Elizabeth’s Visit

Intercultural and Global Issues
ADM 549
July 22, 2013

As the world continues to become advance, so does the exchange of business around the world. With the exchange of good and services from country to country communication has become an essential element in conducting business. In the following case study Elizabeth’s Visit, we read how important communication is when dealing with other cultures when it comes to business, by her having to visit the French subsidiary, in a short amount of time, with less culture training. In Elizabeth’s case, in her visit to the French subsidiary, dealing with verbal and nonverbal ques are quintessential to her assessment and the company, because she has only had about a week’s training of the French culture, it would be best for Elizabeth to use the knowledge that she has gained from working a GPC over the years. Elizabeth should keep in mind the dress code, the way that she dresses when meeting the French. What might seem appreciate to one culture could be disrespectful to the French. Besides her dress code, facial expressions should also be kept in mind; she should watch her facial exspressions, what seems to be alright in America, or any other culture that she has done business with could be offensive to the French. Elizabeth should make sure that she executes a clear understanding of what she is trying to convey, by doing that she should require certain feedback along with following up on her work with the French, to make sure she is completing her assessment. Verbal and Nonverbal communication, is just a portion of what Elizabeth should establish when doing business with the French. Knowing the high-context, and low-context of a country is essential. Elizabeth should know that high context culture, feelings and thoughts are not explicitly expressed, but instead one has to read in between the lines, and interpret their own meaning from their own general understanding (Dereksy 2011). In low context culture, feelings and thoughts are expressed in words and information is more readily available (Dereksy 2011). Since Europeans are of a low-context culture, value logic, facts and directness. In the case of solving a problems means having the facts lined up and evaluating on after another (Park & Kim 2008). After learning about the European culture, which Elizabeth had done for a week, and seeing that North America is also a low context culture, would make the communication with the French a tad bit easier for her to communicate.
Reporting on her assessment, Elizabeth should consider