfurt, H. (1971). Freedom of the Will and the Concept of a Person. The Journal of
Philosophy, 68(1), 5-20.
Fukuyama, F. (1992). The End of History and the Last Man. New York: Free Press.
Gandhi, M. (1924). Young India (1919-1922). Triplicane, Madras, S.E.: S. Ganesan.
Ghorashi, H. (2016). Het gevaar van het enkelvoudig verhaal. Retrieved from kis.nl/blog/
het-gevaar-van-het-enkelvoudig-verhaal
Goffman, E. (1967). Interaction ritual: Essays on face-to-face behaviour. Garden City,
NY: Anchor Books. Retrieved from web.stanford.edu/~eckert/PDF/GoffmanFace1967.pdf
Government Office for Science (2013). Future Identities: Final Project Report. Retrieved
from gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/­273966/­
13-523-future-identities-changing-identities-report.pdf
Gowricharn, R. (2001). In- en uitsluiting in Nederland: Een overzicht van empirische
bevindingen. The Hague: WRR.
Grice, H.P. (1975). Logic and conversation. In Cole, P. & Morgan, J.L. (Eds.), Syntax and
Semantics: Vol. 3, Speech Acts (pp. 41-58). New York: Academic Press.
Griffel, F. (2014). Islamische Philosophie, westliche Forschung: Die Geschichte einer (bislang) nicht immer glücklichen Beziehung. Retrieved from islamiq.de/2014/04/05/islamische-philosophie-geschichte-gluecklich-beziehung/
Gudykunst, W.B. & Kim, Y.Y. (1984). Communicating with strangers: An approach to
intercultural communication. Boston: Addison Wesley.
Gudykunst, W. & Ting-Toomey, S. (1988). Culture and interpersonal communication.
Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Gumperz, J.J. (1979). Crosstalk (video). London: BBC.
Gumperz, J.J. (1982a). Discourse strategies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Gumperz, J.J. (Ed.) (1982b). Language and social identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Gumperz, J.J. & Roberts, C. (1991). Understanding in intercultural encounters. In Blommaert, J. & Verschueren, J. (Eds.), The pragmatics of intercultural and international
communication (pp. 51-91). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing
Company.
331
Diversity competence
Hall, E.T. (1959). The Silent Language. Garden City: Doubleday & Company.
Hall, E.T. (1976). Beyond Culture. New York: Anchor Books.
Hall, E.T. (1984). The dance of life: The other dimension of time. Garden City: Anchor
Books.
Hall, E.T. (1990). The Hidden Dimension. New York: Anchor Books.
Hall, E.T. & Hall, M.R. (1998). Key Concepts: Underlying Structures of Culture. In Martin, J.N. & Hall, S. (1997). Representations: Cultural representations and signifying
practices. London: Sage.
Hall, S. (2000). The multi-cultural question. In Hesse, B. (Ed.), Un/settled multiculturalisms: Diasporas, entanglements, transruptions. London/New York: Zed Books.
Hannerz, U. (1999). Reflections on varieties of culture speak. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 2(3), 393-407.
Handford, M. & Matous, P. (2011). Lexicogrammar in the international construction
industry: A corpus-based case study of Japanese-Hong-Kongese on-site interactions
in English. English for Specific Purposes, 30, 87-100. Retrieved from sciencedirect.
com/science/article/pii/S0889490610000669
Hansen, K.P. (2009a). Kultur, Kollektiv, Nation. Passau: Verlag Karl Stutz.
Hansen, K.P. (2009b). Zulässige und unzulässige Komplexitätsreduktion beim Kulturträger Nation. Retrieved from ssoar.info/ssoar/handle/document/45559
Hansen, K.P. (2009c). Die Problematik des Pauschalurteils. Retrieved from interculture-journal.com/download/issues/200910.pdf
Harrison, M. & Hedley, M. (2009). Marketing and Selling to Chinese Businesses. Retrieved from b2binternational.com/publications/white-papers/chinese-marketing-­
selling/
Hartkemeyer, J.F. & Hartkemeyer, M. (2005). Die Kunst des Dialogs: Kreative Kommunikation entdecken. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta.
Hera, G., Györfi, É., Szegő, D., Balla, L. & Kelemen, K. (2012). Deliverable 5.2.a Problem
Analysis Building The Bridges of Trust With and Within The Communities. From
Getting to Know the Village to Getting Closer to Cases. Budapest: Foresee. Retrieved
from alternativeproject.eu
Hewlett, S., Marschall, M. & Bourgreois, T. (2017). People Suffer at Work When They
Can’t Discuss the Racial Bias They Face Outside of It. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from hbr.org/2017/07/people-suffer-at-work-when-they-cant-discuss-theracial-bias-they-face-outside-of-it
Hilgard, E.R. & Atkinson, R.C. (1979). Introduction to psychology. New York: Harcourt
Brace Jovanovich, Inc.
Hills, M.D. (2002). Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck’s Values Orientation Theory. Psychology
and Culture, 4(4). Retrieved from dx.doi.org/10.9707/2307-0919.1040
Hoffman, E. (2015). Interkulturelle Gesprächsführung: Theorie und Praxis des TOPOI
Modells. Wiesbaden: Springer.
Hoffman, E. (2018). Interculturele gespreksvoering: Theorie en Praktijk van het TOPOI
model. Houten: Bohn Stafleu van Loghum.
332
Literature
Hofstede, G. (1980). Culture’s Consequences: International Differences in Work-Related
Values. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications.
Hofstede, G. (1991). Allemaal andersdenkenden. Amsterdam: Contact.
Hofstede, G. (2001). Culture’s Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions
and Organizations Across Nations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Holiday, A. (2011). Intercultural Communication and Ideology. London: Sage.
Holiday, A., Hyde, M. & Kullman, J. (2004). Intercultural Communication: An Advanced
Resource Book for Students. London: Routledge.
Horner, D. (2010). A Critical Look at the CEFR ‘Phonological Control’. In Mader, J. &
Urkun, Z. (Eds.), Putting the CEFR to Good Use. Selected articles by the presenters
of the IATEFL Testing, Evaluation and Assessment Special Interest Group (TEA SIG)
and EALTA Conference in Barcelona, Spain (pp. 50-58). Retrieved from ealta.eu.org/
documents/resources/IATEFLEALTAProceedings2010.pdf
House, R.J., Hanges, P.J., Javidan, M., Dorfman, P.W. & Gupta, V. (Eds.) (2004). Culture,
Leadership and Organizations: The GLOBE study of 62 societies. Thousand Oaks/
London/New Delhi: Sage.
Houtkoop, H. & Koole, T. (2000). Taal in actie: Hoe mensen communiceren in taal. Bussum: Coutinho.
Huber-Kriegler, M., Lázár, I. & Strange, J. (2003). Mirrors and windows: An intercultural
communication textbook. Strasbourg: Council of Europe Publishing. Retrieved from
ecml.at/iccinte/downloads/pub123aE2003_Mirrors_windows.pdf
Huijser, M. & Huijser, D. (2011). Managing Mindsets: Applying the Cultural Advantage
in your Business. Utrecht: Ayn Press.
Hyland, F., Trahar, S., Anderson, J. & Dickens, A. (2008). A changing world: The internationalisation experiences of staff and students (home and international) in UK Higher
Education. Retrieved from escalate.ac.uk/downloads/5248.pdf
Jack, R.E., Garrod, O.G.B., Yu, H., Caldara, R. & Schyns, P.G. (2012). Facial expressions of
emotion are not culturally universal. Retrieved from pnas.org/content/109/19/7241.
full
Jaksche, E. & Hoffman, E. (1998). Cultures don’t meet, people do. In Eichelberger, H. &
Furch, E. (Eds.), Kulturen Sprachen Welten: Die Herausforderung (Inter)-Kulturalität
(pp. 117-43). Innsbrück: StudienVerlag.
