High context culture is sometimes direct

Some high-context cultures are direct with critical feedback.

America is the lowest-context culture in the world, yet when an American gives criticism it’s often couched in praises. It should come as no surprise that other cultures with high-context communication may be dramatically direct when criticizing.

Israeli culture has a higher context than most of Europe, yet when an Israeli must give negative feedback they do nothing to soften the blow. Since their regular conversation is laced with indirect meaning you may assume that criticism would also be discrete, while open, direct criticism would be shameful. While there are subtleties in every culture, there is not always a direct correlation between communication context and criticism ((Meyer, pg. 70)).

An entrepreneur may take a cultural cluster’s generalized characteristics and draw conclusions about how he ought to communicate. Dig deeper into the way people interact in the culture; however, and you’ll find a growing diversity in the combinations of various communication norms. It may be enough to start an entrepreneur to asking the right questions when he has a general cultural framework, but he must be prepared for exceptions; not only because each person is a unique blend of cultures, but because communication is more complex than a diagram may suggest.

A diagram listing the communication context of all nations on a continuum may appear to be enough information to handle most business cases. Meyer’s quadrant diagram (Figure 2.3 referenced from (Meyer, pg. 73)) reveals an added layer to the two-dimensional continuum by adding the way criticism is given. It’s likely that most other continuums also have dimensions that may cause confusion in a business setting.

There’s so much to learn about culture! When I was beginning to see the various shades of low and high-context communication in my own relationships, another dimension is revealed that I hadn’t even considered. I had made the conclusion that indirect criticism must be a feature of high-context communication and therefore determined my work environment must be higher-context than the average American company. Like other American organizations I’ve participated in, my company is tentative with criticism and direct with praise. But Meyer demonstrates how a culture that normally spells everything out can be indirect when it comes to criticism, and that the opposite is also true; a high-context culture with direct criticism. I need to re-think what it means to be in a low-context culture by stripping out the differences in criticism.

References