Tiny excerpts from an animated explainer I’ve made in for Dal Sterling (Cass Production, 2016). The video explains possible business risk and problems in cross-cultural communication in light of Greet Hofstede’s cultural dimensions theory (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hofstede%27s_cultural_dimensions_theory).

The given exaples come from a rich history of South Korean Air struggling in 90′ with miscommunication with European airports staff and huge effort made to rebuild reputation and recover from edgy financial loses.
 
 

Ppalli ppalli Korean term means hurry-hurry work ethic can make Korean contractors very concerned to respond quickly to project owners’ contractual letters, when it would be more appropriate to take time
 
 
 

Koreans are very well-mannered people with strict code of etiquette that sometimes belie Western logic. Koreans will go almost any length to prevent conflicts and always avoid to be impolite in order to maintain comfortable feelings in their personal and business relationships. This kibun etiquette means that bringing bad news are withheld to the very end of the deal, because it might put relationships in jeopardy.
 
 
 

Miscommunication issues between Korean Air crew and Western air traffic controll. A lot of them came from Korean mitigation speech (wangok aubup), devotion to the rules of social hierarchy and conflicts avoidance. Most of them can be successfully overcome by proper cultural awareness training procedures.
 
 
 

Extremely respectful approach to a contractor relies heavily on understanding of one’s status relative to the person with whom one is interacting (noonchi). Whats more, to avoid disturbing harmony (hwahap) Koreans are reticent about recovering contractual entitlements, such as notifying and claiming additional time and money.
 
 
 

Rough universal cultural identifiers.
 
 

Comparison of the countries in the light of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions categories.