Jansen, M. (2007). Emoticons in Japan. Retrieved from kennislink.nl/publicaties/emoticons-in-japan
Kaufman, S., Elliott, M. & Shmueli, D. (2003). Frames, Framing and Reframing. In Burgess, G. & Burgess, H. (Eds.), Beyond Intractability: Conflict Information Consortium, University of Colorado, Boulder. Retrieved from beyondintractability.org/essay/framing
Kessels, J. (2006). Het poëtisch argument. Meppel: Boom.
Killermann, S. (n.d.). 3 Reasons Positive Stereotypes aren’t that Positive. Retrieved from itspronouncedmetrosexual.com/2012/04/reasons-positive-stereotypes-are-not-positive/#sthash.9iIUjkFB.dpbs
333
Diversity competence
Kim, H.S. (2002). We Talk, Therefore We Think? A Cultural Analysis of the Effect of
Talking on Thinking. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83(4), 828-842.
Retrieved from labs.psych.ucsb.edu/kim/heejung/kim2002.pdf
King, P.M. & Baxter Magolda, M.B. (2005). A developmental model of intercultural maturity. Journal of college student development, 46(6), 571-592.
Kluckhohn, F.R. & Strodtbeck, F.L. (1961). Variations in value orientations. Evanston,
IL: Row, Peterson.
Knapp, K. (1988, 13 January). Schwarz ist weiß, ja heißt nein. Andere Kulturen, andere
Sitten: Was man aus Ignoranz leicht falsch macht. Die Zeit, p. 1.
Knittel, S. (2016, 16 September). Neue Vorsitzende Renho bringt frischen Wind in Japans Politik. Retrieved from derstandard.at/2000044506586/Neue-VorsitzendeRenho-bringt-frischen-Wind-in-Japans-Politik
Koopman, P., Hartog, D. den, Thierry, H. & Wilderom, W. (2003). Leiderschap in de polder: Resultaten van het Nederlandse deel van het GLOBE-onderzoek naar cultuur
en leiderschap. Management & Organisatie, 2. Retrieved from managementexecutive.nl/artikel/2824/Leiderschap-in-de-polder-resultaten-van-het-Nederlandsedeel-van-het-GLOBE-onderzoek-naar-cultuur-en-leiderschap
Kopp, R. (2011, 13 October). Why do Japanese fall asleep in meetings? Retrieved from
japanintercultural.com/en/news/default.aspx?newsID=101
Kopp, R. (2012, 8 March). Effective meetings with Japanese. Retrieved from japanintercultural.com/en/news/default.aspx?newsID=146
Kopp, R. (2012, 19 March). Achieving more productive meetings with Japanese and
American participants. Retrieved from japanintercultural.com/en/news/default.­
aspx?newsID=149
Kopp, R. (2012, 19 April). Public criticism from Japanese manager. Retrieved from
japanintercultural.com/en/news/default.aspx?newsID=165
Kopp, R. (2012, 7 June). Deciding who should attend the meeting (who should be invited): Cross cultural meetings part 3. Retrieved from japanintercultural.com/en/
news/default.aspx?newsID=179
Kopp, R. (2012, 12 July). Kisho-Tenketsu and speaking persuasively. Retrieved from
japanintercultural.com/en/news/default.aspx?newsID=190
Kopp, R. (2012, 25 October). Building a hybrid culture: Americans and Japanese working
together. Retrieved from japanintercultural.com/en/news/default.aspx?newsID=219
Kopp, R. (2012, 20 December). Defining Nemawashi. Retrieved from japanintercultural.
com/en/news/default.aspx?newsID=256
Kopp, R. (2013, 18 March). Non-verbal communication in Japanese business. Retrieved
from japanintercultural.com/en/news/default.aspx?newsID=234
Korthagen, F. (2007). Kwaliteit van binnenuit als sleutel voor professionele ontwikkeling.
Retrieved from lerarenopleider.nl/velon/ledensite/files/2007/03/28_1_2KorthagenVasalos.pdf
Korzybski, A. (1994). Science and Sanity: An Introduction to Non-Aristotelian Systems
and General Semantics. Lakeville, CT: Institute of General Semantics.
334
Literature
Kreps, G. & Kunimoto, E.N. (1994). Effective communication in multicultural health
care settings. Thousand Oaks/London/New Delhi: Sage.
Kroeber, A.L. & Kluckhohn, C. (1952) Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions. Cambridge, MA: Peabody Museum.
Kruger, J. & Dunning, D. (1999). Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties in Recognizing One’s Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, 77(6), 1121-1134.
Laing, R., Phillipson, A. & Lee, A. (1966). Interpersonal perception. London: Tavistock
Publication.
Lambertz, K. (2011). Back-channelling: The use of yeah and mm to portray engaged listenership. Griffith Working Papers in Pragmatics and Intercultural Communication,
4(1/2), 11-18. Retrieved from griffith.edu.au/data/assets/pdffile/0005/384017/Lambertz-backchannelling.pdf
Landelijk Bureau Rassendiscriminatie (2005). Rapport inzake Kerncijfers Discriminatie
2005. Rotterdam.
Leary, T. (1957). Interpersonal diagnosis of personality: A functional theory and methodology for personality evaluation. New York: Ronald Press.
Lebedko, M.G. (2014). Globalization, Networking and Intercultural Communication.
Intercultural Communication Studies, XXIII(1), 28-41. Retrieved from web.uri.edu/
iaics/files/3-XXIII-1-G.-Lebedko.pdf
Lee, C. (1995). Native speaker. New York: Riverhead Books.
Leeuwen, B. van (2003). Erkenning, identiteit en verschil: Multiculturalisme en leven met
culturele diversiteit. Leuven: Acco.
Lemaire, T. (1976). Over de waarde van kulturen: Een inleiding in de kultuurfilosofie,
tussen europacentrisme en relativisme. Baarn: Ambo.
Lendering, J. (2009). Vergeten erfenis: Oosterse wortels van de westerse beschaving. Amsterdam: Athenaeum – Polak & Van Gennip.
Lerner, M.J. (1980). The belief in a just world: A fundamental delusion. New York: Plenum.
Lewin, K. (1936). Some social-psychological differences between the US and Germany.
Character and Personality, 4, 265-293.
Lewis, R. (1996). When cultures collide: Managing successfully across cultures. Boston/
London: Nicholas Brealey International.
Li, X. (2001). ‘Asian Values’ and the Universality of Human Rights. In Meijer, M., Dealing
with Human Rights: Asian and Western Views of the Value of Human Rights. Amsterdam: Greber.
Liker, J.K. (2004). The Toyota Way: 14 Management Principles from the World’s Greatest
Manufacturer. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Louie, K. (2005). Gathering cultural knowledge: Useful or use with care? In Carroll, J.
& Ryan, J., Teaching international students: Improving learning for all (pp. 17-25).
London: Routledge.
335
Diversity competence
Lubin, G. (2016). Russia’s retail workers smile more than America’s, in shocking reversal.
Retrieved from businessinsider.de/russias-retail-workers-smile-more-than-americas-2016-8?r=US&IR=T
Maalouf, A. (1998). In the Name of Identity: Violence and the Need to Belong. New York:
Penguin Putnam.
