Cultural Differences

Chapter 5 Imagine this scene - you are inspecting a house with the possibility of purchasing it and you open a bathroom door to see a woman sitting naked in a bathtub. How would you expect the surprised woman to react? We Were Having Pizza at the Time All cultures walk on the same side of the pavement as they drive on the road. You'd also be stunned when you go to shake hands to say goodbye to an Italian but, instead, you get a kiss on both cheeks. As I departed, the Italian man kissed me on both cheeks. As you talk with local Italians, they seem to stand in your space, continually grabbing you, talking over the top of you, yelling in fact, and sounding angry about everything. Take the Cultural Test How aware are you of cultural differences in body language? Now look at the following hand signals and see how many different meanings you can assign to each one. For each correct answer you got, allocate yourself one point. What did you score? Why We're All Becoming More American The Japanese 1.

Intercultural Communication Articles For fresh articles and content visit our blog! Below you will find access to a range of articles relating to cross cultural and intercultural communication. The articles touch upon a number of topics that will be of interest to a wide range of reader involved in intercultural communication such as international business personnel, HR staff, people working in public services and in many other areas where intercultural communication is an issue. Intercultural Training Articles > An Introduction to Intercultural Communication - a basic summary of the purpose of intercultural communication. > Cross Cultural Communication Consultants - A look at the role, skills and qualifications of cross cultural communication consultants. > Definition of Intercultural Communication - what does intercultural communication mean? > Cross Cultural Understanding - an examination of common cross cultural terms and their meanings. > Stereotypes: An Intercultural No-No - why stereotyping is dangerous.

Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions - Leadership Training from MindTools Understanding Workplace Values Around the World Learn how to be more sensitive to the needs of people in different cultures. We know that we are living in a global age. Technology has brought everyone much closer together. This is exciting, but it can also be frustrating and fraught with uncertainty. Building connections with people from around the world is just one dimension of cultural diversity. How can we understand cultural differences? Fortunately, psychologist Dr Geert Hofstede asked himself this question in the 1970s. With access to people working for the same organization in over 40 countries of the world, he collected cultural data and analyzed his findings. He scored each country using a scale of roughly 0 to 100 for each dimension. The Five Dimensions of Culture Armed with a large database of cultural statistics, Hofstede analyzed the results and found clear patterns of similarity and difference amid the responses along these five dimensions. The five dimensions are: 1. 2. 3.

Hofstede's cultural dimensions theory Overview[edit] Hofstede's cultural dimensions theory is a framework for cross-cultural communication. Hofstede developed his original model as a result of using factor analysis to examine the results of a world-wide survey of employee values by IBM in the 1960s and 1970s. The theory was one of the first that could be quantified, and could be used to explain observed differences between cultures. The original theory proposed four dimensions along which cultural values could be analyzed: individualism-collectivism; uncertainty avoidance; power distance (strength of social hierarchy) and masculinity-femininity (task orientation versus person-orientation). Hofstede's work established a major research tradition in cross-cultural psychology and has also been drawn upon by researchers and consultants in many fields relating to international business and communication. History[edit] In 1965, Geert founded the personnel research department of IBM Europe (which he managed until 1971).

interkulturelle Trainings | interkulturelle Weiterbildung | E-Learning - interculture... Ihre erste Adresse für Interkulturelles Training/ Coaching | Weiterbildung | E-Learning - Start untry Profiles - Guides to Culture, Etiquette, Customs and Protocol Understanding other people's languages, cultures, etiquettes and taboos is of great value to the traveller or visiting business person. Scroll down the page for information on a selected number of countries. Topics include language, useful phrases, the society, culture, business and social etiquettes. You can access Useful Phrases here or through the corresponding country. Please feel free to share comments you may have about our guides as we are always looking to improve the quality and accuracy of information. This information is also available as an App for the iPhone. Etiquette, Customs and Protocol Guides Warning! It is important to bear in mind that these guides act as basic and general introductions only. Each society, country and culture will have numerous nuances that would make it irresponsible to suggest a uniform approach to understanding any country's social/business culture or etiquette.

Intercultural Business Communication Welcome to the Intercultural Business Communication tool. This simple online tool offers a great resource for people wanting to get some intercultural business communication tips when working with people from different cultures. All you do is choose your own country and another country and we produce a graph that shows the the major differences between the two cultures. You then get some insightful intercultural business communication tips for working in or with that culture. The graph is based upon the work and research of Professor Geert Hofstede. This tool is now available as an App on iTunes. Hofstede « Notes on Intercultural Communication Organizational Culture as a Root of Performance Improvement (Organizational Culture as a Root of Performance Improvement:Research and Recommendations; R.C. Rose, Naresh Kumar, Haslinda Abdullah; Universiti Putra Malaysia – download pdf here). Map of Corporate Cultures Nation Branding in Pop-Culture Sources: (retrieved 22.11.2012) Somewhere in western Europe a middle-sized textile printing company struggled for survival… Cloth, usually imported from Asian countries, was printed in multicolored patterns according to the desires of customers, firms producing fashion clothing for the local market. The working climate in the firm was often disturbed by conflicts between the sales and manufacturing managers. The manufacturing manager had an interest, as manufacturing managers have the world over, in smooth production and in minimizing product changes. The design and sales manager tried to satisfy his customers in a highly competitive market. C.