Business Culture docx

Foreign Trade University – K48E – A16
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Contents
Introduction
A mutually intertwined process of internationalization and globalization has been
proceeding very quickly. More and more people recognize that globalization has been the
determined tendency of enterprise development in future. As a carrier of economics
globalization and internationalization, multinational companies are attracted by non-filled
markets, cheap qualified labour force, convenient location or tax relief and nowadays
they are able to position and move very quickly any source into any territory that bears,
in their opinion, the most suitable conditions for increasing their value. As a result, they
have absorbed and accepted more and more people of different races and different nations
from different areas, on whom the distinctiveness of culture could be seen clearly.
Subsequently, factors that influence behaviour of worker in multicultural environment
and preparation of its effective operation in conditions of a multi-national company are
stated. Recommended processes for overcoming of cultural differences including basic
rules and a process of adapting to a different culture are further developed.
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1. Definition of culture
Culture is a concept familiar to most people. It is difficult, however, to specify what is

meant by the concept. The word apparently originates from the Latin word cultura, which
is related to cultus, which can be translated as cult or worship. Members of a cult believe
in specific ways of doing things, and thus develop a culture which enshrines those beliefs.
According to Terpstra and David, culture is a learned, shared, compelling, interrelated
set of symbols whose meaning provides a set of orientations for members of a society.
These orientations, taken together, provide solutions to problems that all societies must
solve if they are to remain viable.
There are several elements of this definition that are important for us to gain an
understanding of the relationship of cultural issues and international management
(Punnett and Ricks 1992):
(1) Culture is learned—this means that it is not innate; people are socialized from
childhood to learn the rules and norms of their culture. It also means that when one goes
to another culture, it is possible to learn the new culture.
(2) Culture is shared—this means that the focus is on those things that are shared by
members of a particular group rather than on individual differences; as such, it means that
it is possible to study and identify group patterns.
(3) Culture is compelling—this means that specific behavior is determined by culture
without individuals being aware of the influence of their culture; as such, it means that it
is important to understand culture in order to understand behavior.
(4) Culture is interrelated—this means that while various facets of culture can be
examined in isolation, these should be understood in context of the whole; as such, it
means that a culture needs to be studied as a complete entity.
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(5) Culture provides orientation to people—this means that a particular group reacts in
general in the same way to a given stimulus; as such, it means that understanding a
culture can help in determining how group members might react in various situations.
Because culture is so fundamental to society, it influences people’s behaviors in critical

ways. When interacting within our native cultures, culture acts as a framework of
understanding. However, when interacting with different cultures this framework no
longer applies due to cross cultural differences.
In recent years, the growth in foreign travel for business, study and pleasure, the
expansion of international trade and the migration of people seeking work in the multi-
national companies have naturally led to a concomitant increase in contacts across
national and ethnic borders. When there are significant differences in background
knowledge, even the same message may be interpreted differently by different
individuals.All of our work involves encouraging and shaping cultural change. Business
change is inevitably accompanied with and to some degree facilitated by cultural change.
Which aspects of business culture need to change and by how much varies from case to
case, from business to business, and often from department to department.
2. Influence of Culture
2.1. Consumer behaviour
These people doing business always desire to expand the operation scale from countries
to countries, but their success or failure is decided by natives' acceptance. Culture affects
consumer behaviors: decision to buy goods or not. If consumers are in a situation to
choose from similar goods of different brands in supermarkets, they have trend toward
the brand which has well business relationships, long-term benefits for farmers. In
contrast, companies which have bad actions: misleading consumers or violating business
ethics will be boycotted by the consumers. This has happened on the world market and in
our country, there is no exception. Consumers have the psychology not only to buy goods
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by the benefits of it, but also to make decisions by emotional factors and brand.
Toyota Vietnam is a typical example. On 1/4/2011 to discuss with the press, Toyota
Vietnam representative acknowledged that there were nearly 9000 cars, which has
some technical errors. However, they said this error didn’t affect the safety of the car.