Mader, J. & Camerer, R. (2010). International English and the Training of Intercultural Communicative Competence. Interculture Journal, 12, 97-116. Retrieved 16
February 2016 from interculture-journal.com/download/article/rathjeboltenvorwort201012alt.pdf and frankfurt-school.de/clicnetclm/fileDownload.do?goid=
000000265922AB4
Maly, I., Blommaert, J. & Ben Yaboub, J. (2014). Superdiversiteit en democratie: Pleidooi
naar een nieuwe realiteit. Berchem: Epo.
Man, H. de (2005). Teaching management to Chinese students: a few notes from theory and practice. Retrieved from media.leidenuniv.nl/legacy/Teaching_in_China.pdf
Masuda, T. & Nisbett, R.E. (2001). Attending holistically vs. analytically: Comparing
the context sensitivity of Japanese and Americans. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81, 922-934. Retrieved from sites.ualberta.ca/~tmasuda/index.files/­
Masuda&Nisbett2001.pdf
Matsumoto, D. & Hwang, H.C. (2013). Cultural Similarities and Differences in Emblematic Gestures. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 37(1), 1-27. Retrieved from davidmatsumoto.com/content/2013%20M%20and%20H%20JNB%20-%20Cultural%20Similarities%20and%20Differences%20in%20Emblematic%20Gestures.pdf
McAllister, D.J. (1995). Affect- and cognition-based trust as foundations for interpersonal cooperation in organizations. Academy of Management Journal, 38(1), 24-59.
Retrieved from portal.psy.uoguelph.ca/faculty/gill/7140/WEEK_3_Jan.25/McAllister_AMJ1995.pdf 24–59
McGinn, K.L. & Nöth, M. (2012). Communicating Frames in Negotiations. Retrieved from
hbs.edu/faculty/Publication%20Files/12-109_5c4e3b09-d49d-4452-955d-6983f6dc7b66.pdf
McIntosh, P. (1988). White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack. Retrieved from
winnipeg.ca/clerks/boards/citizenequity/pdfs/white_privilege.pdf
McLean, P. & Ransom, L. (2005). Building intercultural competencies. In Carroll, J. &
Ryan, J., Teaching international students: Improving learning for all (pp. 45-63). London: Routledge.
Mecheril, P. (2013). ‘Kompetenzlosigkeitskompetenz’: Pädagogisches Handeln unter
Einwanderungsbedingungen. In Auernheimer, G. (Ed.), Interkulturelle Kompetenz
und pädagogische Professionalität (pp. 5-35). Wiesbaden: Springer VS.
Mehrabian, A. (1971). Silent Messages. Belmont: Wadsworth Publishing Company. Retrieved from kaaj.com/psych/smorder.html
Meyer, E. (2014). The culture map: Breaking through the invisible boundaries of global
business. Philadelphia: Public Affairs.
336
Literature
Meyer, E. (2014, 11 February). How to say ‘this is crap’ in different cultures. Retrieved
from erinmeyer.com/2014/02/how-to-say-this-is-crap-in-different cultures/#comments.
Meyer, E. (2014, 3 April). Are You a Holistic or a Specific Thinker? Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from hbr.org/2014/04/are-you-a-holistic-or-a-specific-thinker
Meyer, E. (2014, 12 April). When to speak up. When to shut up. Retrieved from the­
jakartapost.com/news/2014/04/12/when-speak-when-shut.html
Meyer, E. (2014, 13 September). Looking Another Culture in the Eye. Retrieved from
nytimes.com/2014/09/14/jobs/looking-another culture-in-the-eye.html
Meyer, E. (2014, 22 September). Map Out Cultural Conflicts on Your Team. Retrieved
from hbr.org/2014/09/predict-cultural-conflicts-on-your-team
Meyer, E. (2014, 15 October). Avoiding Culture Clashes When Making Decisions.
Retrieved from knowledge.insead.edu/blog/insead-blog/avoiding-culture-clashes-when-making-decisions-3640#G6CtgLt5bgUPr7Se.99
Meyer, E. (2014, 29 October). Tailor Your Presentation to Fit the Culture. Retrieved from
hbr.org/2014/10/tailor-your-presentation-to-fit-different cultures
Meyer, E. (2015, 30 May). One reason cross-cultural small talk is so tricky. Retrieved
from hbr.org/2014/05/one-reason-cross-cultural-small-talk-is-so-tricky
Meyer, E. (2015, 16 September). What makes a boss too formal? Retrieved from erinmeyer.com/2015/09/what-makes-a-boss-too-formal/
Meyer, E. (2015, 28 September). How meetings differ from Stockholm to Delhi. Retrieved from hbr.org/2015/09/how-meetings-differ-from-stockholm-to-new-delhi.
Meyer, E. (2015, December). Getting to Si, Ja, Oui, Hai, and Da. Retrieved from hbr.
org/2015/12/getting-to-si-ja-oui-hai-and-da
Mezirow, J. (2000). Fostering critical reflection in adulthood. Retrieved from ln.edu.
hk/osl/conference2011/output/breakout/4.4%20[ref ]How%20Critical%20Reflection%20triggers%20Transformative%20Learning%20-%20Mezirow.pdf
Motaghi Tabari, S. (2012). Intercultural communication over coffee. Retrieved from languageonthemove.com/intercultural-communication-over-coffee/
Mulder, P. (2012). Rose of Leary. Retrieved from toolshero.com/communication-skills/
rose-of-leary
Murray, P. & Kluckhohn, C. (1953). Personality in nature, society, and culture. New York:
Alfred A. Knopf. Retrieved from panarchy.org/kluckhohn/personality.1953.html
Murphy, M. & Levy, M. (2015). Politeness in Intercultural Email Communication: Australian and Korean Perspectives. Retrieved from immi.se/intercultural/nr12/murphy.html
Musschenga, B. (2007). De boerka en de vrije wil. In de Marge, 16, 2-11. Retrieved from
bezinningscentrum.nl/teksten/bert/boerkavrijewil.htm
Mutsaers, X. (2015). A public anthropology of policing: Law enforcement and migrants
in the Netherlands (PhD thesis). Retrieved from pure.uvt.nl/portal/files/6872568/
Mutsaers_Public_12_06_2015.pdf
337
Diversity competence
Nazarkiewicz, K. (2016). Kulturreflexivität statt Interkulturalität? Re-thinking cross-cultural – A culture reflexive Approach. Interculture Journal, 15(26), 23-33. Retrieved
from interculture-journal.com/index.php/icj/article/download/278/362
Neate, P. (2003). Where You’re At: Notes from the Frontline of a Hip Hop Planet. New
York: Riverhead Books.
Neeley, T. (2015). Global Teams That Work. Retrieved from hbr.org/2015/10/globalteams-that-work
Neidel, B. (2010, 1 November). Negotiations: Chinese style. Retrieved from chinabusinessreview.com/negotiations-chinese-style/
Neuliep, J.W. (2012). Intercultural Communication: A Contextual Approach. Thousand
Oaks, CA: Sage.
Nin, A. (1961). Seduction of the Minotaur. Athens, OH: Swallow Press.
Nisbett, R.E. (2003). The Geography of Thought: How Asians and Westerners Think Differently … and Why. New York: The Free Press.
NRC Handelsblad (2002, 5 December). KLM moet Alitalia 270 miljoen euro betalen.
Nussbaum, M. (1992). Human functioning and social justice. In defense of Aristotelian
essentialism. Political Theory, 20(2), 202-246.
Nyiri, P. & Breidenbach, J. (2009). Seeing Culture Everywhere, from Genocide to Consumer Habits. Washington: University of Washington Press.
