LEADERSHIP in INTERCULTURAL

COMMUNITIES

Sr. Pat Murray, ibvm

Donald S. McGavran refers to the flourishing of

“luxurious human diversity” in the human

community… and so too within religious

communities. Others speak about this

phenomenon as “a bewildering diversity”.

Sr. Marie Chin RSM refers to

“the labyrinth of cultures

in religious life.”

Why the focus on interculturality today?

Changing composition of many

communities

New awareness of the significance of

culture

Acknowledging past failures and the

need for healing

Learning to live with diversity

New intercultural insights and new

understanding from the perspective of

theology and spirituality

Why the focus on interculturality today?

Need to acquire intercultural competence – i.e.

have the ability to shift our:

- knowledge/perceptions: a more detailed set of

frameworks for perceiving and understanding

patterns of cultural difference

- - attitudes: appreciate the perceptions, values,

beliefs, behaviors and practices of people from

different cultural communities

- - behaviours: the ability to shift behaviors by means

of intercultural skills.

Respect for each culture and sub-culture is

above all a matter of justice when considering

“right relationships.” It is also a “prophetic

witness” in the context of today’s world.

CULTURE

…has been compared to the air

we breathe, which we really

only notice when it is absent

a “set of norms according to

which things are run or simply

“are” in a particular society,

country or organization.

A culture identity is......

A social group to which you belong. It gives you a sense of belongingness, a sense of security and identity….. a way of relating

It is also more than that. It also gives meaning to your existence: the “why” of your being on earth.

It is identification with and perceivedacceptance into a group that has a sharedsystem of symbols and meanings as wellas norms/rules for conduct.

Culture is Like an Iceberg

TEN CULTURAL CATEGORIES

Harris and Moran have identified ten cultural categories which (global) leaders should understand

with reference to any particular culture

a sense of self and space

dress and appearance

time and time consciousness

values and norms

mental process and learning

communication and language

food and feeding habits

relationships

beliefs and attitudes

work habits and practices

Do we really know one another from a cultural

perspective?

Assumption: If we live together then we will get

to know one another ???????????

Leadership Tasks:

Need to be open to learn and to plan this

learning in a systematic way

Brings about deeper understanding of the

other and is a mutual enrichment

Examine stereotypes and prejudices

Appreciate diversity

Mutual transformation

Getting to know one another

Different ways of getting to know one

another:

- share about important aspects of our

cultures e.g. a family meal, celebrating

a marriage, burial rituals etc.

- undertaking a cultural audit at the

level of community/congregations –

asking members what is/has been their

experience of life in the community or

congregation at the level of culture

A sister from an immigrant family said “while most of the community are warm and welcoming, some of them are very hard to accept me in the way of my English speaking and culture. I try very hard to speak like them but my tongue couldn’t do it well.”

Another living in a predominantly white community said “when others say I don’t see color while the remark is well meaning I don’t find it helpful as color is an essential part of who I am.”

Another sister said “living in an inter-tribal, inter-racial community is hard, you can’t identify the contents until you scoop into the pot and taste them.”

A sister living far from her home culture said “I fear to lose my identity and I regularly visit an elderly gentleman as an excuse to compensate my craving to hear and speak my mother tongue.”

Finally one sister shared how

hurt she felt when community

members from other cultures

criticized aspects of her

culture saying “yes we

practice communal work,

speak using diminutives and

our favorite color is black. We

believe in the evil eye, souls,

black magic, enchanted places,

ancestors, dreams and

premonitions.”

Cultural knowledge involves

understanding the norms and

communication rules of other cultures

so that the behavior of people from another

culture can be interpreted accurately.

1. Who Are We? High and Low Context Cultures

2. Who am I? Individual and Collectivist Cultures

3. Who Is In Charge? High and Low Power Distance

Cultures

__________________________________________

4. How We Deal with Uncertainty? High or Low

Uncertainty Avoidance

5. Doing or Being: Masculine or Feminine Traits in a

Culture

6. Time Orientation: Long or Short Term Orientation

7. Time Orientation: Linear or Circular

8. Space Orientation: Close or Distant

9. Formation Learning Cultures

9 LENS FOR UNDERSTANDING CULTURE

Low Context Culture High Context Culture

Meaning is conveyed through

direct verbal communication

informal ways

few rituals

impersonal approach

factual & abstract information

abstract principles, linear logic

engaging in direct confrontation

and conflict

Meaning is conveyed through

context, environment, feeling,

atmosphere,

a formal approach

extensive ritual

a concrete relational approach

relational values, intuitive grasp

body language

proverbs, obliqueness, silence

avoiding direct confrontation and

conflict

Difference in Communication Styles

“A high-context culture communication or

message is one in which most of the information

is either in the physical context or internalized in

the person, while very little is in the coded,

explicit transmitted parts of the message.”

