PNG Culture 'valuable resource' - Foreigners must respect PNG culture

Wednesday, September 8, 2010
 The Cairns Post


AUSTRALIAN and other foreign businesses need to be more aware of Papua New Guinea's culture if they want to operate successfully in the country, a consultant has warned.


Cultural consultant Olive Tau Davis said too many foreign companies paid too little attention to cultural awareness.

"In too many quarters it is ignored or paid lip-service at best," she said.

"Many businesses believe it just requires the gift of the gab, friends in the right places, lots of money.

"Some foreign businesses in Papua New Guinea are conducted that way and with often disastrous results.

"A good cross-cultural relationship in its true sense is appropriate conduct built on sensitivity and awareness and a very well-informed understanding of customs.

"Successful relationships for international companies are founded on respect and courtesy, the ability to listen and learn and a willingness to put the benefit of your experiences into practice."



Mrs Tau Davis, a consultant with the Australia-PNG company MediaMark Ltd, said a glaring example was an oil-field construction company's dealing with landowners in the Southern Highlands, as part of the LNG project.



She said a group of land owners and their leaders wanting to present a petition were told to f--- off by an expatriate employee of an international oilfield construction company. "I don't know that the company, and especially that manager, has much of a future in PNG," Mrs Tau Davis said.



"No company can afford to be arrogant towards residents of a foreign land, nor can they plead ignorance of local customs."

Mrs Tau Davis said many companies did not have strategies for being culturally aware and responsible.



"I think that preparing yourselves and getting to know as many aspects of our culture and social values and protocols as possible should be as integral to any business as knowing the industrial relations laws," she said. "Cultural awareness is a cost, but it is also a very valuable resource a business asset.



"It can be the difference between business success and failure."