PURPOSIVE COMMUNICATION

MODULE TWO
Communication and Globalization

Rationale:

Globalization is a common term that most do not understand fully well. Its impact has been
described in various industries. But how does it affect communication?

In this lesson, we will be looking at the phenomenon of globalization and its impact on the
way we communicate with others. We will also look at how different cultures may pose some
challenges in sending our messages across. Ultimately, by the end of the lesson, these
challenges will be addressed, leading to a more effective communication process in
multicultural settings.

Learning Objectives:

By the end of this lesson, students should be able to:

a. Explain how culture and globalization affect communication.
b. Familiarize the cultural iceberg model.
c. Familiarize culturally-appropriate terms, expressions, and images.
d. Adopt cultural and intercultural awareness and sensitivity in the communication of
ideas.
e. Demonstrate appreciation of the impact of communication on society and the world.

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Globalization

One example of a globalized company is Jollibee. Its rise in the global market is not
just a success story. It is also the story as to how globalization has connected everyone and
created one global community. And because globalization is such a common phenomenon at
present, there is a need to understand exactly what it is and how it impacts communication
and the societies.

What is Globalization?

The Peterson Institute for International Economics defines globalization as the word
used to describe the growing interdependence of the world’s economies, cultures, and
populations, brought about by cross-border trade in goods and services, technology, and
flows of investment, people, and information. Simply put, it describes how countries and
people in the world interact and integrate.

Principally, globalization is an economic concept, but it also has a cultural element as

ideas and traditions are traded and assimilated (Gray, World Economic Forum 2017).

How did it start?

While others might think of globalization as a new term, it has actually been around
since the ancient times. History would show us that early humans used to travel either to
settle in one place or to trade goods with one another. They were able to reach different
destinations with various technological advances during that time, specifically in the field of
transportation. It was in the 19th century when global integration took off as Europeans
started navigating the world and colonizing territories.

Today, thanks to great leaps in technology, globalization has speeded up enormously

over the last half-century (Gray, 2017). From the internet that revolutionized connectivity to
developments in transportation, it is now easier and faster than ever to connect to people
around the world.

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How does it affect communication?
In order to understand how globalization affects global communication, here is an
article by Anam Ahmed (2018) entitled, The Effects of Globalization on Global
Communication:

Global communication is directly affected by the process of globalization, and helps to

increase business opportunities, remove cultural barriers and develop a global village. Both
globalization and global communication have changed the environmental, cultural, political
and economic elements of the world.
Increased Business Opportunities
Many companies today hire employees that are located in other countries. Using
communication vehicles such as video calling make it simple to converse with colleagues across
the globe, almost making it feel as if they are in the same room. Technology also makes it easier
to connect with suppliers and customers all over the world, and to streamline those
relationship. With this kind of communication technology, many businesses are able to take
advantage of opportunities in different countries or cities, improving the economic outlook on
a global level.

Fewer Cultural Barriers

When people from two different cultures try to exchange information, the way they
speak, their body language or their mannerisms can be interpreted differently by the other
person. Globalization has made it possible, for example, for someone in Japan to understand
how someone in the U.S. goes about their day. With television and movies, cultural barriers
are becoming less prevalent. Being able to communicate effectively and frequently with
colleagues or friends across the planet helps people understand each other’s cultures a little
better.
Creation of a Global Village
Affected both by globalization and global communication, the global village is
created when distance and isolation no longer matter because people are connected by
technology. Wide-spread telephone and internet access have been life-changing for many
people across the world, especially those in developing countries.

Globalization and global communication have made it easier to see people on the
other side of the world as a neighbor, instead of a stranger from a faraway land. There is so
much knowledge about other countries and cultures available online, that it’s no longer a
complete mystery.

In the end, as stated by the International Monetary Fund, if done wisely, globalization
could lead to unparalleled peace and prosperity; done poorly, to disaster.

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Communication in Multicultural Settings

With the creation of a “global village”, it is undeniable that connecting to people has
been very fast and easy today. Then again, this also brings us challenges as communicating
with people from other cultures may result to misunderstanding and confusion.

Take the following scenarios:

a. In Nicaragua, it is common to point with the lips instead of the thumb or the index
finger like the majority of the world.
b. Spitting in Greek cultures is a kind of good luck charm that is supposed to help ward
off evil.
c. In Japan, making slurping sounds while eating is an indication that you are enjoying
your food—which is considered rude in Western countries.
d. For the Yoruba tribe in Nigeria, the youths drop to their knees when greeting adults;
more specifically, women kneel while the men lie prostrate.
e. In some countries such as much of the Middle East, Sri Lanka, India, and other parts
of Africa, using the left hand for eating or other activities is considered quite rude
and insulting.
- 11 Surprising Customs Around the World, Lily Cichanowicz, April
2018

Culture

According to sociologists, culture consists of the values, beliefs, systems of language

and communication, and practices that people share in common and that can be used to
define them as a collective (Cole, 2018). To put it simply, culture is our way of life.

