Individualism
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characteristic feature of modern society
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people - individuals
Communitarianism
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traditional societies
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people – part of a group
NEUTRAL vs. EMOTIONAL / AFFECTIVE
Neutral
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emotions are held in check
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emotions – confuse the issue
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Germany, USA, north-west Europe
Emotional / affective
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often smile
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talk loudly
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UK
SPECIFIC vs. DIFFUSE
Specific
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individuals have large public space and readily let others enter and share it
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guard closely their relatively small private zone => they share it only with family and close friends
Diffuse
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public and private zones – similar
ACHIEVMENT vs. ASCRIPTION
Achievement
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status based on – how well they perform their functions
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high status is given to high achievers
Ascription
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status is based on – what a person is
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status based on age, gender, social connections
attitude to time
In certain cultures
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US, Sweden, the Netherlands, Germany
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time is perceived as passing in a straight line
Other cultures – time is moving in a circle
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differences in planning, strategy, investment
attitude to environment
Inner directed
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people believe n controlling things
Outer-directed
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people believe in letting things take their own course
Non-verbal communications
different cultures => different meaning in non-verbal signals => interpret these signals differently
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language forms (grammar, non-verbal gestures) – difficult to codify
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human body is capable of 270 000 gestures
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only 30 % of what is communicated in a conversation is verbal
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feelings:
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difficult to control
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difficult to recognize
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difficult to rationalize
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difficult to reject
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express everything that is not said
Two types of cultures:
EXPLICITE CULTURE
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low context
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everything is said explicitly and directly
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e.g. Germanic culture
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the relationship between the parities is based on a contract (detailed, explained obligations,..)
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communication - formal
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conflicts of interest are accepted
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each company tries to protect its own interests
IMLICITE CULTURE
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high context
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use implicit or non-verbal messages
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e.g. China, Japan
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relationship is based on personal relations
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obligations – not carefully explained
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provisions about the future cooperations are not included
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communication – formal, informal
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companies try to work together to solve the problem
Perception of time
APPOINTMENT TIME
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deals with issue of punctuality
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Germanic, Anglo, Scandinavian cultures – the perception of punctuality is strict
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The Middle Eastern, LA cultures – less urgency to appointment time
SCHEDULE TIME
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cultures where it is difficult to plan and control future – give much less importance to scheduling
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constant pressure on people to finish their job => Arab countries
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Anglo and Germanic culture - needling8 is interpreted as bad manners
DISCUSSION TIME
Individualist cultures (Anglo, Germanic, Central European):
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the main point is cover in as short time as possible
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the length of discussion depends on gravity of subject
Latin cultures:
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meetings, negotiations – longer
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the lengthening of the discussion time in order to develop relationship => good manners
Asian countries
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meeting, negotiations – long time
Interruptions and pauses in conversations:
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e.g. Scandinavians and the Japanese – pause of 3 up to 7 seconds between reactions during a conversations
ACQUITANCE TIME
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US, European countries - very short
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Arab cultures - with individual is more important than with the organization he/she represents
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longer => necessary to built a relationship of personal trust
MONOCHRONIC TIME vs. POLYCHRONIC TIME
Monochronic
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these culture perceive and use the time in a sequential and linear way
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Germanic cultures, Anglo-Saxons cultures
Polychronic
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the simultaneity of different activities
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priorities are given to individuals rather than to a well fixed programme
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time schedules – neglected11
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programmes, projects changed easily and frequently
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relationships and people – more important than the task
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punctuality is relative
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Latin cultures
Stance and distance
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Arabs – 45 cm
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Anglos, Czechs – distance more than 120-150cm
Touching
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Latins – touch each other during the conversations => never China, Scandinavian countries, Indonesia
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Europe, USA – firm handshake – strength of character
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Middle East – light handshake
Smiling
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Orientals – matter of etiquette
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Westerns – smile indicates pleasure, good humour
Czech business
Power distance : 44
Czechs – relatively tolerant; reserved
A personified, official authority x authority which is based on expert knowledge
Czechs respect only such power which at the same time represents a natural, social and moral authority with expert knowledge