10 Three Global Intercultural Tests
10.1 Siemens AG – Globality Check
10.1.1 Presentation
You have been asked by the Headquarters to give a presentation about a new product to sales representatives from the Siemens region. You know that there will be colleagues from the USA, China, Middle East, South Africa and a number of European countries in your audience. What cultural factors do you think are important for the success of your presentation?
10.1.2 Feedback
You are working in Thailand and some of your staff arrive regularly late to work. You feel you need to talk to them about the issue – how do you approach the problem?
10.1.3 Meetings
In your work at Siemens you spend a lot of time taking part in meetings – many of them include people from a wide range of different countries. What cultural factors should you take into account to make sure that the meetings are effective?
10.1.4 Negotiating
You are involved in a negotiation for Siemens with partners from Japan, North and South America. What cultural factors do you think you need to consider when doing the negotiations?
10.1.5 Socializing
An important part of doing business is getting to know your business partners. In your culture how do people combine business and socializing? What cultural differences are you aware of concerning socializing with business partners?
10.1.6 International Projects
You are part of a team with French, Germans and Indians working on a major IT project. The market is highly competitive and it is essential that everything runs according to schedule.
Communication is mostly virtual as you are based in different countries. What cultural factors do you think will be important in working together?
10.1.7 Delegation
You have been sent by Siemens on a delegation to another country. You expect to stay in your new position for at least three years. How will you make sure that the delegation is a success?
10.1.8 Debriefing
You have now worked through some typical situations that you can expect to experience at the “global network of innovation”. What did you learn from the assignment?
Record your ideas and afterwards compare them with our suggested solutions, which can be found later in this chapter!
10.2 An intercultural crossword puzzle
- A process by which a person influences others to accomplish an objective and directs the organization in a way that makes it more cohesive and coherent.
- The father of the 5-D model
- Term used for an employee on an international assignment
- Sign of appreciation when accepting an invitation to a private home
- Important tool to practice the right reactions in intercultural business encounters
- One of the most important values for Asians
- One of Trompenaars’ cultural dimensions (Individualism vs. ...)
- The ... can be facilitated by regular contact with colleagues, friends and family members in the home country during the assignment abroad.
- Instrument to explain the term “culture”: ...-Model
- A religion based on five pillars of faith
- One of Tuckman’s stages of team development
- Intonation, volume and speech tempo are part of the ... communication
- Global research project on values and beliefs
10.3 A test of global management skills
A) Companies may fail in their globalization efforts because of…
- A lack of financial resources.
- Government regulations.
- Consumer demand for low-cost products.
- A lack of multicultural management expertise.
B) During a break for a meeting between you and a group of Omanis, you walk into the men’s room to find a few of them washing their feet in the sink. You think:
- They must have had smelly feet.
- They are simply freshening themselves up.
- They are preparing for their prayers.
C) You are making a presentation to a group of American managers on your project. One of them disagrees with the data you are presenting. Will you…
- Ignore his remarks and proceed?
- Ask him why and then justify your point?
- Tell him you can discuss the point with him after the meeting?
- Remind him that you do not accept questions during presentations?
D) At the end of your telephone discussion with your Indian friend, you ask him if the price is acceptable. He answers, “Yes, yes,” meaning…
- He is confirming his acceptance of your price.
- He has heard and understood your offer.
- You should give a deeper discount.
- He is politely saying no.
E) Lucy Chen, in Taiwan, is new on the assembly line and she is still having difficulties putting the units together properly. You want to train her. You should…
1. Say, “Lucy, you should pay closer attention to what you are doing”
2. Shout across the room, “Lucy, do you need help?”
3. Tell her, “Lucy Chen, you are learning very fast”, and then show her exactly how the units are put together.
4. Move her aside and show her how to put the units together.
F) Which three words best sum up Japanese society?
- Individualism, Respect and Hinduism.
- Altruism, Hierarchy and Confucianism.
- Materialism, Work and Honor.
- Directness, Confrontation, Success.
