4.2 Benefits and challenges
You will now hear what the staff have to say about the benefits and challenges of working in a multicultural and multilingual company. You’ll have seen the first part of the video in Activity 28, but this is an extended version, and lasts about 15 minutes.
Activity 29
Watch the next video about Guidance and answer the three questions below by making notes in the boxes.
1 What benefits of working in a multicultural and multilingual environment do the Guidance staff list?
Answer
Guidance’s staff list the following benefits:
- it encourages ‘multicultural understanding’
- it is interesting to work with people from different backgrounds
- it allows an appreciation of other languages and cultures
- it facilitates the establishment of a rapport with clients in different countries
- it makes it easier to empathise with people from different cultures and see things from a different point of view
- it means that language skills and multicultural experience are prized by employers.
2 What are the differences in cultural working norms that the staff identify?
Answer
Guidance’s staff list the following cultural differences they have encountered:
- that the business culture in the UK is less formal and more flexible than in other countries
- they can use their bosses’ and colleagues’ first names
- that the UK working day starts and ends later than in other countries, but allows for flexible working
- that business meetings in the UK are rarely held over lunch or dinner, and that people in the UK tend not to talk about work outside their set working hours
- different rules with regard to interrupting in meetings
- different cultural practices around the giving and receiving of business cards.
3 What are the company and its staff doing to meet the challenges of doing business internationally?
Answer
Guidance uses ‘service partners’ in the regions where they do business, who understand the cultures and traditions of their clients there and can maintain a positive relationship with them. For cultural, linguistic and networking reasons they have appointed a Brazilian business development manager to tap the market in Brazil. They are sponsoring Portuguese language classes for those employees who will be involved in doing business with Brazil. This has taught them a lot about Brazil and is an important factor in building rapport with Brazilian clients.
OpenLearn - Exploring languages and cultures 
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