Cross-Cultural Business Training

Cross-Cultural Business Training

Introduction: Cultures around the world have different customs related to meeting people. It is important to be familiar with what is appropriate behavior in the place where you are traveling to be respectful and avoid offending the people you meet. In this activity, you will study the customs of a particular culture and prepare a short presentation for your partners about the DOs and DONTs when doing business in that place. 

Task 1: Discuss the following questions for 10 minutes to introduce the topic.

• What are the most common ways to greet people in your country?
• How would you greet a friend, a coworker you don't know very well, a customer you just met, or a stranger on the street? 
• How do you show respect or degrees of formality or informality when interacting with people in your culture?
• Have you ever experienced cultural differences regarding these customs when traveling or interacting with people from other places?

Task 2: The teacher assigned you a particular country. Find your country in the space below and read the information with your partner. Decide what is the most important information. What is similar to your culture? What is different from your culture?

After you read, prepare a presentation consisting of the following:

• A short scene showing what NOT to do when meeting and doing business in this culture.
• A short scene showing what you should do when meeting and doing business.
• A brief analysis of the two scenes and a summary of the most important tips to remember.

South Korea

Greetings:

• Use a person’s formal title (i.e. Mr, Ms, Doctor) when addressing them for the first time, and continue to use it until they tell you to call them something different.
• The most common way to greet in South Korea is with a bow (reverencia).
• The casual bow is to lower your head with eyes closed. This type of greeting is used when informally greeting someone or walking past someone of a higher status.
• Business interactions require a deeper bow, where you incline your torso by about 30 degrees.
• The deepest, most polite bow expresses sincerest gratitude or apology. You bend your torso to around 45 degrees.
• Handshakes are also used to greet in South Korea. To show great respect during this greeting, you should support the wrist of your right hand with your left hand as you shake.  

Basic Manners:

• In Korea, people rarely thank others for gestures of courtesy (e.g. holding open doors), nor do they generally apologize if they bump into one another on the street. Koreans consider these minor incidents to be actions that you should expect in life and for that reason they do not require an apology or a ‘thank you’.
• Always show respect for people who are older than you. This means you should defer to their opinion and look down when they are talking. When eating, the oldest person should be served first. Everyone should wait for them to begin eating before starting.
• Always give and receive objects with two hands.
• Remove your hat when you are inside.
• Remove your shoes before entering a Korean home.
• Koreans are punctual and they try make the most of the time they have. In certain contexts, they can seem impatient.
• Sneezing is considered rude in Korea. You should leave the room if you you need to sneeze.
• Do not point to people or objects using your finger. It is rude. Use your entire hand instead.

Business Culture:

• Be punctual to meetings and make an apology if you are late.
• Avoid making jokes with people who are superior to you.
• You will often be offered tea during business meetings. It is best to accept it as a gesture of respect.
• Koreans are generally very respectful listeners. Reflect their manners and wait your turn to speak without interrupting.
• Koreans often sit in silence before responding to a question or offer. This shows that they are carefully considering what you have said. Do not interrupt these moments of silence.

Saudi Arabia

Greetings: 

• In Saudi Arabia, the most common form of greeting is a handshake and the phrase “Assalaam ‘alaikum” (May peace be upon you), to which the reply is “Wa ‘alaikum assalaam” (And peace be upon you).
• Handshakes are most common in business settings and always use the right hand.
• Muslims do not make physical contact with members of the opposite gender.
• Therefore, when greeting a Saudi of the opposite gender, it is best practice to simply greet them verbally and wait to see if they feel comfortable extending their hand.
• Greetings between friends of the same gender often involve kisses on the cheek. You extend your left hand to the other person’s right shoulder and give three kisses on the cheek (either right-left-right, or all on the same cheek). 
• Saudi men who are very close friends may greet one another by touching noses. This indicates trust, intimacy and respect in the friendship. 
• People expect to be referred to by their titles – especially if they are your senior and/or elder (e.g. Mr/Mrs, Uncle/Aunt, Doctor, Professor).

