Unit Title:

Unit 1- World English’ and Global Communication

Title of the Lesson:
Lesson 7-Cultural Diversity in the Workplace
Duration:
1.5 hours
Introduction
Indigenous languages and ethnicity reach independently their identity and
recognition because of their culture and not of their being a country (Hall,
2018). Muslim immigrants in France were not able to withstand policies to
assimilate. In fact, 30 thousand Navajos who lived in Los Angeles were in
isolation from their native nation and culture. The nomadic Fulani, searching
for good pasture throughout sub-Saharan West Africa were held together not
by clan fidelity, but because of their political future hanged in balance. As a
evidence of this cultural diversity, more than 30 percent of the information
technicians working for the Microsoft Corporation in the United States were
Indians while 80 percent of immigrants to the United States were Europeans
during the early 1900s. In the 1960s, the majority has been Asians, Latin
Americans, and Africans. In the 21st century, US became the melting pot of
diverse cultures but had maintained its own culture, religion, and language.
Self-identity consciousness therefore is vital to strengthen
culture. Because of this change, mass media are called upon to be an
instrument for to unify people across cultures. To withstand the new demands
of cultural diversity into media practices and policies, an individualistic
morality of rights must be modified by a social ethics of the common good.
When the community is understood to be axiologically and ontologically
superior to the individual, a commitment to cultural pluralism makes sense.
Human beings in this communitarian perspective naturally come out in a
diverse cultural set up. They are dependent on the social realm. They are
born into a sociocultural universe where values, moral commitments, and
existential meanings are both presumed and negotiated. Hence,
society desires for positive actions and morally upright members of the
community. Unless a person's freedom is used to help others flourish, that
individual's well-being is itself diminished (Edwards, 2014).
Lesson Proper/Course Methodology
What is Culture?
Society consists of individuals with culture different in customs, morals, traits,
traditions and values. But common heritage and joint experiences link these
people to learn. Cultures exist on scales both the large and small, extending
from countries and regions, such as the American culture or Middle Eastern
culture, to such small and distinct cultures (e.g. from Amish communities in
Pennsylvania to the Basque culture in Southern France.

Moreover, cultures provide people with a sense of self-identity and

community, and they greatly influence actions within the workplace (Hall,
2018). The word “culture” is derived from the French term, which in turn
derives from the Latin word “colere”, which means to cultivate, nurture or to
tend to the earth and grow. Culture encompasses religion, food, language,
marriage, music, beliefs, clothes and how they are being worn, the way a
certain group of people sit, the way everyone greets and accepts visitors,
behavior and a million things. Culture shares etymology with a number of
other words related to actively fostering growth (Edwards, 2014). While there
are specific differences to each culture, generally speaking, cultures share a
number of traits, such as a shared language or linguistic marker, definition of
proper and improper behavior, a notion of kinship and social relationship (i.e.
mother, friend, or coworker), ornamentation and art, and a notion of
leadership or decision making process. Culture and society, though similar,
are different things. Cultures are defined by these learned behaviors and
schemata (experiences). Societies at their simplest can be defined as groups
of interacting individuals (Edwards, 2014). However, it is not easy to separate
culture and society from the interaction that develops within. One way to think
of this complex interplay is by looking at du Gay, et al (1997) notion of the
circuit of culture. The complexity of individual culture affects the product which
gives impact on the varied cultural aspects. Communication is the exchange
of information and meaning. People anywhere in the world constantly
communicate in a wide range of different contexts, such as with each other
(interpersonal communication), with different cultural groups or subgroups
(intercultural communication), or to large audiences (mass communication).
However, to understand communication, there is a need to understand the
place of communication in culture. Communication is central to the
construction, maintenance and transmission of culture, as well as to cultural
resistance, change and diverse cultural practices. A culture may even have
within it certain subcultures which exist within the main cultural framework of a
society, but share within it specific peculiarities or modalities set it apart from
the mainstream. Such cultures within may continuously be present either for a
long if not for a short period of time. They may die out, or may become
incorporated into the mainstream as part of this ongoing evolution of culture
(Hall, 2018).
Culture and Co-Cultures
Culture is the system of knowledge, beliefs, values, customs, behaviors, and
artifacts acquired, shared, and used by its members in everyday life. Parts of
this system are the rituals, practices, symbolic and physical artifacts of
individuals, groups, institutions, or societies that shape attitudes. Culture is as
a set of learned behaviors shared by a group of people through interaction.
They are not permanent and single entities. They are ever changing,
responding to pressures and influences based on the diverse experiences
and interactions of their members. However, to its members, the artifacts and
even the existence of cultural behaviors and schemas may seem invisible or
unremarkable. Within the culture are co-cultures. These are composed of
members of the same general culture who differ in some ethnic or sociological
way from the main culture. In the present society, African Americans, Hispanic
Americans, Japanese Americans, the disabled, gays and lesbians,
cyberpunks, and the elderly are just some of the co-cultures belonging to the
same general culture. When people feel that they belong to a marginalized
group (members who feel they are outsiders) they have the techniques to
choose how they want to interact with members of the dominant culture (Hall,
2018)
Strategies to Penetrate Co-Cultural World
The following are the strategies to consider to penetrate the co-cultural world
(Edwards, 2014): Assimilation is the strategy when a co-culture member wants
to fit in or join with members of the dominant culture. These people converse
about subjects that members of the dominant group talk about (e.g. cars,
sports, or how they dress) as assume the modes of behavior of the dominant
culture. Accommodation on the other hand, is used when co-culture members
attempt to maintain their cultural identity even while they strive to establish
relationships with members of the dominant culture. The other strategy aside
from the previous two is the Separation. When co-culture members employ the
strategy of separation, they tend to resist interacting with the other members
they consider outsiders. Rather than have a contact with ‘strangers’ they tend
to keep to themselves

