Intercultural Management: The Differences Between a Low-Context and a High-Context Culture

Different social, professional and cultural contexts may affect relationships and the way people communicate due to of a lack of understanding or knowledge of one another’s background and culture. This could be through their race, religion, ethnicity or where they come from. Each one of these can have similar or very different ways to communicate. For example

The management of an organization plays an integral part in determining the direction and performance of the organization. The manner in which the management of an organization is handled has a profound effect on the organization. The success of an organization is dependent upon a flexible and skilled management and workforce. The management of an organization is responsible for shaping up the organizational behavior and ultimately the culture within the organization. Public management faces a multiple of challenges and opportunities, how the management deals with these issues translates to efficiency in management. The personal judgments and skills of public managers can make a significant impact in public management. If

3.1 Explain how people from different backgrounds may use and/or interpret communication methods in different ways

Language is a communication method that makes everything easy to communicate with others. The language barrier is the biggest challenge and hurdle of most people whom their English is a second language. Growing up in a family with parents that only speak another language could be viewed very similarly to a double-edged sword. This challenge with society forces people to learn the English language. Although there a lot of difficulties with the second language, eventually the transition between both languages would become easier by time and more practice. Starting to be able to comprehend the English language is the best way overcomes this barrier. Although these challenges were not easy to overcome, persistence, dedication and hard work would facilitate everything. Despite the fact that language is considered the biggest barrier, culture comes as a second harder barrier in means of communication. Effective communication with people of different cultures is especially challenging. Culture on the other hand, provides people with ways of thinking, seeing and hearing and, then understands the things around. Thus, the same word can mean different things to people from different cultures, even when they talk the same language. Stella Ting-Toomey describes how culture involves with cultural understanding where ach culture has its own rules about proper behavior which affect verbal and nonverbal communication. How close the people stand to each

This text is a good reference point. This text is used to understanding communication within culture. This source also gave a better understanding

Everyone’s background affects how they interpret information. It is important to take that into account when communicating with others. For example, when communicating with people from another culture they may converse with their faces only a few inches apart. I have experienced this in communicating with other cultures and I always find myself feeling uncomfortable with the situation. I feel that my space is being invaded. Some cultures take a long time to answer questions while others answer immediately. Another example is how some East Asian cultures believe it is rude to answer a question with a “no” even if they mean no. They will say “yes” just because that is how they show respect.

Another part of this experience was the language this culture spoke. They had their own native language, but spoke English. When they spoke English, they spoke it extremely fast and it wasn’t the easiest to understand. Their “paralanguage” (Wood 104) wasn’t something I was used to either. The way I responded to them, was to slow down my own paralanguage and to speak more clearly without using any slang. This was so I could communicate with them without any interference. This made the “verbal communication” (Wood 67) I used much easier to understand for them. I relied on the low-context communication style. Which refers to “very direct, explicit, and detailed type of communication” (Wood

Communication is an ongoing process in which individuals exchange messages whose meanings are influenced by the history of the relationship and the experiences of the participants. (Adler, p.384) Communication depends on relationships between the people who are communicating, and on common basics between them. Problems in communications between people may arise due to differences in cultures, perceptions, values, and expectations from life.

Learning the verbal and nonverbal way that people communicate in one’s environment is the key to one’s success. When one faces the challenges that the opposite sex can present to each other, and learn to communicate effectively with one another one can begin to see the world from a different perspective. This different perspective can oftentimes be a better way of viewing things then the same old way that has always been used. In the same respect gaining an appreciation and understanding of the way other cultures communicate can give one another tool to use when tackling problems. Sometimes good old American ingenuity might not be the answer. Being able to understand another culture may bring in fresh ideas that have

In low-context cultures such as North American and Western European countries, communication usually takes place at face value whereas, in high-context cultures such as Asian and African countries, communication relies upon unspoken condition. They

The ability to grow and be successful in any society depends on its ability to transcend limitations of intercultural communication. The chief aim of social groupings is to harness the capacity of the human mind. The ability to channel this process information during communication impacts our social connections to one another, especially in intercultural communication.

Cross-cultural communication is the process of exchanging meaningful and unambiguous information across cultural boundaries, in a way that preserves mutual respect and minimizes antagonism, that is, it looks at how people from differing cultural backgrounds endeavour to communicate. The study of cross-cultural communication was originally found within businesses and the government both seeking to expand globally. Communication is interactive, so an important influence on its effectiveness is our relationship with others. All communication is cultural -- it draws on ways we have learned to speak and give nonverbal messages. We do not always

What are the seven cultural variables in the communication process? Explain 1)Attitudes, 2) Social organization, 3) Thought patterns, 4) Roles, 5), Language, 6) Nonverbal communication, 7) time.

Effective cross-cultural management has to be grounded in a detailed knowledge of individual cultures. Discuss using examples from two multinational companies.

Cultural Context-high implicit meaning contents during conversation is as important as the spoken word. Legend culture is important in understanding what is being said.