Oestreich, H. (1999). Let’s Dump the 55%, 38%, 7% Rule. Transitions, 7(2), 11-14.
Ofman, D. (2001). Core Qualities: A Gateway to Human Resources. Schiedam: Scriptum.
Okabe, R. (1983). Cultural Assumptions of East and West: Japan and the United States.
In Gudykunst, W. (Ed.), Intercultural communication theory (pp. 21-44). Beverly
Hills, CA: Sage.
Oomkes, F. (1986). Communicatieleer. Meppel: Boom.
Owari, T. (2005). Intercultural Communication in the Forest Products Business in China: A Case Study. Innovative Marketing, 1(1), 89-95. Retrieved from businessperspectives.org/journals/innovative-marketing/issue-107/intercultural-communication-in-the-forest-products-business-in-china-a-case-study
Park, M. (1979). Communication styles in two different cultures: Korean and American.
Seoul: Han Shin Publishing Company.
Patten, C. (1999). East and West. London: Pan Macmillan.
Peeters, F. (1989). Het besef van invloed en zijn varianten. Systeemtheoretisch Bulletin,
VIII(1), 2-25.
Peng, K. & Nisbett, R.E. (1999). Culture, dialectics, and reasoning about contradiction.
American Psychologist, 54, 741-754. Retrieved from deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/91930/cultureanddialectics.pdf?sequence=1Perez, R.J., Shim, W., King, P.M. & Baxter Magolda, M.B. (2015). Refining King & Baxter
Magolda’s model of intercultural maturity. Journal of College Student Development,
56(8), 759-776.
Pettigrew, T.F. (1979). The ultimate attribution error: Extending Allport’s cognitive analysis of prejudice. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 5(4), 461-476.
338
Literature
Pfister, D.S. & Soliz, J. (2011). (Re)Conceptualizing Intercultural Communication in a
Networked Society. Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, 4(4),
246-251. Retrieved from digitalcommons.unl.edu/commstudiespapers/24
Philipson, A. (2013, 2 September). Translation table explaining the truth behind British politeness becomes internet hit. The Telegraph. Retrieved from telegraph.
co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/10280244/Translation-table-explaining-the-truth-behind-British-politeness-becomes-internet-hit.html?goback=.gde2420418member270840291
Popper, K. (1945). The open society and its enemies. London: Routledge.
Prakapas, R. & Prakapiené, D. (2016). The Impact of Social Media on Intercultural
Communication. Retrieved from researchgate.net/publication/311535510TheImpactofSocialMediaonInterculturalCommunication
Preter, M. de (1995). Marchanderen in de hulpverlening. Systeemtheoretisch Bulletin,
XIII(2), 71-89.
Prins, B. (2010). Vreemdelingenverkeer (intreerede lectoraat Burgerschap en Diversiteit).
The Hague: De Haagse Hogeschool.
Prins, B. (Ed.) (2013). Superdivers! Alledaagse omgangsvormen in de stedelijke samen­
leving. Delft: Eburon.
Procee, H. (1991). Over de grenzen van culturen: Voorbij universalisme en relativisme.
Amsterdam/Meppel: Boom.
Puett, M. & Gross-Loh, C. (2016). The Path. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Rathje, S. (2006). Interkulturelle Kompetenz: Zustand und Zukunft eines umstrittenen
Konzepts. Retrieved from www2.uni-jena.de/philosophie/iwk/publikationen/interkulturellekompetenzrathje.pdf
Rathje, S. (2007). Intercultural Competence: The Status and Future of a Controversial
Concept. Retrieved from stefanie-rathje.de/fileadmin/Downloads/stefanierathjeinterculturalcompetence.pdf
Rathje, S. (2009). Der Kulturbegriff: Ein anwendungsorientierter Vorschlag zur General­
überholung. In Moosmüller, A. (Ed.), ‘Konzepte kultureller Differenz’: Münchener
Beiträge zur interkulturellen Kommunikation. Munich: Waxmann Verlag. Retrieved
from stefanie-rathje.de/fileadmin/Downloads/stefanierathjekulturbegriff.pdf
Rathje, S. (2014, 7 July). Managing the cultural challenge (handout). Berlin: Hochschule
für Technik und Wirtschaft.
Reimann, A. (2010). Intercultural communication and the essence of humour. 宇都宮大
学国際学部研究論集, 第29号, 23-34. Retrieved from uuair.lib.utsunomiya-u.ac.jp/
dspace/bitstream/10241/7770/1/29-3-reimann.pdf
Rahti, A. (2015, 12 December). This simple negotiation tactic brought 195 countries to
consensus. Retrieved from qz.com/572623/this-simple-negotiation-tactic-brought195-countries-to-consensus-in-the-paris-climate-talks/
Rober, P. & Haene, L. de (2013). Intercultural therapy and the limitations of a cultural
competency framework: about cultural differences, universalities and the unresolva-
339
Diversity competence
ble tensions between them. Journal of Family Therapy. Retrieved 20 April 2015 from
cultuursensitievezorg.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/rober-de-haene.pdf
Roer, R. van de (1999). ‘Als de voordeur dicht is nemen we het raam’. NRC Handelsblad.
Retrieved from nrc.nl/nieuws/1999/12/04/als-de-voordeur-dicht-is-nemen-we-hetraam-7473143-a940798
Rosling, H. & Rosling, O. (2014). How not to be ignorant about the world (TED Talk).
Retrieved from ted.com/talks/hans_and_ola_rosling_how_not_to_be_ignorant_
about_the_world
Rudlin, P. (2014). Humour easily crosses culture, but be careful with sarcasm. Retrieved
from japanintercultural.com/en/news/default.aspx?newsID=320
Runyowa, S. (2011, 7 December). The Complications of Friendship in America. Retrieved
from blogs.voanews.com/student-union/2011/12/07/the-complications-of-friendship-in-america/
Runyowa, S. (2012, 23 April). On Being an African in the US: Navigating an Endless Web
of Stereotypes. Retrieved from blogs.voanews.com/student-union/2012/04/23/onbeing-an-african-in-the-us-navigating-an-endless-web-of-stereotypes/
Saghal, G. (2014, 10 December). Who wrote the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights: Open Democracy. Retrieved from opendemocracy.net/5050/gita-sahgal/
who-wrote-universal-declaration-of-human-rights
Said, E. (1978). Orientalism. London: Penguin.
Salacuse, J.W. (2013). The Three Laws of International Investment: National, Contractual, and International Frameworks of Foreign Capital. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
Sandidge, R.L. & Ward, A.C. (2014). Reframing. Retrieved from nlpeople.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Anne-Bob-ReframeChapter.pdf
Sawyer, R. (2011). The Impact of New Social Media on Intercultural Adaptation. Senior
Honors Projects. Paper 242. Retrieved from digitalcommons.uri.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1230&context=srhonorsprog
Schinkel, W. (2008). The moralisation of citizenship in Dutch Integration discourse. Retrieved from amsterdamlawforum.org/article/view/56/77
Schmidt, P. (2015). Stefanie Rathje: An interview with an unconventional intercultural
thinker. Sietar Europa Journal, September-November, 3-7.
Schön, D. (1983). The Reflective Practitioner: How professionals think in action. New
York: Basic Books.
Scollon, R., Wong Scollon, S. & Jones, R.H. (2012). Intercultural Communication: A Discourse Approach. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Sen, A. (2006). Democracy isn’t ‘Western’. Economist’s View. Retrieved from economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2006/03/amartya_sendem.html
Seyfi, M. & Güven, D. (2016). Influence of new media on intercultural communication: An example of an Erasmus student. Retrieved from journals.vu.lt/informacijos-mokslai/article/view/10150
340
Literature
Shaules, J. (2015). The intercultural mind. London/Boston: Intercultural Press.
