Culture in general is concerned with beliefs and values on the basis of which people interpret experiences and behave, individually and in groups. Broadly and simply put, "culture" refers to a group or community with which you share common experiences that shape the way you understand the world.

The same person, thus, can belong to several different cultures depending on his or her birthplace; nationality; ethnicity; family status; gender; age; language; education; physical condition; sexual orientation; religion; profession; place of work and its corporate culture.

Culture is the "lens" through which you view the world. It is central to what you see, how you make sense of what you see, and how you express yourself.

Harnessing the Power of diversity

Diversity is a specialized term describing a workplace that includes people from various backgrounds and cultures, and/or diverse businesses. You can inspire innovation and find a strategic competitive advantage in an organizational and cultural context by seeking to leverage, rather than diminish, opposite forces. People with different cultural, educational, scientific, and business backgrounds will bring different frames of reference to a problem and can spark an exciting and dynamic cross-pollination of ideas.

You can find a strategic competitive advantage in an organizational and cultural context by seeking to leverage, rather than diminish, opposite forces. An important but widely overlooked principle of business success is that integrating opposites, as opposed to identifying them as inconsistencies and driving them out, unleashes power. This is true on both a personal level (the balanced manager is more effective than his or her peer at one end of the control spectrum) and on organizational level as well.

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Four cultural dimensions

Cultures – both national and organizational – differ along many dimensions. Four of the most important are:

Directness (get to the point versus imply the messages).
Hierarchy (follow orders versus engage in debate).
Consensus (dissent is accepted versus unanimity is needed).
Individualism (individual winners versus team effectiveness).

Cross-cultural communication challenges

Culture is often at the root of communication challenges. Exploring historical experiences and the ways in which various cultural groups have related to each other is key to opening channels for cross-cultural communication. Becoming more aware of cultural differences, as well as exploring cultural similarities, can help you communicate with others more effectively. Next time you find yourself in a confusing situation, ask yourself how culture may be shaping your own reactions, and try to see the world from the other's point of view.

Cross-cultural differences: eye contact

In some cultures, looking people in the eye is assumed to indicate honesty and straightforwardness; in others it is seen as challenging and rude. In USA, the cheapest, most effective way to connect with people is to look them into the eye. Most people in Arab cultures share a great deal of eye contact and may regard too little as disrespectful. In English culture, a certain amount of eye contact is required, but too much makes many people uncomfortable. In South Asian and many other cultures direct eye contact is generally regarded as aggressive and rude.

Culture shock

Failure to identify cultural issues and take action can lead to a culture shock. In order of priority, the most often found symptoms of culture shock are:

feeling isolated;
anxiety and worry;
reduction in job performance;
high nervous energy;
helplessness.

Not coping with culture shock symptoms when they appear can lead to a very negative situation.

Respecting differences and working together

Anthropologists discovered that, when faced by interaction that we do not understand, people tend to interpret the others involved as "abnormal", "weird" or "wrong"5. Awareness of cultural differences and recognizing where cultural differences are at work is the first step toward understanding each other and establishing a positive working environment. Use these differences to challenge your own assumptions about the "right" way of doing things and as a chance to learn new ways to solve problems.

Building trust across cultural boundaries

Research indicates4 that there is a strong correlation between components of trust (such as communication effectiveness, conflict management, and rapport) and productivity. Cultural differences play a key role in the creation of trust, since trust is built in different ways, and means different things in different cultures.

For instance, in the U.S., trust is "demonstrated performance over time". Here you can gain the trust of your colleagues by "coming through" and delivering on time on your commitments. In many other parts of the world, including many Arab, Asian and Latin American countries, building relationships is a pre-requisite for professional interactions. Building trust in these countries often involves lengthy discussions on non-professional topics and shared meals in restaurants. Work-related discussions start only once your counterpart has become comfortable with you as a person.

Cultural differences in multicultural teams can create misunderstandings between team members before they have had a chance to establish any credibility with each other. Thus, building trust is a critical step in creation and development of such teams. As a manager of a multicultural team, you need to recognize that building trust between different people is a complex process, since each culture has its own way of building trust and its own interpretation of what trust is.

Managing cross-cultural differences: DuPont

A US-based multicultural team at DuPont gained around US$45 million in new business by changing the way decorating materials are developed and marketed. The changes included new colors that team members new, from their experience within other cultures, would appeal more to their overseas customers.

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Managing cross-cultural differences: Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola is believed to have assumed both social and business leadership roles throughout its history. To ensure that the company continues to support diversity in the future, Doug Daft, Coca-Cola's CEO from 1999 to 2004, linked executive pay, including his own, to meeting diversity goals. He committed to holding executives accountable for making progress in reaching company diversity goals. To further ensure progress in this area, Daft established a new position called Vice President and Director of Diversity Strategies, which reported directly to CEO.

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"Six thinking hats" method

The famous "Six Thinking Hats" proposal analysis tool developed by Edward de Bono might need to be slightly modified if it is to be used China.

While most of out thinking is adversarial, the six thinking hats technique overcomes these difficulties by forcing everyone to think in parallel. As they wear each hat they all must think a certain way at the same time. The fifth hat is green. It is the hat of growth and possibilities. Everyone has to suggest ways in which the idea could be adapted or improved to make it work better.

But in China, "wearing a green hat" means that your spouse is cheating on you. So it may be difficult for participants to think about growth and possibilities when they put a green hat on. The hat of "growth-and-possibilities" might need to have a different color in China.

Cross-cultural differences: female color

If we wish to communicate more effectively, we should learn more about thinking habits and perceptions of our prospects. Once we had a meeting with a visitor, a Japanese businesswomen. After the meeting, the Japanese lady went to the washroom. We were surprised to see her opening the door to the "Man's room" with a distinctive male-silhouette sign on it. We told the lady about it. "Yes, I see the sign," she answered, "but it is red-colored. In Japan, a red-colored sign means it's a lady's room. For a men's room, the sign should be black or blue." This is an interesting example of different cultural perceptions. For some people, only the content counts, the color makes no difference. For others, the main message is conveyed by the color.

Topics related to "Managing cross-cultural differences in business"

Managing cultural differences

When coaching someone from a different culture, use cross-cultural differences management techniques and skills, in particular:

Remember that cultural difference arise from different origins: birthplace; nationality; ethnicity; family status; gender; age; language; education; physical condition; sexual orientation; religion; profession; place of work and the corporate culture of the previous employer.
Cultural differences can result in higher or lower levels of perceived performance, and in more or less need - and acceptance of feedback.
Be explicit with yourself and with your multinational team members about the implications of the cultural differences.
Commit to building shared values and shared expectations - in terms of management style, need for creativity, adherence to deadlines, frequency of progress checks, etc.

Cultural intelligence: managing cross-cultural differences

Cultural differences in multicultural teams can create misunderstandings between team members before they have had a chance to establish any credibility with each other. Thus, building trust is a critical step in creation and development of such teams. As a manager of a multicultural team you need to recognize that building trust between different people is a complex process, since each culture has its own way of building trust and its own interpretation of what trust is.