G) Your company has just received confirmation that a high-level delegation from China will visit your office. Since the Chinese have already received a sample of your products, the purpose of their visits is probably to …
- Sign an agreement to act as your local distributor in China.
- Establish a firm relationship with the company’s management.
- Visit your country as a reward for their hard work at home.
- Getting to know some technological advancements.
H) You are conducting a performance appraisal with a Vietnamese member of your group. You ask, “Where would you like to be in two years?” He looks at you in surprise. The reason may be…
- He expects you, as the manager, to know the answer to that question.
- He thinks you are suggesting that he will leave the company.
- He thinks you want him to change the jobs within the company.
- He thinks you are not giving him a good evaluation.
I) You are the new manager in an Indian office. You ask one of your supervisors to move a desk and place it in another corner of the office. The next day you notice it has not yet been done. Why?
1. The supervisor was offended you asked him/her and refused to do anything about it.
2. The supervisor could not find a laborer to move it and would not do so him/herself.
J) Upon being met at the office of a potential Indonesian client you are met with very personal questions about your job, education and salary. Why?
1. These questions are just being part of getting to know you.
2. These questions are meant to establish your rank.
3. These questions are thought to be of importance in your own country, so are being asked out of politeness.
K) In Latin America, managers …
- Are most likely to hire members of their own family.
- Consider hiring members of their own families to be inappropriate.
- Stress the importance of hiring members of minority groups.
- Usually hire more people than are actually needed to do a job.
L) When eating in India, it is appropriate to
- Take food with your right hand and eat with your left.
- Take food with your left hand and eat with your right.
- Take food and eat it with your left hand.
- Take food and eat it with your right hand.
M) In China, the status of every business negotiation is…
- Reported daily in the press.
- Private and details are not discussed publicly.
- Subjected to scrutiny by a public tribunal on a regular basis.
- Directed by the elders of every commune.
N) You are making a presentation to American company executives who are considering appointing you to lead their negotiating team. To impress them, you should emphasize your
- Harvard Ph.D. and Stanford MBA.
- Managerial style as a motivating leader.
- Past accomplishments.
- Family background.
O) You have a business discussion with Japanese managers. During a period of silence in that meeting you should
- Ask what is wrong.
- Break the silence immediately.
- Stay silent too.
P) After finishing your visit to an Arab company, the president offers to escort you to your car. He is offering this gesture in order to
- Discuss privately the final commissions.
- Further express his hospitality.
- Show his competitors next door that he has a contract with you.
- Give you a last chance to offer that discount he has been seeking.
Q) Your Japanese team achieved its production quota last month. How should you acknowledge their achievement?
1. Treat them to a sushi dinner where you give a special recognition to the group leader.
2. Do not mention it, because meeting quotas is their job.
3. Call the oldest person aside and thank him.
4. Thank the group at your next meeting and ask them to increase production even more.
R) An Arab businessman offers you a cup of Arabian coffee at his office. You don’t drink coffee. You should say
- “No, thank you.”
- “Thank you, but, I don’t drink coffee.”
- “Thank you,” and accept the cup of coffee.
- “No, thank you. Coffee makes me nervous.
S) True or false?
- Japanese and Chinese can read each other’s newspapers.
- Germans like deadlines.
- Arabs expect gifts to be opened in front of the giver.
- Japanese, unlike Chinese, do not mind “losing face”.
- When training Thais, use local examples and case studies.
- Indian society is family-oriented and collectivistic, and emphasis is on harmony and conformity.
- In China you should avoid giving clocks as a gift.
- American businessmen dislike written contracts.
- In the Malaysian culture, group achievement is not as important as individual achievement.
- The Chinese prefer white and black wrapping paper colors.
- Gender dynamics are changing fast in India as young, educated women lead the workforce in certain industries and become in some cases the primary financial support for the entire family.
- The senior Thai always greets the junior Thai first.
- Indonesians regard your personal references more than your technical skills.
- For the Chinese a contract is a complete and binding set of specifications.
- When giving or receiving gifts in Japan, you should use both hands.
