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Cross-cultural Communication for Business

LESSON 1: Introduction. Tips for doing business in another country.

In the next video, David Logan talks about the five kinds of tribes that humans naturally form — in schools, workplaces, even the driver's license bureau. By understanding our shared tribal tendencies, we can help lead each other to become better individuals. Watch the video and discut its main points.

 

 

0:11What we're really here to talk about is the "how." Okay, so how exactly do we create this world-shattering, if you will, innovation? Now, I want to tell you a quick story. We'll go back a little more than a year. In fact, the date — I'm curious to know if any of you know what happened on this momentous date?It was February 3rd, 2008. Anyone remember what happened, February 3rd, 2008? Super Bowl. I heard it over here. It was the date of the Super Bowl.

0:40And the reason that this date was so momentous is that what my colleagues, John King and Halee Fischer-Wright, and I noticed as we began to debrief various Super Bowl parties, is that it seemed to usthat across the United States, if you will, tribal councils had convened. And they had discussed things of great national importance. Like, "Do we like the Budweiser commercial?" and, "Do we like the nachos?" and, "Who is going to win?" But they also talked about which candidate they were going to support.

1:12And if you go back in time to February 3rd, it looked like Hilary Clinton was going to get the Democratic nomination. And there were even some polls that were saying she was going to go all the way. But when we talked to people, it appeared that a funnel effect had happened in these tribes all across the United States. Now what is a tribe? A tribe is a group of about 20 — so kind of more than a team — 20 to about 150 people. And it's within these tribes that all of our work gets done. But not just work. It's within these tribes that societies get built, that important things happen.

1:46And so as we surveyed the, if you will, representatives from various tribal councils that met, also known as Super Bowl parties, we sent the following email off to 40 newspaper editors the following day.February 4th, we posted it on our website. This was before Super Tuesday. We said, "The tribes that we're in are saying it's going to be Obama." Now, the reason we knew that was because we spent the previous 10 years studying tribes, studying these naturally occurring groups.

2:13All of you are members of tribes. In walking around at the break, many of you had met members of your tribe. And you were talking to them. And many of you were doing what great, if you will, tribal leaders do,which is to find someone who is a member of a tribe, and to find someone else who is another member of a different tribe, and make introductions. That is in fact what great tribal leaders do.

2:37So here is the bottom line. If you focus in on a group like this — this happens to be a USC game — and you zoom in with one of those super satellite cameras and do magnification factors so you could see individual people, you would in fact see not a single crowd, just like there is not a single crowd here, but you would see these tribes that are then coming together. And from a distance it appears that it's a single group. And so people form tribes. They always have. They always will. Just as fish swim and birds fly,people form tribes. It's just what we do. But here's the rub. Not all tribes are the same, and what makes the difference is the culture.

3:17Now here is the net out of this. You're all a member of tribes. If you can find a way to take the tribes that you're in and nudge them forward, along these tribal stages to what we call Stage Five, which is the top of the mountain. But we're going to start with what we call Stage One. Now, this is the lowest of the stages. You don't want this. Okay? This is a bit of a difficult image to put up on the screen. But it's one that I think we need to learn from.

3:43Stage One produces people who do horrible things. This is the kid who shot up Virginia Tech. Stage One is a group where people systematically sever relationships from functional tribes, and then pool togetherwith people who think like they do. Stage One is literally the culture of gangs and it is the culture of prisons. Now, again, we don't often deal with Stage One. And I want to make the point that as members of society, we need to. It's not enough to simply write people off.

4:12But let's move on to Stage Two. Now, Stage One, you'll notice, says, in effect, "Life Sucks." So, this other book that Steve mentioned, that just came out, called "The Three Laws of Performance," my colleague, Steve Zaffron and I, argue that as people see the world, so they behave. Well, if people see the world in such a way that life sucks, then their behavior will follow automatically from that. It will be despairing hostility. They'll do whatever it takes to survive, even if that means undermining other people.

