S C I E N C E. B U S I N E S S. E D U C A T I O N. MILITARY C O O P E R A T I O N.

INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION
 Refers to effective communication between people, workers, and of people with
different cultural backgrounds.
 Communication between people whose cultural perceptions and symbol systems
are distinct enough to alter the communication events.

ELEMENTS OF INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION:

1. Perception:
- Beliefs - World views
- Values - Social organizations
- Attitudes

2. Verbal Processes:
- Ways in which cultures employ symbols to portray things and experiences

3. Nonverbal Processes:
- Shared thoughts and feelings of bodily behavior, time and space

4. Contextual elements:
- Business - Tourism
- Education - Personal relationships
- Health care

“Cultural differences should not separate us from each other, but rather cultural diversity
should bring a collective strength that can help all of humanity”- Robert Alan

 Everybody experiences and engages with cultural differences differently.

 In global business, the ability to function effectively in different cultural contexts is
very important. It is called CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE (CQ).
 Cultural Intelligence is about Knowing yourself, knowing others, and leading together.

CULTURAL IDENTITY:
- Identification with, or sense of belonging to a particular group based on various
cultural categories, including nationality, ethnicity, race, gender, and religion
- It is from these cultural influences that our identities are formed.
- An important contributor to people’s well-being. Identifying with a particular culture
gives people feelings of belonging and security. It also provides people with access to social
networks which provide support and shared values and aspirations.

CULTURAL PERCEPTION:
- How an individual culture affects the way he/she sees the world

 Since culture informs all areas of life (norms, languages, food, etc.), perception is significantly
impacted by culture.
 Cultural experiences shape our perception of the world by making one think differently
towards people originating from other parts of the world. They influence our perception by
making people live one way but in reality, many people live different ways throughout the
world. A person’s culture affects how he/she views people.
 Culture can shape our view of the world. People from different cultures see and perceive
things differently and that is probably due to how their culture shaped the way they view the
world.
  Understanding people’s cultural identity, background or even perceptions could help us
recognize the actuations, feelings and attitudes of the people around us and in doing so, we
can relate with them without much difficulty and struggle, thus smooth relationships can be
observed. When we reach this stage it would mean that we are culturally sensitive.

What and how then we can become culturally sensitive?

Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity (DMIS), Dr. Milton James Bennett:
 Assumes that we are constructing bounderies of “self” and “other” in ways that guide
our experience of intercultural events
 Intercultural communicative competence is the forming of intercultural sensitivity into
behavior that coordinates meaning across cultural contexts with more or less same
ease that one coordinates within one’s own culture

 The DMIS stages are construed both in terms of basic perceptual structure vis a vis
otherness and in terms of certain “issues” regarding cultural difference that tend to be
related to each of the stages.
 The names of the stages refer to the issues, while the description of the experience
of each stage refers to its perceptual structure.

Denial
Defense Ethnocentric (Experiencing one’s own culture as more central to
reality)
Minimization

Acceptance
Adaptation Ethnorelative (Issues associated with experiencing all
Integration cultures as alternative ways of organizing reality)

STAGE 1: DENIAL
 Default condition
 Denial of cultural difference
 The failure to perceive the existence or the relevance of culturally different others
 One’s own culture is experienced as the only real one
 In this stage, people fail to recognize distinctions among cultures or consider them to
be irrelevant. Other cultures are avoided by maintaining psychological and/or
physical isolation from differences
 People in this stage are generally disinterested in cultural difference
 They stereotype, demean, or dehumanize others because of deficiencies in
character, intelligence, physical ability, work ethic, or other innate traits

They avoid other cultures through naïve statements such as:

 “Do they have toilets in Africa?”
 “Those families just don’t value education.”
 “If they really cared about their children, they would show up to more school events.”