Shuter, R. (2012). Intercultural New Media Studies: The Next Frontier in Intercultural
Communication. Journal of Intercultural Communication Research, 41(3), 219-237.
Spacey, J. (2015). Why You Need To Read The Air in Japan. Retrieved from japan-talk.
com/jt/new/kuuki-yomenai
Spencer-Oatey, H. & Xing, J. (2003). Managing Report in Intercultural Business Interactions: A comparison of two Chinese-British welcome meetings. Retrieved from
wrap.warwick.ac.uk/2684/1/WRAP_Spencer_Oatey_0673125-cal-290110-spencer-oateyxing_jics03.pdf
Spitzberg, B. (2009). Axioms for a theory of Intercultural Communication Competence.
In Samovar, L., Porter, R. & McDaniel, E. (Eds.), Intercultural Communication: A
reader (pp. 424-434). Boston: Wadsworth.
Spitzberg, B. & Changnon, G. (2009). Conceptualizing Intercultural Competence. In
Deardorff, D. (Ed.), The handbook of intercultural competence (pp. 2-52). London:
Sage.
Stahl, G.K. & Brannen, M.J. (2013). Building Cross-Cultural Leadership Competence:
An Interview With Carlos Ghosn. Academy of Management Learning & Education,
12(3), 494-502. Retrieved from dx.doi.org/10.5465/amle.2012.0246
Steele, C. & Aronson, J. (1995). Stereotype threat and the Intellectual Test Performance
of African Americans. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69(5), 797-811.
Stier, J. (2004). Intercultural Competencies as a Means to Manage Intercultural Interactions in Social Work. Intercultural Communication, 7. Retrieved from immi.se/
intercultural/nr7/stier.htm
Stuurman, S. (2017). De uitvinding van de mensheid: Korte wereldgeschiedenis van het
denken over gelijkheid en cultuurverschil. Amsterdam: Bert Bakker.
Susilo, A.P., Eertwegh, V. van, Dalen J. van & Scherpbier, A. (2013). Leary’s Rose to improve negotiation skills among health professionals: Experiences from a Southeast
Asian culture. Education for Health, 26(1), 54-59. Retrieved from educationforhealth.net/temp/EducHealth26154-3907418_105114.pdf
Suyin, H. (1989). A Many-Splendored Thing. Glasgow: Triad Grafton Books.
Tajfel, H. & Turner, J.C. (1979). An integrative theory of intergroup conflict. In Austin,
W.G. & Worchel, S. (Eds.), The social psychology of intergroup relations (pp. 33-37).
Monterey, CA: Brooks/Cole.
Tegenlicht (2012). Van Cartier naar Confucius (documentary). Retrieved from npo.nl/
vpro-tegenlicht/21-09-2017/VPWON1165573
Tennekes, J. (1995). Organisatiecultuur: Een antropologische visie. Leuven: Garant.
The Telegraph (2012, 7 November). The best is yet to come. Retrieved from telegraph.
co.uk/news/worldnews/us-election/9660482/Barack-Obamas-speech-the-best-isyet-to-come.html
The Telegraph (2013, 2 September). Translation table explaining the truth behind
British politeness becomes internet hit. Retrieved from telegraph.co.uk/news/
newstopics/howaboutthat/10280244/Translation-table-explaining-the-truth-be-
341
Diversity competence
hind-British-politeness-becomes-internet-hit.html?goback=.gde_2420418_member_270840291#
Thomas, A. (1999). Kultur als Orientierungssystem und Kulturstandards als Bauteile.
In Marschalck, P. (Ed.), IMIS-BEITRÄGE: Heft 10 (pp. 91-133). Osnabrück: Institut
für Migrationsforschung und Interkulturelle Studien (IMIS), Universität Osnabrück.
Thomas, D.A. & Ely, R.J. (1996). Making difference matter: A new paradigm for managing
diversity. Retrieved from hbr.org/1996/09/making-differences-matter-a-new-paradigm-for-managing-diversity
Ting-Toomey, S. (2010). Theory Reflections: Face-Negotiation Theory. Retrieved from
nafsa.org/_/file/_/theory_connections_facework.pdf
Tippett, K. (2014). Desmond Tutu: A God for surprises (transcript of an interview). Retrieved from onbeing.org/program/desmond-tutu-a-god-of-surprises/transcript/­
6185#maincontent
Tosi, K. (2000). Yes Ma’am, Sir. Retrieved from katswindow.net/posts/yes-maam-sir/
Tromp, J. (1991, 12 May). Varkenshammen verkopen op de slippen van de hermelijnen
mantel. De Volkskrant.
Trompenaars, F. (1993). Riding the waves of culture. London: The Economist Books.
Trompenaars, F. (2013). Riding the wave of culture (TED Talk). Retrieved from youtube.
com/watch?v=hmyfjKjcbm0
Trompenaars, F. & Hamden-Turner, C. (1998). Riding the Waves of Culture: Understanding Diversity in Global Business. London/Santa Rosa: Nicholas Brealey Publishing.
University of Alberta (2008, 7 March). When it comes to emotions, Eastern and Western
cultures see things very differently. Science Daily. Retrieved from sciencedaily.com/
releases/2008/03/080305120850.html
Verdooren, A. (2014). Taking Multiplicity Seriously: Towards New Approaches for Intercultural Practitioners. Interculture Journal, 13(23), 11-24.
Verdooren, A. & Holleran S. (2008). What’s up God? Islam en Hiphop van South Central tot Slotervaart. Eutopia: Internationaal Venster op Politiek, Cultuur en Kunst,
8, 40-52.
Verdooren, A. & Bremer, M. (2012). Interculturele competenties: Bezint eer ge begint.
Opleiding en Ontwikkeling, 5, 10-14.
Vermeulen, F. (2001, 10 April). Een kowtow voor Peking. NRC Handelsblad. Retrieved
from retro.nrc.nl/W2/Nieuws/2001/04/10/Vp/05a.html
Vink, N. (2001). Grenzeloos communiceren: Een nieuwe benadering van interculturele
communicatie. Amsterdam: KIT Publishers.
Vertovec, S. (2007). Super-diversity and its implications. Ethnic and Racial Studies,
29(6), 1024-1054.
Vreeken, R. (2014, 8 February). De metroman van Koerdistan. De Volkskrant. Retrieved
from volkskrant.nl/archief/de-metroman-van-koerdistan~a3592824/
Watkins, M.D. (2013). Making Virtual Teams Work: Ten Basic Principles. Retrieved
from hbr.org/2013/06/making-virtual-teams-work-ten
342
Literature
Watzlawick, P. (1982). The Situation is Hopeless, but not Serious: The Pursuit of Unhappiness. New York: W.W. Norton.
Watzlawick, P., Beavin, J. & Jackson, D. (2011). Pragmatics of human communication: A
study of interactional patterns, pathologies, and paradoxes. New York: W.W. Norton
& Company.
Welten, V.J. (1988). Cultuur en lichaam. Nijmegen: Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen.
Wijnberg, R. (2014). Een ode aan de twijfelaars (met een slag om de arm). De Corres­
pondent. Retrieved from decorrespondent.nl/2050/een-ode-aan-de-twijfelaarsmet-een-slag-om-de-arm/52541500-31ffe1f3
Windek, F. (2010). Political communication in Sub-Saharan Africa and the role of new
media. Retrieved from kas.de/wf/doc/kas_19703-544-2-30.pdf?100526130209
Wiredu, K. (2004). A Companion to African Philosophy. Malden: Blackwell Publishing.