4:44Now, my birthday is coming up shortly, and my driver's license expires. And the reason that that's relevant is that very soon I will be walking into what we call a Stage Two tribe, which looks like this.(Laughter) Now, am I saying that in every Department of Motor Vehicles across the land, you find a Stage Two culture? No. But in the one near me, where I have to go in just a few days, what I will say when I'm standing in line is, "How can people be so dumb, and yet live?" (Laughter)

5:15Now, am I saying that there are dumb people working here? Actually, no, I'm not. But I'm saying the culture makes people dumb. So in a Stage Two culture — and we find these in all sorts of different places — you find them, in fact, in the best organizations in the world. You find them in all places in society. I've come across them at the organizations that everybody raves about as being best in class.But here is the point. If you believe and you say to people in your tribe, in effect, "My life sucks. I mean, if I got to go to TEDx USC my life wouldn't suck. But I don't. So it does." If that's how you talked, imagine what kind of work would get done. What kind of innovation would get done? The amount of world-changing behavior that would happen? In fact it would be basically nil.

6:00Now when we go on to Stage Three: this is the one that hits closest to home for many of us. Because it is in Stage Three that many of us move. And we park. And we stay. Stage Three says, "I'm great. And you're not." (Laughter) I'm great and you're not. Now imagine having a whole room of people saying, in effect, "I'm great and you're not." Or, "I'm going to find some way to compete with you and come out on top as a result of that." A whole group of people communicating that way, talking that way.

6:32I know this sounds like a joke. Three doctors walk into a bar. But, in this case, three doctors walk into an elevator. I happened to be in the elevator collecting data for this book. And one doctor said to the others, "Did you see my article in the New England Journal of Medicine?" And the other said, "No. That's great. Congratulations!"

6:47The next one got kind of a wry smile on his face and said, "Well while you were, you know, doing your research," — notice the condescending tone — "While you were off doing your research, I was off doing more surgeries than anyone else in the department of surgery at this institution."

7:01And the third one got the same wry smile and said, "Well, while you were off doing your research, and you were off doing your monkey meatball surgery, that eventually we'll train monkeys to do, or cells or robots, or maybe not even need to do it at all, I was off running the future of the residency program,which is really the future of medicine."

7:18And they all kind of laughed and they patted him on the back. And the elevator door opened, and they all walked out. That is a meeting of a Stage Three tribe. Now, we find these in places where really smart, successful people show up. Like, oh, I don't know, TEDx USC. (Laughter)

7:36Here is the greatest challenge we face in innovation. It is moving from Stage Three to Stage Four. Let's take a look at a quick video snippet. This is from a company called Zappos, located outside Las Vegas.And my question on the other side is just going to be, "What do you think they value?" It was not Christmas time. There was a Christmas tree. This is their lobby. Employees volunteer time in the advice booth. Notice it looks like something out of a Peanuts cartoon.

8:11Okay, we're going through the hallway here at Zappos. This is a call center. Notice how it's decorated.Notice people are applauding for us. They don't know who we are and they don't care. And if they didthey probably wouldn't applaud. But you'll notice the level of excitement. Notice, again, how they decorate their office. Now, what's important to people at Zappos, these may not be the things that are important to you. But they value things like fun. And they value creativity. One of their stated values is, "Be a little bit weird." And you'll notice they are a little bit weird.

8:43So when individuals come together and find something that unites them that's greater than their individual competence, then something very important happens. The group gels. And it changes from a group of highly motivated but fairly individually-centric people into something larger, into a tribe that becomes aware of its own existence. Stage Four tribes can do remarkable things. But you'll notice we're not at the top of the mountain yet. There is, in fact, another stage.

9:13Now, some of you may not recognize the scene that's up here. And if you take a look at the headline of Stage Five, which is "Life is Great," this may seem a little incongruous. This is a scene or snippet from the Truth and Reconciliation process in South Africa for which Desmond Tutu won the Nobel Prize. Now think about that. South Africa, terrible atrocities had happened in the society. And people came togetherfocused only on those two values: truth and reconciliation. There was no road map. No one had ever done anything like this before.

