Trust and Friendship

It is always good to know what other cultures value. I decided to focus this blog on how friendship is built in Africa way before a business relationship comes about. I was surprised to learn that “with Africans, after family, friendship comes next in importance. Often, a friendship continues after specific business activities end. (Moran, Abramson & Moran, 2014 p. 512). The reason I was surprised, was that I often heard people say “you should never do business with friends”. Now that I am older, and the relationships that I have with my friends have blossomed, I considered them more like family than I do friends.

In Africa “people generally assume that everyone is a friend until proven otherwise” (Moran, Abramson & Moran, 2014 p. 512). Comparing Africa to the United States we are the total opposite, no one is a friend until they show you they are loyal. I have never been to Africa but, all these years I had the wrong impression of them. I thought most of them were arrogant and thought that they were better than everyone else. I have interacted with African people and not all, but most of them seem like they have little to no patience. Plus, I never saw them smile. “When smiles are not seen, it is a clear sign of distrust” (Moran, Abramson & Moran, 2014 p. 512). Do they not trust me or they are too Americanized?

Could you imagine going to a business meeting and the first thing you discuss is your family, current events, or sports? Well, that is what takes place right before a business meeting in Africa. As I mentioned above, friendship is important so they want the person they are doing business with to feel comfortable, to trust them and to have confidence in their relationship. I once heard the saying, “blood makes you family but loyalty makes you related”. By building a friendship with their future business partners Africans are building on that loyalty.

In conclusion, what if we stopped listening to the people saying “never do business with friends”? Do you think it would be moresuccessful organizations or more damaged relationships? Africa may have changed my way of thinking with it comes to doing business, building a friendship will most likely get you more friends which could mean more business and in the long run new family members.

 

 

Reference:

Moran, R.T., Abramson, N. R. & Moran, S.V. (2014). Managing Cultural Differences. Ninth Edition. Abingdon: Routledge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Who doesn’t like a good gift? Well did you know in Brazil they “value all act of generosity including receiving present from their visitors” (Moran, Abramson & Moran, 2014 p. 350). We have all heard the saying “it’s the thought that counts” well that is exactly what Brazilians look for in their gifts. Meaning Brazilians want their gifts to mean something or they want something that is not accessible in Brazil. When you start to do business with someone if possible it is always a great idea to find out what they like or do not like ahead of time, and that may help you build a relationship with that person.

There are a few cons with gift-giving such as you might offend that person or they might take it as a bribe. To avoid this from happening, in Brazil is it recommended that you hire a despachante. “Despachantes are specialists in knowing what is appropriate and cutting through the endless bureaucracy that can be found at any level of government” (Moran, Abramson & Moran, 2014 p. 350). Nowadays with social media, you could probably look on someone’s page and find out what they like. Or ask someone they are close to, for example, a friend or a colleague.

Furthering my curiosity about gifts and bribery that happens in Brazil, I came across a website, Brazil Corruption Report. The website talks about all levels of people being corrupted for example the judicial system and the police. Could you imagine going to the police with a problem and they bribe you “if you pay me, I’ll protect you”? I have to admit I only see this happen in movies/television shows.

In conclusion, if you ever visit Brazil for a business trip do your homework on the people/person you are soon to do business with. If you are not sure what to buy a person, in my opinion, you should not buy them anything. That way you avoid the possible confusion of an offensive gift. Plus, in Brazil and everywhere else in the world, there is always a way to jeitinho. Jeitinho means “getting around obstacles in order to obtain what you want” (Moran, Abramson & Moran, 2014 p. 350).

 

References:

Brazil Corruption Report. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.ganintegrity.com/portal/country-profiles/brazil/.

Moran, R.T., Abramson, N. R. & Moran, S.V. (2014). Managing Cultural Differences. Ninth Edition. Abingdon: Routledge.

 

Making assumptions about someone or a group of people most of the time leads to misjudgment. In this blog, I will focus on lesson seven in from our OLEAD commentary, particularly Islamic life. I choose to focus on this topic because I learned many new things about Islamic life that I was never able to understand. While taking this class, and reading this lesson I learned that we sometimes make judgments on others without knowing their story. We learn at a young age that it is not good to judge a book by its cover, so why do we judge one’s entire culture based on a mistake that one person/group of people made?

I was very unfamiliar with Islamic life until the tragic incident that occurred on September 11, 2001. After that, all the stories I heard about Muslim’s were negative and most of them started by stating that Muslims were terrorists. It is sad to say but even to this day, when Muslims get on an airplane a lot of people are afraid of what might happen. What people fail to realize is “the religion of Islam actually teaches peace and tolerance just like most other religions around the world” (PSU WC, 2019, L. 7, p. 2).Which means they are normal human beings, they are not robots programmed to kill.

