Norms, Rules, Roles and Networks: Justification of Sentence Arrangement

Norms, rules, roles, and networks are situational factors that influence encoding and decoding of both verbal and nonverbal messages within a culture. Norms are culturally ingrained principles of correct and incorrect behaviors that, if broken, carry a form of overt or covert penalty. They are unwritten guidelines people within the culture group follow. Rules are forms to clarify areas of norms. A role includes the behavioral expectations of a position within a culture and is affected by norms and rules. Networks are formed with personal ties and involve an exchange of assistance. Networks and the need to belong are the basis of friendships and subgroups. The ability to develop networks in intercultural situations can enable you to do business more effectively in multicultural environments. When the United States decided to help the people of Kuwait defend themselves against Iraq in 1992, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations called in the other ambassadors within his network for their concurrence. In some cultures such as the Arab, Spanish, and Japanese, networking is essential because they prefer to conduct business with people they know or with associates of people they know.

Justification of sentence arrangement:
The opening sentence of this paragraph is the topic sentence. It is a broad statement that sets the reader’s expectations for the information in the text to follow. Each term that appears in the topic sentence is then defined in subsequent sentences. The sequence of definitions is based on the sequence in which the term appears in the topic sentence. There is a progression of thought beginning with the unwritten, intangible concept of “norms”, followed by the more concrete concept of “rules”, focusing further down to “role” of the individual or individual group. As the sentences appear after rearrangement, the reader not only has a working understanding of each term but can grasp the relationship between the terms. Once these terms are defined, the overarching and more complex construct of “networking” can be introduced and explained. The two examples given demonstrate the cultural influence on networking as well as purpose-driven networking.