Elizabeth Visits Gpc’s French Subsidiary Discussion Questions

ELIZABETH VISITS GPC’S FRENCH SUBSIDIARYDiscussion Questions 1. What can Elizabeth Moreno do to establish a position of power in front of French managers tohelp her accomplish her assignment in five days? Explain. The French tend to regard authority as residing in the role and not the person; Elizabeth willneed to find subtle ways to accentuate her expertise, her advanced degree in Chemistry, andher role as Vice President. Further, she will need to demonstrate an intellectual flexibilitywhile allowing the French to show their ability to grasp complex issues and evaluatesolutions. . What should Elizabeth know about â€Å"high-context† vs. â€Å"low-context† cultures in Europe? Explain. Countries in Europe do not share the same cultural context; France is more high-context thanGermany. As a result, Elizabeth should pay especially close attention to the cultural contextof the communication including: the medium, the source, the setting, proxemics, paralanguageand ob ject language. 3. What should Elizabeth include in her report so that future executives and scientists avoidcommunication pitfalls?Elizabeth could help her peers by noting communications processes that worked and noting which processes failed. She should provide as much information about the communication context as possible. 4. How can technical language differ from everyday language in corporate communications? Technical language is often shared across cultures (the Arabic word for computer isâ€Å"computer†). Technical language is communicated through its own communication channels —papers, proceedings and journals. These journals are often, though not always, prepared inEnglish.While technical jargon creates a common or shared language on some levels, it doesnot eliminate the problems associated with cross-cultural communication 1. drawing from your understanding of verbal and nonverbal communication patterns from this chapter,explain what elizabeth moreno can do t o establish her position in front of french managers. how can she get them to help her accomplish her assignment in five days Since the only exposure elizabeth ever had before regarding her langauage barrier is her two weeks vacation in french. Elizabeth needs to develop her nonverbal communication instead with he fellow employees in French subsidiary by being her friendly and flexible self, showing a good manners, and having easy-to-talk-with facial expression. Because it is very important for Elizabeth to maintain having a good relationships with the employees at the office, she should at least mastered the french organizational cultures. 2. what should elizabeth know about high context versus low context cultures in europe ? how can this knowledge help her be successful there? First we need to know the definition of low context and high contex. Here are the brief explanations about itA low context culture is one in which things are fully (though concisely) spelled out. Things are made explicit, and there is considerable dependence on what is actually said or written. A high context culture is one in which the communicators assume a great deal of commonality of knowledge and views, so that less is spelled out explicitly and much more is implicit or communicated in indirect ways. In a low context culture, more responsibility is placed on the listener to keep up their knowledge base and remain plugged into informal networks.Low context cultures include Anglos, Germanics and Scandinavians. High context cultures include Japanese, Arabs and French. Implications Interactions between high and low context peoples can be problematic. Japanese can find Westerners to be offensivelyblunt. Westerners can find Japanese to be secretive, devious and bafflingly unforthcoming with information French can feel that Germans insult their intelligence by explaining the obvious, while Germans can feel that French managers provide no directionLow context cultures are vulnerable to c ommunication breakdowns when they assume more shared understanding than there really is. This is especially true in an age of diversity. Low context cultures are not known for their ability to tolerate or understand diversity, and tend to be more insular. Based on the aforementioned explaination, since Elizabeth have a job in French that has a high context cultere, she needs to mastered or at least has a decent understanding on how to communicate non-verbally with the employees. It will efectively help her to succeed there. 3. hat should elizabeth include in her report, and what should be the manner in which it is communicated so that future executives and scientists avoid communications pitfalls ? The report Elizabeth prepares for GPC must include the organizational cultures offered in the French subsidiary, She should include how the French employees socialize with each other, the way they speak, communicate and interact with each other. This will help assist future expat’s from getting culture-shock. Elizabeth could help her peers by noting communications processes that worked and noting which processes failed.She should provide as much information about the communication context as possible. Develop Cultural Sensitivity Elizabeth must inform her peers that it is very important to know the receiver and to translate the message in a form that will most likely be understood as anticipated. Employees must make sure there messages goes through to the receivers, in order to do that they should become aware of their own cultural and way of speaking and how it affects the communicating process in a different Country. . how can technical language differ from everyday language in corporate communications? Simply because when we talk about firms, corporates, etc it means we talk about organizational cultures with its formality. That automaticaly differentiate the use of language from everyday’s life language. Develop Cultural Sensitivity Elizabeth must inform her peers that it is very important to know the receiver and to translate the message in a form that will most likely be understood as anticipated.Employees must make sure there messages goes through to the receivers, in order to do that they should become aware of their own cultural and way of speaking and how it affects the communicating process in a different Country. Careful encoding In translating his or intended meaning into symbols for cross cultural communication the sender must use words, picturs or gestures that are appropriate to the recivers frame of reference. Language translation is only part of the encoding process; the message also Proemics-deals with the influence if proximity and space on communicatin with both personl space and office lay out.What should Elizabeth include in her report, and what should be the manner in which it is communicated so that future executives and scientists avoid communications pitfalls? The report Elizabeth prepares for GPC must include the organizational cultures offered in the French subsidiary and to develop cultural sensitivity, she should include how the French employees socialize with each other, the way they speak, communicate and interact with each other.This will help assist future expat’s from getting a culture-shock when in the country. Elizabeth could help her peers by explaining the communications processes that worked and failed. She should provide as much information about the communication context as possible. Elizabeth must inform her peers that it is very important to know the receiver and to translate the message in a form that will most likely be understood by both arties Employees must make sure there messages goes through to the receivers, in order to do that they should become aware of their own culture and way of speaking and how it affects the communicating process in a different Country. Elizabeth should also Present a proposal for the GPC to invest more money into Internati onal Human Resource management which will be able to provide more training for future employees and teach them how to speak the language, communicate in the host country and understand the culture, the hand gestures used in the country, what is acceptable and what is not.