ABSTRACT
Persons from cultures other than our own may not use or respond to nonverbal cues in the same way as we do. Why? Because they have internalized their culture's rules and behave in ways that we are not accustomed to. For example, while we may value promptness, they may customarily arrive late for meetings with us; stand much closer to us than we are comfortable with; look away rather than directly at us; smile at us even when delivering bad news; gesture effusively, which we likely find overly dramatic; or speak so softly that we have difficulty hearing them. The norms for behavior in one culture may diverge from the norms governing behavior in others. Only when successfully adjusting to such cultural variations are we able to respond in ways that promote the sharing of effective personal and professional intercultural relationships.
