CULTURE, Part II

1. CULTURE, Part II • Globalization and anti-Americanism • Negotiations • Western vs. Asian culture • Issues in culture

2. Globalization of Culture • Books by Thomas Friedman • The Lexus and the Olive Tree • The World is Flat • Technology allows easier communication and exchange between people • International media • Internet • Increased trade among nations

3. Anti-Globalism • Johny Johansson, In Your Face: How American Marketing Excess Fuels Anti-Americanism • “Three strikes:” • Strike 1: Anti-marketing • Strike 2: Anti-globalism • Strike 3: Anti-Americanism

4. Characteristics of Culture • Comprehensive • Acquired (learned) • Manifested in boundaries of acceptable thought and behavior--norms and sanctions • Conscious awareness limited (frequently taken for granted) • Dynamic vs. static

5. Homogeneity of Culture—Some Dimensions • Linguistic • Religious • Ethnic • Climatic • Geographic • Institutional/political • Social/income Source: Usinier and Lee, 2005

6. Issues in Negotiation • Non-verbal messages • What the other side is likely to hear (or fail to “hear”) • Background of individual • Within the given society (ethnic issues) • Within the company • Within the negotiating group • Timing of concessions

7. Negotiation Content • Non-task sounding • Task-related exchange of information • Persuasion • Concessions and agreements

8. Time as tangible, valuable commodity “Time is money” vs. Traditional means of relations Monochronic vs. polychronic approach to combining events Eating times Regularity vs. flexibility Social purpose Meal purpose and content Distribution of food consumption across the day Life as “single continuous event” vs. a series of repeating cycles Impact of religion, attachment to nature’s cycles Preferred temporal orientation Past Present Future Time Issues in Culture

9. Perceptions of outsiders—may be seen as “barbarian” “lazy” “backward” “inefficient” vs. “un-cultured” profane (relative to in-group’s religion) Tendency to perceive “out-groups” as more homogeneous than one’s own group—the Sherif Boys’ Camp studies Locus of in-group—may depend on context Relating to Outsiders Source: Usinier and Lee, 2005

10. Cultural “borrowing” • Adoption of elements from other cultures—e.g., • Language and writing systems • Products (e.g., jeans, pizza) • Adjustments/adaptations • Hidden process; origin may be unknown to contemporary members of the culture Source: Usinier and Lee, 2005

11. Japanese writing system (sound and concept pictorals)—adapted with difficulty from Chinese (concept only pictorals) Arabic numeral system and mathematics English language words from Latin Arabic Germanic and Nordic languages Major world religions Some Examples of Borrowing

12. “Priming” and learning in a culture • U.S. professor in Hong Kong started letter apologizing for his unworthiness for the job • U.S. manager left room so that an employee could “snoop” on unfavorable report

13. Chinese Involvement in Product Selection • Low for products consumed individually in private—emphasis on price and quality • Higher for products consumed in public setting—social significance becomes more important—e.g., • Status • Harmony with others