Basic Manners: 

• The left hand is considered unclean. It should not be used for functions such as waving, eating or passing items. For this reason, you should gesture, touch people or offer items using your right hand or both hands together. 
• It is considered rude to check the time while you are in a conversation with someone or at a social event.
• Do not sit in any position that allows the bottom of your shoe to face another person. This is considered insulting. Similarly, it is inappropriate to cross your legs when facing someone.
• Pay respect to elderly in all situations. For example, standing up when they enter a room or offering them your seat.
• To be polite, Saudis often decline an offer several time before accepting it. Be sure to offer everything multiple times. If you only offer something once, a Saudi person may respond, "No, it's ok" out of politeness even though the intend to accept it on the second offer.
• In Saudi Arabia, the consumption of alcohol is prohibited for Muslims under Islamic law. You should avoid drinking alcohol to avoid potential embarrassment or offence.

Business Culture:

• When first entering a room or greeting your Saudi business partners for the first time, you should shake hands with everyone from right to left.
• Meetings generally start with a considerable amount of small talk and can seem like a constant round of appointments where people are becoming acquainted.
• Do not openly correct someone or directly criticize someone’s proposal in front of others during a meeting. Take an indirect approach to avoid causing offence or embarrassment.
• Be aware that the Saudi working week is from Sunday to Thursday, with the ‘weekend’ falling on Friday and Saturday instead of Saturday and Sunday.
• Saudi men may speak loudly. This is seen as a positive characteristic rather than a negative one. Shouting can indicate sincerity and active participation in the conversation, not necessarily anger or hostility. 

Kenya

Greetings:

• When Kenyans greet one another, they often ask about their families and health.
• The most typical gesture when greeting is a handshake. You are expected to shake the hands of everyone present. For example, if you enter a room with ten people, you should take the time to greet each person verbally and by shaking their hand.
• To show respect for an elder or someone of higher status, support your right arm with your left hand when shaking hands with this person.
• When greeting a man, the polite term to say is ‘bwana’ (a combination of ‘mister’ and ‘sir’).
• For anybody around the age of forty and above, the term ‘mzee’ (‘older man’ or ‘elder’) is used. This term signifies respect for the person, their wisdom and experience as an elder.
• For women of any age, the typical term is ‘mama’.

Basic Manners: 

• Use your right hand or both hands to pass items to people. Just using your left hand is considered rude.
• Kenyans have a relaxed attitude about time. It is common for people to arrive 30 to 40 minutes late. One reason why perceptions of time in Kenya may differ from the English-speaking West is that many Kenyans operate on both the world time system and on their traditional time system known as ‘Swahili Time'. 
• Arriving early to an event will make your Kenyan host feel uncomfortable. It is best to arrive half an hour after the designated time.
• For many Kenyans, it is considered impolite to say goodbye at the door. Instead, hosts will usually walk with their departing visitors for some distance before returning home.
• Guests invited to someone’s home should bring a small gift of appreciation. Common gifts to give are flowers and tea leaves.
• Since Kenyans tend to be indirect communicators, direct criticism may be perceived negatively.
• Pointing with your finger is considered rude. People point with their chin or lips in the direction they want to indicate.

Business Culture:

• To formally begin a meeting, each person will stand up and introduce themselves to everyone present.
• The seating positions in a meeting are usually based on the hierarchy of those present.
• Business meetings in Kenya are often long as everyone is expected to contribute to the meeting. 
• If you try to push a meeting to go faster, it will probably result in the meeting being longer since Kenyans prefer to take their time when discussing the agenda.
• Large meetings usually have a coffee break while small meetings will have coffee or tea on offer during the meeting.
• When greeting important members of a Kenyan business, you should make some initial small talk and ask about their health and their family members. If you skip this step or try to do it too quickly, it will be perceived as rude.