Business Culture

Culture is defined as "the customs, ideas and civilization, of a group of people".

I am willing to be a businessman. Before setting forth my plan, I feel that it is very important for me to meet new people who have good experience in the field. Also, from different cultures I get information from various backgrounds. So, the first qualities that I need are: good communication, to express my ideas politely, diplomacy as well as the respect of personal space.

Good communication could be language or body language. For instance, in a meeting we shake hands and maintaining eye contact to show respect. Business contact cards are exchanged after the initial introduction. Canadians like their space and prefer to be at an arm's length when speaking to someone.

Another value that I need is time. Time is money. Time wasting not accepted. Time is keeping to a schedule and attending meetings on time, to figure out the expectation for every culture.

The third skill that I need is teamwork : The ability to collaborate with others to share ideas and tasks. The fourth thing I need is equality.This means offering the same job types and positions for men and women. The fifth is self -direction to solve problems and initiate work on individual projects. The sixth thing that I need is informality that could involve the using of first names, business casual clothing at many workplaces, greeting with a wave, a handshake or a "hello". Finally, I need self-improvement: is through attending workshops and taking classes.

Understanding business culture and communication in the Canadian workplace can involve  a"steep learning curve" for many new immigrants.

Trying to observe and understand culture is like trying to observe and understand an "iceberg". There are things that are easy to see on the surface. However, it is not so easy to understand and predict what is under the surface.

In Canada every company has its special customs and workplace values that consist of multi-cultures.

Canadian companies' meetings are used to review proposals, plans, brain-storm and communicate decisions.You may feel you need to learn more about some of the other business cultures you deal with. A multitude of languages are spoken in Canada: 67.1% English, 21.5% French, 2.6% Chinese, 0.8% Punjabi, 0.7% Spanish and 0.5% Arabic.