Cultural Values

The good thing about associating with Americans is that you can be friendly in a light manner. Not so in Japan. Japanese are nosey in other peoples' business—they rumor, gossip. It gives you a crowded feeling, after you get back. Of course in Japan friendships are usually deep— it is good to have a real friend to lean on— you know where you stand with your friends; it is the opposite of light associations.

I have few American friends— those I have are usually Americans who have been to Japan. I think the reason is that my character is somewhat backward.

I don't try to speak first, but let the other fellow open up. Those who have been to Japan know about this and speak first, and that makes it easier to start an association.

From the information on contrasting cultural norm and cue systems supplied thus far, it is possible to predict in a general way that
I when a Japanese interacts with an American, certain blockages to communication and to the correct assessment of status behavior may occur.
Japanese are likely to confront Americans with unstated assumptions concerning status differences, while the American may be inclined to accept the Japanese at face value—that is, as a person, not a status. In the resulting confusion it may be anticipated that the Japanese will retreat into what he calls enryo, since this form of behavior involving attenuated communication is appropriate toward persons of unclear or superior status.

THE NATIONAL STATUS IMAGE

For reasons usually found in the cultural background of the peoples concerned, and in the historical relations of nations, there is a tendency on the part of some to view other nations and peoples much as one would view persons in a hierarchically oriented social group. Modernization, which brings an increased need for knowledge of other peoples, has brought as well a strong sense of competition—a desire to know where one stands, or where one's nation stands relative to other nations in technological and other areas of development. This desire to know one's position and the tendency to view other nations hierarchically are probably found to some degree in all modern societies, but may be exaggerated among those nations that are in the middle ranks in the competitive race for modernization—and particularly in those societies which have incorporated into their own culture a strong hierarchical conception of status.

Thus, in societies with hierarchical patterns, there will occur certain established techniques which are defined as appropriate for governing behavior toward the nationals of countries judged either to be higher or lower than that of the actor. On the other hand, for societies with egalitarian ideals of social relations, while there may be a tendency in the national popular ideology to view other nations hierarchically in terms of power and progress, there will be no ready behavioral pattern to follow toward individual members of these other societies. Ideally, regardless of national origin, individuals will be considered as "human beings," theoretically equal. Such theoretical equality is often violated in practice, of course, but the violations are based not on systematic hierarchical conceptions, but on transitory and situationally determined attitudes.

The Japanese tendency to locate other nations on a hierarchical scale is well known, and is observable even at the level of formal diplomatic interchange. With respect to the Japanese attitude toward the United
States, the tendency toward a superordinate status percept is very strong
—although qualified and even reversed in certain contexts (American arts and literature have been viewed as of questionable merit, for example) and in certain historical periods. The historical basis for this generally high- status percept may be found in America's historic role in the opening of
Japan; in the use of America as a model for much of Japan's modernization; and in the participation and guidance of the United States in reform and reconstruction during the Occupation. America, though not always a country for which the Japanese feel great affection, has come to be a symbol of many of Japan's aspirations, as well as a "tutor" whom the "pupil" must eventually excel (or even conquer). Therefore, whatever the specific affectual response, we have found that the Japanese student subjects often perceived America as deserving of respect or at least respect-avoidance
(enryo), and were further inclined to project this image onto the American individual. Evidence of these views available in our research data is sampled at the end of this section, in the form of quotations from interviews.

Within tolerable limits of generally, America may be specified as a society in which egalitarian interpersonal relationships are the ideal pattern and, in tendency at least, the predominant pattern of behavior. But in the United States, especially as the country emerges from political isolation, there also has appeared a tendency to rate other nations in a rough hierarchical order. Thus, some European nations in the spheres of art, literature, and the manufacture of sports cars would be acclaimed by many Americans as superior, and Americans are increasingly concerned about their technological position vis-a-vis Russia. However, this tendency to rate other nations hierarchically does not automatically translate itself into code of behavior for Americans to follow toward the people of other countries, as is the case for many Japanese. It may leave the social situation a little confused for the Americans, but in the background of thinking for many individual Americans is the notion that in social relations people should be treated initially as equals.

