BA370
Leadership Communication Chapter 08 :
Cross-Cultural Literacy and Communication
This chapter provides a
beginning and should have increased the recognition of the importance and value
of understanding and appreciating cultural differences. This chapter has
provided an introduction and basic foundation for leadership communication
across cultures.
Leaders need an
understanding of and appreciation for cultural diversity, called cross-cultural
literacy here. It means being literacy or knowledgeable about the fundamental
differences across cultures. Organizations seek diversity in order to compete,
and leaders need to be better educated about culture to lead effectively and to
take full advantage of the value diversity provides.
A number of frameworks exist
to help individuals define and organize the most important cultural
differences. It is difficult to cover all of the most universal categories in
which to place all the possible cultural differences, but cultural frameworks
can be highly useful to bring insight into cultural differences and to help us
approach culture systematically and non-judgmentally.
Question 1: What are the
approaches we should adopt to any cross-cultural encounter?
Answer:
1. Be
open and respectful.
2. Know
the social customs.
3. Learn
as much about the culture, history, people, and even language as reasonable.
4. Obtain
pointers and feedback from members of the culture.
5. Be
patient, be flexible and value the time needed to develop relationships.
6. Keep
a sense of humor.
7. Keep
language simple and avoid jargon.
Question 2: What is culture?
Answer: Culture is a fuzzy set of
attitudes, beliefs, behavioral conventions, and basic assumptions and values
that are shared by a group of people, and that influence each member’s behavior
and his/her interpretations of the meaning of other people’s behavior.
Question 3: What is context?
Answer: Context is anything that
surrounds and accompanies communication and gives meaning to it.
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