LEARNING TO COPE WITH CORPORATE CULTURE CLASHES

The dos and dont’s of travelling abroad are a potential minefield for the unprepared traveller. If you spit in some countries, you could end up in prison. In others, spitting is a competitive sport.

The Centre for International Briefing has spent 40 years preparing the wary traveller for such pitfalls. Though it may sound like a covert operation for aspiring secret agents, what the Centre does is prepare travellers for encounters with new social and business customs worldwide. To date, over 50,000 people have passed through its headquarters at Farnham Castle in Surrey. ‘There are two broad tracks to our training programme,’ explains Jeff Toms, Marketing Director. ‘One covers business needs, the other social etiquette.’ For example, business travellers need to know how decision-making works.

................................... . In China, it may be necessary to have government involved in any decision taken. And in India, people are sometimes late for a scheduled appointment.

................................... . While we are familiar with the short firm handshake in this part of the world, in the Middle East the hand is held in a loose grip for a longer time. In Islamic countries, showing the soles of your feet is a sign of disrespect and crossing your legs is seen as offensive.

................................... . Jeff Toms tells the story of a British employee asked to post a letter by her Indonesian employer. ‘She knew the letter was too late for the 6 o’clock post, so she decided to hold it until the 8 o’clock one. Her boss saw the letter on her desk and sacked her for not posting it immediately. In Western cultures, we believe in empowering people and rewarding them for using initiative, but other cultures operate on the basis of obeying direct orders.’

.................................... . ‘For them, the most senior person at the meeting will say very little, and the person doing most of the talking is not very important.’ Doherty has spent 12 of his 16 years with the IDA working abroad in the USA, Germany, South-East Asia and Japan.

.................................... . With a population of 125 million condensed into a narrow strip of land, private space for the Japanese is virtually non-existent. You can’t worry about your personal space in a packed train when people are standing on your feet.

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II. Look at this advice for businesspeople about moving from the UK to another country. Choose the correct alternatives.	\|	Tiptoeing through the minefield

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