A low context communication is the direct

opposite. The information is in the explicit code,

and the verbal messages are “elaborate, highly

specific, detailed and redundant."

Difference in Communications Style

High Context Culture When communicating with another person

something which is on her/his mind, a person

from a high-context culture will expect the

interlocutor to know what’s bothering her so

he/she will not explain in great detail. Instead

he/she will speak in a circumlocutory way, going

round and round the topic, providing all the

pieces of the puzzle except the final central piece.

The role of the listener is to place this key piece

in place and to attempt to do this for the listener

is an insult.

Hall, Beyond Culture, 91.

Some general observations Communication is deeper than language

Need to pay attention to context

Need to understand my role in the communication event: am

I responsible for understanding the communication or is the

speaker responsible for the communication?

In many cultures it is not acceptable to question or disagree

with an elder so this requires “the elder” to be creative

What I understand as a “yes’ may actually mean a “maybe” or

‘this is what you want to hear” or “not yet”

Building trust and openness requires time and care

Understand the difficulties and challenges in learning to

understand “the other”

Attentive listening and observation needed to help unpack the

communication event

Formal v informal

Between

what I think

what I want to say

what I think I am saying

what I say

what you want to hear

what you hear

what you think you understand

what you want to understand

what you understand

there are at least 9 chances

that we will not understand each other.

Bernard Weber

Individualist Societies: “I” Group-Centered Societies:“WE”

- Interests of the individual prevail over

the group; ties are loose

- Everyone grows up to look after self

and immediate nuclear family

- Identity is based on the individual

- Children learn to think in terms of “I”

- Speaking one’s mind is a characteristic

of an honest person

- Wants /needs and desires of the person

are embodies in the spoken word

- Communication is direct with eye

contact

- Offending leads to guilt and loss of self-

respect

- Task prevails over relationship

- Innovation is seen as creativity

- Interests of the group prevail over the

individual

- People are born into extended in-

groups, which continue to protect them in

return for loyalty

- Identity is based on the social network to

which one belongs

- Children learn to think in terms of “we”

- Wants/needs and desires of the person

are not obvious in the spoken message

- Harmony should always be maintained

and direct confrontation should be

avoided

- Offending leads to shame and loss of

face for self and group

- Relationship prevails over task

- Innovation is seen as deviation

General Observations

Processes in religious life:

- asking for volunteers

- how we form committees

- how to bring together the I/We in

community life

Eye contact or the absence of eye contact

Task v Relationship

High Power Distance Societies Low Power Distance Societies

Less powerful people accept

inequality, duty, fate

Wait for orders

Centralization is popular

Children taught to obey and

respect parents

Teachers are wisdom figures who

transfer personal wisdom

Leadership is good when it has

connections throughout the

organization

Leaders order and invite people to

participate

People do not oppose directly but

may do so indirectly

People feel that they are basically equal

and have the same rights

Children are treated as equals with

adults

Teachers expect initiative from students

Hierarchy is accepted to accomplish a

task

Legitimate and expert power is

accepted

Decentralization is popular

Power is redistributed through

education

Leadership here is good when it co-

ordinates the participation of members

and helping a consensus or

compromise

Members volunteer opinions and ideas

Leadership is bad when it is dominating

or inactive

Some observations

Differences in power relationships and the

expectations of leaders

Notice how power is distributed in community

and how the distribution of power affects

community life and relationships

Titles, rank, status, age – how these are viewed

Levels of comfort and discomfort

Hierarchy and shared leadership - Room for both:

a cultural shift

Becoming an Intercultural Person

to become a person, who respects all cultures;

a person who can appreciate and have a

tolerance for difference

a person who is ultimately able to constantly

negotiate different worlds

open to being transformed

I am now able to look at both cultures with

objectivity as well as subjectivity; I am able to

move in both cultures, back and forth without

any apparent conflict……I think that something

beyond the sum of each cultural identification

took place, and that it is something akin to the

concept of “synergy”, when one adds 1 and 1,

one gets three, or a little more.

…………our friends were once

strangers. Somehow at a

particular time they came from

the distance into our lives. Their

arrival seemed so accidental and

contingent. Now our life is

unimaginable without them.

John O’ Donoghue