1. Culture Workshop – ITALY
EESL536 Chihye Kang

2. Contents General Information Italian Values & Attitude
Communication Style
Culture Learning Activity

3. General Information Location: Southern Europe
Ethnic Make-up: Italian (includes small clusters of German-, French-, and Slovene-Italians in the north/ Albanian- and Greek-Italians in the south)
Religions: predominantly Roman Catholic with mature Protestant and Jewish communities and a growing Muslim immigrant community
Language: Italian (93% of population-native Italian speakers, 50% speak a regional dialect, many dialects are mutually unintelligible)

4. Italian Values & Attitudes
Power Distance
50, medium ranking
Hierarchy should be respected and
inequalities amongst people are acceptable.
It is normal for a high level manager to have special benefits that his subordinates have not. (i.e. a reserved parking place, a larger office)
Age is an important factor for one’s career.
In southern Italy, PDI is more obvious.

5. Italian Values & Attitudes
Individualism
76, an individualistic culture
“me” centered in the big cities of the North
Having their own personal ideas and
objectives in life is very motivating and
the route to happiness is through personal fulfillment.
In Southern Italy, less individualistic, the family network and the group one belongs to are important social aspects.

6. Italian Values & Attitudes
Masculinity
70, a masculine society
Highly success oriented
Children are taught from an early age that
competition is good and to be a winner is
important in one’s life.
Italians show their success by acquiring status symbols such as a beautiful car, a big house, and a yacht.

7. Italian Values & Attitudes
Fashion
Appearances matter in Italy.
The way you dress can indicate
your social status, your family’s
background, and your education level.
First impressions are lasting impressions in Italy.

8. Tips for Classroom Activities
Individualistic culture
Promote their self-fulfillment.
Even in a group activity, carefully design to reveal their personal dedication and success.
Masculine society
Use their competitive spirit.
Do games or activities to compete one another, then their participation and passion will be aroused.

9. Communication Style .

10. Communication Style High context culture
People derive much information from nonverbal and environmental cues and less information from the words of a message.
Very animated and dramatic (sometimes overly) during conversations
Large displays of emotion, often it may appear that people are arguing when in fact they are just having a conversation.

11. Communication Style Personal space & Touching Eye contact
An arm’s length distance or a bit less
Considerably less between friends and family
Tend to touch quite a bit during conversations
Eye contact
Direct eye contact tends to be the norm.
Not looking someone in the eyes when speaking, especially when shaking hands is usually considered extremely rude.

12. Communication Style Non-verbal cues Non-verbal cues Avoidance Interest
Avert eyes
Cross arms
Lean back
Close mouth
Non-verbal cues
Eye contact
Raised brows
Lean in
Smile

13. Communication Style Greeting
When meeting an Italian for the first time, be ready to shake hands, but if they come at you be ready to air kiss.
Air Kiss:
simply pressing your cheek to
someone else’s
Starting with the right cheek and
moving to the left
Lips contact is not necessary, but ok.

14. Culture Learning Activity
Greet, Dress, Talk like Italians!
Divide into groups of 3.
Read the handout for more information.
Decide the role (two Italians and an observer).
Choose a proper set of a place and clothes.
Two greet and talk each other like Italians.
One gives feedback to the two based on the checklist, and share opinions.
Change the roles till all take the role of an observer.

15. References http://geert-hofstede.com/italy.html
etiquette/italy-country-profile.html
ent_details.php?Id=8&CID=102
while-traveling-in-italy.html
and-nonverbal-communication-in-italy