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W o r k in g t h e
A m e r i c a n W a y
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// you want to know how...
Behind the Japanese Mask
How to work more effectivelywith Japanese cultures
The Arab WayHow to work more effectively
with Arab cultures
The Chinese Business PuzzleHow to work effectivelywith Chinese cultures
Living and Working in AustraliaAll you need to know for starting
a new life 'down under'
Send for a free copy of the latest catalogue to:How To Books
Spring Hill House, Spring Hill RoadBegbroke, Oxford, 0X5 1RX, United Kingdom
email: [email protected]
http://www.howtobooks.co.uk
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Published by How To Content,
A division of How To Books Ltd,
Spring Hill House, Spring Hill Road,
Begbroke, Oxford 0X5 1RX. United Kingdom.
Tel: (01865) 375794. Fax: (01865) 379162.
email: [email protected]
http://www.howtobooks.co.uk
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or stored in an information retrieval system(other than for purposes of review) without the express permission of the publisher in writing.
The right of Robert Day to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in
accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Copyright 2004 Robert Day
First published in paperback 2004
First published in electronic form 2007
ISBN: 978 1 84803 121 0
Cover design by Baseline Arts Ltd, Oxford, UK
Produced for How To Books by Deer Park Productions, Tavistock, Devon, UK
Typeset by PDQ Typesetting, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffs, UK
NOTE: The material contained in this book is set out in good faith for general guidance and no liability
can be accepted for loss or expense incurred as a result of relying in particular circumstances onstatements made in the book. The laws and regulations are complex and liable to change, and readers
should check the current position with the relevant authorities before making personal arrangements.
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C o n t e n t s
Acknowledgements ix
1
Introduction
1
O u r
o b j e c t i v e
I
O u r a p p r o a c h 2
N e v e r
s a y " n e v e r " 3
B u i l d i n g b r i d g e s 4
2 The
A m e r ic an Way:
A Case of
Culture
Shock? 5
I s
t h e r e a t y p i c a l A m e r i c a n ? 5
T h e
quest ion
o f
stereotypingT
S h a r p e n i n g o u r f o c u s
7
A r e
A m e r i c a n s t r u l y d i f f e r e n t f r o m o t h e r s w h e n
i t
c o m e s
t o
b u s i n e s s ?
B u t
where
do the
d i f ferences l i e ? 3
W h a t
a re
y o u r
percept ions o f
Amer i cans? 9
D o t h e s e a p p a r e n t d i f f e r e n c e s m a t te r ? 1 0
O rgan izat iona l and env i ronm enta l fac tors 10
W h a t
can you
le a r n f r o m y o u r
percept ions
o f
Am e r i can s
7
1 2
3 TheAm er ican
View
of the World 14
W h a t
i s a n A m e r i c a n ? 1 4
I d e a l s a n d s y m b o l s 1 5
E
p lur ibus
u n u m "
-
Amer ica
a s a n in ternat iona l
c o u n t r y 1 6
" G l o b a l i z i n g "
t h e
A m e r i c a n w a y ?
1 8
R a c e
and
cul ture
18
N o
passpor t required
1 9
T h e A m e r i c a n
w a y o f
t h i n k i n g-f a i t h
a n d
f r e e
w i l l 2 0
Y o u r s e l f i s a l l
y o u ' v e
g o t 2 2
P r a g m a t i s m a nd ind iv idua l ism 2 2
F a m i l y
a n d
s c h o o l
2 4
G r o w i n g u p A m e r i c a n 2 5
"Br igh t co l lege
y e a r s
26
C l a s s r i n g
2 9
1 0
7
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v i / W O R K I N G
T H E
A M E R I C A N
W A Y
4 G etting to K now Y ou: Social and B usiness R elationships 30
" E a s y c o m e . . . "
-
g e t t i n g a c q u a i n t e d
w i t h
A m e r i c a n s
3 0
C a l l
m e
" Ji m "
3 3
"...Easy
g o " :-
f r i e n d l i n e s s
w i t h o u t
f r i e n d s h i p
34
"No cost , no
ob l iga t ion"
3 6
Fr iends a t work? 3 7
" L e t ' s
d o
lu n c h "
-
m e e t i n g A m e r i ca n s
a t
h o m e , o f f i c e ,
a n d
e l se w h e r e
4 0
Network ing 40
H o m e a n d a w a y - where a n d h o w t om ee t Amer icans 4 1
G e t t i n g
t o
k n o w y o u r c o l le a g u e s
42
Socia l e t iquet te
43
Greet ing people
44
Invitat ions 45
Meet ing Amer icans in the i r homes
47
"Small
t a l k " 48
A nd a f te rward? 5 0
W o r k o r p l a y ? - b u s i n e s s h o s p it a l i t y
w i t h
A m e r i c a n s 5 1
5 TheAmericanat Work: Expectations of Job, Career,and Company 55
L i v e
t o
w o r k ,
o r
w o r k
t o l i v e ? 5 5
" I
a m
w h a t
I
d o "
5 8
"T ime
is
money" 5 9
Are youqu al i f ied? 6 0
Keeping
your opt ions open 6 2
G e t t i n g
a h e a d
-
b lo w i n g y o u r
o w n
h o r n
6 3
"Looking
out for
number 1 6 4
W o r k hard , p lay hard 6 5
Are Americans " job-hoppers"?
6 6
"Goodbye" is not the hardest word 6 7
H o w d o
A m e r i ca n s
feel about working for a fore ign or fore ign-owned
company? 6 9
M o t i v a t i n g
A m e r i c a n s
- is it the
m o n e y ?
69
"Pover ty is a bad idea" 7 0
T h e
b o t t o m l i n e 7 4
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C O N T E N T S / vi i
6 "My W ay or the Highway" : Management andTeamwork
with
Americans
75
P o w e r ,
a c c o u n t a b i l i t y
a n d
h i e r a r c h y
7 5
T h e t h r e e P 's - P r o c e s s ,
P r o g r a m s ,
P r e a c h i n g 7 7
Th e " d i r e c t r e p o r t " 8 4
Separat ing persona l f rom pro fess iona l 8 5
"One-on-one" 8 6
W h e n
i s m y
b o s s
n o t m y
b o s s ?
8 7
Matr ix report ing
8 7
Bypassing the
boss 8 8
T o " MB O " o r n o t t o " MB O" - A m e r i c a n m a n a g e m e n t s t y le 9 0
P l a y i n g i n th e b a n d - t e a m w o r k t h e A m e r i c a n w a y 9 1
W Y S I W Y G
- w h a t you see is w h a t y o uget
9 2
Choos ing
to fit in
9 3
W h a t
does th i s mean
fo r
y o u ? 9 4
P u r p o s e s o f m e e t i n g s 1 0 3
C o n d u c t
o f m e e t i n g s 1 0 4
W h e r e d o I g o f r o m
h e r e ?
- m a n a g e m e n ta n dt e a m w o r k w i t h A m e r i ca n s
1 0 5
H ow Am er icans v iew fo re ign m anagem en t
1 0 5
W h a t
is the bes t management s ty le to use
w i th
Amer i cans?
107
W h a t
style
o f
m an ag e m e n t
can I
expect f rom
an
Amer i can boss?
1 0 8
7
B usiness Com munication, Am erica n S tyle
110
D o
y o u s p e a k
A m e r i c a n ?