According to the evaluation of TMV’s leaders, all the problems mentioned above did not
affect operation of vehicle safety well as elements of user. Thus, TMV would
not carry out the recovery. Since that, Vietnamese consumers have trend to avoid the
Toyota as thinking of buying car.
The relationship between culture and consumer behavior: Cultural barriers for market
development is clear. To overcome this barrier, manufacturers must always understand
local culture and cultural impact on buying decision.
For example, one of the most interesting is that people of Indonesia are very polite and
always say "Yes" in answer although sometimes the answer is not really correct. They
believe that saying "no" will be rude.
To conclude, culture affects the choice of the consumer, beliefs and attitudes of
individuals.
2.2. Marketing Activities
Cultural influences marketing activities of enterprises overall:
- Culture affects a range of issues such as strategic marketing and
business options, target markets, marketing strategies and general decisions on business
operating and marketing.
- Culture also affects the strategies and measures for specific tasks, specific acts of market
activities in the marketing process.
- Culture affects the marketing tools, combine enterprise system of special tools of
production, distribution and promotion
The value of culture has widely influenced in society and created a common feature in
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demand, desire, behavior of consumers in one country. For instance, the traditional food
culture of Vietnam is the same as rice with bowl, chopsticks, etc. In many Western
countries, they are bread, butter, milk, meat with spoons, forks, etc
Today, multinational companies also pay special attention to cross-cultural issues and

also spend millions of dollars to train staff on this. It does not merely help to solve
problems between employees and customers in different countries but also to solve
problems appearing in specific environments. Everyone recognizes that each different
type of culture will create different solutions and therefore they will have to adapt quickly
to new environment though it is extremely difficult even when they were well trained.
2.3. Brand Name
Culture has become a factor which impacts strongly upon all aspects of business
operations and also a powerful resource in any business activities such as marketing,
branding, customer-oriented finding. Hence, business culture becomes a key for
evaluating a company. Although in economic- powered countries like the U.S., Japan,
China or other developing countries like Vietnam, the construction of business culture is
one of the top concerns of enterprises and organizations. In fact, if the enterprise has
strong business culture, it will survive and develop stably, such as Honda Motor
Corporation - the leading brand of automotive world, Matsushita - the company leading
the electronics products in the world and Mc Donald Japanese or American. In Vietnam,
even large corporations such as: FPT, or Trung Nguyen Coffee Company have their own
specific business culture.
In the moving and changing world, products, technology, factories, management and
people will gradually fade but the brand and corporate culture will survive and develop
over time if they know how to handle the brand's ambitions.
For example, one of the core values of the Sony (1950) is to increase the value of
Japanese culture; Walt Disney’s (1923) is to bring happiness to people.
Time has passed; the only remaining difference between the companies today is probably
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cultural factors. Other factors such as technology, business processes do almost not make
difference. The reason we distinguish between Mercedes and Toyota is not the quality but
that is the culture and brand image. If the brand does not have aggregation of special

culture and personality, it is hard to survive for a long time on global competitive market.
The successful brands for many decades from Japan and the United States say that they
sell "high quality" "cultural value" or "lifestyle "their own nation in their goods. To sum
up, product is made by human hands, but hidden inside is the combination of general
knowledge and experience accumulated in the process of business activities. Therefore,
brand is the crystallization of culture inside each product.
2.4. Relationship inside Company
Culture has become an ID (identification number) for each companies, it helps us to
distinguish the company with another. Culture is shown in working style and behavior of
employees both at work and in life. Many companies build their own culture on the basic
cultural traditions. Company culture becomes a factor encouraging loyalty and
enthusiastic morale of the staff.
2.5. Strategy
While the process of globalization is happening very quickly, in order to join
international economy, enterprises do not only have business activities within a country
but also gradually reach the international market However, in the process of penetrating
foreign markets, enterprises often face barriers that they can not easily overcome, such as
erupts sanctions, tariffs, quotas,… One of the most important barriers is cultural barriers.
The barrier starts from differences in languages, customs, habits, ect…
With a total of more than 200 countries around the world, there are a variety of used
languages. This has made business have difficulty in launching their products on foreign
markets. Many businesses have to make much efforts and spend a lot of
money to find their meaningful, impressive names and slogans, but sometimes these
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names slogans make world market turns their back on the products – penetrating plans of
the corporate fail Parker Ballpoint pen, a world famous pen company, while entering the
market of Mexico, they use the slogan “the pen is smooth to write and it doesn’t puncture

