My fondest memory was when my husband was on a long business trip in Germany, and he surprised me with a plane ticket to fly out to meet with him and keep him company on the return home. I was so excited, and it was going to be not only my first longest flight solo, but it was my first international trip. I remember my husband researching about the culture and learning about the culture through his work resources and discussing it with me. So now all this information we are learning in our current class makes so much sense and is relatable to me. I remember they said you don’t want to stand out too much as a tourist for safety reasons, so I read some articles on how they usually dress as I did not know what to pack and I didn’t want to stand out.

When I arrived in Germany, I remember how beautiful and organic everything was. I felt like I was in a movie set, but this was real life. We stayed in Fresing, Germany. I could hear the church bells ring from our hotel balcony, and I would see many people walking or biking. Many people on their bikes would be shopping around town and you can see fresh veggies and flowers from their bicycle baskets.  I noticed late in the afternoon, a group of very young children speeding around the streets on their bike as they may be just leaving school for the day. This town gave me a sense of security and a strong sense of a community feel. My husband told me that they would serve beer in the cafeteria in his office building, and they would have mandatory teatime at 3:00 p.m. Of course, that was a huge culture shock for him compared to his organization in the United States.

When we went out to dinner, I noticed many tables were set up family style. That was something that I really had to get use to. They would provide you with an English menu per request. I remember at one restaurant a lady turned around and started to talk to me and unfortunately, I did not know any conversational words. My husband knew a few to let her know we did not understand her, and we spoke only English. We experienced that quite a few times, so many of them though we were originally German, so we felt that we fit right in. According to our Book on Managing Cultural Differences by authors Neil Abramson and Robert Moran, “The Germans are generally restrained in their body movements. They do not wave their arms and hands a lot as in other cultures.” (Abramson & Moran, 2018, p. 542) Service was slow, so in the United States you are comfortable by waving your hands in the air to get the waiter’s attention. My husband does this a lot, so I had to tell him to avoid doing it and wait until he got his attention. I believe that would be rude in any other cultural environment.

When I was in Germany, we were there during Oktoberfest season. My husband and I took the train from Fresing to Munich, Germany. It took us some time to figure out the ticket pay system. We tried googling instruction on it and finally we learned that the train is sometimes and honor system and if you had no ticket, the train conductor would just kick you out on the next stop. My husband and I took a chance and just followed the crowd that were dressed up for the Oktoberfest event. We did not get caught, (please do not take this tip as this was many years ago). We followed the crowd and found ourselves at Oktoberfest! It was amazing and so well organized and clean. Everyone was drinking, but I have to say they were the nicest drunks I have ever met. Everyone was welcoming and would invite you to join them no matter what table you found yourself at. I really enjoyed my time and now recognize the cultural differences clearly now.

Works Cited

Abramson, N. R., & Moran, R. T. (2018). Managing Cultural Differences. New York: Routledge.

Many individuals travel the world, and many try to work with others globally, but do we understand each other’s cultural differences. Do we try to learn about the culture before we travel to a foreign place or when we work with someone different than us? If not, we should! We can avoid many miscommunications or loss of business deals if we learned about their culture and do not assume everyone communicates the same. Let us look and see how Australia differs from the USA by way of doing things that many may not be aware of.

Australians’ important characteristic when meeting and working with others is building trust. Americans are more focused on business and closing deals than building business relationships. So, conflicts can occur when an Australian feels that an American is being fake and too quick and short when getting to know others and an American may think the Australians want to waste too much time and are not task-oriented.

Australians are more relaxed than in the USA. So, understanding each other’s attitudes is important when getting to know each other and working with each other. According to the book, Managing Cultural Differences: Global Leadership for the 21^st Century by authors Neil R. Abramson and Robert T. Morn, “Australian’s value modesty and brevity in speech. Foreign businesspeople should keep their presentations short without too much detail. Hard-sell tactics are not appreciated as Australians prefer honesty and resist pressure to buy quickly.” (Abramson & Moran, 2018, p. 500) Aggressive business techniques are the American culture, so Americans need to realize that Australians are not lazy, they are just prepared to wait and see things through. Australians need to understand that in the USA, time equals money, so they are judged and rely on results and profits.

