Freepost - International Communication - Germany

International communication is complex in nature, and something that must be carefully considered when conducting business transaction. Different language is not the only barrier to communication, as one would think. Rather, consideration must be put into interpretation of action, high versus low context communication, and other various aspect of the other group's culture. Even when talking to cultures that we think would be at least somewhat similar to ours, there still remain differences that could make or break a business transaction. Consider Germany, for example.

After reviewing the website regarding the business and communications world in Europe, it’s easy to note the major differences found in the United States. Overall, Germany engages in a more formal and structured means of business communication. German business culture not only follows a strict hierarchy, but last names and other appropriate titles are usually used when referring to colleagues. This type of business communication obviously works for the culture in Germany, but it should be noted that while the United States often shows variability in their lines of business communication, we are often successful also. Depending on the situation and context at hand, business communication and procedures in the United States show a much wider range of variability.

In Germany while business is being conducted, all aspects and focus are on business. When people are critical or offer suggestions to a problem or idea no offense is taken as a personal attack on another person. While working in the U.S. people have a tendency to bring a more personal feel to the work place, and this allows for people to take offense in what others have to say about their work. We also tend to allow personal politics to play a factor in the way that we conduct business. While in Germany business and private life are strictly separated to the point where a request should be made before a person contacts someone else about business after the workday has ended.

The difference in cultures between Germany and the United States is now apparent after doing research. In any situations we may come across in the future, it would be wise of us to research the other group's culture that we are negotiating with. It would go a long way in helping out the transaction.

Source: http://www.communicaid.com/germany-business-culture.asp

Plagiarism and copying

As college students, we have become increasingly familiar with having to surf the web to find articles for various papers, projects, and assignments. Everyone would probably agree that plagiarism is wrong, but is it wrong to simply download an article that is not yours, even if you do not plagiarize it? Should you have to contact the author of the article in order to download it?

The purpose of writing and having an article is for the public to read and to inform society on certain topics. So naturally, people are going to download these articles from the web for their own personal use. These articles are helpful in supporting reports or essays that are being written on that particular topic. It is considered ethical to download these articles without asking permission as long as you cite where the information came from. It is when you do not cite another person's work that problems arise. If an article is easily accessible, then others should be enabled access to download it, as long as they use it in an ethical manner. If an author is adament on not wanting their work to be viewed or downloaded by others, then they should not post it to a web site where it is capable of being downloaded.

Plagiarism is very unethical and can lead to complications when work is not cited or documented appropriately. When you plagiarize someone else’s work, you are taking credit for something that is not yours. The original author is victimized by not being recognized or receiving the credit that they deserved for their research, opinions, and factual information. It is easy to avoid these complications by simply citing where you have obtained your information.

Question: Is it all right to download an article from the web for your personal use without asking permission?

There are different viewpoints in the download debate for any type of file (mp3, web page, pdf), ranging from no downloading without any permission to those who say that everything should be downloaded for free. Specifically, in the area of an article, there has been controversy and concern over commercial use of "downloading" articles. An example of this would be Google and their Google news feature, which allows people to search through news articles on the internet, and which some companies are arguing this is a violation of their copyrights. In the area of personal downloading though, it's a different ball game.

There probably isn't any real problem of downloading articles in of itself, otherwise there wouldn't be a File -> Save option in web browsers. The bigger question is the same when dealing with libraries and copies machines: what are you going to do with the article? As long as you use it for personal use, there shouldn't be a problem, as long as you give credit to who it belongs to. However, if the content is itself illegal (like the Complete Harry Potter book) or you end up claiming the text as your own, then that of course is wrong. It is fair to say that if there is a price on something then it is unethical to go else were and download it for free and to do such a thing and could lead to further complications. It is simple to avoid problems such as plagiarism if you are going to download an article. All you need to do is cite where the information came from.

Blogging In The Workplace Response

“The Commonalities Found in the Articles”

Several similarities are found in the articles of “Blogging in the Workplace.” The greatest commonality among the articles is how the use of blogging is rapidly increasing and becoming more common in the workplace. Employees of large companies and corporations are now able to have instant access to information, and can also participate in group projects more efficiently. The employees can keep track of their fellow group members and update their progress as their team mates observe in real time. The other comman theme found in the articles is the harm that blogging can cause in the workplace. Blogging can damage a company, corporation, or its employees. Information that may hurt someone’s career or even destroy the company can make their way into a blog. Because of blogging, many employees have been fired for information contained in their blog or someone else’s blog. It is essential to take into account the affects that may occur when posting information on a blog, especially high profile information.

"The Differences found in the Articles"

The main difference among the our articles was that some focused more on the legal and grey areas of blogging, specificially with regards to having a personal blog and writing bad things about the company in an entry. The exception of using a blog as a business tool only gets a brief mention toward the end. However, one of our articles did focus soley on the use of a blog for business purposes and had no mention of legal implications, though it did talk about some of the downsides of communication through a blog.

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