your pocket. “However, a disastrous mistake happens to two English homophones in
Mexico, the people of this country translated this into “it will not penetrate, but make you
pregnant”. Or "Nova," a compact car produced by Chevrolet. The company was actually
surprised because they had not sell a car in South America before they have understood
that "Nova" means "It doesn’t work”
2.6. Daily Talking
There are some examples:
Shake hand
In America, the cultural gesture shake hand when greeting is considered as a standard
person-to-person behavior. In fact in the U.S., refusing a shake hand is very rude. In
Saudi Arabia, you can shake hand with a man after meeting him but you cannot do this
with the woman at all in the greeting. According to Sharia law, it is immoral for a woman
to greet any man in public except her husband.
A-OK
America and England, the OK hand is quite popular and considered a general gesture that
denotes an agreement of feeling.but this gesture in Brazil is equivalent to using your
middle finger as a gesture in America. The OK hand is also considered as an insult in
most Latin American countries, Austria and France.
3. How to Communicate in Global Companies
Based on above analysis, here comes the suggestion about how to enhance the effective
cross-cultural communication in Global Companies to strengthen Global Corporate
Culture.
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3.1 Fundamental Principles
Global corporate culture is the internal driving force of enterprise development. It can
restrain the staffs’ behavior. North-West Airline’s former CEO Herb has said: “Your
competitors can imitate everything of your enterprise except your corporate culture”. So,

under no conditions should global companies abandon their core cultures. Since there are
various cultures in global companies, global corporate culture must be strengthened so as
to avoid the loss of core values under cross-cultural shock.
3.2 The Basic Tasks of the Management Team
3.2.1 Cross-Cultural Training
‘Cross-cultural Consciousness’ is very important to a member of Global Companies since
it enables the member to be sensitive about the differences between different cultures. It
usually can be gained systematically through Cross-Cultural training. Therefore managers
of Global Companies should devote efforts to this training. According to the main factors
that influence cross-cultural communication, cross-cultural training should comprise the
training about different cultures, foreign language, amalgamation of different
management styles, skills of communication and solution of cultural contrast.
3.2.2 Team Building Activities
It is not enough to teach the staff only the theory of cross-cultural communication. Every
theory can be completely understood and mastered only when it is applied. Therefore,
besides theoretical training, managers of Global Companies should also contribute to the
team Building Activities including various parties, competitions etc These activities will
provide more occasions for staff to communicate without pressure. As is proved, it is
easier for people to behave open-mindedly and to eliminate estrangement and
misunderstanding when they are out of work place.
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3.2.3 Self-improvement
According to Global Companies’ characteristics- cross national and cross cultural,
manager of Global Companies should have the following competences:
- Adaptability to different cultures in and out of the work place
- Cross-cultural communication
- Leading, motivating and managing multicultural teams

Therefore he/she must improve his/her cross-cultural communication ability through self-
learning, training and practice.
4. How to operate business in different cultures
How do successful global marketing companies such as McDonald's overcome
troublesome cross-cultural variations in taste preferences?
How could a small bank such as HSBC in Hong Kong became a global brand?
In today’s global business environment, more and more of us are required to understand
people who comes from countries and cultures different from our own. While there is no
short and easy way to learn about a given culture in any depth, there are some two iron
rules that lead to success in communicating and conducting business with people of
backgrounds unlike our own.
- In International Business,the Seller Is Expected to Adapt to the Buyer.
The buyer in an international transaction is in the fortunate position of being able to
largely ignore cultural differences. However, in the position of a company, ignoring the
custiomer behaviour just like we ourselves are killing our own companies. Pepsi firms
enter the market when Taiwan was honored with the English slogan "Towards the Age of
Pepso." But the meaning of this sentence polished people here have been read clumsily
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as "Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the dead." Similarly, the ad for the fried
chicken Kentucky's attractive, with the aim of bringing to ten the good taste while
enjoying finger has been construed as "Eat your fingers."
What if you are not involved in exports. Suppose you are traveling abroad to negotiate a
joint-venture agreement, an acquisition or a perhaps a strategic alliance? Now who is
expected to do the adapting? That is where the 2
nd
Iron Rule comes into play:
- In International Business the Visitor Is Expected to Observe Local Customs.

