According to Littlejohn, “Communication always occurs in context, and the nature of communication
depends in large measure on this context.” Put more simply, setting and environment help determine
the words and actions you generate and the meanings you give the symbols produced by other people.
Context provides what Shimanoff calls a “prescription that indicates what behavior is obligated,
preferred, or prohibited. “Dress, language, topic selection, and the like are all adapted to context. For
example, under most circumstances, males world not, even in hot weather, attend a university lecture
without wearing a shirt. The rules for each context, be it boardroom, classroom, or courtroom, are
culturally based and therefore relative.
All cultures have stated and unstated rules regarding who takes part in the decision making
process during meetings. In Japan, nearly everyone is consulted as part of the decision making
process. The Japanese proverb “Consult everyone, even your knees” demonstrates their approach to
decision making.
When we speak of communication being systemic, we are referring to much more than the
place of the interaction. Other elements associated with the systemic nature of communication are
place, occasion, time, and number of participants. Even though these are found in all communication
encounters, culture influences how we respond to them.