Typically, individuals of Muslim and Jewish religious traditions (and others) avoid any incidental or polite physical contact between members of the opposite gender, even though such gestures (like handshaking) might be completely appropriate under ordinary circumstances (Moran, Harris, & Moran, 2007).
Dealing with Cultural Differences Positively:
Cultural differences have tremendous potential for creating divisiveness in the workplace where no appropriate effort is made by management to increase cultural awareness and mutual sensitivity and respect among coworkers with different cultural backgrounds and expectations. Conversely, any negative effects attributable to cultural differences can be minimized or neutralized entirely by effective approaches designed to do so (Locker, 2003; Moran, Harris, & Moran, 2007). Ideally, business management should institute policies and awareness training in the realm of cultural sensitivity throughout the organization and in advance of any specific issues arising in that regard.
Precisely because awareness is such a crucial component of cultural sensitivity, in many cases, potential conflicts and issues that are functions of cultural differences are capable of prevention instead of a post-hoc approach to resolve such issues only after they manifest themselves as problems between and among coworkers (Blair, 2003). In principle, cultural sensitivity training need not necessarily convey specific knowledge of any particular culture.
Rather, effective training of this nature need only emphasize the awareness of the many types of interactions and issues that could generate problems among coworkers from different backgrounds. Therefore, it is not necessary to emphasize the specific idiosyncrasies within any culture at all; it is sufficient to increase awareness in a general sense of the degree to which issues such as physical space, prolonged eye contact, expressions of emotion, and physical contact can raise within a culturally diverse...
Cross-Cultural Communication With increased competition being witnessed in many industries, Multinational companies are setting shop to new foreign markets as a way of increasing their profitability and remaining competitive. Many countries have liberalized their markets, and present advancement in technologies has made it easy for companies to open new branches in foreign markets. However, this also comes with it challenges, particularly relating to cross-cultural communication. Effective cross-cultural communication is very important
J Lastly, in chapter 9, Hendon, Hendon & Herbig (1999) focus on "what" or the contract, of cross-cultural negotiations. The authors claim the only purpose of cross-cultural negotiations is to product a "contract" or an agreement, which they define as an "exchange of conditional premises in which each party declares it will act in a certain way" only on the condition that the other parties involved agree to live up
As these examples convey, it is highly important that anyone who will be engaged in cross cultural communication be familiar with the nuances in behavior or even the lack of behavior of other nationalities as dictated by their cultures. In American business culture, communication tends to be more dynamic compared to the Japanese (Lee, 2). Most Americans expect a lively discussion when they are involved in negotiations. In American business
Typically, difference in expectations between Japanese and American is manifested because of the cultural variables. American believes that it is acceptable to express emotions openly. On the other hand, Japanese culture does not believe in overt expression. Japanese considers the overt expression as unacceptable, and in most cases, Japanese considers the American overt expression as a sign of aggressiveness. Japanese considers endurance and harmony to be important. Japanese believes that
Therefore, the standpoint of social embeddedness is a tool that offers to provide a clear picture if one wants to comprehend the contribution of the relational factors in the success of outsourced IS projects (Rai, Maruping and Venkatesh, 2009). If one is to increase his/her comprehension and develop an insight about how to monitor and control outsourced IS projects, Johns' (2006 as cited in Rai, Maruping and Venkatesh, 2009) suggestions
Generational issues, while seemingly the obvious hindrance to a smooth flow of production, are, as Tulgan offers (198), "merely a reflection of the business issue at play - transition to the workplace of the future." However, that said, the one pivotal / key sentence Tulgan offers, also on page 198, is very straight to the point, on the money, and a salient theme Charlie should launch in order to save
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