Traveling in the New Kingdom of Egypt Essay Example for Free

Traveling in the New Kingdom of Egypt Essay Life on the road to Thebes is hard for anyone, not the least for a foreigner from the land of Egypt’s former enemy. Not that it makes much difference if you have money. The poor walk; the rich take horses or camels. If you are walking along the roads and are suspected of being a foreigner, be prepared to be harassed. As for me, I am fortunate. I am neither poor, nor rich for I have some skills of value. These skills I would consider modest in comparison to the military conquests of other men which have defined most of my life. My name is Jakarob, the son of a stone mason from the land of Syria, but that land has long been abandoned by my family. The Hittite invasion swept away my father’s house. As a result, I received very little knowledge of stonemasonry and instead, survived by learning the art of languages such as Akkadian, Sumerian, and Egyptian. My knowledge of the surrounding regions, languages, and eventual journey into Egypt has made me a valuable asset to the court of Pharaoh Ahmose I. The caravan I ride with is apart of a group of professionals answering the request of the pharaoh; many of them have military expertise. These men are like me in ancestry. We are Semites who came across the Sinai into the land of Egypt seeking refuge in the land of Egypt from the Hittites. Our kings are referred to by the Egyptians as Hyksos, or â€Å"rulers of foreign lands† (Kishlansky, p. 22). We settled throughout the land of Egypt, taking up their customs, traditions, and assimilating into their culture. My father was among the first Semites to arrive in Egypt and settle. However, regardless of how assimilated our people have become in Egypt, we will never fully be accepted as Egyptian. To them we will always be foreigners. The most important innovation our people brought to the Egyptians was military technology, and hence the reason the caravan I am in consists of primarily military men. Before the Semites, the Egyptians had an army which was not very mobile. We introduced the chariot, along with a variety of tactics associated with using the chariot in combat. Then around 1552 B. C. E. , Ahmose I was able to expel the Hyksos and begin again the reign of Egyptian pharaohs (p. 23). Now it seems that no matter what Ahmose does, he will never get rid of his need for Semite military expertise, not to mention translators like myself. The chariot has become a symbol of Egyptian power, and in order for them to continue dominating local dissenters, the pharaoh must rely on our knowledge of chariot methods and tactics. Personally I have no qualms with helping the pharaoh build his base of power. Life under the Egyptians is much more preferable to life under the Hittites. Before coming to Egypt, my family spent a number of years fleeing the Hittites in Babylon and southern Mesopotamia. In this region I learned how to use the character system of writing of â€Å"cuneiform† and the language of Akkadian (p. 14). With this knowledge I was also able to learn how to write characters in my native tongue of Sumerian. The reason for this similarity I learned was that â€Å"for over a thousand years, scribes used the same symbols to write not only in Sumerian but also in the other languages of Mesopotamia, such as Akkadian, Babylonian, and Persian† (p. 15). Thus, culturally the peoples of Mesopotamia and Egypt share a common link in their system of languages. In contrast, the Hittites do not share in this cultural similarity. Instead, they originate from the Indo-European people with writing traditions vastly different than the cuneiform system. At one time, part of the Hittites’ land was of the Akkadian Empire under King Sargon and the Hittite influence was minimal (p. 16). Alas, that time has long since past, as well as the later period in which the Babylonian Hammurabi ruled his strong empire and prevented the Hittites from forming theirs. Over a period of time, Hammurabi’s successors were unable to deter the rise of the Hittites, and Babylon was overrun. Now on the road to Thebes, the threat of Hittite invasion is very far away. The Sinai desert protects Egypt from incursions by Hittite chariots. Egypt is a land of great wonder and ancient power, for the reign of the pharaohs has stretched back for generations. The source of Egyptian power comes from multiple sources, including religious authority, strong government bureaucracy, and the magnificent pyramids. Each of these pillars of Egyptian strength supports the other. King Zoser, â€Å"the founder of the Old Kingdom who built the first of the pyramid temples, the Step Pyramid at Sakkara,† could not have done so without an efficient bureaucracy and religious legitimacy (p. 21). Likewise, the pyramids reinforce a pharaoh’s power and religious significance, for the pyramids is the resting place for pharaohs in the afterlife. In other words, â€Å"the pyramids strengthen the image of the living king by honoring the physical remains of his predecessors† (p. 21). This focus on the afterlife is partially the reason for their early downfall. As I make each step closer to Thebes, I think about how the focus of Ahmose I have changed since his predecessors. Men from a multitude of backgrounds can contribute to the pharaoh’s court, even peasants (p. 22). I have no doubt my contribution will expand its power and that the second rise of Egypt’s power has just begun.