A CULTURAL MODEL OF INTERACTION

When a person from a national society with hierarchical tendencies encounters a person from a society with egalitarian tendencies, and moreover when the country of the latter is generally "high" in the estimation of the former, the idealized paradigm as shown in Figure 1 would be approximated. In this diagram, X, the person from a country with egalitarian views, behaves toward Y, the person from a hierarchically oriented country, as if he occupied the same "level"; that is, in equalitarian terms.

Figure 1.

But Y perceives X in a high-status position X1, "above" X's image of his own status in the relationship. Since from Y's point of view X does not behave as he "ought" to—he behaves as an equal rather than as a superior—Y may be expected to feel confusion and disorientation. The confusion can be resolved readily only by Y's assuming an equal status with X, or by X's assuming the position X1 assigned to him by Y; i.e., either by closing or by validating the "arc of status-cue confusion" shown by the arrow.

The reader will note that in effect we have already substituted
"average American" for X, and "average Japanese" for Y. We have found that the diagram has been meaningful as an ideal model for the analysis of interaction patterns between Japanese and Americans. In many cases the conditions denoted by the diagram were actually found: Americans do behave toward Japanese as equals, while the Japanese perceive the Americans as, and in some cases expect them to behave like, superiors. In this ideal situation since the Japanese is generally not able to respond as an equal, and since withdrawal and distant respect are proper behavior both for interaction with superiors and for interaction in situations where status is ambiguous, he simply retires into enryo and communication is impaired.
This model does much to explain what many educators and foreign student counsellors have come to feel as "typical" behavior of the shy, embarrassed
Japanese student on the American campus.

A revealing interchange on the matter of status imagery by some twelve
Japanese sojourner students was recorded during a two-hour group discussion planned by the project but not attended by Americans. A translation of part of this interchange follows.

M: As I see it, Japanese think of Americans as nobility. So, it is hard to accept invitations because of the status difference.

K: I don't agree fully. Americans are not nobility to us, but they do have a higher social status, so that it is hard to accept invitations. But there is a "category" of persons who are known and placed as "foreign students," and we can take advantage of this general foreign student status and go to American homes and places.

N: During foreign student orientation we came and went as we desired as "foreign students." But here, as an individual person, I have felt it necessary to return invitations which are extended to me, and this I find very difficult since I have no income and must return the invitation in a manner suited to the status of the person.

M: Only if the invitation is from Americans who we can accept as status equals to us should it be returned. . . . American table manners are difficult to learn, and it is a problem similar to that encountered by anyone who attempts to enter a higher social class in Japan. . . . Japanese just can't stand on an equal footing with Americans. ... I wouldn't want an
American janitor to see my house in Japan. It is so miserable.

N: Why? That seems extreme.

M: Because I have social aspirations. I am a "climber." A Japanese house in Tokyo is too dirty to invite an American to—for example, could I invite him to use my poor bathroom? (General laughter)

At a later point in the discussion, the following emerged:

Mrs. N: I have watched American movies in Japan and in the United
States I have seen American men—and they all look like Robert Taylor. No
Japanese men look like Robert Taylor.

M: Again I say it is not a matter of beauty, but one of status.

Mrs. N: No, it is not status—not calculation of economic worth or anything —but of beauty. Americans are more beautiful—they look nicer than
Japanese.

U: It is the same in other things. Americans look nice, for example, during an oral examination in college. They look more attractive. Japanese look down, crushed, ugly.

At a still later point, one of the discussants embarked on a long monologue on the ramifications of the status problem. Part of this monologue runs as follows:

A high-status Japanese man going out with American girls knows something of what he must do—for example, he must be polite—but he does not know the language so he can be no competition to American men, who will be superior. In an emergency, for example, the Japanese male regresses to
Japanese behavior. Great Japanese professors are embarrassed for the first few months in the United States because they can't even beat American college juniors in sociable behavior or expression of ideas. They don't know the language, they feel inferior. These people, forgetting that they were unable "to defeat America, become highly antagonistic to the United
States. . . .They reason that Japan must be superior, not inferior to the
United States, because they are unable to master it. While in America, of course, they may write home about their wonderful times and experiences — to hide their real feelings. Actually while they are in the U.S. they feel as though they were nothing.

