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Module 5: Cultural Awareness |
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assist GmbH, Simona Fabellini |
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Enhancing your consciousness about your own cultural values, norms, attitudes and forms of behaviour helps developing an awareness also for the differences between cultures. Starting from the question about what Culture is, you will discover the link between Culture and Open Innovation and then explore how certain elements of culture, called culture dimensions, can typically show when people are working together adapting Open Innovation processes. As people behave according to their own set of values, it is important to understand why the “ethnocentric” perspective may lead to intercultural misunderstandings leading to a negative influence on Open Innovation. Last but not least, you will receive some tips about strategies how to open up to cultural awareness so that in the end you will be better prepared for intercultural encounters by having grown in your intercultural competences. |
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Upon completing this module, you should be able to: |
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Communication Style
Just think for a moment about different feedback styles – how direct do you tell others when something does not meet your expectations?
Choose which of the following sentence you feel is less offensive:
a) I don’t like the layout of the flyer
b) I would prefer a different layout for the flyer
Answer b is more indirect than a.
Intercultural misunderstandings may also arise – independently of language competencies – because counterparts may have different communication styles. How openly you tell your counterpart that you don’t agree with them is a matter of culture. Some cultures allow their members to verbalise very openly their disagreement. Members of these cultures feel comfortable and even appreciate receiving helpful feedback when they have made a mistake. Why is this so?
Cultures differ in the degree their members address specific topics in a more or less direct way. So-called “Low context cultures” prefer a direct communication style. Members of these cultures rely on the literal meaning of a word. “High context cultures” prefer an indirect communication style. In these cultures, it is important to read between the lines and to observe non-verbal behaviour in order to grasp the entire meaning of the message.
Here are some characteristics of these communication styles:
| High context cultures (by Edward T. Hall) | Low context cultures (by Edward T. Hall) |
| Covert, implicit messages – many contextual elements help people understand | Overt, explicit messages – little information has to be taken from the context |
| Much non-verbal communication | Less importance on non-verbal communication, more focus on verbal communication |
| Relationships more important than tasks | The task is more important than relationships |
Here is a scale showing the relation of cultures between the poles of “high context” and “low context”, a concept developed by Edward T. Hall. The raking is not absolute, as depending on certain topic fields the same culture may have a more or less direct approach to it.
