Language and Culture

The writer chose to write about culture in regards to behavior and orientation at work. This writer chose to write on this topic as he is a social worker by profession and this topic is of intrest to him . This writer also felt that this topic fit in well with the required reading in regards to culture and globalization. In Harvard Business Review Article Entitled " Common Language Doesn't Equal Common Culture Molinsky , (2013) The author states that most American business people when traveling to a business meeting to places like China, Japan, Korea, India, etc., will utilize a cultural guide book to help under stand how they are supposed to behave in a new place However when traveling to a place like London, they are pretty sure they can make it on there own as the assumption is that the British and American people are alike in regards to behaviors and orientation at work . Molinsky (2013) however suggest that just because two cultures share a common language or are in similar part of the world does not necessarily mean that they share a common business cultrure. For instance, Molinsky (2013) begins by discussing the topic of self- promotion, witch he considers to be one of the strongest differences he found during his year-long research in the U.S. and U.K. Molinsky (2013) stated that anyone familiar with U.S. business communication culture knows that Americans are not shy about talking about there accomplishments and selling themselves, whether it be at job fairs, interviews , sales calls, performance evaluations or when competing for prize internal assignments and positions. Overall, self-promotion has clearly proven to be a necessary and useful skill for getting ahead in the U.S. professional world. In the U.K. however, over self-promotion is uncommon as well as taboo. Molinsky (2013 ) states that most British people are pretty uncomfortable with receiving public praiseand very quick to redirect and deflate with a witty remady.