Week 8 Practice 1-2

1.

Department of General Education
Disciplines
Professional English
Topic: Collaboration in a multicultural environment
(Managing first meetings, small talk)
Week 8. Practice 1-2
Term 1, 2024-2025

2.

Objectives:
• to identify communication
strategies for handling first
meetings
• to comprehend different attitudes
to small talk and personal
relationships at work
• to manage different styles of
small talk
• to understand challenges of
working in a multicultural team

3.

How might people from
one culture differ
from people with
different cultural
backgrounds?
Warm
up
Have you ever
experienced another
culture? Where?
What must one keep in
mind when working with
people from other
cultures?

4.

Activity 1.
HSBS Culture Ad
• Watch the video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desk
top&v=GOHvMz7dl2A
• What is the video about? (content)
• What problem is mentioned in the
video?
• What is the reason for the conflict?

5.

Etiquette
Activity 2.
Discuss in
pairs.
Surprises
Expectations
• If someone from a very different culture were to
visit your country on business, what advice would
you give them?

6.

Activity 3. Look at how first meetings are handled
3 Greetings are very formal and
in four different countries. Whichritualized.
countries
It is are
important to
1being
Greetings are rather formal due
show the correct amount of
described?
to the hierarchical nature of
society. The common greeting is
the handshake, often done with
both hands and a smile. Some men
will not shake hands with women,
so be sensitive to these
religious differences. Wait until
invited before using someone’s
first name, although the
invitation generally comes early
2 Greetings
are formal. A
in the relationship.
quick, firm handshake is the
traditional greeting. Titles are
very important and denote
respect. Use a person’s title
and their surname until invited
to use their first name. ln
general, wait for your host or
hostess to introduce you to a
group. When entering a room,
shake hands with everyone
respect and deference to someone
based upon their status relative
to your own. If possible, wait
to be introduced. It can be seen
as impolite to introduce
yourself, even in a large
gathering. A foreign visitor may
bow the head slightly, since no
one expects foreigners to
generally understand the nuances
of bowing.
4 When people greet, they take
time to ask about the health and
welfare of family members. It is
customary for these questions to
be asked over a very long
handshake. People should be
addressed by their academic,
professional or honorific title
and their surname or first name/

7.

Activity 4. Small talk. What do you
think?
• You just need plenty of practice to be good at
small talk.
• I am an expert, I don’t need to do small talk.
• Small talk isn’t real talk.
• As long as you know English grammar and plenty
of English words you shouldn’t have any trouble
with small talk in English.
• You only need small talk if you meet people at
parties.

8.

Activity 5. ThinkPair-Share
Why is small talk
important?
• What topics are
appropriate for a
small talk?
• What topics are
inappropriate for a
small talk?
In which work
situations do we use
small talk?

9.

Think-Pair-Share.
Possible answers
Why is small talk
important?
Builds rapport
Create social cohesion
Awkward situations
Eases increased communication
Key business skill
In which work situations do
we
use small talk?
Meetings, conferences,
presenting, emailing,
telephoning, customer visit,
sales, staff appraisals
• What topics are
appropriate for a
small
talk?
• Work and location
Transport for work
Work in general
Weather
Free time, Hobbies, Sport
Holidays
Food and drinks
Education and training
• What topics are
inappropriate
for a
• Conflicts with coworkers
• Money talk?
small
• Health problems
• Religion and politics
• Weight and physical
appearance

10.

Activity 6
Look at the 2 ways of informing colleagues about a meeting time.
1. The meeting starts at 11 o’clock. I expect everyone to be there
on time.
2.
I’ve put a meeting on the calendar for 11 o’clock.
What is the difference between them?
How could each cause a misunderstanding and a breakdown in
communication?
Statement 1
Statement 2
Tone
Authoritative, demanding,
commanding
Implication
There is a clear expectation
for
punctuality,
and
it
implies a sense of urgency
and importance.
discomfort or resentment
among colleagues, stressful
atmosphere
Misunderstandi
ng/ breakdowns
Informative, neutral
It provides information without
emphasizing the importance of
punctuality or the expectation
for attendance
lateness or absenteeism,
lack of commitment

11.

Activity 7.
Nigel
Ewington
is a
director
of
Worldwork
, an
intercult
ural
consultan
cy.
Listen to
him
talking
about
managing
Listening
Why does Nigel say it is important to
manage first meetings well when working
internationally?
What does he describe as the main
purpose of first meetings in the Arab
world?
When he goes to China, how does he
usually start small talk? Why does this
create a positive impression?
Why is asking open questions important?

12.

Activity
8.
Complete
these
open
questions which you could use in a
first conversation with a stranger.
do,a living
1. Job: What do you .......for
.......?
2. Company activity: What ….of business is yourline,
company......?
in
did,
get/arrive
3. Arrival: When ....you............here?
are,
staying
4. Hotel: Where ....you.....
?
have, been
5. Travel: How many times..... you..... to France?
6. Time working for company: ...... long how,
….you
…for
have,
your company?
worked
are, leaving/
7. Departure: When....you.......?
going

13.

