Lecture notes on business communication. Учебное пособие

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•Information overload

•Improper distance and time

2.Semantic barriers: Also called language barrier, means barriers arising from the different meanings of words or other symbols.

•Use of vague words

•Use of ambiguous words

•Use of abstract words

•Poor vocabulary

3.Socio-psychology barriers: Barriers arise from motives, emotions, social values, different perceptions etc.

•Self-centered attitude

•Fear

•Distrust

•Poor listening

•State of health

•Difference in dialect

•Use of voice and other body language

4.Personal barriers

•Lack of interest

•Poor state of health

•Lack of common knowledge

•Poor communication skills

5.Organizational barriers

•Organizational rules and regulations

•Hierarchical relationship

•Wrong choice of channels

6.Cross-cultural barriers

•Language

•Attitude and value system

•Concept of time and space

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Strategies to overcome communication barriers

The following efforts should be made in order to make the process of communication effective.

Use of soundproof rooms for meetings and taking steps to control all physical noise at work place.

Make suitable seating arrangement and provide environmental comfort.

Ensure proper visibility and audibility.

Periodical review and reorganization of communication network.

Ensure clarity in emotional expressions.

Explain the importance of message.

Time your message carefully.

Prefer the positive attitude.

Develop trust and confidence.

Use simple, precise and most suitable language.

Avoid use of abstract things to communicate.

Avoid polysemic words which create confusions.

EXERCISES

1.Observe two people talking. Describe their communication. See if you can find all eight components and provide an example for each one.

2.Please recall a time when you gave a speech in front of a group. How did you feel? What was your experience? What did you learn from your experience?

3.If you were asked to get the attention of your peers, what image or word would you choose and why?

4.If you were asked to get the attention of someone like yourself, what image or word would you choose and why?

5.Compare two speakers or lecturers you have experienced – one whom you liked and one who irritated you. How would you describe their verbal

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and nonverbal styles? Which features of their behaviour did you notice? What did you think these differences told you about their personalities?

6.How far (and in what ways) are you affected by personal attributes of others when they communicate with you?

7.How can you tell when someone is not telling the truth?

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LECTURE 2. INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1.Define the culture and explain the notion of intercultural communication

2.List and explain the components of intercultural communication competence

3.Identify common cultural characteristics

4.Identify divergent cultural characteristics

5.Identify key points to measure cultural dimensions in a global perspective.

2.1. Defining culture

Culture is a complicated word to define. For the purposes of exploring the communicative aspects of culture, we will define culture as the ongoing negotiation of learned and patterned beliefs, attitudes, values, and behaviors. Going further with the definition, we can see that culture shouldn’t be conceptualized as stable and unchanging. Culture is “negotiated,” and culture is dynamic, cultural changes can be traced and analyzed to better understand why our society is the way it is. The definition also points out that culture is learned, which accounts for the importance of socializing institutions like family, school, peers, and the media. Culture is understood in that there are recognizable known similarities among people within one cultural group. There is also deviation from and resistance to those patterns by individuals and subgroups within a culture, which is why cultural patterns change over time. Finally, the definition admits that culture influences our beliefs about what is true and what is false, our attitudes including our likes and dislikes, our values regarding what is right and wrong, and our behaviors. It is from these cultural influences that our identities are formed.

Communication is the sharing of understanding and meaning but what is intercultural communication? Where does one culture stop and another start? How are cultures developed? Culture involves beliefs,

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attitudes, values, and traditions that are shared by some group of people. Therefore, we must consider more than the clothes we wear, the movies we watch, or the video games we play. Culture also involves psychological aspects of our expectations of communication. For example, if we are raised in a culture where males speak while females are expected to remain silent, the context of communication interaction defines the behavior which is a representation of culture. From the choice of words (message), to how we communicate (in person, or by messengers), and acknowledge understanding with a glance (nonverbal feedback), all these aspects of communication are influenced by culture.

In defining intercultural communication, we only have eight components of communication to work with, and they have already been explained in the previous lecture. Each component influences and is influenced by culture. All communication is intercultural. We may think of intercultural communication as the interaction between two people from different countries. While two passports may be nonverbal representations of communication, what happens when two people from two different parts of one and the same country communicate? From high and low Germanic dialects, to the perspective of different regions in the Russian Federation, our geographic, linguistic, educational, sociological, and psychological traits influence our communication.