- t h e
E n g l i s h
l a n g u a g e i n t h e U SA
1 1 1
Learn ing a " f o re ign" l anguage
1 1 1
Amer ican Eng l ish 1 1 2
Play ing
hardbal l : sports terms
in
Amer ican bus iness language
1 1 3
Avoid ing sex ism
in
Amer i can
Engl ish 1 1 5
A n A m e r i c a n ' s c o n v e r s a t i o n a l
c o m f o r t
z o n e 1 1 6
C o m m u n i c a t i n g c l e a r l y a n d p e r s u a s i v e l y
w i t h
A m e r i c a n s 1 2 3
T h e p o w e r o f a p o s i t i v e a t t i t u d e 13 3
B e
posit ive
a nd
optimistic
1 3 5
P l a y i t up, not
d o w n
13 6
S u m m a r y s t r a t e g i e s
fo r
b e i n g c l e a r
a n d
p e r s u a s i v e
w i t h
A m e r i c a n s
13 8
8
"Let's Ma ke
a Deal ":
Negotiating
with
Amer icans
141
Y o u r c h o i c e - p o w e r o r t r u s t ? 1 4 1
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viii
/ W O R K I N G T H E A M E R I C A N W A Y
S e l f - i n t e r e s t
a n d
c o - o p e r a t i o n
14 3
W h a t 's n e g o t ia b l e ?
1 4 5
" L e t ' s
g e t
d o w n
t o
b u s in e s s "
- H o w d o
A m e r i c a n s co n du ct n e g o t ia t i o n s?
1 4 7
A re la t ionsh ip is g o o d , a
d e a l
is bet ter 148
T e a m
negot ia t ions - everyone's a ch ie f
1 4 9
W h a t d o w e ta lk about? When? 1 5 0
C o m m u n i c a t i o n s t y l e i n n e g o t i a t i n g 15 2
G e t t i n g a g r e e m e n t - " W o u ld y o u p u tt h a t i n w r i t i n g ? "
1 5 5
T h e
i n t e r n a t i o n a l n e g o t i a t o r ' s o t h e r c h o i ce
-
r e s p o n d i n g
t o
d i f f e r e n c e s
1 5 6
M a n y e x c e p t i o n s
1 6 1
9 Ame rican B usiness Etiquette and "Workplace C orrectness" 1 63
D r e s s 1 6 4
B u s i n e s s
h o s p i t a l i t y a n d
g i ft g i v i n g
16 5
W o m e n i n b u si n e s s 16 6
H u m o r 1 6 7
H a r a s s m e n t
16 8
E m p l o y m e n t p r a c t i c e s a n d la w 1 7 0
In terv iewing 17 0
Condit ions o f emp l oy men t 17 1
A quest ion o f rights 174
10 The B ig Picture: Prep aring to Work
with
Americans 175
W i l l
A m e r i ca n s
t r u s t m e ? 1 7 5
W i l l I b e a b l e t o c o m m u n i c a t e e f f e c t i v e l y w i t h A m e r i c a n s ? 18 0
H o w c a n I
e s ta b l i sh r e l a t i o n s h i p s
a n d g e t t o
k n o w t h e m ? 1 8 1
W i ll
A m e r i c a n s a c c e p t
m e a s t h e i r
m a n a g e r
a n d l e a d e r ? 18 2
A r e t h e r e r e g i o n a l d if fe r e n c e s
w i t h i n t h e
U n i t e d S t a t e s ?
1 8 4
W h a t
a b o u t
C a n a d a ?
18 6
P r e p a r i n g fo r
y o u r v i s i t
1 8 7
11
T h e T w o - W a y B ridge: E nabl ing Americans to Understand Y ou 189
T h e
c h a l l e n g e
1 8 9
E d u c a t i n g
t h e
A m e r i c a n s
19 0
P e r s u a d i n g t h e
A m e r i c a n s
t o s e e
t h i n g s y o u r
w a y 1 9 2
Notes and R eferences 194
Recommended R eading 198
Index
201
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A c k n o w l e d g e m e n t s
A few
words
of
thanks
are due
here
to a
number
of
people who,
directly
or
indirec tly, have
helped to
bring
the
longstanding idea
of
writ ing
a book about America to tangible reality:
Jeff Toms
of
Farnham Castle,
and
Farnham's cl ients from around
the
world whose search
for
know ledge about w ork ing wi th
A m e r i c a n s has
added
so
m u c h
to my
own;
Helen Stiven
and
Derek Manuel
of
Hitachi
Data
Systems,
w ho
first
gave
me the
oppor tun i ty
to live and
w o r k
in
Br i ta in
and
Europe,
and to see
A merica
from a
European
viewpoint;
M y
teachers
and friends w ho
helped
m e
learn about America :
the
late D r. Willard Wallace of Berlin,Connecticut and Wesleyan
Univers i ty
- whoone
evening
several years ago, duringa
conversa t ion around h is k i tch en table , said "W hy do n ' t yo u put
this
in abook?"- and
Herbert Goodrow
of
Berlin H igh School.
My paren t s Ruth and Ar thur Day fo r a l ifet ime of love and
encouragement;
Those w ho assisted m e
wi th
their opinions, experiences and
information: Allen Cary
of
Belmont California,
Sarah
Day of
N ew York Ci ty, Melanie Wentz Long of Oakland Ca l i forn ia , and
Cathleen Avila
of
Houston Texas.
Most of all, to my wife Amilia for her pat ience, editor ial
c o mmen t s , and extensive research and technical assistance, and to
both
her and our
daugh ter
N or A i m y fo r
holding
up a
Malaysian
mir ro r to th is American every day.
ix
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x / W O R K I N G T H E A M E R I C A N W A Y
So it's home again, andhome again,
America for me.
My heart is turning home again, and
There I long to be.
Henry
Van
Dy ke, "A merica
for Me"
EDITORIAL
NOTE
To h elp you get used to one small aspect of the A m erican way of
business,
throughout this book we have used American spelling,
punctuat ion
and
usage, with
one
exception. Contrary
to
what
Americans themselves might prefer, when referring
to an
unnamed or
indefinite
person, male or
female,
we use the third
person masculine singular pronouns "he"
and
"him",
rather than
"he or
she"
and
"him
or
her".
W e
have more
to say
abou t this
usage
in
Chapter
9, but we
feel that
th e
masculine singular
is
both more concise and smoother. That's something A m er icans
will
appreciate.
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Farnham Castle International Briefing
&
Conference
Centre
A
lack of cultural understanding and local practices can be a
m ajo r
obstacle to the
effectiveness
of conducting business in
another
country. The ability to relate quickly and effectively with
colleagues and clients in a newcoun try is
very
impor tan t to long
term success.
Farnham Castle Internat ional Briefing and Conference Centre is
widely
acknowledged
as the
world 's leading provider
of
intercultural management trainingand briefingand has an
unmatched reputat ion
for
helping individuals , partners
and
their
families to prepare to live and work effectively anywhere in the
wor ld .
Through
its unrivalled facultyof trainers and experts, Farnham
Castle offers a totally flexible and comprehensive range of
programmes providing
the first-hand
knowledge
and
skills
required
to be successful in
international
business including:
Workshops
on
developing Cross Cu ltural A wareness
Working effectively with specific cultures or nationalities
Cross Cultural Communicat ion, Presentat ion and Negotiat ion
skills training
Country and BusinessB riefings for any country in thew or ld
Intensive
Tuition in any language
Full details available
on web
site
at:
w w w .farnhamcastle .com
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Introduction
OUROBJECTIVE
The goal of this book issimple: to help you to be more
successful
in
working with Americans. Whether Americans are your
customers, suppliers, colleagues, bosses, or members of your team,
the opinions, information, and guidelines
offered
here are
designed
to
ensure that
those
relationships
are
positive
and
profitable.