Some quotations from two different interviews with another subject:

Before I came to the States, I expected that whatever I would do in the U.S. would be observed by Americans and would become their source of knowledge of Japan and the Japanese. So I thought I had to be careful. In the dormitory, there is a Nisei boy from whom I ask advice about my manners and clothing! I asked him to tell me any time when my body smells or my clothing is dirty. I, as a Japanese, want to look nice to Americans.

In general, I think I do less talking than the others in my courses.
I'm always afraid that if I raise questions along the lines of Japanese thinking about the subject—or simply from my own way of looking at something—it might raise some question on the part of .the others. When talking to a professor I can talk quite freely, but not in class. I am self- conscious.

These specimen quotations help to show that quite frequently the perspective of many Japanese students toward America has some of the qualities of the triangular model of interaction. Regardless of how our
Japanese subjects may have behaved, or learned to behave, they harbored, as a picture in the back of their minds, an image of the Americans as people a notch or two "above" Japan and the Japanese. Thus even while a Japanese may
"look down" on what he calls "American materialism," he may "in the back of his mind" continue to "look up" to the United States and its people as a whole, as a "generalized other." Our cultural model of interaction is thus felt to be a very fundamental and highly generalized component of imagery, as well as a very generalized way of describing the behavior of Japanese and Americans in certain typical interactive situations.

Quite obviously the model, taken by itself, would be a very poor instrument of prediction of the actual behavior of a particular Japanese with Americans. It is apparent that there would have to be a considerable knowledge of situational variability, amount of social learning, and many other factors before all the major variants of Japanese social behavior in
America with respect to status could be understood. While there is no need to seek complete predictability of individual behavior, some attempt may be made to show how the social behavior of the Japanese subjects of research did vary in actual social situations in America, and to see if these variants followed a consistent pattern.

Here is a list of values that some visitors from other cultures have noticed are common to many Americans:

Informality (being casual and down-to-earth) Self-reliance (not looking to others to solve your problems) Efficiency (getting things done quickly and on time) Social equality (treating everyone the same)
Assertiveness (saying what's on your mind) Optimism (believing that the best will always happen)

SEVEN STATEMENTS ABOUT AMERICANS

Here is a list of comments a non-American might make about an
Americans:

1. Americans are always in such a hurry to get things done!

2. Americans insist on treating everyone the same.

3. Americans always have to say what they're thinking!

4. Americans always want to change things.

5. Americans don't show very much respect for their elders.

6. Americans always think things are going to get better. They are so optimistic!

7. Americans are so impatient!

Reasons some cultural anthropologists have offered to explain why
Americans may appear the way they do to people from other cultures.

1. Americans are always in such a hurry to get things done!

Americans often seem this way because of their tendency to use achievements and accomplishments as a measure of a person's worth. They're in a hurry to get things done because it's only then that they feel they have proven their worth to other people. The more Americans accomplish, the more they feel they are respected.

2. Americans insist on treating everyone the same.

Americans do this because of our cultural roots as a free nation
(e.g., "All men are created equal"). Americans have a deep cultural instinct toward social equality and not having a class system. Ibis is a reaction to the European class system as well as the feudal system that existed in Europe. In cultures where inequality between social classes is more accepted, American insistence on egalitarianism, or social equality, may be annoying.

3. Americans always have to say what they're thinking!

Americans believe that being direct is the most efficient way to communicate. It's important to "tell it like it is" and "speak your mind" — to say what you mean and mean what you say. Being direct is often valued over "beating around the bush." Americans value "assertiveness" and being open and direct about one's droughts and feelings. Not all cultures have this same value. In some cultures, the "normal" way to disagree or to say no is to say nothing or be very indirect.

