GERMAN CULTURE

I have chosen this topic since i had the opportunity to research more deeply for my presentation, so now lets talk about this two cultures

countries like Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Nerthelands, and  Belgium , as we can see in the chart, those countries shared almost the same percentages in the hofstede cultural dymension, those ae also characterized for sharing the use of the same germanic language 
The official language of the country is German. More than 95 percent of the population speaks German as their first language, according to Angelo State University's Center for International Studies. Other languages spoken include Serbian in eastern Germany; North and West Frisian, spoken around the Rhine estuary; and Danish, primarily spoken in the area along the Danish border. Romani, which is an indigenous language, Turkish and Kurdish are also spoken 

According to Zimmerman Germany is at the center of Europe, not only geographically, but also in terms of politics and economics. The country is Europe's second most populous after Russia, with more than 81 million people, according to the World Factbook. The German economy is the largest on the continent and the fifth largest in the world. While German exerts its influence on the countries that border it — Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Switzerland and Poland — all of these cultures have, in varying degrees, had a hand in shaping today’s Germany.

RELIGION: Christianity is the predominant religion with the almost 70% of the population, followed by That number includes 24 million Catholics, according to CBS News. Muslims make up 3.7 percent of the population, according to Angelo State University, while 28.3 percent are unaffiliated or have a religion other than Christianity or Islam.

FOOD AND DRINKS  : Beer is the most popular alcoholic beverage, and the country is known as the birthplace of a number of beer varieties,Bratwurst, a form of sausage, is closely associated with German food. Cabbage, beets, and turnips are commonly incorporated into meals, as they are native to the region, and potatoes and sauerkraut are also stars of German cuisine.

BEER AND SAUSAGE

  

BUSINESS AND CULTURE: The desire for orderliness spills over into the business life of Germans. Surprises and humor are not welcomed. Everything is carefully planned out and decided upon, with changes rarely occurring after an agreement is made, according to the German Business Culture Guide.

The desire for orderliness spills over into the business life of Germans. Surprises and humor are not welcomed. Everything is carefully planned out and decided upon, with changes rarely occurring after an agreement is made, according to the German Business Culture Guide.

Characteristics of German behavior 

Unfortunately, German people are often considered as rude, cold and humorless. This is quite a stereotype and whether it’s true or not you will discover yourself when living in Germany. Nevertheless, there are some personality traits many Germans have in common.

1. They are efficient  and disciplined: they work hard to always find a way to solve problems in almost every case , also their culture have create a lot of innovative invension that are worthy enought to our society like cars, german culture do not rest without solving even the smallest problem 

2.Their Sence of Hummor : have you ever met a german? do you still think they do not have a sense of hummor? yes, they have, maybe different from the rest type of hummor people have, but in thei own way they enjoy, they dislike sillynes and clownish type of hummor, they enjoy sinical and ironic class of hummor, always when you see a german laughing it is because he really liked the joke, they are not that serious people we imagine before knowing them

3.Well-Orgnised:germans are plannign lovers, they do like to have as much under control, but it does not mean that they are not spontaneous, they just have a plan B for any possible scenario,and like to have everything clean and tidy, they structure their day and schedule appointments exactly 

4. Punctuallity: Germans are known by their punctuality but everything has their exception, not all of Germans are puctul as not all colombians are umpuctial, but the mayority of Germans try to follow the norm, unless there are some inconvinientes to get on time, such a traffic jams or somethig serious has happen , as a recomentadion always be 5 minutes earlier if you have a metting with a german in order to do not ofend them 

5.Traditionals: Once the germans get used to someting would be very hard to do not continue using it,as for example, they like to drive a mercedes, they will continue using that brand for the follow cars they buy, this is on the personal level, but the same happens in the cutural or interpersonal level, they like to keep their traditions alive, 

The German personality. (n.d.). Retrieved April 1, 2015, from https://www.justlanded.com/english/Germany/Germany-Guide/Culture/The-German-personality


Zimmermann, B. (2015, January 23). German Culture: Facts, Customs and Traditions. Retrieved April 17, 2015, from http://www.livescience.com/44007-german-culture.html

RELATIVISM VS UNIVERSALISM

Hello Everybody, in this case i will be talking about Relativism and Universalism which are an important topic understanding cultures in business.

Lets start defining:

RELATIVISM:  

Judging morality of an action on the legal and social standards of each society. “No cultures ethics are any better than any other’s” (Carl Rodrigues 2009).