This book isaddressed to non-American readers w ho have
business contacts
in
some form with people from
the
Uni ted
States. If you plan to be living in American for an extended
period,
you will find that the full
range
of
topics
w e
cover here
will
facilitate your adjustment to business
life
in America.
Those
of you who are on shor ter- term ass ignments , or who
will
be
f requent
business visitors to the States may have part icular need
for
informat ion
on
establ ishing re la t ionships , management
and
teamwork, communication
andnegotiation
styles,
and
business
etiquette
and
"workplace correctness."
Alternatively,
you may be pr imari ly based in your home country ,
wi thout the need for t ravel to the States, with responsibilities
that
involve frequent communica t ion
by
e-mail
or
te lephone with
American partners, colleagues
or
management .
You may
also
be
the"host" to
Americans ass igned
to
work
in
your country .
In
that
case, understanding
the "American
ways"
of
management ,
1
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I N T R O D U C T I O N
/ 3
of business, we concentrate on those that often present the
greatest challenges
to
non-Americans. These
are
covered
in
detail
in Chapters
4 to 8 and
concern relationships, motivation,
management and t eamwork ,
communica t ion ,
and negot ia t ion. T he
questions
w e
pose
and the
problems
w e
analyze
in
those areas
are
based
on the
actual collected
and
collective experience
of
in te rnat ional
busin ess people from many countr ies . They
are not
based on the theories or research methods of anthropologists,
cross-cultural researchers, or social psychologists. These specialists
have
made some useful observations
for us to
draw upon,
but
none of them has ever had to make a presentat ion to Amer i can
venturecapitalists, take over th eleadershipof an American
company, interview an A merican job-seeker, or nego tiate a service
contract with
an
American customer.
Those
are the
situations
where, as we
A mericans
say
(borrowing
an
advertising slogan
from
the
t ire ind ustry ) , "the rubb er meets
the
road"
-
wh er e
the
abilit ies
of people are put to the test.
In
your deal ings with Americans, perhaps
you are
worr ied about
offending
o r
" turning
o f f '
Amer i cans ,
and
wan t
to
avoid
the
"worst case scena rios". O r may be you pref er instead to focu s on
m a k i n g
the
mos t
of the
oppor tuni t ies that workingwith
Amer icans offers. Either way, weoffer practical strategies for
preventing
problems, making
the
right impression, getting results.
N E V E R
SAY
"NEVER"
This is,however, neither acookbook nor a rulebook. In situations
where
there are clear "do's and don'ts", for American social and
business
customs,
w e
point these out.
B ut
your individual s i tuat ion
and
your experience with Americans wil l
be
unique. Business
is
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4 / W O R K I N G T H E A M E R I C A N W A Y
conducted by people, not by "cultures", or even by organizations.
When it comes to dealing with th e attitudes and behavior of
people of any country, w e must talk in t e rms of possibilit ies rather
than predictions, of understanding before blaming or crit icizing,
and of applying judgement rather thana listof rules.
BUILDING
B R I D G E S
Ten out of the eleven chapters in the book are directed at helping
you to deal with them, the Americans. They offer guidelines on
understanding American business culture and how to work
effectively in it. But in the final chapter w e change perspective.
There
w e
inv ite you,
the
reader,
to
consider
how you can
help the
Americans
learn
from you,
in
terms
of
wha t
you can
br ing
to
them
in the way of
greater internat ional knowledge
and
fresh
perspectives
on
doing business together. That
is a
tough challenge,
but
look at it the way an
Amer ican would
- the
glass
is
half
full,
not half empty.
(1 )
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2
The
American
Way:
A C a s e ofCulture S h o c k ?
America, thou art half-brother of the world;
With
something good
and bad of
every
land.
Phillip Jam es Bailey, "The Surface"
Before w eattem pt to describe, understand and work wi th
Amer icans in business,w ehave to face three important questions:
Is
there
any
such thing
as a
"typical American"?
Is an
American, typical
or
not ,
different f rom,
say,
a
Brazi l ian ,
an
Indian, a Swede or even a Canadian when it comes to
business?
* If there are differences,do they matter? Are they important?
IS
T HE R E
ATYPICAL
AMERICAN?
In answeringthe first question, we can take one thinga scertain: any
attempt
to
provide
a
single un iform description
of the
beliefs, value s,
and behaviorofm ore tha n 280,000,000 peopleisim possible.
A m erican is big and diverse. You m ay think of it as a "melting pot"
or,
more fashionably,
as a
"mosaic"
of
people
of
different races,
regions, national origins,and cu ltur al backgrounds. Either way, this
makes i t more difficult to
define
a single"America"in cultural terms.
The question of stereotyping
Despite that certainty,
w e
must also accept that people everywhere
5
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W A Y
use
general labels to describe other groups of people, in the form
of
stereotyping. People believe
that
certain traits or characteristics
of these groups are not merely typical, but stereo-typical, aword
drawn from the printing craft to describe type that iscast from a
mould. In other words, a national or ethnic stereotype implies
that all mem bers of
that
group have been identically"moulded".
They are all the same.
W e would all like to think that we do not stereotype others, but it
is in
fact
a normal response to differences that weobserve.W e
need to generalize; otherwise we would be una ble to cope with
millions
of
isolated cases.
The
danger comes when
our
stereotypes
become prejudices. We then judge others according to these
categories,
often
negatively.
Perhapsyouhavea stereotypeofA mericans.You mayhavemet -
ormayeven work with- a person whomyouwould
refer
to as
"typically American."Through our discussion of the "American
way" of conducting business, you may come to alter your
stereotype. On the other
hand,
you may not change your mind at
all. Each one of us can find examples from our own store of
experience and impression to confirm our own stereotypical
images. Each one of us will probably be able to recall an
experience that contradicts
any of the
general tendencies described
in
these pages.
In
either cause,
it
will
be
helpful
for you to be
aware of what your stereotype of Americans may be. We
w ill
have
mo re to say about that below.
A t the same time, we do not w ant simply to replace one
stereotypical
view
of A mericans w ith another. W e cannot predict
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T H E
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A C A S E O F C U L T U R E
S H O C K ? 7
the
behavior
of a
group
of
people,
nor can we
a t t r ibute
a
single
fixed
set
of
"values"
to it. For
every
general observation
concerning either common American behavior or attitudes toward
some aspect of business life, you will find many exceptions.
Sharpening our focus
W e can avoid this difficulty by sharpening our focus. Our
objective,
after
all, is to better un derstan d and deal w ith the
Americans you are likely to find in business.These p eople are
likely to be
fairly well educated
by
American standards,
and in
professional or managerial posit ions- whatwe inA mer ica refer
to as
"white
collar."
They
may be
independent business people,
small company entrepreneurs, or members of large mult i-nat ional
organizations. There
will
be exceptions here as well, and it would
be
a
mistake
to
assume that
the
factory w orker , farm er ,
or
supermarket checkout clerk
is
somehow
a
different type
of
Amer ican
from
the rest.
With this narrower
focus,
w ewill be better able to make more
valid
generalizations
about
Americans, in order to prepare you for
possible differences and alternative
ways
of deal ing with them.
AR E AMERICANS
TR ULY DIFFERENT
FROM
OTHERS
WHEN
IT
COMES
TO
BUSINESS?
Here again we can start with a certainty: Americans,
like
any
group,
are
both
similar
and
different
in
certain respects
to
other
groups of people. Americans have developed particular ways of
answeringtheuniversal questionsof human society- how to
organize
and
educate themselves, com m unicate am ong themselves,
and
establish relationships
of
author i ty
and
fr iendship, among
others. Their responses are similar in some respects to those of
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people
in
other parts
of the
world, while being
different in
other
ways
that
reflect
the unique conditions and demands of American
life.
