Podcast intercultural

A group of students from different countries discuss a business situation where a Vietnamese company wants to acquire a French company. They analyze the cultural differences between the two countries using theories of Hofstede and Mayer. They suggest strategies for the Vietnamese to reassure the French, including discussing French culture over dinner and using polite expressions. They also emphasize the importance of relationship building and language consideration. The students then discuss their own levels of cultural awareness and share their experiences adapting to new cultures. Let go. Hello, thank you for listening to us today. I hope everyone is doing fine. My name is Oliver Calvert. I'm 20 years old. I'm from France and I'm an International Communication Management student at the Hague University of Applied Sciences. I will be your host today and I'm joined by four other students here from Tuat. We form group 27 in the Intercultural and International Communication class. Could you guys present yourselves? Hi, I'm Laura. I'm 18 years old and I'm from the Netherlands. I'm a Communication student from the Dutch program. Hi, I'm Rachelle. I'm 22 years old and I'm from the Netherlands. I'm also a Communication student from the Dutch program. Hello, my name is Nhi. I'm 18 and I'm from Vietnam. I'm currently an ISS student. Hey guys, my name is Arthur. I'm 21 years old and I'm from the Netherlands too and I study Communication too. Thank you guys for presenting yourselves. ...Vietnamese break-in company to help them acquire a French company to extend their business in France. The negotiations are going to take place in France in a fancy restaurant in Paris over dinner. The sign-up of the contract will take place the next day in the office of the French. There are four people present, two business people of France, two... No, it's not four, it's six. Fuck my life. Oh, stop. Oh, this is recording. Yes. So, we chose the countries Vietnam and France for our business situation. Our business situation is that we're part of a European business consultee agency. We need to advise a Vietnamese break-in company to help them acquire a French company to extend their business in France. The negotiations are taking place in France in a fancy restaurant in Paris over dinner. The sign-up of the contract will then take place the next day in the office of the French. There are six people present, two business people from France, two from Vietnam and two translators that speak French and Vietnamese. So, Rachel, what do you think about this situation? Do you have any theories? I thought you were just going to ignore it and just... I wanted to, but you guys were like... No, I was like this. I don't know how this works. I don't believe this. So, Rachel, what do you think about this situation? Fuck her. What did you do? No, no, no, no, not yet. So, Rachel, what do you think about this situation? Do you have any theories? Yes, I have. By the theory of Hofstede, there is a big gap between the uncertainty avoidance. The French have 86% and get 30%. And the individualism, the French have 86% and 30% too. The French don't like surprises and appreciate structure and planning. That's why they need strong laws, rules and structure. The Vietnam, on the other hand, is more relaxed and flexible. So, precision and punctuality is not something that comes naturally to them. They also don't need more rules than necessary and think that innovation isn't a threat. There could be a conflict. The conflict that can happen is that the Vietnamese want to take a risky step because they are less precise and like to take an innovative step. This may seem riskful in the eyes of the French because they are afraid to make mistakes and invest in this. They also like to have that precision and structure and not something that's so uncertain. So, overall, the Vietnam must do a good job to reassure them and impress them because they want to acquire them for their business. Thank you for your insight. So, Rachel, what do you think about this situation? Do you have any theory? I do. By the theory of Hofstede, there is a big gap between the uncertainty avoidance. The French have 86 points and the Vietnam 30 points. And the individualism, the French have 74 points and the Vietnam 30 points also. The French don't like surprises and appreciate structure and planning. That's why they need strong laws, rules and structure. The Vietnam, on the other hand, is more relaxed and flexible. So, precision and punctuality is not something that comes naturally to them. They also don't need more rules than necessary and think that innovation is the threat. There could be a conflict. The conflict that can happen is that the Vietnamese want to take a risky step because they are less precise and like to take an innovative step. This may seem riskful in the eyes of the French because they are afraid to make a mistake and invest in them. They also like to have that precision and structure. So, they don't like something that's uncertain. So, overall, the Vietnam must do a good job to reassure the French and to impress them because they want to acquire them for their business. Thank you very much for your insights. So, guys, some... Hello? Yeah? So, guys, with some theories, could you explain how the Vietnamese should reassure the French? Laura, could you start? Yes, of course. The theory of Helmut helps us look into the negotiating techniques of French and Vietnam. You can see that the countries are very compatible. Both would rather do business over dinner and they also don't like a direct or focused negotiation. So, when consulting Vietnam, we will tell them they should mention an icebreaker for the French, which is interest in French culture and cuisine. If the French... Sorry. This is French... No, you've got to go along. I could cut it like that and then you go along. No, no, no. Let me do that. Okay. Why? It looks so good. This one. Yeah. So, guys, with some theories... So, guys, with some theories, could you explain how the Vietnamese should reassure the French? Laura, could you start? Yes, of course. The theory of Helmut helps us look into the negotiating techniques of both French and Vietnam. You can see that the countries are very compatible. Both would rather do business over dinner and they also don't like a direct or focused negotiation. While consulting Vietnam, we will tell them they should mention an icebreaker for the French, which is interest in French culture and cuisine. If the Vietnamese want to acquire the French, they should mention some French culture over dinner. And because both countries don't like direct negotiation, the Vietnamese should keep it light, so the French are