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Counteracting Ethnocentrism in Inter-cultural communication between multi-national firms. Courtney Cochran COM439 – Dr. R.C. Fetzer. Introduction. Courtney Cochran – Senior International Studies and Speech Communication Major December 2010 Graduation
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Counteracting Ethnocentrism in Inter-cultural communication between multi-national firms Courtney Cochran COM439 – Dr. R.C. Fetzer
Introduction Courtney Cochran – Senior International Studies and Speech Communication Major December 2010 Graduation Mentor: Irving Williamson – Commissioner US ITC • Purpose • Research Questions • Literature Review • Findings • Conclusion
Purpose • Achieve a tangible understanding for the way intercultural communication affects a globalized workforce • Define a new method to identify and correct cultural biases that affect communication between multi-national corporations
Research Questions • What are the implications of ethnocentrism as an element of intercultural communication between multi-national corporations? • How can ethnocentrism be recognized? • How can ethnocentrism between firms of contrasting cultural backgrounds be neutralized to facilitate communication?
Literature Review • Gudykunst and Ting-Toomey, 1988 • “Ethnocentrism is a nearly universal syndrome of discriminatory attitudes and behaviors…seeing one’s own group (in group) as virtuous, superior, and standards of value as universal.” (Hammond & Axelrod, 2006) • Approximately 15 sources with various dates
Negative Implications of Ethnocentrism on Communication • Prevents effective communication; firms lack a shared value base • Causes difficult to resolve conflict • Stems from groupings – Favors in group members which prevents effective cross cultural collaboration
Creative Application – Measuring and Counteracting Ethnocentrism • Two day training proccess • Begin and end with ethnocentrism scale test developed by Neuliep and McCroskey (1997) • Introduce culture types, and training on how to interact with other culture types, based on Hofstede’s cultural dimensions • Introduce strategies for avoiding group identifcation
Limitations • Culture tailored training • Lack of articles published directly discussing ethnocentrism • Natural predispositions to ethnocentrism
Conclusion • Ethnocentrism is natural, has positive elements, but remains dangerous to intercultural collaboration between multi-national corporations and other entities • There are tools that can be used to reduce the negative impact of ethnocentrism • Future implications