Intercultural communication
Week 1 – Session 1: Course introduction &
challenges of living in a global community
Chapter 1 Liu et al. (2019): Challenges of living in a global community
The world as a village: ‘the global village’
- Marshall McLuhan: ‘global village’ to describe a future world in which communication
technology brings news and information to the most remote parts of the world
The small world experiment (Milgram, 1967)
- Six degrees of separation – network theory
o How many steps (via other people) does it take to connect two random people in
the world
o Participants in various cities in the US were asked to sent a letter to a person in
Boston
o Only via people that they knew personally
o On average, it took 5 or 6 steps (people) to get from the starting point to the end
point
- Nowadays: small world experiment 2.0
o Facebook calculated the distance between two random FB users: from an average of
six people to 2.9 to 4.2 people in the chain
o Result:" If you pick any two Facebook users, it's been calculated there's and average
of 3.57 "degrees of separation between them."
o It would seem the world is getting smaller and smaller
o More information: networking in times of social media
o The world is shrinking: 6 degrees of separation is now 2
- Communication & Information in the Global Village
o Communication is 24/7
o Communication is potentially global
o Exchange information anywhere and any time
Why is it important to gain knowledge about intercultural communication?
- Understanding cultural differences and their foundations
- Learning how to function in an intercultutal context
- Influence of own cultural perspective
o Language
o Communication style (formal/informal etc.)
o Value orientations
In your opinion, is globalization leading to a more diversified or a more uniform world? Where do we
see greater diversity as a result of globalization, and where do we see more uniformity?
,Do you think the world is closer or smaller, or more unified or diversified because of technologies-
communication?
- Marshall McLuhan coined the term ‘global village’ to describe a world in which
communication technology brings news and information to the most remote parts of the
world.
- Have information and communication technologies brought us closer together or
encouraged diversification based upon our differences?
Globalization is…
- “The process of interconnectedness between societies, so that the events in one place of the
world have more and deeper effects on people and societies far away”
- “The widening, deepening and speeding up of worldwide interconnectedness in all aspects
of contemporary social life”
What are the benefits and negative effects of globalization?
Do we live in a unified world?
- Social Globalization: personal contacts, information flows, number of McDonald's stores,
IKEA stores
- Social globalization: NGO's, volunteers
- Political globalization: foreign embassies in a country, membership of international
organizations, participation in UN missions, involvement in international trade agreements
- Economic globalization: trade & investment flows, import/export
- Technological: Internet, phones
Globalization in business is…
- "The increase of trade around the world, especially by large companies producing or trading
goods in many different countries"
- "The idea that the world is developing a single economy and culture as a result of improved
technology and communications and the influence of very large multinational companies”
Cultural Diversity
Contributors to Cultural Diversity
1. Advanced technology and transportation, and increased mobility
o With that, understanding other cultures is a challenge we face on an everyday basis
2. Global economy and business transactions
o Global transformation: local markets as diverse as global markets
o International expansion: MNC's operating globally and outsourcing to low-wage
countries
o Diverse workforce: migrant workers, expats
o Cultural tensions created by economic transformations is a challenge we face in
intercultural communication in a business context (ex. BREXIT, TTIP, EU, NATO)
3. Mass (im)migration and international exchange
o Immigration flow, from developing to developed countries
o Migrant workers who move to a host country temporarily
o Student exchanges (Erasmus etc.)
, o Expats who temporarily relocate to work in another country
o As a result, facilitating inter-ethnic coexistence is a challenge we face in our society
In the context of globalization, why is it important to gain knowledge about intercultural
communication?
Necessity and benefits of intercultural communication
1. Cross-cultural teams in the global market
- Understanding Global Target Audience and Clients
- Crosscultural Team Work: Creativity and Innovation
- Workplace diversity can lead to creative solutions to problems as well as conflict between
workers due to differences in values and work practices
2. Intercultural communication: knowledge & skills
- Develop intercultural communication competencies to work with diverse and international
teams.
- Develop understanding of how leadership styles affect group, team, and workplace cultures.
- Adapting Leadership still to Cross-cultural Teams
3. Intercultural Communication Skills: Working Online
Intercultural Communication: Knowledge & Skills
- Intercultural communication equips us with the necessary knowledge and skills to interact
with culturally different people effectively and appropriately
Week 1 – Session 2: Culture and people
Chapter 2 Liu et al. (2019): Culture and people
What is culture?
