Friday, October 30, 2009

A Resolution for a Cross Cultural Concern

Good morning Cyberweek 2009 Participants,

As the title for today says, I am today offering you how the scenario was worked out for all those concerned. This scenario is based upon a real expereince, yet I have changed the names and a few recognizable details.

I had shared with you earlier this week the fact that the core of each culture is its values, seen on a daily basis through the practices of each member of that culture. Values have been described by Geert and Geert Jan Hofstede through the dimensions of culture, as I shared with you also this week. In brief the four initial dimensions that Hofstede used to measurably describe a culture are: 1. Power Distance (an individual's relationship to power and its source); 2. The value of the individual in a society and the value of the society (the individual vs collectivism); 3. Masculinity vs Femininity (assertiveness versus "modesty"); 4. Uncertainty avoidance and how ambiguity is handled.

In applying this information to our scenario, Henrik was surrised that the people who worked with him did not accept his and marta's invitation. Note that his thought was that he "worked with" these people. Even though he was their leader, their boss, in his mind they all worked together. He made time to talk with each Indinesian employee personally, on a face to face basis. With this private time, each employee revealed their own reasons for not accepting. The employees all expressed one common thought and that was that he is their leader, their manager. He is the expert in all things and they are all very loyal to him. They all had a low comfort level though in being close physically and socially to Henrik and to his family in the Johnson home. They were not comfortable with being close to what they saw as their "source of power".

As Henrik continued his face to face talks, during the course of work, with each person who had been invited to the dinner in the Johnson, Henrik learned the differing perspectives of the Indonesian individuals. Henrik valued the individual and was from one of the most individualist cultures in the world.

He also took the time to notice the differing approach to life in Jakarta. Henrik also learnead that huis own approach to "power" was with ease and tht he was very confortable with the sources of power in his work, community and personal life. He was very comfortable in having power close to him. He noticed too from his conversations with the Indonesian employees that they did not have the same approach to power. They were more used to having power at a distance and to a long distance relationship with the sources of power in their lives.

Another observation that Henrik made was that in his work while living in Sweden he was accumstomoed to having a working relationship with his superiors, meaning that his immediate superior in his company was a facilitator for Henrik and for all those who reported to her. She was not a source of all of the answers byt she worked hard to guide Henrik in his career where to get the answers he needed and to be self motivated. In comparing his work experiencde with that of the Indonesians with whom he now worked he noted many differences. First of all, there were no women managers in the Jakarta branch of the organization for which all of them worked. Secondly he noticed that the managers with whom he worked in Indonesia were more like experts for each of their employees who worked for them. This observation gave Henrik the understandings that an invitation to his and Marta's home was not in keeping with the more what expert type of relationship that existed among the Indonesian individuals, superior and employee.

These observations that Henrik made, both about himself and his working style and values and that of the people with whom he was now working in Indonesia allowed him to adjust how he worked with each of the area managers in Indonesia. Eventually Henrik had been a teaching superior for all of the Indonesian employees of the tea growing, processing, manufacturing and shipping organization for which all of them worked. The Indonesians had taught Henrik and his family how to live in a way that demonstrated honor and respect for the Indonesian individuals. Henrik had set an example of allowing the Indonesians to respect and honor him and his differing background. Henrik and his family lived and worked in jakarta for four years, before moving to trheir next assignment within the same multinational corporation.

Can you see how Hofstede's dimensions that desdribe how to understand a culture were discoverd by Henrik? Application of the dimensions along with work on learning self assessment allows for a potentially successful cross cultural global work experience.

It was a joy to write this blog this week as part of Cyberweek 2009 in collaboration with the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

If you have any questions or thoughts to share, please contact me as I would enjoy blogging with you at any time. Also if you have not done so please experience the simulation and send the scores to me. I look forward to writing a personal note inreturn, giving some insights into your score set.