- Business with Muslims should normally not be done on Friday.
- Asking a Chinese counterpart about his income is taboo.
- Eating with the left hand in Egypt is normal.
- Interruptions in Brazil are considered as rude.
- Handshakes are the accepted form of greeting in China, even among Chinese.
- Koreans prefer a well-documented training manual for post-training study.
- You must remind your Malaysian business partner three times to respond to your proposal.
- In order to work with your Singaporean team, you must first exhibit your technical capability, and then gain their trust.
- If you plan a sit-down meal with your Chinese guests, mark seats with place cards and follow protocol order in seating.
- If you are invited to an Argentinian‘s home or office, wait for an invitation to be seated.
- To motivate Malaysian workers you must allow them independence.
- Chinese may make as many as three refusal gestures when they are offered gifts.
10.4 Solutions
10.4.1 Globality Check
The following solutions – a mixture of comments by the Siemens company and my own opinion – should only serve as a platform for further discussions!
Presentations
- Consider the cultures in your audience when preparing your presentation. Avoid taboo topics and restrict your use of humor.
- Think about what the audience expects from your presentation. How much information do they want? How active do they expect you to be? Do they expect to be able to ask questions during the presentation? What sort of structure are they used to? For instance, presentations in Germany often focus on information whereas in the UK and the USA the big picture is commonly presented with more focus on getting the audience interested in the topic.
- Check that the audience understands the language you are using. Do they all speak English? Is some translation necessary? If you use English then keep your language concrete and as simple as possible – avoid complicated sentences or unusual vocabulary.
- Use visual material when possible to emphasize the main points. Make sure the visuals mean the same thing for the different cultures. For instance if you want to show before and after effects remember that in some cultures people read from the left to the right in others it is the other way around.
- During the presentation look at the body language of the audience: Are there signs that people are uninterested or confused? Remember that different cultures have different ways of showing that they do not understand or are not interested. In USA and Europe interest is often shown by asking questions whereas in some Asian countries it is considered polite to listen.
- Provide written summaries of what you have said – if possible in the language of the audience.
Feedback
- In order to keep others from losing face, communication is often non-verbal, so you must closely watch the facial expression and the body language of the other person, when you ask him/her, e.g. for the reasons for regularly coming late to work.
- Reinforce the importance of the agreed-upon deadlines as far as the time management of the whole company is concerned and how their behavior may negatively affect the rest of the organization.
- Keep to agenda, schedules and deadlines. If you do not stick to the point, you will be regarded as devious and at the same time you lose the respect of others.
- If things do not change for the better, the next step is to ask one of your (e.g. Thai) colleagues being more or less in the same rank you are working to play the role of a mediator.
- The result of such an intervention should be that clear goals now have been jointly defined and everybody is fully aware of the consequences if they are not met.
Meetings
- If you like to make jokes, watch out for those that do not fly so well across cultures.
- Face-to-face relationships are a prerequisite for developing trust across cultures. Do not only rely on e-mails.
- Listen, observe and try to understand before judging and evaluating.
- Be patient. Accept the fact that it may take a much longer time to get results.
- Whenever possible, check your assumptions and expectations with your partner.
Negotiating
- Right at the beginning the team should jointly define team rules and regulations that everybody has to obey and to follow.
- Keep in mind that multicultural teams need more time to come to a final result. Therefore allow plenty of time for meetings and interruptions. Especially the team members from Japan need more time to come to a conclusion because they have to get in contact with the headquarter in Tokyo to reassure their position.
- Even if problems occur remain calm and constructive at all times.
- Working with members from a different cultural background demands a comprehensive understanding of verbal, non-verbal, and paraverbal communication. The right interpretation of the body language, or a situation where silence is part of the negotiating process requires that you behave interculturally correctly.
- If the team appears confused, irritated or offended, ask open questions with “who, what, why, where, how” and try to clear up misunderstandings.
- In order to get a better intercultural understanding of each other and to prevent tensions right from the beginning within the team, you should think about some joint sport activities (basketball, hiking, volleyball, walking) or to persuade them that each other should invite the team members to a dinner prepared by him- or herself.
