Hi and welcome to the week nine of our Communication Theory course. This week is devoted to summaries. So, we will do a little bit of discussion of all the theories we covered so far during first previous eight weeks. As well as we will try to apply this theoretical concepts on our everyday routine life. As you already know, there is nothing more practical as a good theory. So, let's go find out and what we begin with were some approaches to theory itself and communication. We discussed many different definitions and came up with one which sees communication as a systemic process. It's systemic because it does not exist in one particular moment. It was starting at some point before the communication actually happens and the whole communicative process is defined by what words previously. As well as, communications usually chasing some sort of goals which are navigating us through the whole process. And this process which are systemic does not involve the exchange of the words or the text itself, rather than its symbolic exchange as what I say, does not have to be completely what I say. It's usually what I mean. So, within this process, we try to negotiate the shared meaning and come to the overall our idea which we want to get through the process of communication. So, we are negotiating the shared meaning to understand what others think and to check whether what they think is the same thing that we think. And the whole communication process is embedded in the cultural context and this cultural context does somehow influence the way how we think about things and the way how we communicate in our everyday life. So, what were the approaches to Theory of Communication? As we outlined seven traditions of Craig's within the field of Communication Theory, we first thought of communication as information processes through the lens of cybernetic tradition. Then we moved to the socio-psychological tradition and we thought about the communication as the interpersonal reaction and interaction between individuals which is driven by what's going on, some mental processes within one's head. The cultural socio-cultural approach to communication is defined as symbolic process and reproduction of the social order. So how cultural context is influencing our communication and communication practices theory and communication as a discourse of reflection is seen within the paradigm or within the tradition of critical tradition, which was interesting for us as we talked a little bit about ideology and the way how it's influencing our life. The art of public speaking and a little bit of [inaudible] , this is what communications is seen through the rhetorical tradition. Then we moved to the phenomenological approach as we understand others through the dialogue and through the discussion as we try to get and selling shoes and understand what's their picture, what's their standpoint, and how do they approach the reality. Symbols and Signs, semiotic tradition, I hope you remember all seven and in your understanding of the communication, there would be a little bit of distinction between the ways how we approach communication and the way how we actually act. But what we did not talk about was intercultural aspect of communication. There are quite many courses which are devoted to this aspect and they are quite thoughtful and they can give you many different tips on a way how do we assess and how do we assert communication with different cultural context. Let's talk a little bit about it here. So what is intercultural? Well, first, we need to focus on the communication context, at which situation it happens. Is it intercultural conference? Or intercultural event? Or maybe you were a foreigner travelling abroad? Then you do usually have some sort of intercultural expectations driven by stereotypes as well as intercultural perceptions. This is how do you understand the whole process through the lenses of stereotypes which we all are carrying. And within the interaction, we talk about symbolic exchange once again as we share our symbols and what do we think the words actually mean with other people who might have quite a different perspective and meaning negotiation is what actually happens here. How do we navigate the process? What are the theories or approaches which can be quite useful? First of all, there is a distinction between low and high-context cultures. The high-context cultures, they rely on implicit communication and they do rely on the context. The low-context cultures rely on explicit verbal communication and people within the different approaches to the communication, low or high-context, can communicate differently. What do we think about the high-context cultures is when the meaning is not quite clear. So, we try to focus on how the communication occurs and what is the perception of different people and we don't usually say what we mean. In low-context cultures, for example, it can be Germany or it can be Holland, Western cultures in general, the focus is on what is said and you always have this definite meaning which you want to transmit. The example of high-context cultures, in this case, would be in Asian countries where we try to think about the whole process of negotiation. And when, as we know, the concept of face for all our interpersonal communication course, we know with the people there they are trying to save the face. So, the context is quite important here. As other members of low-context cultures used solution orientations more than members of high-context cultures, members of high-context cultures use non-confrontation more than members of low-context cultures. So, when you're thinking about the context and when you are thinking about moving abroad, you need to consider this aspect and it might change your expectations quite a lot. The