British Versus American Cultures - Essay Example

Nicholas a few minutes early. She is welcomed by a secretary who informs her that Mr. Nicholas will be in a minute or two, but she had to wait for more that half an hour. This makes her so agitated and extremely restless. When she stands and brushes her cloth, it is a body gesture that implied that she was already impatient with being kept waiting for a long time (Scott, par10). While still on with the conversation, Mr. Nicholas tried to show courtesy to Mrs. Marybeth. He goes on to talk about the weather so as to build rapport with his guest. Mrs. Marybeth found this to be time wasting and dismisses him.

This agitates Mr. Nichols but he does not show it to her; his facial expressions conveyed it all. Mrs. Marybeth was particularly shocked by the state of Mr. Nichols’ office. It was not sophisticated as hers in Los Angels. Mr. Nichols room was in a mess which is not so much common among the Americans to find in such an office. Across the different cultures, how the offices are arranged, conveys lot different things. The way books and furniture were arranged in Mr. Nichols’ office conveyed so much to the American lady which would have been a wrong perception of the situation (Scott, par 4). Mrs. Marybeth should have known about the living culture of the British who do not put so much concern on one’s appearance. Mr. Nicholas also dressed in a way, Mrs.

Marybeth found not sophisticated (Scott, par 7). Unlike the Americans, the British have proved not to be a good time keepers. Had Mr. Nichol realized that his visitor was a timekeeper he would not have kept her waiting. Mrs. Marybeth should also have realized or learnt that by saying a minute or two, Mr. Nichols’ secretary was not so precise about the arrival time of her boss. Mr. Nichol and Mrs. Marybeth, should have learnt about the different culture for better communication. Mrs. Marybeth should also have leant that the British consider courtesy to be so valuable to their visitors.

She should not have dismissed Mr. Nichols way of conversing with her, but should have acknowledged it and moved on with the matter at hand. Considering the state of the office, and Mr. Nichols dressing, Mrs. Marybeth should have learned that, in the different cultures, different people do not consider outward appearance to be primary. Although Mr. Nichol dressed in a shoddy manner, he tried to convey himself in a sense of class and also sharp and intelligent. Had the cross culture leaning occurred; none of the business partners would have been offended.

Thus, there is need to appreciate other peoples culture. How Technology is Stifling People’s Compassion There are different meanings of some verbal and non-verbal cues in the diverse cultures. A person can be able to decode these cues if he or she understands the culture of the person who is using it. He should also be able to understand that different cultures do decode the different cues to mean different meanings. According to Barnett para3, a person can take several minutes to trust a complete stranger only by using a face to face communication.

We can be able to pay attention to inflection in another person’s speech, interpret the smallest change in facial expressions. This has been a norm in many peoples culture since the early times. Electronic evolutions in the society today, has made it to be harder to decode the expressions made by other people. The