Ashford University
AN INTERCULTURAL ANALYSIS BETWEEN TWO NATIONS 2
Intercultural and interpersonal communication is a facet of everyday life. These components are important when we consider the role they play in global communication and the business world as a whole. For example, consider a business transaction between individuals from two distinct countries such as Colombia and China; each individual needs to understand the other culture in order to facilitate effective and respectful communication. As Geert Hofstede (2001) explained, culture is comprised of power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty …show more content…
As Donald Baack (2012) elaborated, in Asia “language that avoids directly challenging a person or making that individual look bad, or seem disrespected is common” (p. 19). This means that the Chinese businessperson would most likely not hold this against his Colombian counterpart but rather tolerate it in the interest of developing trust and a longer-lasting relationship.
Lastly, the Colombian may want to indulge more time in the relationship, which would work well, since Chinese culture is characterized by a strategy to “not trust until there is enough evidence of trustworthiness” (Harris, 2014, para. 6). If both businesspersons take the time to nurture their relationship and understand each other’s cultural differences and similarities, they will set themselves up for a successful and fruitful business