"Ceremony is the smoke of friendship."
Chinese proverb
I've spent the better part of my career working with Asian based companies, in the US and throughout Asia, and clearly understand the importance, if not sometimes aggravating role ceremony plays in business dealings.
Question to my Asian friends: Do you recognize the Western business person's propensity for informality as a form of ceremony?
Question to my Asian friends: Do you recognize the Western business person's propensity for informality as a form of ceremony?
Is there such a thing as "informal ceremony" in business, possibly in the same way a wedding on the beach in Maui is still a wedding ceremony?
The problem isn't with one culture's ideas regarding ceremony versus what another thinks. The problem starts when one attempts to force their views on the other.
ReplyDeleteI agree Carla when "force" is what happens; however in my experience it rarely came to that. More often we would simply follow the old saying, "when in Rome do as the Romans do."
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