1.2 Why Study Intercultural Communication?

Can we all just get along? While there is no easy answer to this question, we can approach it from several perspectives, come to understand several key concepts, and explore our world with ideas on how we can build bridges of understanding instead of walls, obstacles, or barriers between each other.

When you consider what you need to survive and thrive, your answers may be surprisingly similar to those of others. Air, food, water, shelter, love and belonging, sex, and security are some elements to consider. In order for you to meet your needs, you will interact with others. They too will have their own needs that need to be met. Through interaction, transactions, sharing, and collaboration, we may start to meet your needs.

If we take a step back and consider that we’ve only discussed humans so far, the world becomes far more complex. If we ask the tiger, the whale, or the dolphin what they need to survive, what would their responses include? Again, no doubt many of the same elements for life on our planet will be there.

When we consider why we should learn more about intercultural communication the answer should be clear: It is critical to your ability to survive and thrive. Another way of indicating a concept is critical is to call it imperative. Drawing from the work of Judith Martin and Thomas Nakayama, we examine why it is imperativeEssential, of vital importance, or crucial. (essential, of vital importance, or crucial) that you learn more about intercultural communication. The workplace is diverse and intercultural. Our communities are formed by combinations of groups representing distinct cultures. Our nations are formed from communities, and our world from nations.

In order to for you to survive and thrive, just as others want to, we have to learn to manage conflict and seek peace. We have to recognize we only have our environment on this planet to sustain us. We must recognize our community demographics are changing and along with them our preferences, attitudes, and ideas. Technology is an important element of intercultural communication, and it’s imperative that we understand the wealth of tools available for us to come to understand each other. We know ourselves through our interactions with others, including those from distinct backgrounds and cultures. Finally, we need to consider ethics when exploring our differences and promote and embrace respect, tolerance, and acceptance.

In terms of the world and the universe, we humans have been around for a short period of time. Actions bring consequences, and sometimes we cannot predict or anticipate all the consequences that may result. If we build a potable water system and provide clean water to a community, we can predict a lower rate of water-borne diseases and improved health conditions. If we build a dam across a river to create hydroelectric energy, we may see a decline in fish and the loss of land, even entire communities, as we benefit ourselves with electricity and industry production. If we create an energy system that uses hydrocarbons or even nuclear reactions, we can see what electricity brings to the world, as well as pollution and contamination. We share the air and water on this planet, and what occurs in one country’s national borders impacts all other nations, even if only measurable to a small degree. Our management of our actions, and both their intended and unintended consequences, can be improved through effective intercultural communication.

Let’s place our environmental imperativeThe consideration of our environment in our actions and interactions across cultures., or the crucial consideration of our environment in our actions and interactions across cultures, within a specific context. The magnitude 7.0 earthquake in Haiti in 2010 cost countless lives and untold damage, but in our example we will focus on how intercultural communication made a positive difference in this tragedy. Across social media and traditional communication channels people learned of the devastation. From Doctors Without Borders to fundraising campaigns, people came together, across languages and cultures, to make a difference. They donated time and resources to rebuilding Haiti, an effort that continues to this day. All communication is intercultural in some way, and as we recognize our interconnectedness, we come to empathize with others, particularly in their moment of need. We also recognize that our own moment of need may arrive without warning, and together we can respond and repair.

As we can see in this example, the problem is complex. Some elements are beyond our control, as we still cannot accurately predict earthquakes, but other challenges represent opportunities for us to work together to produce a positive resolution. Through intercultural communication, we can draw on the diverse strengths of each community, from engineering and the sciences to health and environmental studies, to come together to address tragedy, rebuilding our communities.

What do we study when we examine the subject of history? Dates and names, important events, and their motivations, agendas, actions, and consequences? The inherent struggles between people? The assertion, projection, and rejection of power and control? We may observe all these elements in our study of history, but it is worthy to recognize that a common feature across all the lessons is the dynamic between war and peace.

The peace imperativeThe consideration of conflict, and how we resolve it., or the consideration of conflict and how we resolve it, is an important aspect of intercultural communication. Conflict is an element of communication. It is never not present in our interactions. Peace is not the absence of conflict but a state in which we resolve conflicts through negotiation and understanding.

