【設問】
(A) 次の英文の要旨を，70～80字の日本語にまとめよ。句読点も字数に含める。
According to one widely held view, culture and country are more or less interchangeable. For example, there is supposed to be a “Japanese way” of doing business (indirect and polite), which is different from the “American way” (direct and aggressive) or the “German way” (no-nonsense and efficient), and to be successful, we have to adapt to the business culture of the country we are doing business with.
A recent study has challenged this approach, however. Using data from 558 previous studies over a period of 35 years, this new research analyzed four work-related attitudes: the individual versus the group; the importance of hierarchy and status; avoiding risk and uncertainty; and competition versus group harmony. If the traditional view is correct, differences between countries ought to be much greater than differences within countries. But, in fact, over 80% of the differences in these four attitudes were found within countries, and less than 20% of the differences correlated with country.
It’s dangerous, therefore, to talk simplistically about Brazilian culture or Russian culture, at least in a business context. There are, of course, shared histories and languages, shared foods and fashions, and many other shared country-specific customs and values. But thanks to the many effects of globalization – both in human migration and the exchange of technologies and ideas – it’s no longer acceptable to generalize from country to business culture. A French businessperson in Thailand may well have more in common with his or her Thai counterparts than with people back in France.
In fact, occupation and socioeconomic status are much better predictors of work values than country of origin. A hundred doctors from different countries, for example, are much more likely to share attitudes than a hundred Britons from different walks of life. Language aside, a truck driver in Australia is likely to find an Indonesian truck driver more familiar company than an Australian lawyer.
Successful negotiation depends on being able to predict the actions of the other party. In an international context, to the extent that our judgments arise from ideas about national characteristics, we are likely to make the wrong predictions and respond inappropriately. Cultural stereotyping by country is just bad business.
【解答例】
(A) かつては国と文化が同一視されていたが，現在では国籍よりも同じ職業や社会的地位を持つ人々のほうが文化的価値観を共有しており，国籍で文化を判断することは有害である。(80字)
(B)
(1) b
(2) a
(3) d
(4) f
(5) c
(ア) violate
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