COURSE: INTERCULTURAL NEGOTIATIONS, COMMUNICATION AND CULTURAL QUOTIENT

In multinational business relationships it is essential to be aware of and sensitive to cultural differences. If businesses fail to recognise the importance of cultural differences, this can lead to unpleasant and unprofessional interactions with business partners, which can damage relationships between both parties.

In everyday encounters and in the work environment cultural differences are evident in situations such as greetings, handshakes, table manners (business dining), body language, the spoken word, the written word (email, text messages) and other face-to-face interactions.

In culturally diverse environments cultural awareness becomes a prerequisite for success. Cultural intelligence, or cultural quotient (CQ), is the ability to build relationships and work effectively across cultures.

• Strategies for multicultural cooperation
  1. Communication: Low communication context vs. high communication context • Where does everything have to be communicated to the last detail and where, on the contrary, is the art of “reading between the lines” taught from childhood?
  2. Evaluation: Direct negative feedback indirect negative feedback • In which countries do people accept honest criticism without hesitation and where are they offended by it?
  3. Persuasion.
  4. Leadership: Egalitarian vs. hierarchical Where do you communicate with your boss as if he/she is in the same position as you, and where, on the contrary, a strict work hierarchy is observed?
  5. Decision-making: Consensual vs. top-down Where does the boss make decisions and where is the approval of lower levels of the hierarchy required?
  6.  Trust. Task-based vs. relationship-based • Find out how to gain confidence in each respective country • Did you know that in Japan you generally do not make a deal until you drink into oblivion with your business partner?
  7. Disagreement: Confrontation vs. avoiding confrontation • Learn how to express disagreement properly • In which country will you never hear a direct “no” as a rejection because it would make the person lose face?
  8. Planning. Monochronic vs. polychronic cultures • Which countries are obsessed with time and punctuality and where, on the contrary, time is not so important and relationships amongst people are the most essential?

• Social behaviour and business customs in selected countries
  Preparation, place and time of the meeting • Number of negotiating people • Holidays • Gifts • Colours • Where is white the colour of mourning, purple the colour of death and where should you not wrap gifts in green wrapping paper? Where should you not give alcohol, golden jewellery or perfumes as presents?

• Oral and written etiquette
  Introductions • Addressing • Degrees • Specifics of foreign business cards • Did you know that the second name on a Jewish business card is the nickname of its owner?

• Gestures and non-verbal communication
  Personal space • Eye contact • Touching • Kissing • Shoe soles • Where are “OK” or “win” gestures considered rude?

• Dining habits of selected foreign partners
  Where we eat • How we eat • Toasts • What to do when they serve you, for example, bear’s foot soup, raw monkey brains, sea snails or sheep’s eyeballs, and where exactly do they enjoy these dishes?

• Dress code for social events and meetings
  Where are you allowed to attend meetings without a jacket and in a short-sleeved shirt?

The course is not just about PowerPoint presentations. We promise that you will definitely not be bored. You will be able to put a lot of the information you have learned into practice in an entertaining way, we will reinforce your theoretical knowledge with a visual experience in the form of short videos that will make it easier to remember the individual procedures, you will compete using our board game, and we will equip you with an app for home, in addition to your workbooks, so that you can continue to practice your knowledge and gain much more without too much effort. In case of some of the lectures, we will invite business people from the respective countries so that you can consult the details directly with native speakers.

• We will help you succeed in the global world across teams and
• We will show you how cultural differences, like invisible borders, divide the world and affect international trade.
• You will learn to use more inclusive terminology.
• You will improve your cultural quotient (CQ).
• You will improve your intercultural communication skills and understanding.