I had a session with professors/teachers recently, and we were talking on culture and communication. In one of the exercises they had to interpret behavior and respond to situations accordingly. One such situation was; your student sends you an email addressing you as “Hi Dr Murthy”…. I was surprised at the reaction of teachers. One …
When we decided to go to Turkey my main concern was food. I am vegetarian and was worried that I may not find food that suits my Indian palate. Every time we travel abroad I lose weight mainly because I really don’t care much for the cold food served in different countries. I had resigned …
After a long time, I am reading an interesting book on Culture- Culture Map by Erin Meyer. The book talks of eight scales which affect the way people interact in Business. Replete with examples the book is an enjoyable read. Erin Meyer talks of cultural relativity. Your cultural leanings are measured on a scale and …
My grandson in the US (he is four years old) told me one day; “Everyone in my school speaks American”. I asked him, “What do you speak at home”? He said, “I speak English”. His view was that what he spoke was Standard English, while others spoke with an accent. This seems to be the …
Cultural generalizations and Ethnocentrism All of us are aware on how we get judgmental when we meet people for the first time. We often make judgments about a person’s capability by looking at the way she/he dresses. I have had many experiences during my travels when people who meet me often exclaim “You speak very …
Was the bag heavy or light? This happened a few years ago. I was travelling by bus to work. It was peak hours and the bus was crowded. However, I had a comfortable seat. When the bus stopped at one of the scheduled stops a few foreigners got in. One of them, a lady, was …
“On your right!” During my visit to Seattle in the United States, my routine included a long walk every day. The walk was through a path in the woods in one of the many forested areas around Mercer Island. During the walk I met many people; joggers, cyclists. Many of them would smile and greet …
Let’s look into the other Rules- Clarity of expression Clarity of expression in essential for conveying our message. Clarity of expression includes grammatical and lexical accuracy. Our writing should should be grammatically correct and the words used appropriate so that they convey the correct meaning. Hence, long complicated sentences should be avoided. Also, the words …
The six golden rules for effective email writing are Clarity of purpose Clarity of organization Clarity of expression Conciseness The right tone The reader’s perspective We will deal with the first two in today’s article. Clarity of purpose What is the reason for writing and what do you expect from the reader? This should be …
This is perfect! – Closing the loop in email trails Some years ago, a friend of mine wrote an article on ‘the Culture of no response’. The article mentioned among other things, how Indians don’t respond to emails. Sometimes it is because they don’t wish to disagree/ say ‘no’. However, my experience has been otherwise. …
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