The
idea of saving face is the concept of preserving your reputation or
your self image. Although in North American culture and other low
context cultures we are generally not as worried about 'face', in other
cultures saving face is very important. In high context cultures, people
try to 'save face' by being indirect and not wanting to say 'no'. These
cultures do this to spare someone from taking offense to their
decision, to protect the feelings of others. In the modern Canadian
workplace we must be able recognize when someone from another culture is
saving face so that we can avoid misunderstandings.
Click here for
a video explaining how high context cultures (the Chinese culture in this case) avoid saying no to save
face. The main rule to follow when dealing with high context cultures:
anything other then yes means no.
Is saving face a good or a bad thing for business in general?
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