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It is much more complex than that though, anthropologist often group cultures into low context and high

context cultures. The USA is a low context culture. People in low context cultures tend to express themselves with more words. They are more animated and colorful in their speech. They may say the same thing in more than one way to make sure their meaning is understood. In a high context culture like the Philippines, fewer words are spoken. A Filipino expects you to understand them with fewer words. If you try to expound on their meaning, they will likely politely repeat what they already said. This can cause a foreigner to think the Filipino is being rude when they are not. They think you are rude for going on and on about something they already expla ined. They are unlikely to change the position. This is our policy, accept it or move on.

Edward Hall
-Silent language of culture:

which exists outside of people's conscious awareness -Underlying principles that shape our lives -Unspoken rules of each culture:

speed of mseeage: fast (a headline, cartoon), slow (a complex book, art)

High and Low Context Cultures


Edward Hall

High Context Culture


Most of the informationis already in a person and little is in the transmitted part of the messages. Indirect verbal mode, ambiguous talk, and nonverbal subtitles

Low Context Culture


Most of the information is in the explict code; detail given Direct verbal mode, straight talk, nonverbal immediacy, and senderoriented value

The listener or the interpreter of the message is expected to read The speaker is expected to construct a "between the lines" to infer accurately the implicit intent of the verbal clear persuasice message message Japanese USA, Swiss

Power Distances
Joseph A. Devito

Power is not always held equally by the citizens. Cultures can be divided into high-power-distance cultures and low-power-distance cultures (Devito 2003, 43). High-Power-Distance cultures In these cultures there is a great difference between ordinary citizens and those who held power. Examples of such cultures include: Brazil, India and Philippines. In these cultures students are expected to be polite, modest and treat their teachers with total respect. Confrontation and assertiveness is viewed as negative especially towards the superiors. Friendships are expected to occur only in ones own cultural class. Low-Power-Distance cultures Power is more evenly distributed in these cultures. Examples: United States, Denmark and Sweden. In contrast with the high-power-distance cultures, students are encouraged to demonstrate their knowledge and involve in discussions with teachers. People are expected to be assertive and challenge ideas. Friendship and

relationships are selected freely.

Masculine and Feminine Cultures


Joseph A. Devito

Different cultures have different views towards gender roles. Cultures can be divided into masculine cultures and feminine cultures (Devito 2003, 45). Masculine Culture These cultures value material success, strength and aggressiveness in male. Tenderness, the quality of life, modesty and concern for relationships are valued in female in these cultures. Members are emphasized on success and they are expected to be ambitious, competitive and assertive. They are more likely to involve in conflicts and fights to solve problems. According to a research done by Hofstede, the ten countries with the highest masculinity scores starting with the highest are as follow:

1. Japan 2. Austria 3. Venezuela 4. Italy 5. Switzerland 6. Mexico 7. Ireland 8. Jamaica 9. Great Britain 10. Germany (Devito 2003, 45) Feminine Culture These cultures value tenderness, the quality of life, modesty and concern for relationships in both male and female. They emphasize the quality of life, members are expected to be modest and value interpersonal relationships. They are likely to employ negotiation and compromise to solve conflicts. According to a research done by Hofstede, the ten countries with the highest femininity scores starting with the highest are as follow:

1. Sweden 2. Norway 3. Netherlands 4. Denmark 5. Costa Rica 6. Yugoslavia 7. Finland 8. Chile 9. Portugal 10. Thailand (Devito 2003, 45)

Individual and Collective Orientation


The extent to which cultures promote individual and collectivist values varies. The major difference between these orientations is how they value individual and groups goals. The two orientations can be viewed as located in two opposite ends of a continuum but they are not mutual exclusives. (Devito 2003, 41)

The followering are characteristics of the two orientations:

Individualistic Cultures
Value individual identity over group identity Expectation of independence and self care Ex: United States

Collectivist Cultures
Identity vested strong cohesive group (family, ethnic, or religious groups) Expression of emotions is restrained by oneself Ex: China

Strong self identity invested in individual Conflicts represent collective opinions or goals

High contexts can be difficult to enter if you are an outsider (because you don't carry the context information internally, and because you can't instantly create close relationships). Low contexts are relatively easy to enter if you are an outsider (because the environment contains much of the information you need to participate, and because can you form relationships fairly soon, and because the important thing is accomplishing a task rather than feeling your way into a relationship). Remember that every culture and every situation has its high and low aspects. Often one situation will contain an inner high context core and an outer low context ring for those who are less involved. For instance, a PTA is usually a low context situation: any parent can join, the dates of the meetings, who is president, what will be discussed, etc. are all explicitly available information, and it is usually fairly clear how to participate in the meetings. However, if this is a small town, perhaps the people who run the PTA all know each other very well and have many overlapping interests. They may "agree" on what should be discussed or what should happen without ever really talking about it, they have unconscious, unexpressed values that influence their decisions. Other parents from outside may not understand how decisions are actually being made. So the PTA is still low context, but it has a high context subgroup that is in turn part of a high context small town society.