Is this just another way of saying, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do”? No, actually,
we should disagree with that old saw. Try not to mimic or copy local behavior. Instead,
just be yourself , build your own company culture… But of course 'being yourself' should
include being aware of local sensitivities and generally honoring local customs, habits
and traditions. In a world that integrate with many different cultures and numerous
companies, you can not dissolved in it, you should create a separate identity for your
company. Do you know a bank called “the world's local bank”? And how about the
company that has the slogan “Always listening, always understanding”? And also, be
ready to change. Come back to the beginning question: How do successful global
marketing companies such as McDonald's overcome troublesome cross-cultural
variations in taste preferences? It is because Mcdonal's always try to refresh theirself.
5. Skills for Eliminating the Barriers to Communication
Whether you need to interacting with your foreign customers, or to get on well with your
colleagues, four principles listed below can be useful.
First of all, Recognize Cultural Difference, only when we recognize what is permitted
and what is prohibited in different cultures, can miscommunication be avoided. In order
to eliminate miscommunication, first we must learn about our own culture, through which
we can increase the sensitivity and cognition about other cultures; then we also need to
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learn about the basic theory of cross-culture and other nations’ cultures, by which we can
distinguish one culture from another.
Secondly, Respect Cultural Difference. Everyone with certain cultural background may
think that the culture of his/her is the best, most civilized and most excellent while other
cultures cannot be compared. When faced by an interaction that we do not understand,
people tend to interpret the others involved as "abnormal," "weird," or "wrong." You
should be aware that your race or culture is not superior to any other race or culture, if
you are proud of your heritage, so do the others. It is a better beginning to have an open

mind, and a will to change, accept and respect different cultures, and at the same time we
can learn others’ expectation to us. So we consider that the first step to studying cross-
national communication is to establish the sensitivity about other cultures and to discard
our own ethnocentrism.
Thirdly, Be Patient. It is essential that you should understand the potential problems of
cross-cultural communication, and try to practice a lot to overcome these problems.
That's the rule, because it's in the doing that we actually get better at cross-cultural
communication. However, one’s efforts will not always be successful, and you can not
adjust your behavior appropriately all the time. Don't assume that there is one right way,
which is yours, to communicate. Keep questioning your assumptions about the "right
way" to communicate. For example, think about your body language; postures that
indicate receptivity in one culture might indicate aggressiveness in another.
And finally, Deal with Conflicts, if the situation gets tense, try to withdraw from the
situation, step back, and reflect on what is going on before you act. This helps in cross
cultural communication as well. When things seem to be going badly, stop or slow down
and think. What could be going on here? Is it possible you misunderstood what they said,
or they misunderstood you? Often misinterpretation is the source of the problem. Active
listening can sometimes be used to check this out–by repeating what one thinks he or she
heard, one can confirm that one understands the communication accurately. If words are
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used differently between languages or cultural groups, however, even active listening can
overlook misunderstandings.
As being said, the first skill to over come the diversity culture problems is knowledge.
But there are too many countries in this world, learning too much can make us confused.
In such cases, four basic Patterns of Cross-Cultural Business Behavior, ways in which
cultures, as a whole, tend to vary from one another, which are described below, can help
us. The descriptions point out some of the recurring causes of cross-cultural

communication difficulties. As you enter into multicultural dialogue or collaboration,
keep these generalized differences in mind. Next time you find yourself in a confusing
situation, and you suspect that cross-cultural differences are at play, try reviewing this
list. Ask yourself how culture may be shaping your own reactions, and try to see the
world from others' points of view.
i. Rigid- Time vs Fluid- Time Cultures .
Punctuality may also vary according to the occasion. Take Singapore, where business
meetings usually start within five or ten minutes of the scheduled time. In contrast,
wedding dinners are guaranteed to begin at least two hours after the time given on the
invitation - by which time some of the weaker guests have fainted from hunger. Maybe the
most important point to remember about the variable orientation to time is that while it is
rude not to be strictly punctual in a monochronic culture, it is equally rude to look down
on polychronic cultures who refuse to be on time.
ii. Deal-Focus vs Relationship-Focus
Relationship-focused people prefer to deal with family, friends and person or groups well
known to them - people who can be trusted. They are uncomfortable doing business with
strangers, especially strangers who also happen to be foreigners. Because of this key
cultural value, relationship-oriented firms typically want to know their prospective
business partners very well before talking business with them. In contrast, the strongly
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Figure 5.1
VERY MONOCHRONIC BUSINESS
CULTURES Nordic and Germanic Europe,
North America, Japan
MODERATELY MONOCHRONIC
CULTURES Australia/New Zealand, Eastern
Europe, Southern Europe, Singapore, Hong
Kong, Taiwan, China, South Korea.
POLYCHRONIC BUSINESS CULTURES

