The Global Leader: Understanding American Business Culture

"Despite popular beliefs to the contrary, the single greatest barrier to business success is the one erected by culture."

Edward T. Hall and Mildred Reed Hall, Hidden Differences

Sound knowledge of the business culture is essential when engaging in international business to reduce lost time and wasted money. As an old saying goes, “Seek to first understand, then seek to be understood.”

All cultures are very complex entities. This is also true of the American culture which is built upon the cultural inputs from many lands. Unlike Japan and Switzerland which are homogeneous cultures, the United Sates is heterogeneous culture that makes it a unique entity on the world stage.

Up until the last twenty-five years of the 20th Century, it was common for immigrants to completely blend into the dominant culture. In fact the term for this cultural assimilation was the"melting pot." This continues today but to a lessor degree than in the past.

Some Unique Aspects of the American Culture

Presented below are some aspects of this culture that are considered somewhat unique.

1. Food and meals do not have the social significance found in many cultures.

2. Family isn’t as important as in most cultures.

3. Americans like change.

4. Social contacts and relationships tend to be more work related, as opposed to neighborhood, community and religion.

5. American frequently change jobs and move.

6. Employment is not tied to companies or industries or location.

7. Getting ahead is usually done via changing jobs.

8. Education is more job related. For example, community colleges prepare you for a job.

9. Social mobility is related to money, not social standing or ties in a family.

10. Americans take pride in job achievements; i.e. my son the doctor.

11. Most Americans actually pay their taxes.

12. It's a legalistic society

13. The understanding of other cultures is very low, as is the understanding of nonAmerican history.

14. There is little interest in foreign cultures in most areas of the country (exceptions are metropolitan areas with large immigrant populations such as New York and Lost Angeles). 15. Business people are relatively informal in their meetings but there is a great deal of them.

Cultural Resources

To get a basic understanding of some of the cultural differences, you can consult the following sources of information:

International Dimensions of Technical Communications

The site covers a few of the cultural assumption one takes for granted in America and the Orient which can lead one astray in work environments.

The Ten Commandments of American Culture

These values drive the behavior of many individuals.

Welcome mat can be slippery for foreign workers

December 5, 2004, By PATRICK REVERE, Staff writer. The article presents some of the problems individuals have with adapting to the U.S. culture.

Humor: Understanding the U.S. Author Unknown

You live in Arizona when...

1 You are willing to park 3 blocks away because you found shade.
2. You can open and drive your car without touching the car door or the steering wheel.
3. You know that the "dry heat" outside is comparable to what hits you in the face when you open your oven door.
4. You would give anything to be able to splash cold water on your face.
5. You can attend any function wearing shorts and a tank top.
6. You have over 100 recipes for Mexican food.

You Live in California when...

1. You make over $250,000 and you still can't afford to buy a house.
2 The high school quarterback calls a time-out to answer his cell phone.
3. The fastest part of your commute is going down your driveway.
4. You know how to eat an artichoke.
5. You drive your rented Mercedes to your neighborhood block party.
6. When someone asks you how far something is, you tell them how long it will take to get there rather than how many miles away it is.

You Live in New York City when...

1. You say "the city" and expect everyone to know you mean Manhattan.
2. You have never been to the Statue of Liberty or the Empire State Building.
3 You can get into a four-hour argument about how to get from Columbus Circle to Battery Park, but can't find Wisconsin on a map.
4. You think Central Park is "nature,"
5. You believe that being able to swear at people in their own language makes you multi-lingual.
6. You've worn out a car horn.
7. You think eye contact is an act of aggression.

You Live in Maine when...

1. You only have four spices: salt, pepper, ketchup, and Tabasco.
2. Halloween costumes fit over parkas.
3. You have more than one recipe for moose.
4. Sexy lingerie is anything flannel with less than eight buttons.
5. The four seasons are: winter, still winter, almost winter, and construction.

You Live in the Deep South when...

1. You can rent a movie and buy bait in the same store.
2."ya'll" is singular and "all all" is plural.
3. After five years you still hear, "You ain't from 'round here, are Ya?"
4. "He needed killin' " is a valid defense.
5. Everyone has 2 first names: Billy Bob, Jimmy Bob, Mary Sue, Betty Jean, MARY BETH, etc.

You live in Colorado when...

1. You carry your $3,000 mountain bike atop your $500 car.
2. You tell your husband to pick up Granola on his way home and he stops at the day care center
3. A pass does not involve a football or dating.
4. The top of your head is bald, but you still have a pony tail.

You live in the Midwest when...

1. You've never met any celebrities, but the mayor knows your name.
2. Your idea of a traffic jam is ten cars waiting to pass a tractor.
3. You have had to switch from "heat" to "A/C" on the same day.
4. You end sentences with a preposition: "Where's my coat at?"
5. When asked how your trip was to any exotic place, you say, "It was different!"

You live in Florida when....

1. You eat dinner at 3:15 in the afternoon.
2. All purchases include a coupon of some kind -- even houses and cars.
3 Everyone can recommend an excellent dermatologist.
4. Road construction never ends anywhere in the state.
5. Cars in front of you are often driven by headless people.