Deb Kurtz

The Infectious Smiles of Africa

December 1, 2018 by Deb Kurtz 2 Comments

The Infectious Smiles of Africa – A Lesson for Human Compassion

My experiences with the African people began with an excursion to Northern Africa. I spent some time in several of the northern African countries and met some wonderful people, particularly children. I was told to take pencils with me when I visited the local villages. The moment I took the pencils out of my satchel, I was surrounded by youngsters. Their smiling, wide eyes, radiated sunshine and their squeals of laughter made one overcome with pure happiness! It was a delight to see the joy in these children’s eyes and what a gift of a simple pencil could mean. Perhaps this was a moment of Ubuntu, a bit of humanity in the smallest form. There was no language barrier, no ethnic or cultural challenges, no social or political platform, only a simple gesture that warmed the heart and made a connection to all people.

This was a good example of a high context culture, one that values interpersonal relationships, as Moran, Abramson and Moran describe this in chapter 15 of their book “Managing Cultural Differences”, high context culture as seen in the African society, it is one that does not come from words, rather internalized in the person (Moran, et al, 2014, p.534). The Africans tend to be more human oriented, valuing the extended family and sharing with all. As a leader, working in Africa or with the people Africa, you need to understand this philosophy.

Boyd Varty discuss Ubunto via a Ted Talk presentation as Africa being a harsh place, “I also know it to be a place whose people, animals and ecosystems teach us about a more interconnected world,” says Varty. “[Nelson] Mandela said often that the gift of prison was the ability to go within and to think, to create within himself the things he most wanted for South Africa: peace, reconciliation, harmony. Through this act of intense open-heartedness, he was to become the embodiment of what in South Africa we call Ubuntu. ‘I am; because of you.” Ubuntu is a beautiful concept and can be translated as “human kindness,” but its meaning is much bigger in scope than that — it embodies the ideas of connection, community, and mutual caring for all (May, 2014).

In a recent position I held, I was reintroduced to those African smiles and the human connection those smiles shared. Working with a global organization, one will encounter much diversity. Understanding these differences, will help understand who you are working with. According to Hofstede Insights, much of the continent of Africa is considered a collective society, which is why family, extended family and building good relationships is imperative to success in business dealings. They also have a low score in long term orientation, perhaps it is because tradition is important and change leads to some suspicion. Uncertainty avoidance varies, but is more on the higher end, meaning these people feel threatened in certain situations and the future has much unknown attached to it. Africa has seen its share of issues; famine, sickness, disease, poverty, military and political extremism, corruption and conflicts (Moran, et al, p. 505). Which brings me back to those smiles and the lessons they taught me.

Egypt – Blue, Morocco – Purple, Mozambique – Green, Nigeria – Orange

Hofstede Insight

Every time I was greeted by these employees, they received me with a big smile and a nod of the head, sometimes an embrace or hand clasping, but those smiles were so contagious. And I wondered what was behind those smiles. Each having their own story to tell.

Binta was a good employee, I always admired her head wraps and commented on them daily, she always flashed her super smile back at me. But one day did not come to work, she had to head back to her village to take care of an ailing family member. I could hear her smile in her voice as she told me what was happening and that she was sorry but needed to do this. Three years later, she came back looking for a job, when she saw me, she burst out in that smile and her eyes danced with delight, she was hired back and went to the job she had prior to leaving, looking like she never skipped a beat and still wearing those colorful head wraps.

Taalib was heading to his village, to get married in his traditional tribal fashion, he never meet the girl, but had a big smile on his face as he told me about those traditions. When he returned from his marriage ceremony, he came alone, his new bride stayed back in his village with family. I looked at him with sad eyes and he said “Miss Deb, no worries”, and broke out a big smile. “I work hard here and next year will bring her here to live with me, in a new home and my family too. I will see her soon”. He did 18 months later.

I was interviewing Abede for a new job and asked him about a difficult situation he had to deal within the work environment. What was it? How did he handle it and what was the outcome? He explained to me he was an engineer working in a large production facility in his country, one day the military came in and starting shooting everything in sight, he crawled on his belly to hide for his safety and waited many hours until he felt it safe to run away. He ran away that day and came to this country with barely any of his own belongings. I was speechless. He looked at me and smiled and said Miss Deb, “I am ok, my family is ok and we are living a good life today” and thanked me.