Within the same family, can there be intercultural communication? If all communication is intercultural, then the answer would be yes, but we still have to prove our case. Imagine a three-generation family living in one house. Grandparents may represent another time and different values from grandchildren. Parents may have a different level of education; the schooling the children are receiving may prepare them for yet another career. From music, to food preferences, to how work is done may vary across time; Michael Jackson may be ancient history to our children. But suppose we have a group of students who are all similar in age and educational level. Do gender and the societal expectations of roles influence interaction? Certainly. With a group of sisters, there may be common

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characteristics, but they will still have differences, and these differences contribute to intercultural communication. We are each shaped by our upbringing that influences our worldview, our values, and the way we interact with each other. We create culture, and it creates us.

Here we naturally come to the question of cultural identities. They are based on socially constructed categories that teach us the way of being and include expectations for social behavior or ways of acting. Since we are often a part of them since birth, cultural identities are the least changeable. The ways of being and the social expectations for behavior within cultural identities do change over time, but what separates them from most social identities is their historical roots. In order to be accepted as a member of a cultural group, members must be acculturated, essentially learning and using a code that other group members will be able to recognize. We are acculturated into our various cultural identities in obvious and less obvious ways. We may literally have a parent or friend telling us what it means to be a man or a woman.

Every business or organization has a culture, and within what may be considered a global culture, there are many subcultures or co-cultures. For example, we can consider the difference between IT and accounting departments in a corporation. We can quickly see two distinct groups with their own symbols, vocabulary, and values. Within each group, there may also be smaller groups, and each member of each department comes from a distinct background that in itself influences behavior and interaction.

Ethnocentrism is the tendency to view other cultures as inferior to one’s own. Having pride in your culture can be healthy, but history has taught us that having a predisposition to discount other cultures simply because they are different can be hurtful, damaging, and dangerous. Ethnocentrism makes us far less likely to be able to bridge the gap with others and often increases intolerance of difference. Business and industry are no longer regional, and in your career, you will necessarily cross borders, languages, and cultures. A skilled business communicator knows

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that the process of learning is never complete, and being open to new ideas is a key strategy for success.

2.2. Components of Intercultural Communication Competence

Intercultural communication competence (ICC) is the ability to communicate effectively and appropriately in various cultural contexts. There are numerous components of ICC. Some key components include motivation, selfand other knowledge, and tolerance for uncertainty.

Initially, a person’s motivation to communicate with people from other cultures must be considered. Motivation refers to the root of a person’s desire to foster intercultural relationships and can be intrinsic or extrinsic (Martin & Nakayama, 2010). Putting it simply, if a person isn’t motivated to communicate with people from different cultures, then the components of ICC discussed further don’t really matter. If a person has a healthy curiosity that drives him or her toward intercultural encounters in order to learn more about self and others, then there is a foundation from which to build additional competence-relevant attitudes and skills. This intrinsic motivation makes intercultural communication a voluntary, rewarding, and lifelong learning process. Motivation can also be extrinsic, meaning that the desire for intercultural communication is driven by an outside reward like money, power, or recognition. While both types of motivation can contribute to ICC, context may further enhance or impede a person’s motivation to communicate across cultures.

Members of dominant groups are often less motivated, intrinsically and extrinsically, toward intercultural communication than members of non dominant groups, because they don’t see the incentives for doing so. Having more power in communication encounters can create an unbalanced situation where the individual from the non dominant group is expected to exhibit competence, or the ability to adapt to the communication behaviors and attitudes of the other. Even in situations where extrinsic rewards like securing an overseas business investment are at stake, it is highly likely in current situation that the investor is much more accustomed to adapting to

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business customs and communication in the Russian Federation than vice versa.

The unbalanced situation that has just been described is a daily reality for many individuals with non dominant identities. Their motivation toward intercultural communication may be driven by survival in terms of functioning effectively in dominant contexts. We can recall the phenomenon known as code-switching discussed earlier, in which individuals from non dominant groups adapt their communication to fit in with the dominant group. In such instances, workers from Uzbekistan or Tajikistan may start to learn and use the language that is called “standard Russian” with the aim to conform to the conditions in his working place; women in corporate environments may adapt masculine communication patterns, people who are gay or lesbian may self-censor and avoid discussing their same-gender partners with coworkers, and people with nonvisible disabilities may not disclose them in order to avoid judgment.