 In an organization, denial is the condition wherein there are no structures like policies
and procedures to recognize and deal with cultural diversity

Examples:
1. “I don’t think SPED learners shall continue the stream program because they also have an
environment appropriate for them.”
2.“In international trainings, participants who cannot speak English fluently shall not be
allowed to join.”
Strategies to resolve denial in an organization:
1.Learn about other cultures and explore the cultural differences
2.Develop better skills in category discrimination
3.Be more sophisticated in thinking
4.Become more complex in cognitive processing

When the resolution of denial issues allows it, people can move into the experience of
defense against cultural differences:

STAGE 2: DEFENSE
 They feel threatened by cultural differences, tend to be highly critical of other cultures
 In reversal, they heavily criticize their own culture
 People at this stage tend to be critical of other’s cultures
 They experience “us” as superior, “them” as inferior or the reverse
 One’s own culture (or an adopted culture) is experienced as the only good one.

Defense Stage against Cultural Difference in a Workplace/ School:

This can be observed when:
1. Discriminating or belittling others
2. Treat colleagues as competitors, feel victimized or attacked during discussions about
bias, racism or etc.
3. Expressed fear that greater racial diversity in the student population (drug abuse and
violence)

Examples:
1. “Only male teachers shall be allowed to be assigned in the far flung barangays.”
2. “I don’t think including Korean language in our curriculum would do good to our
learners.”
3. “Mmm. Perfect! Really. No cuisine is as good as ours.”

Resolution of Defense: Focusing on commonalities- equal humanity, shared values, etc:

1. Manage anxiety about other cultures and embrace tolerance and patience.
2. Be aware of your own biases and prejudices ( being aware of your own attitude will
help you initiate things from a fresh perspective).
3. Notice the little things.
4. Communication is the key.
5. Be flexible (In a professional environment, always respect other’s customs such as
holidays etc.).

STAGE 3: MINIMIZATION
 Cultural differences that were initially defined in defense are now minimized in favor
of the assumedly more important similarities between self and others (similarities
based on the familiar elements of one’s own cultural worldview)
 People assume that their own experiences are shared by others
 They begin to find commonality (superficial cultures) between themselves and people
of other cultures
 Most people at this stage think that they are doing ok, but they’re not.
 People at minimization believe that all people are the same.
 The minimization issue for individuals is their desire to project similarity on a wider
world

Here are the things to do in Minimization of Cultural Differences in a workplace:

1. Teamwork
2. Model the right model
3. Awareness (celebrate cultural differences)
 4. Communication

Examples:
1. All lives matter.
2. All teachers regardless of their religion shall join the Christmas Celebration.

Resolution of the issue occurs when similarity and difference, unity and diversity, are put into
dialectical form:
1. Develop cultural- awareness and experience differences.
2. Appreciate differences
3. Focus on diversity

STAGE 4: ACCEPTANCE
 They are able to recognize and appreciate cultural differences through both
behaviors and values though do not necessarily agree.
 The acceptance of cultural differences does not mean agreement.
 People at Acceptance Stage are curious about cultures and cultural differences
 They need to have respect for others’ values and beliefs and maintain tolerance of
ambiguity
 Diversity and inclusion exist at this point of development.
 It’s not bad or good. It’s just different.

Examples:
1. The Philippines is indigenizing its basic education curriculum for the country’s various
ethnic groups to boost the development of what has been regarded as marginalized
people without dissolving their respective cultures and traditions.
2. “Our Guidance Counselor is committed to making sure that LGBTQ issues are
heard.”
3. The participants of the program enjoyed witnessing various presentations of dances
and music from other ASEAN countries.

STAGE 5: ADAPTATION
 They are able to see the world through another’s “eyes” and change their behavior in
order to communicate more effectively.
 At an organizational level, adaptation is the essence of “inclusion of both global and
domestic diversity” into the organizational process.
 They need to experience empathy for other cultures and develop risk-taking skills
and problem-solving skills.

Examples:
1. A straight classmate wears or displays LGBTQ- friendly buttons, stickers or posters.
2. An ALS Volunteer from Australia spent time to study our currency since dollars are
not available in public markets.

STAGE 6: INTEGRATION
 They are often culture mediators who are able to help others understand different
cultures and promote unity between different cultures.
 In reality, rarely do people achieve this level of cultural sensitivity

Examples:
1. Mercy helped her non- English co- participant communicate her ideas using the
Google translate.
2. I am comfortable and I feel enjoyment every time I am able to make a bridge
between people with different cultures.