Communicating Across Cultures

The Organizational Behavior Reader: Chapter 9

Presented by:

Michael Music

Agenda

Background on the author Introduction: cross-cultural communication Cross-cultural misperception Cross-cultural misinterpretation Sources of misinterpretation Cross-cultural misevaluation Research articles Conclusion: lessons learned

Dr. Nancy J. Adler

BA, MBA, and PhD Univ. California, Los Angeles.

Joined McGill University’s Faculty of Management in 1980 (Montreal, Quebec, Canada).

Received McGill Faculty of Management Distinguished Teaching Award in 1986 and McGill award for outstanding graduate teaching in 1990.

Dr. Adler currently teaches courses on Organizational Behavior, Cross-Cultural Management, and Global Women Leaders.

She has taught executives at the People’s Republic of China, INSEAD (France), and Citicorp Visiting Doctoral Professorship at the University of Hong Kong.

Cross-Cultural Communication Introduction

Communication is the exchange of meaning. Includes any behavior that another person

perceives and interprets. Contains sending two components:

Verbal messages (words) Non-verbal messages (tone of voice,

behavior, etc.) Includes consciously sent messages and those

less conspicuous.

Cross-Cultural Communication Introduction (Cont.)

Every communication has a message sender and a receiver.

The sent message is never identical to the received message. Communication is indirect – symbolic behavior. Messages are encoded by sender and decoded by

receiver. Message senders must encode their meaning into a

recognizable receiver form.

Cross-Cultural Communication Introduction (Cont.)

The process of translating meanings into words and behaviors (symbols) and back into meanings: Different based on person’s cultural background Varies by person

Greater the difference between senders and receivers: Increases difference in meanings attached to words

and behaviors.

Cross-Cultural Misperception

Perception is the process by which individuals select, organize, and evaluate stimuli from the external environment to provide meaning to themselves.

Perceptual patterns are not innate. They are learned, culturally determined, selective,

consistent, and inaccurate.

Cross-Cultural Misperception(Cont.)

Perception is selective: Too much stimuli in environment. We must screen out most of what we see, hear,

taste, and feel. Only allow selected information through our

perceptual screen into conscious mind.

Perceptual patterns are learned: We are not born seeing the world in one way. Life experiences teaches us how to perceive the

world.

Cross-Cultural Misperception(Cont.)

Perception is culturally determined: Our world is shaped by our cultural background.

Perception tends to remain consistent: Once we see something that way, we continue to

see it that way.

Perception is inaccurate: We see things that do not exist and do not see

things that do exist. We perceive what we expect to perceive, based on

our cultural map.

Who Do You See?

Who Did You See?

What Do You See?

What Did You See?

Who / What Do You See?

Who / What Did You See?

What Color are the Zebra's Stripes?

http://vudat.msu.edu/culture_perception/

Cross-Cultural Misinterpretation

Interpretation occurs when an individual gives meaning to observations and their relationships. It is the process of making sense out of

perceptions. It organizes our experience to guide our

behavior. Based on experience, we make assumptions

about our perceptions to eliminate rediscovery of there meaning in the future.

Cross-Cultural Misinterpretation (Cont.)

Interpretation of stimuli is filtered through categories.

We group perceived images into categories we think are meaningful to us.

Categorization allows us to distinguish what is most important in our environment and act accordingly.

Cross-Cultural Misinterpretation (Cont.)

Stereotyping is a form of categorization that organizes our experiences and guides our behavior toward other ethnic groups. Can be helpful or harmful depending on

application. Effective stereotyping allows people to act

appropriately in new situations. They never describe individual behavior, just

a general guideline for a group.

Cross-Cultural Misinterpretation (Cont.)

Stereotyping is effecting when: Consciously held (describing a group norm,

not individual). Descriptive rather than evaluative (describes

in general what a person may be like). Accurate (as possible). The first best guess. Modified (based on further observation and

experience).

Sources of Misinterpretation

Misinterpretation can be caused by inaccurate perceptions of a person. Can be inaccurate interpretation of what is

seen. You may use your meanings to make sense

of my reality. Culture influences our interpretations. Sources include subconscious cultural

blinders, lack of self-awareness, projected similarity, and parochialism.

Sources of Misinterpretation(Cont.)

Subconscious cultural blinders (we lack awareness of our assumptions).

Lack of cultural awareness (least aware of our own characteristics).

Projected similarity (assumption people are more similar to you than they are).

Parochialism (our way is the best way).

Cross-Cultural Misevaluation

Evaluation involves judging whether someone or something is good or bad.

Cross-culturally, we use our own culture as the standard of measurement. That closest to our own is “good” and vice

versa. We tend to judge all other cultures as inferior.

Research Articles Elfenbein, Hillary A. “Learning in Emotion Judgments: Training and

the Cross-Cultural Understanding of Facial Expressions,” Journal of Nonverbal Behavior (Spring 2006), Vol. 30 Issue 1, 21-36.

Flaherty, Mary “How a Language Gender System Creeps into Perception,” Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 32.1 (Jan 2001), 18-31.

Van Boven, Leaf; Kamada, Akiko; Gilovich, Thomas “The Perceiver as Perceived: Everday Intuitions About the Correspondence Bias,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 77.6 (Dec 1999), 1188-1199.

Spencer-Rogers, J.; Williams, M.; Hamilton, D.L.; Peng, K.; and Wang, L. “Culture and Group Perception: Disposition and Stereotypic Inferences About Novel and National Groups,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 93.4 (Oct 2007), 525-543.

Conclusion – Lessons Learned

Try to understand a person’s meaning, not merely their words.

Be proactive and attempt to “know what you don’t know.” Assume difference in similarity until otherwise notified.

Emphasize on description. Focus on what is said and done, rather than interpreting or

evaluating it. Try to see situations through the eyes of the receiver

(limits myopic perspective). Be conscious that stereotypes do not reflect the

individual per se.

Questions?