OLEAD 410: Leadership in a Global Context

Cultural Leadership blog

Cultural Colloquialisms in Communication

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I started rewatching a sci-fi TV series called Star Trek: The Next Generation whose main character, Captain Picard and his crew, explore the frontiers of space. In one episode, they encounter a new alien species who only talk in idioms, which are a group of words whose meaning is different from the individual words literal meaning. Although Picard could understand the words, the phase itself had no meaning to him. This is because the idiom only has meaning in the context of the alien species’s cultural experience. Since Picard did not have that experience or knowledge of it, communication between the two had been disrupted. This episode reminded me of similar situations I have had with cultural colloquialisms, which included idioms, slang and jargon, disrupting communication with others. 

I lead a set of technology teams at a global university based in Pittsburgh, PA with campus locations in Australia, Qatar, Rwanda, and many U.S. cities like Washington, D.C. and L.A. My teams are culturally diverse with members from India, China, Australia, New Zealand, U.K., Cameroon, and Peru. We are based in Pittsburgh so everyone speaks English but this does not mean everyone totally understands what is said. I found this out when the Information Services (IS) team was merged under my leadership.

When I was a child, all I wanted to be was a cowboy. This lasted for over a year where I would only wear cowboy gear and talk like a cowboy. To this day, I still greet people by saying “Howdy!” or “Howdy partners!” to a group of people. This expression comes from watching Hollywood Western movies which were very popular when I was growing up. This is a fairly unique American cultural experience. The first few weeks of meeting with the IS team, one of the members, who was from India, stopped me at the end of a meeting and asked, “What do you mean when you say Howdy to us?” That Star Trek episode immediately jumped into my consciousness. I was guilty of using a cultural colloquialism which caused calamity in my communication. 

Cultural and linguistic boundaries can cause difficulty in having effective communications which require specific approaches to listening and speaking (Moran et al., 2011, p. 38). To be successful at communicating, the message must be sent in a way that the receiver of the message understands what the sender is meaning (Moran et al., 2011, p.38). During communications, a message sender must translate an idea from their thoughts into a message through a process called encoding and in a similar way, the receiver must decode the message to understand it (Pennsylvania State University, 2021, para. 2 ). During this process of encoding and decoding, the message can be influenced by cultural experiences, among other things. Like my childhood experience with wanting to be a cowboy influences how I form messages of greetings. This was the situation with my IS team member who had never seen a Hollywood Western.   

I have also experienced cultural colloquialism as the receiver when I was in our Australia campus. One of the directors, who is from New Zealand, was showing me around campus and the various technology implementations. The whole time he was talking, he almost always ended the sentence with, “You know”. I found it confusing. Why was he always asking me that? Does he think I don’t understand? It got distracting, causing me to turn up my active listening to show him that I indeed understood what he was saying. Well, it turns out that “you know” is quite a common cultural colloquialism for people from New Zealand, equivalent to “don’t you think” or “‘eh” (Stubbe & Holmes, 1995, p. 64). My decoding of the message was missing the knowledge of the cultural colloquialism causing me to misinterpret the message. 

Communications with others can be influenced by how you encode or decode a message. When communicating with someone with different cultural experiences, it is important to be mindful of how a message is encoded or decoded. Gaining an understanding of other cultures, customs and practices may be helpful to reduce the errors that can occur during communications. When communicating with others, it is best to avoid cultural colloquialisms and keep the message simple. However, sometimes miscommunications can give you the opportunity to learn about other cultures. After explaining what “howdy” meant to my co-worker, he became fascinated with Hollywood Westerns. In turn, I started watching Cricket after learning it was his favorite sport. Now all we talk about is Westerns and International Cricket Council matches. 

 

References

Moran, R. T., Abramson, N. R., & Moran, S. V. (2011). Managing cultural differences. Routledge. 

