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cope with corporate culture clashes

The dos and don'ts 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 Mernational 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 leff 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 decisions 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 cultures, showing the soles of your feet is a sign of disrespect and crossing your legs is seen as offensive.

leff 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 six o'clock post, so she decided to hold it until the eight 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.'

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person at the meeting will sa doing most of the talking is : has spent 12 of his 16 years \ in the USA, Germany, Sou:~-

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condensed into a narrow s:r the Japanese is virtua:/. -; about your personal sca;e -are standing on your :ee:

Tiptoeing through the minefield

Do

• Show an interest in аг.л a: eas: a^- e.ementary knowledge of the country ycu are '. s.: ~g

• Learn a few words of the language - :: .•.. . ce seen as a compliment;

• Be sensitive to countries who have bigge' ar.d better-known neighbours, and try not to confuse Canadians with Americans, New Zealanders with Australians, Belgians with French;

• Familiarise yourself with the basics of business and social etiquette. As a starting point, learning how to greet people is very important.

Don't

• Assume you won't meet any communication problems because you speak English. You may think you are paying somebody a compliment by telling them their business is going a bomb*, Americans will infer you think it is failing.

• Appear too reserved. As Americans are generally more exuberant* than their European colleagues, they may equate reserve with lack of enthusiasm.

The Irish Independent

*to empower: to give s.b. more control *to go a bomb (CB): to be successful 'etiquette: polite behaviour

*to bomb (US): to go badly

'exuberant: happy, cheerful, full of energy

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