- Culture is ‘the way we do things around here’
- Culture is an integrated pattern of human behaviour that includes pattern of human
behaviour that includes thoughts, communication, languages, practices, beliefs, values,
customs, rituals, roles, relationships and expected behaviours of social groups.
- Cultural differences are generally manifested in how we:
o Communicate,
o Deal with conflict,
o Complete tasks,
o Make decisions and reveal information about ourselves to others.
1. Defining Culture
- Culture has many different definitions in scientific literature
- What they have in common:
o Culture is pervasive in human life
o Culture governs people's behaviours
- Culture may be defined as:
o "The particular way of life of a group of people and the meaning-making process by
which people make sense of their social world"
, o “Culture comprises the deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, traditions,
religions, notions of time, roles, spatial relations, worldviews, material objects and
geographic territory”
- Metaphors for culture
o Iceberg (Hall, 1973)
Some things are visible (symbols, rituals, behaviours)
What we see: language, clothes, looks, behaviours
Many things are invisible (values, norms, expectations)
What we can’t see: thought processes, perceptions & beliefs,
assumptions, rules, values, concept of time, habits & traditions
Culture clash (different cultures will class because they interpret what other people do
(what we can see) based on their values, norms and expectations (what we can’t see))
- Assumptions and culture: why cultural differences are a challenge?
o Because we think we know…
o Because we have different ways to understand what is accepted and familiar
o Learning that our assumptions are not always the assumptions of others
What is cultural bias?
- Cultural bias is the interpretation of situations, actions or data based on the standards of
one’s own culture
o Linguistic interpretation
o Ethical concepts of right and wrong
o Intentional or unintentional ethic or racial bias
o Religious beliefs or understanding
o Gender roles
- Bias can be both positive and negative
Cultural identity
- Identity representation is shaped by social interaction and culture
- “Properties of uniqueness and individuality, the essential differences making a person
distinction from all others, as in a self identity”
- Culture and identity are constructed and socially defined
- Identification with a cultural group give us a sense of identity
Transcultural identity
- Focus on the interconnectedness of our increasingly global environment
- Key is the idea that all cultures overlap in some aspect
- Example for transcultural dialogue and exchange: hybrid culture, culture fusion…
Define your cultural identity in 3 words - Freedom, equality and openness
2. Components of Culture
Week 1 – Session 1: Course introduction &
challenges of living in a global community
Chapter 1 Liu et al. (2019): Challenges of living in a global community
The world as a village: ‘the global village’
- Marshall McLuhan: ‘global village’ to describe a future world in which communication
technology brings news and information to the most remote parts of the world
The small world experiment (Milgram, 1967)
- Six degrees of separation – network theory
o How many steps (via other people) does it take to connect two random people in
the world
o Participants in various cities in the US were asked to sent a letter to a person in
Boston
o Only via people that they knew personally
o On average, it took 5 or 6 steps (people) to get from the starting point to the end
point
- Nowadays: small world experiment 2.0
o Facebook calculated the distance between two random FB users: from an average of
six people to 2.9 to 4.2 people in the chain
o Result:" If you pick any two Facebook users, it's been calculated there's and average
of 3.57 "degrees of separation between them."
o It would seem the world is getting smaller and smaller
o More information: networking in times of social media
o The world is shrinking: 6 degrees of separation is now 2
- Communication & Information in the Global Village
o Communication is 24/7
o Communication is potentially global
o Exchange information anywhere and any time
Why is it important to gain knowledge about intercultural communication?
- Understanding cultural differences and their foundations
- Learning how to function in an intercultutal context
- Influence of own cultural perspective
o Language
o Communication style (formal/informal etc.)
o Value orientations
In your opinion, is globalization leading to a more diversified or a more uniform world? Where do we
see greater diversity as a result of globalization, and where do we see more uniformity?
,Do you think the world is closer or smaller, or more unified or diversified because of technologies-
communication?
- Marshall McLuhan coined the term ‘global village’ to describe a world in which
communication technology brings news and information to the most remote parts of the
world.
- Have information and communication technologies brought us closer together or
encouraged diversification based upon our differences?
Globalization is…
- “The process of interconnectedness between societies, so that the events in one place of the
world have more and deeper effects on people and societies far away”
- “The widening, deepening and speeding up of worldwide interconnectedness in all aspects
of contemporary social life”
What are the benefits and negative effects of globalization?
Do we live in a unified world?
