In our reading we are presented with situations in which people from different backgrounds come together to form partnerships. Even though both situations involved different types of partnerships (the first one was for business and the other was for an engineering project), we are able to see that differences in cultures play very important roles in any type of partnership. In our two cases, differences in cultures caused millions of dollars in loss. In fact more importantly, these differences caused communication to be very awkward or unpleasant for the different partners.
So how do we rise above these hurdles? After all, in our globalized world, no matter what we do, at some point in the future we will work with people from different backgrounds. In my opinion, we need to keep an open mind and learn of each other’s cultures. We need find out more how the other thinks and solves problem. But here’s the hard part. We will also have to make some compromises in order to get thing to work.
In the passage the cultural differences are clearly shown. Every team has a different perspective towards achieving a particular goal. Let take into consideration the Germans and the Americans getting together to develop a new product. Both want quality but they have different meaning of quality. Germans look for a perfect product, whereas Americans search to make a product which is workable and can be changed if demanded. This difference of thinking makes Germans take more time on a product. On the other hand, Americans just want to progress the project and be ready for the products launch as soon as possible. This abruptness of the Americans is not appreciated by the Germans which leads to conflicts.
ReplyDeleteAccording to me, the knowledge of every culture is necessary. In an international business, one should take into consideration the way of thinking of the opposite team.
(engr(103)
I agree with you on that we should learn about other cultures and take into account the way foreign partners think. But do we need to really compromise? From my point of view, if we do not disagree with partners on certain aspect of the task, we should not compromise. We must stand up for our opinion. (engr103)
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