Neema had not seen her family in 5 years, they were finally coming for a visit and she hoped they would stay. She was full of smiles telling me about her town and where her family had lived and what they did in their country and the pride of her telling me about family and traditions was priceless.

And finally, I had Malik and Tariq, brothers who had been living in America several years now. The eldest, Malik, was heading back to his village to help his family, as there was civil war brewing there and he wanted to defend his village. A few short weeks later, the younger brother left to help fight as well. When they both talked to me, they told me I was not to worry about them, they would be fine. Both giving me a laugh and a big smile showing their confidence and said they would see me in three months. They returned three month later, flashing their wonderful smile and returned to their work like they never had left it.

There were more Bintas, Taalibs, Abedes, Neemas, Maliks and Tariqs, all flashing their smiles, eyes always twinkling, each with a story to share; some exciting, some scary, some funny, and some horrific, but they never stopped smiling. Helping to understand their plight and respecting them for who they were and what they believed in, helped me to build a strong rapport of trust and respect that I had with these employees. In turn, they helped me look at things differently, all by an infectious smile.

Behind those smiles, was hiding so many untold memories of suffering, heartache, disappointment, chaos, incivility, sadness, sickness, hunger, darkness, and hardship. In spite of those issues, these people showed me that they are strong and resilient, full of hope, happiness, love, and peacefulness within this world. As leaders, we also need to understand the human connection and how we can be part of the Ubuntu concept. A smile is a lesson in Ubuntu, I am because of you and we all need some human compassion. A smile truly can say a thousand words in any language!

References:

Country Comparison. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country- comparison/egypt,morocco,mozambique,nigeria/

I am, because of you: Further reading on Ubuntu. (2017, June 21). Retrieved from https://blog.ted.com/further-reading-on-ubuntu/

Moran, R. A., Abramson, N. R., & Moran, S. V. (2014). Managing cultural differences (9th ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.

Penn State University. (2018). Lesson 14: Africa Retrieved from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/24935460

L’ARTE DI ARRANGIARSI

November 11, 2018 by Deb Kurtz 1 Comment

The art of getting by, networking, family and making a good impression.

My summer training experience with an Italian Professor

Italy, along with most European countries, has seen its fair share of human and natural disasters and have learned how to adapt to survive. The art of arrangiarsi is the ability to make do, get by, and work oneself out of any issue (Moran, Abramson, Moran, 2013, p. 485). And in Italy, just as their food, fashion, architecture and artwork, this concept is how Italy functions in the global business world, like its own unique piece of art. Italy has much bureaucracy and policies can be muddled and outcomes are slow to develop, so Italians find creative ways to get around these barriers in order to get things done. For me personally this concept, the art of arrangiarsi, came to life in the summer of 2018 when I went through a substantial amount of training for people development to become a trainer. Understanding arrangiarsi, while creating a bond like a family and being part of network, all while making a good impression gave me an appreciations of how mixed cultures learn to adapt in working relationships.

Some background, I work for a manufacturing company whose an investment holding for the Italian based organization, FCA (Fiat Chrysler), an Italian family, with headquarters in London and Amsterdam, very global and very Italian. I was asked to be part of a group that will be trainers for our people development pillar of our World Class Manufacturing platform. This team needed to go through several weeks of training. So our journey began when we were introduced to our instructor Mara Grazie. She was a professor of Psychology at a local università. So in the cultural dimension of power distance, she commanded respect, as hierarchy matters and her title gave her some power over us. She demanded that respect and she set the ground rules, however she was also very accommodating to all of us. This attitude was also present in Hofstede’a individualism dimension, as she often referred to herself with a sense of pride and joy as she spoke about her teachings, theories and dissertations that she accomplished in her career. Hofstede refers to this in his dimension comparison of Italians as having their own personal ideas and objectives in life and find it very motivating and a route to happiness through their own personal fulfillment (Hofstede-Insights, 2018).