Members of co-cultures can be passive, aggressive, assertive, or

confrontational in their approach to accomplish their communication
objectives. They seem passive when they seem to seek a little to do as
possible with the dominant group’s members. They do not
attempt to interact with or have contact with those outside of their own groups.
They passively accept their position in the cultural hierarchy. Being assertive,
on the other hand, is seeking to realize their objectives with whom they
interact. One assertive trait is when they relate to the other members through
trusted members of the dominant group. While aggressive members hurtfully
express and self-promote themselves, they also are in control of the choices
they make with the members they want to be with, confrontational members
seek to make the dominant culture hear them, recognize them, and react to
them by making it impossible for them to ignore their presence or pretend they
do not exist. Understanding both the general culture and its co-cultures is
essential if one wants to communicate effectively. Merely knowing varieties of
languages and group’s values does not make one an effective communicator
without knowledge on the strategies to use in his intercultural communication.
To Hall (2014), “culture is the interaction within”. It is the culture that teaches
one to think and what to think about. It is the culture that teaches one what is
helpful or harmful, or appropriate or out of place. Culture is the lens through
which one views the world and the mirror one uses to reflect and interpret
reality

Ethnocentrism, Cultural Relativism and Cultural Pluralism

When cultures meet or when people interact with other people whose values
or behavioral norms are different, they should first recognize and
acknowledge individual differences. They should come to accept diversity to
process other culture’s influences and communicate with each other in a
meaningful way; through ethnocentrism and cultural relativism.

Ethnocentrism is the tendency to see own culture as superior to all others.

This is also the key factor why most intercultural communication efforts fail.
People who are ethnocentric experience great anxiety in the interaction with
different cultures. Those who embrace ethnocentrism lack cultural flexibility
and are particularly unprepared to meet challenges posed by the world of
today. The more ethnocentric people are, the more they there is a tendency
for those people to view other groups as inferior. As a tendency, they tend to
blame others for the problems to occur and they seek to maintain distance
from people of different cultures (Edwards, 2014)
Cultural relativism, on the other hand, is the opposite of ethnocentrism.
When people experience cultural relativism, they view the group to which they
belong as superior to all others. They tend to understand behavior of other
groups on the basis of the context in which the behavior occurs rather than
own frame of reference. With people’s efforts to submerge if not eradicate
cultural differences comes cultural pluralism.

Cultural pluralism advocates respect for cultural uniqueness, tolerance for

differences, and adherence to the principle of cultural diversity. In a
multicultural society, every group is believed to be differently okay since these
differences will shape each country’s future (Edwards, 2014). Advances in
communications and transportation continue the increase
of contacts with a number of other cultures. Such use of communication
innovations with people of different backgrounds, nationalities, and lifestyles is
significant to come together and interconnect for humanity
HIGH CONTEXT VERSUS LOW CONTEXT CULTURES
In business, while high-context countries place high regards to relationships
and indirect communication, low-context countries value productivity and
prefer direct communication. High context cultures allocate more meaning to
shared history, non- verbal signals, and the context of the messages than to
what is said. Japan, China, and some countries in Asia are categorized as
nations belonging to high context cultures. On the other hand, the United
States, Canada, as well as the northern part of Europe are with cultures
considered low context. Cultural differences influence all international
communication. Even the choice of communication medium can have
cultural effects. The determining factor may not be the degree of
industrialization, but rather whether the country falls into a high-context or low-
context culture (Hall, 2018).

High-Context Cultures
Cultures considered high-context are regarded for using nonverbal and
indirect forms of communication. To understand the information conveyed,
communicators must have a great deal of schemata. People with high-context
cultures are the Asians, Africans, Arabs, central Europeans and Latin
Americans.

High-context cultures such as; Mediterranean, Slav, Central European, Latin

American, African, Arab, Asian, American-Indian; leave much of the message
unspecified, to be understood through context, nonverbal cues, and between-
the-lines interpretation of what is actually said. By contrast, low-context
cultures like most Germanic and Englishspeaking countries expect messages
to be explicit and specific. Based from C.B. Halverson’s book Cultural Context
Inventory, high-context cultures often show the following criteria: (Source:
Edward, 2018 Historyplex): Association: Relationships build slowly and
depend on trust. Productivity depends on relationships and the group process.
The identity of the individual is formed in groups (in the family, in the
community, in work). Social structure and authority are centralized.
Interaction: Nonverbal elements such as voice tone, gestures, facial
expression and eye movement are significant. Interaction to be engaging is
observed through the use of indirect verbal messages. Personal contradiction
and conflicting sensitivity is also expressed using implied signals.

