Societies have different cultures and people in each culture are grown and raised with a set of norms, values, and beliefs. Culture is a set of norms, values, and beliefs which are shared in a specific society among people. These values and beliefs are learned from their childhood through their adulthood. Culture is not something which everyone is born with, but it is something which everyone learns while growing up. It does not only influence the daily lives, but it also influences the business activities which take place in that particular society. Many of us work with people who have different backgrounds and that makes it important for us to understand the differences between cultures. So, although cultures might look similar, there are …show more content…
The fourth difference is specific versus diffuse. In other word, it is the answer to the question do we keep our private life and work life separate or not? In specific oriented cultures, individuals keep their work life and private life separate. Other characteristics of people in this type of culture are being to the point. A member of a specific-oriented culture is more open in public but closed in private. Comparing with a specific culture, in a diffuse oriented culture the private life and work life are attached to each other. In a diffuse culture, individuals are more open in private but closed in public and individuals give their friends permission to access their private life. So a friend is considered your friend in every stage and during happiness or sadness and that’s why trust and understanding is highly important in this type of culture. For example in a specific culture, an employer cannot ask his/ her employee to paint his/her house while in a diffuse culture it is normal to ask the employee to paint the house. Based on what has been explained, U.K. and the Netherlands are typical specific-oriented cultures while Russia includes a diffuse culture. Tips for doing business with a person with specific-oriented culture is to be quick, efficient, and to the point while doing business with diffuse culture requires taking more time and respecting person’s title, age, and background (Trompenaars & Turner,