50 Activities for Achieving Cultural Competence

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Coups and Faux Pas

Dr.GeorgeSimons,GeorgeSimonsInternational

Mandelieu‐laNapoule,France

Purpose

To open an intercultural training program and begin a discussion of how cultural differences

affect us in work or daily life

Targetaudience

This activity is for groups starting to learn about working or doing business across cultures. It

requires some experience abroad (for work or vacation) or experience interacting with people

of other cultures. Group members should not be afraid to share personal experiences. Coups

and Faux Pas can be used even if most of the people in the group already know one another

or are an intact work group. If the group is larger than 16, subdivide it into smaller groups for

introductions there.

Time

Allow 5 minutes to set up the activity and introduce yourself. Then allow 1½ to 2 minutes

per person, plus a few minutes to debrief.

Materialsandenvironment

Handout 1: “66 Ways We Differ” for each participant

Procedure

Include the handout in the course documentation or put one at each person’s place before the

start of the program.

Tell the participants that you are all going to introduce yourselves to one another in a special

way by sharing

• cultural faux pas—a mistake made abroad or when working with people of another

culture—or

• cultural coup—something that turned out well when you respected another’s cultural

values.

Tell them that scanning the handout “66 Ways We Differ” might help them think of an

experience.

50ActivitiesforAchievingCulturalCompetence

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Demonstrate what you mean by introducing yourself with BOTH a coup and a faux pas. Here

are examples I have used in the past:

• Faux pas: I was leaving a restaurant on a winter’s evening in Northern Germany when a

man appeared at the door roundly cursing me. I asked my companion what was wrong.

He told me that I had failed to close the door and that I often failed to close doors.

(Accustomed to automatic doors in public buildings and used to open spaces and “open-

door policies” in the United States, I failed to observe that Germans have more doors and

close them for privacy and quiet more often than Americans do.)

• Coup: The flight attendant on a recent trip asked what we would like for dinner. The man

next to me asked that his meal be kept for him until 6:00 p.m. I realized that the man was

probably a Muslim fasting for the season of Ramadan, so I asked the flight attendant to

hold my meal until the same time. I was rewarded with a very interesting conversation

about what it felt like to be a Muslim living abroad and the many misunderstandings and

prejudices that this man had experienced living in my country. (During Ramadan, people

fast by abstaining from food, drink, and smoking until sunset. It would have been very

impolite for me to eat right next to him while he was fasting.)

Give participants a couple of moments to prepare. Remind them that they need only share

either a coup or a faux pas. Then go around the room and allow each person to introduce

him- or herself.

Debrief

Transition into the next part of the program by telling the group that when it comes to

culture, often “We don’t know what we don’t know,” and that we frequently learn only by

making mistakes. Tie this into the theme of the course: “It is the purpose of the course to

learn how to avoid making tragic mistakes when dealing with people different from ourselves

and to learn how to turn our mistakes into successes.”

Note: The handout can be used for later discussion. You might ask the participants to form

small groups to discuss one or more of the items on the list and attempt to identify the vari-

ous kinds of differences they experience in life or work.