- Social Globalization: personal contacts, information flows, number of McDonald's stores,
IKEA stores
- Social globalization: NGO's, volunteers
- Political globalization: foreign embassies in a country, membership of international
organizations, participation in UN missions, involvement in international trade agreements
- Economic globalization: trade & investment flows, import/export
- Technological: Internet, phones
Globalization in business is…
- "The increase of trade around the world, especially by large companies producing or trading
goods in many different countries"
- "The idea that the world is developing a single economy and culture as a result of improved
technology and communications and the influence of very large multinational companies”
Cultural Diversity
Contributors to Cultural Diversity
1. Advanced technology and transportation, and increased mobility
o With that, understanding other cultures is a challenge we face on an everyday basis
2. Global economy and business transactions
o Global transformation: local markets as diverse as global markets
o International expansion: MNC's operating globally and outsourcing to low-wage
countries
o Diverse workforce: migrant workers, expats
o Cultural tensions created by economic transformations is a challenge we face in
intercultural communication in a business context (ex. BREXIT, TTIP, EU, NATO)
3. Mass (im)migration and international exchange
o Immigration flow, from developing to developed countries
o Migrant workers who move to a host country temporarily
o Student exchanges (Erasmus etc.)
, o Expats who temporarily relocate to work in another country
o As a result, facilitating inter-ethnic coexistence is a challenge we face in our society
In the context of globalization, why is it important to gain knowledge about intercultural
communication?
Necessity and benefits of intercultural communication
1. Cross-cultural teams in the global market
- Understanding Global Target Audience and Clients
- Crosscultural Team Work: Creativity and Innovation
- Workplace diversity can lead to creative solutions to problems as well as conflict between
workers due to differences in values and work practices
2. Intercultural communication: knowledge & skills
- Develop intercultural communication competencies to work with diverse and international
teams.
- Develop understanding of how leadership styles affect group, team, and workplace cultures.
- Adapting Leadership still to Cross-cultural Teams
3. Intercultural Communication Skills: Working Online
Intercultural Communication: Knowledge & Skills
- Intercultural communication equips us with the necessary knowledge and skills to interact
with culturally different people effectively and appropriately
Week 1 – Session 2: Culture and people
Chapter 2 Liu et al. (2019): Culture and people
What is culture?
- Culture is ‘the way we do things around here’
- Culture is an integrated pattern of human behaviour that includes pattern of human
behaviour that includes thoughts, communication, languages, practices, beliefs, values,
customs, rituals, roles, relationships and expected behaviours of social groups.
- Cultural differences are generally manifested in how we:
o Communicate,
o Deal with conflict,
o Complete tasks,
o Make decisions and reveal information about ourselves to others.
1. Defining Culture
- Culture has many different definitions in scientific literature
- What they have in common:
o Culture is pervasive in human life
o Culture governs people's behaviours
- Culture may be defined as:
o "The particular way of life of a group of people and the meaning-making process by
which people make sense of their social world"
, o “Culture comprises the deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, traditions,
religions, notions of time, roles, spatial relations, worldviews, material objects and
geographic territory”
- Metaphors for culture
o Iceberg (Hall, 1973)
Some things are visible (symbols, rituals, behaviours)
What we see: language, clothes, looks, behaviours
Many things are invisible (values, norms, expectations)
What we can’t see: thought processes, perceptions & beliefs,
assumptions, rules, values, concept of time, habits & traditions
Culture clash (different cultures will class because they interpret what other people do
(what we can see) based on their values, norms and expectations (what we can’t see))
- Assumptions and culture: why cultural differences are a challenge?
o Because we think we know…
o Because we have different ways to understand what is accepted and familiar
o Learning that our assumptions are not always the assumptions of others
What is cultural bias?
- Cultural bias is the interpretation of situations, actions or data based on the standards of
one’s own culture
o Linguistic interpretation
o Ethical concepts of right and wrong
o Intentional or unintentional ethic or racial bias
o Religious beliefs or understanding
o Gender roles
- Bias can be both positive and negative
Cultural identity
- Identity representation is shaped by social interaction and culture
- “Properties of uniqueness and individuality, the essential differences making a person
distinction from all others, as in a self identity”
- Culture and identity are constructed and socially defined
- Identification with a cultural group give us a sense of identity
Transcultural identity
- Focus on the interconnectedness of our increasingly global environment
- Key is the idea that all cultures overlap in some aspect
- Example for transcultural dialogue and exchange: hybrid culture, culture fusion…
Define your cultural identity in 3 words - Freedom, equality and openness
2. Components of Culture
