Week 3
Hello! Bonjour ! ¡Hola! Ciao! Moi! Shalom!
This week was all about different cultures. On Monday we had a lecture about Communicating in a world of diversity. It was a lecture about how you have to understand and get to know e.g. your customer background because there is so manyn different values and beliefs. We did talk about that "Noise" wich meen that when you go to different country propably you don't know the language, how to act or how to greet (do I have to give a cheek kiss, a huge or a hand shake?). You also need to think about all simple things like eye contact, touching, smells, clothing, money, food, time, politeness and respective rules... There is lot of learning.
There was also that interesting cultural model of Richard Lewis wich is about different cultural types:
Multi-Active= Emotianal, warm, loquacious, impulsive (e.g. Italians, Spanish, Peruvian) is about people who talks most of the time and do several things at the same time, they are emotional and feelings come first before the facts, unrestrained body language and spoken word is the most important.
Linear-Active= Factuel, cool, decisive planners (e.g. Americans, Germans, Norwegians, FINNISH) is about people who do and talk different time, be polite but direct, stick to facts, trust more of written word and restrained body language.
Reactive= Amiable, courteous, accommondating, good listener, compromiser (e.g. Chines, Vietnamies, Japanish) is about people who listen and react's to partners action, are polite and indirect, belive that statement is a promise and face-to-face contact is important, they often asks repeats and subtle body language
So you can image how important is to understand about different cultures e.g. if you but Italian and German at the same business meeting.
Unfortunately I couldn't be present at the whole lecture because I needed to go studie about French language and culture but I did the homework about Lacy Boxand cultural presentation. It was interesting and fun consept! I heard that Lynn was excellent speaker so I am a little bit disappointed that I had to go. She was there to tell about how important is to know your audience, what kind of marketing tools and strategic you can use and how much ideas and info is out there!
Thursday was the day when we had the opportunity to show our presentation about Chile. Unfortunately Lady luck didn't pick our group but it's in Google Drive so feel free to read it and get to know about Chilien and their culture. I saw some awesome presentations (videos, power points, etc.) about other cultures and now I know when I go to Latvia to someones home that NEVER EVER buy paired amount of flowers.
Here is my cultural baggage :)