The Professional-Client Relationship Analysis

The Professional-Client Relationship Analysis Assignment Question: The professional-client/service-user relationship is expected to be objective and detached (Storr, 1989). Discuss this statement and other potentially stereotypical assertions we affix to the profession. Profession is a vocation or an occupation based on an educational training. It also requires a degree in that professional field. For example, teaching is considered to be a profession because it has both an educational training and a degree. The word profession comes from the Latin word professio which means a public declaration with the force of a promise. This means that the profession first presents itself to society as a social benefit and then society accepts the profession, expecting and trusting it to serve some important social goal. In fact, The Australian Council of Professions defines a profession as; a disciplined group of individuals who adhere to high ethical standards and uphold themselves to, and are accepted by, the public as possessing special knowledge and skills in a widely recognised, organised body of learning derived from education and training at a high level, and who are prepared to exercise this knowledge and these skills in the interest of others. The professional-client relationship, as Storr stated, is expected to be objective and detached. In fact, theories of the helping process that follows the medical paradigm have presented the ideal worker as an objective, clinical detached and knowledgeable professional. The relationship has to be objective and detached because a professional is someone whose efforts or actions are only intended to attain or accomplish a purpose or goal without any emotional involvement. For example, a doctors efforts are to cure the patients health without any personal feelings involved. In fact, if a worker expresses his real emotional feelings towards his clients, then he is considered to be unprofessional. The relationship between a professional and a client may be defined by boundaries. These boundaries make the relationship both professional and safe for the client. Paraphrasing Marilyn Peterson, from her book At Personal Risk, these boundaries are the limits that allow a safe connection between the professional and the client based on the clients needs. The clients needs should always come first. The workers personal values or biases should be prevented from their ethical decision-making. This is because, if their values enter their decision-making process, their personal views or needs would begin to govern or shape the therapeutic intervention. Therefore, in this situation the needs of the workers will be placed above the needs of their clients and the decisions will not be beneficial for the clients. Boundary can refer to the line that separates the self of the client and the self of the professional. Professionals should not touch or hug their clients because if this happens, the professional-client relationship would begin to diminish. Regardless of who initiates the touch or hug, the client or professional may then perceive the relationship as one between friends whether intended or not. Professionals should avoid becoming friends with clients and should not socialize with them. The need for professional boundaries is rooted in the power imbalance that exists between the professional and the client. This power imbalance exists because the professional has skills, expertise and knowledge that the clients do not posses and they need. This means that the client depends on and trusts the professional to do only good and not cause harm. In other words the client believes and has faith that the workers, while in their professional role, will fulfill their ethical obligations of bene ficence and non-malfeasance. Also, this power arises due to the clients disclosure of personal information. However, despite all this, professionals are human beings working with other human beings. There are days when they are tired and stressed, and as a result, their ethical decision-making may not be good as it is when they are not stressed. They may cross boundaries inadvertently or their clients may innocently push the boundaries. Nevertheless, it is the professional responsibility to maintain or re-implement boundaries and they must take responsibility for their actions. Stereotype is a belief or opinion that people in a society create on something or someone. Due to these stereotypes, many societies believe that in order to be a professional, one has to obtain an educational training and a degree in that professional field as already mentioned. Therefore, a professional is perceived as someone who goes to university, studies hard, obtains a degree and enjoys a comfortable salary. Such occupations that are considered to be professions to society are medicine, dentistry, law, engineering, architecture, social work, nursing, accountancy and teaching. However, there are occupations that are not considered to be professions but in my opinion they should be. For example, builders and plumbers are not considered as professionals because they do not have a high educational training like the others mentioned. However, in my opinion they should be considered as professions. This is because to be a builder or a plumber one should have a certain knowledge and s kill in order to bulid an entire building or to install and repair pipes. Furthermore, both builders and plumbers are really necessary in society. Therefore, I think that they should be considered as professions even though they do not have a high educational training and a degree. In addition, those occupations that are considered to be professions are not really that professional in my opinion. Workers are considered to be professionals because they have the knowledge and skill to cure their patients, however there are other things that should be considered. For example, usually doctors are not friendly and sometimes, especially in hospitals they have the habit to talk with nurses about patients in medical words. This may make the patients feel uncomfortable because they know that they are talking about them and they may not understand these medical words. In my opinion this is not professional. I think professionals should first make their clients feel comfortable as possible. Workers are required to choose between their personal and professional self during their work. Obviously, professionals have to choose the professional self in order to be professional. However, in my opinion by interacting the personal and the professional self together, one will develop a real skill. Professionals should help their clients in the most important and meaningful way they can. I think that there is nothing wrong if professionals show their feelings and express them to their clients. Professionals should respond in a personal way but at the same time carry out their professional function. In fact the interactional practice theory suggests that the helping person is effective only when able to synthesise real feelings with professional function. Without such a synthesis the worker appears as an unspontaneous, guarded professional who is unwilling to allow the clients access to the workers feelings. Clients do not need a perfect worker but they require someone who cares d eeply about their success and improvement. Usually, the clients are more likely to see the worker as a real human person rather than a mechanical. If the worker shows no sign of humanity, the client will either constantly test to find flows in the facade or idealise the worker as the answer to all problems. The client who does not know at all times where the worker stands will have trouble trusting that worker. Another way in which sharing the workers feelings can be helpful in a relationship is when the effect is directly related to the content of the work as when the worker has had a life experience similar to that of the client. Self-disclosure of personal experiences and feelings when handled and interacted with the professional function can promote client growth. The professional-client relationship raises many critical argumments. In fact there are also many films created purposely to criticse the boundaries of the relationship between professionals and clients. Good Will Hunting is an example of one of these films. In this film what attracted me the most is the relationship between Will Hunter and the psychologist Sean Macguire. Although Will was unaware, blamed himself for his unhappy upbringing life and so he needed help from a psychologist to find direction in his life. In their relationship, Macguire was suppose to be objective and detached. However, this did not happen. Macguire, shared personal information about with Will about his wife and that he was too a victim of child abuse.

