UNIT 1
              APPROACHES TO INTERCULTURAL 
                      COMMUNICATION
       • Globalisation and rapid changes in technology has led to the creation of a “Global 
        Village”
       • People often fail to negotiate the most favourable agreements possible or to resolve 
        serious conflicts due to cultural misunderstandings.
       1. THE ROLE OF CULTURE IN COMMUNICATION
       • The role of culture in communication is usually misunderstood or sometimes 
        underappreciated.
       • The best way for us to deal with differences in culture is by clear and understandable 
        communication. 
       • We need to write and talk to other people taking into account the fact that they have 
        their own cultures that need to be respected.
       • International negotiators need to do research on the cultural background of people that 
        they want to negotiate with.
      THE ROLE OF CULTURE IN COMMUNICATION
      • The point of contact in communication between two people is the 
       intercultural moment.
      • It is during this moment that communication can either become successful 
       or unsuccessful.
      • The lack of understanding of what is going on at this point can lead to a 
       breakdown in communication.
      • Intercultural competence is needed to understand and navigate potentially 
       difficult intercultural moments in order to complete our tasks or gather the 
       information we need.
      • Thus, it is important to gain intercultural awareness and sensitivity of the 
       cultural dimensions of communication which influence the shape of 
       communication in the workplace.
       THE ROLE OF CULTURE IN COMMUNICATION
      1.1 Intercultural Communication in a global world
      • Advances in technology allows people to move quickly and easily across 
       vast distances, both physically and virtually
      • People all over the world interact daily with others through the medium of 
       modern telecommunications, Internet, teleconferencing, etc.
      • This facilitated international commerce and tourism, but is has also made 
       trans-boarder interpersonal relations increasingly frequent. 
      • As a result of media and transportation advances, we now have a wide 
       variety of products and services from abroad.
       THE ROLE OF CULTURE IN COMMUNICATION
      1.2 Cross Cultural Negotiation
      • Cross Cultural Negotiation is being defined Chaney and Martin (2011)
        “Discussions of common and conflicting interests between persons of 
      different cultural  backgrounds who to reach an agreement of mutual benefit” 
      • Different values, attitudes, interests, behaviours, and languages may 
       produce different negotiation styles, which if not managed well, can lead to 
       misunderstanding and disagreement and can even break up business 
       relationships.
      • Negotiation parties in cross-cultural negotiations need to have a deep 
       understanding of the cultural realities of their negotiation partners.
             THE ROLE OF CULTURE IN COMMUNICATION
            2. Cultural Identity
            Varner & Beamer (1995, p.2) define culture as:
                “the coherent, learned, shared view a group of people has about life’s concerns 
            that ranks     what is important, instills attitudes about what things are appropriate, 
            and prescribes behavior,     given that some things have more significance than 
            others”
            • Culture is created and learned, imparted to us through our upbringing and 
              exposure to the practices and rules of conduct of which we are part.
            • Culture is shared by a society and members of a society agree about the 
              meanings of the way we behave and speak. 
            • Although culture is shared by people in a society or group, each individual is still 
              unique in terms of his/her values and practices because of his/her life experiences 
              that are also unique.