Bios:
Bio for Group #1 As salespeople: You operate off of commission, which motivates you to quickly make multiple sales. You come from a culture that is characterized by individualism and motivated by capital gain. It follows that you are often in competition for customers with your peers. Your communication style is direct – you make eye contact with potential customers, believe in firm handshakes, and spend as little time as possible on greetings/introductions. You aren’t strictly against bartering, but as a general rule you try to adhere to the $15 price tag per widget. If a customer wants to buy in bulk, you may be willing to cut them a deal. As buyers/consumers: Y ou are interested in quick transactions – you have lots of other shopping to do today! You are somewhat skeptical of people that don’t communicate with you directly and efficiently. Some might describe your communication style/body language as loud or boisterous – not only do you expect eye contact and handshakes, you often speak quickly and talk with your hands. You come from a culture that is characterized by individualism. Each of you has a lot of purchasing power – you might even be willing to try to outbid your peers, if widget supply is in short demand.
Bio for Group #2 As salespeople: Y ou try to sell your widgets as a group. You are more interested in sustenance and building relationships than exorbitant profits. You come from a culture that is characterized by collectivism. Where you come from, introductions and greetings are important – you like to know your customers by name, and are often interested in the lives of them and their families. Though the going price for your widgets is $20 each, you are open to bartering with consumers over these prices. You aren’t familiar with the idea of individuals buying products in bulk in order to save money – you might even be suspicious of this practice or consider it selfish/wasteful. As buyers/consumers: You are often interested in making purchases in pairs or as a whole group. This purchasing practice is of interest to you because it creates collective purchasing power and enables you to provide products/goods to your families and communities. Generally speaking, you are in no hurry to rush through transactions. Where you come from, you often have strong relational ties with the people that sell you goods and services. You sometimes find yourself suspicious of (or even intimidated by) those that are strongly driven by monetary gain. Consensus and harmony within your group is important to you. You might even ask for privacy to consult with your peers before you finalize a transaction. You are willing to barter with salespeople and service providers.
Debriefing questions:
Describe your personal reaction (feelings, thoughts,) to the role-playing exercise as applied to the verbal and nonverbal barriers to effective communication and relationships that can arise in a culturally diverse context. Did you experience any other barriers?
Ask one person from each of the four groups to read his or her instructions aloud before the whole group. (Before you do this, ask the class to guess what the instructions were for each of the groups.)
What did you learn about yourself in the course of this exercise?
What did you learn about others in the course of this exercise?
Name two ways in which you can use what you have learned in daily life.