Warm regards,

Jane

Jane E. Smith, Esq.
LiSimba Consulting Services, Inc.
Building Relationships for International Business Success
www.lisimba.com
jsmith@lisimba.com

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Cross Cultural Sensitivity is Essential to Success in Cross Cultural Communication

Dear Cyberweek 2009 Participants,

Again I express sincere joy in writing responses to each person who experienced the cross cultural simulation experience. The title for today comes from writing to each participant and continually highlighting the fundamental power of cross cultural sensitivity in being successful in your cross cultural communications and/or global work experience.

The simulation can tell each participant where he or she is on a scale that gives an initial assessment of one's cross cultural sensitivity. With the initial idea of where one is at this time, each participant can grow in cros cultural sensitivity through increasing one's knowledge in a guided manner.

Yesterday I spoke about the power of values as the foundation thtat informs each culture. Today I add that the four cultural dimensions that Geert Hofstede hs expressed in his work directly identify a culture's values. When an individual can identify a culture's values, one can then begin the process of working in a truly collaborative, effective manner with each person and his/her culture.

So I go back to my example I shared earliuer this week with you, of the Swedish project manager living with his family in Jakarta, Indonesia. What ideas have you been forming as to why the Indonesians did not accept the initial dinner invitation to the project manager's home for a dinner, where all could come to know each other better and then hopefully form a more and more collaborative team?

Warm regards,

Jane

Jane E. Smith, Esq.
LiSimba Consulting Services, Inc.
Building Relationships for International Business Success
www.lisimba.com
jsmith@lisimba.com

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

The Powerful Role of Cultural Values in Cross Cultural Communication

Good Morning Cyberweek 2009 Participants,

First of all a sincere thank you to those of you who have completed the simulation exercise and sent me your scores scores. I am sending each of you a personal note with thoughts and comments on your scores and then of course the attachment of a portion of the chapter that I wrote for the ABA GUIDE TO INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS NEGOTIATIONS, Third Edition, May, 2009.

This morning I am highlighting the importance of being aware of the values that are the foundation of each culture in our world. Yesterday I wrote a simple introduction to the various aspects that support a culture. Today I am following up with some thoughts on the most powerful aspect, values. Values are at the core of what allows a culture to continue to reproduce itself in each of its members. Values inform all of the practices. In the past 30 years or so, extensive research has been done on culture and its values. One of the more widely used set of research findings is that done by Geert Hofstede and now his son, Geert Jan Hofstede. They describe through a look at "Dimensions of National Culture, Hofstede, p. 22, CULTURE AND ORGANIZATIONS). Their dimensions help describe a culture's values. Briefly the dimensions discuss 1. The attitude toward power and the comfort with proximity to power; 2. The way the individual is valued and/or the group; 3. The way that masculinity and femininity are valued or seen; 4. How the culture's members manage uncertainty and lack of clarity (ambiguity) in their daily lives.

I share this as the Hofstedes' work offers insight to the question I posed yesterday concerning the Swedish project manager in Jakarta, Indonesia. So with these brief thoughts on cultural values and some thoughts on the dimentions that describe culural values, I again ask, why do you feel that the Indonesian people who worked for the Swedish manager, did not respond positively to the invitation to dinner at the project manager's home?

I look forward to hearing from you. I wish you a good day from Paris.

Warm regards,

Jane

Jane E. Smith, Esq.
LiSimba Consutling Services, Inc.
Building Relationships for International Business Success
www.lisimba.com
jsmith@lisimba.com

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Cross Cultural Communications

Good morning Cyberweek 2009 Participants,

I am still in Paris and it is a bright sunny day here. Today I am sharing a bit of information and then I offer you a scenario which I would like you to contemplate.

