Please watch the following TEDx talk by Chris Smit (14:42 minutes).

Humor and culture in international business | Chris Smit | TEDxLeuven

This talk looks at many issues in cross-cultural communication, norms, and expectations in business. Among the many concepts Smit examines are humor, organizational structure, power distance, stereotypes, and uncertainty avoidance. He shows how these can impact business dealings across cultures. Please answer these questions, based on your review of the Tedx talk, in a WORD document and upload it in this assignment.

a. Why do people use stereotypes when talking about people from other cultures? Tell me some cultural stereotypes you have heard about your culture. How does it make you feel?

b. What is the greatest insight you got from this talk? What do you think is the most important thing to understand about other cultures to avoid misunderstandings?

c. Smith talks about culture as the collective programming of the human mind. How can organizations protect themselves from making cross-cultural mistakes due to this collective programming?

Please also review the following: Hall of shame: More multicultural brand blunders, and/or Some Humorous Cross-Cultural Advertising Gaffes! These two articles detail some quite bad marketing blunders around the world.

d. Identify the types of blunders being made based on the sections in the text on Personal Barriers and Cross-Cultural Barriers. If you use these articles along with the TEDx talk in part 1, to identify which elements in Smit's talk explain why these misunderstandings occur.