Orientation Day One

On Monday, I was invited to join Steven at his orientation at his new place of employment, the American International School of HCMC. The schedule consisted of talks on Vietnamese Culture, the structure of the school, payroll and other HR topics, Health Insurance and the use of IT Services at the school. While not everything applied to me, I thought the general information would be worthwhile.

The initial discussion on culture was led by the schools Principal, Mark Uerkvitz, a long time ex-pat and a very down-to-earth, knowledgeable, guy with a great sense of humor. He explained the many difference between Vietnamese Culture and Mainstream Western Cultures:

Western Cultures
1. Individualist Mentality
2. Independence Highly Valued
3. Emphasis on Being Right
4. Business is Business (Get to the point)
5. Direct Communication
6. Self-Controlled Destiny
7. Yes = Yes
8. Silence is Uncomfortable
9. Conflict is Functional
10.Low Context Communication - Emphasis on Words

Vietnamese Culture
1. Collectivist Mentality
2. Interdependence Critical to Success
3. Emphasis on "Saving Face"
4. Business is Personal (Emphasis on Relationships)
5. Indirect Communication.
6. Strong Belief in Luck and Fate
7. Yes = Acknowledgement (could mean no)
8. Silence is Respected
9. Conflict is Dysfunctional
10.High Context Comm - Emphasis on Non-Verbal/what is NOT said, etc.

The rest of the day went well and was also quite interesting. I was able to make some contacts with a real estate agent and a teacher who is involved with a local NGO, East Meets West. It was also nice to be able to meet and talk with some of Steven's new colleagues and to see those that I have already met.

The schedule for the rest of the week was more teacher specific and I decided to use the week to get some other tasks out of the way and leave the orienting to Steven. I will save a blog space for him to update you on his experiences.