Understanding other cultures in a globalised business world important
In a globalised business world, understanding other cultures is essential. Explicit cultures define every aspect of what needs to be done, implicit
ones prefer not to spell out everything. Task-oriented ones prioritise
tasks and goals; relationship-oriented ones do not.
Hamsanandhi Seshan, always studies her company's 'country navigator' on long-distance international flights. As Director, Communications, Global Delivery at IBM, she has to regularly interact with people of numerous nationalities and the navigator - a guide to the differences between cultures of different countries, available on IBM's intranet - is a great help. On a recent flight to Germany, for instance, she read up on German cultural traits, and analysed how they matched or differed from her own.
"Germans are culturally more inclined to risk-taking and I share this trait with them," she says. "But I think in a very random manner, while they have a linear method of thinking."
Providing this navigator is one of many steps IBM has taken to sensitise its 425,000 employees to global cultures. There are in-house training programmes too. "We have set down nine dimensions based on which an individual can assess himself vis-a-vis other cultures. For instance, there are some cultures that are explicit and others more implicit in their ways of communicating. There are also task-oriented cultures as opposed to relationship-oriented cultures," says Anita Guha, Global Leadership Development Manager at IBM. Explicit cultures define every aspect of what needs to be done, implicit ones prefer not to spell out everything. Task-oriented ones prioritise tasks and goals; relationshiporiented ones do not. Guha clarifies that such classification is not intended to stereotype communities, but only to provide a general understanding. In every country, there are always individual exceptions.
Going Dutch
IBM's nine dimensions proved useful for Seshan recently in clinching a deal with a Dutch company. The negotiations took 18 months in all. "I came on board only four months before they were completed," she says. "I tried to understand why it was taking so long to close the deal." A major cultural difference Seshan noticed was the 'bottom up' decision-making process at the Dutch company: after the CEO made a decision, it was passed on to employees for their inputs. The company found a way to alter the decision if the employees wanted it that way. This was very different from the decision-making style of Indian firms. What won Seshan and her team the deal ultimately was their success in convincing the Dutch employees that there was a cultural fit between the two organisations.
Much of such training in companies today has its roots in a 1980 study by Dutch researcher Geert Hofstede called Culture's Consequences: International Differences in Work-Related Values. His work laid the foundation for what is now known as Hofstede's five dimensions of national culture (see Sizing Up Cultures).
Unlike IBM, Coca-Cola takes the help of external agencies to teach how to adapt to different cultures. When Savio D'Souza, Talent Lead, Eurasia & Africa Group, was posted in Turkey, for instance, his wife and he had to attend a two-day session where a Turkish national was brought in to brief them.
Similar training made all the difference for D'Souza when, on a day's visit to Nairobi, Kenya, he attended a 'peoplemanager' meet. "My training had taught me I needed to be expressive and animated while dealing with African people, unlike Russians or Ukrainians with whom I'd be more logic-centred," he says.
For Accenture employee Rebecca Schmitt, who moved to India from the United States two years ago, the inhouse training programme proved crucial in helping her understand the importance of relationships in this country. "Indians are very interested in your personal and professional life.
My training helped me prepare for this," she says. The programmes at Accenture are based on an 'Accenture Culture Index' which takes factors like behaviour and work environment in different cultures into account.
But ultimately, actual exposure to people from different countries teaches more than training sessions. For N. Radhakrishnan, Industry Consultant, Global Business Services, IBM, it was the multicultural environment within IBM that helped him understand different cultures. Around six months ago, he was trying hard to bag a customer relations management contract from a Dutch client. When a team from the company visited Hyderabad, he invited the members to a waterfront restaurant for dinner. "The client had four vendors to choose from, including us.
We were the third one they were meeting," says Radhakrishnan. So, did he win the deal? He did. The waterfront dining did the trick. He had known beforehand that the Dutch enjoy waterfront views, which reminds them of their home country.
"Germans are culturally more inclined to risk-taking and I share this trait with them," she says. "But I think in a very random manner, while they have a linear method of thinking."
| SIZING UP CULTURES Geert Hofstede's five dimensions POWER DISTANCE: How a culture values authority UNCERTAINTY AVOIDANCE: Its tolerance of uncertainty INDIVIDUALISM/COLLECTIVISM: Relative extent to which it values either trait MASCULINITY/FEMININITY: Extent to which it values either traits LONG-TERM/ SHORT-TERM ORIENTATION: Emphasis it attaches to the future versus the present |
Going Dutch
IBM's nine dimensions proved useful for Seshan recently in clinching a deal with a Dutch company. The negotiations took 18 months in all. "I came on board only four months before they were completed," she says. "I tried to understand why it was taking so long to close the deal." A major cultural difference Seshan noticed was the 'bottom up' decision-making process at the Dutch company: after the CEO made a decision, it was passed on to employees for their inputs. The company found a way to alter the decision if the employees wanted it that way. This was very different from the decision-making style of Indian firms. What won Seshan and her team the deal ultimately was their success in convincing the Dutch employees that there was a cultural fit between the two organisations.
Much of such training in companies today has its roots in a 1980 study by Dutch researcher Geert Hofstede called Culture's Consequences: International Differences in Work-Related Values. His work laid the foundation for what is now known as Hofstede's five dimensions of national culture (see Sizing Up Cultures).
Unlike IBM, Coca-Cola takes the help of external agencies to teach how to adapt to different cultures. When Savio D'Souza, Talent Lead, Eurasia & Africa Group, was posted in Turkey, for instance, his wife and he had to attend a two-day session where a Turkish national was brought in to brief them.
Similar training made all the difference for D'Souza when, on a day's visit to Nairobi, Kenya, he attended a 'peoplemanager' meet. "My training had taught me I needed to be expressive and animated while dealing with African people, unlike Russians or Ukrainians with whom I'd be more logic-centred," he says.
For Accenture employee Rebecca Schmitt, who moved to India from the United States two years ago, the inhouse training programme proved crucial in helping her understand the importance of relationships in this country. "Indians are very interested in your personal and professional life.
My training helped me prepare for this," she says. The programmes at Accenture are based on an 'Accenture Culture Index' which takes factors like behaviour and work environment in different cultures into account.
But ultimately, actual exposure to people from different countries teaches more than training sessions. For N. Radhakrishnan, Industry Consultant, Global Business Services, IBM, it was the multicultural environment within IBM that helped him understand different cultures. Around six months ago, he was trying hard to bag a customer relations management contract from a Dutch client. When a team from the company visited Hyderabad, he invited the members to a waterfront restaurant for dinner. "The client had four vendors to choose from, including us.
We were the third one they were meeting," says Radhakrishnan. So, did he win the deal? He did. The waterfront dining did the trick. He had known beforehand that the Dutch enjoy waterfront views, which reminds them of their home country.