However, one of the key culture awareness for business with Italians is building close relationships and I noticed that early on. Maria Grazie took keen interest in knowing each of use, learning our names and what made us tick. She also referred to the familia many times and the importance of having a strong network of family and friends. Our group did bond and forged a strong relationship, almost like a family, having a connection (p. 485). This was one of the points that we shared at the end of training, as being important for us to move forward as trainers, we had that network and bond, as we were the people that the organization would look to train others. We had each other for support.

Being part of this group also opened up how different cultures working together learn to adapting or you may be left behind. We earned quickly that a 7am start time, really meant 745am, but for certain meetings punctuality was a must, but then there were times it was ok to be fashionably late. Interruptions were common place, you just pick up where you left off, go with the flow. The half hour lunch really turned into a hour maybe even ninety minutes and that you left to eat lunch someplace else , you did not eat at your computer during this time (Brennan, 2017). Coffee breaks were truly that, time for a coffee, even in the afternoon. And that was also a time of social gathering catching up with friends and family and discussing issues that were not pertinent to work. If the internet does not connect, or the screen would not project the lesson, no worries, you got by, you improvised, you figured something else out. The art of arragiasri. By the end of this session, we adapted to this concept and had a “Che sarà sarà” attitude, whatever will be will be (p. 487).

Maria Grazie’s eye contact was piercing, she studied each of us looking for both those quality features as well as our flaws. This is one of their trademark non-verbal communication tools. She did explain to us the importance of eye contact in the Italian culture (Veem.com), as it is a way to gain trust and respect. Along with some key Italian phrases and body gestures that she taught us to be successful in dealing with Italians (ediplomat.com), we began to build a strong connection between the two cultures. Although this training would be done in the United States plants, t understanding some of the non-verbal communicators, helped to strengthen the concept of the program.

We also learned the importance the “La cordata” was. This concept helped establish you within the network, building alliances and forging relationship that would help you grow within the organization. In the Italian culture, who you know is detrimental to the organizations and the power of the hierarchy to get issues completed. In this training, Maria Grazie wanted to express the importance of forging relationships and be part of the pillar network for people development, as the organization took this very seriously.

Bella figura, or making a good impression is what Maria Grazie was grooming us for, conveying a certain image. It is important to have a good image in all you interactions one does, in both physical and economic, appearance and behavior. Business interactions such as presentations and proposals all need to rely that certain image along with prestige and status (p. 486).

This training was a good way to understand and adapt some of the Italian culture into my own way of thinking. Building relations like a family is part of doing business. Networking and knowing the right people also helps forge those strong relationships; la cordata. Understanding how communication can be effective, even if it is silent. Helping to embrace and engage other cultures on how you do business always makes a good impression; bella figura. Learning the art of arrangiarsi or going with the flow is perhaps a refreshing culture adaptation many of us should embrace.

This summer experience was very helpful in understanding the dynamics of our company as a whole, how culture works both in a positive and challenging way and how we interact as well as interpret signals So, on a final personal note and revisiting barrier concepts of Italian bureaucracy and politics, I am still waiting for my train the trainer certification to come through. So my arrangiarsi is to train my employees without the actual piece of paper. Hey, I need to do the training, so bypass the credentials, I know the material, just do it. I call that getting by while building strong relations and making a good impression! Caro salute!

To see another perspective on learning in an Italian environment, please see: https://www.studentlanguagebureau.com/blog.php?controller=pjLoad&action=pjActionView&id=342

References

Brennan, C. (2017, March 14). Retrieved from https://www.studentlanguagebureau.com/blog.php?controller=pjLoad&action=pjActionView&id=342

Country Comparison. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country-comparison/italy/

How to Do Business in Italy. (2018, January 31). Retrieved from https://www.veem.com/italy/how-to-do-business-in-italy/

Moran, R., Abramson, N., & Moran, S. (2014). Managing Cultural Differences (9th ed.). Abingdon: Routledge.

(n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.ediplomat.com/np/cultural_etiquette/ce_it.htm [Read more…]

Doing Business “The Toyota Way”

November 3, 2018 by Deb Kurtz 1 Comment

How the US concept of how continuous improvement polarized Japan

in the art of change for better.

