Nonverbal Communication across Cultures

Purdue University is a leader in cultural diversity in the student population and because of the heavy use of small group work in courses it’s probable that a group member could be of a different culture. Having a culturally diverse group is great, there’s increased idea generation and because of the radically different backgrounds the group has a better chance of generating the best solution possible. However, because of that cultural difference there is the potential for conflict when interpreting nonverbal communication. The image for the article shows three different individuals from different cultures that have very different gestures and emblems for expressions when compared to typical American gestures and emblems representing the same expressions. The best way to handle different cultures is to discuss the differences when in the forming and storming group formation phases. This leads to an understanding between group members that these gestures and emblems shouldn’t be taken too seriously and that the meaning behind that gesture probably means something very different to you than the person communicating that gesture. It would be best to be able to translate and understand these gestures but normally group doesn’t exist long enough for the gestures to be learned. So in the future in order to deal with cultural diversity and nonverbal gestures meaning various things, is to open up a dialog between group members and discuss these problems.