North American Etiquette: How North American interact and why Corina Mihaela Paraschiv, Marketing & Communications Director for Rotaract in USA, Canada and Carrabean’s

Understanding North Americans How we communicateHow we make decisionsHow we assign tasksHow we relate to time

How We Relate to Each Other Less concerned with self-categorizing Less influenced by group membership Greater skills in entering and leaving new groups Engage in more open and precise communication Willingness to respond to ambiguous messages Easier to trust others in computer-mediated communications

How We Communicate Democracy heritage ◦ Expressing your opinion is a form of participation ◦ Needs must be expressed clearly Discussion style ◦ May come across as rude ◦ May come across as uninterested ◦ May not notice “subtle hints”

How We Make Decisions Participative & Team-Oriented ◦ Involve everyone in decision-making ◦ Leaders are facilitators and coordinators Democracy Tradition ◦ It is ok to constructively criticize a superior’s idea ◦ Seeking answers from peers is valid

How We Assign Tasks Task-Based ◦ What/Why vs Who ◦ Take deadlines & schedules seriously No face-saving ◦ Guarantee for leader ◦ Assignment through potential vs ancienty ◦ Initiative is valued

How We Relate To Time Monochronic Time Orientation ◦ Do things sequentially ◦ Relationships are subordinate to present schedule Short-Term Orientation ◦ Emphasis on results ◦ Status is not an issue in relationships ◦ Universalism

What You Bring North Americans are low on institutionized collectivity & family collectivity ◦ Community building occurs more difficultly North Americans underestimate the importance of feelings ◦ Difficulty to communicate with tact in difficult situations North Americans have a short-term orientation ◦ They are better at bargains than negotiations

We‘re Different… Now What? Content Form Encoding Confusion Noise Content Form Decoding

Where Does RYE Stand?

Long-Term Collaboration Past & future history fosters trust Belonging to Rotary build common ground

Diverse Culture Shared Situation Awareness ◦ Knowing what’s going on so you know what to do

Electronic Communication Less non-verbal cues ◦ Favors direct communication style Overall conflit in distributed groups is lower than in colladed groups ◦ Distributed groups are unaware of differences

Some Final Thoughts RYE works with a diverse, virtual team ◦ What a Challenge! What’s the first step towards success?

Some Final Thoughts Research shows that… ◦ Managerial Skills only ranked #4 ◦ The #1 Skill : Empathy  Cultural Awareness & Understanding  Respecting Others’ Values  Treating People as Individuals  Using a Different Cultural Perspective

First Step to Success Cultural Understanding, which is what the RYE program is all about!