How Should Culture Conduct Be Examined In Other Countries - Essay Example

Cultural Conduct in Other Countries al affiliation Language and Thought: Language is a very important tool for communicating and sharing ideas with others. And everyone use this tool to interpret his thoughts. So our thoughts are closely related to our languages. If we want to learn a new language it is necessary to frame your thought in that language. Now world is becoming a global village. Many businesses going cross border, and when they go for research in the other country they face many challenges; one of them is language. The question that rises over here is how important role does a language play in cross border businesses? To run your business successfully in another country it requires a proper understanding of the culture of that country. And to understand the culture of that country, it is required to know and learn the language of that country. Every culture has different parameters and guidelines of thought. And the best way to understand the thought behind these parameters and guidelines is the language (Malt et. al, 1999). Language not only provides knowledge about culture, it also provides knowledge about economic and political situations. Knowledge of other languages has become very essential because now million of people share their ideas, common interests and communicate with each other across the world through internet and going cross border for businesses and study. All these things are possible due to the technological advancements. Here we take the example of America; the trade is growing rapidly here. Some business people are learning Spanish and Portuguese for there businesses. And now adays people are getting knowledge of other languages for economic integrations. Many Canadians have ability to speak English and French. And they have adopted these languages for the improvement of their jobs and businesses. So the knowledge of other languages gives us a unique thought and this thought helps us to make concepts and decisions correctly. Social Etiquette: Etiquette is a code of behavior or social behavior within the society, social class or group. Rules of etiquette generally based on social interaction within the society. It may be reflection of ethical codes, fashion and status of society, group or class. When someone is interacting with large social group or variety of people which have same interest, so there are some general rules to interact with them and these rules are socially acceptable. Business etiquette is similar to the social etiquette, but they are particularly for coworker’s interaction and vary from business to business (Johnson, 1997). When a businessman expands his business in other countries, he has to understand the language, cultures, taboos and etiquettes because different nations have different cultures and etiquettes. For example, in China if a person takes food item from a common bowl or plate without asking others that mean you are insulting the host. On the other side in America a guest has to eat all food in his plate as a compliment to the quality of food. In Korea and Japan, it is an old tradition for host and guest to fill their alcohol cups and encourage each other to take it, but if anyone doesn’t want to take alcohol for any reason, then it can become difficult for him to escape from it. So for a prospective businessman it is very essential to understand the etiquettes of other country. Because etiquettes provide help to interact with society. Basically etiquettes depend upon the culture. It may vary from culture to culture. If business people have knowledge about other country’s culture, language and etiquettes then they can easily create a good impression. Cultural Values: Cultural values are the ethical or moral values; values that reflect someone’s sense of good and evil or right and wrong. Cultural values are the reflection of attitudes and behavior of society or group. Norms are the behavior of people in a specific situation, and values are the judgment of this situation as good and evil. Both related with each other. For example if a country flies his flag on a specific holiday it is a norm, and patriotism that reflect from this action is a value (Santrock, 2007). Here a question arises how important are the cultural values for any businesses? Now many businesses are operating in different cultures, and these are influencing the decisions and choices of business managers. Some businessmen assume that the all cultures have similar things, so they ignore cultural differences because of that they face some serious blunders. Every country has different business cultural values. For example Americans give importance to individualism on the other side Koreans give importance to communities and group. In America they create equal opportunity for every one while in Korea there is a discriminatory society where they recognize people with there relations and see closeness of these relationships. In Korea people behave in very formal way and remain conscious about look, appearance, namesake and formalities while Americans believe on real transparency. Because of these different cultures, different countries have different economic and political systems. Like Americans have free market economy and Korea has a very controlled economy. So there are many differences in many cultures which affect the businesses in different ways. For prospect business people have many challenges regarding different cultures. To compete with these challenges the best way is to understand the cultural values of different cultures. Universal System: According to Gary Ferraro (2005), the universal system of culture is based upon all cultures common problems and common features. The five universal systems that make a universal system of culture are economic, social, education, marriage and family system and religion. It basically depends upon the similarities from different cultures. When we talk about the universal system of culture it leads us to harmony and humanity. People of different cultures and races believed on harmony and humanity. All have common goals like peace, security, enjoyment and unity etc. A cultural universal system is the pattern that is common to all human cultures globally. All over the world people are crossing borders for job, education and