Part 3: Formality

According to Oxford Dictionary, “formality” is a thing that people must do as part

of an official process, but which has little meaning and will not affect what
happened.” Formality contains tradition, ceremony and social rules which are more
important in some cultures than in others.
Generally, Asian people appreciate the formality more than Western people. In
Indian presentation video, the staffs stood up to greet their chief when he came in.
Greeting is an important and necessary procedure in Asian culture because it show
the employees’s respectation to their leader or the people in higher position. After
that, the leader introduced partner and staff to each other and they shaked hands.
These actions are the methods to built relationship and closeness with partners so
that they can continue co-operating in the future. The leader did not set time and the
presentation was vague. Besides, during the presentation, almost staffs listened to
their chief and did not have any questions. They just reported and discussed in a
neutral voice; they did not negotiate, conflict or critic their colleagues. Staff were
focused on writing and did not have much eye-contact with their coworker when
he/she were talking.
On the other hands, American bussiness was not concern too much in formality. In
American presentation video, the chief came in and said:”Ok, goodmorning
everyone.” and then directly announced the reasons, purposes and contents of the
presentation. The chief also set time for the presentation in 11h15 because their
partner’s representative would come to sign the contract in 11h30. It showed that
American people esteemed time and worked effectively. The presentation was
divided into 4 items clearly and the chief asked his staffs discussed some outstanding
issues to save time. He also called his staffs by his or her first name such as Paul or
Maya. Besides, the agenda and reports were prepared carefully to each staffs before
the presentation so they could read and think about the issues.. Through out the
presentation, the staff could mention what they disagree ( Matt with IT costs
problem) with his chief and conflict with their colleagues actively.
Comparing two presentation methods from two different cultures, it is clearly that
Asian people pay more attention in formality than Western people. They dignify
their rituals in business, look up to their leader but they are passive. the delegation
will have a chairperson to whom everyone will defer.Very often, only the
chairperson will speak or delegate only one subordinate to be the spokesperson. The
other members will remain silent and most certainly will not disagree with the
chairperson. In contrast, American people are more self-motivated, critical. They
are willing to show their point of view or ask if they do not understand or disagree.

While the differences in business etiquette between American and East Asian
cultures are quite considerable, they are not challenging. The most important
concept is to approach a culture without any preconceived opinions. If you can keep
an open mind and deal with every situation calmly, usually everything will work out
smoothly.

Part 4: Communication style

Communication style is a way in which they interact and exchange information with
others (https://online.alvernia.edu/communication-styles/)
In both videos, two leaders allowed their staffs to talk about their opinions but
Indians leader interrupted his staffs . Moreover, in the Indian presentation, the leader
used many idioms such as: “on the verge of saturation”, “offer up” to emphaie the
problems … In contrast, American chief asked his staffs directly, let them show their
comments and thanked them for distributing opinions. He used straight words and
clear demand to his staffs.