...High Vs. Low Context High Context vs. Low Context Cultures There are many distinct differences between high context and low context cultures. While many cultures are noticeably high context or low context they are not that exclusively. Many cultures have certain aspects of the other; this is also true with hearing and deaf cultures. I will explain the differences between the two then how they intertwine. A high context culture is one that contains many close connections and may be difficult to enter into or understand if you are and outsider. In a high context culture acceptable behaviors or rules are not openly laid out because they are known by all of the members. Activities usually revolve around face-to-face interactions. Most people in high context cultures have a very small, distinctive group of people that they surround themselves with. These cultures are similar to your family or a long relationship. A few cultures identified as high context cultures are the Japanese, Arabs, and French. A low context culture is one that is very open, it is very easy to enter into and all the rules and regulations are laid out for everyone to see. Many people in low context cultures have a wide network of contacts. Knowledge is very public in these cultures and relationships usually last a shorter time and are for the purpose of a task. Rules are very important in these cultures. A few cultures identified as low context cultures are Americans, Germans, and Scandinavians. When compared...
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...Difference Between High and Low Context Cultures Media Activity-Workgroup Norms Communication 623 Professor Lambert November 27, 2011 In order to communicate successfully you have to consider the cultural differences and the predominating communication process for individualistic and collectivistic cultures. It is best to explain theses differences in terms of low- and high-context communication. Context has to do with how much you have to know before you can communicate effectively. When workers from high-context and low-context cultures have to work together problems often occur as a result of the type of information exchanged as well as how that information is exchanged. These problems can be categorized as differences in “direction”, “quantity” and “quality”. At differences in direction employees from high-context cultures like China and France adapt to their good friends, families and also to close colleagues (in-group members). They communicate with them intensively (quantity difference) and exchange specific/detailed information about many different topics. The result is that every group member is constantly up-to-date with the facts around the business. Edward T. Hall, a respected anthropologist and cross-cultural researcher, identified classic dimensions of culture in his books The Silent Language and The Hidden Dimension. Understanding and applying this concept can help today’s leaders improve their communication skills across cultures. A key factor in his...
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...Jordan’s Male Academy: An Insight Look American individualism, a conceptualized form of individualism, is the basis through which individuals are believed to be best represented for accuracy to generalized standards of behavior. However, it is the diversity of this country that makes the American individualism more opaque and less clear, when deviations from the standard appear. Jordan High School is an institution in Long Beach, and the place for the project observations to take place. The framework to be used in this project is a combination of Geert Hofstede’s value dimensions and Edward T. Hall’s High and Low Context cultures, to better understand the culture within the school. As part of my research, outside sources are included such as websites, books, scholarly journals, etc. According to data from the academic year 2013-2014, the total enrollment of the school is 3,481 students. The student ethnicity is divided as follows: 67.3% Hispanic or Latino, 21.6% Black or African American, 4.1% Asian, 3.2% Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, 1.8% White, 0.2% American Indian or Alaska Native, 0.3% Two or more races, and 0.2% Not reported. The student population is majorly populated by students on the free/reduced meals program, and an estimated 22% are English learners. The most frequent language of English learner students is Spanish, with an 84%, followed by Khmer (Cambodian), 0.8%. The teacher’s ethnicity is described as follows for the 2011-2012 academic school year, 62...
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...has a different culture. This diversity is seen from different of religious beliefs, languages and ethnic groups. With this much diversity in the world, many people is dividing a group based on the average person is classified. Stereotype is the way a person views and judgment to the average person is classified or in short assessment of the appearance or background. Stereotypical way of thinking is taken to simplify complex allegations in the observation quickly. Stereotypes are rarely accurate, usually only a few basic right or even completely fabricated. For example, the Chinese have slanted eyes. Though not all Chinese have slanted eyes. From these examples, it is only a view of the many against the background of the case, for example the Arabs are terrorists. This stereotypical view usually shared by many people because it formerly existed on known terrorist from the Arab world is Osama bin Laden. That's what makes people think or labeling that Arabs are terrorists. But, does all Arabs are terrorists? The reality is not all Arabs are terrorists. Moreover, whether in Asia or in America there is a terrorist? With the stereotype, many people who judge someone based group, religion, or race them. Though we do not yet know the person. Therefore a lot of people who uses stereotyping use it as a guide to a national culture. There are lots of people who work internationally or study abroad for many years. Stereotype cannot be used as a guide to a national culture as the first character...
