Cultural Gaffes Can Leave ‘Ugly’ Impression
The challenges of globalization go far beyond the economic and political. Doing business in the international marketplace inevitably means dealing with people from another culture.
Advancing technology has made doing business in Bangkok as easy as it is in Boston, perhaps lulling us into thinking that few differences exist anymore.
But cultural nuances still color behavior. So the savvy businessperson knows that understanding a culture--the unwritten rules of a community’s values, ways of communicating, etiquette, even negotiating style--can help close a deal and will help prevent gaffes that can leave an unfavorable impression.
But understanding a culture goes beyond learning proper etiquette and protocol. Knowing whether to bow or shake hands when being introduced to a foreign counterpart is important, but it’s more important to recognize one’s own cultural influences and biases. Then it will be easier to be sensitive to others.
Erika Seid is among a growing cadre of consultants who specialize in so-called cross-cultural training. Consultants, books and Web sites abound on how to become culturally correct.
Generally the first step, these experts say, is to help Americans recognize that how they think is particularly American, but it’s not the only way.
“We tend to think we are the center of the world and that everybody wants to be like us,” said Seid, who runs San Francisco-based consultancy Culture Interaction. And when foreigners don’t act like we do, or take a different approach to conducting business, we tend to consider these as negatives, that they’re inefficient or not modern or even worse.
“Everybody has a tendency to respond that way,” she said. “The trick is to get people to catch themselves and change their reactions.”
So rule No. 1 is to keep an open mind and not make judgments.
“If someone is late, it’s best not to assume he’s disrespectful,” said Ruth Bleuze of Prudential Inc., which in addition to its nationwide insurance and real estate businesses also offers intercultural training and relocation services for globe-trotting executives.
For example, when doing business in the Philippines, the pace of business negotiations will likely be much slower than in the U.S. Terri Morrison and Wayne Conaway, authors of the book “Kiss, Bow or Shake Hands: How to Do Business in Sixty Countries,” advise being patient with delays and to be prepared to make more than one trip to finalize a complicated business transaction in the Philippines.
Among the reasons for the slow pace is a bedrock cultural attribute: Filipinos avoid conflict and try hard not to say no, saying instead what they think the other person wants to hear. Indeed, a Filipino may smile or laugh in situations that Westerners consider inappropriate, as a way to hide embarrassment or deflate any discord.
“To ensure that a Filipino ‘yes’ really means yes, you must get it in writing,” the authors suggest. “A Filipino feels honor-bound to fulfill a written agreement.”
But, of course, cultures are constantly evolving, are affected by outside influences and usually shift from generation to generation. Transactions take place between individuals, not cultures, Morrison and Conaway remind.
The inclination to stereotype, though, and to rely on an oversimplified preconception, is great.
“We all use stereotypes to help us categorize,” said Bleuze, based in Denver. “But we need to recognize the difference between a valid cultural generalization and a stereotype. A stereotype is negative. A valid cultural generalization is a neutral statement that describes a belief held by a large part of the population.”
Teaching the distinction is more than a quick briefing, Bleuze and Seid maintain. While both focus on training the executive who is about to be relocated overseas, they say that adapting to a new environment, for the short or long term, requires more than business sense.
“No matter how much [your foreign counterpart] watches American TV, it’s their turf and they will be operating according to certain norms,” Seid said.
Some companies don’t train their employees to cope with intercultural encounters.
“It’s usually seen as some soft, fluffy thing and they think they have better things to do,” said Seid, who charges from $500 to $1,000 a day for cross-cultural training. She works largely with Bay Area and Silicon Valley companies and start-ups whose “pace is so fast they don’t like training in anything.”
Prudential’s Relocation International division offers one- and two-day and weeklong seminars for executives, both Americans moving elsewhere and foreigners moving here. A typical two-day session, with costs starting from $1,500, begins with a model of a successful and effective expatriate: someone who speaks a little of the local language, makes friends in his new community and is accepting of the cultural values.
A session would also include meeting an expatriate who can relate what everyday life is in the new location. There is also a presentation about the history of the place. For example, in Prudential’s session on moving to Hong Kong, an academic is invited to discuss the historical roots of Chinese culture. There are also discussions about the cultural differences between East and West business approaches and how those differences can be overcome.
Bleuze said that a relocated executive will also have to provide cultural training and support for his family.
“In two days . . . you learn what you don’t know and that may be the most critical aspect,” Bleuze said.
The Times is interested in hearing about your experiences as a business traveler and as someone doing business in the international marketplace. Please contact us at global.saavy@latimes.com.