Narrowing our
focus
to the world of business narrows the
range of potential difference. While business people from around
the wo rlddomanyof thesame things- negotiate contracts,
manage production, organize companies, and so on - mostof us
would agree that people
do not
necessarily
do
these things
in the
same way.
Butwheredo the
differences lie?
Despite
the
attempts
of
social scientists
to
specify
and
measure
these
differences
objectively through surveysand interviews, wh at is
different depends on one's point of
view.
How are Americans
different
from
people,
or
business people,
in
your country?
If you
happen to be Japanese, you may look at Americans and see
differences in
management practices
and
behavior toward their
bosses (they
often
disagree openly with them).
You may
also
see
many similarities between Americans and Europeans. On the other
hand, if youcome from northern Europe, you may be awareof
differences
that are
less
apparent
to a Japanese, in certain aspects
of communication style,fo r example. You, too, may see differences
in
the way
A mericans relate
to
their bosses, except that
from
your
perspective they do not disagree with them often enough
A
Venezuelan looks
at
N or th
Americans
and
sees
a
people
who
have a
different
approach
to social relations and to relations
between men and women. If you are Nigerian,y ou may see awide
range
of differences
between
the
people
of a
developed capitalist
society, and those of a developing society with an entirely
different heritage.
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Before
going
on to the
third
of our
critical questions,
it
w ould
be
useful
for you to think more precisely about your own point of view.
Whatareyour p erceptions ofAm ericans?
Using the quest ions in Box 2.1, make a shor t list of some of the
characteristics ofA m ericans in business that you have observed,
based on your experience. Some of these may reflect your
stereotype,
or
image,
of the
"typical
Amer ican"
in
business. They
m ay also reflect the ways in which the A mer i c a n s wh o m you have
m et have been
different
from wha t you expected.
If
you
have
not yet had
contact with Americans, think about wha t
you
have heard
from
others , or the impressions you have formed
from
books or f i lm s.
Box 2.1
Your perceptions ofAmericans inb usiness
A Based on your exper ienceand impress ions of A mer i c a n s ,
what character is t ics haveyou observed that make
them easy
to
wo r k wi th ,
or may
enable
you to
feel
comfor tab le
w o r k i n g
wi th
them?
B W hat character is t ics or trai ts of A mer icans , in yo ur view,
may make them
difficult
to work with , or present the
possibil ity of confl ict or m isunderstanding?
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Being
aware of your own perceptions is a necessary starting
point
for
gaining a greater u nde rstanding of the A m erican way of
business. We notice these characteristics of other people because
we believe that they
are
evidence
of differences
between them
and
ourselves.
W ewill have m uch m ore to say abo ut these perceptions
below,
as we
face
the
third
of our
critical questions:
A re
these
differences
important?
DO THESE
APPARENT
DIFFERENCES
MATTER?
In
th e arena of international business, it iseasy to exaggerate the
significance of apparent group-level
differences.
Af ter all, if wewere
in reality so
very
different from each other, wewould not be able to
do business at all. W e would be unable to reach com mercial
agreements, unable
to
co-operate, unable ultimately
to
trust each
other.
Yet
someho w people
of
different backgrounds have managed
to do this,notjustin therecentpast,but for centuries.
Organizational andenvironmental factors
W e must be careful not to overrate the impact of the"culture"of
a nation, group, or society. Many of the
differences
that you have
experienced, or will experience, in workingwith Americans are
due to the
requirements
and
norms
of the
organisations
to
which
they b elong, and business env ironm ent in which they operate. A s
President Calvin Coolidge declared
in
1925, "The business
of
America
is
bu siness".
The
day-to-day behavior
of
people
and
organisations in America is
"driven"
(a fashionable American
business term for "influenced" or "governed") by a number of
practical day-to-day factors:
The
marketplace
Howcompetitiveis it? In the USA you can normally expect it
to be
very
competitive.
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How segmentedand differentiated is it? Foreign businesses
dream of a share of what appears to be a "single
m a rk e t "
of
over 280,000,000 people. Th ere isnothing un iform about it,
however.
In
A merica, mark et segm entation, according
to any
demographic or geographic variableyou can name, is an art.
In
responding
to the
m arke t,
how
impo rtant
is
innov ation?
Market ing?
C ustomer service? Qu ality? Short d evelopm entcycles
and t im e-to-market?
The ustomers
Who are
they? W hat
do
they demand?
If the
government
or
public sector is an important customer, adherence to set
procedures and standards may bemo re imp ortant tha n cost
control
or
innovation.
Priorities are
likely
to bedifferent if
customers
are
private sector enterprises.
Accountability
To whom does management of the company feel accountable?
In most cases this will be shareholders, customers, the financial
sector, and the media. Other bodies to whom management m ay
feel accountable include
the
general public
and
government
regulatory agencies. People
from
other countr ies may have an
image
of American business as being totally free-wheelinglaw-
of-the-jungle capitalism. The reality can be verydifferent. In
some sectors, businesses
are
tightly regulated
by
federal,state,
or local authorities.
The
values
of the
founder,
the
chairman,
or the
chief executive
America has always
offered
opportunit ies to individual
entrepreneurs. Their personal leadership or "vision" is often
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reflected in the type of people they have selected fo r their
"team",
and in the
"mission"
of the company. W eshall have
m ore to say abou t this aspect of A m erican business
life
in
Chapter 6.
Our list of
organizational
factors is not necessarily exhaustive. W e
mention them here to remind you that in preparing to work with
Americans, there is no substitute for this knowledge. Indeed,
A mericans will expect
y ou to
come prepared with
it .
Despite
the diversity ofpeoples and organizations in America,
there is mu ch in the way of outlook, attitudes and behavior that
we
Americans share, especially when
it
comes
to
business.
This
brings up back to the question of
specifying
these common
elements, and our need to make "informed generalities" about
Americans. Let's look again at your general observations in Box.
2.1.
Whatcan youlearnfromyourperceptions of Americans?
You can
learn
at
least
one
thing:
differences
are
important
if you
believe
them
to be.
The
positive
and
negative impressions that
you
listed
are
clear
indications of, on the one hand, areas oflikely com fort and
compatibility with Americans, and on the other, ofpotential
frustrat ion,
misunderstanding, and
conflict.
W e can reduce th e
potential for frustrat ion by remembering one other thing: those
American attitudes
and
behaviors that appear
so
confusing, while
they
may not make sense to you, do make sense to an American,
as
later
chapters will explain.
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Your impressions
-
notably
the
nega tive ones
- are
also
a
clear
indication of something else:of w h a t is impor tan t to
you,
according
to
your background
and the way
business
is
done where
you
come f rom. To explain bette r what w e m ean, let us take an
example not relating to Amer ica , but to Europe . T heB ri ti sh
consistently describe Germans
as
lacking
a
sense
of
h u m o r .
Whether or not this perception is accurate (it is not ), it says m ore
about
the
British
-
that
displaying
a
sense
of
h u m o r
is
im por tan t
to them,and that Germans appear to be
different
in this respect -
than about Germans.
In
summary then ,
our
perceptions
are
indicators
of (1)
where
impor tan t
differences
may lie between us and other people; and (2)
norms
of
belief
and
behavior that
are
impor tan t
to us.
These
perceived differences
may or may not culturally shock us, but they
are clues to potential or actual problems in the conduct of
international business.
