Communication Challenges In Social and Professional Contexts
I would like a 2500 word essay comparing and contrasting intercultural and/or international communication challenges within social and professional contexts.
I would like to use case studies from multilingual contexts and draw from the theories by Edward Hall and Geert Hofstede.
For instance, Hall describes important cultural factors and dimensions.
High-context cultures: Interpretation of messages heavily rests on contextual cues. EG China and Japan
Low-context cultures: Emphasis put on the written or spoken word. What is meant is what is said. EG USA and Germany.
Monochromic Time: Doing one thing at a time. It assumes careful planning and scheduling. Significance put on ‘Time Management'. EG Germany and Australia.
Polychromic Time: Human interactions are valued over time and material things, leading to a lesser concern for ‘getting things done’. EG Mexico and Saudi Arabia; They do get things done, but more in their own time.
Low Territoriality: Space and Boundaries are less Important. People will share territory and ownership with little thought.
High Territoriality: People have greater concern over ownership. They seek to mark out the areas that belong to them.
Whereas Hofstede uses the National Culture Model:
Power Distance Index (PDI): This dimension expresses the degree to which less powerful members of a society accept and expect that power is distributed unequally.
Individualism Versus Collectivism (IDV): How personal needs and goals are prioritized vs. the needs and goals of the group
Masculinity Versus Femininity (MAS): The masculinity side of this dimension represents a preference in society for achievement, heroism, assertiveness and competition. Its opposite, Femininity, stands for a preference for cooperation, consensus, caring for the weak and quality of life.
Uncertainty Avoidance Index (UAI): The UAI dimension expresses the degree to which the members of society feel uncomfortable with uncertainty. More society avoids ambiguity the most rigid codes exist.
Long Term Orientation versus Short Term Normative Orientation (LTO): Every society has to maintain some links with its own past while dealing with the challenges of the present and the future, societies prioritize these two existential goals differently.
Indulgence Versus Restraint (IND): IND stands for a preference towards enjoying life and having fun versus resisting gratification of needs and regulating it by using strict social norms.
For my essay, I would like to split it into 3 parts.
1) Social Contexts
High context, polychromic time and Low territoriality - (Halls Theory)
For this section, I would like to draw from A study of international students' perspectives on cross-cultural adaptation (Attached) to discuss how intercultural communication can be a barrier within social contexts due to differences in social, cultural and linguistic environments.
I also would like to draw from the points made by Spencer-Oatey's article about Intercultural Interaction.
It can be found at https://doi(dot)org/10.1002/9781405198431.wbeal1446.pub2
2) Professional Contexts - typically the opposite - low context, Monocromic and high territoriality.
For this section, I would like to use the data from pages 12 and 13 of the British Council Culture at work document (attached). The graphs and data about the business value of intercultural skills fit in with the contrast.
For example, the X-axis of Chart 8 uses factors such as Good for reputation, Brining in new clients, building trust etc.
I also like the points made in this Sage Article about interactions made within multinational companies - MULTINATIONAL COMPANIES IN CROSS-NATIONAL CONTEXT: INTEGRATION,
DIFFERENTIATION, AND THE INTERACTIONS BETWEEN MNCS AND NATION-STATES. I have attached it too.
3) For the third part, I would like to draw from Hofstede's model to discuss the similarities and differences of social and professional contexts using Power Distance Index (PDI), Individualism versus Collectivism (IDV) and Indulgence versus Restraint (IND).
I think this would be a good way to compare and contrast social and professional contexts as they contrast in IND and PDI. However, it is evidenced that within IDV, intercultural communication can be a barrier due to a lack of intercultural competencies. I find this to be a contradiction as whilst strong communication can allow for advantages both in the social and working realm, the lack of cultural background can counteract this. For example, within a high-context culture, the speaker may fail to identify how personal needs and goals are prioritised vs. the needs and goals of the group.
Intercultural and International Communication Challenges In Social and Professional Contexts
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Intercultural and International Communication Challenges In Social and Professional Contexts
The advancement of technology and other new innovations have rendered the world a global village. People can communicate in real-time with others in foreign countries that they have never visited. Additionally, people continue to move to new countries or regions in search of education and employment. All these interactions are characterized by communication. However, communication among people from different cultures suffers from several challenges that emanate from different beliefs and values. Assessment of these challenges using case studies from multilingual contexts will help understand these challenges better. In addition, the use of Edward Hall and Geert Hofstede's theories will further help understand the factors facilitating these challenges and how to avoid them. Hall describes the important cultural factors and dimensions based on context, time, and territory, whereas Hofstede bases his explanation on the national culture model (Kaupp, 2018). Consequently, it is worth noting that social contexts, professional contexts, and the similarities and differences of the social and professional contexts play an essential role in shaping communication.
