International Business Essay Questions
Section One: Questions # 2 and #3
Question #2 a. Define and explain the term Culture
Ans.: Culture is a set of shared values, understandings, assumptions, and goals that are learned from earlier generations, imposed by present members of a society, and passed on to succeeding generations. Culture is basically the way of life of a people: what they eat, the music they listen, how they dress, their meal times, their language and art form, and so on.
b. Give examples if operational conflicts that could occur in a cross- cultural context because of different attitudes towards:1) time, 2) change, 3) Individualism . Give a country or region that would be different from the US for each of the three variables.
Ans.: It is quite easy for conflict to occur because people in the same workplace are from different cultural backgrounds. * Time: they are differences in temporal value. In the United States everything is about time. The have a monochromic culture, which means that time is experienced in a linear way- meetings are begin on time and assignment are due on time. The United States concentrate on one thing at a time and sticks to commitments. In the Caribbean region, for example, Jamaica to be exact, plans change often and people usually run late to meetings, they believe that time will always be there. Jamaican have a polychromic culture, they tolerate many things happening simultaneously and may focus on several things at once. They value relationships and believe that these are important and lasting. They miss deadlines and they complete tasks at their own leisure * Change: control and the pace of control. Countries in the Western Atlantic like the United States believe that they have control over their future, they can control whether they are successful or not; or whether they make a lot of money or a little. In Non- Western regions though and in countries like Saudi Arabia, they believe that they can change nothing because their destiny is
Question #2 a. Define and explain the term Culture
Ans.: Culture is a set of shared values, understandings, assumptions, and goals that are learned from earlier generations, imposed by present members of a society, and passed on to succeeding generations. Culture is basically the way of life of a people: what they eat, the music they listen, how they dress, their meal times, their language and art form, and so on.
b. Give examples if operational conflicts that could occur in a cross- cultural context because of different attitudes towards:1) time, 2) change, 3) Individualism . Give a country or region that would be different from the US for each of the three variables.
Ans.: It is quite easy for conflict to occur because people in the same workplace are from different cultural backgrounds. * Time: they are differences in temporal value. In the United States everything is about time. The have a monochromic culture, which means that time is experienced in a linear way- meetings are begin on time and assignment are due on time. The United States concentrate on one thing at a time and sticks to commitments. In the Caribbean region, for example, Jamaica to be exact, plans change often and people usually run late to meetings, they believe that time will always be there. Jamaican have a polychromic culture, they tolerate many things happening simultaneously and may focus on several things at once. They value relationships and believe that these are important and lasting. They miss deadlines and they complete tasks at their own leisure * Change: control and the pace of control. Countries in the Western Atlantic like the United States believe that they have control over their future, they can control whether they are successful or not; or whether they make a lot of money or a little. In Non- Western regions though and in countries like Saudi Arabia, they believe that they can change nothing because their destiny is