Territoriality: Space is communal. Communicators forms a closely knit to

connect within a territory.

Temporality: Everything has its own time, and time is not easily scheduled.
Gradual change occurs as to some as time goes by.

Learning: Multiple sources of information are used. Thinking proceeds from

general to specific. To accurately learn, group participants observe, model,
demonstrate, and practice

Low-Context Cultures
A low-context culture relies on explicit communication. Hence, more
information is not understood if not are deleted. United States, Australia and
some parts of Western Europe are examples of countries with low-context
cultures. Low-context cultures often display the following tendencies,
according to Hall (2018)

Association: Relationships begin and end quickly. Paying attention to the

internal processes is the basis of a productive work. For the decentralization
of the societal components, each accomplishes individually for the common
good.
Interaction: Nonverbal elements are not significant. Verbal messages as well
as exchange of facts, ideas and opinions are observable. In addition, to solve
conflicts (to either contradiction or agreement) the approach should not be
personal. An individual can directly show own behavior with others.
Territoriality: Space is compartmentalized. Privacy is important, so people
stand farther apart.
Temporality: Events and tasks are scheduled and to be done at particular
times. Change is fast, and time is a commodity to be spent or saved. One’s
time is one’s own.
Learning: One source of information is used. Thinking begins with specific
message to general information. Learning takes place through other’s direct
explanation. Individual orientation is preferred and speed is valued.

Cultural differences shape every aspect of global communication. This

suggests why Japanese people from a high-context culture recommend
personal communication. In contrast, low-context industrialized countries like
US, Canada, UK and Germany favor electronic technology. Similarly, high-
context cultures prefer face-to-face interaction rather than written transcripts.
They recommend to build good relationship, better understanding and
empathy visual and oral cues like body language, silence and pauses and
observable nonverbal signals (Edward, 2018). Nevertheless, low-context
cultures emphasize the use of direct and precise spoken or written words in
transmitting messages. U.S. business leaders often fall into a communication
trap by disregarding the importance of building and maintaining personal
relationships when interacting with people from high-context cultures (Hall,
2018)
Differences between high-context and low-context cultures are easy to
observe. In American culture which is low context for example,
communication within family members seems high-context. “Family members
openly share experiences requiring few words due to common
understanding.” Whereas, communication in workplaces is considered low
context because each needs to be more specific and direct to what one tries
to say rather than their relationships. In China or Japan, words receive less
attention than relationships, mutual understandings and nonverbal body
language (González, 2018).

Some low-context cultures seem very particular with spoken words and are
more focused on non-verbal expressions. Due to time constraints in
negotiating, low-context workplaces tend to use words to show efficiency and
professionalism. North America and Western Europe are examples of low-
context cultures

While in high-context cultures, time is unlimited. People within the workplaces

can indirectly express what they want to say without hurrying. They can apply
spiral approach circling around a topic and detailing all angles and viewpoints.
Whereas Americans with high-context cultures can be very vocal which
attention is not just on the spoken words but on body language and facial
expressions (Edward, 2018).
Today as never before, multicultural workplaces are observed to have people
with lowcontext and high-context cultures. As people are affected both visibly
and invisibly by their cultures, conflict can result from the inevitable
misunderstandings. For example, Chinese, Mexican as well as Japanese
employees from high-context cultures choose to say gesture "no" with body
language rather than speaking the word. Literal Americans and Canadians,
however, often overlook these subtle implications and may fail to understand
(Hall, 2018)

To overcome multicultural misunderstandings, smart business managers take

the time to learn about and understand the differing cultures represented
within their workplace and train employees from different cultures on how best
to communicate with each other on the job. Far East, Middle East and
Hispano are examples of those high-context cultures. Given below are the
basic differences between high and low context cultures.

HIGH CONTEXT CULTURE LOW CONTEXT CULTURE

Indirect communication Direct and specific communication

Fewer words, more nonverbal clues High value on words rather than

Simple and ambiguous messages Structured messages with technical

details
Very verbal people seen as Informal, frequent smiles, and
unattractive; smiling associated with frequent use of hand gestures and
nervousness. facial expressions

Preference to long term relationships Temporary personal relationships.

and underlying messages.

Long term view of time Short term view of time.

Appointments are generally Emphasis on appointments on time,

considered flexible. management of schedules, and
punctuality is given high preference.

Vague and non-confrontational Focus on getting a job done, being

language is preferred. specific, and goal attainment.

Honor and respect more important Personal relationships not considered

than business; adjourn power and that much; ideas and people are
position. assumed as equals

Private networks are used to obtain Information is made accessible

information readily, shared with others.

Values family and group authority Individualism valued.