9:45And in this atmosphere, where the only guidance was people's values and their noble cause, what this group accomplished was historic. And people, at the time, feared that South Africa would end up going the way that Rwanda has gone, descending into one skirmish after another in a civil war that seems to have no end. In fact, South Africa has not gone down that road. Largely because people like Desmond Tutu set up a Stage Five process to involve the thousands and perhaps millions of tribes in the country, to bring everyone together. So, people hear this and they conclude the following, as did we in doing the study.

10:23Okay, got it. I don't want to talk Stage One. That's like, you know, "Life sucks." Who wants to talk that way? I don't want to talk like they do at the particular DMV that's close to where Dave lives. I really don't want to just say "I'm great," because that kind of sounds narcissistic, and then I won't have any friends.Saying, "We're great" — that sounds pretty good. But I should really talk Stage Five, right? "Life is great."

10:43Well, in fact, there are three somewhat counter-intuitive findings that come out of all this. The first one, if you look at the Declaration of Independence and actually read it, the phrase that sticks in many of our minds is things about inalienable rights. I mean, that's Stage Five, right? Life is great, oriented only by our values, no other guidance. In fact, most of the document is written at Stage Two. "My life sucks because I live under a tyrant, also known as King George. We're great! Who is not great? England!" Sorry. (Laughter)

11:18Well, what about other great leaders? What about Gandhi? What about Martin Luther King? I mean, surely these were just people who preached, "Life is great," right? Just one little bit of happiness and joy after another. In fact, Martin Luther King's most famous line was at Stage Three. He didn't say "We have a dream." He said, "I have a dream." Why did he do that? Because most people are not at Stage Five.

11:39Two percent are at Stage One. About 25 percent are at Stage Two, saying, in effect, "My life sucks." 48 percent of working tribes say, these are employed tribes, say, "I'm great and you're not." And we have to duke it out every day, so we resort to politics. Only about 22 percent of tribes are at Stage Four, oriented by our values, saying "We're great. And our values are beginning to unite us." Only two percent, only two percent of tribes get to Stage Five. And those are the ones that change the world.

12:13So the first little finding from this is that leaders need to be able to talk all the levels so that you can touch every person in society. But you don't leave them where you found them. Okay? Tribes can only hear one level above and below where they are. So we have to have the ability to talk all the levels, to go to where they are. And then leaders nudge people within their tribes to the next level. I'd like to show you some examples of this.

12:38One of the people we interviewed was Frank Jordan, former Mayor of San Francisco. Before that he was Chief of Police in San Francisco. And he grew up essentially in Stage One. And you know what changed his life? It was walking into one of these, a Boys and Girls Club. Now here is what happened to this person who eventually became Mayor of San Francisco. He went from being alive and passionate at Stage One — remember, "Life sucks, despairing hostility, I will do whatever it takes to survive" — to walking into a Boys and Girls Club, folding his arms, sitting down in a chair, and saying, "Wow. My life really sucks. I don't know anybody. I mean, if I was into boxing, like they were, then my life wouldn't suck. But I don't. So it does. So I'm going to sit here in my chair and not do anything."

13:19In fact, that's progress. We move people from Stage One to Stage Two by getting them in a new tribeand then, over time, getting them connected. So, what about moving from Stage Three to Stage Four? I want to argue that we're doing that right here. TED represents a set of values, and as we unite around these values, something really interesting begins to emerge.

13:44If you want this experience to live on as something historic, then at the reception tonight I'd like to encourage you to do something beyond what people normally do and call networking. Which is not just to meet new people and extend your reach, extend your influence, but instead, find someone you don't know, and find someone else you don't know, and introduce them. That's called a triadic relationship.

14:10See, people who build world-changing tribes do that. They extend the reach of their tribes by connecting them, not just to myself, so that my following is greater, but I connect people who don't know each otherto something greater than themselves. And ultimately that adds to their values.

