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Introduction on cultural differences in business
Differences between a low-context culture compared to a high-context culture
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Recommended: Introduction on cultural differences in business
Subject: Differences in Mexican’s and American’s Cultures North America has a monochromic culture, where time is treated as a valuable resource and business tasks are needed to be completed as quickly as possible. Mexicans follow a polychronic culture, which emphasizes relationship. Thus, Alan, US sales representative in Mexico, experiences difficulties with doing business because people with whom he works get used to be late on the meetings. Moreover, his hosts want to talk about sightseeing and his family in order to establish a relationship. Mexico is also characterized by high-context culture, where communication is conveyed implicitly and considered as a means to establish relationships. Alan’s low-context culture leads to employees’ miscommunication because he counts long not job-related conversations irrelevant. In addition, family is the first priority for Mexicans, so Alan’s meetings are frequently interrupted by customers’ children who come into the office. …show more content…
Alan can prevent cross-cultural miscommunication by learning about Mexican culture.
This knowledge can be obtained through training programs, general reading, talking to people from Mexican culture, and learning from past experiences. Since Mexicans tend to feel that it is essential to invest in establishing a relationship before focusing on the job task, Alan should schedule his appointments with larger time intervals in order to leave time for not job-related conversations. Furthermore, Alan can find an assistant who would play with customers’ children while he is
working. Daria Kolesnikova
Haiti is located in the Caribbean; it occupies the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic. Haitians migrated to the U.S. due to regime change. In Florida, over 700,000 Haitians live there (Background on Haiti & Haitian Health Culture). Many Haitian-Americans share both cultures. There are similarities and differences between the American and Haitian culture. The two cultures have different foods, holidays and economy.
If one were to visit different countries and societies throughout the world, they may notice the many differences and similarities each region shares. This makes the world a very unique place because there is constant change and diversity everywhere we look, no matter the distance traveled. A prime example of this would be the similarities and differences between the United States of America and Mexico. Although the two are neighboring countries, there is a great deal of diversity amongst them that deserve a thorough examination.
From the United States to Hispanic countries like Spain, the countries share their love for the same sports even though they are oceans apart. While they have their similar interests, sports interests differ in each of the countries as well. Without sports in the world, our cultures we know and love would be completely different and dull. They help shape our cultures and the people within them. Sports like soccer, football, and baseball are sports that we know and love in Hispanic and American countries. We all know what they are, but the way they are played, their histories, and our passions for these sports differ and correspond.
caught up in a war for which the colonists had no real reason to fight
Compare and Contrast Between Hispanic Culture and American Culture I. Introduction The Hispanic population has experienced incredible growth in the past decade in the United States of America. In 2006 it was estimated that the Hispanics cover 11% of the population in North America. Their origin is in Mexico and the few Spanish speaking countries in the Caribbean. American culture is derived from people who originated from the European nations like Italy and the Great Britain.
What is culture? Many people ask themselves this question every day. The more you think about it the more confusing it is. Sometimes you start leaning to a culture and then people tell you you’re wrong or they make you feel like a different person because of your culture. I go through this almost every day. Because of the way I was raised I love Mexican rodeo but I was born and raised in Joliet. This can be very difficult trying to understand culture. I live in this huge mix of culture. Culture is personal. People can have many cultures especially in America and because of globalization. Cultural identity is not one or the other, it is not Mexican or American. Cultural identity is an individual relevant thing.
Chung has been operating under what he feels are the established norms for his culture. Ted's relationship with the Taiwanese client exhibits the Chinese management principles of paternalism, particularism, and insecurity. The patron-client relationship is based in a sense of mutual obligation, where the client is expected to defer to Ted's expertise and Ted is expected to trade the account responsibly. (Moorhouse, 2005) Ted also used social networking to establish himself in the community which is expected in the Chinese culture. By attending events Ted increases his “visibility and prestige” which contributes to the face that is needed to be considered a trustworthy business partner in the Chinese community. (Moorhouse, 2005) Karen had trouble understanding these differences in culture which is the root of the problem in this case. As stated in the case study Ted was in his early forties were stable and responsible. Karen admitted that she didn’t really know the whole person (referring to Ted) but wrote it off to the fact that he was Asian and she was not. Karen would not be described as someone with much “Cultural Intelligence” defined by the text as “the ability to accurately interpret ambiguous cross-cultural situations” (Robert Kreitner, 2008) Figure 4-2 in the text defines the differences between Low and High-Context cultures with China being a very High-Context culture and North American countries being Low-Context. Below list the traits of each type culture:
Despite the traditions Mexicans are brought up with everyone is given the opportunity to decide and choose which specific traditions to enforce in their own lives. The Herrada’s and the Zapata 's are both mexican families that follow very strong Mexican traditions, yet despite the Mexican lifestyle they both choose to live their lives completely different. These two families both share the same cultural beliefs but choose to welcome or categorize people differently.