Pennsylvania State University. (2021). Defining communications. Retrieved from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2103357/modules/items/30942187

Stubbe, M., & Holmes, J. (1995). You know, eh and other ‘exasperating expressions’: An analysis of social and stylistic variation in the use of pragmatic devices in a sample of new zealand english. Language & Communication, 15(1), 63-88. https://doi.org/10.1016/0271-5309(94)00016-6

The Communication Divide: How Going Back to In-Person School in NYC went Wrong

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It has been quite a different year so far, and with a little more than three months left, 2020 is not exactly trying to promote normalcy. Work-life, school life, and gym life are all upside down and happening in unusual places. Although virtual education sounds extravagant and high-tech and impressive, the actual practice has been archaic and rough. I truly believed that having children focused on screens would be the easiest undertaking considering they always act like they cannot remove their eyes from them. The truth is that those were voluntary screen hours, and now that a teacher or classmate is on the screen, it feels forced and deliberate. (Or so I was told) However, now we are coming up on the fall season, and we were initially allowed to select how we wanted our children to learn this term. A blended learning experience seemed to balance our household’s needs and wants, and everyone was excited about the September 10th start date. That was until it was pushed back and pushed back again and now so much is up in the air because of a failure to communicate.

 

Communication plays a vital role in every component of our lives. From the time we are babies, we are communicating our needs, like crying loudly for a diaper change, to being toddlers and communicating our wants, think of the ‘No’ stage, to being older children and overly communicating our wants, such as negotiating terms when you were already given a direct answer. With all this communicating going on, I am forced to wonder how teams of adults and leaders were incapable of communicating the reality of school openings with hundreds of thousands of parents in New York City. Communication is something we do daily. Yet, relaying information from the Department of Education (DOE) to the families that rely on it demonstrated just how bad our authorities are at communicating.

 

As the Lesson Four Module explains, “at its most basic level, communication is about the exchange of information between individuals,” and summarizes a rudimentary notion of how communication works (2020). So, the DOE informed families that they offered three options for learning this fall, and families had to respond and let the DOE know which choice they were selecting. Sounds simple enough. This exchange proceeded through the Communication Process, which the Module illustrates as “an idea is generated by one person, shaped into a message, and sent by the person to another person, who then receives the message, interprets it, and then generates his or her own idea” (2020). This process usually continues repeatedly until an action of some sort is taken or the message is received as understood. We received details about our options, selected a choice, and relayed that info back to the DOE. However, there were more factors at stake than what had been communicated. Most people were aware that the situation could change if Covid-19 case numbers rose above a certain percentage in the city or if too many individuals tested positive who work within your school building. Parents were not informed about the issues with the Teacher’s Union, the problems with the building ventilation systems, and the utter lack of time that the city had to correct these issues. We were all learning more from the six o’clock news than from the DOE.

 

Our Module takes the understanding of communication further and describes how the process can be prone to errors. It will not matter if someone is communicating a message if noise and bias keep them from providing enough information or keeping the receiver from decoding that information (2020). Then, there is egocentrism, which the Module defines as “an inability to take on other people’s perspectives,” which also adds bias to the process and form of disconnect between senders and receivers (2020). When the DOE did not disclose the other dynamics that were factoring into their decisions for this school term, they essentially did not communicate enough with parents. The DOE’s assumptions did not consider what was happening in households all throughout NYC and did not consider how parents and students would be affected by several delays from the start to the school year.

 

In her text, Fundamentals of Organizational Communication, Shockley-Zalabak (2015) explains that “communication competency is the ability and willingness of an individual to participate responsibly in a transaction in such a way as to maximize the outcomes of shared meanings” (p. 6). The belief is that those that are communication competent will have the “motivation to engage in communication that results in mutual understanding,” and pursue their exchanges with an understanding that understood messages are reciprocal in the communication process (p.7). For the DOE, the lack of communication competency has led families all over New York City through several rounds of ‘When’s In-Person School Going to Start?’. The game show that families play nightly in September between rounds of Disney+ binges and household chores.

