Managing Cultural Differences

Global Leadership for the 21st Century

Robert T. Moran, Neil Remington Abramson

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781315403960
• Edition: 10
• Topic: Commerce
• Subtopic: Commerce Général

In today's global business environment, it is vital that individuals and organizations have sophisticated global leadership skills. Communication and understanding of different cultures is paramount to business success.

This new edition of the bestselling textbook, Managing Cultural Differences, guides students and practitioners to an understanding of how to do business internationally, providing practical advice on how competitive advantage can be gained through effective cross-cultural management. Crises in the Middle East, the weakening of some emerging markets, and the value of diversity and inclusion are just a few examples of contemporary issues discussed in this text, which also introduces a completely new chapter on global business ethics.

With a wealth of new examples, case studies, and online materials, this textbook is required course reading for undergraduates, postgraduates, and MBA students alike, as well as being a vital tool for anybody selling, purchasing, traveling, or working internationally.

1
Global Leadership, Culture, and a Changing World

We begin Chapter 1 and Managing Cultural Differences, tenth edition, with six actual situations involving managing cultural differences and global leadership skills.

After reading the first three chapters of the book, all should have a good understanding of the basis of the misunderstandings and be able to identify alternative responses that might have good results.

There is no perfect “road map” for success in a global world. There are, however, “global road mapping skills.”

Situation 1

Question from a European to a Chinese HR director concerning attendance at a company-sponsored course:

Do you think Mr. Zhao will be able to come to the course next week, as I would like to make hotel reservations for him and the hotel is quite full?

Answer:

It is possible he may have to attend a meeting in Shanghai.

Follow-up question two days later, before the course begins, sent by email:

I am following up our earlier conversation and am wondering if Mr. Zhao will be attending the course?

Learning Objectives

After reading and studying concepts/examples and illustrations in Chapter 1, readers should:

1. Reflect on any prejudices or biases they might hold about other peoples or cultures.
2. Be convinced that “culture counts” more than ever in today’s global world.
3. Understand the importance of learning the national character and management philosophies of their global counterparts.
4. Be aware of some of their global skills.
5. Begin to see events and issues from their own and from the other’s perspective.

Answer by email:

As I told you previously, he will NOT attend.

Result: A significant misunderstanding between the Chinese HR director and the Westerner. The HR director ignored the Westerner at work for several days.

Situation 2

A few days after Michael had arrived in Japan, he was reading and replying to emails received from his new Japanese colleagues. He was willing to support them as much as possible, and was keen to be accepted by the new organization as the new boss. He, therefore, carefully worded his email replies. He also tried to provide advice and guidance whenever he felt it could be useful for his Japanese colleagues.

One email he had received had important documents attached and had been widely distributed by his colleague. Unfortunately, a draft had not been shared with him prior to distribution. Both the mail text and the document had been prepared very carefully by his Japanese colleagues, and the content was almost perfect. Overall, Michael was very pleased.

However, Michael decided that he should provide some feedback to his Japanese colleagues. He wanted to ensure that in the future he would have the chance to review such important documents before they were sent out. So he added his reply:

The documentation you had put together and sent out was very well done. I thank you very much for your hard work and would kindly ask you to consider my thoughts when preparing these kinds of documents. Perhaps, in the future, you can share the draft version with me prior to sending it out.

Best regards, Michael

After his Japanese colleagues received his reply, they got together to discuss corrective actions as they felt very committed to meeting all the expectations of their new boss. Thinking he was very angry, they tried to find out what went wrong on their side, how to then reply to their boss, and how to establish a special review process. But even after longer discussions, they found no serious mistakes, and everybody was unsure about how to proceed.

Situation 3

Our legal person is very intelligent and an excellent negotiator. She was born in Germany but has spent many years in the US and Canada. One would think she was an American by the way she presents herself and by her accent. During negotiations, I have noticed that she speaks very quickly, with never-ending sentences. I can only imagine what the Chinese thought. I believe they were not following her and were getting a little frustrated. Also, the lawyer was not patient. She would not let them question or make any comments.

Situation 4

Guus Hiddink, the coach of the South Korean soccer team in the 2002 World Soccer Games held in South Korea and Japan, experienced the following:

He learned that the younger players on the team tended to pass to the more senior “strikers” in consistent patterns. Recognizing this as a “problem,” he brought the team together, told them that for the honor of their country and in order to do well in the upcoming games, they had to pass to the person who seemed to be in the best position to score. The team agreed.

However, there was little change in the pattern of passing after his “pep talk.”

