The Poles have always welcomed artists from abroad and adopted cultural trends of other countries to enrich their own lively cultural scene. Explain the importance of Geert Hofstedes research in cultural studies. High-Context Cultures. Men usually wait for women to offer their hand first. The Catholic Church is core to everyday life. The concept of face is especially problematic in emotionally vulnerable situations (such as embarrassment, request, or conflict situations) when the situation identities of the communicators are called into question. With time, I reached a point where I managed to organise myself in a way that allowed me to still keep in touch with people I wanted to stay in close touch with (scheduled online calls - because 'let's catch up' just doesn't ever work well enough) and visit relatively often. Meetings are formal. From years of research examining both extraversion and neuroticism, we know that extraverted individuals have more successful interpersonal relationships than those who are highly neurotic. Is it tiring? Legal. High-context: "Good communication is sophisticated, nuanced, and layered. The cultural variability dimensions of individualism-collectivism and small/large power distance shape the orientations, movements, contents, and styles of facework. DM me with 'GLOBAL LEADER' and I'll share with you how I support international leaders in their ability to work well across cultures. When it comes down to it, despite the issues we have in our country, the power disparity is not nearly as significant as it is in many other parts of our world. Does your co-culture differ from the dominant culture? The national dances of the country are Oberek, Mazurek, Krakowiak, and Kjawiak. But they pay attention to the volume of their voices and tend to speak quietly in business and in public. Geography Communication in Polish society is ' low context ', meaning that they usually speak frankly and can be very direct when it comes to saying 'no'. For understanding culture, Hofstede acknowledges that this distinction ultimately has a lot to do with work goals.28 On the masculine end of the spectrum, individuals tend to be focused on items like earnings, recognition, advancement, and challenge. PDF Understanding the Merits and Demerits of High and Low Context - CORE Always, and I hate travelling that often and being tired Is it worth it for these relationships? One of Halls most essential contributions to the field of intercultural communication is the idea of low-context and high-context cultures. Join me in the webinar on Tuesday, 7 March and let's discuss how you can ensure not to fall into the trap of those myths! The earliest culture of Poland traces its origin to the culture of the Early Slavs who settled in the country. The results also indicated that trait affection given was significantly associated with the individualism-collectivism, masculinity-femininity, and uncertainty avoidance dimensions of cultures. The emphasis on endurance is vital because being persistent today will help you in the future. Trait affection given and received: A test of Hofstedes theoretical framework. During communist rule, educational and economic advancement of the Polish worker and peasants were fostered. The Culture Map Communication: Low and High context cultures, 5 easy ways to overcome self-doubt after moving abroad, How to stay connected with family and friends when living abroad. There is also an intelligentsia whose population is steadily increasing as is the population of workers. According to this theory, a high context (HC) culture, such as Japan, is characterized by nonverbal communication and meanings shared implicitly by speaker/listener that are highly dependent on the context. A high-context culture relies on implicit communication and nonverbal cues. If you're curious about coaching, but perhaps not ready (or not needing) a longer-term commitment at this time, the ad-hoc session set up with me may be just the thing you are looking for. Having a Difficult Conversation with Someone from a Different Culture In anthropology, high-context and low-context cultures are the ends of a continuum portraying the level of explicit information and the importance of context in a given culture. A society is called feminine when emotional gender roles overlap: both men and women are supposed to be modest, tender, and concerned with quality of life [emphasis in original]. As far as Ting-Toomeys theory goes, she takes this idea one step further to understanding how face and communication ultimately enable successful intercultural conflict management. Messages are both spoken and read between the lines. So I was talking about Asia tables (region-Asia), while my teammate was taking about Asia from the Polish team confirming their participants for a Poland table The rest of the world tends toward high-context communication. In these cultures, there tends to be high respect for the past and the various traditions that have made that culture great. Approaches to problem-solving can be indirect, and often one-on-one meetings are more productive than large group discussions. One of the earliest researchers in the area of cultural differences and their importance to communication was a researcher by the name of Edward T. Hall. Poland was under the rule of communism from 1945- 1989 Business is still largely based on relationships. Its always great to get another perspective on cultural differences! and more. We also mentioned that nonverbal communication isnt exactly universal. In any major area of academic study, there are luminaries that one should understand. Similarly, trait affection received was significantly associated with the individualism-collectivism and uncertainty avoidance dimensions of cultures. 