Social Context
Social context plays an essential role in shaping intercultural communication through variations in the social, cultural, and linguistic environments. Social context refers to the temperament or the atmosphere with which one has with other people. The statement implies that people change their communication approach relative to the status of the individual they are engaging with. As Hall notes, high context cultures shape communication differently from the low context cultures. While the high-context cultures emphasis the interpretation of messages on the contextual cues, the low-context cultures focuses on the written or the spoken word. Consequently, an individual from China and Japan will not have a normal conversation with one from the USA or Germany. This communication barrier has been evident among international students who travel from their countries to foreign states to study. Lewthwaite (1996) reports on a cross-cultural study of Hong Kong Chinese students in China and Canada by Dyal and Chan (1985). According to the findings of the researchers, female Chinese learners were at a greater risk of suffering from stress-related symptoms compared to Canadian nationals or their counterparts studying in Hong Kong. Conversely, there are students who successfully transition into their new environment and establish relationships with the locals. The authors noted that those learners reported greater satisfaction in both their academic and non-academic lives.
Culture is also part of the social context that shapes the communication style. In most cases, people react to how we speak rather than whatever we say. This reaction is usually involuntary as the individuals have been socialized to react in the same way whenever someone talks in a certain manner. For a long time, communication has been an integral part of the culture, and culture influences the communication patterns that people exhibit. For example, Hall believes that culture is communication and communication is culture. As Spencer-Oatey and Franklin (2019) posit, intercultural communication is not limited to verbal and nonverbal communication between members belonging to different groups. In this case, culture is not limited to race or geographical location but depends on the relationship that the people share in common. For example, people belonging to the same profession share a culture. Similarly, those belonging to the same religious group also share some cultures. The statement means that it is easy for people who work together in the same organization to understand each other than when a person from a different society is forced to work in another. When the cultural difference between two or more groups is significant enough to prevent communication, the communication process fails.
Communication is also influenced by the linguistic environment in which the people interact. Language allows people to share ideas, thoughts, and feelings. It has the power to both build societies and also breaks them. Linguistics not only helps in ensuring that communication is effective, but it also helps build relationships and the achievement of instant rapport among the people. The most effective aspect of linguistics is being able to speak the same language as the client. According to Karajagi (2016), linguistics is all about talking a language that our brain readily accepts. Linguistics works by providing subtle commands that the brain readily picks up and executes. Similarly, professionals are able to use communication to ensure that their work is done more effectively without causing any friction. Sadly international learners come from a different society and speak a different language, which cannot provide the subtle commands to the brain of their hosts to avoid friction. Instead, poor communication increases the tension between the groups involved, leading to high communication. This competence at using the foreign language by the international learners to speak and understand in both academic and social settings and read-write determines the perception of their hosts towards them (Lewthwaite, 1996). Therefore, social, cultural, and linguistic environments play an essential role in determining how people communicate with each other. Effective communication occurs when communication occurs in the right social context, when people belong to the same culture or understand each other's culture, and when the two parties are able to communicate linguistically more fluently.
Professional Context
Intercultural communication also depends on the professional context in which the communication occurs. A professional context is a unit in which knowledge, capabilities, and expertise are utilized in a setting where education occurs. The context involves interaction with different types of people, including colleagues, industry acquaintances, customers, allies, and service providers, such as lawyers and doctors. Communication among these people can occur in low context, monochromic, or high territoriality contexts. Low-context cultures are those that communicate indirect, explicit, and precise ways (Davis, 2019). Such type of communication contrasts that of the high-context cultures, which communicate in a manner that s implicit and heavily dependent on the nonverbal language. Successful communicators are those who are able to understand these social context differences and utilize them appropriately to strike a rapport with the listeners. Therefore, apart from mastering the normal communication among people, modern businesses are also considering one's ability to utilize their skills and communicate with people from different cultures.
This relationship between the professional contexts of communication is espoused in Hall's context theory, which asserts that different cultures have different ways of communicating. The impact of this context is evident in a study by Afrouzi (2021), who focuses on the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) 's attempts at motivating its audience via social media with the goal of encouraging them to adopt humanitarian attitudes and behaviors. The author decides to assess the responses of two culturally diverse audiences based on Hall's context theory. One of the audiences belongs to a low-context culture country (Switzerland), whereas the other belongs to a high-context culture (Colombia). According to the findings, the Colombian population showed a slightly higher behavior intention compared to the Swiss members. The analysis draws from the fact that ICRC's messages are often not always explicitly stated, which means that different types of the audience will comprehend them differently. In this regard, the go...