cross-cultural communication facilitators and barriers by anamika viswanathan what is communication...

Cross-cultural CommunicationFacilitators and Barriersby Anamika Viswanathan

What is Communication – components, channels,

receiving

Noise in Communication

Understanding Culture

What is Cultural Intelligence

Developing Cross-Cultural Competence

Brand Communication and Cultural Competence

Suggested framework for interacting with a new culture

Handling cross-cultural conference calls

Psyconnections, March 2010

What is Communication

WHO says WHAT to WHOM with what PURPOSE in which SITUATION by WHAT MEANS and through what CHANNEL with what EFFECT, Harold Laswell

Besides transmission (process), there is exchange and production of meanings (semiotic)

Apart from the message and medium, context plays a vital part too


Components of Communication

Non-verbal behaviours are more emphasised in high-context cultures.

NVC (55%)

Tone (38%)

“Spoken word” (7%)


Channels of Communication

Verbal – Words, clauses, sentences Prosodic – Intonation, rhythm, pauses Paralinguistic – Ummm, ah, cry, whine, yawn Kinesics – Face, head, body, posture and gesture Standing features of interaction – Orientation, clothes,

adornment and appearance Proxemics – How space is used i.e intimate distance,

personal distance, social distance, public distance (Hall)

Touch – How it is used to signal intensity (France & Mayo; Heslin and Alper)

Ellis and Beattie, The Psychology of Language and Communication


Receiving Communication

The receiver perceives the message through five senses and ‘Cone of experience’ ranging from direct experience to indirect experience (Edgar Dale)

Experiential levels of reality: Barber (2000)

o Physical/ Sensory

o Social/ Cultural

o Emotional/ Transferential

o Imaginative/ Projective

o Transpersonal/ Intuitive


Noise in Communication

Semantic Noise: different interpretations of words and abbreviations like grass, LOL

Syntactical Noise: caused by grammatical intricacies or errors i.e You don’t not want to be doing that.

Cultural Noise: caused by stereotypes i.e be loud and casual with Americans or laid back with French

Organisational Noise: ill-structured, ambiguous communication not sent through proper channels

Techno Noise: caused by inability to use certain new age communication tools

Information overload: too much information packed together

Psychological Noise: loaded words, high-strung emotions or psychiatric conditions

Physiological-Impairment Noise: deafness and blindness Ambient noise: drilling, road works, loudspeakers


Understanding Culture

Hofstede(1980, 1985, 1990) defines it as mental programming for people within a nation, ‘software’ of the mind

Reflects a set of imperfectly shared rules for

meanings and behaviour

A country may have several cultural subsets

Five characteristics of culture:o Power distanceo Uncertainty avoidanceo Individualism vs. Collectivismo Masculinity vs. feminityo Long vs. short term orientation


What is Cultural Intelligence A person’s capability for successful adaptation to new

cultural settings, that is, for unfamiliar settings attributable to cultural context. Earley & Ang, 2003.

o Cognitive - Create new conceptualisations of culture-specific knowledge

o Motivational – Engage with others in a new setting, feel enthused to find out more

o Behavioural elements – Respond to show effective adaptation to cultural circumstance


Developing Cross-Cultural Competency

Cultural competence is dynamic and requires frequent learning and unlearning

Learning new patterns of behaviour and effectively applying them in appropriate settings to increase the quality of services to produce better outcomes (David and Donald, 1997)

Cross-cultural training events were first commissioned by the US govt in 1960s

Caters to various learning styles – classroom, theoretical or experiential Psyconnections, March 2010

Brand Communication and Cultural Competence

Brand Communication

A - Grab Attention I - Evoke Interest D- Prompt Decision A- Propel Action

Cultural Competency

A – Focus Attention on available knowledge I – Be Interested in the cultural contextD- Decide on appropriate course of action A- Act to interact with the cultural context


Interacting with a new culture

1. Understand cultural values Deploy research, talk to friends and relatives, even sample the cuisine before hand

2. Present yourself appropriately Be sensitive to the acceptable dress code

3. Matching gestures would signal conformity and further enhance comfort levels.

4. Active listening and observing opens up a wealth of verbal and non-verbal cues and helps with rapport-building.


Interacting with a new culture (contd)

5. Being flexible/ adaptive - going with the host’s plans denotes appreciation and gratitude to the host to have planned the itinerary and made arrangements

6. Language proficiency/ aid helps

International English spoken slowly and clearly can be followed in most parts of the world.If effort is made to learn some essential words, it will be perceived as going the extra mile to forge a bond.

7. Use non-verbal communication Show appreciation with a gesture Motivate the team with give-aways or dinner Beat the beat gestures


Interacting with a new culture (contd)

8. Yes, no and sorry Use widely understood words/gestures. People across the globe are able to decode basic facial expressions universally as the emotion related to those are the same, Paul Ekman

9. Consciously avoid stereotypingWe all live a story, read other people’s stories …the truth is far from these stories. Don Miguel Ruiz, The Voice of Knowledge



You can pick from the vast database of tonality. Research in paralanguage focuses on three broad voice characteristics – voice quality, vocalisation and vocal qualifiers (Victor 1992).

• Voice quality gives cues on agility, articulation, resonance and power (Appleman, 1967). Also whether the person is under the weather

• Volume denotes motivation/ enthusiasm i.e bright and upbeat, low and reticent. Confidence vs. arrogance

• Accent - natural or acquired



• Pace could denote excitement levels, hurry or confusion

• Pauses, filler non-words or sounds like ummm, you know, like, clicking the tongue could denote giving time to others in some cultures while in some they would convey lack of substance. In high context cultures, silence is preferred to conversations. Turn taking and talking pace is also dictated by the cultural context

• Ambient noises and their impact on the call i.e phones ringing, voices calling out. Techno noise, Information overload


The Learning Cycle

Unconscious Incompetent

Conscious Incompetent

Conscious Competent

Unconscious Competent

S. Benton, Business Psychology Centre


Focus on being authentic, not just accurate

You can’t direct the wind but you can adjust your sails…

Thank you


Contact details –

Anamika Viswanathan

[email protected]


cross-cultural communication facilitators and barriers by anamika viswanathan what is communication...

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