CULTURAL SYNERGY – IS IT POSSIBLE IF CO-WORKES ARE OVERSEAS?
CULTURAL SYNERGY
I make it a point to say “Bonjour” every morning. I also make sure that I am pronouncing it right. Does that create cultural synergy between me and my French co-workers? Or do they just laugh at my American accent?
Is it really possible to create or develop cultural synergy with co-workers that although work for the same company, are separated by miles and miles.
What is really cultural synergy? According to Moran, Abramson and Moran (2014) “cultural synergy is a dynamic approach to managing cultural diversity in a variety of ways” (p. 266). From my experience, it is extremely difficult to engage and fully interact in a global team when your team members are not able to meet with you face to face. How does one brainstorm with co-workers when there is a language barrier and a cultural barrier? In our organization we meet on a weekly basis with our co-workers in Paris and often have conference calls, that most often leaves us wondering what was said. Although one may not understand what was said we do not say so because we do not want to be the only one who will come across as the person who didn’t understand and more importantly you we do not want to make the other person feel uncomfortable or feel self-conscious about their accent. So what do we do? The truth is that there is a thick wall that separates and as much as we want to be in sync and it is quite difficult because we are so far away from each other!!!
My Co-workers are in Paris and I am in New York!!
This is a picture I took of the Eiffel Tower in 2016 during one of my trips to our parent office. I have to travel to our parent company every year to attend a Global Office. I always look forward to meeting with co-workers face to face. I brush up on my French and often practice the common words. However, it is so difficult to come to a country where you are unable to speak the language and hope that someone understands English. By the way, the French think that is extremely rude, if they make an effort to speak English why can’t we make an effort to speak French? My co-workers often tell me that I MUST learn to speak French. I would love to learn, but have not yet had the opportunity to practice what I have learned because in our satellite office in New York there are only a few co-workers from France and they want to practice English. That does not mean that I do not like the language, on the contrary, I would love to speak French and have been practicing common words. I make it a point to say “Bonjour” every morning. I also make sure that I am pronouncing it right.
Team Building in Cannes!!
This is a picture I took in Cannes during one of our company’s team building events during our annual global offsite. It is very important to build rapport with co-workers. A couple of years ago, we had a team building exercise in Cannes. That was lots of fun, however, I noticed that their was still an invisible wall that kept us from completely coming together. The language and cultural barrier is huge! The French culture is so different from Americans. Sometimes the French think that Americans are rude and there are times that Americans feel that the French are rude. Some of my co workers feel that the French have a lazy way about them. Interesting enough, I read an article in The Economist, titled: “The French Way of Work” where Schumpeter thinks that most outsiders believe that the French are lazy. In the New York office for example, there are some French employees that seem to never have much work to do. The American co-workers often ask what do the French do all day? But I ask myself, is it that the French are just more productive and get their work done easier and faster than the Americans? Or is it that they just have a very lax way about them and about work?
It seems that we are always trying to establish cultural synergy. Sometimes it feels as if we were just forced to work together and figure it out and it doesn’t matter whether you understand each other on a day to day basis as long as one always knows that the parent company is the ruler of all time. How do we create synergy? As we have learned in lesson 6 of our OLEAD 410: Leadership in a Global Context class, it is easier said than done! There is the risk of conflict because each culture are used to seeing the world from their own point of view and respond and seek resources in their own style and customs which sometimes can be viewed or perceived differently by the other cultures. That’s why it is so important, as Moran, Abramson and Moran (2014) suggest, to listen to each other and enter into each other’s private worlds to better understand each other and create synergy. As Moran, et al. (2014) say, “Total team perception and wisdom will then become more than the sum of the parts” (p.271).
I believe we just need to try harder to overcome any language barriers and obstacles. Engage, engage, engage! Together we can create the cultural synergy we are so desperately seeking. By being specific to what are expectations are and not being afraid to speak up when one does not understand what it is said, will be the first few steps leading toward the road toward cultural synergy.
