III. Read the text to fulfil the tasks. Introduction to Cross-Culture

Introduction to Cross-Culture

I. Answer the questions

1.What stereotypes do people from different countries have about each other?

2. What stereotypes are there of people from your country?

3. How do we get stereotypes? Where do they come from?

4. How can we understand each other?

5. What helps mutual understanding?

II. Can you predict what the content of the text is?

Remember, that your increased self-knowledge and improved understanding of other cultural types will lead you to act in ways which will improve your professional results.

1. Some rules of cross-cultural communication. In your own culture, you instinctively know if you got your message across successfully. Can you read other cultures as well? Do they think and react the same way you do?

Cultural behaviour is not something willy-nilly, accidental or whimsical. On the contrary, it is the end product of millennia of collected wisdom, filtered and passed down through hundreds of generations and translated into hardened, undiscussable core beliefs, values, notions and persistent action patterns. As such, a culture cannot be depicted satisfactorily at random or evaluated according to impressions or recent observations. It is a largely finite, predictable and enduring phenomenon – the essential key to survival for a nation or cultural group.

The purpose of a model for cultural behaviour is to formalise the study, beginning with an analysis of the genetic and environmental background and writing a blueprint for the subsequent historical development.

In a world of rapidly globalizing business, Internet electronic proximity and politico-economic association (EU, NAFTA, ASEAN, etc.) the ability to interact successfully with foreign partners in the spheres of commercial activity, diplomatic intercourse and scientific interchange is seen as increasingly essential and desirable.

Sample contents:

The growing importance of intercultural factors in world business and politics

Myths, assumptions and facts about influences on human behaviour

Convergence and divergence in world behavioural trends

Human Mental Programming – Values and Attitudes

Cultural categories

Life within horizons – widening one’s world view

Communication patterns: speech styles and listening habits

Audience expectations around the world

Diverse Presentation styles

Leadership styles – motivation

The Language of Management

Concepts of Space and Time

Cross-cultural assistance to improve your business is not just about training. It can be about helping you to understand and analyze unstructured business situations where culture may be playing a part. Understanding can lead to practical business solutions.

2. An example of cross-cultural communication. This may sound rather so what does it mean in practice? Here is an example of case studies:

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