Introduction The problem of intercultural communication is not unique. While communicating with people from other countries at least once everyone has experienced the feeling of being misunderstood. Such misunderstanding in business will certainly lead to a failure, so, besides being a good entrepreneur and professional in economics, being interculturally competent is as important, or even the most important issue while conducting international business. The topic of this termpaper is “Mexico and U.S.: Practical issues of business collaboration” This topic is urgent because, although the two countries that make up North America are physically close, they have absolutely different cultural values that arise from their history, …show more content…
Mexicans are far less tolerant of abrasiveness and insensitivity in managerial styles than Americans are. US American style is opposite to gaining subordinates' support and compliance, thus, for Mexicans, the US Americans’ tendency to judge a person for what they do and how efficiently they do it has no sense. Such an attitude towards others reduces the value of interpersonal relationships and is thought to be superficial for people who come from nurturing countries, to which Mexico belongs. Lack of respect for personality results in a lack of motivation to stand out for one’s boss. From the US executive’s perspective, the Mexican's indifference to continually strive for greater and greater achievement is believed to reflect a basic laziness or lack of ambitiousness. That is why foreign executives become harsh disciplinarians which only serves to promote increasingly more subtle forms of resistance. 1.2. Obedience to People vs. Obedience to Rules From the U.S. belief that all people are basically the same it follows logically that one would not look for any special favors or exceptions from the rules and regulations which govern social interactions. There is a strong belief in the saying, "No one is
The culture of the Mexican-American is very identical to each other as the aspects of family, religion, and respect towards other. The central concepts of the Mexican American “cultural values include familismo (familism), the traditional gender roles of machismo and marianisom, religiosidad (religiosity), and respeto (respect)” (Morgan, 2013). The cultures are identical the only difference is the introduction of individualistic viewpoints that they learn in the education system. The individualistic views that they learn from the school are culture shocks to those who have a heavy ideology of collectivistic viewpoint. The culture of Mexican-Americans has interfered time and time again in the results of the intelligence test. The definition of intelligence which examine all forms of skill as like language,
Raat, W. Dirk, and Michael M. Brescia. Mexico and the United States : Ambivalent Vistas (4th Edition). Athens, GA, USA: University of Georgia Press, 2010.
Texas in it self is a highly diverse multicultural society. It takes on many aspects of many different cultures. One very noticeable culture that has a great impact on Texas would be that of the Mexican culture. Because Mexican culture is so apparent in Texas, that it is easy to compare and contrast some cultural aspects between Mexican and American cultures. This attempt to compare and contrast these two different yet similar cultures will increase awareness and acceptance of cultural differentiation. In order to examine these two cultures closely, I will use Hofstede's
There are many differences between Mexico and the United States when it comes to work and cultural normalities. The first difference is the role of negotiations. In Mexico it is always pleasure before business, they are non-confrontational and “have a low tolerance for adversarial relations.” [2] They want to agree with their trading partners as often as possible and say yes frequently. However, there is “a polite yes and a real yes.”[1] When it comes to business meetings. It’s often thought that if you make an agreement with a firm in Mexico you will need to make sure and “get the agreement in writing”[1] before further plans are made because they can go back on their word at later times. They avoid saying confrontational phrases and “often resist saying no.”
Alongside job losses and the increase of the dependence of Mexico on the United States, Mexico has deeply been affected on a cultural aspect after the NAFTA was put in place. Indeed, Zuloaga explains in her article that “The internal imbalances caused the Mexican people to question their independence and national identity”. (Zuolaga,2001) By these words, the author once again shows that cultural identity is well affected by economic integration measures, and thus, globalization. Further on, she also mentions the asymmetry of power among NAFTA’s member states, which is undeniably palpable looking at the lack of affirmation Mexico is offered to deliver, here in the cultural
What is also intriguing about Bunker’s study of Mexico is that the changes that were being accepted by the Mexican population were very often complete contradictions to what was considered traditionally Mexican. Not only does this stand in complete opposition to what was seen in Karush’s Argentina, but in Mexico the “constant reworking of consumer goods and the texts used to sell them… generated the cultural meaning that provided an identity for both the self and the world around them.”(Bunker 97) Once again, Mexico and Argentina could not be any different when seen through the lens of Consumer Culture and Culture of Class. The strict devotion of the government in Argentina to keep hold of traditional ways of life were mirrored in Mexico by