The Arab World, Africa, Latin America,
South and Southeast Asia.
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Deal-focused cultures are relatively open to doing business with strangers. A third group
of cultures falls somewhere in between. Most southern and eastern Europeans tend to
take a moderately deal-focused approach, as do increasing numbers of Hong Kongers and
Singaporeans.
For example, an export manager for a Danish manufacturer, Denmark Widgets, Lars
Larsen has researched that his company's product line has strong sales potential in two
major markets, the USA and Japan. Now Lars needs to get in touch with these potential
distributors. He has to meet each importer personally in order to evaluate them and
select the firm which will do the best job for DMW. How does he go about getting in
touch with the prospective importers in each of these two contrasting markets?
Since the U.S. distributor candidates are likely to be open to dealing with strangers, Lars
can contact them directly. All he has to do is put together a set of English-language
brochures about DMW and its product line, write a brilliant cover letter requesting an
appointment for a meeting and then mail the package off to his American prospects. Then
a week or so later, he will receive a call and make an appointment with the US candidate.
Now it's time to tackle his Japanese schedule. Lars has to fly to Tokyo to meet the
Japanese distributors.to? Being aware that cold calls rarely work in strongly RF cultures
like Japan, so Lars can not use the same strategy that he applied to the US. Since
Danmark Widgets is not a world brand and not yet well know in Japan, Larsen's
prospective partners will be unlikely to agree to a meeting based on a direct approach.
Japan is located at the opposite end of the DF-RF spectrum from the USA. That means
Lars will get far better results by making indirect contact with his distributor candidates
in Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya. How does he go about doing that?
Often the best way to contact RF business partners is at an international trade show.
That is where buyers look for suppliers, exporters seek importers and investors search
for joint-venture partners. Business behavior at such exhibitions tends to be deal-focused

because most of the attendees have come there for the express purpose of making
business contracts.
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Figure 5.2
DEAL-FOCUSED CULTURES: Nordic and Germanic
Europe, Great Britain, North America, Australia and New
Zealand, South Africa.
MODERATELY DEAL FOCUSED: Latin Europe,
Eastern Europe, The Mediterranean Region, Hong Kong,
Singapore.
RELATIONSHIP FOCUSED:, The Arab World Most of
Africa, Latin America, Most of Asia
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Another good way to meet potential partners in RF markets is to join an official trade
mission. All over the world today governments and trade associations are promoting
their country's exports by organizing guided visits to new markets. The organizer of the
trade mission sets up appointments with interested parties and provides formal
introductions to them. These official introductions help break the ice, smoothing the way
to a business relationship.
But suppose no widget trade show is scheduled for the next few months, nor is an official
trade mission planned in the near future. There is one other proven way for Lars to make
initial contact with his distributor candidates in Japan, the important point is that RF
firms do not do business with strangers, so he can arrange to be introduced by a trusted
intermediary.
iii. Informal vs Formal Cultures:
Formal cultures tend to be organized in steep hierarchies which reflect major differences
in status and power. In contrast, informal cultures value more egalitarian organizations
with smaller differences in status and power.

Why does this matter when we are doing business abroad? Because contrasting values
cause conflict at the conference table. On the one hand, business people from formal,
hierarchical cultures may be offended by the breezy familiarity of counterparts from
informal, relatively egalitarian societies. On the other hand. those from informal cultures
may see their formal counterparts as stuffy, distant, pompous or arrogant. Such
misunderstandings can be avoided if both sides are aware that differing business
behaviors are the result of differing cultural values rather than individual behaviour.
Jose Garcia Lopez, a Mexican importer, had been negotiating with a Danish
manufacturing company for several months when he decided to visit Copenhagen to
finalize a purchase contract. The business meetings went smoothly, so on the last day of
his visit Sr. Garcia confided that he looked forward to signing the contract after his
return to Mexico.
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Figure 5.3
VERY INFORMAL CULTURES
Australia, USA
MODERATELY
INFORMAL CULTURES Canada,
New Zealand, Denmark, Norway
MORE FORMAL CULTURES Most of
Europe, Mediterranean Region, Arab
World, Latin America, Most of Asia
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That evening the Danes invited Sr. Garcia out for an evening on the town. Flemming, the
40 year-old export manager and his 21 year-old assistant Margrethe hosted an excellent
dinner and then took their Mexican prospect on a tour of Copenhagen nightspots. Around
midnight Flemming glanced at his watch."Sr. Garcia, I have a very early flight tomorrow
to Tokyo. I hope you'll forgive me if I leave you now. Margrethe will make sure you get