Characteristics of Culture

a. Culture is learned. It is not biological; we do not inherit it. Much of learning culture
is unconscious. We learn culture from families, peers, institutions, and media. The
process of learning culture is known as enculturation. While all humans have basic
biological needs such as food, sleep, and sex, the way we fulfill those needs varies
cross-culturally.

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b. Culture is shared. Because we share culture with other members of our group, we
are able to act in socially-appropriate ways as well as predict how others will act.
Despite the shared nature of culture, that doesn’t mean that culture is homogenous
(the same).

c. Culture is based on symbols. A symbol is something that stands for something else.
Symbols vary cross-culturally and are arbitrary. They only have meaning when
people in a culture agree on their use. Language, money, and art are all symbols.
Language is the most important symbolic component of culture.

d. Culture is integrated. This is known as holism or the various parts of a culture being
interconnected. All aspects of a culture are related to one another. To truly
understand a culture, one must learn about all of its parts, not only a few.

e. Culture is dynamic. This simply means that cultures interact and change. Most
cultures are in contact with other cultures since they exchange ideas and symbols
with each other. All cultures change, otherwise, they would have problems adapting
to changing environments. As cultures are integrated, if one component in the system
changes, it is likely that the entire system must adjust.

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Cultural Iceberg Model

Edward Hall, considered as the Father of Intercultural Communication, developed the

iceberg analogy of culture. If the culture of society was the iceberg, then there are some
aspects visible (above the water), but there is also a larger portion hidden beneath the
surface. Hall also proposed that this easily visible part of culture only comprises 10% of its
totality and the 90% is hidden.

When we interact with another culture, we usually encounter first the 10% which is
to say, “the tip of the iceberg”. This is why we people make assumptions and wrong
observations about another cultural community without really understanding the internal
or deep culture that makes up the majority of that culture’s value and belief system.

Figure 6: Cultural Iceberg

Model
(Source: Language and
Culture Worldwide, 2015)

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Multicultural Communication

Multicultural communication involves interacting with people from different cultural

backgrounds and mediating these differences through language, non-verbal gestures, and
space relationships.

We already know that the world is complex, and having to communicate with people
across cultures doesn’t make it easier. As we gear towards working together, sometimes, our
cultural values conflict making this goal challenging, if not at all difficult.

Challenges in Multicultural Communication

Ethnocentrism is the belief that your own group or culture is superior to other
groups and cultures. This kind of thinking takes away the opportunity for us to understand
others because in our minds, only our cultures matter. This type of superiority makes others
feel that they are not valued or invalidated, making them shutdown resulting to a failure to
communicate.

Prejudice is a negative attitude toward a group of people just because of who they
are. It is described as an unreasoned looking down on others without prior understanding of
their culture. The best example that could be attributed to this is the racial segregation in the
USA in the early times.

Stereotyping means generalizing about some groups of people, thus oversimplifying

their culture. It is an oversimplified belief about a culture or specific group of people.
Examples of stereotypes include thinking that all Chinese people are good in Math.

To understand this better, below is a list of six fundamental patterns of cultural

differences compiled by Du Praw and Axner (1997). These differences show ways in which
cultures, as a whole, tend to vary from one another.

a. Different Communication Styles

The way people communicate varies widely between, and even within, cultures. One
aspect of communication style is language use. Across cultures, some words and
phrases are used in different ways.

b. Different Attitudes Towards Conflict

Some cultures view conflict as a positive thing while others view it as something to
be avoided. For example, in the U.S., conflict is not usually desirable, but people are
often encouraged to deal directly with conflict should it arise. On the other hand, in

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 many Eastern countries, open conflict is considered as embarrassing or demeaning;
as a rule, differences are best worked out quietly, preferably in writing.

c. Different Approaches to Completing Tasks

From culture to culture, there are different ways that people move toward completing
tasks. Some reasons include different access to resources, different judgments of the
rewards associated with task completion, different notions of time, and varied ideas
about how relationship-building and task-oriented work should go together.

d. Different Decision-Making Styles

The roles individuals play in decision-making vary widely from culture to culture. For
example, Americans usually delegate but for people in Southern European and Latin
American countries, there is a strong value placed on holding decision-making
responsibilities on oneself. Be aware that individuals’ expectations about their own
roles in shaping a decision may be influenced by their cultural frame of reference.

e. Different Attitudes Toward Disclosure

In some cultures, it is not appropriate to be frank about emotions, about the reasons
behind a conflict or a misunderstanding, or about personal information. Keep this in
mind when working with others.

f. Different Approaches to Knowing

Notable differences occur among cultural groups when it comes to the ways people
come to know things. European cultures tend to consider information acquired
through cognitive means (counting, measuring) more valid than other ways of coming
to know things.