36, Mansson, D. H., & Sigurardttir, A. G. (2017). During an interpersonal interaction, individuals strive to create a positive version of their face for the other person. yes it is a high context culture! In fact, within the latest edition of the book examining these characteristics, Hofstede and his colleagues title the chapter on uncertainty avoidance as What is Different is Dangerous, calling out the threat factor people in high uncertainty avoidance cultures feel.31 Cultures at the high end of uncertainty avoidance include Greece, Portugal, Guatemala, Uruguay, and Belgium Flemish; whereas, cultures at the low end of uncertainty avoidance include Singapore, Jamaica, Denmark, Sweden, and Hong Kong. In my opinion switching from high-context culture to a low-context one is much easier, technically, than the other way around. I really like how loud you play your music. or Aah, sorry, I cant be friends with someone who doesnt drink tea) know that, been (or still am?) Privacy Policy. Here is the graph showing UK and Polish cultures compared with my preference on the Communication scale. In the modern times, the folk dances are usually performed by dance companies on special occasions like cultural and religious festivals or four tourism purposes. Face-negotiation theory ultimately concerned with three different types of face: self-face (concern for our face), other-face (concern for another persons face), and mutual-face (concern for both interactants and the relationship).39 As you can see from Ting-Toomeys last assumption in her theory above, individuals who are competent in facework can recognize when facework is necessary and then handle those situations appropriately, effectively, and adaptively. Low vs. high context KNOWLEDGE is your understanding how various cultures may be similar or different, on many levels business culture, leadership, laws, linguistics. Meetings generally start on time. In his 1959 book, The Silent Language, Hall states, culture is communication and communication is culture.19 In the previous chapter, we talked about the importance of nonverbal communication. In 1924, the novel Chopi won Wadysaw Reymont a Nobel Prize in Literature. In other words, we think about ourselves as individuals rather than the collective group. However, many of these beliefs and observances have currently vanished from modern Polish society but are still prevalent in the conservative households in the country. The Culture Map - intercultural communication - Project Abroad From an interpersonal perspective, people from high uncertainty avoidant cultures are going to have a lot more anxiety associated with interactions involving people from other cultures. The St. Andrew's Day is a traditional holiday in the country and is celebrated on November 29. India, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, low-context approach in business might create additional misunderstandings. To do that, I needed to put the relationship-approach aside and realise that whether the person was sending minutes after the meeting or not had nothing to do with trust. Starting in the 1970s, Geert became interested in how people from different cultures approach work. What the Best Brands Get Right About Content Marketing - LinkedIn The headgear consists of a floral wreath in the case of unmarried women while the married ones tie a white kerchief. Think through Geert Hofstedes six categories used to evaluate differing cultures and apply Hofstedes ideas to your co-culture. High-context cultures have a lot of unwritten rules that govern communication and interaction. Around 10 to 15% of the Polish population is composed of the nobles or the gentry called the szlachta. The final characteristic of cultures is a new one first reported on in the 2010 edition of Cultures and Organizations. For example, the median income for the average U.S. household is $51,100.24 When discussing household incomes, we use the median (middlemost number) because its the most accurate representation of income. His book Beyond Culture is still considered one of the most influential books for the field of intercultural communication.17,18 According to Hall, all cultures incorporate both verbal and nonverbal elements into communication. In public, women who need directions or have other questions are expected to ask policemen or other women; approaching men is seen as flirtation. Go to Offer link in the bio (or simply DM me with the word 'CULTURE') to learn more! IOR collects cookies to improve your experience on our website. Vodka became a popular alcoholic drink since then. When it comes to power distances, these differences often manifest themselves in many ways within a singular culture: class, education, occupations, and health care. Concerts are held and carols are sung throughout the country on New Years Day. Striving for everyone to have equal rights is an important theme. Are you experiencing identity crisis while living abroad? When we look at only the two however, it turns out that even though UK and Poland are so close to each other on the scale, you can still feel the difference in the communication style. Then, there is a much bigger chance for success. However, nuclear families are more common now and so are families with single parents. Lien is both a social sanction for enforcing moral standards and an internalized sanction.46 On the other hand, mien-tzu stands for the kind of prestige that is emphasized in this country [America]: a reputation achieved through getting on in life, through success and ostentation.47 However, David Yau-fai Ho argues that face is more complicated than just lien and mien-tzu, so he provided the following definition: Face is the respectability and/or deference which a person can claim for himself from others, by virtue of the relative position he occupies in his social network and the degree to which he is judged to have functioned adequately in that position as well as acceptably in his general conduct; the face extended to a person by others is a function of the degree of congruence between judgments of his total condition in life, including his actions as well as those of people closely associated with him, and the social expectations that others have placed upon him.