Surprisingly, the communication style for Australia is direct, so an American may think they come across as politically incorrect. According to the authors, Abramson, et al., “Australians tend to communicate what they think fairly directly and enjoy an argument or debate.” (Abramson & Moran, 2018, p. 500)  Australians are not trying to be aggressive but to avoid negative relationship outcomes, both Australia and the USA should understand the importance of each communications style and the importance of cultural sensitivity.

These few examples prove that it is important to take the time out and learn the cultural differences between the USA and Australia prior to visiting or doing business. You can avoid many conflicts by understanding each other’s personality traits and communications styles.  You should learn about their humor, attitudes, the idea of fairness, their negotiating and decision-making processes. The most important point would be for all to consider each culture’s world view prior to traveling and doing foreign business with others.

 

Works Cited

Abramson, N. R., & Moran, R. T. (2018). Managing Cultural Differences. Global Leadership for the 21st Century. New York: Routledge.

Why team synergy is important

In every organization, someone will find themselves working with teams and having to collaborate with people outside of our norms. It is most important that everyone can work together cohesively and respect differing opinions and ideas. This may be hard for some depending on their background, so if they do not understand or dislike someone on their team or a co-worker, they will not have a positive vibe and working relationship with them. According to the book titled, Managing Cultural Differences by authors, Neil Abramson, and Robert Moran, “Synergy is a cooperative or combined action and occurs when diverse or disparate individuals or groups collaborate for a common cause. The objective is to increase effectiveness by sharing perceptions and experiences, insights, and knowledge.” (Abramson & Moran, 2018, pp. 239-240) We will work with someone that is from a different culture and may not understand them and sometimes negative emotions will occur between working relationships. I recall working with a co-worker that I did not understand well and did not always handle tasks the way I thought she should have. She was slow at doing things, never asked questions so I perceived her to be lazy and didn’t care, so I never gave her the benefit of the doubt or got to know her better. My lack of understanding her ways is why teaching diversity is important because it will help with team synergy.

Incorporating synergy in the workplace begins with our organization’s mission and values and our leaders. According to authors Abramson and Moran, “Multicultural and multifunctional teams are becoming commonplace. Further-more, the complexity of society and the human systems devised to meet new and continuing needs require a pooling of resources and talents.” (Abramson & Moran, 2018, p. 243) With many organizations today, now working with different global leaders, the organization will shift into a multinational corporation culture. The organization will have to promote workplace diversity by conducting training to bring self-awareness on stereotypes, different cultural backgrounds, and religious beliefs, and personality traits. Leaders must first learn about different cultural backgrounds and lead by example to teach others how to effectively communicate with different working styles, work etiquette, and how to manage conflict professionally.

Once an organization recognizes and promotes diversity, employees can effectively work with others and work in teams that can recognize the importance of a healthy working relationship which now promotes team synergy. According to an online article by author, Silvia Pencak,” Diversity will never work without team synergy. Synergy is defined as working together but it is way more than that. Team synergy is a term that describes the uniqueness of the team. Each team is comprised of individuals with unique strengths, talents, experiences and work styles.” (Pencak, 2021) I believe aligning the organization’s values with concerns and expectations with their global counterparts will help to enhance the acceptability of each mission and values and effectively work towards the same goals.

Without Synergy a team will be unable to work together, and loss of valuable productivity will occur. Synergy helps with workplace motivation and with the knowledge of diversity, each member will understand that they all have different ways of doing things or communicating, but they are all working towards the same goal and can work cohesively together. According to authors, Abramson and Moran, “to ensure top performance, the global leaders continually update and broadens his or her understanding of culture and its impact on our lives.” (Abramson & Moran, 2018, p. 252) When the leaders understand the different cultures, he will be able to have his team members understand and identify when cultural classes are occurring by observing the language barriers, nonverbal communication signs, or lack of listening and understanding. Once these items are immediately identified, the leader can help with applying different management practices that one country can adapt, which now promotes cultural synergy to occur.

 

Works Cited

Abramson, N. R., & Moran, R. T. (2018). Managing Cultural Differences. New York: Routledge.

Pencak, S. (2021). Team Diversity or Team Synergy? Retrieved from Silvia Pencak: https://silviapencak.com/team-diversity-or-team-synergy/

 

 

 

 

We experience a lack of women leadership in the workplace or filling those roles that are traditionally filled by males only. This issue is described as the Glass Ceiling and according to the book titled, Managing Cultural Differences by authors, Neil Abramson and Robert Moran, “The “glass ceiling” refers to barriers to reaching the upper echelons of organizations. These barriers to the advancement of women and minorities are often very subtle.” (Abramson & Moran, 2018, p. 165) Not only do I believe that a woman is unable to break these old mindsets and stereotypes, but organizations fail to meet and assist a working mother with the right work life balance and parental leave that is needed to become successful in the workplace. The U.S. work life balance is not viewed or handled the same as other international countries.