14:28But we're not done yet. Because then how do we go from Stage Four, which is great, to Stage Five? The story that I like to end with is this. It comes out of a place called the Gallup Organization. You know they do polls, right? So it's Stage Four. We're great. Who is not great? Pretty much everybody else who does polls. If Gallup releases a poll on the same day that NBC releases a poll, people will pay attention to the Gallup poll. Okay, we understand that. So, they were bored. They wanted to change the world. So here is the question someone asked.

14:57"How could we, instead of just polling what Asia thinks or what the United States thinks, or who thinks what about Obama versus McCain or something like that, what does the entire world think?" And they found a way to do the first-ever world poll. They had people involved who were Nobel laureates in economics, who reported being bored. And suddenly they pulled out sheets of paper and were trying to figure out, "How do we survey the population of Sub-Saharan Africa? How do we survey populations that don't have access to technology, and speak languages we don't speak, and we don't know anyone who speaks those languages. Because in order to achieve on this great mission, we have to be able to do it.Incidentally, they did pull it off. And they released the first-ever world poll.

15:43So I'd like to leave you with these thoughts. First of all: we all form tribes, all of us. You're in tribes here. Hopefully you're extending the reach of the tribes that you have. But the question on the table is this:What kind of an impact are the tribes that you are in making? You're hearing one presentation after another, often representing a group of people, a tribe, about how they have changed the world. If you do what we've talked about, you listen for how people actually communicate in the tribes that you're in. And you don't leave them where they are. You nudge them forward. You remember to talk all five culture stages. Because we've got people in all five, around us. And the question that I'd like to leave you with is this: Will your tribes change the world? Thank you very much. (Applause).

 

Now use Wordlink tools:

1. Wordlink can link most webpages word-by-word to online dictionaries.

2. Copy and paste a url into the box above, specify the language, and click Go to make a display copy of the page with all words linked to dictionary lookup.

3. See Help for more information.

 

A lack of cultural awareness and knowledge will limit a company's ability to develop its global business. 

 Imagine you are visiting a country for the first time for business. Which of the following tips do you think would be useful? Select them and compare your ideas with your partners.

a. Wear formal clothes.

b. Learn the head of state in whichever country you find yourself.

c. Find out about the most popular sport in the country. 

d. Try to smile.

e. Put in practice cultural nonverbal communication.

 

Now it's your turn to add other tips for visitors to Spain.

f.

g.

h.

i.

 

 Read the Wikipedia Intercultural communication article and show your partners what have you leart from it.

 __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

 

LESSON 2. Lessons in cross-cultural diference. Company cultures: modal verbs.

Watch the video and discuss in pairs if you would  like to work for an organisation which has:

a. Paid holidays

b. Uniforms.

c. Formal meetings.

c. Casual Fridays.

d. Kindergartens.

e. Flexitime system.

 

 Now read about breaking down cross-culture in Investopedia and then use Wordlink tools:

1. Wordlink can link most webpages word-by-word to online dictionaries.

2. Copy and paste a url into the box above, specify the language, and click Go to make a display copy of the page with all words linked to dictionary lookup.

3. See Help for more information.

 

Complete the sentences with should or shouldn't:

1. In Spain, you ___________  ask for lunch before 14:00.
2. In Germany, you _____________use the person's title before the surname.
3. In Japan, you _________________  food directly from chopstick to chopstick.
4. In most countries, you _____________ should know their emojis.
5. In many countries, you _____________ show your business card.
6. In Morocco, you ____________take pictures of people without permission.
 
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

LESSON 3: People advising about cultural difference and vocabulary.

 

There is some vocabulary you need to be familiar with:

1. Look up the following words

2. Make a list of the words with a summarized meaning and a sentence using it.

3. You can look up:

Word Reference

IATE

Dictionary Cambridge

Lexipedia

 

WORD LIST

  1. Abroad
  2. Aim
  3. Appointment
  4. Attend
  5. Benefit
  6. Briefing
  7. Business card
  8. Business meal
  9. Casual Friday
  10. CEO
  11. Check
  12. Check in
  13. Childcare
  14. Colleague
  15. Compare
  16. Consultant
  17. Creative
  18. Empower
  19. Export market
  20. Face to face
  21. Flagship store
  22. Flexitime system
  23. Gesture
  24. Home market
  25. Host
  26. Introduce
  27. Join
  28. Overseas
  29. Passport control
  30. Meal
  31. Niche market
  32. Reliable
  33. Set up
  34. Sociable
  35. Strategy
  36. Terminal
  37. Taste
  38. Trade show
  39. Workforce
  40. Workshop

 Now compare your results with your partners and read the following CNN article about Spaniards. Then, discuss.

