Republic of the Philippines

PANGASINAN STATE UNIVERSITY

Urdaneta City Campus
Urdaneta City, Pangasinan

GE 4- Purposive Communication
Chapter 2
Communication and Globalization
Globalization – it is the process of bringing people together and making them interact
and exchange ideas across traditional borders. (Nowaczyk, 2017)
Globalization is the increasing economic, political, and cultural integration and
interdependence of diverse cultures. (Gamble and Gamble 2013)
Definition of Culture
Culture is a learned set of shared interpretations about beliefs, values, and norms that
affect the behaviors of a relatively large people.
Characteristics of Culture
1. Cultures are learned, not innate. We think and act as Filipinos because our parents
brought us up this way. We acquired knowledge and understanding of our cultural
norms from our parents, teachers, relatives and friends.
2. Cultures are shared. We act as members of our own cultural group, not as
individuals, because belong to a culture means following the norms of the group. Fitting
into a group means acceptance and fellowship, and it provides us members with
feelings of security and love.
3. Cultures are multifaceted. We are surrounded by cultural norms that affect
language, religion, basic world view, education, technology, social organization, politics
and law, all interacting with one another. Behaviors and things common to people who
live together in social groups are considered cultural universals, but the performance of
these activities and things differs dramatically from culture to culture.
4. Cultures are dynamic. Cultures constantly change as cultural contact increases,
new technologies emerge, and economic conditions vary. Globalization has greatly
changed relationships of nations and governments. Cell phones have drastically
changed interpersonal communication, and the availability of the Internet has affected
how people of varied cultures recognize and respect their differences.
5. Cultural identities are overlapping. We belong to multiple, overlapping cultures as
we interact with one another. Some of these cultures work together while others clash.
We all belong to national, regional, social class, ethnic, professional, religious, and
gender cultures.
Adaptation to New Cultures
1. Cultural integration is a form of cultural exchange in which one group assumes the
beliefs, practices of another group without sacrificing the characteristics of its own
culture.
2. Cultural assimilation occurs when members of one cultural group adopt the
language, practices, and beliefs of another group, often losing aspects of their
traditional culture in the process.
Ex: Immigrants voluntarily adopt their new country’s language.
The counterpart of cultural assimilation is multiculturalism, in which cultural diversity is
encouraged and valued as beneficial to the society.
Multiculturalism is the belief that cultures, races, and ethnicities, particularly those of
minority groups, should be accorded special acknowledgment of their differences within
a dominant political culture.
3. Cultural accommodation refers to the process by which individuals may take on
values and beliefs of the host culture and accommodate them in the public sphere while
maintaining the parent culture in the private sphere.
Ex:
Filipinos who migrate to another country speak their native language at home but
outside, they use the language of the receiving country.
The Nature of Common Cultural Differences
1. Leadership. The key characteristic of leadership is power or influence – the right
to manipulate the outcome of health, welfare, and critical decisions of protection.
In a high power group leadership, the few in power formulate policy and activity of the
many.
Ex: Dictator
Chief
Minister
Judge
2. Work Productivity. A bipolar characteristic of being masculine or feminine exists in the
work force or a family organization.
Masculine culture = aggressive, competitive, assertive
 • winning is rewarder with honor
Feminine culture = gives importance to modesty, quality of life, tenderness
• rewards are given for work satisfaction
• salaries are determined based on needs, not on production
3. Group allegiance. A bipolar characteristic of individual and group orientation
exists. In an individual orientation (individualism), an individual can change the
standards of culture.
Ex: Mohandas Gandhi
Martin Luther King
Ferdinand Marcos
Benigno Aquino
Group orientation (collectivism) puts emphasis on the group, and sacrificing everything
for the sake of the group can change the future.
Example: Suicide terrorists.
4. Task commitment. The focus is on elements controlling the group, such as tradition
and commitment to the group (high context culture) versus the individual (low-context
culture).
High context culture resists change.
Low context culture work for the good of the cause, not the welfare of the group.
Communication within and across Cultures
Kinds of Responses
1. Avoiding. We refuse to comply or do business in cultures that operate according to
ethical principles that differ from ours.
2. Accommodating. We can accept the different ethical system and conform to practices
different from ours.
3. Forcing. We can insist on doing business in a way we believe is ethically proper.
4. Educating-Persuading. We can try to convince the people with whom we want to do
business why our ethical principle is more appropriate.
5. Negotiating – Compromising. We and the other party can each give up something to
negotiate a settlement.
6. Collaboration – Problem Solving. We can work with the other party to face the
problem directly and reach a mutually satisfying solution.
Guidelines on Developing Intercultural Competence
1. Widen your field of experience by making new contacts. Getting to know people
coming from your targeted group whose culture differs from yours make you
understand the group and their culture better.
2. Learn about the history and the experiences and aspirations of people from
different cultures. Taking a course or reading books about people of diverse
cultures makes you experience their cultures vicariously, allowing you to
understand and appreciate them more.
3. Examine yourself for possible stereotypes. Stereotypes and biases result from
ignorance about the targeted group. Being fair-minded and unprejudiced makes
you realize the possibility that some of your judgments are unfair and wrong.
4. Look at the world from someone else’s way of looking at and thinking about
something, not just yours. Be emphatic; try to understand other’s perspective-
how they make sense of their world-and try to experience what and how they
feel.
5. Work on becoming more self-confident. The better we feel about ourselves, the
more likely we are to feel good about others, too, and the more able we are not
only to understand them but also to learn from them.
6. Appreciate cultural similarities and differences. Use cultural resources to do this.
It allows you to understand the members of different cultural groups and helps
you establish better intercultural relationships and interactions.
7. Acknowledge the essential equality and value of all cultures. Never feel superior
to people belonging to any other cultural group, even a minority one.
8. Be sensitive and interpret cultural styles of communication. Develop the ability to
understand the communication symbols of the target culture-its verbal language,
signs, gestures, body language, and customs.
BARRIERS TO EFFECTIVE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATION
1. Ethnocentrism. Ethnocentrism refers to the belief that a person’s culture (his “in-
group” culture), is much better than any other group’s culture (“out-group”
culture), and the tendency is for that person to judge any “out-group culture by
using the norms of his “in-group” culture.
If our ethnocentricity is high, the effect is negative.
If it is low, the effect is positive. You are interested to interact with those belonging to
the “out-group.”
2. Stereotypes and prejudices. Stereotyping and being prejudiced against cultural
groups are the main barriers to intercultural communication. The negative
 characteristics attributed to one group can cause beliefs and feelings that lead to
biases and discrimination against that group. The discriminated group often
suffers from being rejected and avoided in cross-cultural interactions.

