Started on Wednesday, 15 December 2021, 8:30 AM

State Finished
Completed on Wednesday, 15 December 2021, 11:03 AM
Time taken 2 hours 32 mins
Grade 28.00 out of 40.00 (70%)
Feedback https://www.lnmiit.ac.in

Question 1

Complete

Mark 7.00 out of 12.00

1. Give a detailed account of ‘Facework’ in communication. Discuss its significance in Cross-cultural interactions. (12)

Facework is a redressive action taken used to lessen the effects of FTA's( Face Threatening Acts). We can use language in such a manner
that equilibrium is maintained between the talk and effects of FTA's are reduced. For a communication to be efficient, faces of both the
speaker and the listener should be maintained as there are chances of FTA's in every conversation. There are various politeness
strategies such as positive politeness, negative politeness, bald on record and off record. Positive politeness lessens the threat to others'
positive face, negative politeness lessens the threat to others' negative face, on record means speaking bluntly when there is urgency or
the relationship between speaker and listener is close, off record means saying something and meaning something.

In case of cross-culture interactions the chances of FTA's are more as every person has their own culture that is why their beliefs and
values are different. So, one needs to keep on open mind while interacting with a person of a different culture.  If a person wants you to
do something of their culture and you do not like it , you can use a politeness strategy to say it so that his face as well as your face is
maintained. For example if a european girl visits India during Diwali and someone asks her to wear bindi and her sensitive. So she can say
"Oh, this bindi is so beautiful, but my face is allergic to it".  These stategies are also used so much in corporate life. Suppose there is a big
multinational company in USA and employees are from all around the world. There everyone belong to a different culture and their
upbringings might to different. Rather than judging one another one needs to keep an open mind. Suppose there is a meeting with the
clients and a new female Indian employee wears a red kurti, so before going into the meeting her coworker can correct her by saying
"This kurti is so beautiful, but during meetings the dress code is shirt and trousers". For Indian Females , red color has a significance but
by her coworker using positive politeness, the face of the Indian women is not hurt. 
Also one needs to decide which strategy to use so that the faces of the people taking part in the conversation are maintained. One needs
to keep in mind the relationship between speaker and listener, degree of FTA and the power difference. One should also think about the
urgency and the individual payoffs of each politeness strategy.

Comment:
Question 2

Complete

Mark 7.00 out of 10.00

2. List and describe examples of each of the Hofstede dimensions as displayed at your own social networks, academic institution and
workplace. (10)

1. Power Distance Index( PDI ) - India has a high PDI score. In Indian government offices, the decisions of people on high posts cannot be
questioned by people of lower posts. Indian government offices are hierarchial. For example in my mother's office ( Indian Railways) , if a
high authority(Chief Engineer) gives an order of transfer of a low post employee(such as clerk), the low post employee cannot refuse the
transfer. Also the superiors are not accessible , people need to take appointments to meet the high authority people there.

2. Individualism vs Collectivism (IND) - Indian villages follows collectivism. They think about the welfare of the whole society. In indian
villages, people are very loyal to each other. They even consider their neighbours as a part of their family. They are there for each other
and good as well as bad times. If a person falls ill there, then whole neighbourhood comes to help him/her. 

While in urban cities , people take care of themselves only. There is very little interaction in the neighbourhood.

3. Maculinity vs Feminity- In colleges, students give more priority to their success and ambitions rather than the quality of life. During
placements, they just study and even forget to take a bath and eat properly. Hence there is a maculinity there.

4. Uncertainity Avoidance Index- A new variant of Covid-19 has come and has even spread in some countires. There are predictions of
the third wave. Still in indian markets there is a lot of crowd and very less people wear mask properly. Because people think that
uncertainity and risk is a part of life. They will only pay attention to third wave when it will actually come.

5. Long versus Short Term Orientation- Old people in india think about the long term goals for their family rather than the short term
goals. They save so that their new generations can take help from that when there is a need.

6. Indulgence vs Restraint- India has a low IVR which means it is restraint. In India, many girls due to the fear of society, supress their
desires. If she loves a boy of a different caste, she even has to leave him and do arrange marriage fixed by her parents due to the restraint
culture. She has to supress her love due to the fear of the society. 

In an indian conservative family, if a girls has a desire to do modelling, then she won't be allowed to do that as modelling requires showing
of face and some body which Indian conservative families don't consider good.

