“Usiogope, tumeshayamaliza” which is Swahili for “Don’t worry it’s done” is such a common way to finalize agreements in Dar Es Salaam, the commercial capital of the East African country of Tanzania. As a Tanzanian who spent most of my adult life in the United States moving back to Tanzania and having to adapt to a new way of business transactions due to the differences in culture was frustrating for me at first. It took me a while to realize that it doesn’t make my people less civilized or reasonable, it’s simply a different culture. Every moment that my frustrations resulted in a negative interaction with a business partner it was a good example of what can only be defined as cross-cultural conflict.
Conflict can be defined as seeing the world from a different perspective than someone else or competing for resources (Moran, Abramson, & Moran, 2014). Cross-cultural conflict occurs when that conflict is a direct result of actions that stem from having a cultured perspective; a different view on how things are seen or done (Moran, Abramson, & Moran, 2014).
I work in the tech business, and as a start-up, NDAs are an important part of our dealings especially whenever dealing with a new company or partner. The first time that my cofounder and I asked a business partner to sign an NDA he thought we were being very disrespectful and in turn, we thought that he was being very unprofessional by refusing to sign it. It took us several similar refusals to understand that in Tanzania signatures and paperwork do not symbolize professional trust like they do in the United States. Conversations of business are finalized by talking about religion, family and current politics which are topics that are usually off-limits whenever you do business in a western country.
To be able to do business in a different country or environment it is always important to remember that the world has thousands of cultures and they all have a different way of doing things. When you take the time to learn about them, you will have a more pleasant experience and even find opportunities to better your businesses due to these cross-cultural differences. The less knowledgable you are of other cultures, the more chances you create for yourself to be caught in cross-cultural conflict (Moran, Abramson, & Moran, 2014).
References
Moran, R. T., Abramson, N. R., Moran, S. V., & Harris, P. R. (2014). Managing cultural differences. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.
Markeia Gordon says
Hi,
I enjoyed you sharing the struggles that you had as you transitioned from the way that business was done in Tanzania to the USA. I know that you mentioned that when you and your business partner tried to have the NDA signed that there was a conflict with the other party. Do you think if you would have discussed the reasoning behind why this is part of your business practice that they would have been more understanding? Also, have you ran into anything else when doing business that has been a stumbling block?
smn5378 says
Hi,
Interesting post. Especially your comment about religion and politics being a big part of business transactions in Tanzania. This is definitely not the case in the USA. Lately, it’s difficult to discuss these things even in social situations.
I did have a couple of questions after reading your post. Why are NDA’s frown upon in Tanzania? Have you ever had any opposition to NDA;s in the USA?
Thanks,
Scott