Comparison of the Studies on Intercultural Communication *

Transcription

1 US-China Foreign Language, ISSN May 2012, Vol. 10, No. 5, D DAVID PUBLISHING Comparison of the Studies on Intercultural Communication * LUAN Ming-xiang China Youth University for Political Sciences, Beijing, China In the era of globalization, more and more people work, study, or live in foreign countries. Cross-cultural communications have become unprecedentedly important and indispensable. International cooperation among countries in business, military defence, economy, and so on has been increasingly popular and frequent. However, many problems arise in the course of contact due to lack of the knowledge and awareness of foreign cultures. Therefore, the study of different cultures has become especially significant. Among the many gurus in this field, Geert Hofstede, Edward T. Hall, and Fons Trompenaars are three prestigious representatives. With the guidance of their theories and practical skills, people can manage much better in international situations. This can reduce embarrassment, misunderstanding, offence, and even hostility, and enables them to communicate more efficiently and successfully. Keywords: culture, intercultural communication, dimension Introduction Intercultural communication is viewed as a form of global communication. It is applied to describe the wide range of communication problems that arise within an organization consisted of individuals from different backgrounds of religions, societies, ethnics, and educations. Scholars dedicated to the study of intercultural communication seeks to understand how people from different cultures act, communicate, and perceive the world around them. The recent globalization trend has seen the rise of communication across nations. Some scholoars think that communication systems are the products of culture. Communication and culture are closely connected with each other. Yet each country has its own unique culture, which tends to remain unchanged at the deep level, such as values, beliefs, or attitudes (Beamer & Varner, 2003). As a result, many misunderstandings occur when communicating cross-culturally due to the lack of cultural knowledge. Fortunately, people have more in common than their differences and culture is learnable. In order to help people communicate effectively with other cultures, many scholars have committed to the study of intercultural communication; among them, Geert Hofstede, Edward T. Hall, and Fons Trompenaars are three eminent representatives. Hofstede s Four-Dimension Theory Hofstede s greatest contribution to the field of Intercultural Communication is his Four-Dimension Theory. * This paper is sponsored by China Youth University for Political Sciences (2011) (No ). LUAN Ming-xiang, associate professor of Foreign Language Department, China Youth University for Political Sciences.

2 1208 COMPARISON OF THE STUDIES ON INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION In the book Cultures and Organizarions (2005), the authors described in detail about Geert Hofstede s findings, of which the four-dimension model is the most influential. Large vs. small power distance. This dimension examines how societies handle inequality in power and wealth, that is to say, to what extent the less powerful members of organizations and institutions within a society accept this inequality as normal and desirable. According to Hofstede s theory, some societies belittle inequalities, while others maintain existing inequalities. Inequality exists in all societies, yet the degrees differ from one society to another. Individualism vs. collectivism. This dimension is a bi-polar scale, it describes the relationships an individual has with other individuals in society. It is related to wealth and geographic locations. Rich countries far away from the equator tend to be individualist. In individualist cultures, people s self-interests are dominant. Individuals tend to look after themselves and their immediate families. They emphasize freedom and ties among them are loose. People in a collective society, however, usually have close ties. They belong to in-groups (extended families, villages, tribes, cults, etc.) and are supposed to look after the interests of the group, while the group provides protections for individuals in exchange for loyalty. Countries belong to collectivism are usually poor, yet the vast majority of people in the world live in collective societies. Masculinity vs. femininity. This dimension examines the role of sexes in a society. It concentrates on sociological aspects rather than biological ones. On the masculine end, the dominant values are competition, success, money, and performance, with the male taking more assertive, rational, competitive, and dominant role. In a feminine society, the most important aspect is relationships. People concern for the quality of life. They provide support for the underdog and the weak. Men and women are allowed to take the same social roles. Strong vs. weak uncertainty avoidance. This dimension examines the extent to which people feel threatened by ambiguity unstructured or unpredictable situations. To deal with them, some societies create security and institutions that try to prevent or avoid these situations. For example, in Latin and Central European countries, they try to avoid the uncertain future by technology, by laws, and by beliefs. Other societies like the Nordic, Anglophone, North American, and Most Asian countries, accept the uncertainties, taking each day as it comes. Hall s Context Theory and Time Theory Hall is famous for his Context Theory and Time Theory. He believes that some cultures require high context, while others need low context. High-Context cultures. In a high-context culture, the listener understands the message without having it spelt out directly. People tend to rely on an elaborate system of symbols, body language, intonations of speech, and hidden meanings. They tend to have wide information systems, extensive family, and friendship networks. As a result, They do not need, nor do they expect in their daily life, much in-depth background information (E. T. Hall & M. R. Hall, 1990, p. 6). Most of the information is already in the person. Hence, their style of communication is classified as indirect or implicit. The written word is less important than the spoken word. Non-verbal signs are important. Written agreement is not necessarily binding, but oral agreement is. Low-Context cultures. In a low-context culture, people value clarity and dislike ambiguity. The message itself carries meaning, so information and details must be spelt out as context is less important. People from

