Cross- cultural Communication This page intentionally left blank

Example of a critical incident
You are in Beijing as the Sales Manager of your company. You are 
accompanied by your assistant and you are trying to complete a deal to 
sell tractors to the Chinese. Negotiations have been going on for three 
days and you are beginning to feel confident of a satisfactory outcome. 
You therefore decide to fly back to London on the Wednesday and you 
tell your assistant to stay in order to put the final touches to the plans, 
reminding him of the need to agree the formal contract on the Friday 
and telling him that any minor technical details can be clarified later.
Comment
The Chinese usually request considerable technical detail before they 
will make a formal agreement. It is therefore essential to provide as much 
information as possible and give them time to study it. The Chinese are 
generally monochronic, but have a flexible attitude to time. They do not 
like being rushed and value time for reflection and further consideration. 
This can be both difficult and frustrating. In negotiations with the Chinese, 
it takes a lot of time with no final agreement possible until close rela-
tions have been established. The decision for the Sales Manager to return 
to London before the conclusion of the final agreement is considered 

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282 Cross-Cultural Communication
Culture capsules
The use of culture capsules is another way of teaching cultural differences. 
These consist of an explanation of a particular cultural difference between 
a situation in a foreign culture and what would occur in the home culture, 
for example, friends greeting each other. Students are asked to point out the 
differences. Culture capsules can also be used to great advantage in language 
teaching. Further examples could include the exchange of business cards, 
contrasting the Japanese ritualistic presentation of the ‘meishi’ with the 
more informal manner of most Western cultures.