We struggle to know each other, to understand what we mean by what we say and how we say it, to gain information, to persuade, and to meet our needs and those of others. Communication is never conflict-free. We can learn to recognize that conflict is not the issue and instead focus on our response. It is how we approach conflict, our attitude, that makes the difference. When we try to gain understanding or compliance from each other, we are asking first for respect. We need to give respect, demonstrate listening, and share what we understand even as we perception check that understanding, in order to begin to build trust. Through trust, we can find common ground and begin to resolve conflict. New conflicts will arise, but the lessons we learn can serve us well to meet our needs, help others, gain compliance, and make a positive difference. Learning to understand conflict, and how to gain peace, is an important aspect of intercultural communication.

From our earliest times, we can observe one group dominating another, repressed peoples rising up in revolution, and precious few moments of peace punctuated by conflicts around the world. Do we have to resort to violence to resolve conflict? Let’s look to nature for an answer.

Perhaps you are familiar with the phrase “survival of the fittest.” Which species thrive while others die off? Which individual rises to the top of a pack, while others never get the chance to reproduce? While it might be tempting to view this concept as all inclusive and applicable to humans, we are ignoring a second and more powerful force for survival: collaboration. Modern biologists look to the many examples of species, including our own, where cooperation and collaboration strategies are useful and productive. We can see symbiotic relationships, where both species benefit, as clear examples even among simple life forms. Indeed, a human is not a distinct entity, devoid of other life forms.

EndosymbiosisThe positive relationship we have with friendly, cooperative symbiotic bacteria that live inside us. refers to the positive relationship we have with friendly, cooperative symbiotic bacteria that live inside us. Lactobacillus acidophilus, for example, helps us digest milk. We have millions of microorganisms that live within, and on, us. We have more than 400 distinct microorganisms in our digestive tract alone. We could not survive without them. Extending our example beyond our individual bodies, can we get everything we need on our own? Can you grow 100 percent of your food? Can you make all the things that enhance your life? Could you make the medicines that cure your ills or treat your chronic diseases? We cannot do it alone; we collaborate to survive. The famous phrase “no person is an island” rings true. Our collective world, however, is like an island. None of us are leaving it permanently any time soon.

We know that struggles and challenges make us stronger and contribute to the health of our species, so our children can continue to prosper, but is competition between each other in all forms productive? We can clearly see the Olympics as a pinnacle of human athletic effort. Children in their physical education classes benefit from positive role models around them as well as on the larger world stage. When a representative of one country beats out others for the top spot, they are awarded a gold medal and their national hymn or song is played for all to hear. The celebration honors their individual or team effort, and everyone honors our differences in a peaceful way. Perhaps you competed in a chess competition, a science competition, or a writing contest. Each opportunity challenged you to exceed your expectations of yourself, and such competitions can ultimately benefit society as we race to develop new ways to solve problems, create energy, develop new medicines, or improve the lives of everyone.

Conflict is unavoidable. We will naturally have competition and conflict, but how we resolve it is up to us. ConflictAn expressed struggle between two (or more) parties who perceive incompatible goals, scarce resources, and interference from the other party in achieving their goals. can be defined as an expressed struggle between two (or more) parties who perceive incompatible goals, scarce resources, and interference from the other party in achieving their goals. Goals represent our values, and not all cultures share the same values. When competing values come into play, conflict is a natural result. How we respond to that conflict can be proportional to the issue, but it can also become exaggerated, overemphasized, or deliberately manipulated for personal or political gain. Scarce resources represent another factor associated with conflict. Rare metals are necessary in all sorts of industrial applications, including your cell phone, and corporations and countries bid against each other for them every day. Interference comes in many forms, from doing nothing to active engagement. Each factor contributes to conflict, but is conflict always negative? If we consider the evolution of the cell phone, for example, we can quickly see how innovation and competition to produce the best product has resulted in a handy device used worldwide. We can see how necessity, as in the need to save soldiers’ lives, leads to discoveries like penicillin. Even conflict in interpersonal relationships is normal and an opportunity for growth, but again, it is how we engage in conflict that makes all the difference.