Relativism is sometimes identified usually by its critics as the thesis that all points of view are equally valid. Relativism is the philosophical position that all points of view are equally valid and that all truth is relative to the individual. This means that all moral positions, all religious systems, all forms of art, all political movements, etc., are truths that are relative to individuals

There are 3 types of relativism:

1. Cognitive: States that all truth is relative. This would mean that no system of truth is more valid than another, and that there is no objective standard of truth. Naturally, this would negate the existence of a God of absolute truth.
2. Moral / Ethical: All morality is relative to the social group within which it is built.
3. According to the situation: The (right and wrong) ethics are dependent on the situation

In a society where we are all responsible for our deeds, who can tell us what's wrong or it's okay if our eyes are acting as we should? Judging people in concordance with our view is easy, we will always think that the other person is wrong when we believe have committed any unfair or irresponsible ... but injuzto for whom ??? The thread behavior of a person is based from his birthplace, his family, values that were imposed, even the people you relate daily

acts that for us could be terrorist attacks and multitudinales murderers for the person who is performing can be only an act of courage with your country and / or religion, this is an extreme case, but I hear about such simple cases as defined because for one culture is better conduxir the right side and the left side for others? These "good ways and bad" cosmically are not set in stone nor are derived from some absolute rules of conduct for something unknown. These are relative and rightly so, the end justifies the means, no matter what you do, if the way you're doing is fine for some, may be the worse for others
Another example of relativism unused acts which may be frowned upon is eg taste, anyone can quickly annoyed by a sound or a smell, that at the same moment another person may be fascinated in this sense it is true for one is not necessarily true for others


.

Now think of something ...  what my eyes see and recognize the color blue for someone else may be yellow or vice versa? will this be an example of relativism?

well, according to Relativism ¿¿Does anyone have the right to punish someone judging their actions or behaviors ??  To say that something is wrong, first, we have a standard by which to weigh what is okay and what is wrong and to make a judgment. If that standard of right and wrong it is based on relativism, then, is not, after all a standard. Relativism, standards of right and wrong are derived from social norms. Because society changes, the rules change, also changing what is good or bad. If they change, then how can anyone be rightly judged for something he did wrong if that could wrong in the future become something good

on the other hand tries to explain that Universalism esxist as a theory and a guide to do things differently from relativism.
.

Universalism:

"Universal Truth" is the philosophical doctrine that asserts the existence of certain principles that are universally undisputed, being true, and therefore must be supported by all individuals and cultural groups to guide their behavior and to distinguish the good deeds the bad.

on the religious level, each religion try to prove that their own beliefs are true, likewise as in the political side, each party tries to convince people of his power and thus extend and concentrate their power from imperialist policies. 

Slick, M. (n.d.). ¿Qué es el relativismo? Retrieved April 1, 2015, from http://www.miapic.com/qué-es-el-relativismo

Concepto de universalismo. (n.d.). Retrieved April 1, 2015, from http://deconceptos.com/ciencias-sociales/universalismo

CONFUCIANISM

In my seventh class, we talk about Confucianism, as we all know this is not a very popular topic to discuss in business meetings or less at family gatherings, let see which is the definition of Confucianism and broaden a little more theme

Confucianism: is the oldest school of Chinese thought, and takes its name from the celebrated philosopher Confucius, who was his prime disseminator

According To Berling Confucianism is Often Characterized as a system of social and ethical philosophy rather than a religion, In fact, Confucianism built on an ancient religious foundation to Establish the social values, Institutions, and transcendent ideals of traditional Chinese society
Confucianism is a philosophical belief system consisting of doctrines (or teachings) moral and religious preached by Confucius.

Confucianism has a huge importance to Chinese culture, because of this many behaviors emerge, which define their culture and therefore can be called as the backbone of culture, as well as to our religion, Confucianism is the spiritual leader Chinese culture, (without being described as deligion) and as every doctrine, some values ​​that stand as they appear:

Human quality or benevolence: Rén
Righteousness: Yi
Challenges: Li
Wisdom: Zhi

What are the caracteristics that can be shown in actions or behaviors of Confucianism?

