Download Barriers in Intercultural Communication

Unit 3: Intercultural
Communication and
Its Barriers
Intercultural Business Communication
Hsin-Hsin Cindy Lee
 Overview
 Part
1
Key Words and Concepts
 Part 2
Barriers in Intercultural
Communication
 Part 3
Overcome Intercultural
Communication Barriers
 Checkpoint & References
Contents
 This
session studies stereotypes
which are the key obstacles to
successful intercultural
communication.
 We will discuss how stereotypes are
formed and categorized.
 It is important to learn how to avoid
stereotypes and other barriers in
cross-cultural communication!
Overview
Key Words & Concepts
Part 1
 Do
you know what they mean?
◦ Values
◦ Beliefs
◦ Cultural generalizations
◦ Stereotypes
◦ Prejudice
◦ Bias
◦ Discrimination
◦ Conflict
Key Words and Concepts
Personal values evolve from
circumstances with the external world and
can change over time.
 Integrity in the application of values
refers to its continuity; persons have
integrity if they apply their values
appropriately regardless of arguments or
negative reinforcement from others.
 Personal values are implicitly related to
choice; they guide decisions by allowing
for an individual‘s choices to be compared
to each choice’s associated values.

Personal Values
 Personal
values developed early in
life may be resistant to change. They
may be derived from those of
particular groups or systems, such
as culture, religion and political party.
 However, personal values are not
universal; one's family, nation,
generation and historical
environment help determine one's
personal values.
Personal Values
 This
is not to say that the value
concepts themselves are not
universal, merely that each
individual possesses a unique
conception of them.
 In
brief, personal values indicate
what a person thinks is right and
thus chooses to do or to see
things in those right ways.
Personal Values
 Groups,
societies, or cultures have
values that are largely shared by
their members. The values identify
those objects, conditions or
characteristics that members of the
society consider important; that is,
valuable.
◦ E.g. In the United States, values might
include material comfort, wealth,
competition, individualism or religiosity.
Cultural Values
 The
values of a society can often be
identified by noting which people
receive honor or respect.
◦ E.g. In the US, professional athletes are
honored (in the form of monetary
payment) more than college professors,
in part because the society respects
personal values such as physical activity,
fitness, and competitiveness more than
mental activity and education.
Cultural Values
 Values
identify what should be
judged as good or bad.
 Members take part in a culture even
if each member's personal values do
not entirely agree with some of the
normative or mainstream values
sanctioned in the culture.
 This reflects an individual's ability to
synthesize and extract aspects
valuable to them from the multiple
subcultures they belong to.
Cultural Values
 Belief
is the psychological state in
which an individual holds a
proposition or premise to be true.
 Mainstream
psychology and related
disciplines have traditionally treated
belief as if it were the simplest form
of mental representation and
therefore one of the building blocks
of conscious thought.
Beliefs
Cultural Generalization indicates the
result of generalizing or categorizing
cultures.
 It explains or describes cultures (or
people of a culture) according to their
traits or features.
 Some empirical studies show the
characteristics of a culture.

◦ E.g. Synthetic Cultures studied by Gert
Jan Hofstede, Paul Pedersen and Geert
Hofstede
Cultural Generalizations
A stereotype is a simplified and/or
standardized conception or image with
specific meaning, often held in common by
people about another group.
 A stereotype can be a conventional and
oversimplified conception, opinion, or
image, based on the assumption that there
are attributes that members of the other
group hold in common.
 They are typically generalizations based on
minimal or limited knowledge about a
group to which the person doing the
stereotyping does not belong.

Stereotypes
Persons may be grouped based on racial
group, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation,
age or any number of other categories.
 Stereotyping is a way of representing other
people.
 Stereotypes can revolve around a certain
characteristic of the group of persons to
which they are assigned.
 The persons of that group may even be
reduced to being known and understood
through a lens based on the stereotype that
results from this, rather than being viewed
as individuals.

Stereotypes
The word prejudice refers to
prejudgment: making a decision before
becoming aware of the relevant facts of
a case or event.
 The word has commonly been used in
certain restricted contexts, in the
expression 'racial prejudice'.

◦ Initially this is referred to making a judgment
about a person based on their race, religion,
etc., before receiving information relevant to
the particular issue on which a judgment was
being made.
Prejudice
However, to be widely used to refer to any
hostile attitude towards people based on
their race or even by just judging
someone without even knowing them.
 The meaning now is frequently "any
unreasonable attitude that is unusually
resistant to rational influence".
 Race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation,
age, and religion have a history of inciting
prejudicial behavior.

Prejudice
(Short Break)
Classic Novel: Pride & Prejudice
 Bias
is a term used to describe a
tendency towards a particular
perspective, ideology or result.
 All information and points of view
can generate some form of bias.
 In careful usage bias refers to a
belief that leads to a false judgment.
 A bias could lead one to accept or
deny the truth of a claim.
Bias
In general, discrimination, in a non-legal
sense, is the discernment of qualities and
recognition of the differences between
things.
 We all have the power of discrimination,
which is essential for us to be able to
make decisions and judgments about
things. And this ability is more commonly
referred as ‘differentiating’.
 However, in a legal sense, discrimination
is the prejudicial treatment of a person or
a group of people based on certain
characteristics.