Visiting Spain? All about bulls and 10 other things to know before you go

 http://edition.cnn.com/2013/09/18/travel/spain-travel-bourdain/

1. There are many Spains

During the grim decades of the fascist Francisco Franco's rule, regional languages such as Basque, Catalan and Galician were banned in Spain.
On the dictator's death in 1975, a new, ultra-liberal constitution broke up Castilian centralism by handing over sweeping autonomy to the 17 regions.
The result was a reinvigorated sense of regional pride that had a ripple effect on every form of culture.
That's why street signs and menus sometimes come in unfamiliar dialects and languages such as Gallego (Galicia), which closely resembles Portuguese; Bable (Asturias); Catalan in Catalonia, the Balearics and Valencia; and Basque (possibly Europe's oldest language), which remains an unfathomable mystery ofx's, k's and z's.
 

2. Bulls are a unifying force

Despite the diversity, Spain has at least one common thread: bulls.
The bull is Spain's iconic animal, and you won't miss seeing at least one -- alive, dead or fake. They famously thunder through the streets of Pamplona each July and snort and kick round the bull rings of Madrid, Seville and countless smaller towns.
They also appear on hilltops beside motorways and in a decades-old advertisement for Osborne sherry.
Many a stuffed bull's head watches over a bar interior, where aficionados might be glued to a televised bullfight and later scan a review of the fight in the arts, not sports, section of the newspaper.
There are areas of resistance to what some see as a barbaric event.
The popularity of the bloody contest is waning among the younger generation, and Catalonia has now banned the sport completely.

3. Spaniards don't eat when you normally do

Lunch is from 2 p.m. onward, and dinner comes after 10 p.m.
If you're hungry in between or can't reset your body clock, there's help -- tapas and pintxo bars (pintxo is the Basque equivalent of tapas) open around midday and again around 7 p.m.
In some bars, a snack still comes free with a glass of beer, sherry or wine, but some places now charge.
San Sebastián is Spain's gourmet capital, not only for top restaurants but also pintxo bars.
You can make a meal on exquisite miniature dishes and glasses of txakoli (a lightly sparkling dry white wine), Rioja or cider.

4. There's coastline beyond the Costa del Sol

On the Costa del Sol, tales of rampant overpricing and badly designed hotels conflict with the glam, moneyed image of Marbella.
The eastern Mediterranean coast is better known for low-cost tourism.
But there are still unspoiled beaches where development and commercialism are largely absent.
One of Spain's rare volcanic regions, Cabo de Gata is a protected area in the southeast, where black-sand beaches sit beneath Arab watchtowers, monumental rocks and cactus-studded hills.
In the southwest, the sandy beaches south of Cádiz are superb for windsurfing.
In the north, attractive coves and fishing harbors edge the Bay of Bizcaya.

5. It snows in the olive groves

Andalucia isn't all shorts and T-shirts.
In winter, snows falls at higher elevations, sometimes bringing a surreal vision of olive groves blanketed in white.
The peninsula's highest mountain range, the Sierra Nevada is almost permanently snow-capped, creating the perfect scenic backdrop to the Alhambra, the famed Moorish fortress and palace.
In spring, wildflowers colonize the slopes, while in the valleys the last olives are harvested.
 

