UNIT III.

LOCAL AND GLOBAL COMMUNICATION IN

MULTICULTURAL SETTING
Overview

This unit deals with Local and Global Communication. It also covers the world of
diversity, global community, cultural awareness and sensitivity, and political correctness.
Along the way, you will get information on what culture is and its connection to
communication. Importantly, at the same time, you will be made to understand the different
barriers in intercultural communication.

Learning Objectives
At the end of the unit, I am able to:

1. explain the connection of culture and communication;

2. differentiate cross- cultural and intercultural communication;
3. contrast the dimensions of culture and
4. identify the barriers of intercultural communication.

Setting Up
Name: _ Date:
Course/Year/Section:

Direction: Complete the table below:

What I know about culture… What I want to know about culture…

 Lesson Proper

In a global environment, the power to speak effectively are often a challenge. Even
when both parties speak the same language, there can still be misunderstanding due to
ethnic and cultural differences.

AlwAys do remember…

“Cultural proficiency doesn’t mean memorizing every cultural nuances of every market. It’s knowing
when to concentrate, when to invite help, and when- finally- to talk.”
-Genevieve Hilton-

Local and Global Communication is indeed a challenge to an individual with cultural

diversity, due to some context that may differ depending on the one's perception of word
meaning in relation to their culture. The culture shapes most of the way an individual
interacts with one another, then once you consider language barriers and vocabulary
utilized by different generations, it is easy to see where miscommunication can happen.

A WORLD OF DIVERSITY

Our world is a world of diversity according to Parapak (1995). For many centuries,
the people of the world were separated by mountains and seas. They rarely saw each other;
their lives were practically unrelated, they developed and lived their own unique cultures.
People in a very particular locality developed their own particular way of life, their own
language, their religion and thus became referred to as a tribe, an ethnic group or a
particular group of individuals who established a nation of their own.

GLOBAL COMMUNITY
Refers to the people of the globe, considered as being closely connected by modern
telecommunications.
Examples:
✘ Major offices and a few homes linked with fiber systems
✘ Global multimedia service
✘ Satellite transmissions
CULTURAL AWARENESS AND SENSITIVITY

What is cultural awareness?

Is knowing that there are multiple different cultures – supported religion, ethnicity,
nationality, and other factors- that have different attitudes and outlooks.
What is cultural sensitivity?

Involves accepting those differences without insisting your own culture is best, or
that everybody should do it your way (Sherman, 2018).
Cultural awareness & sensitivity guidelines:

1. Have a transparent sense of your own ethnic, cultural, and racial identity.
2. Bear in mind that in order to learn about others, you need to know and be prepared
to share your own culture.
3. Be aware of your own discomfort once you encounter differences in race, color,
religion, sexual orientation, language, and ethnicity.
4. Be aware of the assumptions that you hold about people of cultures different from
your own.
5. Remember of your stereotypes as they arise and develop personal strategies for
reducing the harm that they cause.
6. Remember of how your cultural perspective influences your judgments about what
appropriate normal or superior behaviors and values are.
7. Accept that in cross-cultural situations, there are often uncertainty, which
uncertainty can cause you to anxious. It can also mean that you do not respond
quickly and take the time needed to get more information.
8. Take any opportunity to put yourself in places where you'll be able to study
differences and build relationships; and
9. Understand that you will likely be perceived as a person with power and racial
privilege (or the opposite), and that you may not be seen as unbiased or as an ally.

GENDER SENSITIVITY
What is gender sensitivity?

Refers to the aim of taking account and/or understanding the societal and cultural
factors involved in gender-based exclusion and discrimination.
What is gender-sensitive language?

It is the realization of gender equality in written and spoken language. It is attained

when women and men and people who don't conform to the binary gender system are
made visible and addressed in language as persons of equal value, dignity, integrity, and
respect.
POLITICAL CORRECTNESS

What is political correctness?