not intimidated. The two countries also don't like to negotiate in English, so they want to speak in their own language, which means we appointed a translator. This is one of the reasons why we believe French and Vietnam could solve the conflict really fast, because they're actually really alike. Okay. Arthur, is there another way for the Vietnamese to impress the French? Yes, there is. We need to look at the theory of Erwin Mayer. And by looking at the theory of Erwin Mayer, we can conclude that it's important to know how your own culture works to have a functioning cooperation. If you take a look at Mayer's first dimension, low versus high context, you can see that not every person likes to be as direct as Dutch people in a business situation. The two nationalities present at our table are a bit more laid back instead of straight to the point. That's why in this business case, it's ideal to have a negotiation in a fancy restaurant, so they can break the ice by talking about their culture, food, or favorite places in each other's countries. This will help them communicate in their preferred way, which is more focused on non-verbal messages, the physical and social setting, and a great attention to cultural values that exist. So a piece of advice for the Vietnamese is to use polite expressions, such as s'il vous plait or merci, to show their cultural interest and politeness. The French use small talk often, so mastering the art of small talk about topics like the weather or recent news is a good way to conversate too with them. Alright, thank you very much. Lynn, could you sum it up for us? Yeah, of course. To sum up, we can propose some strategies and solutions to ensure a successful negotiation between a Vietnamese company and their French counterparts. First of all, provide a well-structured plan with concrete numbers and data to minimize ambiguity for future collaboration. Secondly, find a common ground to balance the collective environment while respecting individual contributions. And thirdly, understand and respect the power dynamics in both Vietnamese and French cultures. And another crucial aspect is relationship building, which is considered the cornerstone of successful negotiations in Vietnamese culture. Building trust over time and establishing personal relationships can significantly influence decisions in both cultures. And last but not least, language consideration will be addressed to avoid potential misunderstandings. Thank you very much. Alright people, let's change subjects and talk about our levels of cultural awareness. Milton Bennett produced a framework called the Development Model of Intercultural Sensitivity. There are six stages, denial, defense, minimization, acceptance, adaptation and integration. The first three reflect ethnocentrism and the others ethno-relativism. So I scored 66 on the own intercultural awareness tool, breaking me at the adaptation phase on a balanced scale. I think this reflects me quite well. I'm aware that everyone and anyone has different backgrounds, experiences and preferences. They're different from mine. I take the time to ask about those when I meet someone new. It's always interesting to hear different stories and cultures. Moreover, I try to adapt to new habits when I move to countries. I discovered it was normal to put, you know that little separation bar when you're the cashier for the person behind? I'm usually used to not doing that any time. Dashen, what did you score? Yeah, I did the test too and I had 57 points. So I scored in a scale on acceptance. I can agree with the results because I find other cultures very interesting and treat them with respect. Although in the beginning of these lessons, I was more reluctant because I didn't know what to expect. I wasn't used to having classes in English and speaking in English. So that was a bit out of my comfort zone and a challenge. But after a while, I even started to like talking in English and getting to know more about other people's cultures and socializing with them. I think I would like to develop myself even more because I have learned to find out that I like other cultures and find them interesting. I want to learn more from them, but I find it difficult to adapt. This is because I find it hard to let loose of the things I know and I'm used to. But I think I can learn this by communicating more with different cultures. So that was my experience from these classes. Thank you. Laura, what about you? I also scored 57 points, which means I'm on a better scale at acceptance. I know why this could be correct because I know I would never judge someone just by their culture or background. I love to learn about other cultures, and this course really helped me opening my eyes to so many more cultures. But also, I kind of expected that I would get higher than acceptance. I always assume I'm really adapting to all kinds of cultures, especially because the Netherlands is a multicultural country. Now I know I can maybe learn more about other cultures, and what I said earlier, this class really helped me already. Also, I thought my English was really good, but then I started this subject and had a hard time talking to the other students. But I think I improved, and now I just talk to all students in English. Interesting, thank you. And Yini? My final score is 56, quite close, and I'm in the acceptance stage. I find this result quite convincing, because since I moved to the Netherlands to study abroad, I don't find any difficulties in interacting with people from different countries. I understand that people around me come from many different cultural backgrounds, which may influence their mindsets and behaviours. But I respect other cultural backgrounds, and I find the differences in cultural aspects among many of my friends very interesting. And I'm also open-minded, and I'm willing to share about my culture. Therefore, I haven't experienced culture shocks lately, and I would say I'm more inclined towards the adaptation stage. Lovely. Arthur, what did you score? Well, I scored 47, and I'm at acceptance phase 2. And I think it's only right for me, because I accept and recognise cultural differences too. I think in a group of diverse backgrounds, the vision gets greater while working together as a group. My ambition is to be able to put myself in other people's shoes, so I can get their ideas immediately, instead of them having to explain themselves a lot and not getting their ideas. So a subject like intercultural management really helps me with this. But I must say, I think my own approach is sometimes the best. Perfect. So, would anyone like to add something? No? No, thanks. Well, thank you everyone for listening to our podcast today. Bye.