What is intercultural communication?

definition

Intercultural Communication is the mutual creation of meaning across and between cultures. It examines how people from different cultures perceive one another.

What are some barriers to intercultural communication that might be seen in and out of the workplace?

Ethnocentrism
Cultural Relativism
Prejudice
Cultural Appropriation
Discrimination

ETHNOCENTRISM

Is any group that believes their culture is superior to another.

In today's society, culture is something that is evolving everywhere you look. Whether it be from television, music or even the President of the United States (Barack Obama was born in Hawaii before coming to the USA). Knowing that culture is ever growing, means that we as a society must keep up with the changes that are happening around us and learn to adapt and learn to understand the new cultures coming to our country. It's not about forgetting your own cultural but about appreciating and understanding the new ones to make everyone feel welcomed and included.

Click the link to the right to learn more about ethnocentrism and the history of it.

Ethnocentrism Examples in History and TodayEthnocentrism has roots in racism and prejudice throughout history and today. Be informed on this belief with numerous ethnocentrism examples.

Cultural Relativism

Refers to not judging a culture to our own standards of what is right and wrong, strange or normal. Instead, trying to understand other culture practices in its own culture context.

Yes, we have all been there. Seeing someone eat something we are not familiar with an automatically jumping on the "what on earth is that" mindset. Sadly, it's a world we live in where we are stuck in our own cultures mindset. Getting that understanding that not all stuff we do culturally is done universal, and vise versa. Discussing with coworkers about their standards in their cultural and getting an understanding of why they do things a certain way can benefit everyone when it comes to not judging someone.

Prejudice

Is someone that holds a preconceived notion about an individual or a group based upon a category they belong to or are assumed to belong to.

Prejudice and stereotyping is something that has been around for years and years. Sadly, it's something that will never go away because it is something that gets passed down through generations. How many of you heard that women can't drive? Or that black people love fried chicken and orange soda. What about the hate and attacks on muslim individuals after the 9/11 attacks in New York. In television, there are many scenes that play into prejudice and stereotyping that keeps it alive in today's society. For example, a Coca Cola commercial from 2013, showed Arabs riding camels in the desert to reach a large bottle of Coca Cola.

Down below are more examples of prejudice and stereotypes in tv and movies.

Persistent Racial Stereotypes in TV Shows and MoviesHollywood has made efforts to improve racial diversity in the industry, but racial stereotypes persist in TV shows and movies with actors of color.

Cultural Appropriation

Occurs when people adopt values, beliefs, behaviour or dress of another culture for the wrong reasons. Whether it be for a halloween costume, or thinking dreadlocks are just "a fashion choice" without fully knowing the history behind the outfits you wear, or the way you style your hair, you are being disrespectful towards the country the cultural originated from and the people who formed the culture.

Cultural APPRECIATION

Is when you actively seek to learn about and explore different cultures. You listen to what is being taught to you and your main priority is to honor its belief and traditions.

What Is Cultural Appreciation (And How It’s Different From Cultural Appropriation)? - Preemptive LoveCultural appreciation can easily turn into cultural appropriation. But we can honor and celebrate other cultures without inadvertently diminishing them.

Discrimination

Occurs when any group or individual is mistreated based on a category they belong to or are assumed to belong to.

One of the biggest challenges minorities face in the workplace is discrimination. Whether it be because of the color of their skin, the way they speak, or the way they dress. According to the Harvard Business School webpage, they conducted a study that involved researchers creating resumes for black and asian applicants and sent them out to entry-level jobs. Some of the resumes included information that pointed out the applicants minority statues while some of the resumes were scrubbed of racial clues. Employer callbacks for whitened resumes were higher then those with ethnic information even though the qualifications on both were identical. According to the numbers, 25% of black candidates received callbacks from their whitened resumes, well only 10% of those that left ethnic details got callbacks. For the Asian community, 21% got callbacks who used the whitened resumes, wheres 11.5% got callbacks who left ethnic details in.

Discriminations is sadly a very big factory in a workplace and for a lot of minorities it could mean losing out on a job. Some companies have even gone out of their way to ask applicants to specify if they are hispanic, white, black etc.

Example: Question asked on a Spencer's job application.

How can we do better as a company and as a society?

Ways to improve include:

learning about new cultures by doing some research.
having guest speakers come discuss their cultures.
taking a look at our own lives and understand how we can incorporate the knowledge we have learned about into our own lives.
spreading awareness.
standing up when we see someone disrespecting another culture.