In
your list
of
negative im pressions
of
Amer icans ,
did you
include
som ething l ike "Am ericans have l it tle knowledge of other
countr ies" ; "They
pay
li ttle attention
to the
rest
of the
w or ld" ;
or
"Americans think that their
way isalways the
best"? Perhaps
you
included words suchas"proud"or "nationalistic". W h enan
Amer i can
says
"globalize"
does he real ly m ean "A mericanize"?
If
th e answer isyes, then w eneed to understand how A mer icans
see them selves and the rest of the w orld.
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3
The
American
View
of the
World
Our starting point for understanding these American attitudes is
un derstan ding how w e A m ericans see ourselves as a people. This
self-perception
or self-belief explains m uch a bout our attitudes and
responses towards foreig ners in business and elsewhere.
WHATIS AN
AMERICAN?
For our
discussion,
an
A merican
is a
citizen
of the
United States
of America, someonewho
identifies
himself with those whowere
brought up there or who live there. But the term "American"in
fact applies to many other citizens of the "New World":
Mexicans,
Costa Ricans
and
Peruvians,
for
example
see
them selves
as Americans, too. To them, people
from
the United States (and
English-speaking
Canada)
are Norteamericanos, N or th
A mericans.
People
from
Europe, Asia or Africa should keep that inmind
when
dealing with their friends from Spanish-
and
Portuguese-
speaking America.
Thanks largely to the letters of an otherwise little known Italian
sailor named Amerigo Vespucci, which reached a French
mapmaker of the early 16th century named M artinWaldseemuller,
the
entire N ew W orld w as labelled "Amerigo's land" on maps of
the era.
Latinized
and
feminized,
the
name became"America".
The
founders of the
United States incorporated
it
into
the
name
of the
new nation
as the
United States
of
America,
but the
English
had
u
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already long been
referring
to their New World colonists as
"Americans."
In this way,the name came to be associated
primarily with people in one large country ofN orth America, at
least in the
eyes
of Europeans. (You may hear a person from the
United States who issensitiveto the feelings of Central and South
Americans
refer to
himself
or
herself
as a"U-S American".)
Ideals
andsymbols
Aside from the name, what is the anchor of the U S-A m erican's
own
identity? What gives this large heterogeneous mixtureof
people not just a single system of government, but a single
identity?Twovery concrete and specific things: the US
Constitution,
and the
American
flag. The
foundation
of
America
is
a set of ideals, embodied in a written constitution and the
system of
government thus established. Those
w ho
agree
to
abide
by,
protect and support it, are Americans. Belief and pride in
one 's
country
and in the
Constitution
are not the
same
as
belief
in
the inherent goodness of the governmental authority, however.
M any A m ericans distrust central "governm ent", and see its
primary
role
as the
safeguard
of
freedom
and
rights, rather than
as the
primary means
of
solving social problems,
or of
managing
the economy.
The other
more
symbolic embo diment of A merican iden tity is the
flag. O ur
national anthem
is a
hymn
to it. Our
school children
"pledge
allegiance to the flag of the United States of America,
and to the republic for which it stands...". Burning or vandalising
it
is a crime, and there
exists
a number of rules
pertain ing
to its
display,
storage, handling and disposal. Americans, as foreigners
often observe,
are
real "flag-wavers"
- and not
merely
on
national
holidays, special occasions, or at times of national crisis.
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Both the Constitution and the flag in turn represent those ideals
of
"liberty and justicefor
all"
that
define
theAmerican identi ty
and
focus
people's
aspirations
on the
future. American
is in a
sense a"club" that one chooses to join, or willingly accepts
(although African slaves and many native Americans did not
originally
share in this choice).
From
these ideals comes a sense of
bothdestiny and mission:
America
has a
responsibility
to
offer
these ideals to all mankind, whether or not other people care to
embrace them.
"E
pluribus unum"
-
America
as an
international country
These
unifying
factors
are
strong
in
America because
of, not
despite, the heterogeneity of the American people. In addition to
seeing its idealsas universal, America sees itself as an
"international" country. According to thisview, people have come
to America from all over the world to become part of this society,
and have chosen to leave behind their old waysof life, old ways of
thinking, even their families' language and culture to a degree.
The
Latin
mot toE
p luribus unum
-
"Outofmany,one"- which
appears
on American currency, embodies
this
belief.
TheUnited Stateshas long been
described
asnationof
immigrants .
What
many non-Americansm ay not realizeis how
t rue that rem ains today. A ccording to the census of 2000, the
foreign-born population of Americawas31.1 million,
11
percent
of
th e
total,
and a 57 percent increase
from
1990.
More
than
half
of
them
are
Spanish-speakers. This
is the
latest
of
several waves
of
immigration, ofw hich the heaviest until now occurred during the
decade
1900-1910.
Many of those immigrants came from southern
and eastern Europe, while previous waves brought large numbers
from Ireland, Germany and Scandinavia. As early as the
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beginning of the 18th century, newcomers to "America" from
France,
Northern
Ireland,
and the
German states, together with
earlier settlers
from
Sweden
and
Holland, contr ibuted
to the
formation of a national identi ty that was already not entirely
English.
At t i tudes in America toward these succeeding wavesof
immigrants have always been mixed. N ew imm igran ts have
sometimes been regarded as threats to public order, to people's
jobs,
to the
public welfare system,
to
economic stability,
or to the
established culture or language. The political effect has been a
series
of
measuresthat have
alternated
between restriction
and
permission. But despite these tides of toleration or hostili ty,
immigra t ion has been an essential part of the fo rmat ion of the
United States.
The Americans you are likely to meet in business may not have
beenpart of the latest wave, which has tended to be
poor
and
unski l led . On the o ther hand, they wi l l very l ikely have
grandparents
w ho were
immigran ts ,
and they m ay
still have
an
attachment to thei r country of origin, even if it is but a
sent imental and romanticized one.
Immigrants brought much more to America than just thei r
languages, religions,
and
cultures. They brought
an
att i tude.
Immigrants, whatever their origin, have been risk takers, seekers
of
opportunity. They have also been optimists. If youdon't think
you can make i t , you stay home or return home (as many did). As
we shall see in later chapters, these same atti tudes characterize
American businesspeopleto this day.
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"GLOBALIZING"THEAMERICAN
W A Y ?
A t
this point ,
you may be
th inking, "If
America
is in
fact this
'international country', why are Americansoften so ignorant of the
rest
of the world, and unable or unwilling to
understand
d i f f e r e n t
ways?"
The answer to that question is a bit of a paradox. The powerful if
idealistic example
of Epluribusunum," of
un i ty from diversity,
leads many Americans to believethat the American model is
universally applicable.
"If
people from Norway,China, Mexico,
Poland,
India, Slovakia, Vietnam ,
and
Ethopia
can be
successful
here and live
peacefully
w ith their neighbors ,w hy should things be
any different elsewhere?" the thinking goes. People are
fundamental ly
s imilar
at thecore, and
need only
a set of
rules
and
a com m on objective to b r ing them together .
Viewed
through
American lenses, important differences between people are
personal, individual,and circumstantial, rather than collectiveor
cultural.
Race
and
culture
But
whatabout
th e
question
of
race
in
A m erica? Surely that
should
influence A m ericans
in the
direction
of a
greater
understanding of the peoples of the rest of the world.
Despite
all the
talk
of"multi-culturalism",
political decisions
about race
in
A mer ica
are
about
skin color,
not
culture. Protected
groups of people, for purposes of awarding assistance, providing
protection, and granting privilege,are labelled"Asian" or
"Hispanic",
to
give
tw o
examples.
