Why is it that serious attempts at sharing knowledge across
cultures frequently end in frustration, disappointment and a sense of aggrievement on all sides?

The problem is that people from different cultures have fundamentally different beliefs about the proper roles of bosses and subordinates, teachers and students, and even about the nature of knowledge itself.

 I recently had the pleasure of being interviewed by Cindy King a cross-cultural marketing expert living in France.  As Twitter was our interview medium, I haved blogged our conversation for those who missed the ‘live’ performance. 

‘Tweets’ are limited to 120 characters per post, so sometimes it’s a challenge to articulate what you think in so few words!  In part one of the interview Cindy asked me about my background and this can be found on her site. Part two, as blogged below, is all about cross-cultural things.

What is Culture?      

1.  Culture is the heartware of a nation/race/culture; its soul and what makes it tick

2.  Culture reflects widely shared assumptions and beliefs about life

3.  Culture is so embedded that most people do not and cannot analyse it

4.  Culture is what is ‘normal’ around here

5.  Culture is learned from our superiors and role models

 What is normal? 

Stereotyping can be misleading.  However, a national group does have common traits which we recognise when they are together. Individuals in that group will have fewer or more of them.  For example, some groups are more restrained than others who are more outgoing.

 Why is cross-cultural awareness important?  

Each cultural world operates according to its own internal dynamics, its own principles, and its own laws, influencing how we think as human beings.  Becoming aware that other cultures are different, we begin to recognise and understand the “silent language” and “conditioned behaviour” existing beyond people’s conscious awareness.  We become sensitive to other meanings.

 Where is Cross-Culture?

Cross-culture is widely accepted in the international context of trade and diplomacy, but it can also to be found on your doorstep.  The staff you employ may come from different regions, or walks of life, and have different aspirations.  You may even employ foreigners. Customers, too, are very diverse, having preferences and expectations all of their own.

 What are the cross-cultural differences?

Culture is how we communicate to the world.  There are some common threads that run through all cultures and can be divided into three parts: how we communicate through words, material things, and behaviour.  

1. Words are the medium of business, politics and diplomacy: Written and spoken
2. Material things are normally indicators of status and power.
3. Behaviour creates feedback on how others feel about us: social conditioning and learned responses.

 “The Software of the Mind”

• Perceptions, values, and belief systems are not the same thing and are different for everyoneAbove all, they affect each other and constantly interact; a dynamic relationship
• Everything, including perceptions of reality, is relative and contextual
• Reality is less important than one’s perception of reality
• It is not the stimulus that produces specific human reactions but rather how the stimulus is perceived
• People act or react on the basis of the way in which they perceive the external world

What is a nations culture? Many Governments and institutions around the world are engaged in a continual effort to preserve our heritage by restoring or maintaining ancient monuments and historic buildings. And, UNESCO’s programme aiming at the preservation and dissemination of valuable cultural heritages has been successful over the years in identifying and putting together some of the world’s most valuable archive holdings and library collections.

However, a nation’s cultural heritage often goes deeper than its physical ‘tangible’ manifestations. Each culture has its own ‘intangible cultural heritage’. But what is that?

According to UNESCO and the 2003 “Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage”, the intangible cultural heritage – or living heritage – is the mainspring of our cultural diversity and its maintenance a guarantee for continuing creativity.

The Convention states that the ICH is manifested, among others, in the following ways:

• Oral traditions and expressions including language as a vehicle of the intangible cultural heritage;
• Performing arts (such as traditional music, dance and theatre);
• Social practices, rituals and festive events;
• Knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe;
• Traditional craftsmanship.

Anthropologists and interculturalists alike will express the importance of story-telling in relation to the embodiment of a culture. It’s good to know that UNESCO aims to help us be more aware of the importance of our intangible assets.

Edward T. Hall passed away this week at the age of 95. His work on nonverbal communication was groundbreaking at the time but today is accepted as normal in the world of anthropology. His legacy as an anthropologist is immense – however, his legacy to the ‘new comers’ – the interculturalists – is inspirational. Much of the work we do in the field of intercultural studies, cross-cultural communication and cultural diversity has its base firmly planted in the foundations of the understanding and insights he laid down.

