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 The Professor and the Baby Carriage
A large-built Texan, a university professor of German,
scheduled his sabbatical leave in Germany. He was enormously
enthusiastic about going to Germany and doing his research.

Upon arrival he approached a number of people, mostly teachers

and government officials who he felt were in a position to help
him survey the cultural beliefs of a sample of Germans. But no
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more discouraged.

After trying unsuccessfully for several months, he started

blaming others for their lack of interest. He felt the people he
talked to were trying to undermine his efforts because he was
an American. He began to see the Germans as the source of his
frustration and each day his hostility increased. He would take
Contd……….
 his meals alone, then return to his room to brood about his
failure. What was he going to tell his university colleagues back
in Texas? How would he justify his paid sabbatical to his dean?

The breaking point came when one afternoon he was walking

down the street with a bulky briefcase in hand and a German
lady blocked the sidewalk with her baby carriage. He became so
enraged that he almost came down striking the lady with his
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His reaction so unnerved him that, out of fear of causing bodily

injury, he kept himself locked up in his hotel room for the
duration of the sabbatical, some six months.
A wise man who had traveled the world
over once said,

“The first time you go abroad, you think

you can do anything in the world. The
second time, you start having doubts. The
third time, you think - these foreigners
don’t know what the hell they are doing.
The fourth time, you think you don’t know
what the hell you are doing.”
 CULTURE CLASH

The phenomenon resulting from clash of culture is called culture shock,

self-discovery shock, role shock, transition shock, culture fatigue.

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STRAINS OF CULTURE CLASH

• I can get what I want so much more easily in my hometown.

• Process of unlearning - Having to learn new culturally appropriate
behaviours.
• Not being able to see experiences in their proper perspectives
• Having to continuously adapt oneself in a new cultural setting when one is
removed from his/her own cultural setting
• Having to make decisions based on less information
• Adjusting to different beliefs about how the workplace should be organized
• Recognizing how time is broken down in the host culture.
• Understanding the meaning of an ambiguous statement - “Let’s have
lunch together sometime”
• Learning to feel comfortable with the greater or lesser physical distance
• Recognizing new cues to role and how one is expected to interface with that
role.
• Adjusting to sex roles that go against one’s principles.
 Material Culture

C U L T U R E
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Nonverbal Communication
Beliefs - A firm and considered opinion about
something being true or real.

Attitudes - Emotional responses to objects, ideas and

people.

Norms - Established behaviour patterns for members

of a social system.

Values - that which involves judgment and is normative

 Do cultural differences influence the
effectiveness of a message?

This safety poster was displayed in an South African nation in order

to prevent mining accidents caused by chunks of ore on the railroad
track. What message do you get from this poster?
The miners who saw this poster perceived an opposite meaning
because they read from right to left (as do other languages such as
Arabic, Chinese and Hebrew
 Attitudes based on cultural values

In the United States, freedom is a dominant value. In others, it

is just one value among others. The meaning of any value,
including freedom, differs across culture. An old woman in
Saigon told one of the authors that she felt that she could not
tolerate the lack of freedom in the United States. In Vietnam
she was free to sell her vegetables on the sidewalk without
being hassled by police or city authorities. She did not have to
get a permit to fix the roof on her house.
 Cultural Norm

Alice: I heard your son is getting married. Congratulations.

Fatima: Thank you. The wedding will be next spring.
Alice: How nice of you. How did they meet?
Fatima: Oh, they haven’t actually met yet.

Thai people revere their king, so much so that they seldom talk about
him and are culturally forbidden to touch him. A U.S. professor, during
the first months that he taught at Bangkok University, accidentally
dropped a Thai coin on the floor. In order to keep the coin from rolling
under a door, he quickly stepped on it. His Thai students were shocked.
Why?
The king’s profile is on every coin.
A recent university graduate from the US was interning in a Japanese
company in Nagoya. He related his experience in violating a Japanese
cultural norm about proper office behaviour:

“During the first week in the company, I asked a fellow employee, a young
woman, for a date. She became very embarrassed and told me that she
could not go out with me because we worked in the same unit. By that
evening, everyone in my office knew that had happened. Several of my
colleagues made jokes of rather poor taste about my mistake. For the
next several months, references were made about my asking Yuki for a
date, especially after my colleagues had had too much to drink. Eventually,
a year later, I learned that I was referred to, behind my back, with a
nickname in Japanese that connoted something like “skirt-chaser.”

This example shows the various ways in which a individual violating a

cultural norms was punished: through gossip, joking, and by use of a
humorous nickname.
These matrimonial ads have been placed in a major newspaper by the
parents of young men and women in India.
These personal ads were placed in a U.S. newspaper by individuals seeking
to establish a relationship with another person
 Cross Cultural Values

Collectivistic Vs Individualistic Culture

A collective culture is one where collective goals are valued more
than individual goals.
While, an individualistic culture is one where individual goals are
valued more than collective goals.

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Proverb from a collectivistic culture
“The nail that protrudes gets hammered down”
“If one wants to establish himself, he should help others
establish themselves firs”………words of Confucius

Proverbs from an individualistic culture

“Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps”
“Rules are for fools”
“My way or the highway”
“A man’s home is his castle”
Uncertainty

In the Greek, Japanese, French and Portuguese culture there is a

need for rules, wish for specific proposals, a strong respect of
the view of experts and a dislike for risk taking.