Kaizen

After World War II, the United States helped Japan rebuild their manufacturing infrastructure by sending a group of managers to oversee this effort in helping the Japanese economy survive. A man by the name of William Edward Deming was one of them. Deming helped local manufacturing firms by improving the quality of their product while reducing costs (Investopedia, 2018). Deming’s concept was better overall quality not only boosts productivity but it also reduces costs, thus improving the buying power of that product. Japan went on to be a leader in car and electronic manufacturing which started when William Deming’s sowed his seeds of the continuous improvement theory.

This concept of continuous improvement lead Japan to create a new mindset, Kaizen. This word translates roughly to “good change,” and is a Japanese productivity philosophy that helps with organizing everything that one does, in other words, constant, continuous improvement (Henry, 2014). So why did the United States fall behind Japan when they taught them the concept of continuous improvement after World War II? Perhaps Japan saw that creating a quality product created loyal customers and the reputation that followed, which eventually created a dominance in both the car and electronic industry. While the United States was satisfied with quantity over quality (Investopedia, 2018). Japan’s dominance in these industries such as car and electronics, saw Toyota being the number one car manufacturer in the world (BizVibe, 2018) along with Honda and Nissan. Japan is also a top electronic manufacturer with organizations such as Hitachi, Sony, Panasonic, and Mitsubishi (ManufacturingGlobal, 2018) that strive to be dominate in their industry.

Why is Japan so dominate in management practices that make them so successful in the car and electronic industries? Perhaps it’s the way they view the attitudes and characteristics of their workers, the attitudes and polices of management and their workers, the competitive focus along with management accounting and control. This stems from the concept that Japan views their employee as a valuable resources, of lifelong employment with training, upward mobility, and loyalty as the pillar of their foundation. The United States has the concept that all workers can be replaced and that training is not necessary, the ever revolving door. Japan values knowledge and input from their workers, while the United Sates chooses to use more of an autocratic decision making process. Japan utilizes the concept of kaizen that of continuous improvement, while the United States prefers the concept of optimization; seeking perfection by removing constraints versus finding an optimal solution given a set of constraints (MAAW.info, 2018, Martin, J R, 1992). Japan is in competition for the long run, versus the United Sates who appears to be happy with short run financial gains. Japan has a bottom up approach where they value the input of all workers on all levels in order to develop goals and set the strategy of the organization. The United States has a top down approach with little emphasis on what the workers can provide the company with improvement and feedback.

Japan’s continuous improvement model is very much in line with the six cultural dimensions that Hofstede outlines. Which may also show why Japan and The United states has opposite views of how industry should run as there is quite the disparity between all six dimensions when comparing Japan with the United States. Which may be the reason why each company operates their businesses so differently, with Japan having more success. This difference is very prevalent on the way that in one sees the Individualism dimension, the United States in much an “I” nation compared to the “We” concept of collectivism shown in the Japanese culture, taking care of each other in exchange for loyalty. This is a main concept in how each prefers to run businesses in their perspective countries. Japan’s power distance is higher than the United States, with both sharing a bit of the unequal distribution. Japan having a bit more inequality in the distribution of wealth even though there is a strong sense of loyalty, which may be the effects of power distance in this country, as one respect that who is in charge. And finally a key indicator on the success of Japan’s business endeavors is long term orientation. Japan focuses on the long term goals and the future. Lifelong employment and loyalty are key indicators of long term orientation. While on the other hand, the United States focuses on short term goals and quick results, there is little loyalty with workers and their organization and the revolving door concept is very apparent in many United States businesses

Hofstede’s Japan

Hofstede’s United States

The United States has begun to utilize the kaizen process and many organizations have stated to embed their work processes using kaizen models such as Six Sigma, TQM, WCM and other lean manufacturing concepts. Ford and Lockheed Martin are two organizations that have shared success in the kaizen philosophy, “change for the better”. Please see David Kiger’s blog, “The Best Examples of Companies Using Kaizen in the Real World” for more information.

