Chapter 4

Avoiding Culture Collisions

Chapter four discussed how there are differences between cultures and this can sometimes cause misunderstandings or miscommunications. This can sometimes become a problem when dealing with international business. For example, most US businesses like to get to the point right away and don't like any fluff in reports they write or read. Latin American businesses, however, like to write out long explanations on why a decision is being made and take their time in getting to the point. This can become a problem but by using some of the following tips it can be avoided: people on both sides of the context barrier must make adjustments, a new employee should be welcomed by his/her boss, colleagues that will be performing similar duties, and an individual located near the new employee, background information is essential, give explicit instructions on how you want things done, and foreign workers must learn to become more self-reliant.
I found an article that talks about the experience of consumers reactions to a surprising event and how it differs across cultures. It looks at the differences between East Asia and Western emotional reactions to unexpected incentives. When given an unexpected gift, east Asians reported less surprise and less pleasure than Westerns. East Asians' displeasure is explained by their motivation to maintain balance and emotional control, which leads to a reappraisal of perceived likelihood. However, when the gift given represented good luck, then East Asians reported greater pleasure than Westerns. This would be a piece of information to know if you were going to exchange or give a gift to a East Asian business manager.

VALENZUELA, ANA, BARBARA MELLERS, and JUDI STREBEL. "Pleasurable Surprises: A Cross-Cultural Study of Consumer Responses to Unexpected Incentives." Journal of Consumer Research 36.5 (2010): 792-805. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 1 Feb. 2010.