NOTE:
When you enter a high context situation, it doesn't immediately become a low context culture just because you came in the door! It is still a high context culture and you are just (alas), ignorant. Also, even low context cultures can be difficult to learn: religious dietary laws, medical training, written language all take years to understand. The point is that that information has been made conscious, systematic, and available to those who have the resources to learn it.

What about the Philippines?


If we explore the Philippine culture through the lens of the 5-D Model, we can get a good overview of the deep drivers of the Philippine culture relative to other world cultures.

Power
towards expect and these accept that inequalities power is amongst distributed

distance
us. unequally.

This dimension deals with the fact that all individuals in societies are not equal it expresses the attitude of the culture Power distance is defined as the extent to which the less powerful members of institutions and organisations within a country

At a score of 94, The Philippines is a hierarchical society. This means that people accept a hierarchical order in which everybody has a place and which needs no further justification. Hierarchy in an organization is seen as reflecting inherent inequalities, centralization is popular, subordinates expect to be told what to do and the ideal boss is a benevolent autocrat

Individualism
The fundamental issue addressed by this dimension is the degree of interdependence a society maintains among its members. It people has belong to to do with in whether groups peoples that take self-image care is of defined them in in terms of I for or We. loyalty. In Individualist societies people are supposed to look after themselves and their direct family only. In Collectivist societies exchange

The Philippines, with a score of 32, is considered a collectivistic society. This is manifest in a close long-term commitment to the member 'group', be that a family, extended family, or extended relationships. Loyalty in a collectivist culture is paramount, and over-rides most other societal rules and regulations. The society fosters strong relationships where everyone takes responsibility for fellow members of their group. In collectivist societies offence leads to shame and loss of face, employer/employee relationships are perceived in moral terms (like a family link), hiring and promotion decisions take account of the employees in-group, management is the management of groups.

Masculinity

Femininity

A high score (masculine) on this dimension indicates that the society will be driven by competition, achievement and success, with success being defined by the winner / best in field a value system that starts in school and continues throughout organisational behaviour. A low score (feminine) on the dimension means that the dominant values in society are caring for others and quality of life. A feminine society is one where quality of life is the sign of success and standing out from the crowd is not admirable. The fundamental issue here is what motivates people, wanting to be the best (masculine) or liking what you do (feminine). The Philippines scores 64 on this dimension and is thus a ma sculine society. In masculine countries people live in order to work, managers are expected to be decisive and assertive, the emphasis is on equity, competition and performance and conflicts are resolved by fighting them out.

Uncertainty

avoidance

The dimension Uncertainty Avoidance has to do with the way that a society deals with the fact that the future can never be known: should we try to control the future or just let it happen? This ambiguity brings with it anxiety and different cultures have learnt to deal with this anxiety in different ways. The extent to which the members of a culture feel threatened by ambiguous or unknown situations and have created beliefs and institutions that try to avoid these is reflected in the UAI score. The Philippines scores 44 on this dimension and thus has a low preference for avoiding uncertainty. Low UAI societies maintain a more relaxed attitude in which practice counts more than principles and deviance from the norm is more easily tolerated. In societies exhibiting low UAI, people believe there should be no more rules than are necessary and if they are ambiguous or do not work they should be abandoned or changed. Schedules are flexible, hard work is undertaken when necessary but not for its own sake, precision and punctuality do not come naturally, innovation is not seen as threatening.

Long

term

orientation

The long term orientation dimension is closely related to the teachings of Confucius and can be interpreted as dealing with societys search for virtue,the extent to which a society shows a pragmatic future-oriented perspective rather than a conventional historical short-term point of view.

The Philippines score 19, making it a short term orientation culture. Societies with a short-term orientation generally exhibit great respect for traditions, a relatively small propensity to save, strong social pressure to keep up with the Joneses, impatience for achieving quick results, and a strong concern with establishing the Truth i.e. normative. Western societies are typically found at the short-term end of this dimension, as are the countries of the Middle East.

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