The diversity of cultures affects communication. These differences may lead to

difficulties between and among people coming from different cultural backgrounds. The text
that follow presents another way of looking at our cultural differences and how to
understand them.

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Communicating Across Cultures
Carol Kinsey Goman, 2011

Communicating across cultures is challenging. Each culture has set rules that its members
take for granted. Few of us are aware of our own cultural biases because cultural imprinting
is begun at a very early age. And while some of a culture's knowledge, rules, beliefs, values,
phobias, and anxieties are taught explicitly, most of the information is absorbed
subconsciously.

We are all individuals, and no two people belonging to the same culture are guaranteed to
respond in exactly the same way. However, generalizations are valid to the extent that they
provide clues on what you will most likely encounter when dealing with members of a
particular culture.

High-Context vs. Low-Context

All international communication is influenced by cultural differences. Even the choice of
communication medium can have cultural overtones. The determining factor may not be the
degree of industrialization, but rather whether the country falls into a high-context or low-
context culture.

High-context cultures (Mediterranean, Slav, Central European, Latin American, African,

Arab, Asian, American-Indian) leave much of the message unspecified, to be understood
through context, nonverbal cues, and between-the-lines interpretation of what is actually
said. By contrast, low-context cultures (most Germanic and English-speaking countries)
expect messages to be explicit and specific.

Sequential vs. Synchronic

Some cultures think of time sequentially, as a linear commodity to "spend," "save," or
"waste." Other cultures view time synchronically, as a constant flow to be experienced in
the moment, and as a force that cannot be contained or controlled.
In sequential cultures (like North American, English, German, Swedish, and Dutch),
businesspeople give full attention to one agenda item after another.

In synchronic cultures (including South America, southern Europe and Asia) the flow of
time is viewed as a sort of circle, with the past, present, and future all interrelated. This
viewpoint influences how organizations in those cultures approach deadlines, strategic
thinking, investments, developing talent from within, and the concept of "long-term"
planning.

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Orientation to the past, present, and future is another aspect of time in which cultures
differ. Americans believe that the individual can influence the future by personal effort, but
since there are too many variables in the distant future, we favor a short-term view.
Synchronistic cultures’ context is to understand the present and prepare for the future.
Any important relationship is a durable bond that goes back and forward in time, and it is
often viewed as grossly disloyal not to favor friends and relatives in business dealings.

Affective vs. Neutral

In international business practices, reason and emotion both play a role. Which of these
dominates depends upon whether we are affective (readily showing emotions) or
emotionally neutral in our approach. Members of neutral cultures do not telegraph their
feelings, but keep them carefully controlled and subdued. In cultures with high affect,
people show their feelings plainly by laughing, smiling, grimacing, scowling, and
sometimes crying, shouting, or walking out of the room.

This doesn't mean that people in neutral cultures are cold or unfeeling, but in the course of
normal business activities, neutral cultures are more careful to monitor the amount of
emotion they display. Emotional reactions were found to be least acceptable in Japan,
Indonesia, the U.K., Norway, and the Netherlands and most accepted in Italy, France, the
U.S., and Singapore.

Reason and emotion are part of all human communication. When expressing ourselves, we
look to others for confirmation of our ideas and feelings. If our approach is highly
emotional, we are seeking a direct emotional response: "I feel the same way." If our
approach is highly neutral, we want an indirect response: "I agree with your thoughts on
this."

It's easy for people from neutral cultures to sympathize with the Dutch manager and his
frustration over trying to reason with "that excitable Italian." After all, an idea either works
or it doesn't work, and the way to test the validity of an idea is through trial and
observation. That just makes sense—doesn't it? Well, not necessarily to the Italian who felt
the issue was deeply personal and who viewed any "rational argument" as totally
irrelevant!

When it comes to communication, what's proper and correct in one culture may be
ineffective or even offensive in another. In reality, no culture is right or wrong, better or
worse—just different. In today's global business community, there is no single best
approach to communicating with one another. The key to cross-cultural success is to
develop an understanding of, and a deep respect for, the differences.