Some policies and labor laws are set in place that leave European workers with more of a work life balance compared to the U.S. but according to author Abramson et. al., “Most companies have put into place specific programs to assist in breaking down barriers impeding a woman’s progression. Many include a combination of flexible work arrangements, mentoring, women’s support groups, and leadership development.” (Abramson & Moran, 2018, p. 166) I am going to compare the work-life balance and policies in Sweden compared to the United States. After viewing the examples, you will clearly be able to see how work life family balance is stronger in other European countries.

The Author of the article, Ariel Kramer lived in Sweden for 5 years and explains her 5 ways that Americans have it all wrong about work-life balance. (Kramer, 2019)

1. Sweden mandates generous parental leave for all parents, regardless of gender

Sweden’s parental leave will continue to change to meet today’s needs, as parents are able to take more than 480 hours and transfer time to each other as needed. Compared to the United States, parental leave is only 480 days, and the entire time is unpaid, unless they’re able to use their own sick or personal time. In addition, parental leave is mostly only an option for mothers. This is a burden for many parents as they are unable to afford unpaid time off, so many will just quit or not take advantage of this benefit.

2. Everyone Gets a minimum of five weeks of paid vacation.

In the United States, many employers rarely provide two weeks of vacation or even sick time to employees. It’s highly rare that a part-time worker is given benefit eligible incentives as vacation, sick or health insurance. Without this generous benefit, it creates such a burden for working families to care for their newborn, childcare or family needs and give the employee the time to recharge and rest.

3. Sweden doesn’t penalize you for getting sick for long periods of time

The United States, many employers don’t provide the generous benefit of sick time or enough sick time days, so many employees will go to work sick because they are in fear of losing their jobs or losing money. Many mothers must take time off for different needs and especially when they have children. In the U.S., without flexible time off is the reason many mothers find themselves leaving the workplace and not appeared as career driven.

4. You even get paid time off when your kids are sick

In the United States, this benefit is compared to the FMLA leave that you can care for a child or an immediate family member. This benefit is unpaid, so many parents will send their child sick to school in fear of losing pay or their job. This benefit in the U.S., would really help a woman to care for their families and stay productive and committed to their organization.

5. There are more boundaries between work and free time than in the U.S.

The United States is part of the world’s most competitive economy, so many employees in the United States are working without work life balance flexibilities, so they don’t have the culture of meeting those boundaries of work and free time. Most Americans fear of losing their job or lack of advancement if they don’t meet each job demands at any time.

Is clear to see that the U.S. is driven by old policies and mindsets and competitive nature in the workplace compared to other international countries. According to author, Abramson et. al., “In the US, for example, there is still a lingering believe that it is the woman’s responsibility to take care of children. Separating work and family into two different domains tends to be found in current Western thinking, and it supports a popular myth that women can choose on or the other, but having both is extremely difficult – when, in reality, women have almost always worked and had families, and only the context has shifted and changed over the years.” (Abramson & Moran, 2018, p. 163) In Sweden compared to the United States, they have a very progressive national policy toward children. They also have an extensive family leave that allows both parents to care for their baby without the financial burden and the respect of work life balance to ensure not only their children’s needs are met, but their own as well. Focusing on work life balance for not only a woman thought, but for both parents and changing their policies, they will be able to recognize a more positive work life engagement to their organization, that will ensure that they are committed and promote the company both professionally and personally. We can clearly see that Sweden promotes work life balance and family care is important to them compared to the U.S. The U.S. is failing to update their policies by helping to assist different woman’s needs by creating a healthy work life balance. These changes will promote workplace motivation by enhancing their mission and values.

 

References:

Abramson, N. R., & Moran, R. T. (2018). Managing Cultural Differences. Global Leadership for the 21st Century. New York: Routledge.

Kramer, A. (2019, August 26). I lived in Sweden for 5 years. Here are 5 things Americans get wrong about work-life balance. Retrieved from Business Insider: https://www.businessinsider.com/sweden-us-work-life-balance-differences-2019-8