Venkata Manikantha Allagadda

30066555

Intercultural Communication

Introduction

Intercultural Communication Defined:

Intercultural communication (referred as Cross-cultural communication)

is an important factor observed in our day-to-day business as it is frequently observed

in the organizational behaviours and approaches. Intercultural communication, in its

simplest sense, means communication between people from different cultures.

According to Samovar and Porter (10:1991) Intercultural communication occurs

whenever a message is produced by a member of one culture for consumption by a

member of another culture, a message must be understood. Because of cultural

differences in these kinds of contacts, the potential for misunderstanding and

disagreement is great. History teaches us that culture always changes because of

internal and external influences. Communication is the most important quality for

anyone to work on if they want to work or be part of an intercultural society.

Communication between different cultures is a major topic for communication

theorists. Today, both culture and communication have evolved considerably and have

become interdependent of one another. Intercultural communication is a symbolic,

interpretive, transactional, contextual process in which the degree of difference

between people is large and important enough to create dissimilar interpretations and

expectations about what is regarded as competent behaviours that should be used to

create shared meanings (Koester, at el. 93).

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Styles of Approaches in Intercultural Communication:

Communication habits are largely determined by culture; in cross-cultural

situations we should see contrasts in these styles of communication. One of the most

striking differences is in how a point is discussed, whether in writing or verbally, as

illustrated in the following example. European Americans, particularly males, tend to

use a linear style that marches through point a, point b, and point c, establishes links

from point to point, and finally states an explicit conclusion. When someone veers off

this line, he or she is likely to hear a statement such as “I’m not quite following you,”

or “Could we cut to the chase,” or “What’s the bottom line?” In many school systems,

this style has been established as the only one indicative of clear critical thinking. It is,

however, a culturally rare form of discourse. [Milton J. Bennett, 1998]

Another area where differences in communication style are

particularly obvious is around confrontation. European and African

Americans tend to be rather direct in their style of confrontation,

compared with the indirectness of many Asians and Hispanics.

Adherents of the direct style favour face-to-face discussion of

problems, relatively open expression of feeling, and a willingness to

say yes or no in answer to questions. People socialized in the more

indirect style tend to seek third-person intermediaries for conducting

difficult discussions, suggest rather than state feelings, and protect

their own and others “face” by providing the appearance of

ambiguity in response to questions.

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Improvement of Intercultural Communication:

Intercultural communication is one of the key aspects commonly observed in the

day-to-day life. Three main issues surround the problem of intercultural

communication: language barriers, cultural diversity, and ethnocentrism. Among these,

Ethnocentrism is a major barrier which can be avoided as discussed below.

Ethnocentric is defined as using one’s own set of standards and customs to judge

all people, often unconsciously. Ethno relative means the opposite; it refers to being

comfortable with many standards and customs and to having an ability to adapt

behaviour and judgments to a variety of interpersonal settings. Peter S. Adler

suggested different phases in intercultural development.Following are short

descriptions of each of six stages of development.

Denial. People at the denial stage are unable to construe cultural differences in

complex ways. They probably live in relative isolation from other cultures, either by

happenstance or by choice. Either they do not perceive cultural differences at all, or

they can conceive only of broad categories such as “foreigner,” “people of color,” or

“Africans.” People at this stage may use stereotypes in their description of others that

are not meant to denigrate but are based on knowing only one or two things about the

other people.

Defence. People at the defence stage have more ability to construe cultural difference,

but they attach negative evaluations to it. They combat the threat of change to their

stable worldview by denigrating others with negative stereotypes and by attaching

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positive stereotypes to themselves. Consequently, they view their own culture as the

acme of “development” and tend to evaluate different cultures as “underdeveloped.”

Minimization. People at the minimization stage try to bury cultural differences within

already-familiar categories of physical and philosophical similarity. They recognize

and accept external cultural differences such as eating customs and other social

prospectives, but they assume that deep down all people are essentially the same—just

human. As a consequence of this assumption, certain cultural values may be mistaken

for universal desires;

Acceptance. People at the acceptance stage enjoy recognizing and exploring cultural

differences. They are aware that they themselves are cultural beings. They are fairly

tolerant of ambiguity and are comfortable knowing there is no one right answer

(although there are better answers for particular contexts). “Acceptance” does not

mean that a person has to agree with or take on a cultural perspective other than his or

her own. Rather, people accept the viability of different cultural ways of thinking and

behaving, even though they might not like them.

Adaptation. People at the adaptation stage use knowledge about their own and others’

cultures to intentionally shift into a different cultural frame of reference. That is, they

can empathize or take another person’s perspective in order to understand and be

understood across cultural boundaries. Based on their ability to use alternative cultural

interpretations, people in this stage can modify their behaviour in ways that make it

more appropriate to cultures other than their own. This intercultural competence may

include the ability to recognize how power is being exercised within a cultural context,

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and some people may themselves be able to exercise power in ways that are

appropriate to the other culture.

Integration. People at the integration stage of development are attempting to reconcile

the sometimes conflicting cultural frames that they have internalized. In the transition

to this stage, some people become overwhelmed by the cultures they know and are

disturbed that they can no longer identify with any one of them. But as they move into

integration, people achieve an identity which allows them to see themselves as

“interculturalists” or “multiculturalists” in addition to their national and ethnic

backgrounds. They recognize that worldviews are collective constructs and that

identity is itself a construction of consciousness. As a consequence, they may seek out

roles that allow them to be intercultural mediators and exhibit other qualities of

“constructive marginality.” The goodness or ethicality of actions is not given by

absolute (and ethnocentric) principles but is constructed by human beings who thereby

take responsibility for the realities they are creating. Thus, people in integration face

the unending task of guiding their own behaviour along the ethical lines that they

themselves have created. [Peter S. Adler(1998)]

Conclusion:

Intercultural perspective offers more than an effective way to analyze

interaction and make easy adaptation. In my opinion, intercultural communication

supports and improves the unity and diversity, of cooperation and competition in the

global environment, and also the agreements and disagreements in multicultural

societies. Also by not ignoring the basic ethics of the human beings the intercultural

communication mainly depends on the individuals and the relationship between them.

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In this prospective, we can overcome the problems in a series of stages as mentioned in

the above context.

References:

• Mohan, T., McGregor, H., Saunders, A., Archee, R. (2004) Communicating as

Professionals. Victoria, Australia: Thomson.

• Wiseman, Richard L. and Koester, Jolene, (1993), Intercultural

Communication Competence, Sage Publications, Newbury Park, CA. Retrieved

January 3rd, 2009 from http://www.books.google.com/

• Peter S. Adler(1998),“Beyond Cultural Identity:Reflections on

Multiculturalism” in Bennett Retrieved January 3rd, 2009 from

http://www.books.google.com/

• Larry A. Samovar and Richard E. Porter 1991: Basic Principles of Intercultural

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Communication: A Reader. Wadsworth, Inc., CA:USA. Retrieved January 3rd,

2009 from http://www.books.google.com/

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intercultural_communication

• Fee-Alexandra Haase(September 2005),"Intercultural Communication and

Speech Style" Volume 7 Issue 3 Article 2 Retrieved January 16th, 2009 from

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Communication, issue: 45,p 60-69 Retrieved January 16th, 2009 from from

http://www.ceeol.com/

• How to cite references (1996). Retrieved January 18, 2009, from Murdoch

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