Event

International Business Communicators Monthly Meeting

Friday, October 8th, 2004, 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM

Speaker: Stephen B. Ryan, Yamagata University

Note that the actual presentation starts at 7:00 p.m.

Our unrecognized cultural background information, sometimes called content schema, greatly improves our communication with others who come from the same or a similar communicative culture. However, when this culture-specific background information differs, communication can become problematic because problems often go unrecognized. This presentation will explore this rationale by presenting some of the author's ongoing doctoral research on cross-cultural miscommunication between Japanese and Americans.

The main purpose of the research is to show how an unrecognized cultural schema (e.g. Funerals) can cause cross-cultural miscommunication. To do this, word association type questionnaires were first sent to American and Japanese university students and the collected data was analyzed via associative group analysis methodology to highlight the differences in what each group assumed about each concept word. Next, new sets of participants were given example cross-cultural conversations based on some of the problematic concept words which required them to check off conclusions based on their own unique set of cultural schema. The results indicated that when there were unrecognized differences, there is a greater potential for each cultural group to view "the other" in a more ethnocentric way. In the future, this research could be extended to more specific and consequential contexts (e.g. Business negotiation) where cross-cultural participants have unrecognized background knowledge which can negatively influence communication and decision making.

Stephen B. Ryan is an Assistant Professor at Yamagata University and a permanent resident of Japan. He teaches Intercultural Communication and other English courses to undergraduate and graduate Japanese EFL students. He also interested in intercultural conflict and is involved in cross-cultural training.

International Business Communicators (IBC) established in 1988, is a professional group of language, intercultural communication and business skills trainers and consultants. IBC holds regular meetings and conferences.

Organization: International Business Communicators

Cost: RSVP Deadline Wednesday October 6th, 6:00 p.m.; 1000 yen for food and drinks

Venue: Oxford University Press Showroom, Edomizaka Mori Bldg. 1F, 4-1-40 Toranomon, Minato-ku, Tokyo

Location: Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolis, Japan

Contact International Business Communicators

Richard Poriss