The first meeting of the TUNEM Dandelion Cultural exchange series for the 2022/2023 academic year took place on 23rd September 2022 via the Voov video conferencing platform. The meeting was convened by Mr. Knollis Delle, a second year TUNEM student from Ghana with support from his classmates Mr. Abdurrahman Kaan AGBAL from Turkey and Ms. Amanda Dhyan Purna Ramadhani from Indonesia.
In delivering the first presentation, Amanda spoke about the multicultural business environment and “Pancasila” the ideological pillar of Indonesian society. She explained the importance of faith, human rights, unity, democracy and fairness as the foundational principles of “Pancasila” before segwaying into legal structure of corporate Indonesia which was characterised by Government institutions, State-Owned Eneterprises and the Private sector all of which featured various styles of business practices. Her presentation also outlined some unwritten rules and cultural norms for the business environment.
The unwritten rules and culture of Indonesian business
The second presenter, Kaan, spoke about the ubiquity of family businesses and the importance of negotiations when doing business in Turkey. On negotiations, he gave an important tip that “Negotiations generally don’t end with the initial price suggested”.
Abdurrahman Kaan AGBAL delivering a presentation on Turkish business culture.
His presentation provided insights into the importance of relationship building as part of the business engagement process with notable examples, such as the consumption of tea or coffee, starting with social conversations and the need for follow-up meetings. The whole point of this would be to build trust and ensure that a positive attitude exists for doing business. He cautioned against being late for meetings and placing too much emphasis on gift-giving. In concluding, he advised that it would be better to follow up on business deals with a phone call rather than an email for the purposes of expediency.
The final presentation was delivered by Knollis who introduced his country Ghana as a resource-rich West African country largely driven by Cocoa, Gold and Oil and Gas industries. He also spoke about Ghana’s services sector which is an important recruiter in the country.
Demographic information about Ghana
His presentation touched on the importance of hierarchy in the Ghanaian business environment, with particular emphasis on age, position, experience and wealth. He also talked about the nuanced time management culture in Ghana where groups meetings were generally flexible with time, but one-on-one meetings required that the visitor or the youngest arrive on time but not expect the same of the host or an elderly. The role of women in the Ghanaian workplace was also highlighted, and even though management positions were mostly male dominated, he explained that social awareness om the issue was very high.
The meeting concluded with a questions and answers session which touched on issues such as vacation habits of workers in all three countries, the influence of local authorities on businesses and the role of the private sector in social services such as education and healthcare.
There will be 13 more events to be held in a row. By organizing the cultural exchange event, we aim to develop mutual understanding between different countries and cultures around the world and ultimately to develop the global competencies of all TUNEM students.