Merry King Essay -- Globalization, Competition, Software Development

In today's commercial market environment, competition and globalization has increased dramatically. The excessive cost arising from inefficient processes and operation have been considered to be the major causes of losses to the organizations over the past several years. Several organizations, particularly larger companies, recognize the need to hedge and manage against undesired risks. Software development is presently one of the most common risk issues. Adler et.al., (1998) reveal that the software development project includes risk events that can cause damage to improving processes. Moreover, it would be an error of judgment to overlook the significant risk areas of the project as this will impair decision quality and impact massive product changes. Raz et.al., (2002) describe project risks as adverse events that can cause delays, surplus expenditure and dissatisfaction with the project outcome. Apart from this, each project varies in size, duration, uncertainty, complexity, objectives, limitations and others. In an effort to enhance the quality of procedure and minimize the risk profile, better execution and implementation will also reduce undesired performance. Adler et.al., (1998) note that there is a tendency to claim that Cleanroom approach would be more appropriate to improve the overall trustworthiness and quality assurance issues. This essay will first describe how the effects of software risks have a direct impact on day-to-day business activities. It will then define how software risk management plays an important role in coping with the project risks. In the second section, it will introduce two software risk management models namely the Software Risk Evaluation model (SRE) and Cleanroom Softw... ...able for software engineers to monitor quality control that can be scientifically verified in a formal statistical diagram. In a study, Raz et.al., (2002) point out that there is a continuing requirement for an adaptation from the different risk management techniques to the different kind of projects and the improvement of the specific devices to mitigate risk from several different type of projects. In essence, it could be said that many organizations increasingly recognize the importance of software risk management to ensure accessibility of the overall information of the project risks. What is more, Ward (2005) concludes that a company which constantly develops risk management tends to gain a competitive advantage, and it appears probable that a well-defined software risk management practice can assist to increase the company's competitive advantages as well.

Tribute To Shakespeare Essay -- essays research papers

Tribute to Shakespeare Shakespeare was an English playwright and poet. He is generally considered the â€Å"greatest dramatist the world has ever known† and the â€Å"finest poet who has written in the English language† (World Book Encyclopedia). Shakespeare has also been the world's most popular author. No other writer's plays have been produced so many times or read so widely in so many countries. Many reasons can be given for Shakespeare's appeal. But his fame basically is on his understanding of human nature. Shakespeare understood people as few other artists have. He could see in a specific dramatic situation the qualities that relate to all people. He could create characters that have meaning beyond the time and place of his plays. Yet his characters are not symbolic figures. They are normal individual people. They struggle just as people do in real life, sometimes successfully and sometimes with painful and tragic failure. Shakespeare wrote at least 37 plays, which have been comedies, histories, and tragedies. These plays contain vivid characters of all types. Kings, pickpockets, drunkards, generals, hired killers, shepherds, and philosophers all mingle in Shakespeare's works. In addition to his deep understanding of human nature, Shakespeare had knowledge in a wide variety of other subjects. These subjects include music, law, the Bible, military science, the stage, art, politics, the sea, history, hunting, woodcraft, and sports. Yet as far as scholars know, Shakespeare had no professional experience in any thing other then theater. Shortly after he married at the age of 18, Shakespeare left Stratford to seek his fortune in the theatrical world of London. Within a few years, he had become one of the city's leading actors and playwrights. By 1612, when he seems to have partially retired to Stratford, Shakespeare had become England's most popular playwright. Shakespeare has had enormous influence on culture throughout the world. All the things he wrote have helped shape the literature of all English-speaking countries. He freely experimented with grammar and vocabulary and that helped prevent literary English from becoming fixed and artificial. Many words and phrases from Shakespeare... ...III, Two Noble Kinsmen and the now lost Cardenio were the plays. The former two are no one's favorites, combining elements of spectacle, romance, and tragicomedy. Little is known of the last, except that in 1653 the printer Humphrey Moseley entered in the Stationers' Register several plays including "The History of Cardenio, by Mr. Fletcher and Shakespeare.† and that in 1613 Heminges received payment on two occasions for performances at court of a play at one time called "Cardenno" and another "Cardenna." There are later supposed versions of the play, but little is known of the original (World Book Encyclopedia). In conclusion, his fame basically rests on his understanding of human nature. Shakespeare understood people as few other artists have. He could see in a specific dramatic situation the qualities that relate to all human beings. He could thus create characters that have meaning beyond the time and place of his plays. Yet his characters are not symbolic figures. They are remarkably individual human beings. They struggle just as people do in real life, sometimes successfully and sometimes with painful and tragic failure.

