Although Chinese culture generally includes a long-term orientation to time, increasing development and changes in technology could lead to a more short-term orientation to time in the business world. This example illustrates dialectics of intercultural communication.

It is through intercultural communication that we come to create, understand, and transform culture and identity. Intercultural communication is communication between people with differing cultural identities. One reason we should study intercultural communication is to foster greater self-awareness. Judith N. Martin and Thomas K. Nakayama, Intercultural communication in contexts, 5th ed. (Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill, 2010), 4. Our thought process regarding culture is often "other focused", meaning that the culture of the other person or group is what stands out in our perception. However, the old adage "know thyself" is appropriate, as we become more aware of our own culture by better understanding other cultures and perspectives. Intercultural communication can allow us to step outside of our comfortable, usual frame of reference and see our culture through a different lens. Additionally, as we become more self-aware, we may also become more ethical communicators as we challenge our ethnocentrism, or our tendency to view our own culture as superior to other cultures.

As was noted earlier, difference matters, and studying intercultural communication can help us better negotiate our changing world. Changing economies and technologies intersect with culture in meaningful ways.

a: social security and social programs