Blogs for Culture Vultures

Could South Korea’s hierarchical culture have caused planes to crash?

If you work or do business with South Koreans, you really need to understand hierarchy.

Do you work with the Chinese?

A common challenge many foreigners come across is how to handle the word ‘no’.

Culture is a complex thing.

It affects everything we do from the way we raise our kids to the way we do business.

This question is often asked in Indian intercultural training programmes.

"We don't get it! Why do they always nod? And in different ways too!?"

This is a common stereotype often heard about the British.

In some parts of the world they have a reputation for being ‘cold’ and ‘unfriendly’.

Every culture has its approach to conflict.

In this blog we’ll be exploring Iranian culture and how the people approach conflict, communication and resolution.

Do you work with the Chinese?

Then you really need to get to grasp with the importance of face – mianzi – in Chinese culture.

The British communication style can be tricky for some foreigners.

Their complex use of indirect messages, suggestion and insinuation can be confusing – in fact, it can drive you bonkers!

Being able to communicate and collaborate across cultures is crucial for many of today’s professions; engineers included.

However, a Japanese-led research team suggests that the intercultural communication skills being taught to today’s engineers are not fit for purpose.

Doing business in the Middle East? Then you need to understand the role of honour in the Arab world.

The concept of personal dignity, honour and protecting one’s reputation is very important in the Middle East.

Guillaume Rey, a French waiter, was sacked from his job in a Canadian restaurant for being ‘aggressive, rude and disrespectful’

Upset by the sacking Rey believes his employers simply did not understand French culture. A complaint was filed against his previous employer, (Vancouver restaurant on Canada’s Pacific coast), under British Columbia’s 'Human Rights Tribunal', in which the waiter claimed  “discrimination against my culture”.

Culturally diverse teams are becoming more and more the norm as international businesses continue to hire in talent from around the globe.

Anyone who has worked in a multicultural team knows that this comes with challenges.

Multicultural teams are now the norm within many of our larger companies, organisations and brands.

Challenges relating to communication, trust and morale within culturally diverse teams are common.

Do you know we offer multicultural team-building courses?

The culturally homogenous team is a thing of the past in most international organisations and companies.

For those that follow The Apprentice, you can’t have missed the recent outburst by contestant Dillon St Paul in Episode 6, entitled ‘Discount Buying’.

Sticking to the traditional programme format, contestants were required to spend the night identifying the whereabouts of 9 items in and around London and then negotiate the best possible price for their purchase.

Working internationally comes with certain challenges - navigating cultural differences is just one.

Being able to work, communicate, sell to or buy from people in different countries, working in different times zones, with different ways of doing things is essential.

In our previous blogs we examined how cultural differences impact body language and the way we speak - we now turn our attention to a little-known skill we all have yet many forget to utilise! Listening.

Just as cultures differ in how we hold ourselves, use our eyes or communicate, cultures also differ in the way they respond to what is being said.

I'm really happy to announce the release of some new soft-skills DVDs which we think you'll soon be passing around the office. These DVDs have been added due to customer demand and we have a great choice now covering a range of topics from customer service to management to listening skills.

Active listening is a communication skill crucial to doing cross-cultural business.

As a skill, it requires the listener to become attuned with the speaker in order to confirm what they have heard and moreover, to confirm the understanding of both parties.

This active engagement may differ across cultures...

Want to improve your people skills? Need to train staff in communication skills? Looking to overcome barriers to communication at work? Dealing with cultural diversity? If the answer is yes to any of these then why not download our free guide to cultural awareness?