Activity 9 (optional). Role-play a
first meeting
• Student A is a visitor
Host
• Student B is the host and will
meet
the visitor
You work at the company
Visitor
You arrive on time at the
company headquarters in
Zurich for a meeting with
James Schiro, a colleague
working on the same
international project in the
IT field. You work in a
local country IT business
unit – you choose the
country. The purpose of the
meeting is to discuss the
progress of the project. If
James Schiro is not there to
meet you, ask when he will
be in the office.
headquarters in Zurich. Your
boss is James Schiro. James
just told you that he will be
ten minutes late for a meeting
with a visitor who is about to
arrive at the office. He has
asked you to look after the
visitor until he arrives. When
the visitor arrives, explain
the situation to the visitor
and make him/her feel
comfortable with small talk
until James arrives. As you
talk, observe your visitor and
choose a style of
communication which works for

14.

Reading.
Managing Multicultural
Teams.
Part 1.

15.

Activity 10. Prereading
• Brainstorm in groups and
present your ideas:
• Group 1 – benefits of working
in a multicultural team.
• Group 2 – challenges of
working in a multicultural
team.

16.

Activity 11. Pre-reading
Scan the text and find a word or
phrase that means:
1. ______unwilling, hesitant (lines 15-32)
reluctant
2. ______everyday, commonplace (lines 15-32) mundane
3. ______very small (lines 15-32) minute
subtle
4. ______not obvious (lines 33-41) subtle
5. ______to remove from participation (lines 42-55) sideline
6. ______to integrate, incorporate (lines 64-75) embed
7. ______to make a situation worse (lines 105-109) exacerbate
8. ______ not important (lines 137-148)
9. ______ modest (lines 158-164)
inconsequential
humble
10. ______ careful and persistent effort or work (lines 165-176) diligence

17.

Activity 12. Reading “Managing
Multicultural Teams”
Read the Introduction (lines 15-55) and answer the
following questions:
1 What specific example do the authors provide to
illustrate how cultural differences can lead to
conflicts within a team?
2 What strategy did the project manager choose to
address the conflict in the team, and what were the
results?
3 What could the project manager have done differently
to help the team handle operational details
independently?

18.

Activity 13. Reading “Managing
Multicultural Teams”
Read the section on Direct versus indirect communication
(lines 56-109) and say whether you agree or disagree with
the following statements:
Fals cultures requires understanding
1. Communication in Western
the context and speaker to
e interpret the meaning.
Fals
2. Non-Westerners generally have difficulty understanding
direct communications from Westerners in cross-cultural
e
negotiations.
True
3. In cultures that use indirect communication, negotiators
often need to infer preferences from changes in the other
Fals
party’s proposals.
e
4. The American manager leading
U.S.type
andofJapanese
communication is
Fals the What
customer-data system project found itprevalent
easy toinunderstand
your culture?
e
Japanese indirect communication.
Provide examples of how people
communicate
in your community.
5. The Japanese colleagues of the American
manager

19.

Activity 14. Reading “Managing
Multicultural Teams”
Read the section on Trouble with accents and fluency
(lines 110-148) and reflect on the provided examples:
the example of the Latin American consultant. How did
language differences affect his role and contribution
to the team?
the example of the U.S.-Japanese team. How did the
American team member’s attitude toward the Japanese
consultants’ feedback affect the team’s overall
performance?
the example of the U.S. and Latin American buyers
negotiating with the Korean supplier. How did they use
language differences to indirectly address their
frustrations?

20.

Activity 15. Reading “Managing
Multicultural Teams”
Read the section on Differing attitudes toward
hierarchy and authority. (lines149-176) and fill in
the gaps with appropriate words from the text:
flat
Team members from cultures
where status differences
teams
higherare emphasized within
an organization
often find 1)
status
________unsettling.
In hierarchical cultures,
humiliati
deferring
is considered
stature and to 2) _____________colleagues
on this same deference can
credibility behavior, but
appropriate
undermine
one’s
__________________,
to 4)
Reflect
on the 3)
Mexican
Analyze theleading
Korean-U.S.
manager’s experience.
How did
___________,
in teams
that predominantly
follow
negotiation example.
Why was it
his cultural principles.
background affect
problematic for the American
egalitarian
his communication style, and
how was it perceived by his
American colleagues?
team members to complain
directly to higher-level Korean
management?

21.

Activity 16. Reading “Managing
Multicultural Teams”
Read the section on Conflicting norms for
decision making (lines 177-199). Answer the
following MCQs:
1 How do U.S. managers generally approach
decision-making compared to managers from other
countries?
a) They require unanimous agreement before making
decisions.
b) They tend to make decisions swiftly with
minimal analysis
c) They avoid making decisions until they
understand the full scope of the project

22.

Activity 16. Reading “Managing
Multicultural Teams”
Read the section on Conflicting norms for
decision making (lines 177-199). Answer the
following MCQs:
2 In the negotiation example involving the
Brazilian manager, what did the Korean side want
to do that surprised the U.S.-Spanish side?
a) They wanted to finalize all points on the
first day.
b) They wanted to skip points four and five.
c) They wanted to reconsider the first three
points.
d) They wanted to introduce new points not
previously discussed.

23.

Activity 16. Reading “Managing
Multicultural Teams”
Read the section on Conflicting norms for
decision making (lines 177-199). Answer the
following MCQs:
3 What strategy is suggested for American
managers to adapt to different decision-making
approaches in multicultural teams?
a) Insist on their way of making quick decisions.
b) Avoid giving updates to their bosses.
c) Ignore the need for understanding the full
scope of the project
d) To make slight compromises and appreciate
different approaches.

24.

Home task
• Learn the vocabulary of the text
• Write a paragraph (50-100 words) with your
reflections on the challenges of working in
multicultural teams. Use examples from the text
to support your reflections.