While stationed in Ramstein Germany and working for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Headquarters at a young age I started understanding the concept of Cultural Synergy. But at that time I had no idea that there was a term for it. I just assumed it was good manners to get along, work hard and try and understand our differnces and for the most part we all did. Cultural synergy is a term coined from work by Nancy Adler of McGill University, which describes an attempt to bring two or more cultures together to form an organization or environment that is based on combined strengths, concepts and skills (1. Alder). That pretty much defines NATO and why we were all together.
I was a police officer working with individuals from about 16 different countries. There were language barriers, cultural barriers, habits that I had never seen, work ethics that were different that the U.S. and many more things that I had to observe and get used to. This was a three-year special duty assignment for me and for some of the others it was a dream come true, in comparison to where they came from.
In a short time we had to form some kind of synergy in our daily work. I had a supervisor that was Scottish, work mates from Poland, Holland, Belguim, Germany and so on and so on. It was exciting learning there ways of Police work and understanding their differences. I believe that as a team of individuals from other places we had formed a synergy that kept us united as a police force. We learned the strengths of each person and how use that to the team’s advantage.
Cultural Synergy was developed during my time in Germany, with the NATO group of men and women that I worked with. Maybe it was just the military mindset that allowed us work so effectively. Either way we accomplished our goals and developed a bond even through the cultural differences.
- Adler, N. J. (1997). “International dimensions of organizational behavior”. Cincinnati, Ohio: South-Western College Pub.
Michael,
It was super interesting reading your blog post about cultural synergy tied to your personal experiences while working within NATO. I find it very noble that you worked for NATO from a young age, and imagining myself working in Germany at the age of 22 now seems like a scary thought, so I commend you for that. I think you have a very interesting perspective to offer on the topic of cultural synergy considering that NATO is an organization that depends on the success of organization within the very roots that it exists on. I definitely would say that the experiences you have described here in your post have allowed you to develop a full understanding of what cultural synergy truly means. After doing a bit of research, I came across a document regarding cultural issues that occur within NATO. In a strategy research project by Lieutenant Colonel Ovidiu L. Uifaleanu (2010), Uifaleanu “identifies the need for a cultural training doctrine as a solution for enhancing the unity of effort for the current and future missions.” This leads me to a question for you. Do you think that you and the people you worked alongside during your time stationed in Rammstein, Germany were lucky that cultural synergy was achieved among your colleagues? Or do you think that there was a genuine effort put forth from everyone that achieved synergy when working together? Did you receive training regarding working with individuals from so many different cultures, or were you thrown into a mix of many cultures that you were unfamiliar with? If you did receive training, do you think (or know) that individuals from other cultures and countries received similar training as well?
Reference:
Uifaleanu, Ovidiu L. (2010). “NATO’s Comprehensive Approach: A challenge for cultural training.” Retrieved from: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=6&ved=0ahUKEwjuyviJ9IzXAhUj44MKHV3vDKIQFghAMAU&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dtic.mil%2Fget-tr-doc%2Fpdf%3FAD%3DADA521794&usg=AOvVaw08qMMWfmbQSEdDkF9tQjEr