In 2006 Toyota's Camry was the best-selling car in the United States, and the firm's share of the American automobile market was solid. However, the company is not resting on its laurels. Toyota has expanded worldwide and is now doing business in scores of countries. Visit the firm's website and find out what it has been up to lately. The address is www.toyota.com. Then take a tour of the company's products and services including cars, air services, and sports vehicles. Next, go to the jobs section site, and see what types of career opportunities there are at Toyota. Finally, find out what Toyota is doing in your particular locale. Then, drawing upon this information and the material you read in the chapter, answer these three questions: 

(1) What type of communication and negotiation challenges do you think you would face if you worked for Toyota and were in constant communication with home-office personnel in Japan? 

(2) What type of communication training do you think the firm would need to provide to you to ensure that you were effective in dealing with senior-level Japanese managers in the hierarchy? 

(3) Using Table 7-1 as your guide, what conclusions can you draw regarding communicating with the Japanese managers, and what guidelines would you offer to a non-Japanese employee who just entered the firm and is looking for advice and guidance regarding how to communicate and negotiate more effectively?

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Table 7-1 Major Characteristics of Verbal Styles Verbal Style Indirect vs. direct Succinct vs. elaborate Contextual vs. personal Affective vs. instrumental Major Variation Indirect Direct Elaborate Exacting Succinct Contextual Personal Affective Instrumental Interaction Focus and Content Implicit messages Explicit messages High quantity of talk Moderate amount of talk Low amount of talk Focus on the speaker and role relationships Focus on the speaker and personal relationships Process-oriented and receiver-focused language Goal-oriented and sender-focused language Cultures in Which Characteristic Is Found Collective, high context Individualistic, low context Moderate uncertainty avoidance, high context Low uncertainty avoidance, low context High uncertainty avoidance, high context High power distance, collective, high context Low power distance, individualistic, low context Collective, high context Individualistic, low context