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Gaining Greater Cultural Awareness

In: Stories to Tell Your Students

Author

Listed:
  • Thomas A. Conklin

Abstract

Let me tell you a story about a teacher named Tom who was teaching a class on diversity as part of an organizational behavior class. The class was a fairly heterogeneous mix of students with a variety of ethnic and cultural backgrounds from around the world. As the class unfolded, the topic of cultural differences and nonverbal communication practices in various cultures came up. During the discussion the class struck upon the practice of nodding their heads in an up and down motion to indicate “yes.” This act is understood in the United States to mean “yes” and yet over the course of the discussion, it became clear that what was taken for an affirmative nod was not a message of acceptance in all parts of the world. In Bulgaria, for instance, it means just the opposite. Moving the head up and down indicates the negative reply of “no” and moving the head side to side means “yes.”

Suggested Citation

  • Thomas A. Conklin, 2011. "Gaining Greater Cultural Awareness," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Joan Marques & Satinder Dhiman & Jerry Biberman (ed.), Stories to Tell Your Students, chapter 1, pages 38-40, Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Handle: RePEc:pal:palchp:978-0-230-37043-2_18
    DOI: 10.1057/9780230370432_18
    as

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