Comment:

Question 3

Complete

Mark 14.00 out of 18.00

3. Write short notes on any SIX (6x3=18)

1.    Ethnocentricism

2.    What/Why Vs Why/What Communicators with examples

3.    Pragmatic Transfer

4.    Culture as an Iceberg

5.    Universalism vs. Particularism

6.    One individual payoff of each politeness strategy
 7.    Dimensions of BASIC skills.

8.    Any two aspects of Cross-cultural Communication Etiquette

1. Ethnocentricism- It is a natural tendency of people to judge other cultures based on their own cultures' tradition, values and beliefs.
They categorize others as superior or inferior. People with high ethnocentricism consider themselves superiour and our suspicious of
other people. People with low ethnocentricism consider themselves inferior and feel less confident around others. People with balanced
ethnocentricism feels interested about learning other cultures' beliefs.

2. What/Why vs Why/What Communicators

In What/Why cultures, people come directly to the point i.e. what they want to say and then tell about why they want to whereas in
Why/What cultures, people first tell why they want to i.e the background first and then come to the point. What/Why culture people avoid
wasting time whereas Why/What culture people think it is important to give background first and become frustrated when they dont
receive the background.
Eg- In India people, if children want money from their parents, they would first give a background . Eg- "There is a college fest and I have
only 100 ruppee left. Mom, can you please give me some money." (Why/What)

In North Europe - "Mom,I need 2000 dollars. There is a fest in college and I have only 100 dollars left."

3. Pragmatic Transfer- They are different politeness norms in different cultures. For communication behaviours, people have different ruls
and follow different rules around the world. So, there might be miscommunication when people apply norms of their own culture's
communication behavior while talking to a different culture person. There are different linguistic and paralinguistic conditioning in each
culture. So there can be conflicts during task allocation in a group where there are people of several cultures. 

If a person is delegating task than some other people might say that he is behaving like a supervisor even when he is a student. In the
person's culture maybe the people are active and he has no intention of considering himself superior

4. Culture as an Iceberg- In this ideology, culture is thought of as an iceberg as some characeristics of a culture are visible from outside
while some are not. 

Visible culture are the characteristics that are above the waves and are visible. These are visible to the foreigners .Eg- dress, food,
festivals, etc.

Invisible culture(Implicit culture) are the characteristics that are below the waves. They come with an experience and are learned implicity.
Eg- Communication patterns, societal values. One has to spend time in a culture to learn them.

5. Universalism vs Particularism - It is a Fons Trompenaars dimension of culture. In Universalism, they treat all the cases same. For them
rules matter more than the relationship. Eg- In US, even if my junior is my neighbour then also in office I won't give him any previledge on
the basis of that. Whereas in particularism, relationship matters more than the rules. In India, if my junior is my neighbour, then I will be
less strict to him.

6. One Individual Payoff of each Politeness Strategy-

i) Positive Politeness- In this the face threat is minimized by showing the listener that he is of a same kind as the speaker showing mutual
friendship. The speaker shows concern and care towards the listener. eg- "You must be hungry, let's eat something"

ii) Bald on Record- By saying something blunt, the speaker can be shown as honest and there is no risk of being manipulative. Ther can
be no misundersating in this. Speaker can say anything to the point. Eg- when the child is not studing the parents can directly say "Exams
are coming and you are not studying". If the parents don't be on the point then the child might not study.

iii) Negative Politeness - By keeping social distance from the listener, the speaker avoids any future debt. The request can have a no
answer in this case. eg- "Would you give me a lift" . In this there can be a no answer.
iv) Off Record- In this as the speaker says something and means something else, there is minimum risk for the speaker as well as for
listener. If the speaker says "I am feeling so cold", if the listener give him the jacket then it is seen that the listener cares and if he doesnt
give him the jacket then also no one's face is hurt as the speaker hasn't asked the listener to do so.

7. Dimensions of BASIC skills-  There are various tools for Intercultural Competence- Display of Respect, Orientation to Knowledge,
Empathy, Interaction Management, Relational Role Behaviour, Task Role Behaviour, Tolerance for Ambiguity and Interaction Posture
:
 8. Aspects of Cross-Cultural Communication Etiquette

(i) Dress Code - Culture, climate and religions affects the norms of dressing. In india people wear loafers rather than the laced shoes as
loafers are easy to take off and they need to take off their shoes while going to temple or workplace. Also in india, women wear sari or
kurti where minimum of the body is shown as in india there is a rule of dressing conservatively for women. Also the saree is cotton in
summer and silk in winter due to the weather conditions.

In America , a special attention is given to the dental hygience. They visit dentist before an important meeting so that their teeth appear
white and their impression is good.

(ii) Punctuality - In monochronic cultures the punctuality is very important. Even in polycgronic culture if you are the visitor then you
should be on time, the host can ask you to wait. Eg-In a polychronic culture like India, if you have taken an appointment from a doctor
then you should arrive on time. He can ask you to wait but you have to be on time.

Comment:
: