How Culture Controls Communication

Unravel the intricate web where culture and communication intertwine. Discover how cultural nuances shape our interactions, and how understanding these can bridge gaps, foster connections, and enhance our global discourse. Let's delve into the fascinating world where culture controls communication.

Culture is a set of shared values that a group of people holds

Cultural meanings render some behaviors normal and right and others strange or wrong

• Cultures are either high-context or low-context
• High-context cultures (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
• Low-context culture (most of the Germanic and English-speaking countries) expect messages to be explicit and specific
• The latter place emphasis on sending and receiving accurate messages directly, and by being precise with spoken or written words

An idea either works or it doesn’t work – and the way to test the validity of an idea is through trial and observation.

It’s easy for people from neutral cultures to sympathize with the Dutch manager and his frustration over trying to reason with “that excitable Italian.”

• Well, not necessarily to the Italian!

Cultures are either sequential or synchronic

Some cultures think of time sequentially – as a linear commodity to “spend,” “save,” or “waste.”

• Other cultures view it as a constant flow to be experienced in the moment, and as a force that cannot be contained or controlled.
• In sequential cultures (like North American, English, German, Swedish, and Dutch), businesspeople give full attention to one agenda item after another, whereas in many other parts of the world professionals regularly do several things at the same time

Cultures are either affective or neutral

In international business dealings, reason and emotion both play a role

• Which of these dominates depends upon whether we are affective (readily showing emotions) or emotionally neutral in our approach
• Neutral cultures do not telegraph their feelings, but keep them carefully controlled and subdued
• This doesn’t mean that people in neutral cultures are cold or unfeeling

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