3 COMPARISON OF THE STUDIES ON INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION 1209 low-context cultures tend to compartmentalize their personal relationships, their work, and many other aspects of their daily life. As a result, they need detailed background information any time they are asked for a decision. Communication is more formal and explicit. The challenge for intercultural communication is, therefore, to find the appropriate level of context needed for each situation. Besides the context theory, Hall s findings about time is also very popular. According to Hall s theory, people from different cultures view time differently. Sequential or monochronic. In monochromic cultures, time is experienced and used in a linear way. It is divided into segments and is used as a classification system for ordering life. Time is tangible and equal to money, and is seen as a scarce resource which must be rationed and controlled through schedules and appointments. People from a sequential culture dislike being idle. They usually work in private offices and do not like being interrupted. Spare time or waiting is often seen as time to be killed. Synchronic or polychronic. People in synchronic cultures (most Asians except Japanese and Chinese) view time as the simultaneous occurrence of many things. They put more emphasis on human relationships than schedules or deadlines. Punctuality is less important. It is the maintenance of harmonious relations that is considered as the most important. Time is a commodity that can be manipulated, stretched, or even dispensed with altogether. Thus, the use of time should be flexible. Trompenaars Five-Dimension Theory Trompenaars looks at culture as an expression of people from any one culture coming to terms with three eternal problems: people s relationships to time, nature, and other people. He thinks that the problems are the same to all cultures, but the solutions differ from culture to culture. In the book Riding the Waves of Culture (1997), the authors identified Trompenaars Five-Dimensional Theory. Universalism vs. particularism. Universalism defines people s relationship to society in terms of rules and regulations. Ideas and practices can be applied anywhere without modification or supervision. In a universalist culture, people may not cross the street when the light is red even if there are no cars. In contrast, people in a particularist culture tend to break rules if they consider the rules are getting in the way of other relationships, for particularism defines people s relationships to society in terms of family and friends, which means circumstances dictate how ideas and practices should be applied. Affective vs. neutral. Reason and emotion both play a role in people s relationships with one another. The extent to which either reason or emotion dominates will determine whether we are from a neutral or affective culture. People from neutral cultures where reason dominates are unlikely to expose feelings. They tend to control their emotions to themselves. On the contrary, people from affective cultures, where emotion dominates, are more likely to show their feelings. Diffuse vs. specific. This dimension mainly deals with personal space. In a specific culture, individuals have a large public space they readily let others to enter and share as well as a smaller private space they guard closely and share with only close friends and associates. There is a strong separation of work and private life. In a diffuse culture, work and private life are closely linked. Both public and private spaces are similar in size and individuals carefully guard their public space, because entry into public space means entry into private space, too.

4 1210 COMPARISON OF THE STUDIES ON INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION Achievement vs. ascription. This dimension deals with how different levels of status are accorded to different individuals. In an ascriptive culture, status is attributed to individuals according to factors like age, class, gender, or education. On the other hand, achievement oriented cultures attribute status according to individual s accomplishment. Individualism vs. communitarianism. This dimension is the same with Hofstede s Individualism-Collectivism. As for his time theory, it is similar to that of Hall, so there is no need to go further into detail about them. Comparison and Contrast Hofstede, Hall, and Trompenaars are three great leaders in the study of intercultural communication. Their everlasting great works have contributed significantly to mankind. Their theories have both similarities and differences. Differences Hofstede is an influential Dutch social psychologist and anthropologist. He is a pioneer and founder in the research of cross-culture communication. He has played an important role in developing a systematic framework for assessing and differentiating national and organizational cultures. His most well-known works have been in the development of the cultural dimensions theory, such as Culture s Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions, and Organizations Across Nations (2001) and Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind (co-authored with Hofstede, G. J., 2005). His studies show that there are national and regional cultural groups that have influence on the behavior of societies, and that they are persistent over time. Hofstede has been doing his research in a comparatively most comprehensive way, with a survey of over 70 countries and regions. He started his research since 1960s and has never stopped doing it till today. He has been revising, adding, and improving his studies constantly. His findings, especially the Four-Dimension Model Theory, are most fundamental, valuable, and universal. Based on his theory, we can classify China as a collectivist and masculine society with large power distance and strong uncertainty avoidance, though his survey does not cover China at the beginning. Researchers are interested in International Communications, like E. T. Hall and Trompenaars, further develop and broaden Hofstede s Four-Dimension Theory of this field. Hall is an American anthropologist and cross-culture researcher. He is remembered for developing the concept of high context culture and low context culture, as well as his time theory, and is considered as a founding father of intercultural communication. Hall examines how people behave and react in different types of culturally-defined personal space. He stresses the importance of context in communication and has written several popular practical books on dealing with cross-cultural issues, such as The Silent Language (1959), The Hidden Dimension (1966), and Understanding Cultural Differences (co-authored with M. R. Hall, 1990). He says context is the name given to the quantity of information surrounding any event. The elements that combine to produce a given meaning events and context are in different proportions depending on the culture (E. T. Hall & M. R. Hall, 1990, p. 6). Therefore, when people from different cultures communicate together, special attention should be given to the context, for Too much information leads people to feel they are being talked down to; too little information can mystify them or make them feel left out (E. T. Hall & M. R. Hall, 1990, p. 9).

