How would YOU feel if you had just lost one of your most
important business deals due to a teeny tiny error on your part but a HUGE
cultural write off in the eyes of your client?
Is understanding another person's culture really that
important?
In today’s world, to be a part of the fast developing global
market is like hitting the jackpot, but it’s not that easy. We have to understand the importance of
cultural behaviour and how to communicate with target clients. This can pose to
be the biggest challenge on your path to achieving a secure place in the global
market.
The purpose of this blog is to help overcome the
communication barriers between cultures and improve intercultural proficiency and communication. Through our discussions we will answer to:
- Why it is important to understand different cultures
- How to understand the differences between you and others, and
- How to communicate yourself to people from different cultures and achieve accurate results, respectfully.
“To effectively
communicate, we must realize that we are all different in the way we perceive
the world”
-Tony Robbins
....What do you think?
Quote taken from:
http://cindyking.biz/resources/useful-resources/culture-quotes/
I believe this is a very important topic. A lot of business now is involved globally and most people will be required to do business with other countries. If you don`t learn their customs and ways than the chances of a successful business trip and jut doing business with them in general is not likely. Anywhere you go in the world you should learn their customs and culture before you go, this is key to make a successful trip. In addition it shows you have respect for their culture and ways. It shows you took the time to learn and that IS the most important aspect about travelling to other countries. They would notice and they would appreciate it a lot. That’s my opinion do you agree?
ReplyDeleteWell SHADOW, I believe we are on the same page.
DeleteThank you for participating on my blog. I look forward to hearing from you on further posts.
I agree with you, it so crucial to know the different cultures and traditions especially if you plan on doing business in other countries. If you plan on having a successful trip you must do some research and learn their customs. Example if you were to be travelling to japan on a business, you would need to know when you accept a business card you do it with two hands and a bow. Also were to sit is important to know, and to remember to bring a gift to give to the person in the highest position. It is very important to know other customs. My advice for anyone who`s travelling to another country is do some research before you go. It will make your trip easier and more successful.
ReplyDeleteThat is very good advice. Research before you go to any place is very necessary especially with regards to how to communicate with people of different cultures.
Delete:) You wouldn't want to get beat up for something you didn't mean to say or imply.
just imagine that hehe.
What is your opinion on Adapting to legal and ethical responsibilities?
ReplyDeleteI believe the faster one can understand and adapt to their legal responsibilities the better as one can fall into big problems with the law. In certain careers, such as teaching and in the medical field, it can get hard to continue practicing your profession after having thrown out of it. A failure to adhere to legal responsibilities is taken very seriously and can put your career at great risk.
DeleteEthical responsibilities are also important, but that comes from the type of people we are. For example, one teacher may feel strongly about helping a confused student out of the way, and another teacher might not feel responsible enough to take care of a student's problem if the student fails to ask for help.
I would say yes that understanding another person culture is extremely important mainly because if you were to get a job in other country outside of Canada for example Hong Kong, it would require you to personally educate yourself with the way business is run there. It would also be important to understand how people in that type of environment communicate and perceive information so it would be necessary to tailor your business model and advertising for instance to meet the needs of the consumer in that culture.
ReplyDeleteAll in all it would be important to respect the culture and do the things that are proven to work effectively in that culture instead of doing what you think works.
Yes Omar the most important thing is to try to work together and the only way we can reach the goal of interculturalism is to understand and accept each other and keep practicing tolerance.
DeleteI do respect the above opinions but I must say its hard to understand other cultures completely specially these days when most of us dont even fully understand our own cultures as world has truly become a "Global Village". Whats more important is to respect other cultures and appreciate the differences. We are all very different individuals and even people belonging to the same cultures acts differently at times. If you think you'll surf for few hours on the net, read a book, or watch a movie on another culture and it would help you understand how to communicate, the body language and gestures of people belonging to another culture you are mistaken. I would just approach a client and let them know the truth and apologize for any shortcomings in advance instead of wasting my time on doing that research which would go in vain anyways.
ReplyDeleteYour concept is agreeable, why would you want to trust written information compared to actually receiving it first-hand. That would be amazing if we could start off with a non stereotypical attitude. But in some cases it doesn't happen that way and in some cases it can't.
DeleteThe objective is to have an understanding of how another person may communicate with you and what that persons' mode of communication may mean before having met them. I believe there is nothing wrong with doing a little research. It would only come in handy especially for those who sit in formal gatherings like business meetings or company mergers.
People in those situations would not have the time to sit and understand each other. Their goal is to get the job done as pleasantly as possible.