Chapter 8: International Business Skills Group 7
The culture Game
Difficulty Communicating and Problem Solving
Game Rules
Anger and Frustration
Global Business
Work Effectively with other cultures
Selling products to new markets
Business Integrity
Culture Shock
Take care of yourself
Culture Environment
Family Adjustment
Job Traction
Culture Adjustment
Work Effectiveness
Difficulty Interpreting perceptions/intentions
Inability to adjust and learning how to adapt
Coping Strategies
New Support Group
Look for people
Established Expatriate Communities
Enrich your life.
Quickly learn the things to avoid
Gain insights into the Culture
Intercultural Skills
Working abroad can happen without much notice. It is important to have the skills to quickly adapt
to different cultural matters. Those skills include:
Communicating effectively across cultural lines
A versatile approach to decision making and problem solving in a diverse setting
What Has to Change in the International Setting?
Your fundamentals of competence, technical skills, hard work, and business judgment are all
relevant wherever you go.
Adjust to local events, national politics, and labor disputes, should they disrupt your work.
As you spend time in your host country, your behavior will adapt to the local customs.
You will want to add a set of cross-cultural communication skills to your toolbox.
8 Cross-Cultural Communication Skills: All of these help to build trust and avoid conflict
These principles are applicable in all situations, and include the capacity to:
Communicate respect for others values
Accept the relativity of ones own knowledge
Be non judgemental
Tolerate ambiguity
Display empathy
Be flexible
Take turns
Acknowledge what one doesnt know
Time, Goals, and Patience
Every culture has different ideas of the importance of time and goals
Value of Time
Time is money vs. time is time
Completing negotiations
Being on time to meetings
Importance of Goals
Following a schedule vs. getting it done
Setting definite targets
Focusing on the process rather the end itself
These differences can lead to misunderstandings and conflicts, which is why it is important to be
patient.
An Approach to Resolving Differences
Communicating respect and setting the right climate
Positivity, conversation, and sound interpersonal skills promote success
Establishing a collaboration
Workshops, seminars, conferences, committees encourage joint effort
Creating a dialog, resolving differences, and reaching agreement
First discuss what your objectives are
Work through what issues come up, whether it be time or goal oriented
Finalize on an objective and/or timeline that works for both sides
Some Insight into Cultures
Relationship to the environment - how nature influences their goals
Subjugation - dependent
Harmony - interdependent
Mastery - independent
Relationship among people - how people relate to one another
Hierarchical - status
Group - tribes
Individual - informal
Mode of human activity - how people view their work
Being - act on feelings
Thinking - think and feel
Doing - achieving/striving
Belief about basic human nature - how much control management keeps over employees
Bad - close supervision
Mixed - consultation
Good - collaboration
Orientation to time - how people approach activities
Polychronic - relaxed
Monochronic - Tight schedules
Use of space - how people regard ownership of the space around them
Private - closed
Public - open
Application to the Project Engineers Job
Gaining Rapport
International Project Planning
Safety Planning
Operational Philosophies and Requirements
Local Content
Construction, Engineering, and Procurement Planning
Regulatory Permitting
The International Toolbox
War Instructions
1) Using a standard poker deck shuffle the cards and
deal the deck evenly between two teams.
2) Each team will reveal a card from the top of the deck
at the same time.
3) The person with the highest card takes both cards
played. (In this case Ace is the Highest card and 2 is
lowest.)
4) Repeat Step 2 and 3 until one person wins all of the
cards in the deck.
Card Ranking
Low---------->--------------->----------->------------>----------High
War Instructions
1) Using a standard poker deck shuffle the cards and
deal the deck evenly between two teams.
2) Each team will reveal a card from the top of the deck
at the same time.
3) The person with the highest card takes both cards
played. (In this case 2 is the highest card and Ace is
lowest.)
4) Repeat Step 2 and 3 until one person wins all of the
cards in the deck.
Card Ranking
High---------<-------------<------------<-------------<----------low