Campus Irapuato-Salamanca

Sede Yuriria
UNIDAD DE APRENDIZAJE
Intercultural Communication: Cultural
Dimensions and cultural variety
 Communicating across culture
• Cross-cultural communication is a field of study
that looks at how people from differing cultural
backgrounds communicate, in similar and different
ways among themselves , and how they endeavor to
communicate across cultures
 Culture
• “Values and perspectives shared by people who are
conditioned by similar education and life experience“
• Regional: country, area, community
• Religious: sects, variations, etc.
• Corporate: industry, company, department
• Other groups: schools, clubs, etc.
 Characteristics of culture
• Culture is not inherent, but learned

• Cultures are rooted in deep seated beliefs

• Culture is the basis for self-identity and community

• Cultures are dynamic

 Cultural barriers
• Language. Language is one of the most obvious cultural
barriers. Differences in language can render two human beings
completely incapable of talking to one another.
• Anxiety. We live in a culturally diverse world. People will
encounter individuals from different races, religions, and
nationalities in their day to day encounters. There is often
anxiety surrounding unfamiliar cultures.
• Lack of understanding. One of the main barriers to effective-
cross cultural communication is the lack of understanding that
is frequently present between people from diverse
backgrounds. As they may have different values, beliefs,
methods of reasoning, communication styles, work styles and
personality types, communication difficulties will often occur.
 The Nature of Culture
• Culture is the acquired knowledge
that people use to interpret
experience and generate social
behavior
• Cultural knowledge forms values,
creates attitudes, and influences
behavior
• Not everyone in a culture has
exactly the same values.
 Values and Folkways
• Values are cultural beliefs about right
and wrong. Values have moral
significance and are often included in
law.
• Folkways are customary ways of
behaving, with little or no moral
significance.
• Examples: wedding customs, what to
wear to a funeral
 Cultural Values
• Freedom • Belonging • Family security
• Independence • Group harmony • Family harmony
• Self-reliance • Collectiveness • Parental guidance
• Equality • Age/seniority • Age
• Individualism • Group consensus • Authority
• Competition • Cooperation • Compromise
• Efficiency • Quality • Devotion
• Time • Patience • Patience
• Directness • Indirectness • Indirectness
• Openness • Go-between • Hospitality
• ( United States) • (Japan) • ( Arab Countries)
 Sub-cultures and Cultural Change
• Groups within a culture may be part of
a sub-culture that varies in some ways
from the national culture.
• Cultures can change gradually over
time.
• People who have worked outside their
own country or have friends from other
cultures may pick up some attitudes or
behaviors from the other culture.
 How Cultures View Each Other
• Stereotyping: assumes that all people within one culture or group
behave, believe, feel, and act the same.
• Ethnocentrism: occurs when people from one culture believe that theirs
are the only correct norms, values, and beliefs.
• Self-reference criterion: the assumption that people in another culture will
behave like people in your culture
 Cultural Dimensions
(Hofstede’s theory ofCultural Dimensions)
• How can we understand cultural differences? Are we
relegated to learning from our mistakes, or are there
generalized guidelines to follow?
• Fortunately, psychologist Dr Geert Hofstede asked
himself this question in the 1970s. What emerged
after a decade of research and thousands of
interviews is a model of cultural dimensions that has
become an internationally recognized standard.
• He collected cultural data and analyzed his findings.
He initially identified four distinct cultural dimensions
that served to distinguish one culture from another.
Later he added a fifth dimension, and that is how the
model stands today.
 Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions
• Power distance: The extent to which less powerful
members of institutions and organizations accept
that power is distributed unequally
• High power distance countries: people may blindly
obey the orders of their superiors and are less likely
to question authority. Companies tend to use
centralized decision-making and tall organization
structures (many levels of management)
• Low power distance countries: flatter and
decentralized organization structures, smaller ratio of
supervisors. Employees are more likely to question
their bosses. Participative management may be
used.
 Individualism and Collectivism
• Individualism: Tendency of people to look after
themselves and their immediate family only
• Countries high in individualism: High individual
initiative. Promotions are based on
achievement. Salaries are based on market
value.
• Collectivism: Tendency of people to belong to
groups or collectives and to look after each
other in exchange for loyalty
• Countries high in collectivism: Low individual
initiative. Salaries and promotions may be
based on seniority
 Uncertainty Avoidance
• Uncertainty avoidance: Extent to which people
feel threatened by ambiguous situations and
have created beliefs and institutions that try to
avoid such situations
• High uncertainty avoidance countries: people have high need
for security, strong belief in experts and their knowledge,
more written rules and procedures, less risk taking by
managers.
• Low uncertainty avoidance countries: people are more willing
to accept risks associated with the unknown, fewer written
rules and procedures, more risk taking by managers, higher
employee turnover, more ambitious employees.
 Masculinity and Femininity
• Masculinity: the dominant social values are
success, money and things
• Countries high in masculinity: People place great
importance on earnings, recognition, advancement,
challenge, and wealth. High job stress.
• Femininity: the dominant social values are
caring for others and the quality of life
• Countries high in femininity: great importance on
cooperation, friendly atmosphere, employment security,
and the natural environment. Low job stress.
 Long Term Orientation (LTO)
• This refers to how much society values long-standing – as opposed
to short-term – traditions and values. This is the fifth dimension that
Hofstede added in the 1990s, after finding that Asian countries with a
strong link to Confucian philosophy acted differently from Western
cultures. In countries with a high LTO score, delivering on social
obligations and avoiding "loss of face" are considered very important.

