Communicating in a World of Diversity
CHAPTER 3: COMMUNICATING in a world of diversity
TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE
1. Market globalization now allows companies to sell and produce goods all over the world. Globalization has increased business’s exposure to cultural diversity, which means that more businesspeople interact with co-workers, customers, suppliers, and others from a variety of ethnic and cultural backgrounds. As a result of these two trends, communicators must be more aware of cultural differences when communicating with contacts inside and outside the organization.
2. The potential advantages of a diverse workforce include a broader range of viewpoints and ideas, improved ability to understand and identify with diverse markets, and the opportunity to tap into the broadest possible pool of talent.
3. In high-context cultures, people convey meaning by relying more heavily on nonverbal signals and the environment rather than on words. In such cultures, the communicator expects the audience to be able to decode the meaning of the message without explicit explanation. In contrast, people in low-context cultures convey meaning by relying more on verbal communication and explicit statements about the rules.
4. Contextual differences make up only one of the categories of cultural differences; other categories include ethical differences, social differences, and nonverbal differences.
5. Ethnocentrism is the belief that one person’s cultural background is superior to other cultural backgrounds. To overcome such ethnocentrism, communicators should avoid stereotyping, acknowledge that people differ, avoid making assumptions about how others think or act, and avoid making judgments about these differences.
6. Ethical intercultural communication depends on four basic principles: (1) actively seeking common ground; (2) avoiding judgment when sending and receiving messages; (3) communicating honestly; and (4) demonstrating respect for cultural differences.
7. You should
TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE
1. Market globalization now allows companies to sell and produce goods all over the world. Globalization has increased business’s exposure to cultural diversity, which means that more businesspeople interact with co-workers, customers, suppliers, and others from a variety of ethnic and cultural backgrounds. As a result of these two trends, communicators must be more aware of cultural differences when communicating with contacts inside and outside the organization.
2. The potential advantages of a diverse workforce include a broader range of viewpoints and ideas, improved ability to understand and identify with diverse markets, and the opportunity to tap into the broadest possible pool of talent.
3. In high-context cultures, people convey meaning by relying more heavily on nonverbal signals and the environment rather than on words. In such cultures, the communicator expects the audience to be able to decode the meaning of the message without explicit explanation. In contrast, people in low-context cultures convey meaning by relying more on verbal communication and explicit statements about the rules.
4. Contextual differences make up only one of the categories of cultural differences; other categories include ethical differences, social differences, and nonverbal differences.
5. Ethnocentrism is the belief that one person’s cultural background is superior to other cultural backgrounds. To overcome such ethnocentrism, communicators should avoid stereotyping, acknowledge that people differ, avoid making assumptions about how others think or act, and avoid making judgments about these differences.
6. Ethical intercultural communication depends on four basic principles: (1) actively seeking common ground; (2) avoiding judgment when sending and receiving messages; (3) communicating honestly; and (4) demonstrating respect for cultural differences.
7. You should