Riding the Waves of Culture, Fourth Edition: Understanding Diversity in Global Business, 4th Edition

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Reconciling Cultural Dilemmas

Fons Trompenaars and Charles Hampden-Turner

AS WE have explained throughout the book, every country and organization faces certain universal dilemmas. A nation’s culture is expressed in the way people within it approach these dilemmas. Once we have learned to recognize differences and respect that cultures have the right to self-determination, we need to consider how we can both overcome problems of misunderstanding that can easily arise and leverage the business benefits of the different viewpoints by connecting them and securing the benefits of both.

Recognizing Cultural Differences

An American CEO had exchanged customary, polite greetings with his Japanese opposite number; a ritual the American felt had gone ...