Socializing
- In some cultures it is important not to mix business with socializing - in others it is vital to do this.
- Where does the socializing take place? In some Scandinavian countries business can take place in the sauna. In the UK and the USA negotiations can take place on the golf course.
- Do you invite business people to your home?
- Who pays for the meal when you go out to a restaurant with business partners?
- Do you have to be careful that an invitation is not seen as a bribe to get a deal done?
- What do you talk about? In some cultures it is appropriate to talk business while socializing, in others this is a taboo topic.
- Be aware of the time zones and working hours in different countries.
- Allow time for team building at the early stages of the project.
- Check common understanding of project goals.
- Clarify roles.
- Establish clear rules for communication.
- In this specific case, bear in mind that the team members may have different styles of working together. In the real situation, this case was based upon on the Indians not expressing their ideas during video conferences: they preferred face-to-face communication. For the French team members, it was vital to feel included in the decision-making process. The German project leader needed to be sensitive to cultural differences in order to gain the support of the whole team.
Delegation
- Learn the language of the host country, at least some phrases.
- Before you go, prepare yourself and your family for the delegation, e.g. by talking to previous delegates and their family members, informing yourself about the country you are going to and taking part in intercultural training.
- Build up as many relationships with local people and colleagues as you can.
- Get involved in local activities.
- Get support from people in a similar position
- Keep in contact with family and colleagues in your home country.
Debriefing
- Take every opportunity you can to experience and find out more about cultures other than your own.
- Reflect on your own cultural roots.
- Observe behavior carefully before you interpret what it might mean.
- See differences as an opportunity rather than a problem.
- Enjoy exploring cultures.
- Whenever challenged by cultural differences, think about how boring the world would be with a global, uniform culture.
10.4.2 Further solutions
Chapter 10 - A Test of Global Management Skills:
A/4; B/3; C/2; D/2; E/3; F/2; G/2, H/1; I/2; J/2; K/1; L/4; M/2; N/3; O/3; P/2; Q/4; R/3
S (true/false):
1/f; 2/t; 3/f; 4/f; 5/t; 6/t; 7/t; 8/f; 9/f; 10/f; 11/t; 12/f; 13/t; 14/f; 15/t; 16/t; 17/t; 18/f; 19/f; 20/t; 21/t; 22/t; 23/f; 24/t; 25/t; 26/f; 27/t
Crossword puzzle:
10.4.3 Intercultural Exercise (p. 66): Instructions for the “Ulemans”
You are member of a group of Ulemans, whom a team of German experts wants to teach the techniques of bridge construction. The culture of Ulemans is in some points significantly different to the German one.
The following rules apply:
Ulemans briefly touch when talking to each other. Not touching each other means: I do not like you. If an expert does not touch an Uleman during a conversation, the latter covers his/her ears. When working, the Ulemans also touch each other just like during conversations, though they take care not to disturb the other person’s work.
The traditional greeting of Ulemans is a deep bow. Other forms of greeting are seen as an offence. Holding out one’s hand towards an Uleman is also regarded as a sign of humiliation and is answered with a loud “Why don’t you greet me?”
Ulemans are extremely friendly people and never use the word “no”. They also say yes if they mean no. When Ulemans say “yes“and simultaneously shake their head, they actually mean no.
Ulemans know how to use pencils, scissors, ruler, paper and glue. However, in opposite to the experts, Uleman craftsmen are specialists with a high division of labor. No Uleman is therefore able to use more than one tool during the project, meaning that every Uleman has to commit himself/herself to one specific tool. Paper does not count as a tool and can be unrestrictedly used by all Ulemans.
Ulemans speak the experts’ language but since their own behaviour is natural to them, they are not able to explain it to foreigners. They answer questions concerning their behaviour with “Why?” or “I don’t understand that”.
During the construction phase, the experts will try to teach you how to build bridges. Remember that even though you are familiar with the usage of the tools, the construction techniques are unfamiliar and you have to learn them first.