Social framework: characteristics of high and low-context cultures
| High-Context Culture | Low-Context Culture |
| • Relies on implicit communication People from high-context cultures have been taught from early childhood to look for implied meaning. They believe that what is implied takes precedence over what is said; they will recognize discrepancies between actual words and intended meaning. Example: Although the phrase "to rubber stamp" means agreement in U.S. business, the expression would not translate correctly into Japanese. A Japanese report may indeed bear a stamp, but the placement and orientation of the stamp tells the receiver whether the report is acceptable as is, or whether it needs to be reworked and resubmitted. For a report to be approved, the rubber-stamped symbol must be perfectly aligned and not tilt to the right or left. Such subtle messages are readily noticed by those businesspeople who have been brought up in the high context Japanese culture. | • Relies on explicit communication Those from low-context cultures prefer that messages be explicitly stated rather than simply "understood" by the parties involved. The following example illustrates the preference for explicit communication in the U.S. Midwest as opposed to the higher context U.S. Southeast. Example: Susan Shofield was district manager for a national wholesale shoe company. After rising quickly through the ranks to become district manager of the Southeast U.S., she was surprised that the company wanted to transfer her to the Midwest. Susan, who had lived all her life in the South, knew that the move would be difficult and expressed her concerns to a customer who owned a chain of children's shoe stores in Alabama. Example: Tom Womeldorf had lived in Springfield, Illinois, most of his life and talked about the adjustment he and his family had to make when they set up shop in the South. "At first, I was too direct, but I learned by listening to my customers how they expected me to communicate. You're a good listener, so it won't take you long to figure out Midwesterners. The people up there say what they mean and mean what they say." · ☺ (In the end of the last story-example it is possible (if you think it is necessary) to make a general short conclusion such as “Your success in business and good relationships with people depend on your knowledge of customs and traditions of the place you work or live in”, etc.) |
| • Emphasizes nonverbal communication · ☺ (What is nonverbal communication? This question may let the students remember what kinds of nonverbal communication they know and recite them.) Although nonverbal communication (body language, facial expressions, gestures and touching, conversational distance, eye contact, etc.) conveys meaning in every culture, people from high-context cultures rely more heavily on nonverbal communication than people from low-context cultures. The nonverbal communication provides the "context" for the conversation and, therefore, must be carefully observed for effective communication to take place. | • Emphasizes verbal communication The phrase that Susan Shofield heard in the above example ("Say what you mean and mean what you say") is often repeated to children from low-context cultures as they are growing up. Parents place far less emphasis on communicating indirectly or nonverbally and ask their children to "speak up." By the time they enter business, people from low-context cultures have learned to rely on words to convey exactly what they mean. This preference for verbal communication carries over to the workplace where businesspeople are expected to "spell out" what they mean as clearly and directly as possible. |
| • Subordinates tasks to relationships In high-context cultures, children are imbued with reverence for family relationships and friendship, as illustrated by the Ukrainian proverb, 'Tell me who your friend is, and I'll tell you who you are." A friendship is a deep commitment developed over many years. Businesspeople brought up in high-context cultures carry over the importance of relationships to their transactions on the job. They may believe that a relative with less experience should be trusted over a stranger with more experience in a given job. They may award business contracts to those with whom they have forged relationships over many years rather than to the company that makes the best presentation or offers the best deal on paper. | • Separates tasks from relationships · ☺(Before the discussion of this feature of LC culture ask the students to draw three circles on a piece of paper. One circle will represent their family relationships, the second will represent job relationships, and the third will represent church and community relationships. The students should draw the three circles to show the extent to which the three groups of relationships overlapped. Give them time to do it and let them share their points of view. ) People from low-context cultures usually prefer to keep their job tasks separated from their relationships. Indeed, relationships are seen as outside the task rather than an integral part of it. Even if a key person on a project leaves the company, another person can easily take his or her place since the business transactions are considered to be between companies and not based on relationships between people. Example: In a training session on cross-cultural business communication at a multinational corporation in Los Angeles, the participants were asked to draw three circles on a piece of paper. One circle represented their family relationships, the second represented job relationships, and the third represented church and community relationships. Participants were asked to draw the three circles to show the extent to which the three groups of relationships overlapped. Out of 20 participants, 12 drew three distinct circles with no overlap. All 12 were from low-context cultures. The participants whose circles overlapped were all from high-context cultures. Neither group had considered that the way they viewed the separation of or the combining of task and relationship was part of their culture. |
