Culture Clash
Culture Clash
Developing personal trust
in business relationships
takes time'Let's compare notes on our trips," Susan Nolan suggested to two of her colleagues. Susan, Mike James and Judy Barth worked for an office supplies company in Atlanta, Ga. The company both imported products that were manufactured abroad and also sought international markets for direct sales to various businesses. The three division managers had recently traveled to Venezuela, Indonesia and Spain. The three agreed that, after meeting potential collaborators and clients in these three countries, it took a long time to "get down to business."
They shared other common experiences. They commented that people in the other countries wanted to engage in endless small talk about extraneous matters likes families and hobbies. People were wonderful hosts and took the three Americans to some excellent restaurants, but conversations continued to focus on non-business issues. All three managers had to renegotiate with travel agents since they were forced to extend their visits beyond their originally scheduled time frames.
Susan, Mike and Judy are trying to do business in collectivist cultures. In these cultures, people view themselves as long term members of a group. Given strong group affiliations, people benefit from group memberships, but they also have extensive obligations to fellow members. With this combination of benefits and obligations, people in collectivist cultures do not offer group membership quickly. People want to feel that they can trust others within their groups and they are often suspicious of outsiders.
Potential collaborators and clients in the three countries want to learn a great deal about the three Americans. What sorts of people are they? Will they be good business partners? Can we trust them to follow through on commitments? Will they follow through on unwritten agreements that were sealed with a handshake? Answers to these questions come during the many conversations and evening dinners desired by members of collectivist cultures. If they agree to do business with the Americans, the people in the three countries would be offering collective memberships. This is a major step in business negotiations that collectivists take very seriously.
Americans certainly join many groups, but the time frame for membership is often shorter and the obligations are fewer. The three Americans who want to do business overseas have undoubtedly learned a set of social skills that allows them to meet people quickly and to get down to business. There is a different set of social skills in collectivist cultures that contribute to the message, "We value long term commitments and realize that mutual trust is central to our relationships."
The purpose of this column is to increase understanding of human behavior as it has an impact on the workplace. Special attention will be given to miscommunications caused by cultural differences. Each column will start with a short example of such confusion. Possible explanations will be offered to encourage thought about these issues.
Richard Brislin is a professor in the College of Business Administration,
University of Hawaii. He can be reached through the
College Relations Office: cro@cba.hawaii.edu