Greek Mythology - Aphrodite Essay -- essays research papers fc

Aphrodite is one of the most famous figures of Greek mythology, because Aphrodite was the Greek goddess of love, beauty, and sexual rapture. She was desired by nearly all of the Greek gods. Aphrodite was one of the twelve main gods on Mt. Olympus, and she was the most powerful goddess when it came to members of the opposite sex. There are many origins to Aphrodite's birth. Some of them are: She arose full-grown out of the foam of the sea, She is the daughter of Zeus and Dionne, She is the daughter of Uranus and Gaia, which would make her a Titaness, or She is the daughter of Titans Oceanus and Tethys, making her an Oceanid. (Dittus 34-35) â€Å"The most common origin of her birth is her being foam-born, which is what her name means† (Parin 45). This origin says that Aphrodite arose nude and full-grown out of the foam of the sea and riding into the shore of Cythera on a scallop shell. She found Cythera to be too small of an island, so she went to live in Paphos, in Cyprus, whi ch is still the principal seat of her worship. Although Aphrodite was the goddess of love and beauty, she had a magic girdle that she wore that made everyone fall in love with her. She could hardly ever be persuaded to lend it to anyone. Since Aphrodite had the magic girdle and was so beautiful, all of the gods fell in love with her. All of the goddesses were jealous of Aphrodite because all of the gods loved her instead of the other goddesses. Because of this, Zeus arranged a marriage for her with Hephaestus, the lame smith-god. Aphrodite, already regretting the trouble she had caused, took Adonis, and put him in a chest. She gave the chest to Persephone, asking her to hide it in a dark place. Persephone couldn't stand not knowing what was inside the chest, so she opened the chest and found Adonis. Persephone found Adonis to be a very cute baby, so she took hi into her own palace to raise him. Aphrodite did not find out about this until Adonis was a grown man. When she did find out about this though, she immediately went to Persephone's palace to claim Adonis. Persephone would not give him back to Aphrodite though, because she had made him her lover. Persephone appealed to Zeus, but Zeus knew that Aphrodite wanted to have him as her own lover. He refused to settle this case and transferred it to a lower court. The court's verdict was that Persephone and Aphrodite should get equal claims to ... ...aybe not so great, things during their lifetimes that are still remembered today. They were both main gods on Mt. Olympus. They may have not had many great times with each other according to myth, but they were still significant gods who had great lives. Many people use both of these gods to relate to things today, and she will be remembered for years and years to come. Her characters in Greek mythology are very significant and they will not be forgotten anytime soon. Works Cited Hamilton, Earth. Mythology Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes. New York: Penguin Group, 1969. Ingri and Edgar Parin D’alaure’s. Book of Greek Myths. New York: Bantam Dowbleday Dell Publishing Group, 1962. â€Å"Pygmalion and Galatea.† Hellenistic Network. http://www.hellenism.net/eng/mythology.html (6 April 2005) Bowman, Laurel. â€Å"Classical Myths: Aphrodite: Texts.† The Ancient Sources. http://web.uvic.ca/grs/bowman/myth/index.html (6 April 2005) Hamilton, Earth. Mythology Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes. New York: Penguin Group, 1969. Ingri and Edgar Parin D’alaure’s. Book of Greek Myths. New York: Bantam Dowbleday Dell Publishing Group, 1962.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  

Secrets – Creative Writing

Bill locked the last bolt on the door. â€Å"Another day finished† Bill said with a sigh. â€Å"I'll just finish putting these in the back room†. Sue heaved the last box into the storeroom and dropped it on the floor. She took the pencil out of her mouth and started marking of the boxes on the clipboard. â€Å"Nine..Ten..Ele†¦What the hell!!† She slowly stepped towards the strange object and as she approached it she began to realize what it was. â€Å"BILLLLLLLLL† she screamed. A figure appeared in the doorframe, when Sue turned around she was shocked to see him smirking. † I see you've found my little, how would you put†¦surprise† Sues mouth dropped open. â€Å"But, what, how, who is it?† Sue stammered. â€Å"Just someone that needed, taken care of. Now we're not going to tell anyone are we? We wouldn't like that to be you, would we?† he replied with a nod. Sue was rooted to the spot. She could feel her body shivering with fear. She felt like she had been standing there for hours. When reality finally hit her she let out a huge scream and ran for her life. â€Å"She won't get far† Bill said to himself with a menacing laugh. Sue ran along the cold, wet streets of Lairg, tears streaming down her face. She was distraught; she didn't know where she was going all she knew was that it wasn't home. How could she go home in this state her father was sure to notice and as thousands of questions. She couldn't cope with it, not after what she'd seen. Images kept flickering through her head, of Bills evil face and the arm. She was traumatized. Throwing herself down onto the wet steps of Spar. She couldn't think straight no matter how much she tried her mind was full of worries and images. How could she go on, knowing about that poor person Bill had supposedly â€Å"taken care of†, knowing about the kind of person Bill really is. Bill watched as the young girl slowly mounted the emergency steps to the roof of Spar. He grinned as he saw a tearful face appear at the edge of the roof. After muttering a few silent words the girl flung herself of the roof. Bill stood up and looked around for any witness'. Nobody was around. He grabbed the girls' hair and dragged her behind Spar. â€Å"I didn't even touch her† he muttered into his mobile, â€Å"I'm at Spar come and pick me up†¦and her† â€Å"So please anyone that has any information about the disappearance of Sue Macbeath contact us the number is 084† the police officers plea was cut short as Bill turned his television off. He spooned the last of his corn flakes into his mouth and dropped the plate into the sink. The familiar sound of a bell ringing on the shop door alarmed Bill, as he was busy in the storeroom. Well, he thought with some annoyance, Sue will just have to wait for now. He briskly left the storeroom, closing the door tightly behind him. He looked all around, nobody to be seen. Just as he was about to turn around and go back into the room he heard a radio crackle. â€Å"No sign of anyone here. Over.