Understanding Context: Low vs. High Context Communication, Slides of Organization Behaviour

Download Understanding Context: Low vs. High Context Communication and more Slides Organization Behaviour in PDF only on Docsity! Context Docsity.com What is context? • Imagine two people go into a room to communicate. • The room is isolated from the environment. • The first person, Joe, is from a world deep beneath the earth’s surface. He has never been to the surface before. • The second person, Juana, is from Cleveland, and she doesn’t know that there are cities beneath the surface. Docsity.com Low Context Message Context Docsity.com On the other hand, if Joe and Juana are both from Cleveland and meet in an airport, the simple answer – It was cold, sunny and windy – would convey meaning which is mostly in the context. Docsity.com High Context Message Docsity.com What is context? • Destroy the context that is different than yours. – Native Americans, Africans • Ignore the differences – pretend they don’t exist or aren’t important. • Transcend your own system. – Recognize that there is a second system – Understand the nature of the system Docsity.com One can only do this when confronted with a context or culture that is different than one’s own. Docsity.com High Context • Emphasis placed on nonverbal communication • Information drawn from the environment • Skilled at interpreting non verbal communications • Fewer words used • Time is open, less structured, flexible based on needs of the people • Africans are high context but not as high as Arabs or Asians Docsity.com