4. Americans always want to change things.

Americans mink things can always be better, and that progress is inevitable. The United States is just a little more than 200 years old, and
American culture tends to be an optimistic one. Older cultures are more skeptical because they have been around longer, have experienced more, and have been in situations in which progress was not always made. In American businesses, being open to change is a strong value, because things really do change quickly, and it is necessary to adapt. Many Americans believe it is "good" to initiate change and "bad" to resist it.

5. Americans don't show very much respect for their elders.

Americans believe people must earn by their actions whatever regard or respect they are given. Merely attaining a certain age or holding a certain position does not in itself signify achievement.

6. Americans always think things are going to get better. They are so optimistic!

America, because of its resources and successes, has always had a culture of optimism. Americans believe that they are in control of their own destinies, rather than being victims of fate. Many Americans tend to believe that "the American dream" can be achieved by anyone who is willing to work hard enough. Many Americans believe mat the only obstacle to things getting better is "not trying hard enough." Americans also believe that a personal lack of determination or effort can be "fixed." Other cultures may believe more in fate ("what will be will be"). When something bad happens, some members of these cultures believe it was fated to happen, must be accepted, and cannot be changed.

7. Americans are so impatient!

Americans believe that if things take a long time to do, they won't be able to do enough of them. Many Americans believe that more and faster is better. They do not like to stand in line and wait, and they originated
"fast food." Americans believe that "getting things done" (and doing them quickly) may be more important than other things. Many other cultures believe that slower is better and that building and maintaining relationships takes priority over "getting things done" at the expense of relationships.

Americans are. . . (students of different countres)

What response would you give to these students? Do you consider their observations biased? naive? limited? unfair? interesting? useless?

Student No.1-from Saudi Arabia: "I have learned three important things about Americans since I came to the United States. First, I have learned that all Americans are lively; they move and speak quickly, because time is very important to them. Second, Americans are the same as the machine, they do their work worthily but without any thinking, they just use the instructions even if it is not completely right. Finally, they do not know anything except their job, they do not know what is happened in their country."

Student No.2-from Venezuela: "I have observed that Americans are polite, pragmatic, and organized. Wherever you are in the United States you can hear words of friendship and cordiality like, "May I help you?",
"Excuse me", "Have a nice day.", "Thank you", and many others. Another characteristic is their pragmatism. Along years, Americans have worked a lot in order to create many devices which have made their life more comfortable. These devices not only save time but they also make things easier. Last, but never least, Americans are very organized. Perhaps, for the same fact that they are very pragmatic people, they have developed different ways of organization that assure them better services. "

Student No.3-from Japan: "I have been learning about Americans since I came here last September. First, Americans don't care what other people do or what happened. For example, when I come out of my room my roommate never ask me where you are going or where I went. Second, Americans are friendly and open-minded. When I went to my roommate's home, I was welcomed by her family. Her mother said to me immediately: "Help yourself to everything in my home," and I was surprised to hear it. I thought that the words indicated friendliness. In Japan we never open refrigerators or use my friend's things without permissions, because to serve is a virtue in my country. Third, Americans like cards, sometimes I can find cards are delivered to my American friends without special reasons. As far as I look at Americans, they seem not to care what other people do as a whole, while they think it's important to keep relation-ships between them and their friends and them and their parents."

AMERICANS AND MONEY

MARY'S FEELING BLUE

Mary Rathbun, 57, spent a restless night in the San Francisco jail thinking about the "magical cookies" that she baked to add to her fixed income. "The police wouldn't let me have one before I went to jail," she said. "I might have slept better if they had." Mary started her home baking business six months ago after a back injury forced her to quit her job as a grave-yard shift waitress. "I was a waitress for 43 years. I was good at it."

Mary's dozen magical brownies, which were baked with a lot of marijuana, were taken Wednesday night from her apartment, along with 20 pounds of pot and large amounts of sugar, margarine and flour. Mary, who has no previous criminal record, admitted doing a great business out of her home selling her "health food cookies." She said that she wouldn't give away her special recipe.

Mary advertised her "original recipe brownies" for $20 a dozen. Her lack of carefulness, especially taking orders over the phone from anyone amazed and amused the police officers who arrested her. "Life is a gamble.