6. Life is just a series of fiestas

Frenetic music, food, booze, dance and dressing up make saints' festivals a highlight of the year in Spain, even in the tiniest of villages.
The quirky Spanish imagination -- Pedro Almodovar's movies exemplify it, as do Salvador Dalí's paintings -- gives birth to the parade of grotesque papier mache figures in Valencia's Fallas and the Tomatina in the town of Bunol.
Seekers of peace and quiet might want to avoid Hellin, in Castile-La Mancha, when 10,000 drummers play for several days.
Those of a nervous disposition might steer clear of Ribarteme, in Galicia, when survivors of near-death experiences parade through the tiny village in open-top coffins.
When wild horses are corralled in Sabucedo, wine flows all night during La Rioja's grape harvest or flamenco singers carouse into the early hours during Seville's Feria de abril, you know you can only be in Spain.

7. Under many a church lurks a mosque

Bell towers crowning Spain's churches and cathedrals may appear Catholic, but if you look closely you might discern the form of a minaret, especially in places such as Sevilla and Córdoba.
Iberia's convoluted history brought a succession of invaders and religions, meaning many places of worship were rebuilt using the stones and structures of their predecessors.
Roman temples lie deep below, later overlaid by churches, then Islamic mosques and, finally, after the total reconquest of the peninsula in 1492, Christian churches again.
The ultimate symbol is Cordoba's eighth-century Mezquita one of the largest mosques in the world, with a cathedral parachuted into its heart.

8. Easter is more important than Christmas

Easter week (Semana Santa) is easily more important than Christmas in Spain.
The whole country shuts down for four days from Holy Thursday at 1 p.m., a rare example of punctuality.
Day and night, swaying processions of impassioned penitents in tall hoods and flowing robes advance to a hypnotic drumbeat, carrying crucifixes and weighty life-size statues of agonizing Christ figures and weeping virgins on pasos (floats), while flickering torchlight adds to the electric atmosphere.
Andalucian pageants are more animated, with stirring saetas -- spontaneous wails of passion.
In the north, although the pattern of parish brotherhoods is similar, the atmosphere is more solemn.

9. There are many layers of ham

Ham scams have become so widespread in Spain that recent legislation introduced new definitions for ham quality.
jamón is a gastro-passion throughout Spain, inspiring fierce rivalry between producers.
The most velvety, expensive and sought after variety is jamon Iberico de bellota, from acorn-fed, indigenous black pigs reared in four specific regions: the Sierra de Huelva mountains, in western Andalucia; Extremadura; Guijuelo, near Salamanca, and Los Pedroches, north of Cordoba.
At the bottom of the table is jamon serrano, produced industrially from white pigs yet still palatable.

10. Catalonia may not be part of Spain much longer

Catalans speak another language, have their own flag, are fanatical about cured sausages, nurtured the showman-chef Ferran Adria (of late el Bulli), build acrobatic people-pyramids and, traditionally, dance rather slowly.
They're gunning for independence from Spain, with a referendum in the cards for 2014.
What they're good at is architecture, art and food -- elements that combine with dazzling grace in Barcelona.

11. You can stay in monasteries -- without taking vows

Back in 1928, the Spanish government decided to rescue its crumbling monuments by converting them into grand hotels.
These castles, monasteries or palaces in atmospheric old towns or tranquil rural spots soon acquired conquistador-style interiors and a faithful clientele -- there are now 93 throughout the country.
The pick of the bunch may be the Hostal dos Reis Catolicos, in Santiago de Compostela -- it started life in 1499 as a hostel-turned-hospital for exhausted and sick pilgrims after their 500-mile walk from the Pyrenees.

 

 Now work in small groups. What practical advice would you give to a colleague about doing business in Japan, Finland, England, USA, Morocco, Brazil and Australia? Discuss some of these points by using the word list above:

  • Appointments 
  • Giving gifts
  • Folklore
  • Greetings
  • Places to visit
  • Making friends
  • Languages in contact

 


LESSON 4: Identifying problems and agreeing action. Use of could, would like and would.

Work in pairs. You are organising a visit to your company's factory abroad. Take turns to make and reply to the following requests:

You want: last month's production figures. A meeting with the consultant. A copy of the quality report. A hotel in the old town. An interview with employees in a casual friday.