They are people who are very concerned about social harmony, care of people as if they were taking care of his own family, based on the experience to improve the mistakes made, where according to the theory of Hofstede : how every society has some links to Maintain With Its own past while dealing With The Challenges of the present and future (LTO) And Also have too much respect for the elderly, accounting for wisdom and experience. giving a lot value to hierarchies

-there are two terms which are exposed by confucianism 

GUANXI: is a general Chinese term used to

 describe relationships that may result in the exchanges of favors or "connections" that are beneficial for the parties involved. Sounds like a simple way to create business right? The truth is this type of relationship can become somewhat time consuming and complex. 

for this culture social relations are very important, people often depends on your network connections to solve problems or achieve goals, in China the real goal is not get to know as much people but the quality of the people you meet and with this there is almost nothing impossible to achieve, relationships are very respected and valued within this culture but especially when they have direct contact, for example, are not known from an acquaintance, but rather that you are friends directly related and there is something that is very resemblance to our own culture is that when one of these relationships has transcended barriers of trust can be given the label of a true friendship 

MIANZI: represents a person’s reputation and feelings of prestige (both real and imagined) within their workplace, society, their family unit and among their friends The concept of “face” can be more deeply understood  if one recalls that China has traditionally been (and continues to be) a highly hierarchical society. The position a Chinese person occupies relative to others (e.g. a boss to an employee, or a father to a son) is typically thought to command a certain degree of respect and requires certain types of behavior 

The values of Chinese society based on human feelings and less on religion, which makes it a little different from our culture, because we are still very much governed by the acts ue whether or not they are permitted by religion and not by look at the person as though this is what our religion taught us, what we do is just to follow the religion. The mianzi define the position of a person in your social network, is your status

THE WATER SYMBOL

Though this worldview is recognized as one of the eleven main living religions, it has no standard symbol or icon representing its belief system. Quite often, though, this Chinese ideogram for water is utilized. It represents the 'source of life' in Chinese philosophy

Finally I should mention something very important and useful for all those who are trying to negotiate with China, should be aware and very present some basic rules of that culture as it is different from ours and we procupara not overlook this

Punctuality: the Chinese are quite intolerant to wait
Greeted: Always greet the person with highest rank first
Take some present to them? Do not forget deliver with both hands and bowing slightly

¿ What is the influence of confucianism in our culture?

as we saw earlier Confucianism is a doctrine based on the human being, behavior and potential of their own qualities, and we can see the latest content in our culture is like now everyone has been influenced a little by the spiritual and for managing the mind and suspensamientos in order to concentrate more on the I and the powers of himself, as does Chinese culture, Confucianism teaches that there must be harmony between human beings, that we do not have the relogion I have learned, then as conclucion I can say we are a follower indirectly Confucian culture where we want to achieve the balance of this culture I have.

A. Berling, J. (2015, January 1). Confucianism. Retrieved from http://www.asiasociety.org/confucianism?page=0,1

El Confucianismo. (n.d.). (7), 10-10. Retrieved from http://iluterana.cl/index/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/El-Confucianismo.pdf


Hofstede, G. (n.d.). What about China? Retrieved April 17, 2015, from http://geert-hofstede.com/china.html

What is Guanxi? (n.d.). Retrieved April 1, 2015, from http://www.worldlearnerchinese.com/content/what-guanxi

Upton-McLaughlin, S. (1013, October 10). Mianzi – How to Make & Keep ‘Face’ in China. Retrieved April 1, 2015, from http://learnchinesebusiness.com/2013/04/21/mianzi-how-to-make-a-keep-face-in-china/

Bravo, G. (28, June 28). Confucio alimenta el 'sueño chino' - Salud - El Tiempo. Retrieved April 1, 2015, from http://www.eltiempo.com/estilo-de-vida/salud/reportaje-confucio-regresa-a-china/14183121

Toro, P. E. (Director) (1015, March 1). Confucioanismo, Cultura y Etiqueta en China . Lecture conducted from Pablo Echavarría Toro, Medellin.

MEASURING CULTURE

 Can the culture be measured??

the answer is yes, it can, thanks to our discussion in class i could realize that the culture can be measured by a certain specific topics that better describes how people belonged to a culture act and why the reason of their behavior … have you ever heard about the Hofstede Dimensions ?? if not let me explain you how him classify his theory to let us understand how culture can be measured and analyzed  

HOFSTEDE DIMENSIONS  

this guy is the inventor of the next 5 dimensions that helped everybody to measure the culture they live in, and even better the foreign ones. 

