Beyond Chocolate: Understanding Swiss culture

by Margaret Oertig-Davidson, Eliana Ribeiro (Illustrator), Gracie Holiday (Contribution by)

Overview

Go beyond Swiss chocolate, beyond the initial fun and adventure of a new country and a new career to immerse yourself in the cultural attitudes of Switzerland's fascinating, multi-faceted society. These thought-provoking insights are based on extensive interviews with Swiss and international people who know well the ups and downs of life in Switzerland. These observations enable newcomers to better understand the perspectives of their Swiss neighbours, friends and international business colleagues. Margaret Oertig-Davidson conducts seminars at international Swiss companies and universities as an expert on relations between Swiss and English-speaking cultures. This engaging study exposes different attitudes and potential misunderstandings about friendship, neighbourliness, being professional, giving and getting compliments and criticism, parenting, schooling, being polite, entertaining, negotiating, decision making, business etiquette, team work, leadership, making plans, and much much more.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783905252217
Publisher:	Schwabe
Publication date:	05/01/2011
Edition description:	2., uberarb. u. aktualis. Auflage
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 1.25(h) x 9.00(d)

About the Author

Margaret Oertig-Davidson is Scottish and has lived and worked in Switzerland since 1987, training business and professional people to communicate internationally. She has developed and conducted a range of cross-cultural seminars for international companies and universities, with a main focus on business relations between Swiss and English-speaking cultures. She lives near Basel with her Swiss husband and two daughters.

Table of Contents

Welcome to the party
Section one: What's it all about: 1. The peaches and the coconuts
2. How people talk
3. It's not personal
4. Correct behaviour
5. Dancing on the phone
6. Language of the heart
Section two: Settling in locally: 7. Good fences make good neighbours
8. Join the club
9. Think local
10. Entertaining
11. Rules and social control
Section three: Children and culture: 12. Fostering self-reliance
13. Self reliance and school
14. Talking up space
Section four: The world of work: 15. English in international companies
16. Plain speaking as an ideal
17. Consensus and internal politics
18. Understatement
19. Business etiquette
20. Small talk
21. The 'Du' virus
22. Ropes and networks
23. Switzerland works
24. Leadership
25. Sticking to the plan
26. Project team work
After the party
Appendix: Historical reasons for politeness
Notes
Index
About the author