Y et
each
of
these designations
encompasses am ulti tude ofcou ntries and cultures. O ne
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prominent American polit ician claimed
a few
years
ago
that
America's "management
of
diversity
at
home"
equipped
it to be a
leader internationally. This m ay make some sense to us
Americans, but people from South America, Africa, Asia or
Europe
may not see it the
sameway."Managing
diversity"
inside
America
has
little
to do
with responding
to diversity
outside
Amer ica .
No
passport
required
A n
American's knowledge
of the
rest
of the
world
m ay
also
be
l imited by the size and location of his own country. The United
States shares land borders with only tw o countries: Canada, of
which the population, only one-eighth that of the USA, is
clustered ma inly within 100 miles of the border and M exico, w ith
a pop ulation of over 85 m illion. This helps explain why o nly a
minority (around 25 percent) of Americans hold passports.
If an American family wishes to take their holidays in the tropics,
they need no passport to go to south Florida, Puerto Rico, or the
U S
Virgin
Islands.
If
they prefer somewhere
similar
to
Polynesia,
they can go to Hawaii, the 50th state. If for some reason, they are
attracted to sub-arctic regions, there is no need to go to Finland,
for there
is
always A laska.
If
they want
to
meet French speaking
people, then Quebec is nearer than France, and no passport is
needed for Canada. N or is any required for Puerto Rico, ifthey
want
to
speak Spanish
and
enjoy
the
heritage
of
Spanish America.
Even
the area of northern Mexico adjacent to the border is open
to US visitors,furnished with only a tourist card.
A belief in the example of their society and the u niv ersa lity of
their political
and
social ideals, often combined with l imited
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experience of "foreign" people, leads A m ericans to the view that
if
it
w orks
in
Amer i ca ,
it
should w ork anywhere .
If you
perceive
A mericans as not concerned w ith or know ledgeable about other
cultures,ways
of life, or
value systems,
part
of the
reason lies
here.
This in turn has posed certain problems for Americans on an
international
level,
the
effect
of
which
you may
have experienced.
For one, the US-based headquarters of your American parent
company may attempt to put in place policies, procedures, and
practices for"global" application that take no account of
differences
elsewhere.
For
another,
the
American
you
meet while
on
business may have travelled a good deal, but he may lack a true
international perspective.The American
executive
youreport to
may
be so
concerned about success
in the
huge American domestic
market, that strategic decisions designed to improve operations in
the USA often
have
th e
opposite effectinternationally.
These problems are due to ignorance, not malice, and so are
amenable
to
solution through education
and
experience. Other
American
atti tudes
are
more deeply rooted,
and
give A merica
much of its strength.
THE
AMERICAN
WAY OF
THINKING
- FAITHAND
F R E E
WILL
Two other factors, contradictoryin nature, have helped to
influence the
American mentality: religious faith
and the
notion
of
free will,
both
of
w hich were
first
brought
by the
European settlers
and immigrants.
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From the early Baptist, Puritan, and Quaker settlers who came
before
them, Americans
whatever their particular personal belief
systems,and whether they would admit it or not - have brought
to
everyday public
life a
sense
of"sin", a
moralist ic
view
that
often sees right orwrong in
"black-and-white"
terms. Shades of
grey,
situational factors, or practical compromises are not the
ideal basis
for
judgments.
Acompromise
may,
of
course,
be the
result
of a dispute, but many Americans find that a less than
satisfactory outcome.
One
observer
put it in
even stronger terms
-
to an A m eric an, com promise is "ethically
fatal".
(1 )
A r me d with this faith, these early Protestant Christian settlers also
brought with them
the
belief that
all
people w ere equal
in the
sight
of
God. Throu gh succeed ing gen eration s, this belief
m ay
have lost
something of its explicitly religious association, but none of its
force.
Truth
therefore was not a
mat ter
of
philosophy,
but of
religion
- it is
what
you
believed. K nowledge,
on the
other hand,
was pragmatic ;it grew out ofexperience.
A fur ther
word about rel igion
in
America
is in
order here.
Its
influence
is not simply a
matter
of
spiritual
or
ethical heritage.
A mericans, by c om parison to other developed nations, are active
worshippers. As a visitor or new foreign resident ,you may be
struck by both the number and variety of places of worship, and
th e
number ofpeople a t tending. Non -A m ericans m ayassociate
active religious practice in America only with certain sects, or
with people of certain political views, but it transcends social
classes
and political
parties.
Church attendance and membership
meet certain needsin American society, above and beyond thatof
religious expression. Churches serve
as
comm unity centers
for
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immigrant and minority groups. They also provide ameans of
affiliation
and
belonging, which Americans eagerly seek,
and
which we discuss at greater length in Chap ter 4.
YOURSELF
IS ALLYOU'VEGOT
Whatever their particular beliefs, or their degree of intensity,
Americans believe that their
lives are
primarily governed,
not by
th e
will
of God, but by themselves. In thew ords of the poet Walt
Whitman, ".. .nothing, not God, isgreater to one than one's-self
is."
(2)
Americans have
had
comparatively weak attachments
to
what
anthropologists call primary groups:
family,
native land, social
class. Those were
left
behind by immigrants, and
further
loosened
in the new land b y space, m obility, and individual opp ortunity.
The American life is an individual one, defined by the free choices
that are the individual's responsibility and under hiscontrol. W e
Americans
are
constantly exhorted
to "be
what
you
want
to
be",
to "be all you can be", or to"take
control" .
Americans approach
their business careers with this idea
and
this drive
-
realize your
ambitions, control your career. There
is no
such thing
as "fate",
or "bad
luck".
If something goes wrong for us, we do not simply
accept this
as the will of
God. Either
we
show determ ination
and
start again,
or we find
someone
to
blame.
The
reality,
of
course,
is
that this total control
is an
il lusion,
but the
belief
(or
better yet,
th e faith) in it is a
powerful
motivator.
Pragmatismand individualism
For an
American
in
business, these
influences,
while strong,
are
not the
primary immediate basis
for
daily action.
In
that respect,
American business people
are
realists,
or to put it
more precisely,
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pragmatists.
Americans judge
the
tightness
or 'wrongness' of
their
decisions by one fun dam ental cr i ter ion: Does it work? Abs t rac t
definitions,
theoretical descriptions of validity,
phi losophical
debates onr ight andw rong - theseto anA mer ican are pointless.
The only thing that matters is:
Does it do thejob Does itmeet th e
need?
That
is the
very practical point
of
view
of the
settler trying
to
survive
in a
hostile
new
land,
of the
inventor test ing
an
innovat ion, of the entrepreneur launching a new product.
W e
can
describe that pragmatism even more precisely:"Does
it
workfo r
me?" More than just individuality
of
t h o u g h t
or
individual equality
in the
sight
of
God, American individual i ty
is
one of
individual choice, achievement
and
action.
T he well-known American individual ism, which another former
President, Herbert Hoover, described as
"rugged",
or iginates in
17th century European thought, greatly reinforced by the
experience
of
early settlers.
The first
English colonists
in
V irg in ia
and
Massachusetts learned
the
value
of
individualism
the
hard
way. They
at first
tr ied collective economic organization
in
their
communit ies . Unfor tunate ly
for
them,
that
turned
out to be
ineffective inm eeting theirmost important need - survival. They
found that individual ownership,
responsibility
and reward, in a
f ramework of co-operation un der the rules
(laws),
were thebetter
means to the comm on good.
While th e requirements of building a newsociety on a new
cont inent demanded individual ism, the opportunit ies available in
the new
country rewarded
it.
There
w as
land
and
wealth enough
fo r everyone, with notable exceptions being the African slaves and
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the native tribes. Anyone who wanted to work hard could succeed.
Individual initiativeand
effort
wo uld bring individual reward.
