2-1

2-2

Communicating Across
Cultures
To learn how to
 Continue to analyze your audiences.
 Begin to adapt your message to
your audiences.
 Begin to understand what your
organization wants.
 2-3

Communicating Across
Cultures
Start by answering these questions:
 Who is my audience?
 Why is audience so important?
 What do I need to know about my
audience(s)?
 2-4

Communicating Across
Cultures
Start by answering these questions:
 Now that I have my analysis, what
do I do with it?
 What if my audiences have different
needs?
 How do I reach my audience(s)?
 2-5

Introduction
 In any organization, you'll work with people whose
backgrounds differ from yours.
 People often want easy answers about diversity and
culture when only guidelines are possible.
 Many companies depend on vendors or operations in
different countries
 2-6

Diversity and Culture Basics

Diversity has always been with us—

even if people didn’t recognize it or its
value.
There is no “one-size-fits-all”
approach to working with cultural
differences.
 Use the information in this module as
guidelines, not rules set in stone.
 Remember that people are individuals as well
as members of groups.
Be open to change and difference.
 2-7

Diversity in the Workplace

Gender
Race and ethnicity
Regional and national origin
Social class
Religion
Age
Physical ability
 2-8

What is "culture"?

 Culture is patterns of acceptable behavior and

belief.

 We may not be aware of the most basic features of

our own culture until we come into contact with
people who do things differently.
 2-9

We can categorize cultures as

 high-context
low-context.
 2-10

Diversity in the Workplace

High-Context Cultures
 Most information is
inferred from the context
of a message.
 Little is “spelled out.”
 Examples: Japanese,
Arabic, and Latin
American cultures.
 2-11

Diversity in the Workplace

continued

Low-Context Cultures
 Context is less
important than words.
 Most information is
spelled out; words are
privileged
 Examples: German,
Scandinavian, and
dominant U.S. cultures.
2-12
 2-13

How does culture affect

business communication?
 Culture influences every single aspect of business
communication:
 how to show politeness and respect,
 how much information to give,
 how to motivate people,
 how loud to talk,
 even what size paper to use.
 2-14

How does culture affect

business communication?

Business communication is
influenced by
• national culture,
• the organizational culture (system,
rules, how to behave, dress act and perform
job) and by
• personal culture (gender, race and
ethnicity, social class)
 2-15

There are so many different cultures!

How can I know enough to communicate?
Focus on being sensitive and flexible.

 The first step in understanding another culture is to

realize that it may do things very differently, and
that the difference is not bad or inferior ‫دوني‬.
 people within a single culture differ.
 2-16

Communicating with Different

Cultures
Brenda Arbaleez suggests being
 Aware that values and behaviors
are influenced by culture.
 Flexible.
 Sensitive.
 Aware of the others’ values, beliefs,
and practices.
 Sensitive to differences among
individuals.
 2-17

How can I make my documents

bias-free?
Start by using non-sexist, non-racist, and non-agist
language.
 Bias-free language is language that does not
discriminate against people on the basis of sex,
physical condition, race, age, or any other category.

 Avoid terms that assume that everyone is married or

is heterosexual.
 Biased: You and your husband or wife are cordially
invited to the dinner.
 Better: You and your guest are cordially invited to
the dinner.
 2-18

Ways to Make Language

Nonsexist
Use
 Words that treat both
sexes respectfully.
 Titles that do not imply
one sex “ought” to do a
certain job.
 The appropriate gender
pronoun when referring
to a specific person.
2-19
 2-20

Ways to Make Language

Nonracist
Eliminate adjectives that reinforce
negative stereotypes.
 Biased: The motivated black students
were assigned to internship positions
throughout the company.
 Bias-free: The students were assigned to
internship positions throughout the
company.
 2-21

Ways to Make Language

Nonagist
Refer to age only if it’s truly
relevant.
 Biased: Tomoko Watanabe, 67, is
president of Competitive Data
Management.
 Bias-free: Tomoko Watanabe is
president of Competitive Data
Management.
 2-22

Unit One

End of Module 3