† A deep, manly voice said. Bill spun round and was greeted by an overweight, red-faced policeman. â€Å"Well, Hello young man† said the jolly policeman patting Bill on the back. Bill gave a weak smile. â€Å"Can I help you officer?† he said. â€Å"Well, as you may have already a young lass b the name of Sue Mcbeath has gone missing† he said without much effort. Bill felt like he was reciting a well-rehearsed speech. â€Å"Anyway, to get to the point† he added. † We believe that she was a colleague and a friend of yours†. â€Å"Yes† Bill gave a fake sigh. † A very good friend of min. Last time I saw her was yesterday evening, around five to six. I told her she could go early and that I would lock up.† â€Å"Did she say where she was going?† â€Å"No officer. I just presumed she would be going home like usual.† â€Å"Was she acting at all strangely?† â€Å"No officer. Just being her usual cheery self.† Bill told the officer as he wrote notes down on his note-pad. â€Å"Well son. I reckon I'll be back, but for now, don't give up hope eh? We'll find her† he said comfortingly, chucking Bills chin. â€Å"Thanks you officer. I'll be sure to give you a call if I think of anything else† And with that the officer left. Bill tapped a number into his mobile. â€Å"Darren?† he said â€Å"I've just has that police in here. I think you'd better come over.† The whole of Lairg was on a hunt for Sue Macbeath. There were new conferences on the television and reports on the radio. The plea that chocked Bill the most was the one from Sues stepfather. â€Å"She was a bright, cheery, joyful girl who had her whole life ahead of her† her teary eyed stepfather said. â€Å"Please whoever knows where she is or even thinks they know where she could be just contact us. We just want our little girl back. Thank you† It was one week on and Bill was getting ready too lock up. After spraying half a can of air freshener in the storeroom, he covered the body with boxes of crisps and sweets. It was starting to decay and Bill was dick with worry. He just didn't no where to dispose of the body. A chap on the door disturbed Bill from his thought. Standing outside the door were several policemen and Sues stepfather Darren. Bill and Darren exchanged worried glances. â€Å"Officer, I really don't think this is necessary† Bill could hear Darren say. â€Å"She phoned to say she was leaving.† Bill opened the door and the policemen swept past him. The fat, red-faced policeman didn't look so happy this time. Without even glancing at Bill he produced and important looking piece of paper. â€Å"We're here to search this building. We have a warrant.† Pointing to different officers he directed them to different parts of the shop. â€Å"And me, I'll check here† he said nodding his head towards the storeroom. Bill and Darren followed him. â€Å"Where's the light in here† â€Å"Well actually officer† Bill said pointing to he roof â€Å"The bulbs burst† â€Å"No worries, I'll use my torch.† He shone his torch all over the room kicking empty boxes out of his way. As he got nearer and nearer the body Bill held his breath. Just as he was about to reach it, he turned around. â€Å"No, nothing here.† It was the same from every officer. Darren burst into tears. â€Å"We'll ever find her† Darren cried through great big sobs. â€Å"Don't worry son, this was only a quick scan. The shop will be cornered off and we'll have snuffer dogs in by tonight. The officers were about to leave. Darren was still in tears. â€Å"Uhmm officer† Bill Said † I was just about to get my break so I could make Mr.Mcbeath a cup of tea or coffee if that's ok† â€Å"What would you like to do Mr Macbeath?† asked the policeman â€Å"A cup of tea would be great. I'll call my wife and she'll pick me up.† Darren sniffed. â€Å"We shall phone this evening Mr Mcbeath with more information† the policeman called as he left the shop. As the sound of the police van leaving got more distant Darren looked up at Bill with a grin. â€Å"Wow!! That was a close one! Now, what were you saying about the quarry for the body?† Darren said

Cross Cultural Business Negotiations (United States and Japan) Essay

Abstract Understanding Cultures and acquiring skills necessary to make a cross cultural business negotiation a successful and pleasant experience for both parties involved requires much more than just the overview of the culture and it becomes hard because of the complexity of the culture to grab the entire core of a foreign culture without investing enough time and effort into it, however initial understanding of the concepts can be a good start. General perception is that American business men or managers at times feel out of their comfort zone when negotiating with their Japanese counterpart because of the behaviours demonstrated by Japanese which are, just like any other culture, are simply based on their assumptions , beliefs, norms and customs which are unfamiliar to other party. Understanding the cross cultural aspects are highly beneficial for either of the parties involved and can highly facilitate communication by decreasing the chance of any possible misunderstanding. Either Americans or Japanese both have tendency to bring their own cultural background with them while negotiating which of course affects the behaviours and ultimately the