INTERCULTURAL

COMMUNICATION
CULTURE
• Culture has been defined in a number of ways, but
according to (Useem&Useem, 1963), “the learned and
shared behavior of a community of interacting human
beings” or as “a system of belief, assumptions, and
values shared by a group of people” (Fielding, 1996, as
cited in Padilla, Dagdag, Roxas, & Pere, 2016)
 CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE

1. Cultures are learned, not innate-acquire its

patterns of behavior and learn its ways.
2. Cultures are shared-emerges with the shared
experience of durable groups.
3.Cultures are multifaceted-the wide variety of
customs, languages, and beliefs that exist in a
particular society
4.Cultures are dynamic- culture changes all the time
5. Cultural identities are overlapping- where two
different cultures have a shared influence or history
which affects both groups.
 ADAPTATION TO NEW CULTURES
• Many other countries are now considered as “melting pot”; a place,
where city or country where people of various races or cultured live
together and gradually create a community.
People use ways of adapting to new cultures:
1.Cultural Integration
2.Cultural Assimilation
3.Multiculturalism
4.Cultural accommodation
5.Separation
Cultural Integration- defined as when people from a culture adopt
the essence of another culture, while maintaining their own culture.

Cultural Assimilation- is the process in which a minority group or

culture comes to resemble a society's majority group or assimilate the
values, behaviors, and beliefs of another group whether fully or
partially.

Multiculturalism- the state of a society or the world in which there

exists numerous distinct ethnic and cultural groups seen to be
politically relevant
Cultural accommodation- when one culture integrates into another
without losing its identity

Separation- refers to the nondominant group distancing themselves

from the new, dominant culture and holding onto original cultural
practices and beliefs
THE NATURE OF COMMON CULTURAL
DIFFERENCES
1.Leadership
2.Work Productivity
3.Group Allegiance
4.Task Commitment
 COMMUNICATING WITHIN AND ACROSS
CULTURES
• Nobody is capable of fully understanding all languages and all
cultures of the world, as well as how they are similar and
different from one another.
We can respond cultural differences in variety of ways:
1.Avoiding
2.Accommodating
3.Forcing
4.Educating-Persuading
5.Negotiating-Compromising
6.Collaboration
Avoiding-We may refuse to comply or to do business in
cultures that operate according to ethical principles that differ
from ours.
Accommodating-We can accept the different ethical system
and conform to practices different from ours.
Forcing-We can insist on doing business in a way we believe
is ethically proper
Educating-Persuading-We can try to convince the people
with whom we want to do business why our ethical principle
is more appropriate
Negotiating-Compromising -We and the other party can each
give up something to negotiate a settlement.
Collaboration -We can work with the other party to face the
problem directly and reach a mutually satisfying solution
GUIDELINES ON DEVELOPING INTERCULTURAL
COMPETENCE
Here are some suggestions on how you can become an open minded -devoid
of any prejudices and biases people from another culture:

1.Widden your field of experience by making new contacts.

2.Learn about history and the experiences and aspirations of people
from different cultures.
3.Examine yourself for possible streotypes.
4.Look at the world from someone else’s way of looking at and
thinking about something, not just yours.
5.Work on becoming more self-confident
6.Appreciate cultural similarities and differences
7.Acknowledgment the essential quality and value of all
cultures
8.Be sensitive and interpret cultural styles of communication
 BARRIERS TO EFFECTIVE INTERNATIONAL
COMMUNICATION
• Ethnocentrism- refers to the belief that a person’s culture (his “in
group” culture) is much better than any others group’s culture (an
“out-group” culture), and a tendency is for that person to judge
any “out-group” culture by using the norm in his “in-group”
culture.
• Stereotypes- is a generalization of a group of people based on a
smalll sample of these people.
• Prejudice- is an unfair thought, belief, or feeling of dislike for a
person or group because of race, nationality, gender, sexual
orientation, age, religion, etc.
• Assumed similarities- It is a baseless, unreasonable refusal to see
cultural differences where they exist.
• Anxiety- is the fear or apprehension associated with either real or
anticipated communication with people from another cultural
group.
There are various forms of intercultural communication:
1.Interracial communication-communicating with people from
different races.
Interethnic communication- interacting with people of different
ethnic origins.
2.International communication- communicating between
representatives from different nations.
3.Intracultural communication- interacting with members of the
same racial or ethnic group or culture.