Culture is made up of many aspects or layers. The outer and more visible layers are all found under the concept of "practices". The first visible layer of "practices" is a culture's symbols. These are words, behaviors, things that carry a particular meaning only known by those who are in that culture. Next layer under "practices" are the culture's heroes. These are the people who are revered and the honor shown them is only understood by those who are members of that culture. Finally under "practices" are the rituals that are at first appearance not necessary to the non member of the culture but for each member of that culture, these ways of behaving are essential for that culture. At the core of all cultures are its values. These drive the meaning in all of the outer layers of a culture. A culture's values are not easily known yet drive all behaviors and choices within each member's life.

With this information, consider the following scenario: Henrik Johnson is a Swedish engineer working full time as a project manager on a job site in Jakarta, Indonesia. Henrik is a specialist in tea globally. His work force in Indonesia are 100% from Indonesia. Henrik sets up virtual meetings on a twice a week basis with his team leaders located in three parts of Indonesia. He has decided that he will have once a month meeting in Jakarta, with a follow up dinner quarterly in his home. His Swedish wife, Marta, and their three daughters, have moved with him to assure a positive and productive work experience for all concerned. When the first quarterly dinner at his home is announced and the invitations are sent out by Hendrik and his wife, Marta, none of the outlying team leaders accept the invitation to dinner at the Johnson home. Why?

I look foward to hearing from you and learning your thoughts on this scenario and its question.

Warm regards,

Jane

Jane E. Smith, Esq.
LiSimba Consulting Services, Inc.
Building Relationships for International Business Success
www.lisimba.com
jsmith@lisimba.com

Monday, October 26, 2009

A Cross Cultural Welcome to Cyberweek 2009

Dear Fellow Participants in Cyberweek 2009,

I am actually writing to you all from Paris which of course is the great advantage of asynchronous communication. We do not have to be together nor to answer at the moment the communication is sent in order to communicate. Yet we do have to "speak the same language" in order for the words to truly communicate.

To gage how well you as a Cyberweek 2009 Particpant "speaks the same language" as other particpants in other cultures, I invite you to experience the simulation I wrote for this very purpose, the link to which is found on the Cyberweek 2009 Contents page. When you have completed the simulation, you will be given your scores on a range of skills that are truly essential to effectively functioning in cross cultural communications. Please then e-mail those scores to me or send them to my blog here. I will write back to you a brief understanding of your scores to assist you in your present and future effective cross cultural communications. I will also send you a downloadable portion of the chapter that I wrote on this topic for the ABA GUIDE TO INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS COMMUNICATIONS, Third Edition, May 2009. This chapter can support you in all cross cultural communication, especially where cross cultural trust building and dispute resolution are necessary.

I look forward to talking with you this Cyberweek 2009.

Warm regards from Paris,

Jane

Jane E. Smith, Esq.
LiSimba Consulting Services, Inc.
Building Relationships for International Business Success
www.lisimba.com
jsmith@lisimba.com

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Cyberweek 2009

Hello Cyberweek 2009 Participants!!!

LiSimba is participating in Cyberweek 2009, at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, through a few enjoyable opportunities. First of all, LiSimba is offering you the chance to measure your skills in communicating effectively in cross cultural settings. You can do this by experiencing an online simulation which LiSimba created and wrote. The link to the cross cultural simulation will be sent to you through Cyberweek 2009. After you complete the simulation you will find a set of scores that have been tallied for you during your time on the simulation. If you will send LiSimba your scores, I will return to you a note that interprets your scores, giving each participant a measured idea of his/her skills in effectively communicating in cross cultural settings.

Along with your note I will send you a download of a portion of a chapter that I wrote in the ABA GUIDE TO INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS NEGOTIATIONS, THIRD EDITION, May 2009, for your use in cross cultural communications.

During Cyberweek 2009 I will be sharing insights on cross cultural issues in global communications on this blog. I look forward to chatting with many of you asynchronously on cross cultural communications.

In anticipation of Cyberweek 2009,

Jane E Smith, Esq.
Founder and President
LiSimba Consulting Services, Inc.
Building Relationships for International Business Success
http://www.lisimba.com/
jsmith@lisimba.com