You work for an international construction company that has been contracted to build the tallest skyscraper in the world in Rio De Janeiro. The financing is coming from Dubai, the materials are coming from China, the engineering and technology is coming from Germany, and the labor will be hired locally with management from the United States. You invite all of the players to the headquarters in the United States for a big meeting to explain the project and get to know one another. The people seem to be staying with their own groups and not mingling.
- What is the cultural phenomenon here?
- How do you explain the lack of intercultural communication?
- What do you know about these cultures-specifically their economic, political, educational, and social systems-that could help you in getting them together?
- What are some of the contrasting cultural values of these countries?
You are concerned about some of the language issues as you start the meeting, particularly the fact that the United States is a low-context country, and some of the countries present are high-context countries. Furthermore, you only speak English, and you do not have an interpreter present.
- How will this affect the presentation?
- What are some of the issues you should be concerned about regarding verbal and nonverbal language for this group?
- What strategy would you use to begin to have everyone develop a relationship with each other that will help ease future negotiations, development, and implementation?