5 COMPARISON OF THE STUDIES ON INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION 1211 In addition, Hall has introduced and corned a number of new concepts, including proxemics, polychronic and monochronic time, as well as high and low context culture, which enrich the field of cross-culture communication theory. His time theory is another very important contribution to the field of cross-cultural communication. He thinks that different cultural attitudes to time can cause frustration, irritation, embarrassment, and even hostility in international communication. For instance, different cultures have different views about how long it is appropriate to fix an appointment in advance or when to arrive and when to leave. If handled improperly, it can lead to unhappy ending. Fons Trompenaars is a Dutch author and consultant in the field of international communication. He is regarded as the most influential management thinker, because he has made substantial strides in the contribution to the understanding of globalization. He has written many famous books, including Riding the Waves of Culture (co-authored with Hampden-Turner, 1997), Seven Cultures of Capitalism: Value Systems for Creating Wealth in Britain, the United States, Germany, France, Japan, Sweden and the Netherlands (co-authored with Charles Hampden-Turner, 1995), and Building Cross-Cultural Competence: How to Create Wealth from Conflicting Values (co-authored with Charles Hampden-Turner & David Lewis, 2000). He uses simple language and provides a lot of specific, practical, and interesting examples to help readers to understand abstract and profound concepts. Similarities Although they study international communication from different angles and have different findings, there are still some similarities. First, their studies have both continuity and further improvement. Take Individualism vs. Collectivism as an example, all three of them put forward this dimension, and the basic concept is almost the same. Yet they have done their research in different times, different areas, and from different perspectives. In addition, Hall and Trompenaars time theories, including Hofstede s later finding of Long-term Orientation, are also very similar. Another similarity is Trompenaars Universalism-Particularism to Hofstede s Uncertainty Avoidance dimension. They use different terms to describe similar concept. What is more, Trompenaars Diffuse-Specific dimension is very similar to Hall s context theory. The most important thing is that they all have carried on their studies continuously and tried their best to improve their theories. Secondly, their studies have uniqueness. Hofstede s study is the most comprehensive and fundamental. There is detailed information for each dimension with findings from various different fields, such as from organizations, families, schools, religions, and states. He continuously improves his theories so that they can be tested by time. Hall s main contribution to this field is his findings of context and time theory. They enrich the knowledge of intercultural communication. Trompenaars study has further improved and widened Hofstede and Hall s theories, especially his five-dimension findings. Besides, Trompenaars has provided numerous interesting anecdotes or examples in his books to the point which make his theories much easier to be understood. However, his most distinctive contribution is that Trompenaars offers many practical tips for people doing business in cross-cultural situations. Limitations in Their Findings Great as they are, they have focused their studies mainly on businesses and organizations. Since they were Western biased, limitations are sure to occur. Take Hofstede as an example, in Yesterday, Now, or Later