• Application: According to the model, people in the United States and

United Kingdom have low LTO scores. This suggests that you can
pretty much expect anything in this culture in terms of creative
expression and novel ideas. The model implies that people in the
U.S. and U.K. don't value tradition as much as many others, and are
therefore likely to be willing to help you execute the most innovative
plans as long as they get to participate fully. (This may be surprising
to people in the U.K., with its associations of tradition.)
 Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions
Understanding Values Around the World

• Armed with a large database of

cultural statistics, Hofstede
analyzed the results and found
clear patterns of similarity and
difference amid the responses
along these five dimensions.
 Trompenaars’ Cultural Dimensions
• Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner developed the model after
spending 10 years researching the preferences and values of
people in dozens of cultures around the world. As part of this,
they sent questionnaires to more than 46,000 managers in 40
countries.
• They concluded that what distinguishes people from one
culture compared with another is where these preferences fall
on each of the following seven dimensions:
• Universalism vs particularism.
• Individualism vs communitarianism.
• Specific vs diffuse
• Neutral vs emotional.
• Achievement vs ascription.
• Sequential time vs synchronous time.
• Internal direction vs outer direction.
 Universalism vs. particularism

• Universalism – the belief that ideas and

practices can be applied everywhere in the
world without modification. People tend to
focus on formal rules and expect business
partners to do the same.
• Particularism – the belief that circumstances
dictate how ideas and practices should be
applied and some things cannot be done the
same way everywhere. People tend to focus
on relationships, working things out to suit
those involved.
 Individualism Versus Communitarianism
• People believe in personal freedom and achievement.
They believe that you make your own decisions, and
that you must take care of yourself.
• People believe that the group is more important than
the individual. The group provides help and safety, in
exchange for loyalty. The group always comes before
the individual.
• Typical individualist cultures include the U.S., Canada,
the U.K, Scandinavia, New Zealand, Australia, and
Switzerland. Typical communitarian cultures include
countries in Latin-America, Africa, and Japan.
 Specific Vs Diffuse (How Far People
Get Involved)
• People keep work and personal lives separate.
As a result, they believe that relationships don't
have much of an impact on work objectives,
and, although good relationships are important,
they believe that people can work together
without having a good relationship.
• People see an overlap between their work and
personal life. They believe that good
relationships are vital to meeting business
objectives, and that their relationships with
others will be the same, whether they are at
work or meeting socially. People spend time
outside work hours with colleagues and clients.
 Neutral versus Emotional Cultures
• Neutral culture – a culture in which
emotions are held in check. People try
not to show their feelings
• Emotional culture – a culture in which
emotions are expressed openly and
naturally. People smile, may talk
loudly, greet each other with
enthusiasm, show happiness or
unhappiness.
 Achievement vs. Ascription
• Achievement culture - culture in which
people are accorded status based on how well
they perform their work and what they have
accomplished Job, work performance,
education, etc.
• Ascription culture - culture in which status is
attributed based on who or what a person is
• For example, status may be accorded on the
basis of age, gender, family, tribe, ethnic
group, etc.
 Use of Time

• Sequential use of time -

people do one thing at a time,
keep appointments strictly,
follow plans to the letter
• Synchronous use of time -
people do more than one thing
at a time, appointments are
approximate
Internal Direction Versus Outer Direction
• Inner-directed: People believe in
controlling environmental outcomes
and think that they can control what
happens to them.
• Outer-directed: People believe in
allowing things to take their natural
course and living in harmony with
nature. People are less likely to
believe that they can control what
happens to them.
END OF PRESENTATION