That belief- notuniqueto theU S A ,butstrong ly held there -
still characterises
the
attitudes
of
A mericans
in
business.
The
reward
- in
this world
-
took
the
form
of
w ealth.
An
individual
earned this not only by working
hard,
but also by taking great
risks. Failure
was
viewed
as
merely
a
temporary setback. There
would alwaysb e achance, an opportuni ty to start again. Even
today, personal bankruptcy
or
business failure
is not a
permanent
stain on a person's record, a permanent check to one's ambitions.
It is no more than a stumble on the road to success.
"Rugged individualism" is a pop ular phrase, b ut as w e noted
above, w eA mericans are not usually philosophers. We do not
enjoy spending our time talking about pragmatism and
individualism. W enevertheless feel the influenceof these values
through our families and our education system.
FAMILY
ANDSCHOOL
The Americans you are likely to meet have been socialized in a
family and school framework that encourages and promotes
several
im portant values, w hich they bring to business:
* Psychological independence- a relianceonone's ownself rather
than
on the
group.
*
Co-operationw ith other mem bers of a group.
* Financialindependence, or a certain amount of it, often
beginning w ith summer job s at the age of 16.
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Personalcompetitiveness- personal accomplishment and the
desirability
of talking about
those
accomplishments.
Compared
to
educat ional systems
in
many other countr ies ,a
lack of
specializationun til later
stages
of
education.
Growingup
American
American middle- and upper-class families are not large.
Furthermore,
the
demands
of family
obligation
- to
support,
feed,
and shelter
one
another
- do not
extend much further than
the
"immediate" family (parents and children). Have you been
surprised to see how common it is for older Americans to be
housed
in
"retirement homes", rather than live with their adult
children?
If
this seems harsh
to
you,
it is not
viewed
the
same
way
by
Americans. While it ist rue that some American adultsfind
their elderly pare nts
a
burden
rather
than
a
necessary duty, most
see
this
as
fully compatible with family love
and
care. Indeed,
in
many cases, elderly A me ricans preferto livein such communities.
In this w ay, they are in tu rn freed from the sense that they are a
burden to their children. They retain a degree of independence
while being able to associate with peop le like themselves.
The
focus
on
independence
and
individual achievement starts
at a
m uch earlier stage. A s a ch ild, my elemen tary school (roughly ages
8-11, grades4 through 6)sent " repor t
cards"
to myparents on
which
m y
"self-reliance"
was
assessed. This
was the
degree
to
which I looked after myself, solved problems on myown, and
showed "initiative", the quality whereby a person originates an
action or idea. At home, moreover, many American parents now
attach a great deal of importance to building their children's
self-
esteem, rather than their self-discipline. They rem ind their
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children daily of how special they are. They praise them
frequently
and urge them to believe in themselves so that they can
"win".
The
long summer vacations, normally
ten
weeks
or
more,
combined with parents' short work vacations
of two to
three
weeks
a year mean that families have relatively little extended time
to spend together. Summer camps and summer schoolsfill the
gap, giving young Americans time awayfrom their families.By
the time they enter university, or even while in high school, most
American youth will also have acquired that indispensable tool of
freedom,
independence,
and (hopefully) individual responsibility:
the car
From
the age of 16,
young people
are
permitted
to find
employment in most if not all
states.
These may be low level
manual
or
service jobs , such
as
painting houses
or
waiting
on
tables in restaurants, but they provide the young A merican w ith
some
financial
independence. Most importantly, they also provide
an early introduction to theworld ofwork. When it comes time
to apply for ad m ission to unive rsity, usu ally at age 17 or 18, the
young American
can
expect that admission
officials
will want
to
check that
the
candidate
has
spent
his
summers
in a
constructive
way in some form of employment, study, or volunteer work.
"Bright college
years"
Progress through th e American educational system and admission
to
university
is far
less dependent than
in
many other countries
on
the
results
of
competitive examinations. While students
are
assessed
on
basic skills
and
aptitude
at
various points
in
their
elementary
and
secondary years, this
is
only
one
factor
in
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university admissions. Course work, academic grades, and useful
activities outside
the
classroom
are
also
weighed
in the
balance.
The last factor is very important. It may include previous
employment
or
volunteer wo rk,
as
al ready men t ioned.
It may
also
include membership and leadership responsibilities in school clubs
or student organizations. You can see how at a young age, the
profileof the"activedoer"soadm ired byemployers -
independent, achieving, co-operative,
and
responsible
- is
being
formed.
However strong his or her profile, an American student has to
"sell"himself
in the
competitive
arena of
university
admissions.
This is done partly by letters and essays
that
m ay
support
an
application.
It is also
done,
crucially, in the admissions
interview.
Here, the candidate must talk about his accomplishments, appear
to have clear goals and objectives (however vague and tentative in
reality), and give
specific
reasons (even if somewhat hypocritical)
for
want ing
to
attend
a specific
college
or
university.These same
skills
will help that student to find employment
after
graduat ion,
and to
advance
his
career subsequently.
So what do Americans learn from their education, and how?
T hefirstresponsewe canoffer is - not enough, according to both
American and foreign observers. Standardized international
com parisons of scholastic achievement find A m erican studen ts
ranked well down
in the
table, especially
in
mathematics.
A s you
have
probably found, few if any will learn a foreign language to a
competent
level,
if at all.
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A M E R I C A N
W A Y
At the four-year collegeor undergraduate
level,
leading to the BA
or BS, A m erican
students
will
have
an
opportunity
to pursue a
speciality (known
as a major)
w hile retaining considerable
flexibility,in the
event they change their minds
as to field or
eventual
career. The undergraduate 's preparation for graduate
studies
in
law, m edicine,
or
engineering
will
involve
a
greater
con cen tration on relevant subjects. There are also increasing ly
specialised Bachelor degrees in fieldsranging
from
media to
information
technology. In 2001, degrees in business accounted
for 21percent of the total.But the field inwhich a graduate has
earned his Bachelor's degree does n ot necessarily prede term ine his
choice ofcareerorgraduate study.
This
is
especially
true in the
case of the MBA (Master 's Degree in Business A dm inistrat ion).
A s far as methods are concerned, American educational methods
do not emphasize comprehensive mastery or rote learning of a
body
of
literature, information,
or
texts. This
is
very different
from cultures such as the Arab or the Chinese, where intensive
scholarship is demanded and respected. American schools prefer
instead
to
emphasize "self-expression"
in
various
forms
-
creativity, individualpoints ofviewin analysis and opinion,
novelty.
A mericans usually
finish
their undergraduate education
at age 22.
(There
has been a recent trend toward later completion, possibly
as a result of the expense of a college education.) At this
point,
if
they
are not
going directly
on to
graduate school, American
graduates are ready, although certainly not yet"seasoned", for
employment in business. They hope that therewillbe no more
paint ing
houses,
or
waiting
on
tables.
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Class ring
In our
discussion
of the
objectives
and
con ten t
of
Amer ican
education,wemust not overlook oneother benefit
that
the
undergraduate exper ience br ings
to an
A mer ican
-
f r iends .
Most American universi ty s tudents l ive in residence halls
(dormitories) on campus for four years. I t is rare to live a t home
or in rented rooms. Students may also join, i f invited, more
intimate groups, called fraternities or sororities. Residing together
on campus enables Americans to establish close ties with each
other , something that wil l
be far
m o r e
difficult
af ter they leave.
It
gives them a vital sense of group membership and belonging. I t is
here that they
m ay
well m ake f r iends
and
form
a
n e two r k ,
often
fo r
life.
