CROSS CULTURAL

COMMUNICATION
SESSION-32

"Communicating With Strangers: An

Approach to Intercultural Communication”.
Paromita.M.Ojha
 CULTURE DEFINED
 Culture is a group which
shapes a person's values and
identity. Cultural identities
can stem from the following
differences: race, ethnicity,
gender, class, religion,
country of origin, and
geographic region.
 CULTURAL CONFLICTS IN
WORKPLACE
 Cultural conflicts arise because of the
differences in values and norms of
behavior of people from different
cultures. A person acts according to
the values and norms of his or her
culture; another person holding a
different worldview might interpret his
or her behavior from an opposite
standpoint. This situation creates
misunderstanding and can lead to
conflict.
 CROSS-CULTURAL
COMMUNICATION

 We communicate the way we do

because we are raised in a
particular culture and learn its
language, rules, and norms.
Different cultures (and subcultures)
may have different rules and norms.
Understanding the other's culture
facilitates cross-cultural
communication.
 UNCERTAINTY & ANXIETY
 Generally, in communication, we seek
to reduce uncertainty. Communication
with strangers involves relatively
greater degrees of uncertainty, due
to the difficulty in predicting a
stranger's responses.
STRATEGIES TO REDUCE ANXIETY
 We may reduce our uncertainty by
following three basic strategies.
 One may passively observe the stranger.
 One may actively seek out information
from other friends of the stranger, or from
books.
 Finally, one may seek information directly
from the stranger by interacting with them
and asking questions.
 Also, offering information about one's self
often prompts reciprocal offerings of
information from another
 How To Resolve Conflicts
 (1) the parties describe what they
find offensive in each other's
behavior;
 (2) they get an understanding of the
other party's cultural perceptions;
 (3) they learn how the problem
would be handled in the culture of
the opponent;
 (4) they develop conflict solutions.
5. Learning about other cultures.
 People can prevent cross-cultural
conflicts by learning about cultures
that they come in contact with. This
knowledge can be obtained through
training programs, general reading,
talking to people from different
cultures, and learning from past
experiences.
6. Altering organizational practices and
procedures.

 Often the organizational structure

reflects the norms of just one
culture and gives rise to cultural
conflict in the workplace . In such
cases, structural change in the
organization becomes necessary to
make the system more sensitive to
cultural norms of other people
 DISCRIMINATION

 Cultural conflicts lead to

Discrimination toward or
against a person or group is
the prejudicial treatment of
them based on certain
characteristics.
 Dealing with Discrimination in the
Workplace

 In the last few years, charges of

gender discrimination (man vs
woman) in the workplace have
increased. Racial bias, while no
longer the most common complaint
among employees, remains a
problem, as does age
discrimination.
 Dealing With Discrimination At
Workplace

 Dealing effectively with

discrimination is a twofold process:
 Become knowledgeable with regard
to antidiscrimination laws,
 Pay close attention to what’s
happening in your company
 Types Of Discrimination
1.Gender discrimination

 Socially, sexual differences have

been used to justify different roles
for men and women, in some cases
giving rise to claims of primary and
secondary roles.
GENDER STEREOTYPING
 The United Nations had concluded
that women often experience a
"glass ceiling" and that there are
no societies in which women enjoy
the same opportunities as men.
The term "glass ceiling" is used to
describe a perceived barrier to
advancement in employment
based on discrimination, especially
sex discrimination.
 2. Language discrimination
 Diversity of language is protected and
respected by most nations who value
cultural diversity. However, people are
sometimes subjected to different
treatment because their preferred
language is associated with a
particular group, class or category.
Discrimination exists if there is
prejudicial treatment against a person
or a group of people who speak a
particular language or dialect.
 3. Disability Discrimination
 People with disabilities face
discrimination in all levels of
society. The attitude that disabled
individuals are inferior to non-
disabled individuals is called
"ableism".
CONTD……
 Disabled people face discrimination by
employers. They may find problems
with securing employment as their
handicap can be seen as a risk to the
company,
 Once in employment they may find they
are overlooked for promotion
opportunities.
 Similarly, if an employee becomes
disabled while employed they may also
find themselves being managed out the
company by HR departments.
Here are some general guidelines for
managers to overcome conflicts in workplace
due discriminatory attitudes of employees