Yuki, M., Maddux, W.W. & Masuda, T. (2007). Are the windows to the soul the same
in the East and West? Cultural differences in using the eyes and mouth as cues to
recognize emotions in Japan and the United States. Journal of Experimental Social
Psychology, 43(2), 303-311. Retrieved from pdfs.semanticscholar.org/e1c0/8394d2d7b370216eaa6c60424a43ea985e23.pdf
Yum, J. (1987). Korean philosophy and communication. In Kincaid, D. (Ed.), Communication theory from Eastern and Western perspectives (pp. 71-85). New York: Academic Press.
Zee, K.I. van der & Oudenhoven, J.P. van (2000). The Multicultural Personality Questionnaire: A multidimensional instrument of multicultural effectiveness. European
Journal of Personality, 14(4), 291-309.
Zee, K.I. van der & Oudenhoven, J.P. van (2006). Culturele diversiteit op het werk. Assen:
Van Gorcum.
Zee, K.I. van der & Oudenhoven, J.P. van (2013). Culture shock challenge? The role of
personality as a determinant of intercultural competence. Journal of Cross-cultural
Psychology, 44, 928-940.
Zee, K.I. van der, Oudenhoven, J.P. van & Grijs, E. (2004). Personality, threat, and cognitive and emotional reactions to stressful intercultural situations. Journal of Personality, 72(5), 1069-1096.
Zindel, L. (2009). They have the clock, we have the time. Tilburg: Universiteit Tilburg
Faculteit Geesteswetenschappen.
Zouwen, T. van der (2005). The logic of courage, discipline and communication: A
theoretical framework for Organisational Development. Retrieved from largescaleinterventions.com/documents/The%20logic%20of%20courage,%20discipline%20
and%20communication.pdf
343
Diversity competence
Websites
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
344
2doc.nl/documentaires/series/2doc/2017/mei/ik-alleen-in-de-klas.html
alwaleed.com.sa/news-and-media/news/driving/
anthropology.msu.edu/anp420-us16/files/2012/06/6.-Verbal-InterculturalCommunication.pdf
carbonated.tv/news/former-cia-undercover-officer-amaryllis-fox-publicly-speaksout-video
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronos
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kairos
geerthofstede.com/culture-geert-hofstede-gert-jan-hofstede/6d-model-ofnational-culture
hd-ca.org
itspronouncedmetrosexual.com
news.xinhuanet.com/english/2016-04/17/c_135287409.htm
npo.nl/langs-de-oevers-van-de-yangtze/14-02-2016/VPWON_1232736
ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Pages/WhatareHumanRights.aspx
richardwiseman.com/LaughLab/Documents/second.html
smilingreport.com/press/2016/PRESS_RELEASE_SmilingReport_2016-03-15.pdf
spurvely.dk/eng-missekalender.html
thefreedictionary.com/taboo
tutufoundationusa.org/2015/10/06/striving-for-ubuntu/ (Tutu about ‘ubuntu’)
twitter.com/Alwaleed_Talal/status/803672332485017600
voanews.com
youtube.com/watch?v=hKD6jzUxkek&feature=related (turn-taking)
youtube.com/watch?v=hmyfjKjcbm0 (TED Talk Trompenaars)
youtube.com/watch?v=HNUHnzkojag (blind trust project)
youtube.com/watch?v=Sm5xF-UYgdg&t=135s (TED Talk Rosling)
youtube.com/watch?v=ThO74-oFt_Q (AT&T chairman Randall Stephenson)
youtube.com/watch?v=xquMVmuNM5c (A different place, the intercultural classroom)
Index
accent 151-152
acceptance phase 73
active listening 291
adaptation phase 73
adapting 310
address, forms of ~ 165
Adichie, C. 32, 83, 85, 239, 240
affective communication style 157
affective orientation 170
aggressive position in interaction 235, 236
allergic reaction 58-60
analytical reasoning 201
anxiety 55
appeal see Intentions (TOPOI area)
appearance 170, 181
Appiah, K. 99
appreciative inquiry 303
approach to culture 19-20
Aristotle 202, 207
artefact 170, 181
assertive orientation vs. humanely oriented 220,
221-222
assertiveness 196
attention 289, 290
■ for social contexts 312
■ giving ~ non-verbally 172-173
attitude 68, 70-71, 72, 75
autonomous leadership 255
Averroes 108, 207
Avery, T. 201
awareness, discourse 84
backchannel 164-165
Baxter Magolda, M. 73
Bennett, M. 62, 63, 73
Bentham, J. 193
bias 89-92
Boas, F. 168
Bourdieu, P. 122
Buddhism 202
business card 266
capabilities approach 103-104
categorical reasoning 201
causality 209
Change, Principle of ~ 203
charismatic leadership 255
checking 306
chronemics 170, 178-179
circle of influence 110-111
circular process of communication 123-125
circularity of communication 216
clarification, asking for and giving ~ 306-311
clothing 170, 181-182
collective experience 121-122
collective world views 191-199
collectivism 196
collectivistic vs. individualistic orientation 220, 221
colonialism 86, 88, 94, 95
colours, meaning of ~ 182
common senses 119-123
■ and intentions 283-284
■ and language 184
■ attention for ~ 312
■ impact of ~ on interpersonal perspectives 238
commonalities 104-105
communicative autonomy 276
communitarianism 221
competenceless competence 21, 74
competitive position in interaction 235, 236
complementary relationship 214, 233, 252
complexity of intercultural experience 73
confirming in writing 264
Confucianism 108, 194-195, 198, 202, 221, 223, 225
Confucius 194, 223, 225
connotative meaning of words 153-155
constructivist perspective on culture 45-46
content level of communication see Order
(TOPOI area)
context and culture 45-47
context in which communication takes place 139144
contextual communication style 157
contextual cues 141-142
345
Diversity competence
contextual reasoning 201
Contradiction, Principle of ~ 203-204
conversational rules 141
cooperation and communication culture 258-259
cooperation in a conversation 162-163
cooperative position in interaction 235, 236
Cornelis, A. 276, 277
courtesy 165
creolization 36
criticism 217, 227, 236, 240, 299
criticizing other cultures 109-110
cross-cultural communication definition 114
cross-cultural perspective 50-52
cultural heterogeneity 31-33
cultural hybridity 36
cultural knowledge 28, 49, 68-70, 72, 75, 115, 116
cultural mixing 36-39
cultural transition 19
culturalism 113
culturalizing approach 40, 113-116
culture 24-34
■ and individuals 40-47
■ and power 78-80
■ definition 24
■ workings 34-40
Deci, L. 276
decision-making 262-263
deculturalizing 65, 102, 117, 288
deductive communication style 158
deductive thinking 209
defence phase 73
defensive mode of interaction 234
defiant position in interaction 235, 236
defining the other 88-89
definition power 78
definitive story 83
democracy 108
denial phase 73
denotative meaning of words 153-155
desire 44-45, see also Intentions (TOPOI area)
dialectical approach 209
dialecticism 202-203
dialogue 100-103, 120
diffuse vs. specific orientation 220, 226-229
dimensions of collective world views 196-199
direct communication style 157
346
direct personal perspectives 218
discourse awareness 84
disregard 280-283
distance and personal space 177
diversity competence definition 21, 75-76
diversity management 251-253
diversity-sensitive communication definition 113
dominant patterns 31
double-loop learning 301-302
double-swing model 125
Dunning, D. 73-74
Dunning-Kruger effect 73-74
dynamic approach to culture 19-20
‘Eastern’ thinking 194, 202-206, 208-209
effects of communication 304-305
egalitarian vs. hierarchical orientation 220, 223224
elaborate communication style 157
Elias, N. 79, 85
Ely, R. 252
email communication 167
emblematic gesture 172
emotions see Intentions (TOPOI area)
■ fundamental ~ 276-278
empathy 70, 291-292
English, international ~ 149-150
Enlightenment 193, 195
essentialist perspective on culture 45-46
ethics 21-22, 92-111
ethnocentrism 24, 59, 82, 94, 115
etiquette 183
excluded middle, law of the ~ 207, 208
exclusion 89-92
exoticness 55
explicit manifestation 141
explicit, making ~ 306
expression of feelings and intentions 170-171
eye contact 173
face, losing/saving ~ 167, 198, 230-232, 291
facial expression 169, 170
familiarity 35-36, 75
feedback, asking for and giving ~ 307-308
feelings, expression of ~ 170-171
feminine vs. masculine orientation 220, 221-222
feminine/masculine (cultural dimension) 196
Index
first-order desire 44-45
flexibility (attitude) 71
flexible categories 69
following mode of interaction 234
following position in interaction 235, 236
form, message ~ 141
formalism 209
frame 141
Frankfurt, H. 44
Fukuyama, F. 281
future orientation 196, 198
gender egalitarianism 196
generalizations, specific ~ 69
genre 140
geographical context 250
globalization 16, 37-38, 245, 246-248
globalized identities 38
GLOBE 193, 195, 196, 197, 254-255, 280
Goffman, E. 167
grammar of context 140-141
greetings 182-183
Grice, P. 162
groups 26-27, 80
Gudykunst, W. 55, 69, 156, 157
Gumperz, J. 141, 176-177
Hall, E. 139, 142, 143, 144, 177, 195, 196, 280
Hamden-Turner, C. 195-196, 225-226, 229, 280
Hansen, K. 19, 36
haptics 169, 171
Hegelian dialectic 203
helping position in interaction 235, 236
heritage, vertical and horizontal ~ 105
heroes, shared ~ in a culture 29
heterogeneity, cultural ~ 31-33
hierarchical vs. egalitarian orientation 220, 223224
high-context communication 142-144, 159
history and culture 29-31
Hofstede, G. 115, 118, 193, 195, 196, 198-199, 280
holism 201, 202, 203, 205-206
honour 230-232
horizontal equality between cultures 96
horizontal heritage 105
hostility 57-58
human rights 105-108
human universals 103-105
humane orientation 196, 220, 221-222, 255
humour 161
hybridity, cultural ~ 36
hypothesis of the best 274, 292, 294
identity see Persons (TOPOI area)
■ law of ~ 207
■ multiple ~ 232-233
■ -related strangeness 61, 232
ideology 184
implicit bias 89
implicit language 159-160
implicit manifestation 141
inclusiveness 70
indaba 263
indirect communication style 157, 159
indirect interpersonal perspective 218
individualism 40-47, 196, 220, 221
■ radical ~ 42-43
inductive communication style 156
inductive thinking 188, 189, 209
indulgence/restraint (cultural dimension) 196, 198
influence
■ circle of ~ 110-111
■ of culture 34-40
informal orientation vs. sensitive to status 220,
223-224
informing 310
in-group 57, 196
inner side 272-273
institutional collectivism 196, 197
institutional context see Organization (TOPOI
area)
instrumental communication style 157
integration phase 73
Intentions (TOPOI area) 125, 127, 269-285
intention, expression of ~ (TOPOI area Tongue)
170-171
interaction, intercultural ~ 19, 20, 51-52
intercultural communication 88-89
■ definition 114
intercultural competence 49-76
■ definition 62-63
intercultural interaction 19, 20, 51-52
intercultural maturity 73
intercultural perspective 50-52
347
Diversity competence
intercultural situation definition 54
intercultural skills 68, 71-72
interculturality 20
■ definition 54
international English 149-150
international team, virtual ~ 257-258
interpersonal communication 117, 119, 123-125,
126
interpersonal perspectives 218-219
interpersonal verbal communication style 156-159
interventions, TOPOI ~ 128, 287-314
intonation 176
involvement 289, 290
Jack, R. 170
Jansseune, T. 231
junzi 194
just-world hypothesis 81
kairos 178
key 141, 175
Kim, Y. 55, 69
kinesics 169
King, P. 73
kisho-tenketsu 188
Kluckhohn, C. 24, 118
Kluckhohn, F. 195, 196, 278-280, 283
knowledge, cultural ~ 28, 49, 68-70, 72, 75, 115, 116
knowledge, shared ~ in a culture 28
Kopp, R. 261, 272, 275, 307, 309
Korzybski, A. 153
Kreps, G. 117
Kroeber, A. 24
Kruger, J. 73-74
kūki wo yomu 290
Kunimoto, E. 117
language see Tongue (TOPOI area)
■ position 147-148, 311
■ shared ~ in a culture 28-29
■ speaking one’s own ~ 311
■ transfer 147, 150-151
laughing 174
leadership style 253-256
leading mode of interaction 234
leading position in interaction 235, 236
Leary, T. 233, 236
348
Leary’s Rose 233-238
legislation 248
lemniscate model 125
Lerner, M. 81
linear meeting 260
listening, active ~ 291
Liu, S. 209
logic and views see Order (TOPOI area)
long-term orientation 196, 198
low-context communication 142-144
Maalouf, A. 105
macro-institutional context 245
management, diversity ~ 251-253
manifestation 141
masculine vs. feminine orientation 220, 221-222
masculine/feminine (cultural dimension) 196
Maslow, A. 280
maturity, intercultural ~ 73
McIntosh, P. 81
meeting 260-263
Mehrabian, A. 146
meso-institutional context 251
message form 141
metacommunication 309-310
meta-message 145
Meyer, E. 156, 180, 209, 227, 228, 253, 256, 261,
290, 319-322
micro-institutional context 260
Middle Way 206, 209, 226
minimization phase 73
mixing, cultural ~ 36-39
monism 94-95
monochroneous meeting 260
monochroneous time orientation 178
motive see Intentions (TOPOI area )
moving 174
multicollectivity 40-42, 66-67, 117
multifaceted approach to culture 19-20
multiple identity 232-233
Murray, H. 118
national world view 195-196
native language 146-147
needs see Intentions (TOPOI area)
■ basic ~ 276-278
neglect see disregard
Index
Nemawashi approach 262-263
neuroticism 72
neutral orientation 170
Nisbett, R. 199, 202
‘no’ and ‘yes’ 160-161, 172, 306
non-contradiction, law of ~ 207, 208
non-exclusion 99, 103, 105
non-verbal language 144-146, 168-183
norm image 240
normality 35, 75
normalizing 21, 64-66, 288
norms 28, 109
not-knowing 75
Nussbaum, M. 103-104
objective reframing 302
observing 310
odour 170, 181
offensive mode of interaction 234
Ofman, D. 58-59
olfactics 170, 181
open-minded 91
openness 70
Order (TOPOI area) 125, 127, 187-210
Organization (TOPOI area) 125, 127, 243-267
other, defining the ~ 88-89
Oudenhoven, J.P. van 63, 64, 71, 72
outer side 272-273
out-group 57
outsider 81
performance orientation 196, 197-198
performance-oriented leadership 255
personal communication style 157
personal space 177
Persons (TOPOI area) 125, 127, 213-241
Plato 202, 207
pluralism 93, 98-103
polite behaviour, non-verbal ~ 183
politeness 165-166
political context 249
polychroneous meeting 260-261
polychroneous time 178-179
position, language ~ 147-148, 311
positions and power 82-83
positive intention 274-275
power 21-22, 78-92, 196, 249
■ definition 78, 79
prejudice 123, 238-239
pressure, social ~ 120
Preter, M. de 298