Works Cited:
23 things you don’t know about the French language until you live in France (2018) The Local, Image retrieved from: https://www.thelocal.fr/20180129/french-language-learn-things-you-dont-know-about-french-before-you-move-here
Desperately seeking synergy. (2015). The Times Higher Education Supplement : THE, (2185) Retrieved from http://ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/docview/1644486867?accountid=13158
Moran, R. T., Abramson, N. R., & Moran, S. V. (2014). Managing Cultural Differences. (9th ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.
Penn State University. (2018). Lesson 06: Cultural synergy. Retrieved from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/1942644/modules/items/24935399.
Schumpeter. (2011) The French Way of Work: The Economist. Retrieved from: https://www.economist.com/business/2011/11/19/the-french-way-of-work
I completely understand how difficult it is to learn a new language. Living in Japan I am constantly trying to use my Japanese and every Japanese person I meet wants to practice their English. We put our children in an International school with the hope that they would learn more Japanese, but it’s more the other way around there as well.
I recently found a friend who is interested in my goal of learning to speak at least conversational Japanese. She is from mainland and every time she comes down she assists me in learning more Japanese and helping with my pronunciation. I would see if you can find someone outside of your work environment that maybe you can have lunch with, or coffee with on a weekly basis. Possibly even a retiree who speaks both languages. While they may not speak some of the business terms you may need in the future, they could definitely help you with your conversational French. I think it’s great that you are putting forth the effort. I personally think it’s just awful that I speak so little Japanese and a majority of the people here speak at least a little English.
Madeline,
I was intrigued blog, primary your willingness to cross boards, by merely greeting someone in their native language. While saying Bonjour may not seem like a big deal, it is a sign of respect to another person and towards their traditions and culture. A fundamental attribute towards understanding a group of people is acknowledging their culture. Part of French culture, as many others, is about have basic common courtesy. When encountering others who do not share our culture, one should take into consideration the differences at a basic level, where culture is subjective, irregular and personal to those who find commonality. Person’s such as yourself who become acquainted with cultural differences and who is sensitive to the dissimilarities will have an easier time creating synergy. Culture is “the part of behavior that is at once learned and collective,” and is, therefore, “taught rather than instinctive or innate,” (Li, 2012). Which means, we can adapt ourselves to a synergistic effort to work in unison.
However, when, like your team, which must communicate virtually or using teleconferencing, will encounter challenges in creating cohesion with your foreign subsidiaries. The reason is the social distance; this occurs because there is a lack of an emotional connection with the other person, one is not in direct contact with them. “When people on a team all work in the same place, the level of social distance is usually low. Even if they come from different backgrounds, people can interact formally and informally, align, and build trust,” (Neeley, 2015).
I found it interesting how you related the basic stereotypes each culture makes of one another. The French believe Americans are self-important and rude, and the Americans think the French are lazy. The French think we are rude mainly because we don’t greet people before speaking and our inability to learn a few phrases before visiting their country. The American’s think French people are not hardworking because of their laissez-fair attitude; personally I think they balance work and life better than we do. Zhang and Xu, (2007) explain this occurrence by stating “formation of opinion on certain members of the group grounded on the previous perception, attitude, and viewpoint of the group, heedless of the particular characteristic of the individual,” (Li, 2012). Example, you are American; therefore you must be arrogant, you are French; consequently, you are rude. We should strive to break down these barriers, demonstrate that we are not all the same.
When your international team members speak, and you or anyone in your organization doesn’t understand, speak up and say, “sorry didn’t understand can you repeat that please.” We foreigners don’t mind, we realize that sometimes our accents are challenging, but with patience, we can adapt. I recall being in France, and not speaking French very well, but I made an effort. When I could not pronounce something well, I asked the person who I was talking with; I asked them to teach me the correct pronunciation, they were happy to do it, again because one take an interest in adapting. You made a good connecting I believe, in stating that adaptation is how synergy begins.
Li, Y. (2012). Cross-cultural communication within American and Chinese colleagues in multinational organizations. Proceedings of the New York State Communication Association. 2010(7). 113-131. Retrieve from: https://docs.rwu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1015&context=nyscaproceedings
Neeley, T. (2015). Global teams that work. The Harvard Business Review. Retrieve from: https://hbr.org/2015/10/global-teams-that-work.