BACKGROUND PAPER
ON
12 DOMAINS OF CULTURE: DIRECT AND INDIRECT COMMUNICATIONS
1. In the United States of America we communicate several different ways: verbal and non-verbal, direct and indirect, high and low context, and emotional and neutral. In this paper I will concentrate on discussing the difference between direct and indirect communications. In America, we encounter people who are arrogant, straight forward, overzealous, might come off rude and straight to the point, these are traits of direct communication. While on the other hand, we encounter people who are passive, thoughtful of others feelings and seek out the polite response, these are traits of indirect communication. In order to be a good communicator, we should understand the difference between the two.
2. Direct communicators may come off misunderstood if the listener does not understand the difference between the forms of communication. Direct communicators mainly state exactly what they feel is just and what’s on their mind. They tend to try to convince others they are right. Pacifica.edu defines direct communication as “meaning is conveyed through explicit statements made directly to the people involved with little reliance on contextual factors such as situation and timing. (What you see is what you get! Tell it like it is!)”1. In our career field we see direct communication mainly in our leadership and supervisors. Leadership and supervisors normally are direct communicators because they are subject matter experts in their career field. Members rely on them for answers and they have to respond with a logically. Learning four lenses direct communicators fall into the green temperament who are highly competent and prefer facts. Green temperaments can come off a very rude and lack sympathy to people that is unaware of their distinct preferences.
3. Indirect communicators on the other hand are totally opposite from direct communicators. They are mainly cautious and respect...
