Response to the following problem:
American business offices normally operate Monday through Friday, eight hours a day, with a 30- to 60-minute lunch break. This is not necessarily true in other countries, however. In the People's Republic of China, for example, employees usually work Monday through Saturday, eight hours a day, with lunch from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. When doing business internationally, both time zone differences and cultural factors affecting the business day must be taken into consideration. For example, in Spain, many businesses close at 2:00 p.m. so that employees may eat lunch with their families. The office reopens at 5:00 p.m. and stays open until about 8:00 p.m. Spain is in a time zone that is five hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time (EST), the time zone along the eastern coast of the United States. If doing business with a company in Spain, it would not be a good idea to try to call at 9:00 a.m. EST because the business might just be closing for lunch. A better time to call Spain from the EST time zone would be between noon and 3:00 p.m.
Critical Thinking:
1. What are some ways you could reference time zones if you had to make frequent international phone calls?
2. If you work for a company with offices and customers all over the world, how could that affect the way you schedule projects