| • Emphasizes collective initiative and decision making A high-context culture values the collective as the important unit of society as exemplified by the Chinese proverb, "A single bamboo pole does not make a raft." Businesspeople from high-context cultures are taught to arrive at decisions that benefit the group. Advancing one's own agenda should never be the stimulus for action; rather, the group or team should initiate, develop, and carry out projects for the betterment of the company and of society. Self-aggrandizement is not only frowned on, it is also not allowed, and an individual risks losing his or her place in the group by "going it alone." | • Emphasizes individual initiative and decision making · ☺(Ask students what is preferable for them – to be members of a team and gain a group award or distinguish themselves as individuals and gain an individual award. Let them express their points of view and reasons.) Those whose cultures are lower on the context continuum tend to value individual initiative, decision making, and achievement. As the American proverb states, "Look out for number one." Even when they work in groups, individuals from low-context cultures try to think of ways to distinguish themselves as individuals. In business, a group award is valuable and desired, but an individual award is usually more highly prized. The individual is expected to define and solve problems with little supervision. Example. A professional coach was working with a mid-level manager at a manufacturing plant in Chicago. The coach was from the Euro-American culture, and the manager was West African. One of the "needs" identified by the professional coach was for the manager to establish his individual accomplishments. "Put your name on all your reports, so they'll know that you took the lead on these projects," advised the coach. The West African manager was very troubled by the instructions. It didn't feel "right" to take credit for work done by his team to which he felt much loyalty. The thinking of the professional coach reflected his low-context culture. |
| • Views employer/employee relationship as humanistic · ☺ (How do you understand this aspect of HC culture? This is the opportunity for the students to express their points of view.) As you might suspect, the social framework of a society helps determine the relationship between employer and employee, so high-context cultures tend to view the employer/employee relationship in a humanistic rather than mechanistic way. Because these relationships are so important, high-context cultures see employees as "family" members that work for the good of the group and remain loyal to the company for many years. Job performances may vary widely without the threat of imminent dismissal. In addition, the employer will feel loyal to the employees and make decisions based on their welfare. Because trust is an important element in hiring decisions, family members would be preferred over strangers. | • Views employer/employee relationship as mechanistic In low-context cultures, the view of the employer/employee relationship tends to be more mechanistic. The term originates from the belief that a business can be run like a "well-oiled machine" with replaceable parts (i.e., employees). Indeed, employees tend to view themselves as a marketable commodity and will make decisions to change jobs if they can improve their circumstances. Employers can terminate an employee because of negative performance reviews. Likewise, employees feel justified in leaving a job for a better paying one even when they really like their managers and colleagues. Since trust is not as great a factor in hiring decisions, company policy may prohibit the hiring of relatives or even fraternization and marriage among employees. Example: A commercial for a U.S. financial company shows a young man talking to his father about a job change. The young man laments the loss of friendships at his old job. He continues by talking to his father about the opportunities in the new job and the ease with which he has rolled over his retirement plan. In response, his father offers support for his decision to leave the old job for the better opportunity even if it means leaving friends at work. He says, "The new job's great. It's going to be OK." · ☺ (The example may be omitted. Let the students talk about this problem. Let them think of themselves as family members at work or replaceable parts.) |
| • Relies on intuition or trust People from high-context cultures rely on trust or intuition to guide them in decision making. This trust must be established by forming a relationship with the potential business partner and will only be peripherally influenced by the reams of data that someone from a low-context culture might offer. Intuition or "gut feeling" is a large part of doing business in high-context cultures. Decisions won't be dictated by a plethora of written and spoken information but will be based on a sense of the context of the message. Example. · ☺(Here is an example of such feature. But: the example may be considered complicated to understand and may be omitted.) Translator Masato Abe tried to explain the importance of "reading between the lines" to his international colleagues. "In English, items obvious from the situation or context are commonly referred to using a pronoun. In Japanese, pronouns are less often used. Rather, known items are simply deleted from the sentence, resulting in sentences with no subject, transitive verbs with no direct object, indeed, sentences consisting of verbs alone." In such a sentence, the speaker or writer relies on the receiver's intuition and their relationship to understand the context of the message. | • Relies on facts and statistics People from low-context cultures tend to require facts, statistics, and other reliable data in a business presentation. They trust numbers over intuition ("Numbers never lie," American proverb). They may even trust statistical data in spite of special circumstances that could explain a decline in sales, for example. Their presentations will be heavy with charts, graphs, and quotes from experts in their particular field and will be light on suppositions or intuitive remarks. They will often expect the same level of detailed statistical analysis from others. |