Therefore, Mexican workers tend to be very dedicated to their jobs. Mexicans do not hesitate to go for the extra miles to work longer hours to make additional money to support their family. One major cultural clash between Anglo Americans and Mexicans are concept of timeliness. Punctuality is not big concern for Mexicans. American culture featured promptness and timeliness; the Mexican culture could care less. Mexicans believe their supervisors know everything and should always show respect to authority and not ever questioning their supervisors and elderly ever. It is considered disrespectful to question supervisors and elderly. Therefore, in this case study, it is possible that Jose Alvarado could be a younger Latino manager. So, that could explain why he is having trouble and difficulty to supervise his Latino workers. Also, keeping a harmony relationship with their own fellows are also very important to them. Therefore, it will be a challenge task for Alvarado to criticize his fellow Latino workers. This could possibly be the reason why Alvarado is dissatisfied with his new title. In the workplace, the cultural differences in terms of personal sensitivity are the source of many, if not most, of the conflicts between Mexicans and Americans. Americans, for the most part, are individualistic, competitive, and comfortable working on their own. Americans think highly of personal initiative and are self-starters. When
Although, the Japanese business culture involves a more democratic and participative approach to the decision making process by seeking consensus based on who’s allowed at the table. There is a strong seniority system, stresses in rank, and the upper level management is tasked with looking after employees, which influence relationships dynamics. Moreover, the person with the highest status usually speaks first and has more influence. (Deresky, 2014) While in Mexico, the authoritative hierarchical decision making process where lower level employees are not involved and it would be seen as inappropriate. Moreover, the employees have confidence in the credibility of the manager and therefore their decisions. (Commisceo Global, 2017)
Communication – verbal and otherwise – remains an important dimension of international management, and there are different communication styles, how communication is processed and interpreted, and how culture and language influence communication and miscommunication (Luthans & Doh, 2012).
The ethnic- Mexican experience has changed over the years as American has progressed through certain period of times, e.g., the modernity and transformation of the southwest in the late 19th and early 20th century, the labor demands and shifting of U.S. immigration policy in the 20th century, and the Chicano Civil Rights Movement. Through these events Mexican Americans have established and shaped their culture, in order, to negotiate these precarious social and historical circumstances. Throughout the ethnic Mexicans cultural history in the United States, conflict and contradiction has played a key role in shaping their modalities of life. Beginning in the late 20th century and early 21st century ethnic Mexicans have come under distress
Cultural differences between countries have strong effects on individual personality and behavior, as well as on organizational culture (Hofstede 2001). These differences can be a significant barrier for an international business leader. Failure to understand and adapt to these differences may
Since Donald Trump has been elected, world politics are in trouble, free - trade agreements gradually canceled and the objection of immigrants from Mexico. These problems have led the United States are in an alarming condition. The United States will meet many difficulties in controlling these situations inside the country. The relationship between the United States and Mexico have never reconciled because of Mexican Wall. Latin America will not be a priority in the external relations from the White House in the coming period. In fact, to this point of U.S foreign policy with Latin America, Mr. Trump has no idea about it. However, many experts can offer a few comments on the relationship in the future between Mr. Trump and Latin America.
Intercultural communication competence refers to the ability of an individual to adapt and communicate appropriately and effectively across a wide array of cultural contexts. That is to say, for an individual to be considered an intercultural communicator they must understand other’s cultures as well as they understand their own, and apply this understanding to communication (Chen 1-2). With the increasing diversity at the workplace, school and other social settings, it has become increasingly important to learn how to communicate with people from a diverse array of cultures. More importantly, adapting to a more effective intercultural communication competence model provides us with learning opportunities occasioned by the interaction with people from other backgrounds. The intercultural communication competence model comes with some key components including tolerance for uncertainty, self-knowledge, and motivation. The greatest and most important of these aspects is motivation. An individual must be willing to foster relationships with people from a different cultural background. If an individual lacks the willingness to promote intercultural relationships, then other aspects of the intercultural communication model become moot.
Wyner (2007) concluded many barriers have gone down after 1989, but globalization has led to more barriersand prevent the world from flatness. In particular, there are significant differences remain among marketplaces located in various parts of this planet. No universal structure can be adopted in every country, in order to enter a new market, investing company has to bear the barrier of local regulation thereby mitigate the loss from non-compliance. Aside from legislation, cultural shock constitutes another obstacle. In the early 1990s, the motor giant Ford had received welcoming comments with respect of a new model. However, the sale in Mexico was extremely poor compared to other places. After a thorough investigation, the report identified the brand of this model implied “doesn’t go” in Mexican. Cultural contradictions are also portrayed in multi-national corporations where accommodate employees from various backgrounds. What challenges “Flat World” is how to reconcile the differences so as tomake individuals collaborate as a whole.
One of the characteristics of the Mexican business culture is that people work in a leisurely manner. Given as they are a Collectivist society, they can take their time to get to know a person and build a relationship with them. This easy-going character may also account for a slower execution of given tasks. In this culture things are expected to be done some time in the near future, without great urgency or specific dateline in mind. This is why even confronted by Van West’s eagerness, Hernandez did not cooperate with clearing the situation at once.