I played by the rules for 57 years. Then I gambled and lost."

True, Americans enjoy money and the things it can buy. But in defense of the so-called materialistic American, one expert in American culture points out, ". . . however eager we are to make money, we are just as eager to give it away. Any world disaster finds Americans writing checks to relieve distress. Since the war we have seen the spectacle of the United
States sending billions and billions of dollars' worth of goods to countries less fortunate than we. Write some of it off, if you will, to a desire to buy political sympathy; there is still an overplus of goodwill strictly and uniquely American. Generosity and materialism run side by side."

The average American is also accused of being "rough around the edges"
-that is, of lacking sophistication in manners and understanding of things cultural. He tries hard to polish those edges through education and travel.
But no matter how much he learns and sees, his interests are less with the past than with the present and future, less with the decorative than with the functional. He may be bored by medieval art but fascinated by modern engineering. Foreigners will find him always ready to compare cultures, though he may conclude that American methods are more efficient and therefore better. In expressing his views, he may be blunt to the point of rudeness. He admires efficiency and financial success. Eager to get as much as possible for his time and money, he is sometimes impatient, tense, and demanding. Often, he is in a hurry and unable to relax. His intensely competitive outlook is probably his greatest fault. But one must give him credit for his virtues: he is friendly, spontaneous, adaptable, efficient, energetic, and kindhearted. All things considered, he is a likable guy.

Whose American Dream?

"All men are created equal," says the Declaration of Independence.

This statement does not mean that all human beings are equal in ability or ambition. It means, instead, that all people should be treated equally before the law and given equal privileges and opportunities, insofar as government can control these. In practice, this ideal often does not work perfectly. There have always been those who would deny the rights of others for their own self-interest. There are times when the American people need to be reminded that any denial of basic rights is a weakening of the total system. However, equal treatment and equal opportunity for all are ideals toward which American society is moving ever closer.

The American belief in equality of opportunity is illustrated by the
Horatio Alger myth. Horatio Alger was a nineteenth-century American novelist who wrote stories about poor boys who became successful. His books told about the little newsboy or bootblack who, because he was hardworking, honest, and lucky, grew up to become rich and respected. These popular
"rags-to-riches" stories exemplified the American Dream-the belief that any individual, no matter how poor, can achieve wealth and fame through diligence and virtue.

The "American Dream"

In the United States there is a belief that people are rewarded for working, producing, and achieving. Many people believe that there is equality of opportunity that allows anyone to become successful. This belief is illustrated by stories written by a nineteenth-century American novelist, Horatio Alger, who wrote about the" American Dream." In his stories he described poor people who became rich because of their hard work, honesty, and luck. The stories reinforced the idea that all individuals, no matter how poor, were capable of becoming wealthy as long as they were diligent and virtuous. For many Americans, however, Horatio
Alger's "rags-to-riches" stories do not represent the reality of opportunity. Many poor immigrants who came to the United States in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries were able to rise on the social and economic scales. Today, however, the poor generally do not rise to the middle and upper classes. The" American Dream" is now described as a myth; it is still difficult for several million Americans to "get ahead."

Which Kind of University?

These excerpts provide two versions of life on North American
University campuses. Which version would be most helpful to foreign students in general? Should a choice be made?

A college community is an interesting and lively place. Students become involved in many different activities-extracurricular, religious, social and athletic. Among the extracurricular activities are college newspapers' musical organizations, dramatic clubs, and political groups.
Some of these have faculty advisers. Many religious groups have their own meeting places where services and social activities can be held. Student groups run parties of all types-from formal dances to picnics. Most colleges have a student union where students can get together for lunch, study sessions, club meetings, and socializing.