1. Power of distance (PDI):  this dimension basically explain the relationship between the employer and their employees, or the teacher and their students, any of the cases where is needed a distance to be respectful and to give orders to subordinates, knowing the existent distance, also can be defined the inequality that exist: (physical and mental characteristics, social status and prestige, wealth, power privileges)  

2. Individualism Vs Collectivism ( IDV): this one, stands in the way the people belonging to a culture prefer to work or to study, how they feel more comfortable to do their job if working alone or doing it  with more people, stands for a society in which people from birth onwards are integrated into cohesive groups or if their where born in a culture where you respond for your own job 

3. Uncertanty Avoidance (UAI): the extent to which a society, organization, or group relies on social norms, rules, and procedures to alleviate the unpredictability of future events"

4. Masculinity and Femininity (MAS): in this dimension he tried to explain how the roles between genders are different: Men are supposed to be assertive, strong, and hard worker,women are supposed to be modest, tender, and concerned with the quality of life

in the other hand, Femininity stands with a society in which social gender roles are treated in the same way, men are women are supposed to be equal.  

5. Long Term Vs Short Term Orientation:explains how people worry about the time orientation , some are more likely to worry about future, and others about past. the extent to which the members of a culture feel treated by uncertain or unknown situations 

In this chart clearly represents the comparison between the Colombian culture, and the one from United States in every of the Hofstdes dimensions.

But Wait…. no just Hofstede created dimensions to measure the culture, well those are the most known ones but now lets see  others authors who also created some theories to measure culture.

Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck: (Value Orientation Theory) 

these values are basically

-Description of Five Common Human Concerns and Three Possible Responses (based on Kohls, 1981)

Halls Dimensions of culture in communication:

-Space: ways of using personal space 

-Time: monochromic or polychronic 

-Context: high or low

-Info flow: structure and space of messages 

What is a POLICHRONIC Culture? 

According to (Hahn, 2008). Polychronic cultures are involved with many things at once, usually with varying levels of attention paid to each. For polychrons, time is continuous, moving from an infinite past through the present and into an infinite future; it has no particular structure. Polychrons prefer not to have detailed plans imposed on them but want to make their own plans and meet deadlines in their own way. Switching from one activity to another is both stimulating and productive and the most desirable way to work.

I would say that we as Colombias are clearly a Polichronic culture, we are used to do or to think in  many things at the same time, sometimes we can be distinguished as disorganized culture, but not as much as the others imagine, because pitifully colombian culture has been stereotyped during long time with a very bad image. 

SOURCES:

http://www.tlu.ee/~sirvir/IKM/Leadership%20Dimensions/uncertainty_avoidance.html

http://www.joe.org/joe/2001december/tt1.php

http://www.emergingleader.com/article41.shtml

BARRIERS TO INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION

Have you ever feel stuck trying to explain something to a foreigner ? don't worry that is what its called barriers in communication, it is normal to experiment some uncomfortable feelings while you are talking to a foreign person, these refer to the main causes of frustration and misunderstanding in intercultural encounters.

People from different cultures may be not able and not willing to communicate with others due to various reasons such as:

1. Assumption of similarities: most commonly seen when people traveling abroad try to act in the same way or manner as if they were in their home country which can cause a lot of troubles, in order to avoid it, its important to study and analyze before traveling, the culture you will be, such as attitudes, manners, laws, religion among others that would be cause of discomfort  dealing with others, as we know, people might have different assumptions and views of the same topic, and we need to be prepared to deal with it, if not we have to be aware of the difficulties in communicating with people from other cultures.

2. Preconceptions and Stereotypes: in order to make it easier to understand, this is basically how we stereotype preconceptions of a person from a unknown culture and how we interpret his/her behavior according to this preconception, whether or not the reason of the reaction or action( behavior) its what we think it is 

3. Tendency to Evaluate: the human being have the tendency to approve or disapprove the statement or actions of any person or group rather than correct or comprehend the thoughts and feelings expressed  from other´s perspectives 

Ethnocentrism: Ethnocentric people tend to value their own culture above everything else and judge the others using one’s own cultural criteria. To some extent, all the cultures are ethnocentric. This is natural, since people have been brought up thinking that their way is “the natural” way to do things. However, ethnocentrism can also lead to cultural misunderstandings if it is not recognized because it provides us with only limited choice of human thinking and behaving.

4. Anxiety or tension: this sensation if commonly seeing when facing a conversation in a foreign language, or between people who doesn't spoke the same language, and its just because of the willing they have to be understood. it is also known as stress 

5. Language Differences: differ in the use of different languages to communicate with others, no just about idioms, communication its more than words, it is how express the ideas. Communication "differ not so much in what they can express as what they must express." that is what cause huge of misunderstandings at the moment of try to say something being told in a way and being interpreted by other 

6. non-verbal communication: this is the type of communication where words are not needed to understood the message, are the actions who have socially shared meanings, and are characterized for being intentionally sent or interpreted, are consciously sent and received 

STEREOTYPE AND PREJUDICE 

stereotype: are judgments made about individuals based in group membership and those can be positive or negative but are usually an exaggerated idea of what a group is like, are cognitive representations of how those members are similar to one another and different from members of other groups, stereotyping a group is describing or defined their specific beliefs, how they behave or their abilities

Prejudice: refers to the attitudes and feelings, it is the irrational suspicion of a particular group, race, religion or sexual orientation is a feeling towards a person based on their affiliation with a group.