It is used to describe language, policies, or measures that are intended to avoid or
disbenefit to members of particular groups in society.
Some words that may be used for political correctness are as follows:

1. Academic dishonesty (instead of cheating)

2. Aesthetically challenged (instead of ugly)
3. Black (instead of negra)
4. Comb-free (instead of bald)
5. Differently abled (instead of disabled)
6. Drug dependent (instead of drug addict)
7. Dysfunctional family (instead of broken home)
8. Economically marginalized (instead of poor)
9. Elderly, senior (instead of old)
10. Ethnically disoriented (instead of dishonest)
11. Hearing impaired (instead of deaf)
12. Informal settlers (instead of squatters)
13. Intellectual disability, intellectual development disorder (instead of mental
retardation)
14. Intellectually impaired (instead of stupid)
15. Little people (instead of midget)
16. Morally challenged (instead of a crook)
17. Nondiscretionary fragrance (instead of body odor)
18. Outdoor urban (instead of homeless)
19. People of mass (instead of fat)
20. Rape survivor (instead of rape victim)
21. Sexually dysfunctional (instead of perverted)
22. Socially misaligned (instead of psychopath)
23. Technologically challenged (instead of computer illiterate)
24. Vertically challenged (instead of short)
25. Visually challenged (instead of blind)
WHAT IS CULTURE?

It is a pattern of learned and shared behaviors and beliefs of a particular social,

ethnic or group. Culture is also the society’s way of creating social connectivity among
group.

FUN FACT!

“Culture does not create

different communication, but
different
communication creates
culture”
BASIC TERMS TO REMEMBER:
• Believing that your culture is the benchmark of all other culture is called ethnocentric bias.
• Cross- cultural communication generally compares the communications styles and
patterns of people from different cultural/social structure, while intercultural
communication deals with how people from these cultural/social structures speak to one
another and what difficulties or differences they encounter, over and above the various
languages they speak.

AlwAys do remember…

In communication, RESPECT begets RESPECT.

DIMENSIONS OF CULTURE
1. Individualism versus Collectivism
This dimension of culture refers to how people define themselves and their
relationships with others. In individualism, the interest of the individual prevails
over the interest of the group while in collectivism, the interest of the group prevails
over the interest of the individual.(Hofstede, 1997).

2. Masculinity versus Femininity

Hofstede (1980) found that women’s social role varied less for culture to
culture than men’s. He labeled as masculine cultures those who strive for maximal
distinction between what women and men are expected to try and do. Those labeled
as feminine cultures are those that permit more overlapping social role for the
sexes.
 3. Power Distance
Power distance is defined as to which less powerful members of institution
within an area expect and accept that power is distributed unequally. In high power
distance cultures, children are expected to display respect for those of higher status.
Cultures with high power distance have power and influence concentrated in the
hands of a few than distributed throughout the population.

4. Uncertainty Avoidance
Uncertainty avoidance refers to the extent to which people in a culture feel
threatened by uncertain or unknown situations. Hofstede (1997) explains that this
sense is expressed through nervous stress and during a need for predictability or a
necessity for written or unwritten rules.

5. Task versus Social Orientation

Task- oriented societies are characterized by a focus on making the team
more competent through training and the use of up-to-date methods. In task-
oriented societies, members are highly concerned with individual success:
advancing to more responsible jobs, better training, and so on. By contrast, groups
in socially oriented societies focus more on collective concerns: cooperative
problem solving, a friendly atmosphere, and good physical working conditions.

BARRIERS TO INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION

1. Anxiety
The first barrier is high anxiety. When you're anxious due to not knowing
what you are expected to do, it's only natural to concentrate on that feeling and not
be totally present in the communication transaction.

2. Ethnocentrism
The next barrier to effective intercultural communication is ethnocentrism,
or negatively judging aspects of another culture by the standards of one’s own
culture. To be ethnocentric is to believe in the superiority of one’s culture.
Everything in a culture is consistent to the culture and makes sense if you
understand that culture.
Another name for ethnocentrism is the anthropological concept of cultural
relativism. It does mean that we try to understand other people’s behavior in the
context of their culture before we judge it.

3. Stereotype
The word stereotyping was first used by journalist Walter Lippman in 1992
to describe judgements made about others on the basis of their ethnic group
membership. Today, the term is more broadly used to confer with judgements made
on the premise of any group membership.
 4. Prejudice
Prejudice refers to the irrational dislike, suspicion, or hatred of a
specific group, race, religion, or sexual orientation (Rothenerg, 1992).
Persons within the group are viewed not in terms of their individual merit
but in line with the superficial characteristics that make them a part of the
group.

References
Bernales, R., et al (2018) Purposive Communication: Mutya Publishing House,

Inc. Yango, A., et al (2018) Purposive Communication: Panday-Lahi

Publishing House, Inc.