Your fast-food franchise has been cleared for business in all 4 countries (United Arab Emirates, Israel, Mexico, and China). You now have to start construction on your restaurants. The financing is coming from the United Arab Emirates, the materials are coming from Mexico and China, the engineering and technology are coming from Israel , and the labor will be hired locally within these countries by your management team 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 at play here (what is it called/ term)?
- How do you explain the lack of intercultural communication and interaction?
- 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 barriers 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?