Around the World in 80 Cultures

Overview/Description
 If you are ten minutes late to a meeting in Germany, you're in big trouble. If you're ten minutes late in Spain or Italy, you're way too early. In Around the World in 80 Cultures, you'll get a broad tour of the world's cultures, protocols, and peculiarities. A lesson on cultural roots will help you understand the development of cultural norms and mindsets in some of the world's cultures. Some things make sense if you have a few insights. Some don't; some things just have to be memorized. So before you insult your Brazilian host with a gesture that means OK to Americans and money to Japanese, you'd better develop a sense of what the nonverbal communication means in various cultures. A little awareness and sensitivity will buy you the benefit of the doubt, at the very least. This course includes a lesson in nonverbal communication as well as one in intercultural manners to keep you from embarrassing yourself or your host.

Target Audience
 International business travelers, managers, directors, project managers, project team managers, and other personnel conducting business with other cultures.

Expected Duration
3.0 hours

Lesson Objectives:

Cultural Roots

  • recognize the benefits of developing a working knowledge of the basic traits of other cultures.
  • identify factors in language which create barriers to communication.
  • match characteristics with their representative countries.
  • match one of three cultural operating modes with countries that have tendencies toward that mode.

    • Cultural Mindsets

  • recognize the importance of understanding the perspectives of other cultures.
  • match terms identifying time-related categories with descriptions of various cultures.
  • match descriptions of how people rise to authority positions within a representative country.
  • match descriptions of "master programming" issues with their countries.

    • Louder than Words

  • recognize the importance of developing recognition of nonverbal communication within cultural groups.
  • identify statements that are accurate concerning the use of body language in different cultures.
  • identify appropriate behavior according to the customs of the listed country or culture.
  • select items that reflect good listening habits to enhance communication between intercultural business people.

    • Intercultural Business Protocols

  • recognize the importance of understanding how cultural differences will influence business meetings.
  • identify appropriate protocols for business introductions with a foreign counterpart.
  • identify cultural contrasts to expect during multicultural meetings.
  • identify appropriate actions to take during a presentation.

    • Course Number: COMM0602