WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY EXTENSION

José García-Pabón, Ph.D.

2.3 million businesses

1.9 million jobs

$345.2 billion in sales

Latino businesses

Source: US Census 2007

high failure rate, insufficient capital, low revenue, no

culturally appropriate professional advice, unfamiliar with

small business regulations, and more

Issues

Characteristics HIGH CONTEXT LOW CONTEXT

The Structure of Relationships

Dense, intersecting networks and long term and strong relationships. Relationship is more important than task

Loose, wide networks, shorter term. Task is more important than relationship

Main Type of Cultural Knowledge

More knowledge is implicit, patterns are not fully conscious and are hard to explain

More knowledge is visible, explicit, consciously organized

Form of Communication

Less verbally explicit communication, less written/formal information

Rule oriented people play by external and clearly written rules. More knowledge is codified, public, external, and accessible

4

Edward Hall cultural model

Low context

High context

Edward Hall cultural model

6

Activity: The iceberg

7

The cultural iceberg

SCARY!!!

YOUR DISCOMFORT

ZONE

YOUR COMFORT ZONE

YOU

What you need to do when interacting with HC entrepreneurs

Suspend judgment

Live with uncertainty

Question any quick answers and remedies

Keep in mind cultural subjectivity is at the core of cross-cultural outreach

Understanding your low/high context communication

style increases your cross-cultural communication

effectiveness

Preparing an event for a high context audience