by Carol H. Morgan

Created on: April 23, 2008   Last Updated: June 06, 2008

With significant geographic, language and cultural barriers, nations that are typically considered "Western," (Western Europe and its former empire), are divided from cultures that are more typically "Eastern," (or those in India, Asia and Eurasia). These differences reach into nearly every aspect of daily life, including the ways that the two groups engage in business practices and etiquette.

"EAST" VS. "WEST:" BUSINESS HIERARCHY

Those with a western-style cultural background are often raised from the time they are small to think that everyone is essentially the same in ways that matter, and that we are not to maximize or even acknowledge differences. This might translate into a business context where everyone that is higher in the corporate structure minimizes that fact and tries to make his subordinates feel more like equals - at least on the surface. To this end he might do things like invite them to call him by his first name.

The cultures of Japan, China and India are examples of those that retain ancient social hierarchies from such places as religion or social caste. It is very important to them that they all be treated according to their position in this agreed-upon hierarchy, and for a Western business person to not do so will be an act of dishonor.

In Japan, for instance, it is important to defer to and first address the person of most status in the room. In India, it is important to not imply that someone of middle or high social rank not perform menial tasks. In an American business meeting, for example, if a desk needed to be moved by two people in a meeting, it wouldn't matter if one of them were the CEO, he would probably be happy to do it. But implying that an Indian businessman should do something of this type would be to insinuate inferior or menial status.

"EAST" VS. "WEST": RITUAL

The western preference has become over the past few centuries to focus on things that "really matter": If something doesn't have intrinsic or overwhelming value or significance intrinsically, then it should be dispensed with. Clothing, language, music, and food have all become simplified and oriented toward practicality and convenience, and many of the traditional and ritualistic aspects of many of our possessions and practices are eliminated if not judged to be of immediate or material value.

The eastern philosophy of ritual (one thing typically judged to be recently less important in the west) is quite the opposite. There is still the retained sense of meaning in

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