 Pay attention to what you don’t

always see. You can’t always see it,
prove it, or stop it, but if you ignore
even the hint of discriminatory
behavior, you and your company
could suffer in the long run. Low
morale, employee conflicts, and even
lawsuits are just a few of the serious
problems that could arise.
 Don’t play favorites.
 If you offer certain benefits to
employees, make sure these perks
are available to everyone. For
instance, if you want to provide a
flexible work arrangement for your
older workers, avoid appearing
discriminatory by being sure to offer
this option to everyone
Keep your personal beliefs personal

 Your personal opinion regarding

race, religion, sexual orientation,
and other potentially contentious
issues should not affect your duty to
monitor workplace discrimination.
Be careful of what you say and to
whom you say it

 It’s easy for an off-the-cuff

remark — said by either you or
an employee — to start a torrent
of bad feelings and even a
charge of discrimination. Think
before you say something that
might be misunderstood, and
teach your employees to
conduct themselves similarly.
 Respond quickly
 If an employee expresses
concern about possible workplace
discrimination, do what you can
in the shortest period of time to
resolve the issue. Allowing it to
linger will only add to the
employee’s anxiety and allow
whatever may be occurring to
continue. Talk to the accuser and
the accused trying to find out
what exactly happened.
 Educate yourself
 Stay informed about workplace
discrimination. Talk with your peers
in similar and different industries,
read your daily newspaper for
information about what’s happening
locally, and conduct research on
discrimination and harassment law.
 Formalize the policy and the
consequence
 Create an antidiscrimination policy (or
consider paying an expert to create
one). Keep in mind that no
antidiscrimination policy will be taken
seriously unless you take concrete
action against any possible
wrongdoing.. If you discover that some
kind of discrimination has taken place,
decide if you will start with a warning,
insist on counseling, or formally
terminate the accused.
HOW TO DEAL WITH DIFFERENTLY
ABLED PEOPLE AT WORKPLACE
 Most of the time, the way we interact
with these people means a lot. There are
tactful ways to approach them.
 For example, people in wheel chairs
definitely sit at a lower eye-level than
the rest of the walking population. So
when interacting with them, be sure not
to lean over them since this might be an
encroachment of their personal space. If
it’s just for a few moments, consider
squatting. If the conversation would
take long, pull out a chair. This way
you’d still be eye-to-eye with the person.
 DEALING WITH HEARING
IMPAIRMENT

 You should also be very careful with

how you communicate for people
with hearing problems for their
benefit of course. Speak slowly to
make sure that the person can hold
on to every word. Some can lip-read
so be sure not to cover your mouth
while speaking. Hearing aids tend to
magnify all sounds, so better go to a
more quiet place and converse there.
DEALING WITH SPEECH IMPAIRED

 Problems may also affect speech.

Stroke victims for example, may
have speech impairments causing
them to speak slowly. Be a patient
listener and avoid cutting them off
in the middle of their sentence.
DEALING WITH VISUALLY IMPAIRED

 For the blind or those with visual

impairments, be sure to identify
yourself. Use your normal speaking
voice so that the person will be able
to recognize you. If the person was
born blind, avoid making references
to visual cues like describing things
like color or starting conversation
with “Have you seen…?”
 Be Sensitive
 It may seem like tough work but
being sensitive to these things
would make interacting with them a
lot better.
 Always remember that there are
always Varied solutions to problems
 one set of steps or
one solution that
can resolve every
issue – does not
exist. Each issue
and set of
circumstances are
different and might
require yet another
approach.