At many schools, campus life revolves around fraternities (social and, in some cases, residential clubs for men) and sororities (similar clubs for women). These organizations exist on more than 500 campuses. The best known are national groups with many chapters at schools throughout the country.
Their names are Greek letters such as Alpha Delta Phi. These groups have been much criticized for being cruel and prejudiced because membership is limited and selective. A student must be invited to join. There is often great competition among freshmen and sophomores who want to join. Those who seek membership must go through rush (a period when prospective members visit different houses to meet and be evaluated by current members). The whole experience can be very painful if a student goes through rush and then is not asked to pledge (become a trial member of) any of the houses he or she has visited. Sororities and fraternities also tend to limit membership to one particular racial and religious group, thereby depriving its members of the wonderful opportunity that college offers for broadening social contacts. However, these groups do help students find friends of similar backgrounds; thus, they help combat loneliness for those away from home.

Student life at American universities is chaotic during the first week of each quarter or semester. Registering for classes, becoming familiar with the buildings on campus, buying books, adding and dropping classes, and paying fees are confusing for everyone. During this busy period there is little time for students to anticipate what they will later encounter in the classroom.

International students, accustomed to their countries' educational expectations, must adapt to new classroom norms in a foreign college or university. Whereas in one country prayer may be acceptable in a classroom, in another it may be forbidden. In some classrooms around the world students must humbly obey their teacher's commands and remain absolutely silent during a class period. In others, students may talk, eat, and smoke during lectures as well as criticize a teacher's methods or contradict his or her statements. It is not always easy to understand a new educational system.

Diversity in Education

There is considerable variety in university classrooms in the United
States. Because of diverse teaching methods and non-standardized curricula, no two courses are identical. Undergraduate courses are considerably different from graduate courses. The classroom atmosphere in expensive, private universities may differ from that in community colleges which are free and open to everyone. State-funded universities have different requirements and expectations than do parochial colleges. Nevertheless, there are shared features in American college and university classrooms despite the diversity of educational institutions of higher learning.

The differences between cultures are leaded to misunderstandings in many points.

3. FACTORS INFLUENSING VALUES

INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION: A GUIDE TO MEN OF ACTION

Anyone who has traveled abroad or dealt at all extensively with non-
Americans learns that punctuality is variously interpreted. It is one thing to recognize this with the mind; to adjust to a different kind of appointment time is quite another.

In Latin America, you should expect to spend hours waiting in outer offices. If you bring your American interpretation of what constitutes punctuality to a Latin-American office, you will fray your temper and elevate your blood pressure. For a forty-five-minute wait is not unusual
-no more unusual than a five minute wait would be in the United States. No insult is intended, no arbitrary pecking order is being established. If, in the United States, you would not be outraged by a five-minute wait, you should not be outraged by the Latin-American's forty-five-minute delay in seeing you. The time pie is differently cut, that's all.

Further, the Latin American doesn't usually schedule individual appointments to the exclusion of other appointments. The informal Clock of his upbringing ticks more slowly and he rather enjoys seeing several people on different matters at the same time. The three-ring circus atmosphere which results, if interpreted in the American's scale of time and propriety, seems to signal him to go away, to tell him that h~ is not being properly treated, to indicate that his dignity is under attack. Not so. The clock on the wall may look the same but it tells a different sort of time.

The cultural error may be compounded by' a further miscalculation. In the United States, a consistently tardy man is likely to be considered undependable, and by our cultural clock this is a reasonable conclusion.
For you to judge a Latin American by your scale of time values is to risk a major error.

Suppose you have waited forty-five minutes and there is a man in his office, by some miracle alone in the room with you. Do you now get down to business and stop "wasting time"?

If you are not forewarned by experience or a friendly advisor, you may try to do this. And it would usually be a mistake. For, in the American culture, discussion is a means to an end: the deal. You try to make your point quickly, efficiently, neatly. If your purpose is to arrange some major affairs, your instinct is probably to settle the major issues first, leave the details for later, possibly for the technical people to work out.

For the Latin American, the discussion is a part of the spice of life.
Just as he tends not to be overly concerned about reserving you your specific segment of time, he tends not as rigidly to separate business from non-business. He runs it all together and wants to make something of a social event out of what you, in your .culture, regard as strictly business.