Discrimination
 Discrimination
on grounds such as
race or religion, is generally illegal in
most Western societies.
 When
unlawful discrimination takes
place, it is often described as
discrimination against a person or
group of people.
Discrimination

Unlawful discrimination can be
characterized as direct or subtle. Direct
discrimination involves treating
someone less favorably because of
their possession of an attribute:
◦ E.g. sex, age, race, religion, family
status, national origin, military status,
disability
◦ E.g. not offering a job to a woman
because she is likely to take maternity
leave whereas a man is not
Direct Discrimination
 Indirect
or subtle discrimination
involves setting a condition or
requirement which a smaller
proportion of those with the attribute
are able to comply with, without
reasonable justification.
◦ E.g. Using an aptitude test in job
applications to disqualify a certain group
of people to enter the company
Subtle Discrimination
 Conflict
is a state of discord caused
by the actual or perceived opposition
of needs, values and interests.
 Conflict
as a concept can help
explain many aspects of social life
such as social disagreement,
conflicts of interests, and fights
between individuals, groups, or
organizations.
(Cross-cultural) Conflict
 In
political terms, "conflict" can refer
to wars, revolutions or other
struggles, which may involve the use
of force as in the term armed conflict.
 Without
proper social arrangement
or resolution, conflicts in social
settings can result in stress or
tensions among stakeholders.
Conflict
Barriers in Intercultural Communication
Part 2
◦ ___
◦ ___
◦ ___
◦ ___
◦ ___
◦ ___
◦ ___
◦ ___
Values
Beliefs
Cultural generalizations
Stereotypes
Prejudice
Bias
Discrimination
Conflict
What are barriers of intercultural
communication?
(Quiz)
◦Stereotypes
◦Prejudice
◦Bias
◦Discrimination
◦Conflict
Can you avoid them?
Barriers of Intercultural
Communication
Overcoming Intercultural
Communication Barriers
Part 3
Increase intercultural
communication competence
2. Understand national cultures
with notice of individual
differences and personal
multiple identities
3. Apply effective communication
skills!
1.
Overcome Communication Barriers
 Active
Listening
◦Give responding cues
◦Use paraphrasing
◦Ask questions for repetition,
clarification and details
◦Summarize
 Inquiry
◦Use more open-ended
questions
Effective Communication Skills
 Advocacy
◦ Articulate your perspective or
opinion
◦ Invite others to respond to your
views and assumptions
◦ Be open-minded to the different
opinion
◦ Accept the possibility of learning
new thoughts and shifting your
views
Effective Communication Skills
 Reflection
◦ Slow down your thinking process
while communicating
◦ Be aware of other speakers’
reactions, emotions and
assumptions while communicating
◦ Reflect on the communication
process later and prepare for next
encounter
Effective Communication Skills
Active
Listening
Inquiry
Advocacy
Reflection
Effective Communication Skills
Review
 Do
you remember the four
components of ICC?
◦ Intercultural attitudes, knowledge,
skills and awareness
 Increasing cultural knowledge is
important. However, we need to
recognize that our cultural knowledge
is ‘initial’ understanding and it should
grow as any intercultural
communication proceeds.
Conclusion
 That
is, we should not allow any prior
cultural knowledge to become stereotype
or even prejudice preventing us from
getting to know a culture further.
 Holding correct attitudes to see other
cultures, applying effective
communication skills and always
reflecting as well as being aware of what
is happening in the communication
process is essential to achieve successful
intercultural communication!
Conclusion
Checkpoint & References
(1) What are possible (2) How can you
barriers in intercultural achieve effective
communication?
communication?


Please give at least
three examples:
____________

____________

____________
1.
2.
3.
4.
(3) What are the
useful strategies for
active listening?
1.
____________
2.
_____________
_____________
_____________
3.
Checkpoint
__________
__________
__________
__________
4.
(1) Barriers in Intercultural
Communication
◦ Stereotypes
◦ Prejudice
◦ Bias
◦ Discrimination
◦ Conflict
Answers
(2) Effective Communication
Requirements
◦
◦
◦
◦
Active Listening
Inquiry
Advocacy
Reflection
(3) Active Listening Strategies
◦ Give responses
◦ Use paraphrasing
◦ Ask questions for
repetition, clarification
and details
◦ Summarize
Eckert, Susan (2006) Intercultural
Communication. Thomson.
 Bell, V., Halligan, P.W. & Ellis, H.D. (2006)
A Cognitive Neuroscience of Belief. In P.W.
Halligan & M. Aylward (eds) The Power of
Belief. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
 Rosnow, Ralph L.; Poultry and Prejudice.
Psychologist Today, (March, 1972): p. 53.

(-End-)
References