CULTURE in the Workplace

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• CULTURE in the Workplace
• Understanding and mis-understanding
• The simplest thing can be confusing..
• What about greeting someone?
• We do it many times every day. Simple, right?

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Not as simple as we think.
Do we wai or bow?
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Bowing is very complicated there is even a book
on how to do it!
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Should you hug? Or
shake hands?
Or just wave?
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The western style of handshaking comes from the
ancient Romans it was to make sure the other
person did not have a knife. The custom is
thousands of years old so is the wai and the
bow.
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Its all part of understanding each other and
if greetings are complicated, no wonder the rest
is complicated, too.
When ideas or customs dont agree with each
other, we call that CULTURE CLASH It can be a
simple mis-understanding or a big problem
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Relaxed or impolite?
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Five minutes late for a meeting Thai time or
German time? Makes a BIG difference. Germans are
very precise and you must be on time for
meetings. They get upset if you are even a
little bit late.
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Culture is like a hippo we see only a
little. But its what is underneath, what we dont
see that is important
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• They are too serious

They arent serious enough
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• They work too hard

They dont work hard enough
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• They never joke around

They are always joking around
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• The people giving opinions were talking about the
  same group of people!
• It was Mexicans and Taiwanese describing
  Americans.
• How we see others depends on our culture!
• They did agree on one thing, though..

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• They should spend more time with their families

They should spend more time with their families
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So small mis-understandings can lead to bigger
problems
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So we have to learn to ask questions and be
patient with other cultures. It is suggested that
a business person visiting another country spend
a minimum of 30 hours learning about that
countrys culture before going there.
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But of course business people are busy and dont
have time for that!
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So we dont know how to greet, or that its okay
to be a little late in some cultures, or that to
put your feet on the desk is okay or not okay. Or
even that the food where you are going is
different.
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An international company sent an American to be
the Asian manager, based in Bangkok. He went in
on the first day and the HR manager told him he
would have a car and driver to bring him to work
and home every day. He said oh, thats okay, I
brought my bicycle from the US. I will ride it to
work every day. In your company, what would
happen if the CEO or GM rode a bicycle to work?
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Another example An American manager in Japan is
so happy with his team he brings them all to
lunch. At the lunch he stands up and says I am
happy for all of you, but I want to say something
special for Ms. Miko, who did a wonderful job and
is the most valuable staff. So thank you Ms.
Miko. Ms. Miko looks very shy and uncomfortable.
The next day she goes into the managers office
and asks to be transferred to another department.
The manager is shocked. He did the right thing in
making an example of Ms. Miko, didnt he?
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Americans are very proud of individual
achievements Employee of the Year or Month
Most Valuable team member. It is good to stand
out. Japanese are taught to be a member of the
team it is not good to stand out. Its good to
be a part of the team.
Japan - TEAM
US - Individual
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• An International Company
• Cirque du Soliel
• Circus of the Sun

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• Cirque du Soliel is a circus.
• It began in 1982 in Montreal. Canada.
• Young street performers got together and
  organized a festival. The festival was very
  popular and the performers decided to make a show
  and travel to different places in Canada. That
  was the beginning of Cirque du Soleil.

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• Cirque du Soliel is new kind of circus. In usual
  circuses you might see lions, tigers, elephants,
  horses, maybe even dogs and monkeys performing.
  But in Cirque du Soliel there are no animals,
  only people.
• What you will see are wild costumes, magical
  lights and original music.

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• Cirque du Soleil visited America for the first
  time in 1984. Everywhere they went people loved
  the show. Soon they traveled around the world.
• Today Cirque du Soliel performers come from more
  than 25 countries, and there are six Cirque du
  Soliel shows traveling on 4 continents.

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• So with performers from 25 different countries,
  and travelling to different countries, what kind
  of problems do you think the management at Cirque
  has to deal with?

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clowns
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• Trapeze

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• Acrobats