Certain other cultures have a greater tolerance towards

ambiguity like UK, Denmark, Sweden , Ireland and Great Britain

Formality

While certain countries like America is considered to have a

highly informal culture, certain other countries have a high regard
for formality, protocol and conventional behaviour such as Japan,
Korea, Germany, Egypt and Great Britain.

Sense of formality is reflected in speech, dressing, the way

people are addressed etc.
Time

For North Americans the future is of greatest importance.

Buddhists believe in ‘mindfulness’ - the complete focus of all senses

on the present

Certain other cultures believe in the significance of prior events.

They hold the belief that past should be the guide for making
decisions and determining the truth.
This is seen in the Chinese. For the Japanese, ‘Shintoism’ or
ancestor worship is very important. The English because of their
orientation to tradition, continue to resist change.

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Credibility

A speaker who is perceived as dynamic, outgoing and articulate by

an American and Arab audience will have high credibility. Yet the
same person can be viewed as aggressive or presumptuous by a
Japanese or Chinese, which are more appreciative of a quite,
reserved, humble and pensive approach to communication.

Age
American culture prefers youth to old age.

In the Arab culture, children kiss the hands of holder people and
respect their views and opinions. Respect for elderly is also a
common East Asian culture. Filipinos and Native Americans
Harmony

American culture - Aggressive, Assertive, Argumentation & debate

is part of the American culture. Americans learn early, “squeaky
wheel gets the grease”, stand up for their rights and even be
confrontational should the situation call for such action.

The Thai, Filipinos, Chinese and Japanese stress harmony and a lack
of direct confrontation. The cultural value of these countries is
reflected in the Asian proverbs, “The first man to raise his voice
loses the argument” and “It is the quacking duck that is the first to
get shot”.
 In one multicultural workplace in the state of Gujarat
in India, an irrepressibly fun-loving, somewhat
boisterous supervisor noticed that one of his
workers, an Italian woman, appeared particularly
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depressed. In an attempt to get her to smile he

offered her - with a theatrical flourish - a
handkerchief.

“What’s that for?” she asked.

“Well,”, the supervisor replied, smiling, “you look so
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sad I thought I’d offer you my handkerchief to dry
your tears.”
“My mother died yesterday,” the grief-stricken
woman said.
CRACKING THE SILENT CODE
- DEALING WITH THE
UNSPOKEN ASPECTS OF
CULTURE
 Eye Contact

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Eye Contact in the United States and Europe

• Direct eye contact - openness, trustworthiness, integrity, confident

• Looking down / looking away - distracted, uninterested, lack of self-
confidence
• However, unlike America, direct eye contact is Europe has more flirtatious
connotations.

Eye Contact in the Middle East

• Direct eye contact is less common and considered less appropriate

• Between different sexes - very brief (religious connotations)
• Between same sexes - Make Intense eye contact and concentrate on
eye movement to find out real intentions.
• Arabs may even move closer to read the eye more clearly.
• When they might want to hide their real feelings, yet given the culture
cannot refuse eye contact, they might hide their eyes behind veils,
sunglasses
Eye Contact in Asia, Latin America and Africa

• Direct eye contact - challenge of authority, offensive, invasion of privacy

• Looking down / looking away - respectful, polite,

How can the eye contact be interpreted in India?

In a meeting between a Japanese and an Arab, what are the things

that can go wrong with an Arab?
 E
X
P
F R
A E
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S
A I
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 Smile
• Americans smile a lot to appear open and friendly

• Japanese do not express their feelings openly

- Men don’t smile in public and
- Women are not supposed to show their teeth while
smiling
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- A German will reply bluntly,
“Life is severe and there is very little to smile about”

• Koreans consider it inappropriate for adults to smile in

public.
- Smiling at strangers is something that the mentally
retarded or the children do before they are properly
trained
- Smile is often an expression of embarrassment than
pleasure
 Laughter

• Americans enjoy a heartfelt belly

laugh

• Arabs and Latin Americans

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touching

• Japanese seldom laugh except

among intimates
 Anger
• Milder forms of anger in Western culture
- frowning

• In Japan showing anger even through

frowning is considered inappropriate

• Another way of showing anger is

‘Shouting’

• Germans, Canadians, Arabs and Latins

often raise their voice when angry.
Japanese seldom raise their voice even
when angry.

• Germans when angry may shout and throw

epithets but are still fairly correct in how
they address the opponent. Many would

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• In some cultures like the Middle East,
people accompany their verbal tirades
with body gestures.
• Far East Asian countries like Japan
have more subdued facial expressions
of anger.
From facial expressions, an outsider
may often be mislead in deciphering
how angry, the person actually is.
 Project Work

Select any one of the following countries:

Australia Japan
Brazil South Korea
Canada United Arab Emirates
China Singapore
England United States of America
Finland Netherlands
France Taiwan
Germany Switzerland
Italy Russia
In your groups briefly find out about the following things of the country of
your choice

• History
• Politics (Salient Features, Important Ministers - 4)
• Country Profile (People, Religion, Major cities, places of significance,
climate, currency, language spoken etc.)
• Economy of the country (Names of some of the major brands of the
country)
• Culture

Bibliography