Page 200 - Essentials of Human Communication

Essentials of Small Groups and Teams 179

Online groups vary a great deal in terms of norms and, as with all
groups, it’s wise to familiarize yourself with the norms of the group before
actively participating. For example, social media groups will vary greatly in
their tolerance for self-promotion and commercializing. LinkedIn groups
and other sites frown upon self-promotion and may ostracize you for
doing so. And even if you don’t get thrown off Facebook, you’re likely to
incur considerable negative reaction. On the other hand, other groups—for
example, the listserv for communication professionals, called Crtnet—
frequently includes posts in which individual members will advertise their
own books. Sometimes, a group will tolerate self-promotion officially while
individual members may look on the posts very negatively.
Norms may apply to individual members as well as to the group as
a whole and, of course, will differ from one cultural group to another
(Axtell, 1990, 1993). For example, although business associates from
the United States might prefer to get right down to business, those
from Japan might prefer rather elaborate socializing before addressing
the business at hand. In the United States, men and women in business ViewpOInTS
are expected to interact when making business decisions as well as Group norms
when socializing. In Muslim and Buddhist societies, however, religious What norms govern your class in human communication?
restrictions prevent mixing between the sexes. In some cultures (e.g., What norms govern your family? What norms govern your
those of the United States, Bangladesh, Australia, Germany, Finland, place of work? Do you have any difficulty with these norms?
and Hong Kong), punctuality for business meetings is very important.
But in others (e.g., those of Morocco, Italy, Brazil, Zambia, Ireland, and
Panama), punctuality is less important; being late is no great insult and in some situ- Communication
ations is even expected. In the United States and in much of Asia and Europe, meet- Choice point
ings are held between two parties. In many Persian Gulf states, however, a business Group Culture
executive is likely to conduct meetings with several different groups—sometimes
dealing with totally different issues—at the same time. In the United States very little You’re new to an organization
interpersonal touching goes on during business meetings, but in Arab countries and want to learn, as quickly as possible, its
operating cultural rules, which you don’t
touching such as hand holding is common and is a gesture of friendship. want to violate. What choices do you have for
seeking out this information?
high-Context and low-Context Cultures A cultural distinction that has
special relevance to small group communication is that between high-context and
low-context cultures (Hall, 1976; Singh & Pereira, 2005). In a high-context culture (for
example, Japan, China, Korea, Malaysia, and Indonesia) much of the information conveyed
is communicated by the context, or in the person, rather than explicitly coded in verbal
messages. In such cultures, individuals have a great deal of information in common, and this
shared knowledge does not have to be made explicit. In a low-context culture (for example,
Denmark, Germany, the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand), most informa-
tion is communicated through explicitly stated verbal messages. In such
cultures, people do not assume that they share certain information and
so must make all crucial details explicit.
Members of high-context cultures spend a lot of time getting to know
each other before engaging in any small group interaction. Because of this
prior personal knowledge, a great deal of information is already shared and
therefore does not have to be explicitly stated. Members of low-context
cultures, on the other hand, spend less time getting to know each other
and therefore do not have that shared knowledge. As a result everything
has to be stated explicitly. When this simple difference is not taken into
account, misunderstandings can result. For example, the directness and
explicitness characteristic of the low-context culture may prove insulting,
insensitive, or unnecessary to members of a high-context culture.
Conversely, to someone from a low-context culture, members from a high-
context culture may appear vague, underhanded, and even dishonest in
their reluctance to be explicit or to engage in what a low-context culture “Honey, please don’t talk to Daddy when he’s in a chat room.”
would consider to be open and direct communication. © Jack Ziegler/Condé Nast Publications/www.cartoonbank.com