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...THE MOST IMPORTANT THING ABOUT COMMUNICATION IS HEARING WHAT ISN’T SAID. (Peter Drucker, 2013) Our world has become a global market place where effective communication is a necessity to survive. Identifying the connections between the people involved in the exchange of information is critical to effective communication. The aims of this blog are threefold: The first is to explain the concept of Social Competence; the second shows how the use of Intrapersonal communication can influence one’s communication; and the third portrays the importance of intercultural communication. SOCIAL COMPETENCE Social competence is the capacity to manage self and relationships effectively. It is the basis of emotional competence (Dwyer, 2009 p.68). The idea behind social competence is that there are many ways to react to situations, and some of them are more constructive than others. Robinson et al. (2013 p. 1268) states that socially competent people are potentially less likely to engage in reactive aggression because they have learned that this form of behaviour does not typically solve interpersonal problems, but rather exacerbates them. Rossana Condeleo quotes: “ The role of any person in this world is to be themselves without damaging the rest. We are important as long as the rest ‘is’ ”. (goodreads 2013) To put this all together, there is real value in learning how to deal with people effectively. But life is sometimes full of frustrating people and situations and this...
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...common system of symbols, signs, or behaviour”. Communication is an insightful human nature. It is an important tool to express one’s self and understand others. The typical elements composing communication are; message(s), sender(s), receiver(s), channel(s) and noise is usually impeded (Buchanan & Huczynski, 2010), as illustrated in Figure 1. Noise is a collective terminology for any misalignment between the message sent, or encoded, and the message received, or decoded, causing misunderstanding, misperception, misinterpretation…etc. Figure 1 Communication Elements (Source: Buchanan, D. A. and Huczynski, A. H. ( 2010) ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR, 7th edn, UK, Pearson Education Ltd) Thinking of all our differences in culture, environment, language, perception, age, experience, role, skills, as individuals as well as societies, it might seem impossible to establish noise-free communication (Thomson & McHugh, 2002). In organizations, healthy, contented and productive working environment urges for effective strategies to guide employees on how to eliminate noise and achieve work environment where signal transmitted (equals) signal received. Why is it so important? Well, as surveys show, Communication is problem No. 1 in organizations (Lauer, 1996). Disastrous plane crashes happen, mostly, as a result of communication errors (Gladwell, 2009). It is, then, indispensible for organizations to take communication into their topmost consideration and develop their cultural...
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...doctor’s. As Mr. Higashi requested, when Kelly called to notify him of her absence due to being sick, Kelly indeed brought a doctor’s note in only to have her time entered as vacation time. High-Context Cultures in Communication All international communication is influenced by cultural differences. One such difference that is apparent in many countries is whether or not the culture is high context vs. low context. In high context cultures a lot of the communicated message is vague, and in order to fully grasp the message at hand, the parties of communication must focus. Focusing in order to understand the message through context, non-verbal cues and ‘listening between the lines’. In order to communicate with in a high-context culture, the people in these cultures have to cultivate interpersonal relations, while developing a good sense of trust with the people in order to communicate effectively (Wilson). Low Context Cultures in Communication Low-context cultures such as North America and Western Europe (most English speaking countries) are logical and linear communicators. People from low-context cultures value logic, facts, and directness. Communicators from low-context cultures also prefer solving problems by lining up the facts of the situation (Wilson). For Kelly, low context communication is how she communicates as well as the other JETS, and the factual contract that they are bound to states that that they do indeed have access to sick leave. When Mr. Higashi requested...
