ABSTRACT
Culture is everything that people have, think, and do as members of their society. In addition, culture must be studied indirectly by looking at the behavior, customs, material culture, and language. Most sociologists see culture as a social construction, meaning that the members of the group believe that it is real and that their culture is the best way. The natural inclination to evaluate other cultures in terms of one's own is called cultural ethnocentrism. Culture is transmitted through the process of learning and interacting with ones environment rather than through the genetic process. Because high-context cultures place emphasis on non-verbal communication, they need to know whether others understand them when they do not verbally express their ideas and feelings. Managers spend more of their day listening than engaging in any other communication activity. Brazilian managers prefer collaborating significantly more often than communicating and compromising when dealing with conflict.