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Enhancing Communication Skills in Multicultural Settings

In order to address problems in multicultural communication, we need to realize and

to understand that cultural diversity exists. We must learn that the key to effective
multicultural communication is knowing how to deal with people whose cultural
backgrounds are different from ours. Here some ways on how to enhance our
communication skills in multicultural settings:

a. Avoid Stereotyping
We need to widen our understanding of people and do away with the stereotypes that
we box them in. The best use of this generalization is to add it to our warehouse of
knowledge to better understand and appreciate other interesting, multifaceted
human beings.

b. Practice
We can never perfect communication in the first try. Because it is a process, we need
to keep trying until we master the skills we need. The same is true for dealing with
people from other cultures. Only by continuing to learn about others and constantly
interacting with them can we learn how to transact with people from different
backgrounds properly.

c. There is Not One Right Way to Communicate

We should acknowledge differences in communication styles as every person in a
group has a specific style of communicating with others. This identity is unique, that
is why we should keep questioning our assumptions about the right way to
communicate. One concrete example would be the various ways different cultures
communicate using non-verbal cues.

d. Listen Actively and Empathetically

This is trying to put ourselves in the other people’s shoes especially when their
perceptions or ideas are very different from our own.

e. Always Respect Others

Respect others’ choices about whether to engage in communication with you.
Furthermore, respect their opinions, practices, and traditions. Just because it is not
the same with what we know doesn’t make a thing wrong. We need to look at the
bigger picture and respect our differences.

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 f. Clarify
Just as everyone is unique, we need to learn how to ask for clarifications if we are
doubtful about dealing with others. That extra effort in clarifying for understanding
will surely save us a lot of time and help us avoid misunderstanding or frustration.

g. People are Multidimensional

Remember that cultural norms may not apply to the behavior of any particular
individual. We are all shaped by many factors—our ethnic background, our family,
our education, our personalities—and more complicated than any cultural norm
could suggest.

Comprehension Check
Choose at least five (5) terms from the lesson. Then, write your own definition based on
your understanding.

TERMS DEFINITIONS

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Learning Enrichment Tasks

a. Cite one company that has also grown worldwide. Be sure to map out the company’s
growth and specific changes it has implemented to cater to each country’s culture.

Company/ Brand

Brief History

Status/ Standing at
Present

Specific Changes/
Innovations Made for
Specific Countries

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b. Create a cartoon showing your understanding of globalization. Include both its
advantages and disadvantages.

c. Do some research about cultural differences in communication from different

countries. Use the format below for your guide.

Nonverbal Cue

Country A Country B Country C Country D

Meaning in Different
Countries

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d. Interview a foreigner who has been living here in the Philippines for quite some
time. Then, create a short video presentation of the interview to be shown in class.
Use the guide questions below:

Name of Interviewee
Nationality
Length of Stay in the
Philippines

First Impression/s about

the Filipino Culture

Differences of Filipino
Culture with Own
Culture

Challenges of
Communicating with
Filipinos

Adjustments/ Solutions
Made/ Done

e. Watch the TED Talks video, “Pop Culture in the Arab World”. Write a short summary
of the talk by highlighting its most important points. Include your personal insights
about the talk, too.

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RESOURCES:

Ahmed, A. (2018). The effects of globalization on global communication. Retrieved from

https://bizfluent.com/info-8232542-effects-globalization-global-
communication.html

Characteristics of culture. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://home.earthlink.net/%7Eyoungturck/Chapter8.htm

Cichanowicz, L. (2016). 11 surprising customs from around the world. Retrieved from
https://theculturetrip.com/north-america/usa/articles/12-surprising-customs-
from-around-the-world/

Cole, N. L. (2018). Defining culture and why it matters to sociologists. Retrieved from
https://www.thoughtco.com/culture-definition-4135409

Ethnocentricity & stereotypes in communications. (2019). Retrieved from

https://study.com/academy/lesson/ethnocentricity-stereotypes-in-
communications.html

Gray, A. (n.d.). What is globalization anyway? Retrieved from

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/01/what-is-globalization-explainer/

Kinsey, C. (2011). Communicating across cultures. Retrieved from

https://www.asme.org/engineering-topics/articles/business-
communication/communicating-across-cultures

Schriefer, P. (2018). What's the difference between multicultural, intercultural, and cross-
cultural communication? Retrieved from https://springinstitute.org/whats-
difference-multicultural-intercultural-cross-cultural-communication/

The cultural iceberg. (2009). Retrieved from

https://www.languageandculture.com/cultural-iceberg

What is globalization? (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://piie.com/microsites/globalization/what-is-globalization.html

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