Question

Read eText Chapter 11. Watch the videos on Power Distance. What did you learn?

Locate and analyze a video pertaining to intercultural communication and one of the following contexts: education, health care, law enforcement, or business.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euhRDwoq-38

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqaa42gbqhA

Answer 1

Power distance refers to the way in which the power is distributed. So, the individual with low power accept and expect that the power is distributed unequally. There are two types of power distances:

High power distance: This is seen un countries like Russia,China,India etc. Here the people in authority are considered as superiors, so this superiors show initiatives. The communication in high power is formal and indirect. Here the teachers or superiors are called by titles such as Professor Smith.

Low power distance: This is seen in the countries United kingdom,Germany and USA. People in authority are just the members of the team and here students take initiative. The communication is Informal and direct which is not polite. The superiors are called by their first names Eg. Bob

Intercultural communication:

This is a communication where the information is shared across different cultures and the social groups. This describes about the problems usually occur in an organisation. In the video(Chapter 12: Intercultural communication and Education) it explains how the intercultural communication is related to education. We know that education is an important platform in the world and education systems helps in developing knowledge to global citizens. There are some keyfactors in the education such as intercultural education changes as the global economy changes. The classroom behaviours are different with different culture students. So this behaviour can be misunderstood by people belonging to other cultures. For example the grades are private in the U.S in other countries grades are given publicly. This creates a problem and hence classroom behaviour is very important in intercultural education. Racial differences affects education for international students. Because attendance is mandatory and due to bullying, bullies dont attend school which affects their education. So, it is important to study about the cultural differences that are creating problems in the education field.