power distant index is quite essential concept as well. As when you're working in different cultural environments, you might expect different attitudes between people who were conducting the tasks and the managers. We can distinguish high power distance index and low power distance. These approaches would vary between the countries and as low power distance would be more friendly. It can be seen as more friendly and where you can talk more about what do you think about and what are your approaches, you can be more proactive. Well, if there is a high-powered distance within the communicative environment, you might be little bit frightened to speak out loud what you actually think. In other intercultural dimension is the aspect of collectivism and individualistic. So, cultures can be collectivist and individualistic. What about Collectivism? It does rely on the implicit communication pattern so it's not very obvious what other people think. The whole collective would try to maintain the formal harmony so the argument is not a very common feature within the collectivistic society. It does prefer the small group as it's quite easier to maintain this formal harmony within this small group. It's publicly arranged within one formal line. So if we're following this line, we are all following this line. No argument is there. No one loses face. Once again, we recall to the concept of face and you would not humiliate, you would not argue publicly with the person even if you do have some contradictions towards this person. And individual identities, individuality in general, within the organization is not that important. So individual would identify him or herself with the whole organization as a part of the collectivist culture. Individualistic culture relies on explicit communication as you can say out loud and it would be quite obvious what you are saying. Individuality there is salient as you want to show who you really are and with the approach of who you really are, you make the contribution to the whole group work. Why group discussion is possible and encouraged, on the contrary with small group preferences, well, it's quite obvious as we want to get as many ideas as possible and the individuality is what is the focus of this. Open for challenge and debate. The individualistic community is usually open for this challenge and debate. So the negotiation process and the process of discussion is essential there to get what is right, instead of following one direct way. And face consciousness is weak. So here, you would not really care. Well, not you but the representative of individualistic society would not really care what other feels and would try to show what is his or her ideas. The next concept is Uncertainty Avoidance Index. So we can provide two distinctions between high uncertainty avoidance cultures and low uncertainty avoidance cultures. Well, high uncertainty avoidance would place quite the big role, the guilt for mistakes as it would be quite uncertain and it would provide a very stressful situation for this culture. Still, in the low uncertainty avoidance cultures, risk-taking is essential. The guidelines and instructions are important and they play huge role in high uncertainty avoidance cultures. And on the contrary, we do see how individual and the individual approach to maintaining the work, to speak in publicly, would be in the center. High uncertainty avoidance cultures prioritize accuracy when low uncertainty avoidance prioritize innovation. So, in the first place, you need to go and do everything in a way it's right rather than a creative approach and something new which might came from the case of this uncertainty is important for the low uncertainty avoidance cultures. If we know now, quite many of new concepts which are all dealing with intercultural competence, let's take a look at our perspective and how can we do it. Well, my first advice is to be mindful. So, you need to do a little bit of research and a little bit of critical thinking before moving abroad or getting engaged into the intercultural process. You need to follow what is the context and be aware of the context. So you need to understand what are the different variables which we can use to estimate the whole environment of the group in which we are going to be and other projects which we are going to participate in. We need to keep in mind the power distance as we don't want to break some barriers and to come a little bit too close rather than was expected. We should adopt our conversation style to the uncertainty avoidance as well. So, how should you communicate your ideas? Should it be explicit or implicit? You need to understand the whole work environment before you get in. And given the track of group dynamic and multicultural surrounding is quite essential as you can navigate it and play with it a little bit now knowing all this theoretical approaches. How do you develop the competence of communicating within the intercultural environment? The Staircase model predicts that it will go through four stages. First, we know nothing about it. So, it's Unconscious Incompetence. Then, we understand we know nothing and they would be the stage of the conscious incompetence. Well, conscious competence comes when we know and we are quite sure what we are doing because we do know the theoretical background of it. And finally, when it would be just some sort of a routine, some sort of for the knowledge which is embedded in our hats, we come to the final stage of unconscious competence. So, I hope that all the information which you've been given or which you already know for your own experiences will bring it to the stage of first conscious competence and then to the unconscious competence and we will be very successful within the field of intercultural communication.