References

Emspak, J. (2014, September 24). Kaizen: An American Idea Gets A Japanese Makeover. Retrieved from https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/092414/kaizen-american-idea-gets-japanese-makeover.asp

Henry, A. (2014, December 17). Get Better at Getting Better: The Kaizen Productivity Philosophy. Retrieved from https://lifehacker.com/get-better-at-getting-better-the-kaizen-productivity-p-1672205148

Home. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.hofstede-insights.com/

Martin, J. R. (n.d.). Martin, J. R., W. K. Schelb, R. C. Snyder, and J. C. Sparling. 1992. Comparing the practices of U.S. and Japanese companies: The implications for management accounting. Retrieved from https://maaw.info/ArticleSummaries/ArtSumMartin92.htm

Rowe, S. (2018, June 18). Top 10 electronics manufacturers in the world. Retrieved from https://www.manufacturingglobal.com/top10/top-10-electronics-manufacturers-world

Top 10 Automobile Companies in World: 2018 Overview. (2018, July 10). Retrieved from https://www.bizvibe.com/blog/top-10-automobile-companies-in-the-world/

The Best Examples Of Companies Using Kaizen In The Real World. (2017, June 20). Retrieved from https://davidkigerinfo.wordpress.com/2017/06/20/the-best-examples-of-companies-using-kaizen-in-the-real-world/

Being a female in an all male industry!

September 9, 2018 by Deb Kurtz 2 Comments

New HR Rep on site.

(Oh yeah it’s a female as well!)

I remember the day I accepted the job at what once considered a top five employer in our area. I was ecstatic that my credentials were just what they were looking for. I was surely going to make an impact as an HR Rep in a fast paced manufacturing environment. I had been very successful in my previous work and felt this was a parallel role to my previous ones. I was very excited to hear that the General Manager partnered well with HR and that they were a strategic player in the organization. HR had an important role at this site. This was music to my ears, as I was very use to be a strong HR partner no matter where I worked

My first day on the job was typical new hire paperwork and acclimating myself to my new environment. In my world, Human Resources is very similar, no matter where you work, you are taking are of the human capital of the company. From employee relations, to recruiting to benefits and compensation, so much is the same, it just has the company’s brand attached to it. So you spend some time understand the company’s brand and politics and read polices and procedures all while shadowing people in the organization.

I quickly begin to see another side of this organization I was not aware of. They did not think females understood their world nor should they and all that I was good for was administrative work for the site. I dismissed that as a group if individuals trying to see how they could ruffle the new HR Rep’s feathers.

When I attended the leadership meeting with my boss, who is a male. I quickly was taken back with what I saw. My boss saw my expression, and asked me what was wrong. I said to him, look around this room, there is no diversity. There was no female leaders, no one of color and there was only about 4 of the group of 21 that was over 45 years. This was an all-white male, good ole boys club. It was clear that my opinion and input had little value. I was shut down as soon as I tried to share ore recommend. At one point I was told that no one on the floor would tell leadership how to run his business, their ideas and suggestions were not valid. Joe Forehand Accenture’s CEO quoted “Empowerment without opportunity is useless” (Moran, Abramson, Moran, 2014), wow, were my eyes opened to a new attitude. An attitude where empowering others to do their job was useless if values and opinions were merely scoffed upon. In every meeting, I was told I was the new girl and I would soon understand the ways. I soon spoke up and said I may be new to this company but I am certainly not new to Human Resources, I was excluded from the next meeting. An soon, I noticed the many of the leaders were going to my boss (male) for advice, I was good enough to provide reports and file out papers, but my expertise in labor relations was not utilized. Our lesson discusses exclusion as a form of discrimination for certain diverse populations, I may not have felt discriminated against, but I certainly was not included. Was this a form of sexism and I truly was being excluded merely because I was female?

An article on fortune.com spoke about leadership in manufacturing were women were under 20% in roles as leaders. This is very apparent in the current organization I work for. And it is sad as in this article also suggest that placing woman in leadership roles continues a pipeline for future female leaders. One needs to crack that glass ceiling in the industries such as manufacturing who do not feel females are competent leaders.

Moran et al, suggest that companies who do not value their female as well as minority employees, could suffer long term consequences with regards to recruitment, career development and promotions if diversity is excluded. Resulting in not being viewed as an employer of choice, not developing or utilizing their employees’ full potential and resulting in losing that competitive edge (2014). I have begun to see this results with this organization. Maybe they will soon realize the importance of inclusion and how diversity can be harnessed in a with positive attributes for the company. And when values and knowledge is shared, the results can be amazing. After all, the human capital of one’s organization is the most important asset of the company and is the only way of a sustainable competitive advantage for the future (Moran et al, 2014).

