Your culture affects all your communication, but three factors are especially relevant when interacting within small groups (see Figure 11.1). The first is whether you see your individual needs as more or less important than the group’s needs. As Chapter 4 discusses, people raised in an individualistic culture (the United States and Australia) will place greater importance on their individual achievement and personal happiness than will those from a collectivistic culture (China and West Africa). People with a collectivistic orientation place greater importance on group goals, and they especially value cooperation and interpersonal harmony.

A second important cultural dimension is power distance, the degree to which people expect inequality between persons of low and high power (Hofstede, Hofstede, & Minkov, 2010). In high-power-distance cultures (such as Mexico and Saudi Arabia), an individual of low power wouldn’t disagree with a leader during a discussion. In low-power-distance cultures (including the United States and Canada), many people expect leaders to treat those below them with respect and to invite everyone’s input on certain decisions.

A final cultural factor affecting small group communication is uncertainty avoidance, or how much tolerance people have for risk (Hofstede et al., 2010). In cultures with high uncertainty avoidance (such as Germany and Finland), individuals expect structure and rules. In those with low uncertainty avoidance (including the United States and China), people feel more comfortable with change and with having relatively few rules.

Understanding how your cultural orientation affects your communication in small groups is a component of your self-awareness. Let’s say you have been oriented to collectivistic ways of thought and embrace a high power distance. In this case, you may avoid disagreeing with a group leader or offering your opinion during a discussion. Or suppose you have high uncertainty avoidance; you might become frustrated when a group lacks clear goals or ground rules. By knowing how cultural factors influence your own group behavior, you can be mindful of communicating your ideas in ways that maintain the self-worth, or face, of culturally different teammates (Oetzel & Ting-Toomey, 2003). For example, if you’re part of a group in which many members are from a high-power-distance culture and you disagree with something the senior person in the group said, how would you handle it? Voicing your opinion mid-meeting may cause other team members embarrassment. Instead, you could approach the high-status person during a break, and ask, “Are you open to hearing another opinion?” Choosing to raise your objection privately shows respect for the senior person and avoids a potentially embarrassing situation.