Catherwood LibraryILR School

The research of Jeffrey Sanchez-Burks, a psychologist and business professor at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, has found that differing approaches to business may lead to barriers in cross-cultural communication. According to him, Americans' are emotionally detached in the workplace, while workers in East Asia and Latin America are more concerned about interpersonal harmony in the workplace. Sanchez-Burks does not argue that one style is better than the other, only that people must be aware of these differences in order to better coordinate cross-cultural business efforts.