Tendero, Karla Bianca R.

Cross Cultural/Intercultural Communication

1. How many multinational corporations can you name? What is the potential impact of their
product (s) in countries like China or India (or in other specific countries)?
- World economies and cultures are becoming more complex and interconnected as never
before.  To remain competitive in this rapidly changing world, most businesses will need to enter
the global marketplace because information, technology, investors, and customers are no longer
restricted by national borders or cultural boundaries.
Here are the multinational corporations I know:

 Toyota
 Apple
 Microsoft
 McDonalds
 Nestle

2. Can your workplace be considered multicultural? Why or why not?

- I could say that a workplace is multicultural if they employed people from different
countries with different cultural backgrounds. Also, it has to have diverse cultural perspectives
that can inspire creativity and drive innovation and cultural sensitivity, insight, and local
knowledge for higher quality, targeted marketing.

3. At your job (now or in the past), how did you refer to your boss, and vice versa? Is this
indicative of a low or high-power distance value?
4. Can you think of any examples of differences related to individualism or collectivism leading
to intercultural communication conflicts on the job?
- In an individualistic culture, workers are expected to perform certain tasks and to have
clearly defined responsibilities. There is a strong distinction between individual employees and
job standards, with the assumption that people work best on their own. Loyalty to the company is
not necessary, but it is expected to pay for results. Efficiency and efficiency are rated above
attitudes.
- Jobs are assigned to a unit, section or department in collectivist cultures. Legal and other
mechanisms also shield the group such that individuals usually adhere to the needs of the group.
Consensus decision taking is favoured. Individuals are expected to do best in communities.
Loyalty to the organization and/or its managers is more respected than productivity and
performance.

5. How do you view work? Is hard work a virtue or a necessary evil?

Tendero, Karla Bianca R.
Cross Cultural/Intercultural Communication

- For some, it is a virtue because it may leads to material gain therefore, people who have a
lot of material goods, and are thought to have been hard workers. Also, they think it will
someday pay off and they will get the praise and recognition if they work hard enough.
- Work is often seen as a necessary burden or evil. Essential in the sense that a greater
good is going to happen when work is going on. The profit of a work has importance. Bills will
be compensated with the money they've received from working. You can buy food. Communities
require health care, education and a working infrastructure. Work can be a catalyst for good, but
it can also cause a small amount of harm. Working parents leave their children in the care of
others, and this may lead to a certain type of guilt. Working late at the hospital night-after-night
could ruin a marriage. But fast-paced street maintenance can't prevent car accidents from
occurring. In short, it is different for every person and I think it is both virtue and necessary evil.

6. How might different attitudes toward work lead to intercultural communication conflicts?
- People with different attitudes may have different views on things especially if it is about
cultures. It may lead to misunderstanding how people from different cultural backgrounds
behave, communicate, express feelings and perceive the world, also, the basic cultural
differences influencing intercultural communication.

7. Have you communicated with someone with limited English proficiency? What strategies did
you use? Are there any other strategies that you wish you had thought of then?
- Yes. What I did was I get straight to the point to avoid confusion, and other than that, I
used words that both us are familiar with so they can understand it right away. If there is any
strategy that I wish I have thought of then is to focus on relying the message and making the
receiver understand without causing misunderstanding.

8. What did the authors mean when they said, “To have good intercultural business
communication, people need to slow down and sneak up on information”?
9. How do the communication styles of honesty and harmony differ?
- Honest discussions result in some of best personal and business insights, not to mention
discoveries that make the business stronger, smarter, faster and better. Not only are those
meetings powerful, but they also bring the team closer and let them build on the respect and
appreciation they already have for one another. Tough conversations are hard to start and people
may never agree when they finish, but with debate comes new insights and ideas. It benefits
everyone.
- Harmony is a method for efficient contact and connections. Builds balance and
congruence between pragmatic, systemic and strategic approaches. The pragmatic approach
Tendero, Karla Bianca R.
Cross Cultural/Intercultural Communication

teaches us to modify any feedback from our actions, to pay attention to all the information we
receive from the speaker during the interaction. Following a realistic approach, we find ourselves
co-responsible for the response we get, so that if something goes in a direction different from the
one we plan, we can make any adjustments to bring the transaction back on the right track.

10. What are some of the etiquette roles at your place of business?
11. How do you feel about affirmative action policies? Do you think they are helpful or harmful
to minorities?
- Yes, I think they could be a help on addressing issues and discrimination. Affirmative
action measures are intended to prevent discrimination against employees or applicants for
employment, on the basis of “color, religion, sex, or national origin”.