businesses. And they are sharing and communicating their ideas cultures and values with each other. And majority of people have some common goals and problems. So they are building a universal system of culture to fulfill their common goals and overcome their problems. Business Customs: Business customs are the practices, protocols and business etiquettes at a certain workplace. Like a society, a business has some customs and protocols. Different countries have different business customs according to their culture. For example Americans are very informal and friendly in nature. They don’t wait for introduction, they start speaking with strangers even they are standing in a queue and sitting some where for an event. On the other side, Japanese are very formal. Americans believe on individualism but Japanese believe on collectivism. Same as cultural customs and protocol, businesses have their customs and protocols. In America business people wear business suits and in Japan business dress is more conservative. In Japan, the business people exchange their business card with great ceremony; they receive business cards very carefully and place it in same manner. But in America business people exchange their business card without formal ceremony. And they carry it very casually. Americans are very straight forward in communication. They speak logically and to the point, they don’t waste time as it is very precious for them. But Japanese communication style is very formal they give importance to the relations and they prefer building relationships in businesses. Americans give importance to business meetings, they very punctual and build relations after signing the contract. Japanese are very punctual and they arrange their business meetings on appointments, they believe on long lasting relationships. And they exchange gifts at the end of the meeting. From examples we can easily find that different countries have different business customs which they follow. Negotiation Strategies: Negotiation strategies play a very vital role in any business. Negotiation is the deal making process or bargaining. Business parties mostly negotiate to remove conflicts between them and make a decision. Here a question arise that how important negotiation strategies are for a business? Most of the companies go for negotiations when they want to sell their output. Customer also negotiates when they want to purchase something better. There are many negotiation strategies like business people negotiate for decision making, cracking a deal, solving a dispute or making any agreement etc. For business people it is very necessary to understand the culture of other party before negotiation. Because some time culture differences may affect the deal. Now a question arises why negotiation strategies are affected by culture? Negotiators come from different cultures, so they have their norms and beliefs according to their cultures. For example if a negotiator comes from America his believe is on individualism because American gives importance to individuality. But if other one comes from Japan, than his believe is based on collectivism. So difference in culture may affect the deal or negotiation strategy. Before making negotiation strategies give a look to other party’s culture. Negotiation is all about what you are getting from this deal or what the other party is getting. There are many ways to negotiate with each other like face to face, through electronics and through negotiators. But all types required some tactics that how much you influence the other party to crack the deal, how much you gain the interest of other party etc. Knowledge and information is very important in any negotiation. Sharing of information and common interest are very helpful for any negotiation. Cultural Shock: Most of people travel abroad for study and work. When people go there they face same problems like language barrier, cultural difference etc. So some people end up loosing their emotional equilibrium and get frustrated. The feeling of this frustration is due to cultural shock. Culture shock has one or more phases. In the first phase, people come to the new country, they like the food, buildings, life and people habits etc. But when a person decides to settle down in the new country than he experiences the some difficulties like language barrier, housing, friends, and work soon. These barriers create frustration and anxiety for that person. As a result, he becomes disconnected from his new society. This is what happens in second phase. Now comes the next phase, in this phase people start dealing with their problems and start accepting the culture in a positive way which gradually becomes normal for him (Pedersen, 1995). How much cultural shock affects the individual and businesses? It may affect the business people and businesses. It is necessary for businesses to understand the language, culture and economy of other countries, before starting any thing. Now the question arises that how important is to deal with problems? When people move across borders without understanding these problems; they take time to over come it which means they are wasting their precious time. As a result, it affects their work. This may cause a failure. Now a question arises how to overcome the culture shock? To overcome the culture shock people may have to maintain their confidence. Don’t feel yourself a stranger or abnormal. Feel comfortable and try to understand new culture and language. Don’t feel negative and frustrated; try to learn new things and set your goals and fulfill them. List of References: Gary Ferraro (2005). “The Cultural Dimension of International Business.” Harlow, UK: Prentice Hall, 5th Edition. Malt, B., Sloman, S., Gennari, S., Shi, M., & Wang, Y. (1999). “Knowing versus naming: Similarityand the linguistic categorization of artifacts”. Journal of Memory and Language, 40, 230-262. Johnson, Dorothea (1997). “The Little Book of Etiquette.” Protocol School of Washington. Philadelphia: Running Press. pp. 127 Pedersen, Paul. (1995). “The Five Stages of Culture Shock: Critical Incidents around the World.” Contributions in psychology, no. (25). Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press. Santrock, J.W. (2007). “A Topical Approach to Life-Span Development”. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Read More