Contrast the Olympics with conflicts involving weapons, including weapons of mass destruction. It is not in our interest to kill ourselves, but there have been many times in history where one group of people, or their leaders, decided to use a weapon that killed not only their “enemy” but also members of their own group. Retaliation, with tragic consequences, often follows. If we look at conflict through a longer time frame we can see how death and destruction, even when producing momentary periods of detenteAn easing of tensions often resulting in a cease-fire but that often returns to conflict., or an easing of tensions often resulting in a cease-fire, often returns to conflict. World War I came to a conclusion, but the conflict wasn’t over, and twenty years later World War II erupted across Europe and involved the whole planet.

When we examine our failures in effective intercultural communication, we truly come to appreciate the peace imperative. We see the harm that results, both intentional and unintentional, and destroys families, communities, and nations. The absence of peace, and the loss of dialogue, often results in violence. To quote Martin Luther King Jr., violence is the language of the unheard. When we lose our voices, we rise in action. When we lose our ability to talk through differences with diplomacy, we observe that our positions become entrenched and conflicts break out. We strike out at that which threatens us, even if we don’t understand the threat. Effective intercultural communication is an important element of peace.

For the vast majority of us on the planet, we have to work to meet our needs. In the workplace, we encounter people from all walks of life, from diverse cultural backgrounds, who sometimes speak languages that we do not. Carol Hymowitz of the Wall Street Journal observes, “If companies are going to sell products and services globally, then they will need a rich mix of employees with varied perspectives and experiences. They will need top executives who understand different countries and cultures.” We can build on this insight and observe that you don’t even have to leave your own city or place of work to see this in action.

Imagine you work at Best Buy, an electronics retailer in the United States, and provide customer service. If you were to keep a record of how many people you helped in a day, a week, or a month, and you simply noted aspects of their cultural differences, how diverse would your customers be? No doubt the range on the front lines of commerce would be diverse and varied, reflecting not only geography and location but also immigration trends for generations.

As an exercise, use your observational skills and make note of the distinct representations of culture in your workplace for a day or a week. Share and compare your results with your classmates.

The products we buy are imported from all over the world. Domestically, we also produce goods and services and trade with each other. We need not only someone who can cut the tree down but someone to transport it to the mill, someone who can tailor it to a given specification, someone who can lathe it to an ornamental table leg, someone who can finish it, and still more people to assemble the pieces, package the product, and ship it to market. We also need someone to plant a tree to replace the one cut down. We trade with each other, specialize in our job tasks and functions, and come together in an increasingly interconnected global marketplace through a process called globalizationThe process through which we trade with each other, specialize in our job tasks and functions, and come together in an increasingly interconnected global marketplace.. When the team that assembles the table loses their jobs because the factory has been relocated to another country where wages are lower or the tax climate is more advantageous, the ripple effects throughout the community are felt by everyone. When wild swings in the marketplace produce too much supply or demand, we can’t simply place the excess stock on clearance and forget about it. Our growing economic interdependence means job losses and outsourcing, and minor shifts in markets and trade have almost immediate, local impacts.

If we start from a personal perspective, we can look around the workplace today and see that it is increasingly diverse, and in order for you to be successful in it, effective intercultural communication is key.

If we expand our discussion to a local level, we can see our communities are increasingly diverse and interdependent. The microbrewery we might find in a rural town now has its own website and no doubt ships all over the world. Trade and commerce are blurring the lines between countries, just as Google Translate (translate.google.com) in particular and the Internet in general are providing amazing ways to interact across cultures.

The economic imperativeThe consideration of our economic activities as intercultural interactions., or the consideration of our economic activities as intercultural interactions, calls on us all to learn to effectively communicate with others on the job and around the world.

What we earn and how we spend it make an impact on our environment. If we choose to buy a product from one country over another, it is similar to voting, only instead of a ballot we use money to make our voice heard. Choosing a product by not only where it is made but how it is made is another element of our economic imperative. Child labor, for example, is a worldwide issue. Companies faced with the news release of their unfair exploitation of child labor often quickly change their production protocols. Choosing a product by how the person who made it is paid is also a consideration. A fair-wage coffee bean may reflect a production process that provides a fair wage to the grower and the harvester of the product. Finally, we can choose products that make the world a better place, such as by buying shoes because the company will donate a pair to a child in need in a developing country.

