Summary Cultural Management year 1.3
Week 1
What are some of the aspects of culture that will most likely affect communication in the
business setting? (language, authority, nonverbal communication)
5 competences that are important for effective communication with people from different
backgrounds:
- Cultural empathy
- Open-mindedness
- Social initiative
- Emotional stability
- Flexibility
first 3 can be developed
Cultural awareness/cultural sensitivity: being aware that cultural differences and similarities
exist, while not judging people based on that. a non-judgmental mindset.
“You never get a second chance to make a first impression.”
Culture:
- You have your own pattern of thinking, feeling and potential acting that was learned
throughout your lifetime.
- Patterns of thinking, feeling, acting; mental programs (software of the mind)
- Culture: The collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one
group or category of people from another group or category of people.
- “Culture is a shared system of meanings.”
- Culture is taken for granted; it is an accumulation of all the unspoken aspects of daily life
(“a fish discovers its needs for water only when it is no longer in it.”)
- Culture gives people a sense of who they are, of belonging, and of how they should
behave.
To sum up:
Culture:
- Is a collective phenomenon (involves large groups of people)
- Is learned
- Is a set of shared perceptions
- It involves beliefs, values and norms
- Affects behaviour
“There are no genes to carry culture.”
, The Onion Diagram: manifestations of culture at different levels of
depth.
Iceberg concept of Culture:
Be cautious when you speak about culture:
- When talking about a cultural aspect, you are probably speaking in generalizations.
There is difference between stereotyping and generalizing!
- Within every national culture, there are dominant cultural patterns, as well as countless
sub- or co-cultures with values, attitudes, norms and behaviors that are not necessarily
the same as those of the dominant culture.
- Cultural generalizations involve categorizing members of the same group as having
similar characteristics Generalizations are flexible and allow for the incorporation of new
cultural information. (They are a type of hypothesis, or guess, of what we expect to
encounter when we interact with a certain culture.)
Intercultural communication: communication between people from different cultural
backgrounds.
Link between culture and communication: through the influence of culture, people learn to
communicate > communication is cultural > communication is different among cultures.
2 types of human behavior:
- Behavior that is genetically programmed/universal (e.g.: all people communicate, it’s a
universal activity)
- Behavior that is cultural (parochial behavior). Learned behaviour that is particular to a
culture.
Examples of universal behavior:
- Smile when happy
- Wave to greet
- Laugh when amused
- Blush or hide face when embarrassed
- Cry when sad or in pain
- Shrug to express “I don’t know”
Examples of parochial (cultural) behavior:
- Modesty
- Food preferences
- Religion
- Ideas of beauty
Week 1
What are some of the aspects of culture that will most likely affect communication in the
business setting? (language, authority, nonverbal communication)
5 competences that are important for effective communication with people from different
backgrounds:
- Cultural empathy
- Open-mindedness
- Social initiative
- Emotional stability
- Flexibility
first 3 can be developed
Cultural awareness/cultural sensitivity: being aware that cultural differences and similarities
exist, while not judging people based on that. a non-judgmental mindset.
“You never get a second chance to make a first impression.”
Culture:
- You have your own pattern of thinking, feeling and potential acting that was learned
throughout your lifetime.
- Patterns of thinking, feeling, acting; mental programs (software of the mind)
- Culture: The collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one
group or category of people from another group or category of people.
- “Culture is a shared system of meanings.”
- Culture is taken for granted; it is an accumulation of all the unspoken aspects of daily life
(“a fish discovers its needs for water only when it is no longer in it.”)
- Culture gives people a sense of who they are, of belonging, and of how they should
behave.
To sum up:
Culture:
- Is a collective phenomenon (involves large groups of people)
- Is learned
- Is a set of shared perceptions
- It involves beliefs, values and norms
- Affects behaviour
“There are no genes to carry culture.”
, The Onion Diagram: manifestations of culture at different levels of
depth.
Iceberg concept of Culture:
Be cautious when you speak about culture:
- When talking about a cultural aspect, you are probably speaking in generalizations.
There is difference between stereotyping and generalizing!
- Within every national culture, there are dominant cultural patterns, as well as countless
sub- or co-cultures with values, attitudes, norms and behaviors that are not necessarily
the same as those of the dominant culture.
- Cultural generalizations involve categorizing members of the same group as having
similar characteristics Generalizations are flexible and allow for the incorporation of new
cultural information. (They are a type of hypothesis, or guess, of what we expect to
encounter when we interact with a certain culture.)
Intercultural communication: communication between people from different cultural
backgrounds.
Link between culture and communication: through the influence of culture, people learn to
communicate > communication is cultural > communication is different among cultures.
2 types of human behavior:
- Behavior that is genetically programmed/universal (e.g.: all people communicate, it’s a
universal activity)
- Behavior that is cultural (parochial behavior). Learned behaviour that is particular to a
culture.
Examples of universal behavior:
- Smile when happy
- Wave to greet
- Laugh when amused
- Blush or hide face when embarrassed
- Cry when sad or in pain
- Shrug to express “I don’t know”
Examples of parochial (cultural) behavior:
- Modesty
- Food preferences
- Religion
- Ideas of beauty