Could you imagine being an Islamic person at that time? What makes things worst the current president of the United States has always made negative remarks about Muslims. Ten years after the tragic incent, “In an interview with Fox News, Bill O’Reilly asks Trump if there is a “Muslim problem” in the world. Trump responds, “Absolutely. I mean, I don’t notice Swedish people knocking down the World Trade Center. There is a Muslim problem in the world, and you know it and I know it” (MPower, 2018). I agree there is a “Muslim problem”, they are not being treated fairly!

In conclusion, lesson seven reminded me of ethnocentrism, which we learned about in lesson two. “Ethnocentrism is the belief that one’s culture is better than others’ simply because one cannot see the world from the other culture’s viewpoint”(PSU WC, 2019, L. 2, p. 5).In other words, if people were able to put themselves in the shoes of an Islamic person, there would be less judging, people would understand how they feel, and maybe that would change the world.

 

 

References:

MPower. (2018). 86 Times Donald Trump Displayed or Promoted Islamophobia. Retrieved from https://medium.com/nilc/86-times-donald-trump-displayed-or-promoted-islamophobia-49e67584ac10.

Pennsylvania State University World Campus (2019). OLEAD 410 Lesson 02: Introduction to Culture. Retrieved from

https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2008449/modules/items/27026951

Pennsylvania State University World Campus (2019). OLEAD 410 Lesson 07: The Middle East: Focus on Saudi Arabia. Retrieved from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2008449/modules/items/27026982

 

 

After reading over this weeks reading I have decided to talk about errors in communication. This topic has come up in a few other courses I have taken but I never fully understood it until someone I know recently experienced some channel error. I have to agree with this lesson, it is hard to grasp the sender’s intentions via e-mail or text and even face to face if you are unclear of their message. Do you think it would be rude if the sender asked the receiver if they understood everything they said?

A couple of weeks ago my friend (who I will call Jane) was fired from her job due to error in communication. Jane boss asked her to send an email to an important client. Jane was not aware what the email should say or look like so she asked another co-worker for help. After they finished the email she gave it to her boss and she asked her boss if the email was right. Her boss said she would look at it and send it out. A few days go by and the owner of the company (which is over top of Jane’s boss) came to Jane and asked her if she sent the email. Jane said, “no, the boss said she would send it out”. Well here’s when “the sender (her boss), did not encode enough meaning into her idea”(PSU WC, 2019, L. 4, p. 3).In other words, she did not explain what she meant. Jane’s boss did look at the email, she corrected it, and sent it back to Jane, for Jane to send out. Due to the time of day, it was sent (Friday after 5 pm) Jane did not check her email until a few days later (Tuesday morning).

The error in communication cost Jane her job and also caused the organization to lose one of their top clients. “People tend to selectively perceive information, and judge its relevance and importance in the context of their own perceptual preferences” (Folger, Poole, & Stutman, 2013 p. 38). In some cases, people hear what they want and think that’s all that was said. Referring back to the example above may be Jane’s boss did say she would send the email back to her and because it was the end of the day, Jane, in a rush to go home, probably heard something different. Things probably would have gone a little differently if Jane would have followed up with her boss.

This goes to show you that even face-to-face interacts could experience some noise or biases. I think it is ok to ask questions if you do not understand what a sender is trying to convey and vice versa. Maybe if Jane’s boss would have said that same sentence in front of a group of Jane’s co-workers then someone else may have understood what her boss meant and that could have saved her job. Or should have Jane have asked, “Does that mean you will be sending the email to the client”?

 

References:

Moran, R.T., Abramson, N. R. & Moran, S.V. (2014). Managing Cultural Differences. Ninth Edition. Abingdon: Routledge.

Pennsylvania State University World Campus (2019). OLEAD 410 Lesson 04: Global Communication. Retrieved from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2008449/modules/items/27026965

 

Hello everyone,

My name is Syrita Beverly, everyone calls me Sy. I am excited to say this my final semester, come December, I will have earned my BS in Organizational Leadership. I have taken several of Dr. Redmond’s courses and I enjoyed every class so I’d thought why not end my World Campus journey with him.

I am from Philadelphia Pa, and I have two children my son (Hayden) is 7 and my daughter (Chloe) is 4. I decided to come back to school for my children and I am very happy I chose Penn State World Campus. Over the last two years, I have learned how to balance my school/work/personal life. I am here if anyone needs help trying to figure out how to do it.

I look forward to learning many new things about global leadership and working with you all. Best of luck and well wish to everyone!

Sy