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 Culture Sensitivity

Global Organisations or Global Employees?
Alka Bakaya, Senior Instructional Designer, The Business Workshop

Global organisations! Seems to be a buzzword in current times. In truth what does this mean? To me it means a simple definition like "an organisation that has offices in many parts of the world". This may sound very simplistic but recognising this basic fact can go a long way in understanding the work culture that evolves. This also means employees who are able to interact and meet their work goals with people and cultures from all over the world. Thus, global organisation implies the evolution of a Global Employee.

The first step to evolving this persona is to recognise the common perceptions that exist about the work cultures across the world. In fact, very often when you plan to travel across to a new country, these perceptions can shape the nature of your interaction with the people of that land. To illustrate this further:

• The Japanese organisations are expected to be non-individualistic and hierarchical, with a formal and highly quality conscious work culture.
  
• The American counterparts are perceived as bottom line oriented, forthright and private.
  
• The Chinese are believed to be tough negotiators, insular and believers in mass production as a strategy for all business.

So how does this impact a Global Employee? Needless to say that these perceptions are not incorrect but a misinterpretation can often be misleading and may result in grievous business gaffs.

To explain this, if you were to assume that the formal, hierarchical and non-individualistic Japanese are slow in decision making, then you have taken the first step towards doom in the Japanese market. They are really quick to innovate; unlike other market where product innovations mean entirely new product inventions and introductions, the Japanese believe in small feature additions in quick succession, periodically. For example, in the cellular phone market, the Europeans will introduce new models of phone with varying features twice a year, while the Japanese will introduce new features on the same phone like voice recognition, followed by internet browsing, followed by a TV screen and so on, every couple of months. This just implies that though the stereotype may be true for the manner in which the business in conducted, but it would be wrong to interpret it as a slow market with slow product turnover rates.

Similarly, while the Americans may be forthright and process oriented rather than relationship focused in the way they work, it does not excuse rudeness or making personal comments in the name of work. Process focus means, the ability to concentrate on work rather than the relationship you may have with a person, and it should not be confused with a license to be impolite or familiar.

Even the American 'bottom line' orientation has a corollary to it. While the Americans believe in profit, they are ethical people who do not like to break the law or bend the rules. So while they are willing to innovate with you to make money, all processes will have to be above board, and creativity with the law will not be appreciated. Most businesses, expect their global employees to have worked out the deliverables to any proposal because anything short of that will be wasting their time and time is money.

Lastly, the Chinese are expected to be tough negotiators and insular and therefore, communication is expected to be hard. In truth, it is not that they do not or are unwilling to speak the language you speak, namely English, but they have difficulty understanding your accent just like you have with theirs. So a reasonable amount of patience and a willingness to understand the nuances of their pronunciation, will go a long way in winning their respect for your sincerity.

Sure, they believe in mass production! To many of us this means goods produced in large numbers at the cost of quality. Therefore, you may perceive that mass production means large numbers but lower quality. That is not really the truth because some of the best labels of the world carry the Made in China tag. This just implies, that mass production to the Chinese means 'Efficient Production' while maintaining the quality as per product specifications. They use their cheap labour and many other resources to produce in quantity, but that does not imply poor quality.

So what does make a 'Global Employee'? It just means an individual who is able to work across different cultures. In order to do so, she needs to first and foremost respect herself and her own culture and recognise the abilities that she brings to the organisation. The next step for her, is to recognise the differences across various cultures and respect the cultural differences without thinking of the people as peculiar or inscrutable. Also, only when she can adapt her ways to suit the culture she is operating within and communicate with the people at their level, will she be able to win their trust, a key to conducting business. Last but not the least, she needs to be open and willing to learn.

It is the people that make up a culture. So also it is a pool of Global Employees that make up a Global Organisation.

Graphic done by Himani