Role and culture are closely linked. For example, the formal role of mother will alter significantly with the culture. Cross-cultural communication is a major study in itself and is not the subject of this workshop, but even within a society there are many cultures and sub-cultures. Successful communication within these cultures is determined by the culture itself.
Culture is the collectively learned behaviour which distinguishes members of one group or category of people from another.
Culture, therefore, may influence all aspects of our behaviour from how we blow our nose to how we worship our God. Cultures will develop their own jargon, thought patterns, associations of ideas and frameworks of reference. This is very clear from a study of religious groups, orders and sects, symbols will be used to convey complex theological concepts - the cross, the fish, the dove, etc.
Cross-cultural communication can not take place simply by learning the language - the words of language can only be understood in the context of the culture. What does this mean for your own communication within your own culture? It means first that you need to understand the aspects of culture which have a major influence on communication and second it means that your communications must be appropriate to your cultural environment.
Once again, as with 'personality' there are many aspects to culture but there are four dimensions which have a major influence on communication. These dimensions are:-
The nature of interpersonal relationships within the culture
The degree of equality within the culture
The role of differentiation of men and women within the culture
The tolerance of uncertainty within the society
These dimensions are enlarged on the following pages.
The Interpersonal Dimension
In some cultures the people are very close together. In other cultures there is a high degree of autonomy and freedom.
The close cultures emphasise interdependence, responsibility for others, the oneness of the body, the unity of the society etc. There is a tightly integrated community which is highly supportive of its members. Sharing is crucial and there is a high emphasis placed on knowing one another, knowing one another's needs, ministering to one another and sharing information. Communication is a major element in the glue that holds the society together.
The loosely integrated culture places much more emphasis in individual freedom. People look after their own interests and the interests of their immediate family or small group. Here, communication is much less important, the self-sufficiency of the individual means that there's less of a need to know what is happening to others.
Research has shown that the more materialistic the community, the more it will tend toward the looser end of the relationship dimension.
The figure above shows the results of the research on culture and interpersonal relationships. UK and USA are the most disparate of the cultures, while Japan is the most integrated of the developed nations. Japanese companies are renowned for this emphasis on good communication, while the UK has a history of industrial anarchy and poor cooperation/communication.
The Equality Dimension
People are unequal in physical attributes. They are also unequal in intellect, learning, maturity and in spiritual gifts. Societies, organisations, communities and churches are structured also in different ways and these structures can emphasise equality or inequality.
Organisation and social structures which emphasise inequality, encourage centralisation autocratic leadership, authority and power according to status, rank or role. In such cultures information is power.
On the other hand some structures seek to give each member one equal voice or vote and seek to distribute wealth and influence equally. To do this information is shared widely and good communication is the concern for everyone.
There is a correlation between interdependence and equality in western cultures - although the link between independence and inequality is not so strong. See the figure below.
Those cultures which place more emphasis on equality tend to put more into their efforts to communicate effectively.
The Role Differentiation Dimension
The male/female differentiation is very large in some cultures. Japan, for example, is the developed country with the greatest role difference. The Scandinavian countries on the other hand are the most egalitarian with very high percentages of women working and single parent families are common with over 50% of births being to single women.
Organisations and churches exhibit the same range of sexual differentiation. In some churches women in leadership are accepted while in others their public role is restricted severely with 'silence' being the guideline. Many religions physically separate male and female.
Those organisations in which there are few women or men or in which the roles are highly differentiated often suffer from communication difficulties. In his book the Gift of Feeling", Paul Tournier describes the male dominated society in this way:
''Our western civilisation is masculine and dominated by masculine values: cold objectivity, reason, power, efficiency and competition. This means the suppression of other values in the sphere of irrationality and subjectivity; sentiments, emotions and personal relationships.”
With the language and values so male skewed it is little wonder that communication is so ineffective.
The Control Dimension
The Christian faith is dynamic - it describes the course of history as moving toward a climax. It is powerful - based on an omnipotent God, the transforming power of the Holy Spirit and a victorious Saviour who is Jesus Christ the Lord. The gospel calls for responsible decision making, action and energy to extend the Kingdom. In this sense Christianity calls upon men and women under God and through the power of the Spirit to take control of their lives and to influence the world around. Vision, plans and forward thinking are encouraged so that the individual, the organisation and creation might be transformed through the power of God.
This forward looking culture is not universal. There are religions which are fatalistic in outlook, your destiny is determined, all life is cyclical not dynamic, you must learn to accept and not strive. In such cultures planning, achievement and change are difficult concepts to accept.
Churches, too, have these different orientations - some will think forward, set goals and plans, others will live from day to day, or even yesterday to yesterday. For the forward thinking churches, communication is much more open, learning is much more frequent and problems are tackled and solved much more readily.