ES2007S 4th Blog: Intercultural Communications: Business Over Meals? Think Twice Before You Do That!

In the article ‘In the Eye of the Beholder: Cross Cultural Lessons in Leadership from Project GLOBE’ by Mansour Javidan et al, an American manager was to discuss a possible joint venture with a Chinese company. The American projected spending a few days working with the Chinese counterparts to brainstorm ideas and develop action plans. However, after a few frustrating days without accomplishing anything, he was told that he needed to find a Chinese agent to help him implement the deal.

While talking to the Chinese agent, the American learned that the Chinese counterparts’ goals were different. He realized that the Chinese company wanted to use the meetings to help build personal ties among them. They were upset that the American was focused solely on business rather than personal matters and was asking aggressive questions. He also found out that the top Chinese executive had no interest in sharing decision making with anyone; instead, he wanted to use private lunches and dinners with the head of the American delegation to make serious decisions and reach agreements.

To ensure effective communication between a high and low-context culture, there is a need to first understand the cultural differences. The Chinese culture emphasizes on group performance and rewards while the Americans highlight individual achievements and rewards. They also express pride, loyalty and cohesiveness in their organizations and families. The Chinese highly judge building personal ties and relationships because the Chinese culture is influenced by Confucian ideas which emphasize the importance of relationships and community.

To ensure effective communication, the American has to be careful about how his behavior and manners are perceived by the Chinese. Consciously or unconsciously other people will be using their belief and value system to judge the American, and hence it is crucial for him to ferret out their values and be able to see his own culture through the eyes of his counterparts. He should be polite, considerate, and sensitive to times when he should discuss deals and times when he should strengthen friendships. As the saying goes, ’When in Rome, do as the Romans do.’ He would have to go about building personal ties and relationships with a wide network of individuals and groups. Lastly, he would have to ensure his natural American assertiveness does not turn his Chinese counterparts off and does not hinder his efforts at building strong relationships.

So Phelps, after clinching eight gold medals in Beijing, you should know what to look out for when discussing a sponsorship contract with the Chinese, don’t you?

Figure: If we can all make an effort to understand each other and establish a common purpose, intercultural communication would be easier for everyone.

ES2007S 3rd Blog: Campus Security- Everyone Plays A Part!

It’s true. Low crime doesn’t mean no crime. In campus, laptop thefts are on the raise. Just last week, there had been four cases which occurred in the canteens during lunch hours. And that was followed by an email about an outage of modesty of a student! Personally, I’ve also heard about cases like peeping toms and rooms left unlocked or being broken into at residence halls.

That’s right. All happening around us where we least expected!

Being a responsible student and a member of the National Police Cadet Corp (NPCC), campus security is an issue that I can relate to it. And I believe everyone has the responsibility to shoulder. Who knows? The next victim may be me! I have to act fast.

Having identified my subject, the next step would be for me to pose a general research question. I formulated this: How much do NUS students know about the measures maintaining campus security by the school authorities?

Figure: Campus Security Officers on Patrol. Do students take them for granted?


But I do not know how much the students know about campus security! I suspect that the students know about the current measures that ensure campus security, but they create opportunities for criminals when they let down their guard by leaving their belongings unattended. Or simply, some let crimes go unreported, which give offenders the opportunity to repeat more crimes!

In order for me to spread this meaningful message, I need an attitudinal survey to find out firstly, if they think that the campus is a safe place to study, play and live. Secondly, I need to find out if they know of the current measures that the campus has in place. Depending on the results from the survey, our group can inform the Office of Estate Development (OED) and Queenstown Neighborhood Police Centre (NPC) that it is necessary to either raise the students’ awareness of crime prevention, or there is an urgent need for more security measures to be taken.

Campus security- Everyone plays a part. And that starts with me!