Hidden differences in competent communication: A case study of an organization with Euro-Americans and first generation immigrants from India

This article reports part of a two stage study of intercultural communication between first generation immigrants from India and Euro-Americans. In-depth interviews were used in the first stage to develop intercultural “critical incidents” for use as stimulus material in a survey. The survey was used in the second stage to explore participant perceptions of the influence of national culture as well as rules for managing intercultural interactions. It was determined that while participants did not agree in their perceptions of the influence of culture, they generally agreed on the dominant culture rules for competent intercultural communication in each of the critical incidents. In addition, support was found for the tacit influence of cultural differences on perceptions of competent communication between Asian Indians and Euro-Americans in one critical incident involving the proper amount of supervision.