Effective intercultural communication is necessary on the job, in our communities, and across the globe, and consideration of our economic activity, and how it impacts others, is imperative. Whether we are focused on trade and prosperity, or coordination between countries to address a virus outbreak that threatens us all, effective intercultural communication is an element of healthy relationships and a healthy planet.

While there may be conflicting reports on the degree to which the United States is changing in terms of race, age, and ethnicity, the trends are quite clear: minority groups are growing faster than majority groups. US ethnic groups generally grow in three ways: natural increase (more births than deaths), net immigration (more people coming than leaving), and a third, increasingly important factor: self-identification. Since the US Census allowed people to select more than one ethnicity, people are increasingly choosing options that reflect their family’s multicultural background. This recognition of diversity on an individual and family level contributes to the observed trend of diversification across the United States and reinforces the importance of intercultural communication.

As people increasingly consider themselves multicultural, with diverse backgrounds and cultural traits that reflect more than one culture, intercultural communication becomes the norm, not the exception. The demographic imperativeThe consideration of the people we observe as part of our diverse population., or the consideration of the people (demo) we observe (graph) as part of our diverse population, is an important part of effective intercultural communication.

If you were challenged to describe your community, what words would you use? If you were asked to describe the characteristics that describe people that live in your community, how would you describe them? DemographicsGeneral characteristics of a given population, which change over time., or general characteristics of a given population, change over time. Our communities change, grow, and blend with each other as we move, change jobs, and start new families. Family members join us, sometimes from other states, regions, or countries, and our community becomes even more diverse.

If you live along the US–Mexican border, you may expect to see a large number of people with connections to Mexico. While it is true that many people from Latin America have settled in several of the Southwestern states, just as many if not more also have had family ties to Mexico since long before the current borders were drawn on a map. We also can find large populations of peoples with ties to Latin America in states that are not geographically close to the border, and we can find diverse groups from all over the world in cities across the United States. Finally, if we examine seasonal trends, we might find that some workers follow crop harvests from state to state in search of work, while some tourists, particularly those from the north, migrate south for the winter. Demographics often include racial and ethnic labels, such as Hispanic or Asian, that are themselves abstract and hardly representative of us or our communities. We can also consider that we are often members of several demographic groups, representing the generations of people that have mixed, moved, and blended within US society. Demographic trends examine which groups are expanding in the United States and to what degree.

How long would you last without access to your cell phone? If the very question makes you anxious, then you understand that we are connected in ways only science fiction writers dreamed of not so long ago. We could travel to some of the most remote corners of the world and find the latest movies, pop music, news on Justin Bieber, or even ads for Coca-Cola. The technological imperativeThe consideration of changes in technology on communication., or the consideration of changes in technology on communication, impacts intercultural communication.

We can travel across the world in journeys measured in hours and days rather than weeks, months, or even years as technological advancement in transportation brings our world together. As our economic interdependence has increased through globalization, so too has our technological integration. Consider the many ships that cross the oceans to ports, bringing everything from oil to automobiles to your local market. Even the parts used to maintain your car may be designed, produced, packaged, and sent from outside your own country.

We can also consider how we communicate as an example of technological integration. We may have Facebook friends from all over the world, connect with business partners via LinkedIn, and do family video conference calls via Skype. At first glance, it may appear that everyone has equal access to the many technological devices we use to interact, but nothing could be further from the truth. While cell phones are increasingly common, computers, like shoes, are still desperately needed. Electricity has become more commonplace, but the availability of useful technology varies greatly. If you do not have access to a computer, how can you learn to use one? Even if you have access to one, what if it is so outdated as to be almost obsolete, with no ability to connect, transmit, or receive data? If you do have access to a computer with an Internet connection, where you live might determine what you have access to in terms of information, videos, and even music. Try to use popular online services like Hulu or Pandora from outside the United States and you will receive an error message with a brief note concerning your location, copyright, and restrictions. Try to access some information from within certain countries and it may not be accessible at all. Censorship and limitations placed on access are present all over the world.

We know ourselves through our interactions with others. Perhaps you heard stories of your ancestors, or perhaps your parents or grandparents speak a second or third language. As we explore our own backgrounds, we come to understand ourselves in our modern context. Those that have come before us have contributed to who we are and may influence who we become. The awareness imperativeThe consideration of the relationship between the self and others., or the consideration of the relationship between self and others, is an important part of intercultural communication. We change as we grow, explore, and experience life. We may choose where we live, what we do, whom we associate with, and what we value. We may adopt those values and beliefs from those around us who represent a diversity of cultural backgrounds themselves. The study of intercultural communication to an extent is also the study of the self.

