How not to behave badly abroad

(by Norman Ramshaw)

Traveling to all corners of the world gets easier and easier. We live in a global village, but how well do we know and understand each other? Here is a simple test.

Imagine you have arranged a meeting at four o’clock. What time should you expect your foreign business colleagues to arrive?

If they are German, they’ll bang on time. If they are American, they’ll probably be 15 minutes early. If they are British, they’ll be 15 minutes late, and you should allow up to an hour for the Italians.

When the European Community began to increase in size, several guidebooks appeared giving advice on international etiquette. At first many people thought this was a joke, especially the British, who seemed to assume that the widespread understanding of their language meant a corresponding understanding of English customs. Very soon they had to change their ideas, as they realized that they had a lot to learn about how to behave with their foreign business friends.

For example:

The British are happy to have a business lunch and discuss business matters with a drink during the meal. The Japanese prefer not to work while eating. Lunch is a time to relax and get to know one another; and they rarely drink during lunchtime. The Germans like to talk business before dinner. The French like to eat first and talk afterwards. They have to be well fed and watered before they discuss anything.

Taking off your jacket and rolling your sleeves is a sign of getting down to work in Britain and Holland, but in Germany people regard it as taking it easy.

American executives sometimes signal their feelings of ease and importance in their offices by pulling their feet on the desk. In Japan people would be shocked. Showing the soles of our feet is the height of bad manners. It is a social insult only exceeded by blowing your nose in public. The Japanese have perhaps the strictest rules of social and business behavior. Seniority is very important, and a young man should never be sent to complete a business deal with an older Japanese man. The Japanese business card almost needs a rulebook of its own. You must exchange business cards immediately on meeting because it is essential to establish everyone’s status and position. When it is handed to a person in a superior position, it must be given and received with both hands, and you must take time to read it carefully, and not just put it into your pocket! Also a bow is a very important part of greeting someone. You should not expect the Japanese to shake hands. Bowing the head is a mark of respect and the first bow of the day should be lower than when you meet thereafter.

The Americans sometimes find it difficult to accept the more formal Japanese manners. They prefer to be more casual and more informal, as illustrated by the universal «Have a nice day!». American waiters have a one-way imperative «Enjoy!». The British, of course, are cool and reserved. The great topic of conversation between strangers in Britain is the weather – unemotional and impersonal. In America the main topic between strangers is the search to find a geographical link. «Oh, really? You live in Ohio? I had an uncle who once worked there.»

When in Roman do as Romans do.

Here are some final tips for travelers.

- In France you shouldn’t sit down in a café until you’ve shaken hands with everyone you know.

- In Afghanistan you should spend at least five minutes saying hello.

- In Pakistan you shouldn’t wink. It is offensive.

- In the Middle East you must you must never use the left hand for greeting, eating, drinking or smoking. Also, you should take care not to admire anything in your hosts’ home. They will feel that they have to give it to you.

- In Russia you must match you hosts drink for drink or they will think that you are unfriendly.

- In Thailand you should clasp your hands together and lower your head and your eyes when you greet someone.

- In America you should eat your hamburger with both hands and as quickly as possible. You shouldn’t try to have a conversation until it is eaten.

Way of greetings: shaking hands, waving, nodding, curtsying, hugging, taking one’s hat off, kissing on the cheek, saluting.

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Personnel Management

Personnel administration represents a major subsystem in the general management system in which it refers to the management of human resources. It is used to identify the entire scope of management policies and programs in the recruitment, allocation, leadership, and direction of manpower. Personnel administration begins with the definition of the required quantities of particular personal capabilities. Thereafter, people are to be found, selected, trained or retrained, negotiated with, counseled, led, directed, committed, rewarded, transferred, promoted, and finally released or retired.

In many of these relations, managers deal with their associates as individuals – the field takes its name in part from this type of relationship. In some working organizations, however, employees have been represented by unions, and managers bargain with these associations. Such collective-bargaining relationships are generally described as labour relations. Functions of management we should consider here could be defined in the following way.

Major areas of personnel department responsibilities include organizing-devising and revising organizational structures of authority and functional responsibility. They are aimed to facilitate two-way, reciprocal, vertical and horizontal communication. The next one is staffing, or manning-analyzing jobs that develop job descriptions and specifications. That is – appraising and maintaining an inventory of available capabilities, recruiting and selecting, placing, transferring, demoting, promoting and thus assuring qualified manpower when and where it is needed.

Planning and forecasting personnel requirements in terms of numbers and special qualifications as well as scheduling inputs, has been marked as very important for anticipating the need for appropriate managerial policies and programs. One should bear in mind that training the development-assisting team members, from pre-employment. preparatory job training to executive development programs will be able to secure their continuing personal growth. It is necessary for a personnel manager to make collective bargaining-negotiating agreements and in follow these ones through in day-to-day administration;

Rewarding a personnel manager have to ensure provides financial and non-financial incentives for individual commitment and contribution. And of course, general administration – developing appropriate styles and patterns of leadership throughout the organization is one of the main areas of personnel management. It should be also mentioned here the importance of auditing, reviewing, and researching, that is, evaluating current performance and procedures in order to facilitate control and improve future practice.

To designate equally a body of knowledge, a process and a profession – the term «ergonomics» or «human-factors engineering» has been used. Human engineering they have called it on the North American continent or ergonomics as it has been called in Japan, in Europe are originated from the Greek words: «ergo» – «work» and «nomos» – law. It is a collection of data and principles about human characteristics, capabilities and limitations in relation to machines, jobs and environments, to take into account the safety, comfort, and productiveness of human users and operators. The data and principles of human-factors engineering are concerned with human performance, behaviour and training in man-machine systems and the design anddevelopment of man-machine systems.

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