There are many ethnicities in the world, the two ethnicities that I chose to interview were a Mexican and an African. They were both females, mothers who were hesitant to cooperate for the survey/ questioning in the start, but were put to eased when it was made clear that the questioner was in all of the senses anonymous in the way that only myself will know who they were since pseudonyms are to be made to replace their true names. The Mexican is to be named Juana and the African is to be named Aisha. There are many similarities that can be seen in their parenting and culture, but there were also some clearly differences between the two. I will go through and start with the biographical information and the culture of Juana and the Aisha and
In modern times, anthropologists have come to realize that race is not a genetic difference between humans, and that we are all the same, yet differ by geographic origin. These geographic differences are what make humans appear different, which has yielded unnecessary and often tragic results in the past. Now, anthropologists study skin color and other “racial” differences to help identify humans for potential diseases or in crime scene investigation. In the paper written by Yann C. Klimentidis, Geoffrey F. Miller and Mark D. Shriver, Hispanic and Native American populations were surveyed and studied to find how their believed genetic background differs from their actual genetic background. The results of their work could be used to better
It is all the situational factors that include the communicators, occasion, place, and time of the interaction. Hall's model organizes cultures by the amount of information that is given by the context when the communication is taking place. High context cultures relay and convert messages with the use of metaphors and cues and requires the recipient of the message to read between the lines. On the other hand, low context cultures relay simple and clear messages that are much more overt and explicit. Not only does Hall's model account for how messages are relayed, but also accounts for how a culture expresses their reactions. Generally, the reactions of people from high context cultures are reserved and inverted, whereas low context cultures' reactions are more visible, external and outward (Hall's Cultural Factors). Much of how people communicate with those in their culture depends on their association with other people. The way a culture associates with the people in their relationships factors into the context in which the communicate. High context relationships depend greatly on trust and build overtime, whereas
During a meeting with a Mexican supplier Ted offended the visiting businessman by refusing to go on a tour of the city offered by Manuel. In past oriented countries such as mexico sharing cultural history is a very important factor, and is usually shared by the business host. This also shows the differences between the monochronic ways of the United States and the polychronic thinking that MExico use. Monochronic cultures want to get to business right away, time management is a number one priority and deadlines are taken very seriously. Ted displays this by not wanting to waste time getting a deal done with the other business man. This is also shown when he is upset with Manuel over the plant 's failure to get running in time. Manuel displays his polychronic methods by socializing during the business meetings, and by failing to get the plant up and running in time by missing the deadline by five weeks. Had Ted been aware of the polychronic culture of mexico he could have been more hands on in getting the plant up and running in time, just another case where the intervention of a business anthropologist would have been
According to Hofstede (1983), cultural differences dramatically impact on management specially in multinational firms. Cultural diversity is claimed to be difference in each country in term of work ethics, the way of communication, employees and customer’s behaviours, and leaders-followers relationship by Kowske (2007). For instance, Japan, China, and South Korea are illustrated to be the high context countries where employees tend to prefer not only indirect messages but also the properly nonverbal codes whereas German and Great Britain are claimed to be the low context countries where tend to communicate directly and provide information through message rather than action(Hackman, 2004). Similarly, the relationship between leader and followers in Asia countries has difference expectation from the others, so the manager in Asia should praise the entire
Communication is the key to organization for these companies and leaders depend largely on its effectiveness. In one study of cross cultural communication, managers were asked to think of seven problems before the meeting to make the communication effective (Barriers of Cross Cultural Communication in Multinational Firms). But, how do people understand each other when they do not share the same culture? To answer this question we must first understand cross cultural management. This type of management focuses on the behavior of people working together as a group ...
A high-context person is slow in getting to the point and does not foresee to have to be very specific. Thus, preference for indirect message is more marked, being specific about unpleasantness is particularly embarrassing in a relationship culture .in opposition Low-context individuals are quick to get to the point. However low-context and high-context communication takes place in every society and culture; cultures differ in the degree of context considered in business communication. High context culture in which people are deeply involved with others and where indirect messages with deep meaning flow freely, while low-context cultures are highly individualised, partially alienated, fragmented cultures in which there is little involvement with