Cultural Comparison: Eastern and Western Business Practices Analysis

This essay provides a comparative analysis of Eastern and Western cultures, particularly focusing on business practices. The essay begins by examining correct forms of address, meeting and greeting customs, gift-exchanging traditions, and etiquette in business meetings. It then delves into key differences between specific cultures, including French, Spanish, British, Hinduism, and Jainism, highlighting how these cultural nuances impact communication styles. The essay explores how cultural differences affect business operations, covering topics such as speaking conventions, written communication, and time-keeping. Furthermore, it identifies methods to overcome challenges arising from cultural differences, offering insights into navigating cross-cultural business interactions. The essay concludes with a summary of the major points discussed and provides references for further reading.

ESSAY ON COMPARING
EASTERN & WESTERN
CULTURES
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
PART A...........................................................................................................................................3
1) In business meetings correct form of address...................................................................3
2) Meeting and greeting........................................................................................................4
3) Exchanging gift.................................................................................................................4
4) Forms of address...............................................................................................................4
5) Etiquettes.................................................................................................................................4
6) Speaking convention...............................................................................................................5
7) Written communication...........................................................................................................5
8) Time keeping...........................................................................................................................5
PART-2............................................................................................................................................5
1. Key difference between five culture (3Western and 2 Eastern culture)..................................5
2. Identification of impact of these culture on communication between people of different
culture..........................................................................................................................................6
3. The way cultural difference affects the way of doing business together.................................7
4. Method that could be used to overcome the challenges related to difference.........................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11
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INTRODUCTION
Culture is defined as an umbrella that encompasses the social behaviour and norms
associated with the society. This further comprises with the human securities, knowledge, belief,
arts, law, customs, capabilities and habits of the individuals part of the society. This report is a
comparative assessment of the mixture of both western and eastern culture. Henceforth, report
will project the correct form of addressing the business meetings. What are the ways to meet and
greet depicted in the cultures will also overlook under this project. Exchanging gift will also
reflect in this project. Different other elements such as etiquette, speaking, conversations, written
communication and time keeping related to the different cultural backgrounds of society.
Furthermore, in part B section report will depict the differences between the five cultures. What
are the impacts these differences could create over communication in all the peoples belongs to
these cultures. Project will also discuss further how these cultural differences affect the way of
doing the business operations. What can be the potential ways to overcome the challenges
associated with the cultural differences exist in society.
PART A
1) In business meetings correct form of address
Eastern side of the globe are very effectively growing to do the business with the western
part. Middle East business personals are continuously approaching to people and stakeholders
from the western side to explore tge business opportunities. Every time the people from eastern
culture and western culture meet they follow certain trends in business meetings. There are
certain ways to address the business meetings that is start with the opening sentence every time
the meeting starts (Shimizu, Lee and Uleman, (2017). In the initial stage of meeting under both
eastern and western all the participants involve in meeting speaker introduce them all with other
peoples took part in meeting. The start of the meeting is about to introduce the aim and
objectives behind the meeting is occurring. Also the speaker recite the instruction behind the
meeting is occurring. Before the meeting start in eastern culture speaker talk about all the
necessary aspects of the meeting so that all participant of the meeting get proper clarity about the
meeting. In western in the end participant of meeting ask all doubts but in western people do not
hesitate to ask doubts in the middle of the meeting.
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2) Meeting and greeting
People in eastern culture like to meet and greet more properly than in the western side. In
the eastern part people likes to meet with other people belong to different culture, religion and
other social values but in the western part the things are more sophisticated. The meet and greet
in eastern part involve hand shake, hug are given when the people meet and greet (Everett,
(2017). In western part certain rituals like stick out the tongue, bump noses, air kiss on cheek,
rub noses, shake hands and other such steps followed to meet and greet with the other person.
The basic aspect and fundamental of meeting and greeting is about to welcome the other person
for meeting and greeting so that good impression could have been presented in front of the
respective individual.
3) Exchanging gift
Exchanging gift is also a part of cultural aspect. In eastern and western culture people like
to exchange the gifts. In eastern side the gift are given on the basis of the traditional values of the
individual but in western society is more open and they like to gift something that can suit with
the personality of the individual (Campbell, (2017). In both the cultural values gift is the symbol
of showing love to the other person. Exchanging gift in both the cultural sides is based on the
occasion and some specific events to cherish the respective event and make it more memorable
for the other person.
4) Forms of address
In eastern there are certain form like with the symbols and language the other person is
addressed. In western part people like to use the language only to address the people. This is a
major difference can be seen in eastern and western part. The sign language is also used more in
eastern part than in the western part to address the other individual.
5) Etiquettes
It can be stated that the people living in Eastern culture are more polite and respect each other
point of view specially the order given by senior or elder member of the family. On the other
hand, in Western culture, people does not respect each other they speak harsh language and even
shout on each other thus they does not value ethics and moral principle more as compared to
Eastern culture (Bonnett, (2017)).
