Barkai, John. “What’s a Cross-Cultural Mediator to Do? A Low-Context Solution for a High-Context Problem.” Journal of Conflict Resolution 10.43 (2008): 43-89. Print.
In his article, John Barkai analyzes the problems that a cross-cultural mediator faces, taking into consideration cultural conflicts and the role of context in communication (43). Discussing Asian (Japanese and Chinese) negotiation styles in comparison with the American one, the researcher is willing to point out the main differences in them and provide a mediator with the recommendations that can be advantageous in practice. To reach this goal, he discusses various mediation tools and cultural dimensions. Barkai concludes that there is a range of basic principles and strategies that one can use to improve communication. His work allowed me to get to know a four-staged approach for mediation as well as the main differences between low-context and high-context communication with their cultural variations. The main advantage of this article is that the author admits the fact that his ideas are influenced by his low-context culture (American) even though he tries to avoid biases. His recommendations become even more useful, as they are based not only on theoretical knowledge but also on practice.
Lee, Jung, Kip Becker, and Helena Nobre. “Impact of Culture on Online Management Education.” Cross-Cultural Management 19.3 (2012): 399-420. Print.
Jung Lee, Kip Becker, and Helena Nobre consider the way cultural differences, including communication, can affect online management education (399). Professionals analyze how culture influences acceptance and interaction to find out how people’s perceptions differ. To achieve the purpose of the paper, the researchers used a wide variety of methods, including factor analysis and independent-sample t-statistics. They successfully utilized structural modeling techniques. Their samples represented the USA and Korea. It was found out that high-context communication is used by the representatives of collectivistic cultures that are not very open to changes and tend to be rather conservative especially in comparison to other low-context individualistic cultures. This article highlights such peculiarities of communication as directness, preciseness, dramatism, openness, and basis on feelings or true intentions. I consider this work to be rather useful because it does not only provide the information regarding context nuances in the communication but also applies them to decision-making and desire to be involved in online education, training, learning innovation, and changes.
Mintu-Wimsatt, Alma. “Personality and negotiation style: The moderating effects of cultural context.” Thunderbird International Business Review 44.6 (2002): 729-748. Print.
Alma Mintu-Wimsatt discusses people’s relationships and personal characteristics through the framework of communication (729). She pays attention to the way cultural context influences negotiation. In the article, the researcher examines the “moderating effects of cultural context on the personality and negotiation relationship” (Mintu-Wimsatt 729). She explores inclinations, trust, possible risks, and problem-solving approaches. The work is based on the differences between the American and Filipino populations. Interestingly, the author focused on industrial exporters. Due to this article, I got to know that personality traits do not have much effect on problem-solving and negotiation. Even though I used to believe that gender, educational level, and experience have an enormous impact on the success of communication because they shape a person and form one’s worldview, it appeared that they are not that critical as I used to believe. It turned out that cultural context affects both people’s relations and problem-solving to a greater extent. This article can be very helpful because it reveals unusual peculiarities of communication-based on industrial exporters’ negotiation.
Mintu-Wimsatt, Alma, and Julie Gassenheimer. “The Moderating Effects of Cultural Context in Buyer-Seller Negotiation.” The Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management 20.1(2000): 1-9. Print.
In their work, Alma Mintu-Wimsatt and Julie Gassenheimer examine the way cultural context influences negotiation (1). In particular, professionals are interested in the moderating effects the context can make to improve communication between buyer and seller. They selected exporters from the USA and the Philippines to have an opportunity to find out how the representatives of the low-context and high-context cultures as well as their communication are affected by differences in gender, educational, and previous experience on such kind of interaction. It was interesting for me to find out that the results of the study proved that even though the sample that represented high- and low-context groups did not have much in common, their gender did not influence the success of the communication within the same cultural context. In addition to that, I received an opportunity to get to know that cultural context can moderate the difference between personal experience and negotiation style. Finally, people with low-context communication can have more advantage from their experience than with the high-context one.
Wang, Jiang. “A Cross-cultural Study of Daily Communication between Chinese and American — From the Perspective of High Context and Low Context.” Asian Social Science 4.10 (2008): 151-154. Print.
In his article, Jiang Wang explores the peculiarities of daily communication between the representatives of high-context and low-context cultures (151). The researcher selected a sample of Chinese and American people who have different backgrounds and occupations. With the help of a cross-cultural study, he examines how ignorance of contexts can lead to issues in communication and even conflicts. The researcher analyses real cases of daily communication and defines the distinctive characteristics of low and high contexts. This work is rather useful because it also includes some recommendations for communication between the representatives of both contexts. I consider this work to be rather advantageous for the research because it provides examples of the nuances between low-context and high-context communication. In addition to that, the author ensures that the guidance provided for the enhancement of communication can be used not only for sample countries but also for others with typical cultures, as the findings can be generalized.