Situation 5

As an American, my first Christmas party in Switzerland was an enlightening experience. I had only been in the country for about three months and was just getting to know a few of my co-workers. We were all sitting at the traditional long Swiss-style tables, and our table had about 20 people. This included our “big” boss, a few of his direct reporters, and my peers and me. After dinner and a few glasses of wine, the conversation started to get very “questionable.” So I just sat back to see what was going to happen and how everyone else was going to take this.

The situation was that the American “big boss” and a few of his direct reporters (Spanish) began saying some things about a female (American) colleague’s body directly to her. I said “Wow” to myself and watched the American woman become increasingly uncomfortable, but no one challenged any comments.

Situation 6

Barbara had a PhD in chemistry, as did her boss with whom she had a good working relationship. Barbara was frustrated because her boss had never given her any positive feedback on her work. The only time any feedback was offered was when Barbara made a mistake and, in this case, the feedback was negative and strong.

The world has changed, and so must people living in this changed global world. But not everything has changed.

The premise of this book is simple: just as no two individuals are exactly the same, neither are two nations of societies. However, the people in the same culture share certain things in common that are not necessarily shared by people of another culture. This is the reality.

Our goal is to help readers think or rethink many aspects related to the attitudes and skills we all need to survive and thrive in today’s global environment. Or, to write it more simply: to learn to live and work with differences. Hence, the title of our book, Managing Cultural Differences.

In the early stages of socialization, the parents or caregivers of children from all cultures have a major influence on how their children behave and their values and attitudes. The parental influence example illustrates this point.¹

An Example of Parental Influence

When I began delivering executive seminars for a particular large global company about eight years ago with a professional colleague, his presentations to executives were good but not great, according to the ratings of attendees. Feedback was that they were a little too academic in contrast with a different style that included “stories” to illustrate academic points. Over the years, he has included more and more stories to illustrate what he wants participants to remember and use.

I suspect some of his stories have fabricated elements, but he recently told the following, which illustrated to me the influence of parents on children:

My wife is Republican and listens regularly at home and in the car to conservative talk shows. Often, our two boys are in the car with her. I am registered Independent but often vote for a Democrat, and I voted for Obama. My wife voted for McCain, the Republican candidate in 2008.

On election day, the boys went to bed at the regular time, but I stayed up till it was clear Obama would win. I was thrilled. My wife was depressed.

My younger son, who was nine years old at the time, got up first and asked me, “Dad, who won?” When I told him Obama won, he began to weep uncontrollably. I hugged him and told him it is going to be OK that Obama won, and don’t worry.

He then said, “But Obama will tax my allowance.” When I told him that Obama was not going to tax his $2.00-a-week allowance, he stopped crying.

Parents, indeed, influence their children.

As parents and caregivers gradually lose their ability to influence their children, teachers, religious leaders, and textbooks, as well as their children’s friends and peers, become increasingly major influences in their lives. The following examples are from textbooks in several different countries, taken from an article in The Economist. They are illustrations of how governments and school districts in selected countries attempt to control ideology by the textbooks they allow and what is written in them. The examples cited are from the Georg Eckert Institute,² which studies textbooks from 160 countries, covering history and geography.

• In Saudi Arabian textbooks, “The Jews and Christians are enemies of the true believers” is written and probably results in intolerance toward Jews and Christians.
• In China, there was an attempt to introduce a curriculum of national education that omitted the events of the Cultural Revolution and Tiananmen Square.
• In Japan, textbooks whitewash and gloss over Japanese World War II war crimes.
• In the US, many textbooks play down slavery and the killing of many Native American tribes.
• In an Israeli textbook, Palestinians are depicted as refugees, farmers, and terrorists.
• In the US in 2012, about 25 percent of students in public schools are Hispanic, yet most of the main characters in children’s texts read by Hispanics are white.

We believe that children are not born with prejudice, it is learned. Bias and the resulting xenophobia are present in most, if not all, cultures. In fact, we could say we live in xenophobic times—for proof, just pick up any newspaper and you can see prejudice toward people who are not quite like us, and minority groups, that is often accompanied by cruelty.

In Andrew Solomon’s wonderful book Far from the Tree,³ he writes that most children share some traits with their parents or caregivers. He calls these “vertical identities,” which are passed down through strands of DNA and cultural/family traditions. Solomon cites skin color, language, religion, and nationality as examples.

There are also acquired traits, which he refers to as horizontal identities that are different from one’s parents and are acquired from a peer group. Being gay is a horizontal identity as most gay kids are born of straight parents.

Some things have not changed or changed very little over the past few years: Russia is still the largest country in the world by size; Everest is the tallest mountain; the Nile is the longest river—179 miles longer than the Amazon; the Sahara is the largest desert by far; Greenland is the largest island; China has the most people; and Tokyo is the world’s largest city by population: 38,000,000. But did you know the facts in the Did You Kno...