When an American Meets an Arab Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

When an American Meets an Arab - Essay Example Moreover, I also intend to evaluate these experiences of mine in the light of the knowledge and insights extended by the theorists like Hofstede and Hall. I would specifically like to narrow my personal experiences around the communication approaches and the accompanying differences that turned out into a mutually funny and humorous situation, when we had the first meeting with a group of US business delegates, at UAE. I worked as a junior manager with a UAE based Telecom Company. From the very start, it was obvious to me that our guests were not conversant with the Arab cultural orientation. Things were not so conducive on our side also. Most of our managers were expecting the Americans to be straightforward, task-oriented and punctual, based on the cursory experiences they had acquired on their short vacations to the US (Klein & Kuperman 2008). The meeting took place in a hotel and the initial interactions were marked by the customary exchange of pleasantries. Our team comprised of seven members with a senior manager acting as the team leader, while the American delegation comprised of six people, two of which were women. The meeting was meant to discuss the issues pertaining to a proposed technological collaboration between the two firms. The American head extended his hand to our senior manager and I must say his handshake was firm and strong. In contrast, our manager’s handshake was gentle and prolonged. It was obvious that the guest intended to end the handshake, but our manager kept on gently holding his hand for a few more seconds while exchanging courtesies. The consternation was quite obvious on the faces of our guest and the American delegates. To me who was aware that the Americans doubted the sexual orientation of my manager, going by his prolonged and gentle handshake, it was getting difficult to hold laughter.