end result. American and Japanese cultures hardly have any similarities so clashes caused by cultural differences are inevitable for example what may be considered acceptable by the standards of one party might not be acceptable by the standards of other. This makes understanding the cultural issues and behaviours in depth more important especially for Americans if they plan to negotiate with Japanese because Japanese might not give any direct clue about where the negotiation is heading as Americans expect from other American managers during business negotiations. In this paper many cross cultural areas based on different models are discussed which helped us to identify the similarities and differences between these cultures, understanding of these similarities and differences can help managers to formulate right strategies to achieve maximum output from the negotiation process and make cross cultural interactions and negotiations a pleasant experience for both  parties involved. Cross Cultural Business Negotiations (United States and Japan) In today’s global world, businesses are continuously expanding all over the world. For the business world, there are no boundaries or borders. Companies are always moving to new places and finding new business opportunities, new business partners. And in this search, they are often expanding their business across countries. Although, companies are adopting an international approach and partnering with other companies across borders, in this process they have to cope with the cultural differences of different countries. Talking about American and Japanese business culture, there are huge differences between the two. If an American businessman decides to do with business with any Japanese company, he will have to plan and prepare for his meeting extensively. First, let’s talk about the differences in American and Japanese culture. GLOBE Study was able to establish nine cultural dimensions which allowed capturing the differences and similarities between different societies and cultures in the basic nature of it, which consists of behaviours and artefacts, different beliefs and values a particular society have, interpreting patterns and assumptions. It allowed GLOBE to create country clusters. Now According to GLOBE’s country clusters U.S.A is in Anglo cluster whereas Japan is in Confucian cluster and differences become greater as the distance between clusters increase. Anglo and Confucian cultures are almost on the opposite sides. This means they hardly share similarities in context of dimensions given by Hofstede. Power distance is first and recent trends suggest that Japan has just now started making its place near the world average in power distance for example victory of the democratic party of Japan in the elections of 2009 as they vowed to diminish the power of bureaucrats which makes it evident that they are becoming less tolerant of the power distance but still they have a long way to go. Americans on the other hand always had a low power distance as the Anglo cluster ranks high in participative approach but Confucian is at the bottom before Middle East. In Case of individualism Japan is at the collective end of the individualism/collectivism. Recent trend suggests that the relationships between employee and employer in Japan are becoming strained but collectivism is still more dominant. In context of this dimension  Americans have one of the highest scores in individualism. The hierarchal structures of American organizations are designed for convenience and to make superiors accessib le. Managers have high dependency on individual employees for their expertise. Next dimension is of Masculinity/Femininity and Japan has one of the most masculine society around the globe. According to Hofstede’s original sample Japan ranked highest among all the countries in this dimension. Like many other dimensions trend in this dimension has also started shifting in Japan for example the equal employment opportunity legislation which happened in mid 80’s helped removing many barriers for the women but still according to studies more than 60% of working women quite their jobs after their first child. High ranking of Japan in masculinity also indicates that the Japanese society is driven by competition and achievement. Low score on masculinity or being placed on or close to femininity end means that the dominant values in particular society are caring for others and being more concerned about quality of life. Americans ranked just slightly above the middle on masculinity which means that distance between these two cultures in context of this dimension is considerable. Next dimension is uncertainty avoidance. Talking about Japanese, generally they have tendency to avoid uncertainty but as in past years some manufacturers left Japan and this trend affected the tolerance for uncertainty in work environment. If trend continues it can significantly reduce the number of people who are loyal to the employer and can flourish the entrepreneurial trends which are commonly seen in United States as it will affect the number of job opportunities available domestically. Students after graduation will face immense competition and will probably have one shot at employment or they will be frozen out of the job market. United States is more risk taking society but currently it had also started to lean toward uncertainty avoidance because of some different trends, for example decline of the stock market and recent recession period of 2007-2009 plus the housing bubble bust. All these factors made people to seek for security and less risky investment opportunities. Another factor which might have effected is the treat they have from other emerging nations which are economically becoming more powerful and it can cause Americans to take more defensive stance and to look for more stable grounds rather than being risk taking society. One other dimension called pragmatism which deals with