Cultural behaviour in business

Cultural behaviour in business

Read a blog post about doing business in different cultures to practise and improve your reading skills.

Do the preparation task first. Then read the text and do the exercises.

Preparation

Reading text

Much of today's business is conducted across international borders, and while the majority of the global business community might share the use of English as a common language, the nuances and expectations of business communication might differ greatly from culture to culture. A lack of understanding of the cultural norms and practices of our business acquaintances can result in unfair judgements, misunderstandings and breakdowns in communication. Here are three basic areas of differences in the business etiquette around the world that could help stand you in good stead when you next find yourself working with someone from a different culture.

Addressing someone

When discussing this topic in a training course, a German trainee and a British trainee got into a hot debate about whether it was appropriate for someone with a doctorate to use the corresponding title on their business card. The British trainee maintained that anyone who wasn't a medical doctor expecting to be addressed as 'Dr' was disgustingly pompous and full of themselves. The German trainee, however, argued that the hard work and years of education put into earning that PhD should give them full rights to expect to be addressed as 'Dr'.

This stark difference in opinion over something that could be conceived as minor and thus easily overlooked goes to show that we often attach meaning to even the most mundane practices. When things that we are used to are done differently, it could spark the strongest reactions in us. While many Continental Europeans and Latin Americans prefer to be addressed with a title, for example Mr or Ms and their surname when meeting someone in a business context for the first time, Americans, and increasingly the British, now tend to prefer using their first names. The best thing to do is to listen and observe how your conversation partner addresses you and, if you are still unsure, do not be afraid to ask them how they would like to be addressed.

Smiling

A so-called 'smile of respect' is seen as insincere and often regarded with suspicion in Russia. A famous Russian proverb even states that 'laughing without reason is a sign of idiocy'. Yet in countries like the United States, Australia and Britain, smiling is often interpreted as a sign of openness, friendship and respect, and is frequently used to break the ice.

In a piece of research done on smiles across cultures, the researchers found that smiling individuals were considered more intelligent than non-smiling people in countries such as Germany, Switzerland, China and Malaysia. However, in countries like Russia, Japan, South Korea and Iran, pictures of smiling faces were rated as less intelligent than the non-smiling ones. Meanwhile, in countries like India, Argentina and the Maldives, smiling was associated with dishonesty.

Eye contact

An American or British person might be looking their client in the eye to show that they are paying full attention to what is being said, but if that client is from Japan or Korea, they might find the direct eye contact awkward or even disrespectful. In parts of South America and Africa, prolonged eye contact could also be seen as challenging authority. In the Middle East, eye contact across genders is considered inappropriate, although eye contact within a gender could signify honesty and truthfulness.

Having an increased awareness of the possible differences in expectations and behaviour can help us avoid cases of miscommunication, but it is vital that we also remember that cultural stereotypes can be detrimental to building good business relationships. Although national cultures could play a part in shaping the way we behave and think, we are also largely influenced by the region we come from, the communities we associate with, our age and gender, our corporate culture and our individual experiences of the world. The knowledge of the potential differences should therefore be something we keep at the back of our minds, rather than something that we use to pigeonhole the individuals of an entire nation.

Task 1

Task 2

Discussion

Download
Worksheet91.17 KB

Language level

Average: 4.4 (31 votes)
Do you need to improve your English reading skills?
Join thousands of learners from around the world who are improving their English reading skills with our online courses.

Submitted by hrahmani on Wed, 19/02/2020 - 15:42

Permalink
Working with people from various countries and cultures is a demand of my work as a scientist. For writing emails to my collaborators I start my email with "Hi" or "Dear" but then always use their names. It is the case even if I am contacting a scientist for the first time. This behaviour is a very common these days in the science community, at least the area in which I work. However, in many occasions, I need to contact a secretary of the department where my collaborator resides and my collaborator at the same time. Usually, secretaries are more formal and hence I write to them using "Mr." or "Ms." and then their surnames. As I write to both of them (my collaborator and his/her secretary) at the same time, I find it awkward that I need to start the body of the email using a formal and informal style at the same time!

Submitted by Dennis Ming on Sat, 08/06/2019 - 12:59

Permalink
Is there any body who knows the available time for this test?

Submitted by Hossein1156 on Thu, 23/05/2019 - 19:56

Permalink
I couldn't find the answer for question No 4 task 2 in the text; I think it's not given. It merely mentioned a research has been done and no more detail.
Hello Hossein1156 I would say the statement is true because in the second paragraph of the section on smiles, it mentions people rating pictures (which is another way of saying 'photographs') of people smiling or not smiling. Does that make sense? All the best Kirk The LearnEnglish Team

Submitted by RobRoy on Wed, 20/03/2019 - 16:29

Permalink
Men shake hands every time they meet and leave a company of eachother in Russia but in the UK where I live now shaking hands with same friquency isn't thet oftet. This was a very significant nuance for me. Because if you don't strach you hand for shaking when leaving a company of an another man is really big disrespect.

Submitted by Michael Kreuziger on Wed, 20/02/2019 - 18:10

Permalink
Why is the correct answer to the last question of task 2 "True"? The author writes "The knowledge of the potential differences should therefore be something we keep at the back of our minds", which would, in my opinion, be contradictory to the solution that's provided. Of course, it could also be possible that I just misunderstood the text or the question. Would be great if someone could try to explain this to me. Regards Michael

Hello Michael

You are right, that's answer should be False, not True. I've just fixed the exercise so that it is correct.

Thanks very much for telling us about this!

All the best

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team