Exemple:

A. Could I book a hotel in the old town?

B. Of course, I will make a reservation this afternoon.

 

Now play roles for your partners.

Business meals abroad: watch this video focusing on restaurant phrases to get more help with ordering food in restaurants in English in business meals. The video includes common vocabulary and phrases used in restaurants and on menus to make the experience abroad even easier for you.

https://www.thoughtco.com/using-would-you-like-to-order-4056546

 

DIALOG

Peter: Hello, I'd like a table for lunch please. 
Host: Certainly, right this way.
Peter: Thank you. I'm really hungry! (sits down)
Host: Enjoy your meal!
Waitperson: Hello, My name is Kim. How can I help you?
Peter: Yes, I would like to have some lunch.
Waitperson: Great. Would you like a starter?
Peter: Yes, I'd like a salad.
Waitperson: What else would you like?
Peter: I'd like some spaghetti. Is it good?
Waitperson: Yes, it's very good. Would you like something to drink?
Peter: Yes, I'd like a glass of root beer, please. 
Waitperson: Certainly. Is there anything else I can do for you?
Peter: Yes, I can't read this menu. How much is the spaghetti?
Waitperson: It's $5.50, and the salad is $3.25.
Peter: Thank you.

Notice how the waitperson asks: What would you like? and Kim responds: I'd like ...

"Would like" is the polite form used when asking and requesting. "Would like" can be used in the question form to make an offer:

Would you like a cup of tea?
Would you like something to eat?

"Would like" can also be used to make a request.

I'd like a hamburger, please.
I'd like something to drink, please.

 

PRACTICE EXERCISE

Fill in the gaps in this dialogue using key words and phrases you've learned with "would like" to order in a restaurant.

Waiter: Hello, Can I _____ you?
Kim: Yes, _____ to have some lunch.
Waiter: _____ a starter?
Kim: Yes, I'd like a bowl of chicken soup, .
Waiter: And what _____ for a main course?
Kim: I'd like a grilled cheese sandwich.
Waiter: Would you like  to drink?
Kim: Yes, I'd like a glass of Coke, please.
Waiter... After Kim has her lunch.: Can I bring you anything else?
Kim: No thank you. Just the _____.
Waiter: Certainly.
Kim:I don't have my glasses. _____ is the lunch?
Waiter: That's $6.75.
Kim: . Thank you very much.
Waiter: You're _____. Have a good day.
Kim: Thank you, the _____.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

LESSON 5. It's your turn to assess ideas for changing a company culture.

   

Watch this video about the best companies to work for and talk about how they could improve their cross-cultural approach.

 

Now read the following quote from Forbes  and discusse with your partners the last sentence:

Culture” is the hot buzzword in business these days, and with good reason.

Many business leaders are coming to realize that if a company’s internal culture isn’t healthy—if it isn’t focused on the right values and goals, and if it isn’t behaving in the right way—then ultimately, that will become apparent to the outside world. It may leak out via dispirited employees writing tell-all op-ed pieces, as Goldman Sachs’ Greg Smith did. But even if something dramatic like that doesn’t happen, over time a dysfunctional corporate culture is likely to affect everything from your company’s performance to the way your brand is perceived. As Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz recently said, “The value of your company is driven by your company’s values.”

 

 A movement to “Think Different”: a General Manager in an overseas branch asks you to bring the best new ideas for the factory abroad.  You are supposed to prepare an agenda item that includes decisions, reasons and actions.

Work in small groups and choose a role:

a. You are the head office.

b. You are de Director of Human resources.

c. You are the General Manager.

d. You are the Finance Director.

 

Then prepare for a meeting and discuss the following ideas. Use should, could, would and would like.

1. Casual Fridays. 2. Kindgartens. 3. Flexitime. 4. Business meals. 5. Formal meetings. 6. Staff dress. 7. Personal spaces. 

 

Finally, prepare a power point presentation with your new ideas. 

 

Clilstore Lesson 1: cross-cultural approachLesson 2: InvestopediaLesson 4: politeness in restaurants

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