Many Americans wear
a
"class
ring",
on
which
is
engraved both the name of the college or universi ty and the year
("class")in
which they took their degree. This identi ty badge
can
serve
later in life as a link to a s trong network of fellow f o r mer
students
(or alumni alumnae], or at the
very least
as a
reason
to
get bet ter acquainted with ones they meet.
B ut
if , as a foreign visi tor to the United States , you have no
"classring",howwil lyouestablish strong relation ship s and
las ting f r iendships w ith A m ericans?
In
your list
of
perceived
American character is t ics , did you include "fr iendly"?
"Superficial"? Both?Let us turn our
attention
now to this
aspect
of
A mer i c a n
life.
The
success
of
your business relat ionships
and
the satisfaction you derive from your expatr iate
life
in the USA
will depend
on it .
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4
Gettingto
Know
Y o u :
Social and BusinessRelationships
" E A S Y
COME..."
-
GETTING ACQUAINTEDWITH
AMERICANS
Have you ever experienced something similar to this incident?
I m a g i n e
f o r a
m o m e n t t h a t
y o u
h a v e just s e t t l e d i n t o y o u r a i s l e s e a t
o n a
l o n g - d i s t a n c e
f l i g h t
t o C h i c a g o . A m o m e n t l a t e r , a n o t h e r p a s s e n g e r a r r iv e s , a n d i n d i c a t e s
t h a t
h e h a s
t h e s e a t n e x t t o y o u r s . A s y o u s ta n d t o p e r m i t h i m t o g e t t h r o u g h , h e
s a y s
" E x c u s e m e ,
l o o k s l i k e t h e f l i g h t i s
fu l l. . ."
a n d s t a r t s t o c o m m e n t o n h o w a i r l i n e s n e v e r m a n a g e t h e
b o a r d in g p r o c e s s s m o o th ly .
H e t a k e s
h i s
s e a t ,
a n d
c o n t i n u e s
t o
c h a t
t o
y o u .
H e
s a y s
h i s
n a m e
i s
C h a r l i e ,
a n d
h e ' s
r e t u r n i n g
t o
D a y t o n O h i o a f t e r c a l l i n g
o n
E u r o p e a n c u s t o m e r s
t o
s e l l
t e l e c o m m u n i c a t io n s e q u ip m e n t .
H e
g o e s
o n t o
e x p l a i n t h a t he'sb e e n a w a y
f o r
t h r e e w e e k s , a n d m i s s e s h i s w i f e a n d k i d s . H e d o e s n ' t t h i n k h i s e l d e s t d a u g h t e r h a s
m i s s e d h im v e r y m u c h , h o w e v e r , s i n c e s h e 's t r y in g to s h o w h o w " c o o l " a n d
i n d e p e n d e n t s h e i s . C h a r l i e e x p r e s s e s w o r r y a b o u t h i s s o n ,J u s t in , w h o ' s h a v i n g
t r o u b l e
i n
s c h o o l .
H e a s k s y o u ,
" D o y o u
h a v e k i d s ? "
T h e
a i r p l a n e b e g i n s
t o
p u l l a w a y f r o m
t h e
d e p a r t u r e g a t e . . .
W h a t ' s y o u r r e a c t io n
t o
t h i s ?
30
EXAMPLE 4.1
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G E T T I N G
T O
K N O W
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/31
I
w i l l
e n j o y p a s s i n g
t h e
t i m e
o n
t h i s f l i g h t t a l k i n g
t o
t h i s f r i e n d l y m a n .
I
w i l l l i s t e n p o l i t e l y ,
b u t
w i l l
n o t
fe e l li k e ta lk i n g a b o u t
m y
l i fe
so
so o n
i n t h e
s a m e
w a y .
C h a r l i e
is
i n c o n s i d e r a t e
a n d
a n n o y i n g ;
o n
t h i s l o n g f l i g h t
in
t h i s c r o w d e d c a b i n ,
i t
w o u l d
b e
m o r e p o l i t e
i f he
k e p t
t o
h i m s e l f .
O r this?
O n
a v i s i t t o t h e S t a t e s , y o u a n d s o m e A m e r i c a n b u s i n e s s c o l le a g u e s h a v e j u s t t a k e n
y o u r s e a t s a t a r e s t a u r a n t ta b l e . A w a i t r e s s a p p r o a c h e s a n d s t a r t s b y s a y i n g , " H i , m y
n a m e
is
M i c h e l l e
a n d
I ' l l
b e
y o u r s e r v e r
t o d a y . "
O n e o f
y o u r A m e r i c a n c o l l e a g u e s r e p l ie s , " H i , M i c h e l l e .
C a n y o u
g i v e
u s a
c o u p l e
o f
m i n u t e s a n d t h e n w e ' l l b e r e a d y t o o r d e r ? "
W h a t
i s g o i n g o n h e r e ?
M i c h e l l e w a n t s to g e t to k n o w u s b e t t e r w h i le sh e s e r v e s o u r t a b l e , s o w e s h o u l d
t e l l
h e r o u r
n a m e s .
M i c h e l l e w a n t s
a
l a r g e
t ip
w h e n
t h e
b i l l ( t h e " c h e c k "
i n
A m e r i c a ) a r r i ve s ,
a n d i s
b e i n g f r i e n d l y o n l y fo r
t h a t
r e a s o n .
Yo u h a v e e n t e r e d
a
" g e n t l e m e n ' s c l u b "
b y
m i s t a k e .
M i c h e l l e is a c ti n g t o w a r d y o u in t h e s a m e w a y t h a t sh e w o u ld t o w a r d a n y c u st o m e r .
EXAMPLE 4.2
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/ W O R K I N G
T H E A M E R I C A N W A Y
Exaggerations? Caricatures
of
Americans? Possibly,
but
m a n y
non-Americans have
had
similar encounters,
and are
confused
by
such
behaviour. Did you answer (b) or (c) in the first example?
Perhaps youperceive A m ericans as "friendly," or "superficial".
This immediate
friendliness
and informali tycan make people
uncomfortable, precisely because it seems insincere. This is a
reflection
of the manner in which social and business friendships
are
formed
in
America
and the
meaning
of
these friendships,
which
may be very different
from what
is
expected
in
your
country.
A
degree
of
"superficial" friendliness
is
important
to us
Americans. Rapid and friendly social interactions are normal . In
a
large country where people move around
frequently,
contact
of
this type
is
both essential
and
unavoidable. Friendliness conveys
to
an Amer ican the right degree ofboth social distance (orcloseness,
if you prefer) and
social acceptance.
A n
American takes th is
to
mean , "I like you."
"But what ' s
the
point",
you may
ask,
"of
talking about your
son's
problems at school with a complete stranger, if you then go your
separateways and, inthatbig country, never seeeach
other
again?"
N ot every conv ersation at first meeting will include such personal
details,
but it is not
unusual. With those disclosures,
an
Amer ican
seeks to establish a commonali ty of experience with a stranger,
while affirming his own social identity. This is preferable to an
abstract discussion
of
w or ld
affairs, th e
arts
or
other impersonal
matters, with which youm igh t be more comfortable. To an
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American, Charlie
is in fact
being polite.
It
would
be
impolite,
"stand-off ish",
or
even rude
notto
initiate some
contact
with you,
a fellow passenger. T oignore youwould be to take no notice of
you- toreject you,in asense- as a human being.WeAmericans
m ay
like ourwide open spaces, but w e do not like isolation.
Call
me"Jim"
T he immediate use of firstnames isexpected, once anynecessary
titles
have been mentioned.
W e
willhave more
to say
about titles
andgreetings below.For our server(a description preferableto
"waitress")
Michelle,
not
mentioninghername wouldbe
impersonal, and r