Types of Communication Styles

 

1. Personal communication style

1.1 Faster paced - lower paced

Some cultures communicate rapidly. They expect answers to questions immediately. Others have slower speech patterns. One does not expect the other person to reply at the very moment. According to Professional Academy for Corporate Excellence the ideal speaking pace should be 140 – 170 words per minute.

Personally, I tend to sway between the two styles with respect to the circle the other person is in. For instance, if I am talking with a person with in my group who are familiar with my language and/or terms I would tend to speak at a more rapid pace. On the other hand, if the listener or the does not understand the language or the concept I am talking about I would be careful to slow down so the other person understands the message. (eg)

1.2. Formal – informal

Some people adopt formal, structured way of communication while others speak more freely and friendly.

On the topic of formal and informal, I always adopt a formal style of conversation where there are proper structure and format for the sentences. The degree of formality may vary. The informal conversational style is only used with my inner circle of close friend and family. Sometimes I’m said to be too formal and professors have even asked me to loosen up at certain occasions.

1.3. Inductive – Deductive

In inductive thought pattern the person observes and study the surroundings and come into a conclusion. In the deductive approach a statement is first formulized and then later observes and decides if its correct or not.

Personally, I tend to follow an inductive pattern of thought rather than a deductive one. I observe and study the situation before reaching any kind of conclusion.

1.4. Rational- Emotive

Rational people have the ability to see a separation between a person and their ideas and any kind of opposition towards the idea will not be reflected upon the person and vice-versa. Emotive people tend not to see any kind of separation.

I find the rational way is the best suited for a professional environment. It would be good for the organizational harmony. It can create healthy arguments between the employees and still maintain the co-ordination between them. During heated debates in classrooms it happens that I completely argue against my friend or other colleagues but it doesn’t affect our relations after the debate.

1.5 High context – Low context

In a high context conversation less words are used and the context has a major role to play in understanding the message. In the low context communication, the context is giving less priority and most of the message is conveyed verbally.

I tend to talk with in high context way, which more than often ends in me explaining the whole thing again. In a professional level it is important that we know the cultural background of the receiver or where the receiver comes from. For example, when I used to talk to my Korean friends, they where more used to the high context type.

2. Comparison between personal communication style – your culture’s communication style

2.1. Faster paced - lower paced

My culture’s style and my personal style of communication is not much different from each other. In my culture it is commonly slow paced. The people tend to take long pauses between queries and “think” before they speak.

2.2. Formal – Informal

There is not much difference in aspect. Due to a huge PDI (power distance index) the people in India tend to be more formal everywhere. They tend to respect everyone and everything. The phrase “adhiti devo bhava” meaning guest equal to god shows another dimension of the formality. This formality is further reflected into the communication. For example, it is not just “uncle” “Aunt” in India but big uncle if the uncle is father’s elder brother and “little uncle” if it’s the younger.

2.3. Inductive – Deductive

Indians are considered to be more inductive in nature. They start by giving a background and all the things before getting to the point. Answering a question involves putting out all the information, and then making a summary statement at the end. As LearningIndia.in puts it is like listening the entire story and then finally the moral.

2.4. Rational and emotive

For a change in this aspect the Indian style is different from my personal style. I feel that Indians tend to be more of emotive than rational. This comment can be backed by the conditions of the political situation in India, the plethora of celebrity promotions etc. The “Halo effect” and the “Horn effect” is much more prevalent in the Indian culture. For example, if the under achieving student gives an opinion about something it is highly possible that the teacher might not take his word in to account.

2.5. High context – Low context

The communication style in India tends to be more polite and indirect. They may try to speak pleasingly to those they are not close to in order to avoid conflict or confrontation. People often exchange opinions or viewpoints through negotiation rather than arguing that their perspective is definitively correct. This communication style can come across as ambiguous. Direct communication is reserved for relationships with a high level of trust or crucial situations.

3 Research on the communication style of another culture

For this part I have decided to research the middle eastern communication style. The reason I decided to research this communication style is because I myself was brought up in a middle eastern country and my father has been working there for the past 40 years. Hence this research will be based on personal experience, online research and an online interview with my father.

3.1 Faster paced - lower paced

In the middle eastern culture people tend to be faster paced in their communication. They communicate with few or no pauses and with overlapping questions. It is said to be this way to show interest and rapport with the other person.

Eg

3.2 Formal – Informal

The Arabs follow an Informal way of communication.

3.3 Inductive – Deductive

They are inductive in nature. People from this region take into consideration all the different aspects of a certain event in order to get the true understanding of it. Touria Drid in his study on “The Use of Induction, Deduction or Quasi-Induction in Argumentative Essay Organization by Arabic-Speaking” it was found that out of the 114 participants 47.11% followed a deductive pattern, 40.38% followed of an inductive pattern and finally 12.5% followed a quasi-inductive pattern. The results show that 52.88% followed a non-deductive pattern of writing.

3.4 Rational and emotive

3.5 High context – Low context

The Arabs have a high context communication style. They use less words and expect the listener to know the context and the surroundings of the conversation and doesn’t have to be specific. The person will talk and talk around the topic and it will be the listeners duty to piece all information and find the message. In these conversations hidden messages can be found when seeing the whole picture.

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