Brooke O.
Award-winning writer and speaker. An inspired alternative to that hack you hired last time.
Seeking cross-cultural experts and expats to comment on culture clashes: how can MNCs create a single organizational culture/value system in the face of cultural differences across local offices?
Hi all! I'm researching a story on cultural differences in the global workplace and am seeking:
1) Cross-cultural SMEs (academics, HR experts who have managed cross-cultural transitions, corporate diversity officers, etc) to comment on the following:
- What types of cultural divides commonly arise when companies try to create a cohesive culture/mission statement/ethics standard within a multinational workplace? Especially seeking sources who can provide specific, regional examples of conflicts (e.g., misunderstandings due to language barriers, management styles, cultural attitudes toward hierarchies, legal differences, etc.).
- How do you balance cultural/local differences with the need for a coherent corporate culture? How can managers deal with specific cultural divides and collaborate with employees who come from very different backgrounds?
2) I would also love to hear from current or recent American expats and/or foreigners working in the U.S. who can comment on specific cultural conflicts they've encountered in the workplace (e.g., language barriers, relationships with colleagues, managerial styles, etc.). Would also like to hear advice on how employees and employers can avoid or deal with such clashes.
Please contact me on LinkedIn or directly at brooke@brookeoneill.com by Tuesday, Jan. 13, noon EST. I look forward to hearing from expert sources who can provide me specific, real-world examples and advice. Thank you in advance for your help!
This story will be for How Online (www.howsmatter.com), a Web site that covers business values and ethics issues.
Best regards,
Brooke O'Neill
brooke@brookeoneill.com
www.brookeoneill.com
www.howsmatter.com
Answers (7)
Michael V L.
Vice President and Partner, IBM Business Consulting Services
Best Answers in: Organizational Development (14), Change Management (4), Business Development (2), Compensation and Benefits (1), Staffing and Recruiting (1), Social Enterpreneurship (1), Project Management (1), Career Management (1)
Brooke -
I will attempt to answer your questions by illustrating what we are doing, internally, to improve the value of an international assignment - both to the individual and to the market.
We are rethinking every aspect of our global assignment process, starting with the notion that we hope to move beyond being a MNC, to become a Globally Integrated Enterprise (GIE). I will append some details on the GIE, below, but suffice to say that the impact of the GIE on the workforce is tat we are managing our talent more holistically (i.e. cross-borders); we are moving away from the "missionary" model of sending forth expats from home countries (e.g., country headquartered) to emerging markets - in favor of growing local talent; and we are making the assignment experience more elastic - lasting as long as a year or as short as a few weeks.
Lastly, we are developing a set of competencies that will allow us to better select ideal candidates for international assignment. For example, we are finding that "cultural curiosity" is a great predictor of one's success in a non-native market.
By having a globally integrated talent model - and international assignment process - we hope to create a culture that values many different cultures and is, as a result, a melange of cultures with influences from a diverse group. This is a long way from trying to "Americanize" (or whatever orginating country it may be) the rest of the business. It also ensures that the local management is more in tune with the needs of the local market.
Good luck!
Links:
Robin C.
Cutting Edge Organizational Development Practitioner/ Thought Leader/Expert on "Cultures of Innovation"
Best Answers in: Organizational Development (7), Change Management (1), Quality Management and Standards (1)
Robin C. suggests this expert on this topic:
Allon is the most knowledgeable & experienced person I've ever encountered when it comes to cross-cultural organizational development work. Most of his practice is based on such work.
Youa S.
Associate Partner
Best Answers in: Staffing and Recruiting (1), Organizational Development (1)
Hi Brooke:
Dr. Ted Sun and Mr. Davide Laghi are by far the most knowledgable and internationally experienced experts that I know of in this field, who truly "Walks the Talk" and embodies "non-linear" views and ideas in Cross Cultural Diversity and Corporate Cultural Transformations.
They are humble, brilliant minded and deeply respected for their knowledge and work. They both possess great legacies (ties and relationships) that span North America, Latin America and EMEA (i.e. Europe, UAE, China, Japan, Malaysia, SE Asia and et al).
Congruency & Alignment of Values, Beliefs, Actions, Behaviours... and Leadership.
These are the values and qualities I have seen in Dr. Ted Sun and Mr. Davide Laghi time and time again through real life/work experiences, of which I have not seen consistently in others who claim to be People, Cultural and Organisational Gurus.
Good Luck.
Youa Saychou
Links:
Youa S. also suggests these experts on this topic:
Hi Brooke,
Why would a MNC attempt to create a single organisational culture?
