Intercultural Communication theory at the crossroads: Different views on approaching the concept of culture. Prof. Dr. Elke Schuch

Transcription

1 Intercultural Communication theory at the crossroads: Different views on approaching the concept of culture Prof. Dr. Elke Schuch

2 Culture is one of the two or three most complicated words in the English language (Raymond Williams, Key Words, 1983:87).

3 National focus in IC advice literature

4 Traditional assumptions about culture Interculture Cultures as closed and self contained systems Individuals are primarily part of ONE culture Clearly defined borders Internal homogeneity and coherence

5 Edward Hall ( )

6 Another example of the coherence approach: Software of the mind Example: A website which heavily relies on Hofstede s work Germanness extends to being a physical characteristic

7 Two fundamentally incompatible concepts of `culture Separate and selfcontained national cultures

8 Two fundamentally incompatible concepts of `culture Separate and selfcontained national cultures Transcultural permeations and fusions

9 Wolfgang Welsch Transculturality Cultures de facto no longer have the insinuated form of homogeneity and separateness. They have instead assumed a new form, which is to be called transcultural insofar that it passes through classical cultural boundaries. Cultural conditions today are largely characterized by mixes and permeations (Welsch 1999: 197, italics in original)

10 Primary collectivity Multicollectivity Intercultural Interaction Intercultural Interaction Interculture Collective C Collective E Collective F Collective K Collective G Collective H Culture Culture A Culture B Collective B Collective A Collective D Collective N Collective M Collective J Collective I Collective L Adapted after Hansen 2003, Rathje 2009

11 The C P S Model Person Intercultural Encounter Culture Situation

12 C P S Model: Analysis of intercultural encounters Situation - public/private formal/informal location outdoor/indoor noise weather time age gender experience social background/ status personal disposition mood Person values and attitudes levels of culture (eg. national, professional, regional or company culture) communication styles Culture

13 C P S Model As Leenen (2005:91 92) argues, there are never purely cultural encounters as such, because it snot cultures that meet, but human individuals who are influenced by a complicated interplay of personal, situational and, of course, cultural factors. Therefore a particular difficulty with cultural overlap situations resides in precisely the structural uncertainty as to what the factor culture actually means. (my translation)

14 MA International Management and Intercultural Communication Cologne University of Applied Sciences

15 The 3 Pillars of the GLOBAL MBA = MASTER OF INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT AND INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION Global Business Coursework Culture and Business Exposure Global Business Research Project U N F Advanced Business Policy Management of Operations International Marketing Applied Intercultural Communication: USA Business Environment: USA Global Business Research: Report writing, presentation and defense U S A D U F E International Finance Applied Intercultural Communication: China Business Environment: China Global Business Team Research C H I N A U W International Management Adv. Financial Management Organizational Theory Management Information Systems Applied Intercultural Communication: Poland Business Environment: Poland Research team formation and identification of investigated issues in major global industries P O L A N D C U A S Intercultural Communication (+ Training) International Managerial Accounting Statistics Business Strategy Global Economics Applied Intercultural Communication: Germany Business Environment: Germany Team Research Current business practices in major global industries G E R M A N Y

16 Thank you for your attention.

17 References Hansen, Klaus P. (2003): Kultur und Kulturwissenschaft. Tübingen: Francke/UTB. Leenen, Wolf Rainer, Harald Grosch, and Andreas Groß, eds. Bausteine zur interkulturellen Qualifizierung der Polizei. Münster: Waxmann, Rathje, Stefanie (2009): The Definition of Culture An Application Oriented Overhaul. Interculture Journal, 8, Welsch, Wolfgang (1999): Transculturality: The Puzzling Form of Cultures Today. Spaces of Culture: City, Nation, World, ed. Mike Featherstone / Scott Lash. London: Sage,