the  behavioural trend of people about having the explanation of the things. If we talk about normative societies most of the people require of have a strong desire to have an explanation but in pragmatic societies, people might not require explanation for everything because they consider it almost impossible that a person can fully understand the phenomena around them because of the complexity of life. Americans have tendency to check and analyse the information they receive for validity. This trend in culture makes us consider most of the Americans as non-pragmatic but t he fact that they are very practical should not be confused. Japanese culture is more of a high context culture. In Japanese business culture, they have more sense of belonging i.e. insider vs. outsider. They are more focused towards building long term relationships. Japanese are more relationship oriented rather than task oriented. They are more focused on communicated understanding rather than formal information. On the other hand, American culture is kind of a low context culture. It is more oriented towards rules and tasks. Tasks are given more importance than relationships. Relationships are usually short-term dependant on the tasks. Now as we have established the base and have the general understanding about the differences and similarities among both cultures we can move forward to the negotiation process between American and Japanese Managers. When an American manager plans on doing business and negotiating with a Japanese manager, the American manager of course has to be more prepared compared to the Japanese. Although both managers will have to be prepared for the meeting and negotiat ion on their behalves, still in case where American is approaching the Japanese, he will have to fully understand the culture and cultural differences, and then plan accordingly for meeting and negotiation. High context cultures are always harder to enter due to the fact that you cannot instantly create close relationships which are a trait of a high context culture. Americans need enough time to understand and gather information about the culture, and plan extensively before they are prepared enough for the meeting with such huge cultural differences. They will have to work continuously to build relationship that Japanese can trust and consider an insider. Although tasks are important to Japanese, still they are more focused on feelings rather than opinions and facts. As discussed before American culture promotes individualism while Japanese culture is more  towards collectivism. It is due to these and many other differences that the Japanese culture is looked at as a big obstacle in the way of doing business with Japanese companies or in Japan but once they have enough understanding and have enough preparation the simple differences and ways of Japanese culture are not that hard to start building relationship and earning the opportunity to become a part of Japanese business. For example, if an American manager wants to do business with a Japanese manager, and he is looking forward to a great start and getting a positive response, the first step in the meeting will be the greeting. Greeting is an important part of Japanese culture. Japanese people are always too polite. The bow is an integral part of Japanese greeting, to show gratitude. Although, westerners are not expected to bow, they are greeted with handshake combined with a slight bow from their Japanese counterpart. The next step is the exchange of business cards. In Japanese culture, followed by greetings, all the professionals present in the meeting are expected to exchange their business cards. It can be seen as a way of introducing yourself and your organization. An American manager should collect enough information and work on clarifying meanings of different aspects before getting into a meeting with any Japanese manager, as in Japanese culture, it is considered impolite to directly say somet hing or directly refuse. Disagreement is usually expressed nonverbally. Even if the Japanese are not interested to do business with you, they will not communicate it verbally or directly, in fact they will wait for you to lose interest. Even if talking about employees, in Japanese culture, non performers don’t get fired. They could be transferred to another department or any other organization but are not fired. So the American manager has to be prepared for understanding this type of situation where he could anticipate the response of his counterpart. When talking about meetings, American manager must understand that to Japanese, meetings usually mean the opportunity to exchange information. Decisions are not usually made in meetings. In Japanese culture, meeting could be attended by subordinates but no one is expected to give any response at that time. It might seem to the foreigner in this situation that no one is taking interest but he should not be disheartened. This is how Japanese usually do bu siness. They don’t discuss with outsiders. What American managers can do is they can take along an interpreter to help  better understand the Japanese counterpart and the meaning of their behaviour. Japanese people also take time to develop trust and a better relationship. So it is not expected to get on the spot response from them. Japanese managers want to develop good and long lasting relationships before moving ahead in the business. In Japanese business culture, the core pillar of the culture is the company. The company shapes the image of the person. So much importance is given to the company that even in their usual matters of life; decisions like marriage or renting out property are based on the company one works in. If someone wants to rent an apartment, the landlord will want to know in detail about the company that person works in. Even if that person changes the job, he will be obliged to let the landlord know. Then the landlord will take decision about continuing