Giving and Receiving Criticism

When you are satisfied with your corrections, print a copy of the revised rough draft. Recruit a friend, family member, or colleague to read it and give feedback. Most writers solicit feedback from peers before they submit their work to a magazine. Think of this step as a way of doing that. Read this article and share it with your critics to help them give you constructive feedback. Note in particular how to take into account different cultural attitudes toward criticism.

Cultural Differences in Approaching Criticism

When offering criticism, it is important to consider cultural differences such as eye contact, verbal style, and speaker expectations.


Cultural Groups Approach Criticism with Different Styles

A culture is a system of attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors that form distinctive ways of life. Different cultural groups have different ways of communicating verbally and non-verbally. While globalization and media have moderated many of the traditional differences for younger audiences, it is wise to consider five important areas where cultural differences could play a role when giving and receiving criticism:

  • Verbal style in low and high-context cultures
  • Instrumental versus affective message responsibility
  • Collectivism and individualism in cultures
  • "Face"
  • Eye contact

Photo of an audience facing a stage at the United Nations Climate Change Conference

Cultural Differences Impact Communication: The attendees' attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors shape the communication inside and outside the conference.


Verbal Style in Low and High Context Cultures

In low-context cultures such as the United States and Germany, people are expected to say what is on their minds directly; they will not "beat around the bush." In high-context cultures like Japan and China, people are likelier to use indirect speech, hints, and subtle suggestions to convey meaning.


Responsibility for Effectively Conveying a Message

Is the speaker or the audience responsible for conveying a message? The instrumental speaking style is sender-orientated; the burden is on the speaker to make themself understood. The affective style is receiver-orientated and places more responsibility on the listener. With this style, the listener must pay attention to verbal, nonverbal, and relationship clues to understand the message.

Chinese, Japanese, and Native American cultures are affective, whereas the American culture is more instrumental. Think about sitting in your college classroom listening to a lecturer. If you do not understand the material, where does the responsibility lie? In the United States, students believe it is up to the professor to communicate the material to the students. However, Chinese students may have a different sense of responsibility. Listeners raised in a more affective environment respond, "No, it is not you; it is our job to try harder." These students accept responsibility as listeners who work to understand the speaker.


Collectivism and Individualism

Are the speaker and listeners from collectivist or individualistic cultures? When a person or culture has a collective orientation, they place the needs and interests of the group above individual desires or motivations. In contrast, cultures with individualistic orientations view the self as most important. Each person is viewed as responsible for his or her own success or failure in life. When you provide feedback or criticism, if you are from an individualistic culture, you may speak directly to one individual, who will be responsible. However, if you are speaking with someone from a more collectivist culture, your feedback may be shared by all the members of the same group, who may assume responsibility for each other's actions.


Face

Face is usually thought of as a sense of self-worth, especially in the eyes of others. Research with Chinese university students showed that they view a loss of face as a failure to measure up to one's self-esteem or what others expect. Speakers and listeners are concerned with maintaining their own face in more individualistic cultures. They do not focus on that of others. However, in an intercultural situation involving collectivist cultures, the speaker should be concerned with maintaining their own face and that of the listeners.


Eye Contact

Rules about maintaining eye contact vary from culture to culture and influence how we approach feedback, questioning, and criticism. For example, in many cultures, avoiding looking someone directly in the eye is a sign of respect, the opposite of what most North Americans expect. In many traditional Arab cultures, it is inappropriate for women to maintain eye contact with a man. Additionally, it is considered respectful for a child not to look directly at an adult who is speaking to them in many African American and Latin-American communities. Basically, we should never construe lack of eye contact as a sign of indifference or disrespect.

Key Takeaways

  • In low-context cultures such as the United States, people will say what is on their minds directly; they will not "beat around the bush." In high-context cultures such as Japan and China, people use indirect speech, hints, and subtle suggestions to convey messages.

  • The instrumental style is sender-orientated; the burden is on the speaker to make him or herself understood. The affective style is more receiver-orientated and places more responsibility on the listener.

  • Collective orientation places the needs and interests of the group above individual desires or motivations. In contrast, cultures with individualistic orientations view the self as most important.

  • "Face" is the sense of self-worth we want others to have of us.

  • Rules about maintaining eye contact vary across cultures and influence how we approach feedback, questioning, and criticism.

Key Terms

  • Face: a sense of self-worth or self-esteem, especially in the eyes of others.

  • Collectivism: a philosophic, political, religious, economic, or social outlook that stresses the priority of group over individual goals and cohesion within social groups.

  • Culture: The beliefs, values, behavior and material objects that constitute a people's way of life; the arts, customs, and habits that characterize a particular society or nation.

Source: Lumen Learning, https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-communications/chapter/giving-and-receiving-criticism/
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