by Anna Panunto
Edward T. Hall, the famous American anthropologist and cross-cultural researcher helped us achieve some kind of understanding of how cultures communicate by simply dividing them between the high and low context framework. So, what do we mean by low and high context? Well, low context cultures communicate more verbally – what they say is what they mean and words are taken literally and things are explained in detail. Whereas high context cultures communicate less verbally and depend more on non verbal cues rather than what is literally said. Also, low context is more centered on the individual – meaning you essentially represent yourself whereas high context is more centered on the collective meaning that the group represents itself. Finally, with low context, there is little or no shared reference point whereas high context is mostly all about a shared reference point.
Source: PixabayFrom the late 1970’s-80’s, this was seen as revolutionary especially because world economies had just started opening up and this literally changed the world. Most North American professionals, had to adapt to this fundamental difference in styles of communication – be it on the telephone ( one on one or tele-conference) or in person during business trips, etc… However, in the early 1990’s, with the emergence of modern globalization and the use of the internet, leaders and managers from across the globe had to further educate themselves on multiculturalism. Understanding Hall’s framework of high and low context, became paramount to their growth strategy and success.
Multinational companies/corporations/ institutions depended on fruitful professional relationships and this meant continuously accessing new markets. With the increasing use of the internet, meant that employees, teachers, and students from across the world had to learn how to work with computers. Slowly but surely, most North American institutions, corporations, schools, etc began seeing this shift when inter-cultural communication gradually became the norm.
Nowadays, it is salient to say and bear in mind that this is from the perspective of a North American adult educator, that communication can no longer be divided as simply low or high context. More often than not, inter-cultural communication as a shared experience falls right in the middle. Social media triggered this change and our global pandemic solidified it.
So, what do I mean by middle context? In the last 2 ½ years, I have done most of my teaching online either via zoom or teams. But, I am not alone. I know many professionals that have been working from home and conducting meetings, seminars, workshops, trainings, etc all online.
So, this middle context type of communication means that those from high context cultures have learned to speak more and rely less on non verbal cues and those from low context cultures have learned to slow down their pace and amount of information delivered and rely a little bit more on listening. With online communication there is a combination of individualism and collectivism – we depend on one another’s collaboration and cooperation at the same time. I have found this the most intriguing – especially as an educator. As a class, we are a collective but we depend on every person’s cooperation in order to make our online class a success.
Furthermore, our perception of time has also shifted – bear in mind that low and high context cultures view time differently. For most low context cultures, time is of the essence and so punctuality is integral as is delivery of information but the opposite is true for most high context cultures. But, the pandemic has changed all of that.
Nowadays, what constitutes a successful online session – regardless of the professional context? With my observation, as an educator/ freelance writer, what constitutes a successful online session is that all parties involved feel that their time spent online was both pleasant and useful. They all received the information needed in order for them to carry on with their tasks, goals, etc – regardless of context. So, all parties involved online need to have the necessary tools to make this happen. We are dealing with technology and so, proper equipment in order to avoid glitches and unnecessary interruptions is important. Having a private space without background noise can be viewed differently from culture to culture- but a middle context was created wherein participants that log on to the online session have the option of muting themselves, turning off their videos, etc.
All in all, high context cultures have adapted more to an individualist way of communicating simply because the pandemic obligated everyone to work alone. This suited low context cultures just fine, but by the same token, they had to be more patient with the pace of communication and its delivery. Hence, less content is covered than it normally would be in person. The North American concept of, “ time is money” has be remodelled in a sense. So, here we are seeing more of a middle context pattern.
Finally, we are dealing with different time zones – so the familiar North American 9am to 5pm schedule is no longer existent. Many times, during the early pandemic, I had students from different time zones log on to my classes- this was due to the unforeseen circumstances that the pandemic brought upon us. Patience and understanding was required on my behalf – I had to pay more attention to their non verbal cues ( as all of them were exhausted) and they had to pay more attention to my verbal communication ( which exhausted them even more) . Finally, at precisely this time period from March 2020- to June 2021, is when I detected the emergence of a middle context culture taking place with my online teaching experience.
Last but not least, I would like to conclude that I do embrace this change whole-heartedly and I hope that professionals from all over the world will do the same because understanding one another is the key to a happy nation!
I end with this quote:
“ A nation’s culture resides in the hearts and in the soul of its people”
Gandhi
Anna Panunto is born and raised in Montreal, Quebec. She is of Italian origin and speaks 3 languages: English, French, and Italian. She holds a Bachelor of Arts with a minor in Women’s Studies and a Masters in Education both from Mcgill University. Over the last 20 years, Anna has taught in various schools and institutions as an adult educator and university course lecturer. She is also a freelance writer and experimental artist dabbling in digital photography and painting.