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CULTURE IN BUSINESS REPORT EXPATRIATE MANAGER INTERVIEW Lecture: Truong Thi Nam Thang, PhD, MBA

Group: Nguyen Thi Thu Hang (21/6) Le Pham Diem Hang Hoang Thi Quy Pham Thanh Thuy Nguyen Hong Van

I.

Interviewee Name: Sandrine Depeux Gender: Female National: France Work in: Buffalo Tour Company (94 Ma May, Hanoi, Vietnam) Position: Officer Working time: 4 years Content of interview After the interview, we come to some conclusions about the advantages and disadvantages of working abroad. 1. Time focus Different cultures have different perceptions of time according to their environment, history, traditions and general practices. Hall and Hall (1990) distinguish two prominent time systems which are of particular relevance to management: Monochromic: time is used in a linear way one activity at a time Polychromic: people tend to focus on multiple tasks According to the interview, the Vietnamese people are monochromic compared with the French because the Vietnamese workers tend to do one task at a time and they only focus on this task while the French workers tend to do three or four tasks at a time.

II.

2. Structure Term structure refers in business to an organizational structure and the value orientation concerns the relation between individual and a group. Individualism: I predominates over the we

Collectivism: interests of the group prevail over individuals

The French employees prefer individualism because they do not want to share ideas, share work, etc., with each others. They want to do their work by themselves. In contrast, the Vietnamese employees prefer more collectivism than the French. They do not want to do work alone. They tend to be in one group and share work with someone else.

3. Competition Competitive When competitiveness is valued, the culture is focused on: - Acquiring wealth - Performing well - Achieving ambitions Co-operative - Competition is not considered to be the main purpose of business - Stress is on the quality of life, relationships and consensus Because of the trend of collectivism, Vietnamese people like to work in team or group so they are more co-operative. When doing job, they support and share the task with the others. Specially, the Vietnamese like to build and maintain the relationships with people around. It is unlike with the French. They want to work on themselves. They focus on performance-based therefore they are more competitive. In addition, the French managers tend to select employee who has ability to work independently. 4. Power Power value orientation: the extent to which a society expects or accepts that power is distributed unequally. Hierarchy: level of power and authority are strictly marked Equality: status and formal position have less influence Vietnamese managers (or leaders) tend to be more autocratic. In Vietnamese organization structure, people have no equal power. The head of the company has the highest power than other people. He also has the highest responsible for everything. All decisions are finally made by the CEO or the top level managers. The higher position you are, the much power and authority you have. The structure is tightly controlled and the work relations should be strictly prescribed. In contrast, the French managers (or leaders) tend to be more equality. They delegate the tasks to all subordinates and let staffs have the right to make decisions. That will motivate the staffs to work more effectively. 5. Communication Context related to framework, background and surrounding circumstances. High-context - Information is hidden in the text - Situation carries most of the information Low-context - The message are clear and explicit

The Vietnamese people do not talk directly what they want. It is a big problem in communications for foreigner who is come from Western. Most of the Western people in general, the French people in specific tend to talk directly in the dialog whereas the Vietnamese people do not. The French people often show their emotions and thinking in a direct way. Therefore, the foreigners sometimes find it difficult to understand what the Vietnamese people think.

6. The challenging and satisfying when working in Vietnam The most challenging experience According to the interviewee, the most challenging issue is to work with Vietnamese people. Vietnamese people talk too much while working whereas French people like her do not. During the work, she found out that her colleagues could talk or chat for hours about everything such as family, children, friends, hobbies, living habits, even the meat price at the market and so on. Therefore, they cannot focus on their own work and achieve the maximum efficiency. The most satisfying experience

Because of different cultures, Sandrine has to face up with some difficulties. However, she said that there are a lot of opportunities and choices to look for a job for her in Vietnam that there is not in her country, France. Sandrine emphasized on the job opportunities especially in tourism though she hasnt studied this major at the university. 7. Recommendations to ensure the success when working abroad First of all, we should study the language of that country we decide to work in. After that, the interviewee advised us to be open minded. We should try to be relaxed when discussing new ideas rather than having a knee-jerk reaction to be right. However, its essential to listen to what your manager says rather than jumping in with only your opinions. You should let him or her finish speaking then you use active, or reflective to understand and clarify their ideas. Secondly, youd better to try to talk directly and dont hesitate to tell the other when you have a problem. No one, especially the Westerners can understand you if you talk in an indirect way. The Westerners in general, the French people in specific, they are very straightforward so we should adjust our behaviours to achieve the best result in communications. Thirdly, Sandrine suggested us that we should be more independent though she has known that our Vietnam culture is collectivism. When we go to another country to work, especially France, you often have to work independently. French people just only work in teams or groups whenever they have big projects or maybe that teamwork can be helpful for their personal purpose. Finally, during the interview, the interviewee mentioned about the phenomenon of Vietnamese people after living or working abroad. She said that those people tend to show off and behave as they are more knowledgeable than the other. In addition, they also lose their Vietnam culture. This is one of the negative effects often occurs to group of Vietnamese people when they go abroad. Therefore, she advised us not to forget our culture and be proud of it because every country has its own culture that make the world culture different and rich. To become a world citizen, we should be

aware of culture differences, acquire knowledge, learn deeply and put them into practice.