back to your hotel all right and then drive you to the airport tomorrow morning. I wish
you a good flight!"
Next morning in the car on the way to the airport, Garcia was uncharacteristically silent.
Then he turned to the the young assistant: "Margrethe, would you please tell your boss I
have decided not to sign that contract after all. It is not your fault of course. If you think
about what happened last evening 1 believe you will understand why I no longer wish to
do business with your company."
To repeat, formality has to with relative status, organizational hierarchies and how to
show respect to persons of high status. That is why international marketers always should
know whether they are dealing with formal or informal cultures.
iv. Expressive and Reserved Cultures .
A person live in Italy, a very expressive culture, will build up his ability at showing his
thoughts and feelings in order to be understood there. But if one day, he moves to
Thailand, a very restrained culture, that Latin communication style would surely cause
him problems. If he keeps on talking too loud, using too much facial expression and too
many hand gestures, the soft-spoken Thai tend to interpret a loud voice as a sign of
anger. Furthermore, his animated facial expressions and frequent gestures warned them
that he might not be quite right in the head. To be successful, or at least, to live
peacefully in Thai Land, this man has to try to modulate his voice, maintain an
expressionless face and keep both hands folded in front of him.
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Figure 5.4
VERY EXPRESSIVE CULTURES The
Mediterranean Region Latin Europe Latin
America
MODERATELY EXPRESSIVE USA and
Canada, Australia and New Zealand,
Eastern Europe, South Asia.
RESERVED CULTURES East and

Southeast Asia, Nordic and Germanic
Europe
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To understand about this 4
th
group, here are some aspects of Expressive and Reserved
Cultures:
Distance Behavior: The 'Space Bubble'
Every human being is surrounded by an invisible envelope of air called a 'space bubble'
which varies in size according to (a) where in the world we grew up and (b) the particular
situation.
For example, two Canadians who have just met at a social event are likely to stand about
an arm's length away from each other. But the space bubbles of two Canadians making
love shrink to zero - they are meeting skin to skin.
No spatial problem exists as long as the people involved share similar-sized comfort
zones. The difficulties begin in cross-cultural situations when different-sized space
bubbles collide.
CLOSE: 20 to 35 cms (8 to 14 inches) The Arab World, The Mediterranean Region, Latin
Europe, Latin America
DISTANT: 40 to 60 cms (16 to 24 inches) Most Asians, Northern, Central and Eastern
Europeans, North Americans
Shaking Hands Across Cultures
Germans: Firm, Brisk, and Frequent
Arabs: Gentle Repeated and Lingering
French: Light, Quick and Frequent
South Asians: Gentle, Often Lingering
British: Moderate
Koreans: Moderately Firm
Latin Americans: Firm and Frequent

Most Asians: Very Gentle and Infrequent
North Americans: Firm and Infrequent
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Most Europeans: shake hands each time they meet and again when they take leave.
North Americans: shake hands less often than Europeans but more firmly than most
Asians.
Facial Expression: Raised Eyebrows
North Americans Interest. Surprise
Filipinos "Hello!"
British Skepticism
Arabs "No!"
Germans "You are clever!"
Chinese Disagreement
In addition to helping us to understand ourselves and our own cultural frames of
reference, knowledge of these four patterns of cultural difference can help us to
understand the people who are different from us. But it is important to remamber that you
can learn from generalizations about other cultures, but don't use those generalizations to
stereotype, or oversimplify your ideas about another person. The best use of a
generalization is to add it to your storehouse of knowledge so that you better understand
and appreciate other interesting, multi-faceted human beings.
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Conclusion
The fast process of internationalisation and overall globalisation brings requirements for
inevitable integration of cultures and cooperation within the framework of multinational

organizations. Culture and cultural differences play an important role in international
companies, at work of multicultural teams and at international meetings.
Different understanding of approaches, different cultural patterns may cause that it is not
possible to efficiently and successfully execute good intentions and ideas. People in
various countries may view and interpret the same facts differently. The meanings given
to them are a place where the different cultural traditions can be seen the most. The
knowledge of cultural differences may help the workers operating in multicultural
environment to reduce the possible misunderstandings and it enables them to foresee the
possible reactions of their partners.
The workers who are ready to admit, understand and respect the cultural differences of
other nations and to take helpful steps have a great advantage at fulfilling tasks in
multicultural environment. The development trend in this area goes towards converging
individual nations, communication and understanding of intercultural differences, which
represents a possible way to mutual cooperation reaching beyond the contemporary
borders of individual states or groups.
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References
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