Ted Washington, the marketing manager, rejected the sale proposals of both the American, Dale Peters, and the Japanese, Hideo Takahashi, without considering who made the proposal. While the direct and outright rejection is O.K. with peters, for he and the manager are from the same culture, to Hideo, it means something beyond the rejection of a proposal itself. Therefore, the two people responded to the rejection in quite different ways.
In this case, the American believes the root of the conflict lay in different goals and objectives, therefore, Peters entered into a heated discussion with Ted, trying to get his proposal accepted by producing facts, figures, and graphs to illustrate his case. But the Japanese believes the conflict was not in the rejection of the proposal but rather in the way it was communicated, so he thinks of it as a personal attack or a sign of mistrust. In short, Americans tend to be more task-oriented while the Japanese are likely to focus on interpersonal relationships.
Case 22
People from different cultures may consider their own communication style to be natural and normal, and therefore tend to evaluate other styles negatively. In this case, both people are unaware of the American preference for a direct and explicit style in contrast to the more contextual African style. Both these communicators are likely to leave the situation less inclined to ask or answer questions of each other again.
Case 23
In France it is required that all calls begin with an apology for disturbing the answerer. They are also expected to begin the call by checking that they have reached the right number, identifying themselves, and then chatting with whoever has answered the phone, if the person is known to them. Only after some conversation may callers indicate their wish to speak with the person they have actually called to speak to.
in contrast, callers in the U.S.A apologize only when they feel they have called at an inappropriate time; they often ask for the person they want without identifying themselves or conversing with the answerer, even when that person is known to them; and they behave, in general, as though the person who has answered the phone is just an extension of the instrument itself.
Case 24
The Japanese have a strong dislike of entering into direct confrontations and placing others in an embarrassing position. It is very difficult for a Japanese to respond to any suggestion or request with a definite “no”. What the Japanese will often do instead is resort to a vague sort of reply to the effect that the matter needs further study and consideration. They do this to save face for the person who has made the suggestion or request, but Americans may not properly understand it and may completely misinterpret the vagueness as compliance and assume that the proposition has been accepted. but this was apparently never made clear to Nixon. That is why he concluded that he had been double-crossed. This misunderstanding had serious adverse consequences for Japanese-U.S. relations.
Case 25
Nonverbal behaviors such as smiles seem to cut across cultural lines. But in reality, they are often found to be not universal. To most Americans, a smile is the most common nonverbal behavior to