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6) Speaking convention
The people living in western culture are highly bold, open minded and flexible thus they
are always ready to accept new and innovative ideas. While the individuals living in Eastern
culture are conservative and traditional thus they wants to stick to their old method of doing task
rather than adapting to new methods (Dong & et.al., (2017).). So, people living in eastern
culture express their feeling, ideas and viewpoints in more subtle way as compared to western
individuals that directly and openly share their points of view.
7) Written communication
It is communication method in which individuals communicate or share information in
written form. The Western culture people give importance to written communication and
academic writing which helped them in representing information in well organised structure. So
that other individuals can easily understand and interpret the same. On the contrary note,
Western culture people try to avoid written communication as they oral share their view, ideas
and opinion to each other.
8) Time keeping
These is also one of the criteria that is used to distinguished between 2 culture of western
and 2 culture of eastern. Such as, it has been identified that Western culture people are highly
concerned about time keeping as they always reach or attend meeting on time. They avoid delay
in completing the task thus make best use of available time for better outcome (Krastev &
Holmes (2018)). While the people of Eastern culture in organisation that are at higher position
avoid coming on time or delay the task. Thus they does not effective manage their time which
lead in delay of task and activities as well as more stress to individual.
PART-2
1. Key difference between five culture (3Western and 2 Eastern culture)
Western culture can be subcategorised as French, Spanish and British culture, all have
different belief, value and moral principles. So the key difference between the culture is that
people that have French culture are only associated with Paris that is centre of art, fashion and
cuisine. In this culture French is one of the language that has been spoken by around 88% of
population living in society (Piatkowski (2018) ). The family structure of French culture is either
nuclear or extended families and they normally follow Christian religion along with having value
such as equality, liberty and Fraternity.
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Spain is one of the culture that is famous for Flamenco dance as well as music with lot of
sunshine and it has extraordinary artistic heritage. In this culture family have social structure that
is both nuclear and extended that helps in providing both financial and social support. People of
this culture prefer to live longer and have less number of children. Moreover, it can be stated that
Roman catholic is predominate in Spain that is around 94% of people are affiliated to this type of
religion.
British is culture where people often drink tea, eat fish and chips and like to wear bowler
hats and many more things. Democracy, respect and tolerance as well as individual’s liberty are
some of the fundamental British value that contributes in binding people to live together. In this
type of culture individuals prefer to leave alone and there has been high differentiation between
higher and lower income group people (Keller, Loewenstein & Yan (2017)).
While the two other Eastern culture are Hinduism and Jainism, likewise, in Hinduism
culture is famous in India that emphases on giving and taking respect to each other. These type
of people generally strict towards their culture, ethical and moral value. They are much
emotional and give respect to people elder then them. Hindi is the language spoken by the people
belonging to Hinduism culture.
On the other hand Jainism is another culture of Eastern; It is an ancient Indian religion
that teaches the way to liberation and live a harmlessness and renunciation lifestyle. They
emphasised on value that focus on non violence thus all individuals need to live with each other
politely (Shimizu, Lee, & Uleman (2017)). There are three principle to which Jainism culture
people rely such as right belief, right conduct and right knowledge and among them the supreme
principle of Jainism culture is non violence.
2. Identification of impact of these culture on communication between people of different culture
Culture can be defined as the way group of individuals live together with having similar
behaviour, value, attitude and belief which is transmitted from one generation to another. So in
simple words culture encompasses the social behaviour and norms present in human society that
contribute in effective communication. At the same time communication is an effective process
that involves exchange of information, ideas though and view from one person to another. In
context of culture discussed above it can be stated that both western and Eastern have different
culture, tradition and practices that impact the way they share information with each other so that
other individual can easily understand and interpret (Shimizu, Lee & Uleman, (2017). Likewise
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the people living in Western countries are more liberal, open and blunt thus they easily spoke
anything that they wish to share. So, they are more open to express their feeling, share their
ideas, view and opinion to other individual. Moreover, it has been noticed that if they are angry
then they are vent it out rather than holding it in good manners. They like to adapt to new and
creative method rather than sticking to their tradition thus it lead in effective exchange of
information from one to another without much resistance. Western culture is that in which
individuals like to live alone thus it does not like to communicate with more and more people
thus enjoy its company.
On the contrary note, it can be stated that eastern countries have totally different culture
in which individuals respect their elder and listen, follow their orders. They hesitate to speak
openly with their elder and respect their culture order and custom so these culture impact on the
way communication between individuals flow (Hornikx & le Pair (2017)). Their way of
communication is much polite, kind and like gesture of welcoming guest, expressing thank you
and apologizing for the mistake. They think twice while speaking in front of the elder member of
the family as they respect and recognised their point of view. Therefore, the eastern culture is full
of respecting the tradition and promoting indirect communication.
From the above analysis it can be clearly explained that the culture directly impact on the
way communication flow between individuals. That is people that grew up with different culture
always communication in different method or make use of their parental language while sharing
information. Likewise in low context culture value the message are clearly, loudly and directly
communicated so that other person can easily understand. On contrary note high context culture
value indirect communication by taking into account the background and subtext of information.
There are lot of problem created when two individuals with different culture communicate with
each other as they are unaware of the language that each of them used to share information.