to let that person live there or not based on the reliability of the new company. Japanese people are socially ranked based on the company they work for. Japanese people are not expected to change jobs. The careers are developed within the company compared to careers developed within the market in American culture. In Japanese culture, people are expected to work for the same company throughout their life until they retire. This is helpful for both the company and the employee. Company saves the cost of new hiring and training while employees choose to be on a safe path and they have a sense of security in their careers. The same thing can be connected to business partners. Japanese managers will not move forward until they get to build a trustworthy relationship with an American manager. But once the relationship is developed, it will go a long way and the Japanese would like to keep on doing business as they look for consistency . This Japanese sense of loyalty could be very beneficial for the foreign company. Another part of Japanese culture is punctuality. So when planning for a meeting, the American manager should take note of being on time. They have exact specified start times and end times. Even deadlines are strictly followed. So being on time also shows your interest and helps develop some of the trust. Another aspect of Japanese business culture is that they don’t talk about money specifically. If money is discussed right away, it is taken as if the only concern is money here and that is all the reason negotiations are taking place. Japanese managers like to refer to money by expressions that are associated with it like payments, profits, wages, salaries etc and they only discuss it  what they consider to be the right moment for it. Still their major concern is always about building relationships. If any manager starts away by talking about money he will be considered greedy and ill mannered. One reason of not talking about money is that they consider counterparts to be outsiders unless they are able to develop enough trust. Also in cases where Japanese managers think that they are comparatively in weak position, they avoid using negative words while talking about their organizations. It is expected that the other company will not be interested to do business with them if they are in a weak position. So in such cases, they attract the interest of the other company by using words such as profits and success. Japanese managers try to develop interest in their company by taking confidence in their company and showing satisfaction in their performance. At first, Japanese managers like to gather as much detail as possible about their counterpart and about the organization they are representing. It is then followed by a careful decision of whether they are ready to do business with them or not. So American managers should not get in any hurry and should not be expecting on the spot response. The first step for the Japanese managers is to determine the value of whatever is being offered. Even the foreign manager should not jump to talking about money as this is considered as an ill manner when one talks about money before them making a decision whether or not they want the service or business partnership. So any manager should wait for them to start talking about money as for Japanese, money or price is the second step in any negotiation although for Americans, this is considered to be an important part of any negotiation. Before entering into negotiation, American manager should study or understand the importance of nonverbal communication in Japanese culture. As we know that Japanese managers or businessmen are not that much straightforward, so their response is often portrayed by non verbal expressions or their body language. Non verbal communication could include facial expressions, eye contact and other body language. But it could prove to be hard to detect as Japanese people are very subtle compared to Americans. Another strong part of Japanese culture during any business meeting is the exchange of gifts. Japanese always present their counterparts with gifts or exchange gifts as this is considered to be a demonstration of appreciation and courteous feelings. They consider it to be the part of  their manners to give or receive gifts by standing up and using two hands. If these manners are not followed, Japanese feel hurt and take it as no value was given to their gift. A gift also serves the purpose of showing that they want to have some kind of relationship built with each other. The intention of building a relationship is made clear. Exchange of gifts is considered to be a part of Japanese greetings. As for Americans, gift giving is usually associated with asking for any favour or getting a return out of it. But for Japanese it is a mere custom and a way to praise. Contrary to American business culture, a delay in making any decision is not considered to be someone’s inefficiency. They rather take it as a difference in decision making process. But once they take the responsibility of completing a job, one can easily put their faith on them even if it is out of reach of their capabilities and they have a way of coming out with exceptional results. Conclusion Compared to other business cultures in the world, the Japanese business culture is unique in its own way. And it may seem like an obstacle, but once one get to understand the basics of culture, it also provides security to their business by building life time relationships. Some of the traits of Japanese culture are their loyalty, consistency, collectivism, their way of giving respect. If American managers do their research before meeting Japanese managers for negotiations, and take care of little details while complimenting them in accordance with their culture, Japanese will be very pleased and any negotiation can be expected to result in favour of both the parties. 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