Е. Entertainment and hospitality.

Entertaining and hospitality vary a lot in different cultures.

1. In Alphaland, entertaining is important. These are long business lunches in restaurants, where deals are discussed. Professional and private lives are separate, and clients are never invited home.

2. In Betatania, evenings are spent drinking and singing in bars with colleagues and clients.

3. In Gammaria, lunch can be important, but less so than in Alphaland. Important contacts may be invited to dinner at home. Corporate hospitality is a big industry, with clients invited to big sports event.

4. In Deltatonia, restaurants are rare outside the capital. Some entertainment takes place when important clients are invited to people’s houses for dinner, or go sailing or to the country houses for the weekend, etc.

F. Time.

Attitudes towards time can vary enormously.

In Busyville. People start work at eight. And officially finish at six, though many managers stay much longer. There is a culture of presenteeism: being at work when you don’t need to be.

There is a two-hour lunch break, and a lot of business is done over restaurant lunches. (Lunch is the main meal. The working breakfast is rare.) There are no snacks between meals, just coffee, so eat properly at meal times.

As for punctuality, you can arrive up to 15 minutes «late» for meetings. If invited to someone’s house (unusual in business), arrive 15-30 minutes after the time given.

Don’t phone people at home about work, and don’t phone them at all after 9pm.

There are a lot of public holidays (about 15) during the year. Busyville is empty in August, as many companies close completely for four weeks. Employees have five weeks’ holiday a year and they usually take four of them in August.

Unit 14

G. Cross-cultural communication.

Here are some other areas of potential misunderstanding:

a) distance: when talking to people what is comfortable?

b) eye contact: how much of the time do people look directly at each other?

c) gesture: do people make lots of facial gestures? How much do they move their arms and hands?

d) greetings/goodbyes: do people shake hands ever time? Are there fixed phrases to say?

e) humour: is this a good way of relaxing people? Or is it out of place in some

contexts?

f) physical contact: how much do people touch each other?

g) presents: when should you give them? When should you open them? What should you say when you receive one?

h) rules of conversation and the role of silence: how long can people be silent before they feel uncomfortable? Is it acceptable to interrupt when others are speaking?