Entering High and Low Context Situations
High contexts can be difficult to enter if you are an outsider (because you don't carry the context information internally, and because you can't instantly create close relationships).
Low contexts are relatively easy to enter if you are an outsider (because the environment contains much of the information you need to participate, and because can you form relationships fairly soon, and because the important thing is accomplishing a task rather than feeling your way into a relationship).
Remember that every culture and every situation has its high and low aspects. Often one situation will contain an inner high context core and an outer low context ring for those who are less involved.
For instance, a PTA (Parent-Teacher Association) is usually a low context situation: any parent can join, the dates of the meetings, who is president, what will be discussed, etc. are all explicitly available information, and it is usually fairly clear how to participate in the meetings.
However, if this is a small town, perhaps the people who run the PTA all know each other very well and have many overlapping interests. They may "agree" on what should be discussed or what should happen without ever really talking about it, they have unconscious, unexpressed values that influence their decisions. Other parents from outside may not understand how decisions are actually being made. So the PTA is still low context, but it has a high context subgroup that is in turn part of a high context small town society.
NOTE: When you enter a high context situation, it doesn't immediately become a low context culture just because you came in the door! It is still a high context culture and you are just (alas), ignorant. Also, even low context cultures can be difficult to learn: religious dietary laws, medical training, written language all take years to understand. The point is that that information has been made conscious, systematic, and available to those who have the resources to learn it.
Once you have thought about your customers and colleagues in terms of high or low context, you can find a middle ground for effective business communication. For example, if you are from a low-context culture dealing with someone from a high-context culture, you will flex your communication style to obtain the results you desire from your business communication. Follow the suggestions below as you prepare to write or speak.
When conducting business in a high-context culture:
· Understand that contextual information will be important.
· Be aware of the implied messages that you send and that others send to you.
· Develop relationships before focusing on tasks.
· Expect decision making to be collaborative and collective.
· Understand that the employee/employer relationship is humanistic.
· Expect a reliance on trust or intuition.
· Use indirect style in writing and speaking.
· Expect circular reasoning.
· Accept that contracts may change.
When conducting business in a low-context culture:
· Remember that contextual information may be less important.
· Expect a reliance on explicit and direct verbal communication.
· Accept that tasks are viewed as separate from relationships.
· Expect individual initiative and decision making.
· Understand that the employee/employer relationship is mechanistic.
· Support assertions with facts and statistical evidence.
· Use linear reasoning.
· Expect contracts to be firm.
Завдання до розділу 3
· http://www2.pacific.edu/sis/culture/pub/Context_Cultures_High_and_Lo.htm
Знайти розділ When a Greeting Takes More Than “Hi, How are you?” прочитати все, що стосується привітань і Commentary on Greeting і Tales from the Peace Corps: Learning from Cultural Encounters. Надати свої коментарі.
2. Той самий сайт. Знайти розділ CULTURAL-CONTEXT INVENTORY і протестувати себе, на занятті надати результати тестування і свої коментарі. (Загальна дискусія)
3. Той самий сайт. Знайти розділ Book Learning – What Happened and Why? Проаналізуйте ситуації і ознайомтесь з відповідями про правильну поведінку.
№1
Location: Dharamsala, India
Student: Female, 20
Three weeks after I arrived in Dharamsala, India, my host family and I were invited for a special dinner at a relative’s house. I knew the dinner would last for hours and hours, and I couldn't leave to study for my exam the next day because it would be considered rude to do so. Therefore, I stayed and studied during the long preparation of the dinner. I read and highlighted our textbook, A Joyful Picnic for
Those Who Have Come from Afar.
Visiting Tibetan monks were watching me with what I thought was fascination. I continued to read and highlighted more. As the dinner was served, I placed my textbook at my side near my feet. (I was sitting in a meditation posture, with my feet on the chair.) While I began enjoying my meal, the monks were still staring at me, this time with anguished looks. Suddenly they emotionally addressed the group in Tibetan. It was obvious they were both angry and frustrated and they glared at me the whole time. My host mother apologized, explaining to the monks, "inji, inji" (Westerner).
What did I do wrong?
Click here for answer (на сайті)
№2 Picture (Im)Perfect Moment
Critical Incident - Picture (Im)Perfect Moment
Location: Bali, Indonesia
Student: Female, 20
I was sitting in a palace courtyard talking to my friend, a local young prince. I had to leave soon to return to my village. I apologized for my manners and for the inconvenience of my stay, as it was customary to do. I then asked the prince if I could have a picture taken of the two of us. He agreed and called a servant over to take the photo. A king from another village who had also been visiting walked over and I asked him to join us for a group picture. I moved over to my left to make room for him. Everyone became very tense and the servant refused to take the picture. The servant glanced nervously at the king and then at the far corner of the palace on my right, facing Mt. Agung. He said he was sorry, but it was not proper to take the picture.
Why not? What did I do wrong? Click here for Answer (на сайті)
4. Завдання до семінару: Once one recognizes not only that all humans have such preferences and that some significant differences are likely to exist between individuals in any work or social setting, the next step is to move from awareness to action. Look again at the characteristics for High and Low Context communicators that introduced this site and consider the following questions.
1). How might knowing your preferred communication style be useful to you in intercultural situations?
2). What is the dominant communication style of groups you have grown up with or interact most with now? Under what circumstances are you most comfortable communicating?
3). When you feel uncomfortable communicating in certain situations, do you ever consider that the problem might be the way some people are expressing themselves, rather than a personal reaction to individuals?
4). What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of both High and Low context communication styles?
5). What differences in communication style are you likely to encounter when studying abroad, and how are you going to react to them? What can you do to prepare to communicate more effectively with someone who has a different style?
(а також на семінарі можна розглянути попередні пункти)
5. YOU TUBE presentations: A cross culture and communication specialist: Isabelle Min at TEDxItaewon; and TEDxAjman - Ali Al Saloom - Cultural Identity. Analyze and highlight the key points of the presentations. Any other presentations on this topic are possible.
6. Working Across Cultures. Market Leader (2010): Unit 1: Overcoming cultural barriers; Unit 2: Communicating across cultures; Unit 3: Working styles in Japan; Unit 4: Doing business in China, на вибір.
7. English for Business Communication, Cambridge University Press: Unit 1 “Cultural diversity and socializing” (cross-cultural understanding 1); Unit 2 “Culture and entertainment” (cross-cultural understanding 2). На вибір
8. https://pripsy.wordpress.com/2012/05/11/почему-американцы-тупыыые-или-как-пи/ Із серії прикладна психологія для обговорення.
