n5 communication: multicultural communication

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MULTICULTURAL COMMUNICATIONCulture: the product of ideas, values and outlook on life of a specific group of people, that have been maintained and applied for a number of years.

QUESTION 5 IN PAPER 2 (20 POINTS)

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5.1 CULTURE

1. ELEMENTS OF CULTURE

2. SUBCULTURE

3. PREJUDICE

4. STEREOTYPING

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5.1.1 ELEMENTS OF CULTURE• Values: a culture’s assessment of what is good or bad• Beliefs: broad, vague, generalised statements that reflect

people’s assessment and awareness• Norms of behaviour: values expressed in norms, which

are guidelines for action or conduct within a culture.• Symbols: special objects, gestures, sounds, images that

have a specific meaning in a culture• Perception: the way people choose, arrange, process and

interpret stimuli from environment in an attempt to integrate them in an approach to their world which, for them, is meaningful and structured.

04/08/2023 Symbols of Culture 4

What culture

is this?

04/08/2023 Perception of Culture 5

04/08/2023 Cultural perception 6

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5.1.1 ELEMENTS OF CULTURE• Attitudes: a tendency to respond towards or to react

against any idea or object. May be mental, emotional or behavioural or a combination.

• Expectations: members from any cultural group would expect one another, as well as the government, church, school, courts of law, hospitals and clinics and other societal institutions to meet certain requirements which are compatible with their perceptions, values, norms and attitudes.

04/08/2023 Attitudes towards Cultures 8

What is your

attitude towards punks?

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5.1.2 SUBCULTURE

Within each cultural group a number of smaller sections or subcultures can be identified• The role of demography (refers to the study of human

populations, their distribution, geographic locations. It includes information about their age, level of education, income, vocations, etc. of specific groups.• Profession: e.g. lawyers, teachers, secretaries• Ethnicity: e.g. Zulus, Xhosas, Sothos. (common cultural traditions

and a sense of identity)• Religion: Christian (Roman Catholic, Protestant) Jewish, Muslims • Language: 11 official languages in SA … and counting

Ethnocentricity: tendency of members of a particular culture or subculture to judge other cultures according to its own norms & values

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Different Professions

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5.1.3 PREJUDICE• A preconceived opinion, bias or partiality• Passing judgement before a proper trial or enquiry• Negative conduct towards others for no apparent reason.• People are perceived as “strange” and avoided

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5.1.4 STEREOTYPING• Also known as labelling• Attributing a single, usually bad, characteristic to a

particular person simply because he belongs to a certain group. Normally they choose (unconsciously) to ignore true, normally positive characteristics.

• Generalisation with mental picture of group before even interacting with the group

• Traditional stereotypes: Jews, Englishmen, Afrikaners.• Gets in the way of effective communication• Stereotypes are reinforced by the mass media

04/08/2023 Stereotyping of Women 14

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5.2 General factors which may give rise to unsuccessful communication• 5.2.1 Conflicting goals of communication• 5.2.2 Ethnocentricity (ethnocentrism)• 5.2.3 Lack of trust• 5.2.4 Lack of empathy• 5.2.5 Stereotyping• 5.2.6 Power

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5.3 Cultural differences which may influence communication• 5.3.1 Religion and values• 5.3.2 Role and status• 5.3.3 Family structures and customs• 5.3.4 Decision-making customs• 5.3.5 Concepts of time• 5.3.6 Proximity• 5.3.7 Body language• 5.3.8 Language• 5.3.9 Social behaviour and manners

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5.4 Possible language barriers• 5.4.1 Written communication• 5.4.2 Oral communication• 5.4.3 Non-verbal communication

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5.5 Clues to unsuccessful communication

• Non-verbal signs• Poor feedback• Wrong (or undesirable) actions/conduct

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5.6 Developing multi-cultural comm skills

5.6.1 General skills necessary for multicultural comm• Attempts to obviate external barriers• Knowledge of other cultures• Identification of the receiver or target audience• Correct attitude• Providing feedback• Attention to language• Listening• Conduct

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5.6.2 Written communication• Most suitable document format for conveying a message• Appropriate register and tone for a specific discourse• Appropriate vocabulary and sentence construction (style)

which will constitute the proper register and match the level of understanding of the receiver

• Minimum use of unknown acronyms, abbreviations or jargon – if these have to be used, their meaning should be explained.


5.6.3 Oral communication• Misunderstanding is very real in multicultural

communication situations• Slightest sign of irritation may be interpreted as evidence

of intolerance, anger or hostility

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5.6.4 Non-verbal actions• Be aware of different meanings attached to various non-

verbal actions.• Try to avoid non-verbal actions which could give offense.

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5.7 Corporate culture• The image of a specific organisation, as determined by its

structure and the nature of its communication in order to achieve its organisational goals

• Business in SA is conducted according to Western social customs and with a distinctly Western emphasis on the importance of time, productivity, profit and progress

• “Cultures meet, merge, and often collide” within the workplace.

• Corporate culture is the social energy that moves the members of organisations to act. This could be productive or unproductive.


5.7 CORPORATE CULTURE

5.7.1 Management approach

• The workplace is the melting pot of the great diversity of South African cultures, management must manage this cultural diversity skilfully and deliberately to create an integrated corporate culture which is shared by all employees.

5.7.2 Attitude or disposition of the individual or group

• Each individual in an organisation represents its own cultural group, attitude, disposition and contribution of each individual member has a subtle yet cumulative effect on the corporate culture of the organisation

• See p.131 (table)

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