Developing selfand other-knowledge is an ongoing process that will continue to adapt and grow as we encounter new experiences. Mindfulness and cognitive complexity will help as we continue to build our ICC. Mindfulness is a state of selfand other-monitoring that informs later reflection on communication interactions. As mindful communicators we should ask questions that focus on the interactive process like “How is our communication going? What are my reactions? What are their reactions?”

Being able to adapt our communication in the moment based on our answers to these questions is a skill that comes with a high level of ICC. Reflecting on the communication encounter later to see what can be learned is also a way to build ICC. We should then be able to incorporate what we learned into our communication frameworks, which requires cognitive flexibility. Cognitive flexibility refers to the ability to continually supplement and revise existing knowledge to create new categories rather than forcing new knowledge into old categories. Cognitive flexibility helps prevent our knowledge from becoming stale and also prevents the formation of stereotypes helping us to avoid prejudging an encounter or jumping to

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conclusions. To sum it up, to be better intercultural communicators, we should know much about others and ourselves and be able to reflect on and adapt our knowledge as we gain new experiences.

Motivation and knowledge can inform us as we gain new experiences, but how we feel in the moment of intercultural encounters is also important. Tolerance for uncertainty refers to an individual’s attitude and level of comfort in uncertain situations. Some people perform better in uncertain situations than others, and intercultural encounters often bring up this uncertainty. Whether communicating with someone of a different gender, race, or nationality, we are often wondering what we should or shouldn’t do or say. Situations of uncertainty most often become clearer as they progress, but the anxiety that an individual with a low tolerance for uncertainty feels may lead them to leave the situation or otherwise communicate in a less competent manner. Individuals with a high tolerance for uncertainty may exhibit more patience, waiting on new information to become available or seeking out information, which may then increase the understanding of the situation and lead to a more successful outcome. Individuals who are intrinsically motivated toward intercultural communication may have a higher tolerance for uncertainty, in that their curiosity leads them to communicate with others who are different because they find the selfand other-knowledge gained rewarding.

2.3. Common Cultural Characteristics

Groups come together, form cultures, and grow apart across time. How do you become a member of a community, and how do you know when you are full member? What aspects of culture do people have in common and how do they relate to business communication? Researchers who have studied cultures around the world have identified certain characteristics that define a culture. These characteristics are expressed in different ways, but they tend to be present in nearly all cultures.

1. Rites of Initiation

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Cultures tend to have a ritual for becoming a new member. A newcomer starts out as a nonentity, a stranger, an unaffiliated person with no connection or even possibly awareness of the community. Those newcomers who stay around and are eager to learn about the culture constantly become the members of this very culture. Most cultures have a rite of initiation that marks the passage of the individual within the community; some of these rituals may be so informal as to be hardly noticed (e.g., the first time a coworker asks you to join the group to eat lunch together), while others may be highly formalized (e.g., the ordination of clergy in a religion). The nonmember becomes a member, the new member becomes a full member, and individuals rise in terms of responsibility and influence.

During the whole path of your life, you have no doubt passed several rites of initiation but may not have taken notice of them. Did you earn a driver’s license, register to vote, or acquire the permission to purchase alcohol? In Russian culture, these three common markers usually indicate the passing from a previous stage of life to a new one, with new rights and responsibilities.

Rites of initiation mark the transition of the role or status of the individual within the group. Your first day on the job may have been a challenge as you learned your way around the physical space, but the true challenge was to learn how the group members communicate with each other. If you graduate from the university with a PhD degree, you will already have passed a series of tests, learned terms and theories, and possess a symbol of accomplishment in your diploma, and this fact can grant you the opportunity to look for a better, higher paid job, and to seek access to a new culture. The moment a new member learns to navigate through the community—establishing a track record and being promoted—he passes the rite of initiation and acquires new rights and responsibilities.

2. Common History and Traditions

Traditions form as the organization grows and expands, and stories are told and retold to educate new members on how business should be