Values are important to business as they affect a people's work ethic and desire for material possessions. Attitudes are positive or negative evaluations, feelings, and tendencies that individuals harbor toward objects or concepts. Attitudes toward Work Work attitudes are influenced by feelings about such related factors as salary, workplace relations, and the tradeoff between family and career. In southern France the lifestyle is slower-paced whereas it is much faster paced in the United States. A cultural trait is anything that represents a culture's way of life including gestures, material objects, traditions, and concepts.
Cultural diffusion is the process whereby cultural traits spread from one culture to another.
Advances in telecommunications are increasing the cultural diffusion process. Cultural imperialism is the replacement of one culture's traditions, folk heroes, and artifacts with substitutes from another. Companies must be careful to avoid being accused of cultural imperialism when introducing new products or management techniques. Manners are appropriate ways of behaving, speaking, and dressing in a culture. From the Middle East to northwest Africa, one does not extend a hand to greet an older person unless the elder first offers the greeting.