3. The way cultural difference affects the way of doing business together
The cultural difference affects the way of doing business together, as an organisation is
made up of different individuals that are working for growth and success of company. Each
person belongs to different culture, belief and values along with varied amount of skill,
knowledge and capabilities. Therefore, the leader and manager needs to put efforts in order to
coordinate them so that they are motivated to work in an team for achievement of end goals.
With globalisation it is important for company to know the culture differences for growth and
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success of business in external environment. Such as better understanding of etiquette, culture
time management and language helps in coordinating diverse range of people to work as team.
Our culture highly contribute in shaping the way particular business will be performed as it helps
in informing our behaviour, expectation and motivation level (Mayasari & Kemal (2020)). In
addition to this culture contribute in understanding of business practices that are performed in
one country as compared to another. Such as the culture understanding contribute in learning the
way they communicate with each other, their attitude and Etiquette which they follow while
doing business.
Likewise, in context of western culture, the Western people are much bold so that they
clearly make strict policies, procedure that need to be followed by individual while performing
their respective task. The attitude of western culture people is that they like to take risk so they
are always interested to start their own business in order to earn higher profit margin. So, their
risk taking ability and behaviour to bring new and innovative ideas in society contribute in
growth and development of business as well as economy. For example In Western culture people
prefer more formal meeting in order to plan strategies that could be used for achievement of end
goals of organisation. So, there is not much strong and close relationship among various
individuals that are working in the organisation (Persson & Tabellini, (2021). In this culture
people are ready to accept their mistake thereby they are more accountable and responsible that
help in development of strong team. The people living in western culture are much more
punctual which means they always arrive at designated time and start the meeting without any
further delay.
Whereas in eastern culture individuals are stick to their tradition and belief thus highly
resist to bring change in the society that can be fruitful for all of the individuals. At the same
time they are less interested to start a new business and incorporate associated risk thus they
believe to get a job in reputable organisation. So their attitude and way of thinking affects the
way they do particular business. While in eastern culture there are joint family businesses so that
young adult join the business and start earning its living thereby a single business is manage by
many family individuals. At the same time, as per the culture, people communicate with each
other in their respective language or follow ritual in order to start and operate business
successfully. In this culture people are more respectful and gratitude each other so it helps in
developing strong relationship with partners of business and achievement of end goals.
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Furthermore, eastern culture does not have strict professional that contributed in building strong
relationship the individual (Slack & Hristova, (2017)). While in eastern culture workmate
criticised each other in front of other team member thereby create unpleasant circumstances and
environment in the company. In case of western culture, people are somewhat careless about the
time management thus they does not punctually attend the meeting or able to come at meeting on
right time.
Therefore, it can be stated that the different culture have impact on the way particular
business will be completed so that desired outcome can be achieved in limited time frame.
4. Method that could be used to overcome the challenges related to difference
From the above analysis it can be interpreted that there are various challenges that are
faced by companies while operating their function due to culture differences. Such as manager is
unable to coordinate diverse range of people to work in an team for achievement of desired goals
so that company can grow and succeed. Moreover, culture difference lead issue related to
communication or language that needs to be used to share information with each other for
different purposes. Therefore, several methods which could be used to overcome the challenges
related to culture differences can be illustrated as follows:
1) Firstly company need to devote time and efforts to understand culture of different
countries in terms of their belief, value and language used so that appropriate strategies
can be used to motivate them to work in team. Furthermore, it can be illustrated that
social media sites is best platform to get knowledge about different culture and behaviour
of people (Cropley & Cropley (2017)).
2) Secondly it can be stated that respecting and recognising the culture differences is
another method that could be used to remove culture difference to some extend. Such as
individuals by learning and adapting to other culture and respecting their value, belief and
ethics is able to coordinate different people.
3) Clear and polite communication between people that are belonging to different culture is
third alternative method that could be pursed to resolve challenges related to culture
differences. Open and polite communication contributes in resolving culture difference
between people thus helps in achievement of end goals of company.
4) The organisation in order to resolve culture differences can also make investment in
training and development (Steinmetz (2018)). As these program contribute in training and
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providing knowledge to several individuals about their each other culture. Thus they can
easily communicate and work as team for growth and development of organisation in
external environment.
So, all these are various method that can be helpful in overcoming challenges pertaining
to cultural difference for better outcome.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it can be concluded that there are lot of difference between culture
and tradition that create problem in coordinating people to work in team for achievement of end
goals. Moreover it has been identified that there are Western culture people are more bold,
flexible and are ready to accept change. On the contrary note, eastern culture follows their
traditional ethic, culture and value in their behaviour. So, it can be concluded that there are
different method that could be used by manager of company to resolve culture differences for
benefits of organisation.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
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Harvard University Press.
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Change, 14(2). 625-639.
Persson, T., & Tabellini, G. (2021). Culture, institutions, and policy. In The Handbook of
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Piatkowski, M. (2018). Europe's growth champion: Insights from the economic rise of Poland.
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Shimizu, Y., Lee, H. & Uleman, J. S., (2017). Culture as automatic processes for making
meaning: Spontaneous trait inferences. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 69.
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Shimizu, Y., Lee, H., & Uleman, J. S. (2017). Culture as automatic processes for making
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