3. Stereotypes are often generalized negative traits assigned to a group of

people(e.g. race, nationality, social class, sexual orientation, age, gender) even if
these traits may only reflect a selected few of the group. Simply said, a
stereotype is a generalization of a group o people based on a small sample of
these people. Stereotyping or classifying an entire group of people or culture with
defining characteristics, which are usually unfair and untrue, is much easier than
explaining the complexities of the uniqueness of specific situations and the
individual differences essential in each event.

4. Prejudice, an offshoot of stereotypes, is an unfair thought, belief, or feeling of

dislike for a person or group because of race, nationality, gender, sexual
orientation, age, religion, and so on. It is a negative preconceived opinion held by
one group toward members of another group that biases perception and provides
a reason for discrimination.

5. Assumed similarities. An assumption of similarity is a baseless, unreasonable

refusal to see cultural differences where they exist. This happens when members
of one group assume that all groups behave the same way that what is true to
their culture is also true to all other cultures. This results in insensitivity to cultural
differences.

6. Anxiety. Intercultural communication anxiety is the fear or apprehension

associated with either real or anticipated communication with people from
another cultural group. The fear is often caused by differences in language
ability, verbal and nonverbal communication styles, and expression of emotions.
Both “in-group” and “out-group” cultures may experience feelings of impatience,
frustration, and suspicion, while communicating or even in anticipation of the
interaction, which can then increase anxiety in both parties.

Impact of Technology on Communication

1. Technology provides us with unlimited information. Internet provides convenient
and fast means of getting information.
2. It creates opportunities for meeting new people. Many online applications enable
us to meet new people anytime anywhere in the world.
3. It helps us keep in touch with family and friends anywhere in the world.
Computers, smartphones, iPads, and email allow us to communicate quickly and
easily.
4. It brings new diversity to our culture and our lives. The pace of change caused by
technology is simply amazing. Google recipes, and you can put sumptuous
meals on the dining table. Your cellphone, with its digital camera, has replaced
the film camera.
5. It fosters better cooperation among different cultural groups. New technologies
help companies extend participation on a project to an ever greater number of
people, allowing firms to tap into a wide body of knowledge and expertise.
6. It isolates us. Cellphones take us away from the people we love.