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...International Business UNILEVER COMPANY Individual Assignment Company overview: Unilever is a British–Dutch multinational customer merchandise company co-head quartered in Rotterdam, Netherlands, and London, United Kingdom. Its items incorporate sustenance, refreshments, cleaning operators and individual consideration items. It is the world's third-biggest shopper merchandise company measured by 2012 income, after Procter & Gamble and Nestlé. Unilever is the world's biggest maker of food spreads, for example, margarine. One of the most established multinational organizations; its items are accessible in around 190 countries. Unilever claims more than 400 brands, yet concentrates on 14 brands with offers of more than 1 billion. Unilever is sorted out into their fundamental divisions - Foods, Refreshment (drinks and frozen yogurt), Home Care, and Personal Care. It has innovative work offices in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, China, India, and the United States. Unilever is a multinational consumer goods company. It recruits hundreds of valuable and skilled professionals in every country. Unilever items touch the lives of more than 2 billion individuals consistently – whether that is through feeling awesome in light of the fact that they've got gleaming hair and a splendid grin, keeping their homes new and clean, or by appreciating a some tea, fulfilling dinner or solid nibble. Unilever is a company has global impact on people’s life. It brings many benefits...
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...COMMUNICATION OPINION PAPER 1 Communication Opinion Paper Kimberly Keddington HCS/320 3/24/2014 Sandra Anderson COMMUNICATION OPINION PAPER 2 Healthcare Communication Effective communication is a fundamental part for the success of any professional or personal relationship. Learning to be a skillful communicator requires you to gain knowledge of the steps of the elements in communication. All of the elements can be used in many situations; public speaking, personal relations, medium advance and business associations. The essential communication mold consists of five elements of communication: the sender/receiver, encoding/decoding, the message, the channel and feedback. The sender takes on the role of starting the communication. For the communication to be proficient, the sender should use efficient verbal as well as any nonverbal signals that one would give. Writing or speaking clearly, placing the points to make them easy to follow and comprehend, using eye contact if the communication is verbal, with appropriate grammar and giving precise information are all important in the value of your message. The sender will lose the audience if they become conscious of noticeable oversights on your part. The sender should have a basic understanding of who the...
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...Dimensions of Culture Com 101 Cultural Dimension: High Context vs. Low Context Definition of the Dimension: High and low context communication are ways in which members of various cultures deliver messages. High context messages are communicated non-verbally, in an attempt to maintain social balance, while low context messages express what one would like to communicate directly through language. Examples of how this dimension of culture can result in misunderstanding and/or challenges faced by people who would come from different cultures in which the members of the respective cultures have learned different worldviews/ behaviors/beliefs, etc. regarding this particular dimension: One example of how high context communication could result in a misunderstanding is in a retail setting. An American employee could be going about their job as usual, and a person who is from a low context culture might not get the service they expect. An American might not pick up on the non-verbal cues given by somebody from a high context culture and could come off as rude or non-caring even if that isn’t their intention. An example of challenges faced by people who come from different cultures in which members of the respective cultures have learned different behaviors can happen in the business world. A new hire from a high context culture might have trouble adjusting to the business environment in the U.S. People in America and especially from New...
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...of Daily Communication between Chinese and American -- From the Perspective of High Context and Low Context Jianeng Wang Foreign Languages College, Zhejiang Gongshang University, Hangzhou 310018, China E-mail: jianeng101@163.com Abstract In cross-cultural communication, ignorance of contexts usually leads to misunderstanding and conflicts. Based on Edward. T. Hall’s notion of high-context and low-context, this paper aims to generalize the basic distinctive characteristics of the two contexts by analyzing the actual cases in daily communication between American and Chinese. This paper also tries to conclude some tips for communication crossing the two contexts in accordance with the case analysis. Keywords: High-context, Low-context, Communicatio, Culture 1. About Hall’s high-context and low-context Context is important in all communication, but it is relatively more important in some situations than in others. There are also significant differences across cultures in the ways and the extent to which people communicate through context. One of the main distinctions between cultures has been the notion of high and low context cultures, proposed by the American anthropologies Edward. T. Hall in his 1976 classic, Beyond Culture (Hall, 2000). 1.1 What is high/low-context? Edward T. Hall has described cultural differences in the use of language and context in communication. He calls communication that occurs mostly through language low context and communication that occurs in ways other...
