Assessment One
Intercultural Communication
Introduction
Within this essay, I aim to reflect on how understanding the concept of intercultural communication and the cultural orientation of myself and others would have helped me to have a better outcome of the misjudgement in my workplace. I will first describe the whole notion of intercultural communication and then delve into the differences between the Indian and New Zealand culture. Aspects such as power distance, individualism versus collectivism and indulgence versus restraint will all be explored and interpreted from my own experience before finally concluding the reflection of this traumatic misjudgement.
Part A
Last summer, I encountered a series of miscommunications when I worked …show more content…
Communication is “the use of symbols to represent ideas so that meanings can be shared” (Solomon and Theiss, 2012, p. 4.) and culture is “the collective programming of the mind that distinguishes one group or category of people from another” (Hofstede, 2011). Culture consists but is not limited to the values and beliefs, ways of behaving and communicating. Therefore, intercultural communication is the sharing ideas and meanings “between persons who have different cultural beliefs, values or ways of behaving” (DeVito, O’Rourke, O’Neill, 2000, p. 110). Culture is something that we are not just born with. Culture can be learnt, and the mental programming of a person’s culture is mainly developed in early childhood (Hofstede, Hofstede & Minkov, 2010). Therefore, this means that we inherit similar values, beliefs and ways of behaving to of which our parents, caregivers, teachers have been brought up with themselves. This process is called enculturation and it is where culture is passed down through generations; not through genes but by communication (DeVito, O’Rourke, O’Neill, 2000). Within the concept of intercultural communication there are 6 dimensions that can differ immensely between cultures. These include power distance, individualism versus collectivism, masculinity versus femininity, uncertainty avoidance index, long term versus short term orientation & …show more content…
Some cultures appraise more individualistic values such as power, achievement, self-satisfaction and stimulation while others treasure more collectivist values such as compassion, tradition and conformity (DeVito, O’Rourke, O’Neill, 2000). New Zealand is a highly individualistic country with a score of 79 on Hofstede’s Country Comparison Table while India scored a relatively neutral score of 48. Within a workplace or organisation, individualistic cultures prefer to have enough free time at the end of the day for their immediate family and to be able to have the freedom to tackle the job in a way that suits themselves the best. However, collectivist cultures would rather have adequate physical working conditions, new training opportunities to better their skills and to use those skills and abilities to their maximum (Hofstede, Hofstede & Minkov,
Intercultural Communication
Introduction
Within this essay, I aim to reflect on how understanding the concept of intercultural communication and the cultural orientation of myself and others would have helped me to have a better outcome of the misjudgement in my workplace. I will first describe the whole notion of intercultural communication and then delve into the differences between the Indian and New Zealand culture. Aspects such as power distance, individualism versus collectivism and indulgence versus restraint will all be explored and interpreted from my own experience before finally concluding the reflection of this traumatic misjudgement.
Part A
Last summer, I encountered a series of miscommunications when I worked …show more content…
Communication is “the use of symbols to represent ideas so that meanings can be shared” (Solomon and Theiss, 2012, p. 4.) and culture is “the collective programming of the mind that distinguishes one group or category of people from another” (Hofstede, 2011). Culture consists but is not limited to the values and beliefs, ways of behaving and communicating. Therefore, intercultural communication is the sharing ideas and meanings “between persons who have different cultural beliefs, values or ways of behaving” (DeVito, O’Rourke, O’Neill, 2000, p. 110). Culture is something that we are not just born with. Culture can be learnt, and the mental programming of a person’s culture is mainly developed in early childhood (Hofstede, Hofstede & Minkov, 2010). Therefore, this means that we inherit similar values, beliefs and ways of behaving to of which our parents, caregivers, teachers have been brought up with themselves. This process is called enculturation and it is where culture is passed down through generations; not through genes but by communication (DeVito, O’Rourke, O’Neill, 2000). Within the concept of intercultural communication there are 6 dimensions that can differ immensely between cultures. These include power distance, individualism versus collectivism, masculinity versus femininity, uncertainty avoidance index, long term versus short term orientation & …show more content…
Some cultures appraise more individualistic values such as power, achievement, self-satisfaction and stimulation while others treasure more collectivist values such as compassion, tradition and conformity (DeVito, O’Rourke, O’Neill, 2000). New Zealand is a highly individualistic country with a score of 79 on Hofstede’s Country Comparison Table while India scored a relatively neutral score of 48. Within a workplace or organisation, individualistic cultures prefer to have enough free time at the end of the day for their immediate family and to be able to have the freedom to tackle the job in a way that suits themselves the best. However, collectivist cultures would rather have adequate physical working conditions, new training opportunities to better their skills and to use those skills and abilities to their maximum (Hofstede, Hofstede & Minkov,