I have taken the “Working Globally Across Cultures” (Commisceo Global, n.d. a) and “Sweden” (Commisceo Global, n.d. b) quizzes and I was surprised by both scores. For the former, I had six correct answers out of ten, which was categorized as “has not passed the quiz,” and for the latter, I scored nine out of ten, which was labeled as “has passed the quiz.” It makes me think that while you can have grounded knowledge or good intuition about how culture manifests itself in business affairs in a particular country, it is undoubtedly not enough to understand how cultural awareness operates globally.
When talking about my strengths, I think it is important to mention my ability to build my decisions on the given context. Although some reactions or activities during business meetings can seem strange or inappropriate, I can try to complete a picture using a culturally non-specific way to justify them. For example, when making a proposal and noticing a few Japanese executives being sat with their arms folded and eyes closed, I think it is their way of listening intently and not being rude.
There is another related attitude of mine that I consider an advantage. When noticing some actions which would be considered rude or inappropriate in my culture, I never assume that it was the intention of a person from another culture. Although such an approach can be regarded as overly optimistic, I consider this framework of attitude as a chance of staying open to other interpretations.
However, I think I have a general weakness with some specific cultural manifestations in non-Western countries. Some of my answers, albeit being correct, were based on stereotypes or intuition, and it is never a good ground on which to base business practices and decisions. Another important issue here is that although Japanese, Chinese, South Korean, and other cultures can be labeled more generally as “Asian,” such an approach leads to a whole variety of confusion and mistakes. These countries differ a lot in their history, attitudes, and traditions. Thus, what can be considered appropriate in South Korea, can be regarded as unacceptable or weird in China or Japan, and vice versa.
There is a gap between my expectations and the results of the “Sweden” quiz. I supposed that the outcomes would be less successful since I have never been to the country and did not spend much time studying its specific frameworks. I was relying on general logic rather than on my knowledge. It makes me think that I succeeded in this quiz mostly for the reason that, although this country is particular in terms of its culture and values, it is still framed in Western tradition more generally.
As for a plan of specific actions to improve my cultural awareness, it will be developed in reference to my strengths and weaknesses. The best advice is given in a precise manner by O’Reilly (2013): “Commit to increasing your knowledge of facts about different people and places, their political and economic systems, their traditions, diet, fashion and the like” (para. 15). Following her suggestions, I will divide my efforts into two groups: active learning and determined observation.
The former will include increasing my cultural awareness by engaging in reading foreign and international websites and media as well as communicating more with people who can share the first-hand experience. The latter will presuppose observation of different cultures with the aim to learn, identify, and understanding different attitudes and practices that form daily cultural preferences.
Managers should increase not only their professional skills but also their levels of cultural awareness. International business is carried out at the intersection of different cultural environments. Many difficulties in international business are caused not by bad economic decisions but by cross-cultural contradictions. Conflicts occur due to the difference in mentality and, accordingly, approaches to management, organization, negotiating, and doing business in general.
References
Commisceo Global, (n.d. a). Working globally across cultures. Web.
Commisceo Global, (n.d. b). Sweden Quiz. Web.
O’Reilly, C. (2013). Why is cultural intelligence important? Trainingzone. Web.