Margaret Owens Case Study

Abstract It is always important to research your interviewee before conducting your interview. Rhea main reason is because you never want to offend anyone nor do you want to be disrespectful without actually meaning it. If you want a good turnout especially in a business setting always see whom your audience is.

Some common areas of intercultural misinterpretations are female-male interaction, respectfulness, attire, and language.

Keywords: interview, respect, Japan, persuasion, taboos In scenario number two, Margaret Owens is getting ready to conduct interviews in order to find Japanese representatives to help her company market a line of pharmaceuticals in Japan. After having her interview with the Japanese representative she was pretty much flabbergasted with how the interview went. Even though each representative had remarkable academic records and recommendations, she noticed that no one ever spoke up in a convincing manner. Hey also mad short eye contact towards her and seemed very shy about their objectives. After Margaret Owens reported back to her boss of the drug company, No is the Vice President of Asian Markets, she learns that speaking up can translate o being disrespectful and also to show eye contact can mean either disrespectful or aggression (Bell, 2010).

In this paper I will discuss the collective areas of intercultural misinterpretations and how Margaret Owens could have conducted interviews where she could have gotten them on her team for her drug company.

There are eleven common misunderstandings. It is always good to know the different common intercultural misunderstandings because you may be put in a situation like Margaret Owens but know with the awareness and knowledge you will be able to prevent this a tuition like Margaret Owens from happening. Some of the 11 areas are: appropriate attire, taboos, obligations, racist, religion, language/translations, and respectfulness (Bell, 2010). The first common area of intercultural misinterpretation is the “male-female” interactions.

Every cultural has different stance on how male and female should interact with each other and although you may disagree on their rules and lifestyle trying to be understanding of it can really help you avoid conflict especially in a business setting.

The case did not specify if the interviewees were all Omen, all men, or if it was both men and women at the interview. But lets say if all the interviewees were men, Margaret Owens could of research how to conduct her interview before the actual date to ensure that things went smooth.

For example it is appropriate to swap business cards (Memphis) when you are meeting them for the very first time. It is also appropriate to make sure that you examine the business card very digitally and to memorize their name. Since this was a business interview I am sure the interviewees had business cards to give to Margaret and if they did she probably id not know what to do and may have Just accepted but in the disrespectful way Inch is putting it into her pocket or not accepting it with both of her hands Ammoniac, n.

D. ). Respect” in this case somewhat goes hand in hand with male and remade interaction. Every culture NAS their own definition to respect and knowing is very important (Bell, 2010). According to Margaret Owens and most of America, showing eye contact lets others know that you are listening and you are paying attention and really care of what the other person is saying.

But according to Margaret Owens boss who is Asian, showing eye contact can mean disrespectful and hostility. If Margaret would have known this ahead of time she wouldn’t be confused and think that they were being rude towards her (McIntyre, n. . ). Another common area of intercultural misinterpretation is “techniques of persuasion.

” I think this area Nas important for Margaret Owens to know. The reason is because she was there looking for Japanese representatives for her drug company so she somewhat needed to persuade them to come to her company. She failed at her task when she began to ski them open up to her about personal matters. If she had researched the Japanese culture she would then know that by doing that it could be taken as rude and disrespectful (Bell, 2010).

Language and translation is also important and another area of common intercultural misunderstanding. It is always important to know what ethnicity you will be dealing with you that you can prepare yourself for any language barriers.

You always want to know if they can speak English (or your language) or if How will need a translator with you and if that is appropriate (Bell, 2010). Again, this ease was very vague so we don’t know if these Japanese who were interviewing knew English or not? But lets say they only knew some.

Since this was an interview to hire Lebanese representatives to promote a line of drugs in Japan maybe the interviewees only knew some English. With that being said, maybe Margaret was not getting much out of them due to the language barrier and maybe she needed a translator with her purges, 2003). Taboos are another common intercultural misunderstandings.

With this study case of Margaret Owens, I think that knowing the do’s and don’t taboo for pan is important to know before conducting the interview.