High-context Culture Low-context Culture
Most of the information is either in The mass of information is
Concept the physical context or initialized
in person.
Extensive use of gestural
elements in carrying out a
conversation (e.g., voice tone,
facial expressions, eye
movement, body language, etc.).
Information is conveyed implicitly,
Interaction and is heavily dependent on
context rather than actual words.
Communication is indirect,
lengthy, and around the point.
No specific time schedule is
Time
observed, and activities are
management
carried out when it is suitable, as
long as the activity is completed.
Knowledge is gained from
situation-specific cues.
Learning
Problem solving is seen as group
task
Examples  Japanese
Korean
 Russian
 Italian
 Chinese
vested in the explicit code
[message].
Conversation involves extensive
use of verbal elements instead of
nonverbal ones.
Information is conveyed explicitly
in a precise and easy to
understand form. It depends on
the actual words rather than the
context.
Communication is direct, and to
the point.
Time is scheduled for various
tasks such that a particular task
gets done within a specific time
frame in the most efficient way as
possible.
Learning is achieved by following
directions and explanations of
others.
Problem solving is considered as
individual task.
USA
Australian
Dutch
Scandinavian
English
 German
CASE STUDY: INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION

Rebecca is a US Representative of Informational Systems Ltd, a company that is setting up customer

call centers in China. She has been trying to get a project done in China, and has had to face several
problems. She was never given any access to the other employees, who all acted scared if she spoke
to them directly. They would only smile and nod at her even when she asked them direct questions,
and finally, a co-worker told Rebecca to ask Mr Charley Lin, their supervisor, if she wanted
anything done. This was very frustrating. While she was in China, her counterpart, Mr Lin asked her
to go with him to several non-company related events, like to the birthday party of a colleague, and
even to government contact’s son’s wedding, where he was taking along expensive gifts.

Rebecca found all these invitations very strange and she was professional and not friendly towards
anyone while she stayed in China. She tried to avoid all personal invitations or special dinners that
Mr Lin set up between her and the Chinese clients, and she returned any gifts she got from the clients
as well. She found she was not getting much work done on her project. Mr Lin also didn’t come to
any meetings that she set up, even though he would go to any of their colleague John’s, meetings.
Several times Rebecca sent back memos and emails that Mr. Lin sent to her after correcting the
language and grammar in the emails/memos, since these were important documents, and Mr. Lin’s
bad English would be embarrassing for the company. In response to Rebecca’s help, Mr. Lin told
John that he felt he was losing “face” and he was being disrespected by a junior, who was younger
than him. Rebecca was also constantly asked to bring John with her to any meetings she attended,
and at the meetings Mr. Lin would only speak to John.

Rebecca finally had a showdown with Mr. Lin when she asked for a project deadline that fell during
Chinese New Year. Mr. Lin smiled and said to her that he would do everything possible to meet her
deadline. He then said that the upcoming big Chinese New Year celebration was next week. It
was a very important festival, and everyone liked to celebrate Chinese New Year with friends
and family, and the celebration happened for two full weeks. He also invited Rebecca to come
and enjoy the festival with her colleagues. Rebecca thought this meant that his team would work
extra hard to get the project completed before the New Year started, since he was being nice and
inviting her. She expected that the Chinese team would not take any time off, and finish their task.
When later she found out the project had not even started, she was very angry. Mr Lin mentioned the
contracts for the project was still being negotiated, even though she had herself signed it. Rebecca
was furious, as she had already signed on the contracts and thought the project was a final deal. Mr
Lin, on the other hand, was shocked to be told “Charley, I’m warning you! Stop being lazy and get
the damn project done as soon as possible, and I don’t want to hear any excuses”.

_________________________________________________________________________________
(i) Why does Mr Lin talk about Chinese New Year to Rebecca? What is he indirectly trying to
say about the deadline? What type of communication is this an example of?

This is an example of meta communication on Mr Lin’s part in conveying his message on a

double layered format owing to his high context cultural background, and verbal on Rebecca’s
part where she made her intention loud and clear regarding the completion of the project
before the deadline.

The indirect ness of the message as conveyed by Mr .Lin lies in a hinted form of postponing the
deadline of the project on the occasion of celebrating the Chinese New Year. Rebecca, being a
representative of low context culture, did not comprehend the underneath meaning of Mr Lin’s
implicit message which was an invitation as well to join them in the celebration, and demanded
the deadline to be met at any cost. Hence, all the miscommunication occurred.

(ii) Identify THREE differences between High and Low Context communication in this case
study. In one/two lines, explain how these intercultural communication barriers are affecting
communication between REBECCA and MR LIN.

(1) Implicitness v/s Explicitness

Implicitness as evident from lines 22-25 : “He…colleagues”

The inferred meaning as presented in these lines is that of Mr Lin’s indication of putting a hold
to the on-going project due to the upcoming celebration of Chinese New Year.

Explicitness as seen in the concluding lines, where it is made very clear from Rebecca’s
utterance that she wants the project to get completed irrespective of what it is that Mr. Lin
tried to suggest through his meta-communication manner.

This barrier of implicitness and explicitness in their manner of expression regarding their
needs and demands, originates from their high and low context cultural background which
resulted in the misunderstanding of both parties account

(2) Mixing of Social and Business life

As referred in the lines 6-12: “While she was in China…. From the clients as well”

Rebecca, by not responding to the occasional invitations from her clients and colleagues during
her stay in China, confirms the fact that people from low context culture do not tend to mix
their business life and social life, rather they maintain a certain kind of discreetness in the
handling this kind of situation.
On the other hand, from the same lines under discussion, it can be seen that people from high
context culture tend to overlap their social and business life as a gesture of nurturing a healthy
business relationship.