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Prepared by Siti Rokiah Siwok , for UHS 2052 students at UTM
Malaysia. srsiwok@gmail.com

• Intercultural communication is a situation in which people from diverse cultural backgrounds are engaged in communication. Intercultural communication is communication between people whose cultural perceptions and symbol systems are distinct enough to alter the communication events (Porter & Samovar,2001)
• Intercultural communication refers to the communication between people from two different culture (Guo-Ming
Chen & Starosta,1998)
• The interaction between people of difference culture background (Martin & Nakayama,2000)

• A “classic definition” by E.B. Taylor
(1967):
“ a complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law morals, customs, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society”

• Clifford Geertz (anthropologist):
“ Culture denotes a historically transmitted pattern of meaning embodied in symbols, a system of inherited conceptions expressed in symbolic forms by means of which men communicate, perpetuate and develop their knowledge about attitudes toward life”

• Harry C. Triandis ( 1994):
“ Culture is a shared meaning system, found among those, who speak a particular language dialect, during a specific historic, period and in a definable geographic region”

culture
• etic
An "etic" account is a description of a behavior or belief by an observer, in terms that can be applied to other cultures; that is, an etic account attempts to be 'culturally neutral'.
• emic
An "emic" account is a description of behavior or a belief in terms meaningful (consciously or unconsciously) to the actor; that is, an emic account comes from a person within the culture. Almost anything from within a culture can provide an emic account.

• Complex
• Many approaches

Layers of culture (1985)
Assumptions
Values
Artifact

• Another way of looking at Schein’s representation of organizational culture (2004):

Culture by Hofstede (1994)
Nilai (value)
Upacara (ritual)
Hero
Simbol (symbol)
Amalan (practices)

Layers of culture by Trompenaars (1995)
Basic assumption(implicit
)
Norms and values
Artifacts and products (explicit)

Why the need for Intercultural
Communication Competence?
• An increasingly diverse and integrated world
• Work-place harmony
• Peace and security in the world
• Globalization
• etc

Individuals Challenges for Intercultural
Understanding
Cognitive Challenges
The frame of reference or world view which provides the backdrop that all new information is compared to or invested into
Behavior Challenges
Each culture has its own rules concerning proper behavior which affect verbal and non-verbal communication

Individuals Challenges for Intercultural
Understanding (cntd)
Emotional Challenges
Different cultures regulate the displace of emotions differently. Some cultures get very emotional while others try to keep their emotion hidden -

Some Cultural Dimensions and
Variations :
• Monochronic v. Polychronic Time Orientation*
• Low or High Context Communication*

• Hall (1959) first proposed the handling of time as one of the key components of culture. He used the terms Monochronic and Polychronic to describe two basic orientations to time.
• The Monochronic orientation (or "M-Time") views time as sequential and linear. Time is seen as being a limited resource which is constantly being used up, and thus scheduling tends to be "tighter," more rigid, with great importance placed on promptness.

• From the Monochronic perspective, late arrival for a meeting is viewed as rudeness, and events and activities are scheduled sequentially, one after another, to avoid overlapping. This perspective is oriented to the future.

Monochronic and Polychronic (cntd)
• The Polychronic orientation (or "P-Time") views time in a more "circular" fashion, as the turning of the seasons, and time is seen as renewing itself each year. Scheduling tends to be "loose" and flexible, with many last-minute changes to even highly significant events and activities.
Often many activities are juggled simultaneously, and promptness is not considered important. This perspective is oriented to the past and/or present.

• Monochronic people are more likely to be taskoriented than relationship-oriented, and may be viewed by polychronic observers as "valuing things over people."
• In contrast, polychronic people are more relationship-oriented than task-oriented and thus may be viewed by monochronic observers as not taking their work and goals seriously.

Monochronic and Polychronic (cntd)
• Monochronic people are likely to feel insulted when a polychronic acquaintance or colleague is late for a meeting; polychronic people are likely to be offended when a monochronic acquaintance or colleague seems too focused on their work to swap stories about their families or what is going on in the world around them.

Monochronic
• One task at a time
• Efficient task performance
• Need to save time and energy
• Short term framework, time is tangible
• Stress caused by deadlines will increase directness as they tend to be achievement oriented and goal driven.
Polychronic
• Many tasks are handled simultaneously.
• Less emphasis on priotizing tasks and on approximate attitudes to time frames.
• Obscurer and less mindful of time constraints.
• Long term perspective, time is fluid and felxible.
• Able to retain their composure and to draw on social support for other team member.

High/Low context communication
Addresses the amount of information contained in the context (or setting) rather than in the transmitted message itself.
High context communications feature preprogrammed information that is in the receiver and in the setting, with only minimal information in the transmitted message.
Low context communications are the reverse.
Most of the information must be in the transmitted message in order to make up for what is missing in the context (both internal and external).

• The context of communication addresses the amount of information contained in the context (or setting) rather than in the transmitted message itself.

High/Low context communication (cntd)
• In high context cultures, there is an expectation of shared knowledge, the information is implicit, and the communication is less direct. In contrast, “in a low context culture . . . information is explicit; procedures are explained, and expectations are discussed,” and a literal, direct style of communication is seen.
• With respect to nationalities, the United States,
Germany, Switzerland and other Northern European countries are considered to be low context, in contrast to the high context seen in cultures like Japan, Arabian and
Mediterranean countries
Edward T. Hall, Beyond Culture (1989)

Low vs. High Context Cultures
Low Context
• Screens its direct attention more to the literal meanings of words and less to the content surrounding the words.
High Context
• Is designed to let in implied meanings arising from physical setting, relations, or shared understandings.
• We “say what we mean and mean what we say”
• Leave for spaces for interpretation and replication of messages.
• Non-verbal signals are used to infer, imply, insinuate or deliver messages that we want to transmit indirectly.

• Most people use a mixture of low and high context communication.

The “Third Culture”
• Third Culture: the establishment of common culture including “new” communication rules, taking into account the demand of situational characteristics, the cultural identity of the other person, and the existence of shared intercultural norms that are not necessarily the same as one’s home culture.

• Sosialisasi (Socialization)
• Kesepadanan budaya (cultural fit, organizational fit, person-environment fit)
• Akulturasi (Acculturation)
• Pelarasan (Adjustment)

• Barriers to communication happen due to the differences between the cultures, which includes ……………….
• The good news is we can improve our competency in intercultural communication.

• Language
• Attitude
• Understanding
• Perception
• etc

• Ethnocentrism
• Culture shock
• Relativism culture
• Normative culture
• Self-esteem
• Race
• Countries
• Continents

• Ethnic group
• Flexible
• Tolerant

• NOTE:
• Some authors differentiate between intercultural communication and cross-cultural communication, as below :
• intercultural communication is the communication between various groups of people within a particular country while cross-cultural communication is the communication between cultures of a least two different countries.

• References:
• Various
• http://orpc.iaccp.org/index.php?option
• Thank you very much to the people who have shared their knowledge over the net.