6 1212 COMPARISON OF THE STUDIES ON INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION (Hofstede, 2005, chapter 6), he added a new dimension: long-term vs. short-term orientation. Long-term orientation stands for the fostering of virtues oriented toward future rewards in particular, perseverance and thrift. Short-term orientation stands for the fostering of virtues related to the past and present in particular, respect for tradition, preservation of face, and fulfilling social obligations. (Hofstede, 2005, p. 210) This dimension is mainly based on the study of China and Confucianism and most of the findings are valuable. However, the classification of key differences between long-term and short-term orientation is not very precise. For instance, he classifies China into the long-term oriented country group, in fact, China has not only the characteristics listed under the long-term orientation column, but also most of the features listed under the short-term orientation as well, like, respect for traditions, concern with personal stability, especially concern with face (Hofstede, 2005, p. 212). It is well-known that the concept of face is one of the most important and typical Chinese value. In addition, it is not correct to classify China into the weak uncertainty avoidance country group, either. Based on his theory, China should be classified as a strong uncertainty avoidance society. Hall s research is also limited in business background and only in three countries: Germans, French, and Americans, his findings cannot be tested without problems by time. For example, in his cultural theory on time, he classified China into the sequential and polychronic oriented cultures. As a matter of fact, this is not the case. Chinese people s view on time is not linear, but synchronic. It is well-known that people in China value relationships over appointments or punctuality. They do not perform one activity at a time, but many. The majority of Chinese people are not punctual and usually do not have or follow plans. They seldom make appointments beforehand when visiting friends or relatives. Even if there are appointments, they are usually approximate and people tend to arrive at a time preferable to themselves not for the consideration of the hosts or hostesses. Nevertheless, Chinese people have a very good reputation for respecting other cultures. People living or working in Beijing, Shanghai, or some other metropolitan cities in China, especially those who work in joint-ventures or foreign companies, know and observe other cultures views on time, especially American people s view on time. They show their respect to other cultures and try to emulate them. Yet they are merely a minority, they cannot represent the whole population of China, for most Chinese people live in small towns and villages. Their way of living is quite different from people living in big cities. Once an American friend of the author said to her, People outside America tend to stereotype Americans according to people who live and work in New York, yet this is not the case. Most Americans don t live that way. This idea can be applied to China too. So the Chinese view on time should be classified as polychronic. Hall s high and low context theory cannot be tested by time, either. Take China again as an example. The one-child policy has changed China from extended families into nuclear ones. Children in both cities and countryside prefer to live separately from parents. The fast pace of modernization leads China to a series of reforms. For instance, housing reform makes people from different organizations or institutions live together. Several decades ago, people from one organization lived together. They knew each other very well. However, now people living opposite doors usually do not know each other. People tend to have less and less shared information about families, friends, and colleagues. As a matter of fact, China has been changing from a high-context society into a low-context one.

7 COMPARISON OF THE STUDIES ON INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION 1213 Trompenaars study to a great extent is replications of Hofstede and Hall. In his diffuse-specific dimension, he lists two examples to prove his theory: One is about a Chinese doctor who knifed his critic to death; the other is about a British manager who is poisoned by an African employee being dismissed. These are two special cases that can happen in any culture, thus, it is not appropriate to conclude that they are diffuse-bound or specific-bound. Conclusions Hofstede, Hall, and Trompenaars are three most influential scholars on intercultural communication studies. Their researches and findings are valuable and indispensable. They give insight into other cultures so that we can be more effective and efficient when interacting with people from other cultures. Their persistence in discovering the truth is inspiring and worth learning. Nevertheless, they overlook the differences existing in a country, especially China, and generalize their findings from a point to an area, which may misguide people who do not have culture awareness. On the other hand, many societies have developed very fast, people s beliefs, values as well as their way of living have been changing greatly day by day. Hence, we should have a critical perspective while studying and applying their theories. More research work should be carried out to further expand and improve their theories of intercultural communication to meet the demanding need of international communication. References Beamer, L., & Varner, I., (2003). Intercultural communication in the global workplace (2nd ed.). Beijing: Tsinghua University Press. Dodd, C. H. (1997). Dynamics of intercultural communication. New York: McGraw-Hill. Hall, E. T., & Hall, M. R. (1990). Understanding cultural differences. Yarmouth Maine, USA: Intercultural Press. Hofstede, G. (2001). Culture s consequences: Comparing values, behaviors, institutions, and organizations across nations (2nd ed.) Thousand Oaks, C.A.: Sage Publications. Hofstede, G., & Hofstede, G. J. (2005). Cultures and organizations: Software of the mind (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill. LI, D. X., & YU, M. S. (2007). Essentials of Chinese culture. Shanghai: SDX Joint Publishing Company. LU, S. M. (2008). Communication studies. Beijing: China Renmin University Press. Trompanarrs, F., & Hampden-Turner, C. (1997). Riding the waves of culture. London, UK: Nicholas Brealey Publications. XU, Z. Y. (2006). Chinese culture and world culture. Guilin: Guangxi Normal University Press.