Communicating Review

In low context cultures, good communication is:

• Precise, simple, and direct

• Uses non-verbal cues effectively

• Sophisticated, nuanced, and layered

• Loud and confident

In high-context cultures, good communication is:

• Precise, simple, and direct

• Delivered as quietly as possible

• Sophisticated, nuanced, and layered

• Repeated to clarify information

Under the culture map model, how many scales of cultural variations exist?

• 6

• 3

• 7

• 8

Answer explanation

There are 8 scales of cultural variations: Communicating, Evaluating, Persuading, Leading, Deciding, Trusting, Disagreeing, and Scheduling.a

Reading the air is a key characteristic of

• Low context cultures

• Both low and high context cultures

• High context cultures

• Neither low or high context cultures

What country uses a "sous entendu"? Meaning to say something without actually saying it

• Germany

• France

• Japan

• Spain

What country is the lowest context culture in the world?

The highest context culture in the world is

On a multicultural team, the greatest likelihood of misunderstanding will occur with:

• a low-context person communicating with someone from another low-context culture

• a high context person communicating with a low context person

• a high-context person communicating with someone from another high-context culture

An individual from a ______ context culture may perceive someone from a ______ context culture as condescending and inappropriately stating the obvious

• low, low

• low, high

• high, high

• high, low

Answer explanation

An individual from a high-context culture may perceive someone from a low-context culture as condescending and inappropriately stating the obvious by being overly detailed. Low-context cultures are explicit and direct. While high-context cultures use implicit communication with nuances.

When working with multicultural teams, the best strategy is to

• go high context

• use a bit of both high context and low context messaging

• go low context

• adapt to each individual style

Answer explanation

When working with multicultural teams, the best strategy is to go low context. Use recaps, summaries, and written messaging.