Task 11. Read the text “Values” and translate it.

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 410.

Task 12. Find answers to the following questions in the text and write them down:

1. Has each culture different values?

2. What have Americans been indoctrinated with?

3. What is the product of this thinking?

4. How do views about the relationships of employers and employees differ?

5. Where does employment tend to be for a lifetime?

6. Where is autocratic rule expected?

VALUES

Also differing by culture are our values – how we evaluate the critical mat­ters in life. Americans, for example, have been indoctrinated with the Puritan work ethics. There is the belief that if one puts hard work ahead of pleasure, success will follow. The product of this thinking is an emphasis on planning, working efficiently and max­imising production. Of course, not all of us subscribe to this ethics, but it is a strong force in the thinking of those in our culture. The prevailing view in some other cul­tures is quite different. In some, the major concern is for spiritual and human well-being. The view of work is relaxed and productivity is, at best, a secondary concern.

Views about the relationships of employers and employees also may differ by cul­ture. North American workers expect to change companies in their career a number of times; and they expect companies to fire them from time to time. Employees expect to move freely from job to job and they expect employers to hire and fire as their needs change. Expectations are quite different in some other cultures. In Japan, for example, employment tends to be for a lifetime. The workplace is viewed much like a family with loyalty expected from employees and employer. Differences such as this have caused misunderstandings in American-Japanese joint ventures.

How employees view authority is yet another question that cultures view differ­ently. North Americans generally accept authority, yet they fiercely maintain the rights of the individual. In many Third World cultures, workers accept a subservient role passively. Autocratic rule is expected – even wanted.