12. What are some of the reasons why companies address affirmative action and diversity
issues?
- To right historic wrongs by favoring defined groups of individuals that were
discriminated against in the past. For instance, a company might post jobs in areas with high
numbers of minority job seekers to reach these under-represented candidates. It’ll not just make
companies remarkable but it will also help them to have broad understanding about the different
cultures inside the workplace.
Tendero, Karla Bianca R.
Cross Cultural/Intercultural Communication

Learning Activity 1:
Guide Questions:

1. What do you think is happening here?

 A group of friends talking and riddling each other.

2. What are the examples of stereotype in the dialogue?

 One of the stereotypes I noticed is how Maria said she was born first because she’s a
girl and her twin is a boy. She clearly said that her mother told her that girls should
always go first than boys, just like how boys were taught about the ‘Ladies first’
policy. It taught people that girls should always go first, whether it’s entering a door,
getting food and in this case, getting out of their mother’s womb.
 The other one was what Mario said about Italian boys. He said that he let Maria go
first because Italian men are polite. There is a stereotype about Italian men being a
ladies’ man or gentleman.

3. What is Mario and Maria assuming related to the story?

 They both assumed that the surgeon in the riddle was a man, therefore, the kid’s
father. There’s a gender stereotype on some professions and call it as men’s work of
women’s work because its either the certain gender dominated that kind of job or it’s
the type of job that fits their gender.
Tendero, Karla Bianca R.
Cross Cultural/Intercultural Communication

Learning Activity 2:
Choose a novel or a movie. Enlist and explain the samples of stereotype in it. It can be
gender, race, nationality, and other kinds of stereotypes. List at least a minimum of five
(5).
Mean Girls (2004)

 Karen as dumb blonde. There has been a blonde stereotype going on for
decades. An assumption that blondes are naturally dumb. The figure of the
dumb blonde reproduces several gender ideologies, such as the feminine beauty
ideal being characterized by big breasts, long hair, flawless skin, wearing
makeup, slimness, and youth
 Within the school’s cliques, the female athletes are portrayed as big and manly,
which feeds into the “dyke” or “butch” stereotype.
 How Janis received gender stereotype because was viewed as a lesbian just
because she doesn’t dress girly and bright.
 Nationality stereotype when Asians are portrayed as nerds in Damian’s map.
 Racial stereotype when they mistakenly thought that Cady was black since she
came from Africa.
Tendero, Karla Bianca R.
Cross Cultural/Intercultural Communication

ACTIVITIES FOR CHAPTER IV - INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION

True/False Questions:
1. Japanese are coming into contact with people from other countries more often these days.
- True

2. Intercultural communication only involves communication between people from

different countries.
- False

3. A study about what techniques Americans use to persuade and what techniques
Japanese use to persuade would involve intercultural communication.
- True

4. International communication is communication between individuals from different

nations.
- True

5. A program preparing Japanese workers to go to their company's office in England

would be taking a culture-specific approach.
- True

6. When the sender and receiver are from the same culture, the receiver is likely to
interpret the message the way the sender intends, because they share similar values,
beliefs, expectations, etc.
- True

7. When cultures are very different, there is a greater likelihood that a message
will be misinterpreted.
- True

8. Because their language, religion, philosophy, and social attitudes are so different, and
American farmer and a Chinese farmer would not have anything in common.
- False

9. Perceptions of beauty are the same in all cultures.

- False
Tendero, Karla Bianca R.
Cross Cultural/Intercultural Communication

10. Though beliefs and values vary within a culture, certain beliefs and values are held in
common in one culture.
- True

11. When there are different expectations for behavior, there can be difficulties between
people of different cultures.
- True

12. Families in the United States and Japan are very different in the way they communicate.
- True

13. The family and the school are both important social institutions for passing along culture.
- True

14. Language is not an obvious cultural barrier.

- False

15. Language is not a barrier to communication for people with the same native language.
- True

16. We tend to think a lot about how we communicate nonverbally.

- True

17. One way to improve communication with people of a different culture is to learn about
both that culture and your own culture.
- True

Learning Activity 2:
Guide Questions:
1. What is the case of stereotype in intercultural communication above?
- Linda’s stereotype with Asian being smart and good with numbers. This kind of
stereotyping on Asian are very, very used by many even in films and tv shows
wherein the Asian person in the group always the smartest one.