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...High context vs low context in communication Daily communication includes verbal communication and nonverbal communication. Verbal communication is more common in low-context culture while nonverbal communication is more common in high-context culture. Edward Hall raised the concept of high context and low context in the book beyond culture. Context is the the commons and background knowledge that needs to be known and shared before effective communication between people. The more shared background knowledge is, the more commons there are. In detail, in communication in high-context culture, most of the information exists in the physical environment, or internalized in the individual body, and rarely exists in the encoding of the transmission of information. In communication in the low-context culture, a good amount of information exists in languages with clear encoding. For example: Navorski can only speak very limited English and have big problems communicating with Americans, which can be seen from the communication process in the beginning of the movie when Thurman and Frank Dixon asked him questions and he always gave an irrelevant answer. At the beginning, he could only use body gestures to communicate. However, North American is low-context culture while Bulgaria I suppose belongs to high context culture. Americans would feel it difficult to decode Bulgarian’s encoding, while language barrier makes Bulgarian’s fail in encoding information expected from Americans. This...
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...High context vs low context in communication Daily communication includes verbal communication and nonverbal communication. Verbal communication is more common in low-context culture while nonverbal communication is more common in high-context culture. Edward Hall raised the concept of high context and low context in the book beyond culture. Context is the the commons and background knowledge that needs to be known and shared before effective communication between people. The more shared background knowledge is, the more commons there are. In detail, in communication in high-context culture, most of the information exists in the physical environment, or internalized in the individual body, and rarely exists in the encoding of the transmission of information. In communication in the low-context culture, a good amount of information exists in languages with clear encoding. For example: Navorski can only speak very limited English and have big problems communicating with Americans, which can be seen from the communication process in the beginning of the movie when Thurman and Frank Dixon asked him questions and he always gave an irrelevant answer. At the beginning, he could only use body gestures to communicate. However, North American is low-context culture while Bulgaria I suppose belongs to high context culture. Americans would feel it difficult to decode Bulgarian’s encoding, while language barrier makes Bulgarian’s fail in encoding information expected from Americans. This...
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...Understanding how culture affects Communication Comprehending the verbal and nonverbal meanings of a message is difficult even when communicators are from the same culture. When they come from different cultures, special sensitivity and skills are necessary. Negotiators for a North American company learned this lesion when they were in japan looking for a trading partner. The North American were pleased after their first meeting with representatives of a major Japanese firm. The Japanese had nodded assent throughout the meeting and had not objected to a single proposal. The next day, however, the north Americans were stunned to learn that the Japanese had reject the entire plan. In interpreting the nonverbal behavioral messages, the north American made a typical mistakes. They assumed the Japanese were nodding in agreement as fellow North Americans would. In this case, however, the nods of assent indicated comprehension-not approval. Every country has a unique culture or common heritage, joint experience, and shared learning that produce its culture. Their common experience gives members of that culture a complex system of shared values and customs. It teaches them how to behave; it conditions their reactions. The more you know about culture in general and your own culture in particular, the better able you will be to adopt an intercultural perspective. So today, I will outline some key dimensions of culture; look at them from various points of views and contrast with...
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...Alvarado Colleen Scarborough Culture is the influence on the individual’s personality that happens from the surroundings like nature, religion, region, etc. Culture influence’s individuals so they behave in certain ways that fits their life, therefore people interact with each other; they have phases that coordinate their way of networking. In order to connect, communicate and get along with other cultures there must be an understanding between the two. However, when Assan Motors Company expanded and opened a new plant in the USA they did not have cultural understanding of the USA. For that in Gung Ho, there were several consequences that happened like, the different communication styles, low context vs. high context, dedication to the factory, different working habits/quality of work and collective vs. individualistic. Americans use a low context form of communication style in comparison to the high context style of the Japanese. Low context involves a more direct communication approach, while high context involves a more indirect style. An example of the Americans using a low context approach is when Hunt goes to the Japan to sell the Assan managers on the idea of coming to Hadleyville. He starts with a presentation and then cuts to the deal and says, “Here’s the deal” and begins explaining himself bluntly. The Japanese are silent, not speaking at all. Silence is generally considered offensive to low-context cultures. The Japanese show a high context style at the softball game...
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