 

Needless to say, no one could have predicted the extent of the situations in our communities or that a Zoom classroom would become a thing. However, it is crucial for us not to forget the basic skills we have in our arsenal. Our ability to communicate. Perhaps if the DOE had engaged in some communication competence going back to in-person school in New York City would not feel like a dragged-out soap opera.

Actual Sign in Front of the Elementary School

 

References:

Pennsylvania State University (2020). Lesson 04: Global Communication. OLEAD 410: Leadership in Global Context. Retrieved from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2075490/modules/items/29697171

Shockley-Zalabak, P. (2015). Fundamentals of organizational communication: knowledge, sensitivity, skills, values. Boston: Pearson.

Don’t be a Block Buster !

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It has been a long week and we are ready to relax and watch a movie with some friends. Jay and his wife are hosting a group of couples and they have spared no expense to make the evening perfect. There is a cooler outside full of iced down miller lite, and several bottles of champagne are chilled in anticipation of the big movie night. The island counter has a crock-pot with steaming meatballs filling the air with that fresh Italian, basil and garlic smell. Jay summons a few of us to the “media room”, where he has a wall full of DVD movies. There must be a thousand or more carefully categorized by theme. There are so many choices it is almost overwhelming for the group to decide. As I looked at the wall of digital video disc (DVD), I could not help but think back to the days of hopping in the car and taking my kids to the Block Buster Video and how a once dominant company no-longer exists.

It seems obvious to a casual observer today that Block Buster should have pivoted their model and went to a subscription based digital delivery such as Netflix, Hulu, or Sling. How could something that seems so obvious in hindsight have been missed? The answer is shockingly simple, the basic communication process failed. Communication is defined “as interpersonal acts that exchange meaning and information (Schneider, Gruman, & Coutts, 2013, p.126),”(PSU WC, 2020). There were members of management that did see the pivot in the industry and warned senior leadership of the pending doom. Several countries such as China, Japan, and India were already experimenting with digital methods of delivery. In the United States, Napster was delivering music online for free and movies soon followed. There were eventually lawsuits and other copy right issues that would lead to trouble with Napster however, the new delivery model was right before their eyes.

Communication may not be as simple as one person exchanging meaning and information to another. As it turns out there are many pitfalls that can wreak havoc on an intended communication exchange. The potential disruptions or biases are exacerbated when we consider the Global aspects of todays’ economies. When we introduce groups or cross languages or cultures there are additional considerations that must be included.

In Countries like China and Saudi Arabia relationships are important prior to conducting business, this is known as “slow messaging” communication (Abramson & Moran, p.43). Canada and the US are considered “fast messaging” communication cultures and it is acceptable solicit strangers via email (Abramson & Moran, p.43). “A persons’ culture influences how language is formed, how the linguistic communication is understood, and impacts how the language is constructed” (Abramson & Moran, p.49). High-context cultures assumes the person receiving the communication knows the background and less need to be explained (Japan, Saudi Arabia, and Spain are examples high-context cultures). Low context culture like the US and Canada assume receivers need more information and context around the communication (Abrams * Moran, p.51).

There are many other factors that must be considered, the process can be so complex there are models of communication to help senders and receivers understand the basic encoding and decoding of messages (PSU, WC, 2020).

Leaders and global leaders must first and foremost be learners (Abrams & Moran, p. 110). Leaders and followers are influenced by the genetic heritages, which leads for opportunities to learn, train, and develop (Abramson & Moran, p.110). Because we are deeply influenced by our surroundings as we develop, we must remain vigilant and geocentric. If the Block Buster leadership team would have remained open to learning and created a culture that embraced and encouraged the same attitude they may still exist and be a competitive digital provider. Keep learning and working on communication skills, do not be polycentric and closed to integrating other ideas, whether they be local or global. Embrace the learning as an opportunity to train and develop. Do not be a Block Buster!

Reference

Abramson, N.R., Moran, R.T. (2018). Managing cultural differences: Global leadership for the 21st century. New York, NY: Routledge.

