Cultural In uence on Intercultural

Communication and Social Interaction

Midterm Part II
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 People of different religions and cultures live side by side
in almost every part of the world, and most of us have
overlapping identities which unite us with very different
groups. We can love what we are, without hating what-
and who- we are not. We can thrive in our own
tradition, even as we learn from others, and come to
respect their teachings.

-Ko Annan
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 Introduction
Cultural differences in uence the way people communicate across different
culture s. The major cultural dif ference s that af fect intercultural
communication are in verbal and non-verbal communication.
Intercultural communication is a process in which people from different
cultures try to understand what others from different cultures are trying to
communicate. Intercultural communication is never perfect. The dif culties
are caused by cultural differences in verbal and non-verbal signals,
relationship patterns, conversation and interaction styles, cultural values,
and time and context orientations.
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 Concept of Communication
The term communication is dif cult to de ne because it has been
used in a variety of ways for different purposes. Among early
communication scholars, communication was de ned as a process of
conveying information from one person to another. This process
was differently conceived as a one-way, t wo-way, or circular
process of exchange of information or interactions bet ween a
sender, receiver, medium, and message. The objective of the
communic at ion pro ce s s was i nf or m at ion t ransfe r. Such
communicat ion was fairly e asy because the informat ion
transferred could be simpli ed by resorting to gestures.
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 MESSAGE

SENDER MEDIUM RECEIVER

MESSAGE
 (Post) Modern Contemporary De nition
of Communication (Lustig & Koester)
• Symbols
• Interpretative
• Transactional
• Contextual
• Process
• Shared meaning

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Communication in the Hospitality
and Tourism
Communication is the most important and the most used of
all skills in the hospitality and tourism industry. Managers
spend the largest portion of their time in verbal or written
communications with their employees or outside parties.
Other staff member communicate among themselves, as
well as their managers, frontliner employees suppliers, and
so on, to give and receive the information they need to
perform their jobs.
Communication has been recognized as the means by
which both people and organization survive. When
human beings lack the ability to cope with life, the
source of the problem is often a lack of appropriate
information. Incomplete and unorganized information
place a heavy strain on the ability of people to make
sense out of their existence. Their performance of a job
depends on having necessary information, having the
skills to do a job depends on the quality of communication
during the skills acquisition period.
 Dif culties in Intercultural
Communication
The dif culties in intercultural communication are caused by
c u l t u ra l di f fe re n c e s . I n t h e p ro c e s s o f i n te rc u l t u ra l
communication, tourists and hosts are “confronted with a culture
different from their own in terms of customs, values, standards
and expectations” and adhere to different communication
standards. They do not know how to communicate and respond to
each other. Communication style that is desirable in the tourist’s
culture may be inappropriate in the host’s culture. The greater the
cultural difference, the greater the communication dif culties.
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 Verbal Signal

Cultural differences in language relate to different

languages, dialects, accents and jargons; making
different sounds when speaking; using different
sequences of words or a different degree of asking
questions and making direct statements.
BRITISH US AMERICANS
CHIPS FRENCH FRIES
 NON-VERBAL SIGNALS

Signi cant differences among cultures which in uence

intercultural communication are in the non-verbal cues,
such as body movement, eye gaze, and facial expressions,
the use of space, and even gestures and postures.
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 • Shake hands

CHINA X MALAYSIA

• Eye contact
Europeans
North Americans
X African-American

 Relationship Patterns
One of the most important elements that
in uences intercultural communication is the
interaction style with others. In various
cultures people like to know where they stand
in relation to others, their social obligations to
others, expectations from others, and the role
play in relationships.
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 Relationship Patterns
Lineality

Collaterality

Individualistic

Collectivistic

Authoritarianism

 Conversation Style

There are dif ference s in

conversation style among cultures.
What is perceived as logical, clear,
rat ional, and proper varie s
considerably bet ween cultures.
 Interaction Style
Interactional styles differ depending on the
degree to which people feel responsible for the
other people. In individualistic cultures people
help those who depend on them; whereas in
collectivistic cultures helpfulness is a function
of reciprocity and mutual responsibilities; the
smallest favor must be reciprocated.
 Values
Intercultural communication varies depending on cultural values.

1. Masculinity (MAS) dimension- high feminine culture

2. Uncertainty avoidance (UAI)

• High uncertain avoidance cultures
• Low uncertain avoidance cultures

3. Power distance (PDI) dimension

• High power distance
• Low power distance

 Time Orientation
The cultural differences in valuing time have a signi cant
in uence on intercultural communication.

1. Monochromatic time system

2. Polychronic time system

3. Past- oriented
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 Context Orientation

Context refers to the level of information included in a

communication message.

1. Low-context culture

2. High-context culture