When we consider who we are and whom we associate with, we are discussing a group. A group can be represented by a circle. Here is a riddle: How many sides does a circle have? The answer may surprise you. A circle has two sides: the inside and the outside. We, as humans, often view others as outside of our circle. We ourselves may move through circles, or groups and communities, from family to work to worship, and be part of several cocultures. Others may also belong to many cultures. When we consider people to be outside of our circle, we view them as “Other.” We may use words like stranger or unknown to describe them, and we may seek to know them better to reduce uncertainty or we may ignore them, dehumanize them, and view them as objects, not people. Intercultural communication requires us to see ourselves in others and recognize our similarities and differences, knowing that “others” are more like us than it may first appear. The adage “don’t judge a book by its cover” is quite appropriate here. We may view others as not like us because of what they wear, what they do, where they live, or what language they speak. We may view superficial cues like skin color, height, gender, or weight and make judgments about them. These superficial observations may call on stereotypes that are neither accurate nor useful. As communicators, we can learn to look beyond these superficial differences to see the humanity in all of us and enhance intercultural communication.

How do we know what is “right”? The answer is often found in our cultures. We know what is the right thing to do, what is expected of us, what we ought to do and say, and even what we should believe based on those around us, the cultures we were brought up in, and what we have learned, adopted, or experienced. The ethical imperativeThe consideration of ethics in intercultural interactions., or the consideration of ethics in intercultural interactions, is an important part of intercultural communication. Our motivations for thoughts and action often start with principles, the foundation of ethics. Principles, or fundamental truths, beliefs, laws, or customs, are often culturally bound. They are bound up in our culture and represented in our stories, our media, and our own interactions. When we experience intercultural communication, we may find we do not understand each other’s motivations. We do not grasp fundamental principles that drive us and others to act. Through the study of our ethics, we come to understand ourselves and others.

There are two schools of thought on the subject of ethics that are important to consider. The first, the universalist positionThe need to identify the rules that cross cultures., asserts we need to identify the rules that cross cultures. In this viewpoint, we consider the principles that cross conditions and context and hold true. Rites of passage from one age to the next, from youth to maturity, are often passed through in specific ways unique to each culture, but nonetheless we recognize them as a universal element of all cultures. We can also look to views on murder, for example, and see that across cultures the action is viewed as wrong, though the contexts may be distinct. We may rationalize murder in the context of war, where the action is the same but the context is distinct, and view it as an acceptable act. Even here we see that we could easily enter a debate over the morality, or ethical principles, associated with murder, and we may find that we cannot truly consider it a universally held belief. This leads us to our second school of thought on the subject, the relativist position. The relativist positionThe need to identify the rules within a culture and make judgments within that view. asserts that we need to identify the rules within a culture, make judgments within that view, and note that rules may be relative, or different, across cultures. How we view theft or bribery may be viewed in distinct ways across cultures. One culture may view bribery as a standard part of business, while another may view it as corrupt, immoral, or wrong.

In order to understand each other, and to have effective intercultural communication, it is imperative that we consider our codes of conduct, our cultural norms, and our fundamental beliefs about what is ethical and what is not. To ignore our differences is to invite conflict and lose the opportunity for understanding, and unresolved conflicts often grow and transform into larger struggles that cost lives and resources. We share this planet, and while we may not view all actions equally, we can come to understand what motivates us and others to find both universal beliefs and distinct viewpoints. Through effective intercultural communication, we can resolve our differences, improving our own situation as well as those of others.

In this section, we have discussed why it is imperative to study intercultural communication. We share our common environment, and when we fail to communicate, conflict can occur. We can draw on our common strengths to resolve problems and come to know each other with respect for our diversity. We can view this imperative through the lens of demographics and our shifts and trends as we move and relocate. We can view it through technology, through trade and economics, through our self-awareness and awareness of others, and through fundamental beliefs, customs, and ethical codes of conduct. The study of intercultural communication, and effective intercultural communication itself, is important for us to know ourselves, to know others, and to make our world a better place.