Results of Poor Cross Cultural Awareness
Outcomes of Poor Cross Cultural Awareness. Having a poor understanding of the influence of cross cultural differences in places such as management, PR, marketing and negotiations can at some point lead to blunders that can have damaging consequences.
It is critical for today's small business personnel to understand the impact of cross cultural differences on business enterprise, trade and internal organization organisation. The good results or failure of a enterprise, venture, merger or acquisition is basically in the hands of men and women. If these many people are not cross culturally conscious then misunderstandings, offence and a break down in communication can take place.
The require for higher cross cultural awareness is heightened in our global economies. Cross cultural differences in matters such as language, etiquette, non-verbal communication, norms and values can, do and will lead to cross cultural blunders.
To illustrate this we have supplied a few examples of cross cultural blunders that could have been avoided with appropriate cross cultural awareness training:
An American oil rig supervisor in Indonesia shouted at an employee to take a boat to shore. Because it is no-1 berates an Indonesian in public, a mob of outraged workers chased the supervisor with axes.
Pepsodent tried to sell its toothpaste in Southeast Asia by emphasizing that it "whitens your teeth." They discovered out that the neighborhood natives chew betel nuts to blacken their teeth which they acquire attractive.
A enterprise advertised eyeglasses in Thailand by featuring a variety of cute animals wearing glasses. The ad was a poor choice due to the fact animals are considered to be a form of low life and no self respecting Thai would wear anything worn by animals.
The soft drink Fresca was being promoted by a saleswoman in Mexico. She was surprised that her sales pitch was greeted with laughter, and later embarrassed when she learned that fresca is slang for "lesbian."
When President George Bush went to Japan with Lee Iacocca and other American home business magnates, and directly made explicit and direct demands on Japanese leaders, they violated Japanese etiquette. To the Japanese (who use high context language) it is considered rude and a sign of ignorance or desperation to lower oneself to make direct demands. Some analysts believe it severely damaged the negotiations and confirmed to the Japanese that Americans are barbarians.
A soft drink was introduced into Arab nations with an attractive label that had stars on it--six-pointed stars. The Arabs interpreted this as pro-Israeli and refused to invest in it. A further label was printed in ten languages, 1 of which was Hebrew--once more the Arabs did not order it.
U.S. and British negotiators located themselves at a standstill when the American corporation proposed that they "table" distinct crucial points. In the U.S. "Tabling a motion" signifies to not go over it, though the exact same phrase in Excellent Britain implies to "bring it to the table for discussion."
In addition to interpersonal cross cultural gaffes, the translation of documents, brochures, advertisements and signs also presents us some comical cross cultural blunders:
Kellogg had to rename its Bran Buds cereal in Sweden when it found that the name roughly translated to "burned farmer."
When Pepsico advertised Pepsi in Taiwan with the ad "Come Alive With Pepsi" they had no notion that it would be translated into Chinese as "Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the dead."
American medical containers were distributed in Good Britain and brought on rather a stir. The directions to "Take off top rated and push in bottom," innocuous to Americans, had incredibly robust sexual connotations to the British.
In Italy, a campaign for Schweppes Tonic Water translated the name into "Schweppes Toilet Water."
In a Belgrade hotel elevator: To move the cabin, push the button for wishing floor. If the cabin need to enter more persons, each one must press a number of wishing floor. Driving is then going alphabetically by national order.
In a Yugoslavian hotel: The flattening of underwear with pleasure is the job of the chambermaid.
In a Bangkok dry cleaner's: Drop your trousers here for finest outcomes.
In an East African newspaper: A new swimming pool is rapidly taking shape given that the contractors have thrown in the bulk of their workers.
Detour sign in Kyushi, Japan: Stop--Drive sideways.
At a Budapest zoo: Please do not feed the animals. If you have any appropriate food, give it to the guard on duty.
In conclusion, poor cross cultural awareness has a large number of consequences, some severe other people comical. It is imperative that in the international economy cross cultural awareness is noticed a necessary investment to prevent such blunders as we have seen above.