Eric Hall said his father loved to make people aware of the unconscious processes that affect people’s perceptions and help them figure out why others perceive things differently than they do.  And, that’s just what the job of an interculturalist is. Without him we might well not have this profession at all. He also excelled in making tricky things understandable by simplifying them – and that’s what we TRY to do. It will be difficult to follow in his footsteps and he will be missed.

In highlighting the difference between Americans and South Asians he said:
” The future for us is the foreseeable future. The South Asian, however, feels that it is perfectly realistic to think of a ‘long time’ in terms of thousands of years. “

Being an interculturalist is one of the most fascinating professions – you learn something new everday. Interestingly, I was speaking to an anthropologist friend of mine recently and learned that in her professions anthroplogists aren’t considered true anthropologists until they spend five years in the community that they study. As an interculturalist I can quite understand why that is.

Cultures have many, many layers and levels. When you first vist or live in a different community you only get to scratch the surface of the place you are in. You SEE the social ettiquette but not WHAT drives it. There is more to a place and its people than meets the eye. Obviously, scientific researchers suggest that it takes five years to understand.

In today’s globalised world, many of us will be experiencing other cultures but few of us will spend five years in one. What we need to understand is that cultures have different values, that drive assumptions that drive our beliefs – which then go on to dictate how we behave and what we believe is normal. So, when someone from another culture does something that strikes you as unusual or even very different – you’ve probably suffered from a ‘culture shock’.

Now is your chance to ask yourself HOW what is usual for you is shaped by your culture. Far too often we look for the differences between ourselves and others and not for the similarities. By digging down into your own culture you will have a better understanding of your own drivers and values.

A lack of knowledge makes people afraid of what is different – when you know WHO you are you never need be afraid again. As Edward T. Hall states:

” We should never denigrate any other culture but rather help people to understand the relationship between their own culture and the dominant culture. When you understand another culture or language, it does not mean that you have to lose your own culture. “

A recent survey concerning TRUST had 17 countries unanimously agreeing that one profession in particular was THE one to be trusted above all others.  If these 17,295 respondents are any indication of how the rest of the world feels then the likelihood is that FIREFIGHTERS are the most trustworthy group in the whole world. However, levels of trust in bankers have fallen considerably – down to a mere 37% compared with 98% for firefighters.

The GfK Trust Index for Spring 2009 determines the level of trust that citizens have in 20 professional groups and organisations (see below for more details). Of course, there are many interesting differences between the nations with Civil Servants having a vastly different reputation depending on the country in question:  just under 80% of Swiss citizens believe this profession to be trustworthy, only one in four in Greece gave a similar response.

So, who has our least degree of trust?

 A nation is enriched by the people within it.  The more diverse they are the more we are enriched as a whole, and the more we grow as individuals. I firmly believe that cultural diversity is our biggest asset – but then how can it also be a liability? The answer really is simple – in trying to help people retain their cultural heritage or ethnic identity we manage to lose the message about UNITY.

UNITY is something we – as a nation – apparently strive for, but it’s the one goal we consistently fail to achieve. The UK Government searches desperately to identify what is ”Britishness” so that it can bring a sense of belonging and UNITY to the nation. It has consistently failed to do so. I believe that is because, in spite of searching for our distinctive core values, they have not dug deep enough into the values of the nation and fundamentally do not understand about our Cultural Code.

Why is it that the French are very secure in who they are and why do Americans pride themselves on taking the oath of allegiance and flying the flag?  Why is it they seem to have UNITY – at least to the concept of nationhood – and we do not? That’s because they are French or American before they are anything else. 

Undoutedly, events like 9/11, the London and Madrid bombings, along with the terrorist attacks in Mombai and the Philippines, to name just a few, have changed many attitudes towards other cultures and the peoples that live in some distant lands. Will conflict between civilisations be the latest phase in the evolution of conflict in the modern world? Samuel Huntingdon argues that the great divisions among humankind and the dominating source of conflict, in this century, will be cultural – not ideological or economic as in the last century.

So what does this actually mean?  Well, let’s take a step back…