I am a survivor, I do have confidence in myself and feel I am knowledge and have value in what I can offer, and I try to proceed with a different approach in this organization. I have won a few individuals over, but still have a long way to go. I am still called the new girl in HR! However, in my current role, I am not sure how I can ever overcome that stigma!

Works Cited:

Commentary: Why Can’t Companies Break the Cycle of All-Male Leadership? (n.d.). Retrieved from http://fortune.com/2018/06/26/female-leadership-ceos-linkedin/

Moran, R. T., Abramson, N. R., & Moran, S. V. (2014). Managing Cultural Differences (9th ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.

Pennsylvania State University. (2018). Leadership in Global Context—OLEAD 410. Lesson 3: Diversity. Penn State World Campus, The Pennsylvania State University. Retrieved from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/1942644/modules/items/24935371.

Introduction By Deb Kurtz

August 26, 2018 by Deb Kurtz 1 Comment

Greetings to my fellow class mates

I’m Debra Kurtz and go by Deb and work in the Human Resources field.

Where are you located geographically?

I live in Lititz, PA, a small town in southeastern Pennsylvania, a few years ago we were named the coolest small town in America!!

Where are you in your life professionally?

I’m currently employed as an HR Partner for a manufacturing company that makes agriculture equipment. I have worked in the Human Resources field for over 15 years now

What are your long-term goals?

I’m currently going into my 7th semester and hope to graduate in the spring with a BS in Labor Relations and Organizational Leadership! I have been enjoying my classes in LER and OLEAD and have been able to use my work experiences in class work as well as using theory and concepts in my daily work life. I am taking this course as a requirement for my LER degree. I do think this will be a very interesting course, as I think our history of work evolution has had a huge influence on how that evolution evolved. I do want to pursue my Masters. Eventually, I want to work in a senior leadership role and then perhaps move into a mediator or arbitrator role.

Do you have a favorite leadership quote? If so, provide a brief comment about why this quote has special meaning for you.

Maya Angelou

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

As a leader, these are very powerful words, and can define how your followers feel about you as a leader. Leaders who inspire motivate, encourage and empower are far likely to have the support, trust and respect from their followers then leaders who dictate, criticize and are less supportive. Leaders who have helped me and inspire are the leaders who I learn form and have taken those teaching and incorporated them in my life. Leaders who have been uninspiring in my life, I no longer remember what they did for me.

Optional: interesting tidbits:

I have a son who just graduated this past spring from PITT and is back at home waiting to pursue his Masters.

I enjoy being outdoors, hiking trails or being on the lake, bay or ocean. I enjoy all type of music and have attended many concerts in my lifetime. I enjoy traveling and exploring our National Parks, such as Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Arcadia, Mt Hood, Hawaii Volcano, Great Smokey Mts, Rocky Mountains and Zion to name a few.

I have been a lifelong Philadelphia Sports fan, and have season tickets to the Eagles. I got to see the Eagles play this past year in the NFC Championship game, sending them to the Super Bowl, it was one of the most electrifying games I have attended! It was been an exciting year for Philly sorts teams Eagles winning the Super Bowl, Flyers and Sixers in the playoffs and hoping the Phillies can make a run…we also support the Union soccer Team!

Do not be intimidated by online courses, I found them very rewarding. There are so many resources that one benefits being an online student. The discussions are a great platform to gain knowledge as well as all the other resources (forums, tutoring, Skype) that Penn State offers, utilize them!

I knew self-discipline was needed to do online classes, you will start to develop your own discipline, and find your niche on how to study, where and when. It is something that you can get guidance on, but you need to find your own niche.

I work fulltime, and take several courses a semester, I have given up a lot to pursue this goal. But I do have support from family and even my job. I do find time to balance my life, but it is hard, and you need to have self-discipline to achieve this goal, but it is doable if you have a positive mindset to achieve your personal goal. I am an adult learner and found this very rewarding!

Looking forward to this course and getting to know and working with many of you during this semester! Best of luck to all!

Regards,

Deb Kurtz

Fly Eagles Fly