Networks and the need to belong are the basis of friendships and subgroups. 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. 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. A role includes the behavioral expectations of a position within a culture and is affected by norms and rules. The ability to develop networks in intercultural situations can enable you to do business more effectively in multicultural environments. They are unwritten guidelines people within the cultural group follow. Networks are formed with personal ties and involve an exchange of assistance. 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. Rules are formed to clarify cloudy areas of norms.