Prejudice and stereotyping are generally considered to be the product of adaptive processes that simplify an otherwise complex world so that people can devote more cognitive resources to other tasks, are biases that work together to create and maintain social inequality. 

  

What is Implicit stereotyping? 

according to Greenwald, A. G., & Banaji, M. R. (1995). An implicit stereotype is the unconscious attribution of particular qualities to a member of a certain social group.Implicit stereotypes are influenced by experience, and are based on learned associations between various qualities and social categories, including race or gender. Individuals' perceptions and behaviors can be affected by implicit stereotypes, even without the individuals' intention or awareness. in the other hand Explicit stereotypes are the result of intentional, conscious, and controllable thoughts and beliefs. Explicit stereotypes usually are directed toward a group of people based on what is being perceived.

SOURCES:

http://www.economist.com/blogs/johnson/2011/12/differences-among-languages

http://study.com/academy/lesson/prejudice-discrimination-stereotypes-definitions-examples.html

http://www.immi.se/intercultural/nr34/dumessa.html

THE IMPACT OF CULTURE

Sensation and Perception

"i want to realize that there is no color in the natural world and no sounds, nothing of this kind; no textures, no patterns, no beauty, no scent.... The "World out there" is synthesized in our consciousness"
-Sir John C. Eccles. 1903-1997. Neuroscientist, Nobel Prize in 1963

Lets start introducing a little bit of what is intercultural management about: 
"The flow of business personnel internationally has meant that people are now having to work more and more in foreign environments and alongside people of different cultures. Being a manager in a foreign country is never an easy task. One has to deal with differences in business culture, etiquette, man-management styles, communication styles and much more."http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/intercultural/management/guide.html

knowing that intercultural business or managements includes to have a close relationship with people from other cultures and other manners of being... let me explain you  how Culture have influence in the perception and sensation of any individual in the world.
¿ have you ever hear that Knowledge is found directly in conscious experience.? ¿ how do you relate that experience to other people? ¿have you hear experiences about something from another person? i am sure you had, and also you have created images of what the person describes even if you do not know all the details. is easy to imagine reactions of people when you already know them, but... what happens when you do not? how could you imagine or perceive experiences from people that does not see life as the same way as you do? in the business world it is a huge problem if you do not learn how to deal with it.

" Variety of Cultural, Social, and Emotional factors work together in complex ways to influence the way individuals perceive the world"  

How culture influence ? well it provides the structure, guidelines, expectations and rules to help people to understand and interpret behavior,there are cultural differences in social 
consequences, particularly when it comes to evaluating our emotions and behaviors and those of others.1


Example: 

• Western Cultures:maximize positive emotions and reduce the negative ones
• Eastern Cultures:" dialectical thinking" seeking to find a middle way by experiencing a balance between negative and positive emotions 

This cartoon illustrates how culture creates a fundamental framework for our perceptions and emotions

Theories of perception

there are 2 theories of social perception which are: 

attribution theory: also called actor-observed bias and focusses on attribution or causes of an action, this theory demonstrate 

why individuals have tendency to blame others for getting themselves into a bad situation 

Social comparison theory: explain the tendency of individuals to compare themselves with other who closely resemble themselves in order to improve ones own feeling of value 

¿ How does Perception and sensation work together ?

  Sensation occurs:

• sensory organs absorb energy from a physical stimulus in the environment.
•  sensory receptors convert this energy into neural impulses and send them to the brain.  

Perception follows:

• the brain organizes the information and translates it into something meaningful.
• But what does "meaningful" mean? How do we know what information is important and should be focused on? 

SOURCES:

1.Source: Boundless. “Cultural Influences on Perception.” Boundless Psychology. 

Boundless, 06 Oct. 2014. Retrieved 11 Feb. 2015 

from https://www.boundless.com/psychology/textbooks/boundless-psychology-

textbook/sensation-and-perception-5/advanced-topics-in-perception-40/cultural-

influences-on-perception-174-12709/

2.http://www.alleydog.com/101notes/s&p.html#ixzz3RU5JgZUM