Cross Cultural Understanding- The requirement that we reorient our mind-set and, most importantly, our expectations in

order to accurately interpret the gestures, attitudes, and statements of the people we encounter from other cultures.

Value- . Something that we prefer over something else—whether it’s a behavior or a tangible item. Values are usually
acquired early in life and are usually nonrational—although we may believe that ours are actually quite rational. Our
values are the key building blocks of our cultural orientation.

Organizational Culture- . The set of beliefs, values, and norms, together with symbols like dramatized events and
personalities, that represents the unique character of an organization and provides the context for action in it and by it.

Geert Hofstede- An influential Dutch social psychologist who studied the interactions between national cultures and
organizational cultures

Value Dimensions- The specific values included in Hofstede’s research. Values, in this case, are broad preferences for one
state of affairs over others, and they are mostly unconscious.

Power Distance- The value dimension referring to how openly a society or culture accepts or does not accept differences
between people in hierarchies in the workplace, in politics, and so on.

Individualism- . The value dimension referring to people’s tendency to take care of themselves and their immediate circle
of family and friends, perhaps at the expense of the overall society.

Masculinity- The value dimension referring to how a society views traits that are considered feminine or masculine.

Uncertainty Avoidance- The value dimension referring to how much uncertainty a society or culture is willing to accept.

Long term Orientation- The value dimension referring to whether a culture has a long-term or short-term orientation.

Edward T. Hall- A respected anthropologist who applied his field to the understanding of cultures and intercultural
communications. Hall is best noted for three principal categories of how cultures differ: context, space, and time.

High and Low Context- How a message is communicated. In what are called high-context cultures, such as those found in
Latin America, Asia, and Africa, the physical context of the message carries a great deal of importance. In low-context
cultures, people verbally say exactly what they mean.

Space- The study of physical space and people; called proxemics, one of Hall’s principal categories on describing how
cultures differ.

Proxemics- The study of space and distance between people as they interact

Polychronic Cultures- . A culture in which people can do several things at the same time.

Monochronic Cultures- . A culture in which people tend to do one task at a time.

Ethnocentrism- The view that a person’s own culture is central and other cultures are measured in relation to it.