Conflict Across Cultures Series: Have you had enough time to think 
about the Oranges puzzle from a couple of weeks ago? Here is the background to remind you…
If one party wants to grow orange trees and the other party has a child to nourish, (and there are 2 oranges), what is the solution? Take a minute and try to think of a reasonable solution…
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Conflict Across Cultures: When you next think you are in conflict
with someone with a different background, how do you feel? Do you feel “first world” guilt? Do you ignore the differences and judge the other party by your own standards and codes?
It is not easy, but applying culture theory can help…
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Intellectually, the first world would say, we have a global economy,
shared responsibility for climate change and that every country has a sporting chance to compete in the World Cup.
I want to pose a simple question; can humans think globally? During the World Cup…
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When working internationally, there are certain principles
that are good to remember:
When things just don’t seem to be going right… Remember:
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We will never fully transcend our cultural influences to have 
an objective view. Everybody is trapped by their history, community, education, language, family upbringing and body. Our five (or 8 senses) take in everything around us. If this information were to be made readily available to us, we would be paralysed and blinded; swamped by data overload…
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“We should never denigrate any other culture but rather help 
people to understand the relationship between their own culture and the dominant culture. When you understand another culture or language, it does not mean that you have to lose your own culture.”
Edward T Hall (Anthropologist)
to see the Cultural Whole.
By Matthew Hill
When we think of “culture”, we may see pictures, remember what we were taught in a geography class in school or think that sophisticated stereotypes represent the values and behaviours of a country and its people.
A large body of culture specialists exist working in this area including – academics, students and practitioners. Some of them are now feeling frustrated or even trapped by cultural oversimplifications. Psychometric tests, models and questionnaires appear to reduce and limit the individual or team being measured…
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Why we need to become global networkers
When organisations ‘go global’ we often think of the formal networks that need to be stretched and expanded to accommodate the increase in communication that results. What we often fail to realise is that as individuals, we now need to network on a global scale as well, in order to maintain the effectiveness of our role. Having teams spread out across the globe, having key opinion leaders in remote offices means that our influencing skills can be severely tested as we try to continue applying them but now mostly virtually instead of face to face…
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There are many models that exist to describe the stages of emotions
and behaviours that one experiences during culture shock and the adaptation process. All of these models include periods of highs and lows, anticipation and resolution. One model that describes the many ups and downs of culture shock is Rhinesmith’s Ten Stages of Adjustment.
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Hello, I'm Deborah Swallow and, for the last fifteen years, I've worked in over thirty countries addressing the complexities of people working internationally across multiple cultures, so individuals and organisations alike can gain an authentic competitive edge and win in international markets.
Contact me now for better international performance and increased profits
Tel: +44 (0) 207 1936 281
Email: deborah@deborahswallow.com
