Case Study Four Seasons

Eye contact is important in America and Europe, but it can be rude in most of Asian countries and in Africa. Closing your

It’s not only how we speak to people but it can also be reflected through our body language. We have to bear in mind that other people’s cultures may find some gestures offensive to them. Being respectful to their beliefs and cultures is important in maintaining positive relations. A raise of an eye brow or shrug of the shoulder can send the

• Cultural differences – when the same thing means different things in two cultures, communication can be difficult. For example, it is seen as polite and respectful to make eye contact when speaking to someone in Western culture but in other cultures, for example in East Asia, it can be seen as rude and defiant.

Cultural differences are present wherever you travel to, you will come across cultural differences, and these can vary quite a bit, such as the language people use e.g. English people say "Chips" compared to Americans who say "Fries”. A businessman may find himself in the middle of cultural differences quite often and thus, will have to devise methods as to how to make sure no one is offended or that he is fully understood. Certain methods he would use to overcome such issues are greeting people on a last name basis. Also refraining on using most signed gestures, as they can vary in meaning quite greatly, for example, the English gesture to say

I experienced a cultural barrier when I was working down in the main floor as one of the service users was Indian. Trying to communicate with this man was a weakness for me as I had never been put in this type of situation before. I was aware that in his culture eye contact was considered disrespectful and I always tried my best

Culture is the shared values, norms, language, customs and practices of a group. It also refers to different sub-groups within society. It is important to understand how culture affects our behaviour in order to gain a full understanding of the people we encounter and those we work with. Watson found that the average amount of eye contact made varied between countries, with high degrees of eye contact being seen as insolent by some Africans and East Asians, whereas among Indians and Latin-Americans this was seen as desirable.

Social contact was a main distribution of what residents wanted within two people to be sure they were in the same social class and for safety reasons. However, the behavior of looking into one another’s eyes was a sign of being aware of each other’s presence (Anderson, 220). Eye contact is perceived as whites tending not to hold eye contact with a black individual (Anderson, 220). Although, it was very uncommon for a white man to hold eye contact with a black man, rarely it would happen where the black man would be very surprised (Anderson, 220). Today, eye contact in different situations mean different things: awkwardness, politeness, and rudeness. In my life experience, I tend to avoid eye contact when passing males at nighttime because of safety

People from parts of India shake their head from side to side to show agreement instead of nodding like Americans do. In some Australian Aboriginal cultures, looking an elder or person of higher rank than you in the eye is considered disrespectful. It's important to research cultural differences in body language prior to visiting or interacting with someone of a different culture.

We are comfortable near friends and relatives, but maintain some distance when interacting with strangers. However, we are brought up to consider strangers as friends until the evidence indicates otherwise (Cramer, & Cramer, 2010). This explains our custom of immediate and beyond-the-surface communication with strangers and our willingness to bond with them. We also favor direct eye contact over indirect. We use direct eye contact during conversations as a sign of trust, respect and interest towards the speaker. However, we avoid eye contact with people in authority to show respect and attentiveness. Our personal relationships with people of the same age group are very informal, but we are very respectful to foreigners. A strong emphasis is placed on family, which is the source of identity, emotional and physical support and protection against life challenges. This is the intense sense of family belonging that is limited to family and close friends. Therefore, people that don’t belong to our family or circle of close friends are slow to be

In some ATSI group culture avoiding eye contact while talking is a sign of respect. Whereas in most of the other culture avoiding eye contact while talking is a sign of disrespect. Silence,

Being an active listener all of my life, I realized that the two things I always do when I sit down and talk with a person I care about are to lean forward and look at him straight to the eyes. Surprisingly, when I disengage with someone, I stop looking at him. That made me also think of some people that are normal, but when they talk to you, they look between your eyebrows. I was always finding it annoying, but now I can see that it is something they may need to do to avoid the distress and the overstimulation of an eye contact. However, some cultures such as the Japanese and Navajo forbid the eye contact with elder or strangers. As Kate Shela - a shamanic healer – states, looking at someone’s eyes is an active deep intimacy that frightens us, but at the same time liberates us.

This paper is designed for exploring the reasons for the success of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts in Paris (Four Seasons). Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts is Canadian based international leading operator of midsized luxury hotels. Four Seasons has enabled guests to maximize the value of their time with providing high-quality and truly personalized service. Four Seasons was able to succeed with their unique strategy of dealing with cultural differences, unique corporate culture, and strategy of human

Furthermore, by entering the French market, managers were now becoming French employers, which requires a thorough understanding of French labor laws, business culture, and national idiosyncrasies. Fortunately, Four Seasons was very aware of restrictions, terminations processes, and the 35 hour work weeks. These were all aspects of the operation that were much different from what the company was generally used to, but carried a positive outlook in embracing these policies. However, their Canadian roots, which have attributes of a welfare state, made it easier for them to deal with such a context.

Culture and the environment affect a business in many ways. Culture is not simply a different language, a different shade of skin, or different styles of food. Culture, and the environment in which you are a part of, affect the running of day to day business operations of all companies’ day in and day out. This paper will assess how Linda Myers, from the article, “The would-be pioneer,” (Green, S., 2011) was affected by the huge culture shock of working for a global conglomerate from Seoul, South Korea. We will discuss what went wrong with Ms. Myers approach to business, Hofstede’s five dimensions of culture as it

Cultural Heritage: A Comparison of Cultural Values in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the People’s Republic of China, Journal of Asia-Pacific Business, Vol. 2(4).