Already twelve years ago I worked for a corporate who's international acquisition strategy was executed under the philosophy of "think global, act local", which I recognise in the GIE strategy of IBM as explained by Micheal Litttlejohn in his response. From my experience as a Dutch expat starting up my own business in SA, the most important lesson I learned was to not only become aware of SA cultural aspects but also to realise my own Dutch frames which didn't always fit the SA reality. Awareness of differences is key!
An interesting read on the subject I find is Francis Fukuyama "Trust. The Social Virtues and the Creation of Prosperity" which looks into how levels of trust impact the social cohesion in a country which in turn impacts the economic organisation eg. corporates v. family businesses.
Best of luck, Josine
Christopher M.
Providing strategic operational consultancy and performance management tools to Airlines, Airports and Ground Handlers.
Christopher M. suggests this expert on this topic:
Richard is the MD of a company called Canning in London who are experts at Cross Cultural Business Training and would definately be worth talking to as they have over 40 years experience of cross cultural relationships and have written several works on this subject.
Peter G.
Operations Management, Sales Management, International, welcome to my profile..
Best Answers in: Organizational Development (5), Personnel Policies (3), Change Management (3), Sales Techniques (2), Labor Relations (2), Air Travel (1), Mentoring (1), Mergers and Acquisitions (1), Staffing and Recruiting (1), Business Development (1), Customer Relationship Management (1), Business Analytics (1), Project Management (1), Personal Investing (1)
Somehow the above sounds to me like the search for the ultimate hand book for different cars.
I have managed approx. 20 different nationalities over the last 12 years as a foreign guest.
I love the environment and would like to share my positive experience with you. They are real and not from any book. I didn’t have once a problem with any employee because of their nationality or cultural back round. In fact we foreigners appreciate the opportunity to share and learn about our cultures and if managed right, it’s partly a retention tool. Who wants to move from such a colourful environment to
a single coloured working environment? Boring.. We did some surveys about what foreigners miss the most when away from home and the outcome was “local food”. I never forget that moment when I looked at the result, I am German and I was dreaming at that moment of a nice Curry sausage with chips and sauces you can only get in a fast food restaurant in Germany. I live still abroad and 90% of my friends are from other countries than my home country. I love it. In sales and service I believe strongly that companies need to get away from focusing mainly on their own issues and change to focus on their customers. In multi cultural environments I strongly believe companies need to stop seeing multi cultural work places as an issue. It’s an opportunity when companies are prepared to really listen to their staff and try to see the world from their point of view. We all know change is irritating for a while until we understand where we are and we know that we can influence the time frame of irritation. I still feel there are opportunities missed when we have such wealth of cultural differences in one place in a corporate environment. I believe companies could save a lot of money and time if they would listen, understand, foster and use this information source. I also believe people would stay longer and perform better if their managers better understood how people grow up in terms of working habits and behaviours.
Business and management knowledge is not enough to get the most out of a multi national team. Leading them with an understanding and acceptance of certain differences combined with the above does. In addition, smile, have respect, good manners and be polite. That helps in any business environment. It’s just sometimes executed in different ways. Finally I believe every employee in a multi cultural environment should be willing to learn more about their colleague’s culture. It doesn’t hurt and makes everybody rich on a human level.
Hidezumi I.
Communication Strategist
Best Answers in: Internationalization and Localization (6), Government Policy (1), Project Management (1)
Dear Brooke,
I wouldn't seek for single culture to overrule an entire organization but try to set series of codes for an learning organization.
I had been working for entertainment (music and game) for a mean while.
Usually those companies do not set a single culture in good time.
It turns to be tragedy with this death march scenario.
1) A new CEO arrives. Typically a founder is a producer and artistic (or entrepreneur) type. Apple is on my mind but it happens all over.
- He is MBA holder and believes everything can be designed and projected.
- He aims short term profit.
- He is looking for efficiency and therefore hates "redundancy".
- He is not product oriented therefore they need to rely on local staffs eventually.
2) He replaces a management team which shares common language and create a gap with local teams. The situation develops "politics". Politics happens with following condition.
- Core value is not clear and therefore everybody needs to rely on diplomatic talks.
3) Why does it makes your organization weaker?
- Entertainment companies need to learn from local responses. Centralized organizations are not good at learning (in other word - listening)
- Some redundancy meant trial and error.
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Then about your question.
Americans are typically not good at listening because they are trained to insist their opinion clearly and logically. I said "typically" because I have American friends who speaks Japanese language. This diversity is also unique asset for the US culture.
Of cause there is pro and con to stick with local culture. I would like to see if Seiyu, which is purchased by Wal-Mart can survive. I am little bit negative about it's future. If you know specific story about Seiyu, please share it with me.
Best Regards,
