PERCEPTIONS AND TECHNIQUES OF INTERCULTURAL

COMMUNICATION COMPETENCE

Gabriella KISS, PhDDirector of Language Teaching CentreMilitary Science and Officer Training FacultyNational University of Public ServiceBudapest, HUNGARY

Respecting our differences and working together

“Military culture comprises the ethos and professional culture where military policy

and reality meet in the daily lives of military. This where the real battle is

taking place and these themes should not be ignored to our own peril.”

(Williamson Murray)

AGENDAAims Cultural norms and patternsFeatures of cultural literacy at militaryCulture Bump TheoryManaging Multicultural Teamwork

benefits leverage to positive results guiding and organizational questions

Guidelines for multicultural collaborations

AIMSLearning to interact with local populaces presents a major challenge for soldiers, leaders, and civilians.

For most long-distance operations, the Army attempts to instill in deployed forces an awareness of societal and cultural norms for the regions in which they operate.

Cultural norms and patterns

Cultural norms include thoughts, behaviors, and patterns of communication, customs, beliefs, values, and institutions. (By Jean Willis)

1.Communication styles

2. Attitudes toward conflict

3. Approaches to completing task

4. Decision-making styles

5. Attitudes toward personal disclosure

6. Approaches to knowing

Other factors of norms influencing communication

Religion – freedom and inevitability, fear and faith, security and insecurity, right and wrong, sacred and profane.

Tribal affiliation – arise from a social tradition that often lacks written histories or philosophies and independent perspectives.

Nationalism – the context of states, nations embody the importance people place on culture and heritage without respecting geography.

Features describing the culturally literate soldiers (1.) (By Peter J.

Katzenstein)

They – - understand that culture affects their behavior and beliefs and the behavior and beliefs of others- are aware of specific cultural beliefs, values, and sensibilities that might affect the way they and others think or behave- appreciate and accept diverse beliefs, appearances, and lifestyles- are aware that historical knowledge is constructed and, therefore, shaped by personal, political, and social forces- know the history of mainstream and non-mainstream cultures and understand how these histories affect current society- can understand the perspective of non-mainstream groups when learning about historical events- know about major historical events of other nations and understand how such events affect behaviors, beliefs, and relationships with others- are aware of the similarities among groups of different cultural backgrounds and accept differences between them- understand the dangers of stereotyping, ethnocentrism, and other biases and are aware of and sensitive to issues of racism and prejudice

Features describing the culturally literate soldiersFeatures describing the culturally literate soldiers (2.)(2.)

They – - are bilingual, multilingual, or working toward language proficiency- can communicate, interact, and work positively with individuals from other cultural groups- use technology to communicate with individuals and access resources from other cultures- are familiar with changing cultural norms of technology and interact successfully in such environments- understand that cultural differences exist and need to be accounted for in the context of military operations- understand that as soldiers they are part of a widely stereotyped culture that will encounter predisposed prejudices, which will need to be overcome in cross-cultural relations- are secure and confident in their identities and capable of functioning in a way that allows others to remain secure in theirs..

Culture Bump Theory(By C.M. Archer)

-addresses structural need for a change mechanism in cultural programming,

-incorporates the strengths of diversity and cross-cultural communication training,

-from „why they are different from us” into „how we are the same”.

Managing Multicultural Teamwork

To work effectively with diverse people, know about :-the others’ culture who to interact with-demographics-one’s personality -behaviour patterns in conflict situations-life experience…etc

The benefits can include:The benefits can include:- providing a greater range of perspectives and options- enhancing the quality of decision taken- developing the ‘global awareness’ of team members, and

improving relationships with key partners through working together

HOW TO LEVERAGE POSITIVE RESULTS(By Canney Davison)

- Differences need to be understood, acknowledged, respected and explored

- ‘‘CCritical moments’ of confronting the issue of ritical moments’ of confronting the issue of diversitydiversity

-Challenges Challenges of the group’s life cycleof the group’s life cycle at an early stage at an early stage (questionnaire about expectations, perceptions of hot (questionnaire about expectations, perceptions of hot issues, convergence or divergence of styles noticed)issues, convergence or divergence of styles noticed)

GUIDING QUESTIONS

1. What is the degree of difference or similarity between the cultural norms of the individuals within the group?2. How much do these individuals manifest their cultural norms?3. How much of an issue is English language fluency?4. What different expectations are present and precisely what constitutes effective group behavior and communication styles?5. What leadership styles are preferred and valued within the group?6. What different stages of intercultural sensitivity has each member of the team reached in ‘managing diversity’ (within the team, in their local area and in relation to the Head Office cultures)?

ORGANIZATIONAL QUESTIONSORGANIZATIONAL QUESTIONS

1.What is the relative status of different cultures and sub-cultures within the team?

2. 2. How will geographic spread affect theHow will geographic spread affect the group?group?

3. How will the similarity or difference between functional and professional cultures affect the group dynamics?

4. What impact does top management have on the success of have on the success of the team?the team?

Guidelines for multicultural collaboration

- Learn from generalizations about other cultures, but don’t use those generalizations to stereotype, “write off”, or simplify your ideas about another person.

- Practice, practice, practice.

- Don’t assume that there is one right way (yours!) to communicate.

- Don’t assume that breakdowns in communication work, rather than searching for who should receive the blame for the breakdown.

- Listen actively and empathetically.

- Respect others’ choices whether to engage in communication with you.

- Stop, suspend judgment, and try to look at the situation as an outsider.

- Be prepared for a discussion of the past.

- Awareness of current power imbalances.

- Remember that cultural norms may not apply to the behavior of any particular individual.

Works citedAdler, N.,J. (1997). International Dimensions of Organizational Behaviour. Cincinnati, Ohio: South –Western College Publishing. Archer, C.M. (1991). Living with Strangers in the USA: Communicating Beyond Culture. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc.

Archer, C.M. (1986). Culture Bump and Beyond. In Valdes, J.M. (Ed.), Culture Bound: Bridging the Cultural Gap in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Avruch, K. and Black, P.W. (1993). Conflict Resolution Theory and Practice. Dennis, J.D. Sandole and Hugo van der Merwe (Eds), Manchaster, UK: Manchaster University Press Banks, J.A. (1997). Multiethnic Education: Theory and Practice. Needham Heights, MA 02194: Allyn and Bacon Davison, C.S. (1996). Leading and Facilitating International Teams. In Berger, M. (1996). Cross-Cultural Team Building – Guidelines for More Effective Communication and Negotiation. London: McGraw-Hill.

Gundykunst, W.B. and Young Yun Kim. (1984). Communicating with Strangers: An Approach to Intercultural Communication. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley Publishing Co. Hofner Saphiere, D.M. (1996). Productive Behaviours of Global Business Teams. International Journal of Intercultural relations, 20(2) Matveev, A.V. (2002). Theory of Communication and Applied Communication. In Rozina, I.N. (Ed.), Rostov-on-Don: Institute of Management, Business and Law Publishing. Moscow: Bulletin of Russian Communication Association. Schneider, S.C. and Barsoux J-L. (1997). Managing Across Cultures. Prentice Hall Europe. http://www.pbs.org/ampu/crosscult.html.

DuPraw, M.E. and Axner, M. Working on Common Cross-cultural Communication Challenges.