Do you know that someone from a different
culture may be showing you respect by avoiding eye contact in a conversation?... You do? Join the club!
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| Marlon Catalano and Greg Salomon describe the culture of NJ |
Dr. Zoubir flew into Shanghai from
Marseille, France to spend a full day with us discussing cultural variations in business communication styles. Dr. Zoubir is Professor of International Relations & International
Management at the Euromed Marseille Ecole de Management in Marseille. He
is the former Managing Director, Academic Director, and Professor of
International Relations & Global Business for Thunderbird Europe. He specializes on negotiation & mediation, cross cultural
communications, and intercultural training skills.
We found him to be
the perfect combination of passion, personality, and performance.
Not only was he passionate about his subject, but also about seeking contributions from our group, which is anything but homogenous. Moreover, Dr. Zoubir's sense of humor did not fail to entertain us all day. Why were his jokes on cross-cultural differences so funny? Well, there are some jokes that make us feel dumb for laughing at them (Q: What did a judge say when the skunk walked into the court room? A: Odor in the court). If anything, the risk with Dr. Zoubir's jokes is that you'll feel dumb for not laughing at them - they were quite intellectual and witty. The geographic and cultural diversity among us is indeed impressive: students from Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and North America proudly shared and poked fun at their norms and values that govern differences in communication styles.
We walked away from the lecture feeling a bit more
aware of the elusive but critical role that culture plays
in building relationships with colleagues and clients across borders and
cultures.
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| Executive MBA for Strategic Leadership group had great time at the Fair well dinner |