The Latin American is not alone in this. The Greek businessman, partly for the same and partly for different reasons, does not lean toward the
"hit-and-run" school of business behavior, either. The Greek businessman adds to the social element, however, a feeling about what length of discussion time constitutes go09 faith. In America, we show good faith by ignoring the details. "Let's agree on the main points. The details will take care of themselves."

Not so the Greek. He signifies good will and good faith by what may seem to you an interminable discussion which includes every conceivable detail. Otherwise, you see, he cannot help but feel that the other man might be trying to pull the wool over his eyes. Our habit, in what we feel to be our relaxed and friendly way, of postponing details until later smacks the Greek between the eyes as a maneuver to flank him. Even if you can somehow convince him that this is not the case, the meeting must still go on a certain indefinite-but, by our standards, long-time or he will feel disquieted.

The American desire to get down to business and on with other things works to our disadvantage in other parts of the world, too; and not only in business. The head of a large, successful Japanese firm commented: "You
Americans have a terrible weakness. We Japanese know about it and exploit it every chance we get. You are impatient. We have learned that if we just make you wait long enough, you'll agree to anything."

Whether this is literally true or not, the Japanese executive singled out a trait of American culture which most of us share and which, one may assume from the newspapers, the Russians have not overlooked, either.

By acquaintance time we mean how long you must know a man be fore you are willing to do business with him.

In the United States, if we know that a salesman represents a well known, reputable company, and if we need his product, he may walk away from the first meeting with an order in his pocket. A few minutes conversation to decide matters of price, delivery, payment, model of product-nothing more is involved. In Central America, local custom does not permit a salesman to land in town, call on the customer and walk away with an order, no matter how badly your prospect wants and needs your product. It is traditional there that you must see your man at least three times before you can discuss the nature of your business.

Does this mean that the South American businessman does not recognize the merits of one product over another? Of course it doesn't. It is just that the weight of tradition presses him to do business within a circle of friends. If a product he needs is not available within his circle, he does not go outside it so much as he enlarges the circle itself to include a new friend who can supply the want. Apart from his cultural need to "feel right" about a new relationship, there is the logic of his business system.
One of the realities of his life is that it is dangerous to enter into business with someone over whom you have no more than formal, legal
"control." In the past decades, his legal system has not always been as firm as ours and he has learned through experience that he needs the sanctions implicit in the informal system of friendship.

Visiting time involves the question of who sets the time for a visit.
George Coelho, a social psychologist from India, gives an illustrative case. A U.S. businessman received this invitation from an Indian businessman: "Won't you and your family come and see us? Come any time."
Several weeks later, the Indian repeated the invitation in the same words.
Each time the American replied that he would certainly like to drop in-but he never did. The reason is obvious in terms of our culture. Here "come any time" is just an expression of friendliness. You are not really expected to show up unless your host proposes a specific time. In India, on the contrary, the words are meant literally-that the host is putting himself at the disposal of his guest and really expects him to come. It is the essence of politeness to leave it to the guest to set a time at his convenience. If the guest never comes, the Indian naturally assumes that he does not want to come. Such a misunderstanding can lead to a serious rift between men who are trying to do business with each other.

Time schedules present Americans with another problem in many parts of the world. Without schedules, deadlines, priorities, and timetables, we tend to feel that our country could not run at all. Not only are they essential to getting work done, but they also play an important role in the informal communication process. Deadlines indicate priorities and priorities signal the relative importance of people and the processes they control. These are all so much a part of our lives that a day hardly passes without some reference to them. "I have to be there by 6: 30." "If I don't have these plans out by 5:00 they'll be useless." "I told J. B. I'd be finished by noon tomorrow and now he tells me to drop everything and get hot on the McDermott account. What do I do now?"

In our system, there are severe penalties for not completing work on time and important rewards for holding to schedules. One's integrity and reputation are at stake.

You can imagine the fundamental conflicts that arise when we attempt to do business with people who are just as strongly oriented away from time schedules as we are toward them.

The Middle Eastern peoples are a case in point. Not only is our idea of time schedules no part of Arab life but the mere mention of a dead line to an' Arab is like waving a red flag in front of a bull. In his culture, your emphasis on a deadline has the emotional effect on him that his backing you into a corner and threatening you with a club would have on you.