2. What is the misunderstanding here? Explain!

Tendero, Karla Bianca R.
Cross Cultural/Intercultural Communication

- The misunderstanding in this conversation is when Han assumed that Linda invited
him to date instead of going a classmate’s house with bunch of other people.

3. How to cope with that kind of misunderstanding above?

- Its either they discuss their plans again and be clear on their intention to avoid more
misunderstanding and confusion. Or maybe, educate themselves to steer clear of this
kind of mishap.
Tendero, Karla Bianca R.
Cross Cultural/Intercultural Communication

Final Output: Talk Show Script – Title: Conversation Buddies

Diana (host): Hello and good morning, everyone! Welcome to…

Audience: Conversation Buddies!

Mark (host): Yes, of course! Welcome everybody and we hope you had a really good breakfast.
So, my dear partner what is our agenda for today?

Diana: Alright, so you know that our country has so many foreigners living here, right? And we
can’t really avoid conversing to some of them.

Mark: That is so true! I even have condo neighbour from Canada. He and his wife migrated here
because of their work.

Diana: See? I even have my own foreigner friends and you know no matter how much you know
someone if you don’t bother to understand their culture or the way they communicate, you will,
most of the time, face conflicts. And we hate conflicts!

Mark: Nobody likes that so here we are with some of our guest to tell us their own stories and
teach us how to handle this kind of issues.

Two guests will come out from the backstage.

Diana: Lee Go Eun from Korea! Hello and welcome!

Lee Go Eun (guest): Annyeong!
Mark: We are so glad to meet you! So how was it living in the Philippines?
Lee Go Eun: So far so good! I am really having fun staying here.
Diana: That’s good to hear! So did you experience any conflicts or misunderstanding because of
your gestures or the way you communicate?.
Lee Go Eun: Honestly, yes. People always misunderstand me because I still use some gestures
that we, Koreans, use. So sometimes we can’t avoid confusion.
Mark: Can you tell some of these gestures?
Lee Go Eun: In Korea, age and seniority is really important that’s why there are some gestures
that you can do to those younger than you but not to the elderly.
Mark: Yeah, I saw that in some Korean dramas I’ve watched back then!
Tendero, Karla Bianca R.
Cross Cultural/Intercultural Communication

Lee Go Eun: Haha, yes! There’s this one time that a workmate who is by the way younger than
me beckoned me. She fluttered all fingers to one’s hand with the palm facing towards the
ground. And I was honestly very offended.
Diana: Did you tell her you’re offended?
Lee Go Eun: Yeah, I did and told her about it. But the thing is, I was too sensitive and didn’t
even think that she doesn’t know that much about my culture and the way I communicate or how
important age difference is.
Mark: Wow, that’s very nice of you! Did you experience it again?
Lee Go Eun: With my friend? No, not anymore! We discussed our differences and told her
about my culture so that she’ll understand me and we’ll avoid more conflicts.
Mark: How about with your other friends?
Lee Go Eun: This time I was the one who made a wrong gesture to a friend. I was talking to my
Brazilian friend thru video call and he was asking something and made an OK sign and I didn’t
know it’s an offensive gesture in their country!
Diana: What? Really? What does it mean?
Lee Go Eun: It means that you’re calling the person you’re talking to a**hole! I was really
shocked and said sorry! That’s when I realize that those basic gestures that most of us use is not
always acceptable in other country.
Mark: You’re totally right and I’m glad that you guys fix its as soon as possible.
Diana: That’s amazing! But you know this always happen. We all have different culture that we
grew up in. We have different understanding of things. There are still so many non-verbal
communications that exists even in other country, gestures and body language.
Mark: Right! And we can only avoid conflict if we take time to understand each other. So, Go
Eun, do you have any advice or tips for other people experiencing this too?
Lee Go Eun: Hm, I think the best is still to educate ourselves, especially if you’re planning to
befriend a person with a totally different culture. Understanding and communication is really
important, you know? And to my fellow foreigners, let’s have patience when it comes to this
kind of instances because nothing will happen if we just get angry and not put an effort on
explaining why were feeling that way.
Diana: I totally agree with you! We really had a great time with you, Lee Go Eun!
Lee Go Eun: Me too! It was really fun and educating.
Mark: Thank you so much, Lee Go Eun and to our viewers. I hope we all picked up some
lessons from today’s conversation. See you again next time on…
Tendero, Karla Bianca R.
Cross Cultural/Intercultural Communication

Everyone: CONVERSATION BUDDIES!

End