Harvard Business Review


October 2015
Spotlight Article : The New Global Leader | When Culture Doesn't Translate

Having spent 18 years growing up and working in the Middle East, a decade more studying and working the United State, I've got the wonderful opportunity to collaborate with Indians, Pakistanis, British, Scottish, Americans, Chinese, Japanese, Taiwanese, Ukrainians, and those from the African subcontinent. The experience has been one of the study of people and cultures. 

Americans, British, Scottish etc tend to be more or less individualistic, vocal creatures and assertive on their stands if they believe in something. Chinese are not so open to the "western" style of debate where everything is put on the table. The Japanese tend to see disapproval as a negative. Indians and Pakistanis are more social within themselves and seek internal approvals and advice before treating a topic. Therefore, implicit conversations without outside involvement tend to be a norm. I get the feeling this is not too far different for people of Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore. 

Erin Meyer's article "When Culture Doesn't Translate" is just a poignant reminder that in a global workplace, extrapolating local processes on a global scale and expecting homogeneity across big organizations could be a great mistake.

Meyer advises "global thinking" for corporate success involves the careful application of five principles:

• Identify the dimensions of difference : Understanding the dimensions along with cultures vary, particularly in how decisions are made and who tend to make most of the decision making.
• Give everyone a voice : Apply a tenet that you'll give everyone a voice, particularly if you're leading a cross-functional teleconference across continents. 
• Protect your most creative units : Map out the international functional units of the corporation which rely on flexibility and creativity. Don't just formalize all systems, processes, and communications in your most creative units. 
• Train everyone in key norms : Know what are the areas you cannot negotiate are and have employees adjust to it. According to Meyer, Exxon Mobil's culture of task oriented efficiency is one example where a corporations makes sure it familiarizes it's employees in this practice whether that is the U.S, Nigeria or Qatar. 
• Be heterogeneous everywhere : Take steps at the start to ensure diversity in each location. You may not have a mid-aged all British HR staff managing an all Chinese less-than-30-year-old group of engineers sitting in Shanghai. Erin advises mixing tasks and functions even among locations and instructing staff members to build bridges of cultural understanding. 

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