One effect of this conflict of unconscious habit patterns is that hundreds of American-owned radio sets are lying on the shelves of Arab radio repair shops, untouched. The Americans made the serious cross- cultural error of asking to have the repair completed by a certain time.

How do you cope with this? How does the Arab get another Arab to do anything? Every culture has its own ways of bringing pressure to get results. The usual Arab way is one which Americans avoid as "bad manners."
It is needling.

An Arab businessman whose car broke down explained it this way:

First, I go to the garage and tell the mechanic what is wrong with my car. I wouldn't want to give him the idea that I didn't know. After that, I leave the car and walk around the block. When I come back to the garage, I ask him if he has started to work yet. On my way home from lunch I stop in and ask him how things are going. When I go back to the office I stop by again. In the evening, I return and peer over his shoulder for a while. If
I didn't keep this up, he'd be off working on someone else's car.

If you haven't been needled by an Arab, you just haven't been needled.

A PLACE FOR EVERYTHING

We say that there is a time and place for everything, but compared to other countries and cultures we give very little emphasis to place distinctions. Business is almost a universal value with us; it can be discussed almost anywhere, except perhaps in church. One can even talk business on the church steps going to and from the service. Politics is only slightly more restricted in the places appropriate for its discussion.

In other parts of the world, there are decided place restrictions on the discussion of business and politics. The American who is not conscious of the unwritten laws will offend if he abides by his own rather than by the local rules.

In India, you should not talk business when visiting a man's home. If you do, you prejudice your chances of ever working out a satisfactory business relationship.

In Latin America, although university students take an active interest in politics, tradition decrees that a politician should avoid political subjects when speaking on university grounds. A Latin American politician commented to. anthropologist Allan Holmberg that neither he nor his fellow politicians would have dared attempt a political speech on the grounds of the University of San Marcos in Peru-as did Vice-President Nixon.

To complicate matters further, the student body of San Marcos, anticipating the visit, had voted that Mr. Nixon would not be welcome. The
University Rector had issued no invitation, presumably because he expected what did, in fact, happen.

As a final touch, Mr. Nixon's interpreter was a man in full military uniform. In Latin American countries, some of which had recently overthrown military dictators, the symbolism of the military uniform could hardly contribute to a cordial atmosphere. Latin Americans need no reminder that the United States is a great military power.

Mr. Nixon's efforts were planned in the best traditions of our own culture; he hoped to improve relations through a direct, frank, and face-to- face discussion with students-the future leaders of their country.
Unfortunately, this approach did not fit in at all with the culture of the host country. Of course, elements hostile to the United States did their best to capitalize upon this cross-cultural misunderstanding. However, even
Latin Americans friendly to us, while admiring the Vice President's courage, found themselfes acutely embarrassed by the behavior of their people and ours in the ensuing difficulties.

BEING COMFORTABLE IN SPACE

Like time and place, differing ideas of space hide traps for the uninformed. Without realizing it, almost any person raised in the United
States is likely to give an unintended snub to a Latin American simply in the way we handle space relationships, particularly during conversations.

In North America, the "proper" distance to stand when talking to another adult male you do not know well is about two feet, at least in a formal business conversation. (Naturally at a cocktail party, the distance shrinks, but anything under eight to ten inches is likely to provoke an apology or an attempt to back up.)

To a Latin American, with his cultural traditions and habits, a distance of two feet seems to him approximately what five feet would to us.
To him, we seem distant and cold. To us, he gives an impression of pushiness.

As soon as a Latin American moves close enough for him to feel comfortable, we feel uncomfortable and edge back. We once observed a
Conversation between a Latin and a North American which began at one end of a forty-foot hall. At intervals we noticed them again, finally at the other end of the hall. This rather amusing displacement had been accomplished by an almost continual series of small backward steps on the part of the
American, trying unconsciously to reach a comfortable talking distance, and an equal closing of the gap by the Latin American as he attempted to reach his accustomed conversation space.

Страницы: 1, 2, 3