CULTURE

It is “the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group
of people from another”. Hofstede

It is «the coherent, learned, shared view of a group of people about life’s concerns that
ranks what is important, furnishes attitudes about what things are appropriate, and dictates
behavior". Beamer and Varner

Cultural Iceberg

The model is divided into two halves and helps us understand workplace dynamics or
organizational culture. The upper half represents the formal aspects of an
organization such as systems, structures, policies, technologies of an organization.
The lower half below the water line represents the informal aspects of an organization
such as attitudes, beliefs, values, and perceptions etc.

In an organization the formal and the informal aspects both need each other.

Types of culture / communication :

A high-context culture relies on implicit communication and nonverbal cues. In high-context
communication, a message cannot be understood without a great deal of background
information. Asian, African, Arab, central European and Latin American cultures are
generally considered to be high-context cultures.

A low-context culture relies on explicit communication. In low-context communication, more

of the information in a message is spelled out and defined. Cultures with western European
roots, such as the United States and Australia, are generally considered to be low-context
cultures.

Clearly, it’s important for a multinational organization to know the difference between high
and low context cultures. A full understanding of these differences will effectively improve
both outward, client-focused communication as well as inter-business relationships.

High-context in business

 No business without friendship

 Credibility through relationships

 Agreements founded on trust

 Negotiations slow & ritualistic

Low-context in business

 Business before friendship

 Credibility through expertise & performance

 Agreements by legal contract

 Negotiations efficient

Forms of Verbal Interaction

• Repartee - Conversation in which parties take turns speaking/listening for

short periods. (US, British)

• Verbal dueling - Like gamesmanship; purpose is to see who can gain

dominance in a friendly debate. (Russia)

• Ritual conversation - Involves standard replies and comments for a given

situation.

• Self-disclosure - Form of interaction which involves telling other people about

you so they may get to know you better.

Verbal Communication Styles

 Direct: say exactly what they mean, honesty motivated

 Indirect: “beating around the bush,” do not say exactly what they mean; to
maintain relationships

 Instrumental: Focus is on the sender and the task; want to accomplish a

personal goal.

 Affective: Equal focus on the listener, care about the relationship

 Exacting: use the language that is needed; honest and go straight to the point

 Elaborative: Rich, expressive language, use metaphors and similes.

 Succinct: give a small amount of information

 Person Centered: Frequently use first person pronouns, informal.

 Role Centered: Formal, use formal titles.

Cultural types of communication

Linear-active: talks half of the time/ Does one thing at the time (polite but direct)
Multi-active: talks most of the time/ Does several things at once (emotional)
Reactive: listens most of the time, never confronts (polite, indirect)

Areas of Nonverbal Communication

• Chronemics (time)

• Proxemics (space)

• Oculesics (eye contact)

• Olfactics (smell)

• Haptics (touch)

• Kinesics (body language)

• Chromatics (color)

• Silence

Time (Chronemics)

• Attitudes toward time vary from culture to culture.

• Countries that follow monochronic time perform only one major activity at a
time (U.S., England, Switzerland, Germany).

• Countries that follow polychronic time work on several activities

simultaneously (Latin America, the Mediterranean, the Arabs, Africans).

 Why is Cross-Cultural Communication important? Globalization: Cross

border movement of people, goods and data, brings more and more cultures into
contact with one another and increases the potential of cross culture
communication. It helps to avoid Ethnocentrism (a tendency to think our own culture
is superior to other cultures). Increases creativity due to the Synergistic perspective
(combining the best of all cultural approaches in solving a workplace problem).

Brand naming
It’s what make a company different from competitors and valuable to consumers. The main
purpose of it is to guide the consumer to choose a company’s product. It communicates
what the product stands for and what you want from the consumer to understand out of it.

Memorability is also an important aspect to consider in the naming process. Easier it is for
consumers to remember and recall the brand, higher is the traction the brand enjoys in the
minds of consumers.

Types of brand names

 Visual names conjure an image we associate with certain characteristics: Jaguar
communicates speed, agility
 Descriptive names tell us directly what makes them unique: Oracle
 Directives command the target audience to do something: Color Your World paint
shops
 Expressive names cite the psychological state a consumer will feel: Pure Yoga
 Promissory names communicate a promise to the consumer: No Sweat deodorant
 Neologisms are new words created by respelling existing words or by combining
words: NutraSweet sugar substitute combines “nutrition” with “sweetness”
 Geographical names associate a brand with its origins: Fiji Water
 Latinate names are created from the Latin translation: Volvo means “I roll” in Latin
 Founder names can communicate heritage and history: Automobile companies: Ford,
Ferrari, Toyota
 Acronyms are especially common in banking and finance:
 Alliterative names roll easily off the tongue: Coca-Cola

Word Formation Processes

Word formation processes are basically how new words are created and become part of
the language. 

 1. Coinage : A completely new word is made up from scratch to suit certain

purposes. Examples: Kleenex, Google

 2. Borrowing : Words are created by borrowing from another language and

incorporating into English. Examples : Tortilla

 3. Compounding : A new word is composed of two free morphemes to create a new

meaning. Examples : do-it-yourself

 4. Blending : A new word is created from parts of morphemes in two other words to
form a new single morpheme. Examples: brunch, sexting

 5. Clipping : New words are made by shortening the perceived ending of another
word or phrase. Examples: zoo, gym, exam
 6. Acronyms : The first letter of a group of words is combined into a single word.
Examples: pin (number), zip (code)

 7. Abbreviations : The first letters of a group of words are combined into a single
word whose letter names are pronounced separately. Examples: LOL, RIP, B&B

 8. Backformation : People cut off a piece of an existing word, create a new

morpheme from it, and combine it with other morphemes to create a new word.
Sometimes the part of speech changes. Example: television -> televise / priority ->
prioritize / donation -> donate

 9. Conversion : New words are formed when the grammatical category of a word is
changed with no changes to the basic letters of the word. Examples: butter (N -> V)

 10. Paired word sound play : A “double word” is created in two ways:

-the second word has a change of vowel, usually formed lower in the mouth.

-the second type is a rhyme, with the first consonant changing. There may be a slight
onomatopoetic association, but not always.

Changed vowel rhyme

 hip hop helter skelter

 singsong willy nilly

 11. Scale Change : Affixes are added to a base word to indicate its dimension,
sometimes using affixes from other languages. Examples : megamall, Supersize

 12. Multiple processes : Internet is a product of clipping (international plus

network), blending (inter+net) and conversion (netiquette)