| • Uses indirect style in writing and speaking · ☺ (Mini-discussion: Have you ever met with indirect style in writing or speaking? Could you share your point of view about this?) Given the emphasis on trust in high-context cultures, you may find that business writing and speaking need more space and time to establish rapport. For example, businesspeople from high-context cultures may begin a letter or email entirely indirectly. Only in the second paragraph will they bring up the main point of the business communication. Similarly, in business presentations, speakers will approach the subject indirectly, opening with attention to greetings and acknowledgments. In some, but not all, high-context cultures, it is considered rude to directly state the accomplishments, wealth, or expertise of the company. Instead, these attributes would be carefully intimated, and the focus would remain on mutual benefits. The relative worthiness of the company will be understated. For example, a company representing 28% of the Chinese computer market began their presentation by saying, "We have some small knowledge of this market." | • Uses direct style in writing and speaking One hallmark of businesspeople from low-context cultures is directness in their writing and speaking. They prefer to get right to the point of their message. Doing so will help them stay on their time schedule and accomplish the task. Therefore, those from low-context cultures usually state the reason for the call, letter, email, or face-to-face meeting at the beginning and then follow with details if asked. Even lengthy business reports will be prefaced with an executive summary of findings. |
| • Prefers circular or indirect reasoning People from high-context cultures will discuss issues from a holistic viewpoint with topics arising in random rather than linear order. Example. · ☺ (In order to make the example clear we can demonstrate it on the blackboard.) A Puerto Rican manager, Juan Marin, was asked to give a brown-bag luncheon talk at the mortgage company where he worked in Houston. The topic for the series of discussions was cross-cultural communication. As he spoke, Juan drew on the white board to illustrate the difference in the preferred reasoning style of his American co-workers. "You talk from point A to point B." Pedro drew a straight line connecting the two letters. "In my culture, it is different. We do it like this." At this point, Juan drew circles that overlapped eventually forming the pattern of a flower. His artwork drew lots of laughs and comments and was a revelation for those from low-context cultures who sometimes were impatient with Juan's tendency to talk "around" a subject. Most participants did not realize that preference for circular or indirect reasoning is culturally influenced. | • Prefers linear reasoning Businesspeople from low-context cultures usually prefer a straight line of reasoning. For example, they may start with reasons a particular account is unprofitable (causes) and follow to the outcome (effect) that the account should be reorganized. They also expect that those with whom they do business will follow the same linear logic. In fact, many people are surprised to find that there exist other kinds of logic. In low-context cultures, "He used circular reasoning to come to that conclusion," is usually not considered a compliment. |
| • Adheres to the spirit of the law Businesspeople who grow up in high-context cultures generally rely less on written contracts than their counterparts in low-context cultures. People in high-context cultures assume that it's impossible to anticipate every situation that may arise, and, therefore, would feel that agreements need to be revisited periodically in light of the new circumstances. Their attitude is not that laws were meant to be broken, but rather that laws should make sense given the surrounding events and changing circumstance (i.e., the "context" of the situation). Example. After "beating my head against the wall," a frustrated American vendor finally realized that she could save time and money by relying less on legal contracts when dealing with a family-owned agricultural supplier in Venezuela. "I now understand that our agreements are fluid, and I've adjusted to that reality." According to the American vendor, "I had to get to know them and vice-versa. Now, we can do business on a handshake and a letter of agreement. It's actually much easier and less expensive than hiring a lawyer to draw up the papers." | • Adheres to the letter of the law People from low-context cultures rarely do business on just a handshake. Even if they have excellent rapport with a business associate, the deal is not considered final until attorneys have written a document that is agreed to and signed by all the decision makers. Conversely, once the signatures are on the dotted line, the contract is set in stone and will be enforced by the courts when disputes arise. Example. Because of their low-context orientation, the Jewish culture values precision when it comes to legal rulings. To prepare for a spaceflight mission, Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon did more than learn about the experiments he would conduct as a payload specialist on the U.S. space shuttle Columbia. Because he planned to observe the Jewish Sabbath in space, he asked for a ruling from Jewish leaders to determine exactly when he should begin and end his observance of Shabbat, the weekly Jewish Sabbath, which lasts from sundown Fridays to sundown Saturdays. A group of respected rabbis debated and discussed the question. Before the flight, Colonel Ramon received a ruling that he should observe the Sabbath on Eastern Daylight Time because that was the shuttle's point of departure. In the low-context Jewish culture where adherence to the law is revered, such a decision would never be left to chance. |
Adopted from Edward Hall