Norwegian Business Culture
In contrast to the indirect, roundabout language common in much of Asia, Latin America and the Middle East, Norwegians typically use direct straightforward language. They tend to be blunt and honest about their business ideas and feelings. However, most Norwegians are somewhat less direct than Danes and Germans. For instance, when not really interested in a particular deal, they may be reluctant to say so bluntly. In this they are similar to many British negotiators.
Reserve
Although a warm and friendly people, most Norwegians have a reserved communication style, compared to Latin Europeans, Latin Americans, Arabs, and North Americans. Whereas people from more expressive cultures employ numerous vigorous hand and arm gestures and animated facial expressions during negotiations, Norwegians use fewer gestures and less lively facial expressions. This characteristic can lead to confusion during negotiations with more expressive counterparts, who sometimes misinterpret Norweigan reticence as lack of interest in the discussion.
Norwegians tend to be soft-spoken and taciturn compared with Southern Europeans. However, business visitors are unlikely to experience the long gaps in conversation encountered in even more reserved cultures such as Finland and Japan.
In Latin America and South America, conversational overlap - interrupting another speaker - is common, while in Norway it is considered rude to interrupt someone mid-sentence. Visiting negotiators from more expressive cultures can cause offense by interrupting their Norwegian counterparts during a business meeting.
Interpersonal Space
Norwegians tend to stand at an arm's length distance from conversational partners in business gatherings. ...
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...tting your glass down, look into the person's eyes again and nod. Both women and men may offer toasts. When in doubt watch the other guests.
Conversation
Norwegians appreciate modesty and a certain degree of humility. They consider flaunting wealth or success to be in poor taste. Material things do not overly impress them. The same lack of interest applies to "name dropping" - the mention of influential or famous people you know. Avoid comments that could be taken as boastful or self-promoting.
Good topics of conversation include hobbies, politics, travel and sports, especially winter sports such as skiing. Norwegians are proud of their country and their history. Many Norwegians have very close ties with nature.
The visitor should avoid being critical of things, attitudes or organizations. Norwegians tend toward restraint when criticizing their own affairs.
Justin Matos Reasoning and Analysis Paper When you come from a different country do you have trouble communicating with others? Is it hard to adapt to the new culture or stay within your own culture? Around the world, many people are rewarded for been direct and independent. Been able to take care of yourself and work well with others who are not in your culture can help you achieve great things.
Jamie traveled to Denmark as a student in a study abroad program. She went expecting the country to be fairly similar to the US. She was surprised right away to see so many differences. Jamie states “I was shocked to find out that the Danish way of life couldn’t be more different from what I was expecting.” (350) . Coming from New York City where things are fast paced and very career-driven, she found a place that was calm and cozy. A place where friends sat around and ate dinner and enjoyed each other’s company for many hours. A place with a lot of intimacy and
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This essay discusses the influx of Norwegian immigrants as well as their role is skiing logging boating and fishing. This resource is based on the archives in the Nordic Heritage Museum. The weakness with this resource is that it is just a short easy although it strength is it covers many aspects of how Norwegians helped develop Seattle.
Recently, Finland is considered one of the best when it comes to education and how they have come to teach their children. Finland, is located in Northern Europe and main religion, is that of Evangelical Lutheran. In Finland their government is called a republic and their main language is Finnish. When it comes to how to act the Finnish people are very modest and will often downplay being praised, as they are modest people. When it comes to how one should behave the Finnish culture believes that you should always act in a proper and courteous manner as it is the most important to never to be disrespectful. They believe in talking in moderate tones and do nothing that would call attention, as this wa...
Americans try to avoid miscommunication by being very clear and direct about what they are trying to say (Western Washington University, 2011). In typical day-to-day social interactions, people in the U.S. tend to be less formal and polite and are more physical than the Japanese (AngloINFO, 2014).
When involved in global affairs with another country, it is beneficial to be able to understand and speak the same language. Being monolingual severely hampers an individual 's ability to negotiate and be involved in global affairs. It was published by a website for higher education that, “At the risk of schematizing his account too severely, this means: more Arabic for national security and more Mandarin, Hindi, and en passant, Korean for the economy” (Berman). When involved with other countries, there is often a language barrier that hinders communication. It is very difficult to negotiate with another
Of all communication, nonverbal is the utmost important. In order to comprehend how the use of nonverbal communication affects the success of a leader it is first vital to recognize what nonverbal communication actually is. Nonverbal communication does not concentrate on words themselves, but rather the physical expression of a message. It is imperative to recognize that nonverbal communication can significantly influence the focus of a message (Knapp, Hall and Horgan). Nonverbal cues are always powerful indicators of what the communicator means and feels. These cues include; eye contact, gesticulations, posture, paralanguage, and overall facial expression. However, that is only the tip of the iceberg. In reality, nonverbal communication also incorporates spatial relationships, artifacts, and appearances. Also, environmental elements, such as seating, arrangement and setting have a large effect on leadership and credibility.
Norway is one of the “three fingers” of Scandinavia, and is just larger than New Mexico. It covers 125,181 square miles. It is located in Northern Europe, bordering the North Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean. The coastline stretches 21,925 km. The population of Norway is 4.3 million and growing. The population is predominantly or Nordic (Scandinavian) decent. There is also a small minority (20,000) of native Sámis (Laplanders), who live mostly in the North. Many aspects of business and management in Norway are very similar to those of America including language and communication, power structures/politics, work ethics, food and eating habits, dress, and religious beliefs.
“Communication problems, beyond the obvious language differences, became a real barrier to honest dialogue”.
China is a high context culture. “In high context cultures, information is either in the physical context or internalized in the person (Iowa State University, 2015).” In China they depend more on understanding each other’s meanings rather than having to speak to communicate. “In these cultures, members tend to use a more indirect style of communication (Iowa State University, 2015).” This is probably due to the strong accents that the Chinese have.
Zhang, Jian-Dong; Liu, Leigh Anne; Liu, Wu. “Trust and Decption in Negotiation: Culturally Divergent Effects.” Management and Organization Review, [early view].
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jeswald w. salacuse (2) 005 ‘The Top Ten ways that Culture can Affect International Negotiations ‘. Available from < http://iveybusinessjournal.com/topics/global-business/the-top-ten-ways-that-culture-can-affect-international-negotiations#.Uzwdh6iSySp > [ 3 April 2014]
The way people communicate varies widely between, and even within, cultures. One aspect of communication style is language usage. Language has always been perceived as a link between people but it can also constitute a barrier. Across cultures, some words and phrases are used in different ways. For example, even in countries that share the English language, the meaning of "yes" varies from "maybe, I'll consider it" to "definitely so," with many shades in between . Furthermore, communication between cultures which do not share the same language is considerably more difficult . Each culture, has its distinct syntax, expressions and structure which causes confusion in intercultural communication. For example , in Asian countries the word “no” is rarely used, so that “yea” can mean “no” or “perhaps”. Therefore, an American traveling to Japan might be considered impolite if he ignores this rule. Furthermore, individuals who are not comfortable with a certain language may not be taken seriously. Such is the case in the classroom, where a student who has a perfect knowledge of the subject in question may have difficulty expressing his idea due to his inability to write properly and therefore he would not receive the grade he truly deserves. Similarly intercultural communication is dominant in the workplace. In the past, many companies and organizations could operate entirely within their country of origin and conduct their activities exclusively in their own native language. But now, due...