privilege and power 81-82
Procee, H. 93, 98
producers, people as ~ of culture 43-44
products, people as ~ of culture 43-44
profession and power 82-83
pronunciation 151-152
prosody 169, 175
proxemics 170, 177
punctuation 189-190
purpose of communication 140
paralinguistics 169, 175
participants 141, see also Organization (TOPOI
area) and Persons (TOPOI area)
participation in meetings 261
participative leadership 255
particularistic vs. universalistic orientation 220,
225-226
pattern 31
■ response ~ 63-64
Peeters, F. 297
Peng, K. 203
perception
■ influence of culture on ~ 34-35
■ of non-verbal language 168-169
■ selective ~ 57-58
Perez, R. 73
racism 94, 95
radical individuality 42-43
radical respect 297
Rathje, S. 20, 36, 42, 67, 75
reactions, allergic ~ 58-60
reading the air 134, 140, 290-291
reality, culture als a model of and for ~ 34-35
receiver’s meaning 145
recognition 232, 280-281, 297-298
recursivity 215-217
reflection framework (TOPOI) 128
reflection in/on action 127, 301-302
reflectiveness 71
reframing 300-303
regulations 248
rejection 280-283
349
Diversity competence
relational reasoning 201
relationship level of communication see Persons
(TOPOI area)
Relationship, Principle of ~ 203, 205-206
relativism 93, 95-98
repertoire 20, 27-29
respect, radical ~ 297
response pattern 63-64
restraint/indulgence (cultural dimension) 196, 198
rituals 29
rules, conversational ~ 141
Rushd, I. 108, 207
Ryan, R. 276
Said, E. 88
scenario 141
scene 140
scheme 141
Schön, D. 127
Scollon, R. 140
script 140, 141
seating arrangement 265
second-order desire 44-45
selective perception 57-58
Self-Determination Theory 276, 277
self-protective leadership 255
Sen, A. 103
sensitive to status vs. informal orientation 220,
223-224
sentence meaning 145
sequence 141
sequential time orientation 179
setting 140
Shim, W. 73
short-term orientation 196
silence 179-181
single story 32, 219, 239-240
single-loop learning 301
situation, intercultural ~ definition 54
skills, intercultural ~ 68, 71-72
smell 170, 181
social dialogue 120
social media 246-248
social pressure 120
societal context see Organization (TOPOI area)
socio-economic context 250
space, giving ~ 303-304
350
space, personal ~ 177
speaker’s meaning 145
speaking one’s own language 311
specific generalizations 69
specific vs. diffuse orientation 220, 226-229
stability layers in cultures 276-278
status 220, 223-224, 230, 232, 255, 256, 265
stereotype 32, 83-85, 91-92, 123, 238-239, 240
■ threat 87
Stier, J. 84
stories and power 83-87
strangeness 52-61, 71, 75, 232
Strodtbeck, F. 195, 196, 278-280, 283
structural power relations 249
style of leading a group 253-256
style, communication ~ 141
subculture 26, 33
subjective view 190-191
succinct communication style 157
superdiversity 39
symbolic gesture 172
symmetrical relationship 214, 233
synchronic time orientation 179
synergy 251-252
taboo 162, 173
tacit manifestation 141
tactile communication 171
Taoism 202, 204
team-oriented leadership 255
Thomas, D. 252
threat, stereotype ~ 87
threat, strangeness as a ~ 55-56
time 264-265
■ communicative value of ~ 178-179
■ difference of ~ zone 265
Ting-Toomey, S. 156, 157, 231
Todorov, T. 232
tolerance 96
Tongue (TOPOI area) 125, 127, 138-185
topic of communication 140, 162
TOPOI model 22, 125-130
■ Tongue 125, 127, 138-185
■ Order 125, 127, 187-210
■ Persons 125, 127, 213-241
■ Organization 125, 127, 243-267
■ Intentions 125, 127, 269-285
Index
tradition 29
transcultural communication definition 114
transfer, language ~ 147, 150-151
transformational leadership 255
transformative learning 300-301
transition, cultural ~ 19
translation 155
transnational culture 33-34
Trompenaars, F. 179, 195-196, 225-226, 229, 280
trust 228-229, 289, 298
truth battle 296, 298-299
turn-taking 163-164
Tutu, D. 123, 221
ubuntu 221
ultimate attribution error 57
uncertainty 55, 75
■ avoidance 196, 197
unconscious bias 89-92
unfamiliarity 54-55
Universal Declaration of Human Rights 105-106
universalism 93-95, 97-98, 220, 225-226
universals, human ~ 103-105
utilitarianism 193
values 109, see also Intentions (TOPOI area)
■ shared ~ in a culture 28
verbal language 144-167
vertical heritage 105
vertical hierarchy between cultures 94
views and logic see Order (TOPOI area)
virtual international team 257-258
vocabulary 152-153
walking 174
Watzlawick, P. 22, 126, 144, 189, 190, 191, 213,
214, 219, 243, 270
Welten, V. 217
‘Western’ thinking 193, 202, 207-209
withdrawn position in interaction 235, 236
workings of culture 34-40
wu wei 195
‘yes’ and ‘no’ 160-161, 172, 306
yin-yang 203, 204
Yuki, M. 169
Zee, K. van der 63, 64, 71, 72
value orientations (Kluckhohn & Strodtbeck)
278-280
value-based leadership 255
351
Information about the authors
Edwin Hoffman
Dr Edwin Hoffman (Dutch nationality, born in Indonesia and living in Austria)
works as an independent researcher, trainer and adviser in intercultural communication and diversity competence at Jaksche & Hoffman. Edwin is associated with the Alpen Adria University in Klagenfurt, Austria as an external
lecturer and is a regular guest lecturer at universities and universities of applied
sciences. Edwin developed the TOPOI model: a systemic framework of points
of attention and interventions for diversity-sensitive communication. He is the
author of several publications, including the main publications Interculturele
gespreksvoering: Theorie en Praktijk van het TOPOI model (in Dutch, 2013, revised edition 2018), Interkulturelle Gesprächsführung: Theorie und Praxis des
TOPOI Modells (Intercultural conversation: Theory and Practice of the TOPOI
model) (in German, 2015), and, as co-author, De stille kracht van leiderschap:
Een Indisch perspectief (The silent power of leadership: An ‘Indo’ perspective)
(2008).
Email: e.hoffman@gmx.at or edwin@jakschehoffman.at
URL: jakschehoffman.at
Arjan Verdooren
Arjan Verdooren was born and raised in one of Amsterdam’s most multicultural suburbs. During his studies in Communication, he developed a deep interest
in intercultural communication. After receiving his MSc, he started working
for the Royal Tropical Institute (Koninklijk Instituut voor de Tropen), an independent knowledge centre for international and intercultural cooperation, as
a trainer and consultant of intercultural communication, intercultural competence and cultural diversity. Over the years, he has worked with a wide range of
clients, ranging from companies to schools and professional football organizations. He is also a regular guest lecturer at several universities and universities
of applied sciences. Arjan sees it as his main contribution to the intercultural
field to connect theory and practice and has published several articles for professional and academic journals. He is still associated with the Royal Tropical
Institute and divides his time between Amsterdam, the Netherlands and Göteborg, Sweden.
Email: arjan@verdooren.com
URL: arjanverdooren.com
352