Guo-Ming Chen

Intercultural Communication Competence: A Synthesis

As we encounter ever greater cultural and co-cultural diversity, the careful study of intercultural communication competence becomes increasingly important. Only through competent intercultural communication can persons from different cultures communicate effectively and appropriately in the upcoming global society. Following a recounting of themes of research on intercultural communication, this chapter presents arguments concerning individuals’ need to negotiate multiple identities in terms of culture, race, ethnicity, gender, and religion in the interdependent and interconnected network of global society. This requires a functional and theoretical transformation of the study of intercultural communication competence.

The Impact of Confucianism on Organizational Communication.

Confucianism has been identified as the major cultural factor that explains the economic success of the Asian Five Dragons. This paper explores the impact of Confucianism on the organizational communication in these nations, based on the four key principles of Confucian teachings: the hierarchical relationship, the family system, Jen, and the emphasis on education. This study further discusses the influence of these four principles of Confucianism on management behaviors and communication in the organization. Implications of Confucianism influence on organizational communication are also explained.

Asian Communication Studies: What and Where to Now

A paradigm of Asian communication is emerging due to the efforts of Asian communication scholars over the years, thus, it is a critical moment for Asian communication scholars to move a step forward through the process of self-examination. To achieve this goal, this essay focuses on the discussion of the present and prospect of Asian communication studies from three aspects. First, the essence of Asian communication is stipulated based on previous studies; second, the concepts of yin and yang are employed to explicate the controversial or confrontational views that show the internal and external diversity of Asian communication studies; and third, the union of the polarity of yin and yang, or the Tao, of Asian communication studies is proposed.

Relationships of the dimensions of intercultural communication competence

This study was designed to investigate the relationships between the dimensions and components of intercultural communication competence. In this study, 149 international students and 129 American people were used as respondents. Significant relationships were predicted. Results from correlation and canonical analyses showed that the two hypotheses were supported. Limitations and directions for future research were also discussed.

Intercultural communication competence: Some perspectives of research

This analysis synthesizes the various strands of theory buiding on intercultural communication competence (ICC). Focused propositions are advanced to guide future ICC research.

Beyond the dichotomy of communication studies

The trend of globalization has sharpened the debate on the culture-specific and culture-general approaches to communication studies. As the demand for culture-specific approaches in scholarly research is increasing due to the impact of globalization, the trend of universalizing representations based on a culture-general paradigm is also getting stronger. Unfortunately, the countermovement between scholars’ dichotomous positions continues to reflect the limitation and myopia of traditional views, which mirror a full embracing of the local practices on the one side and a blind acceptance of foreign elements on the other. Hence, how to balance the yin and yang of scholarly research will be the key to developing a sound state of knowledge-seeking and knowledge-making in the future. This article goes beyond this either–or thinking by taking the stance that the dissolution of the boundary should be pursued. The interpenetration and interfusion between the yin and yang of communication studies should also be sought, while the local identity is still sustained. The concept of miantze (face) and a survey research method are exemplified in this article to support the argument.

Letters to silent teachers in Tzu Chi Medical School: a spiritual interaction.

This article examines the spiritual communication between medical students and the donated dead body they anatomized, referred to as the silent teacher. Data were obtained from the medical school of Tzu Chi University in Taiwan, where students are required to write a letter to the silent teacher at the end of the semester after they have anatomized the body. The school has collected and published a total of 89 letters from 1996 to 2001. This article content analyzes all the 89 letters published and draws common themes from them. Based on the results of this content analysis, we have developed a model of spiritual communication.

Die interkulturelle Sensibilität als Anforderung an Entsandte: Bedeutung und Elemente für ein Meßmodell

Mit der fortschreitenden Internationlisierung der Wirtschaft steigt der Bedarf der Unternehmen an interkulturell kompetenten Managern u.a. im Markteing. Jedoch tragen bisher weder die auslandsorientierte Personalentwicklung internationaler deutscher Unternehmen noch die empirische betriebswirtschaftliche Forschung zur interkulturellen Kompetenz dieser Entwicklung ausreichend Rechnung. Aus dem Blickwinkel der Forschung wird in diesem Beitrag eine zentrale Dimension des komplexen Konstrukts der interkulturellen Kompetenz empirisch naher untersucht: die interkulturelle Sensibilitat. Dazu wird ein aus den USA stammendes Modell der interkulturellen Sensibilitat (Chen/Starosta-Modell) anhand der Daten einer deutschen Stichprobe mit Hilfe einer konfirmatorischen Faktorenanalyse (LISREL) uberpruft, wobei sich das Modell im grosen und ganze bewahrt. Das Chen/Starost-Modell bietet somit einen Ansatz fur die kulturubergreifende Konzeptualisierung und Messung der interkulturellen Sensibilitat von Personen und liefert zugleich einen Baustein fur die Entwicklung und Prufung umfassender Modelle der interkulturellen Kompetenz im Rahmen kunftiger Forschung.