Addressing Communication Style Difference in Cross-Cultural Conflicts

Video Transcription

Hi. I'm Julie Tietz. And welcome to Conflict Resolution, Putting the Pieces Together. Today, we're going to talk about addressing communication style differences in cross-cultural conflicts.

Depending upon our culture, we all have our own specific style in communicating. And when we are communicating with somebody from a different culture, sometimes we can have miscommunication, because of our communication style differences.

And in order to be fluent in another culture and their communication style, we have to have years of immersion or participation. And so in order to avoid those miscommunications, it takes a lot of learning and being a part of that culture to really understand all of their communication symbols, codes, and the style of communicating.

And although we may have communication style differences, not all miscommunication is due to cultural communication. So we just want to be sure that if we're having communication with somebody from another culture, that our miscommunication may not always be due to cultural style differences in communicating.

So some possible ways in which we can have communication in cultures is through eye contact. In some cultures, direct eye contact means that we are being respectful and engaging and being active listeners, whereas, in other cultures, it could mean we are trying to intimidate that person.

And we can see this through gestures. A good example is a thumbs up. In some cultures, thumbs up means, good, OK, everything's right on. While in other cultures, it means something that is really disrespectful and rude. We also can see this through directness.

In some cultures, direct communication is really important, whereas, in other cultures, they prefer a more indirect style of communication, where we have to decipher their message by picking up clues about the context surrounding their message or pick up on their hints.

So here are just a few examples in where we can have miscommunication due to cultural communication style differences. When we have a miscommunication, we have to think of it as an opportunity that can open doors, rather than as a way to prohibit communicating with somebody from another culture.

We really want to see this as an opportunity to build bridges and engage in respectful dialogue, where we can have open discussions about other people's cultures to reach better and mutual understanding of each other. When we have respectful cultural dialogue, that means we are utilizing effective responses.

So we're not blaming or shaming the other party and making them justify their behavior or communication style based upon their culture. We rather want to come from a place of curiosity and ask those clarifying questions and use eye messages that are modified.

So for example, when you give me the thumbs up, I am offended by that, because to me and in my culture, it means that you are really mad at me and you are disrespecting me and I'm offended by that. So those are ways in which we can utilize miscommunication to open up the doors for respectful cultural dialogue, so we can understand each other's communication styles to have better understanding and to communicate more effectively.

Let's look at our key points before we go on cultural communication style differences. We know that in order to have fluency within a culture outside of our own, it requires years of participation and immersion in that culture to really reach an understanding. We may not be aware that there are cultural differences in communication style until we are communicating with somebody from another culture and a miscommunication occurs between you and the other party.

And when we have miscommunication, we have to think of it as a way or an opportunity to open doors to have respectful cultural dialogue, so we can communicate with each other more effectively and reach mutual understanding. Here's your one key term today. Feel free to pause and look at it closer. Thank you so much for taking the time out to view this. I hope that you've learned something and I can't wait to catch you again next time.