 

Pennsylvania State University WC (2020). Leadership in global context—OLEAD 410 [Online course]. L04 Global communication. Retrieved from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2075490/assignments/11954486

 

 

Intercultural communication – Do the Needful – Blog #1

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Over the past several years as an IT and Engineering manager in a global organization I have had many opportunities to resolve conflicts resulting from communication issues.  It is unfortunately a common event to see some colleague or another make a humorous cultural mistake.  On a few occasions I have even given others the opportunity to enlighten me on my own egocentric communication mistakes.  In hindsight such conflicts can be humorous, but they only seem confusing, frustrating, or even infuriating when they are occurring to us.

A common inter-cultural communication conflict I have run into several times with colleague’s in India is the phrase, ‘Do the needful’.  This is a terribly common phrase in various areas of India, with it turning up in email and chat conversations between myself and folks from Chennai, Hyderabad, and Bengaluru regularly over many years.  Many times I saw this phrase in emails and chat sessions and the combination of a high and low context cultural difference and the 22% gap in what senders expect people to understand and what receivers actually understand for e-mail (Kruger, Epley, Parker, & Ng, 2005).  My colleagues in India came from a high-context culture (van Everdingen & Waarts, 2003) while as an American I come from a low context culture (van Everdingen & Waarts, 2003) meaning that I prefer more direct detailed communication while my colleagues expected the details to be drawn from the context of what they were saying (Moran, Abramson, & Moran, 2014, pp. 43-44).

To my American ears this phrase has always sounded humorous and sort of rude.  It sounds humorous because grammatically it kind of sounds like someone is referring to a dance move like ‘doing’ The Twist, The Macarena, The Shuffle, or some dance challenge on Tik Tok. (All the dancers in these video are better than me, even the fails!)  I guess the Harlem Shake most reminds me of what popped into my head when someone says ‘do the needful’.  This may be because my low-context frame of reference as an American becomes confused by the general lack of direction provided by the high-context communication represented by this phrase.  There are literally no directions on what it is they expect me to do, or how they expect me to do it many times when I see this phrase.  I imagine the many people in the Harlem Shake videos had little direction to end up doing many different dances instead of one coordinated dance.

Early in my career this phrase would turn up in email, usually something like this. (Many times, with no more context than this.)

Example 1

From: (Not a real address)

To: Phil

Subject: I have some problem

Body:

Phil, I have some problem.  Do the needful.

Variations may include other pleasantries, but the messages didn’t often include enough context for me to tell what was actually needed.  I would run into this frequently when I was in a support position.  Several rounds of emails would follow as we tried to get to the actual details, possibly lasting one day per round due to time zone and shift differences.  At first, I thought my colleagues were saying, “This is your problem, not mine, fix it so I can get on with my work.”  I took this to be an offensive way to tell someone, ‘I am being taken away from my important work because of some failure you are responsible for, stop whatever you are doing and fix the problem’, the lack of additional information provided with the phrase was a confirmation in my eyes that the writer could not be bothered to help resolve this problem that was obviously beneath their position.  My local coworkers and I even began to joke about this phrase when it would occur because they had a similar impression.  A

We weren’t the only ones who felt this way, Urban Dictionary defines the meaning of this phrase very similarly (there are other definitions listed but some are cruder):

“Do the needful – The person uttering the phrase has indicated to the listener that they have decided the issue being discussed is not their problem. They don’t care how it is solved, but know they will not be involved in solving it (Willy, 2018).”

As I rose through the ranks of our organization over the years I began to here this from more senior leaders in India including directors, and senior managers over large groups and teams, though they would typically provide a little more context and say Please in front of it.

Example 2

From: SomeDirectorInIndia

To: Phil

Subject: We have some problem

Body:

Phil, At some time we started having some problem, preventing our teams from delivering on their commitments in some way.

Please, do the needful.

This was almost more frustrating to me than the others because I thought that the more senior members were talking down to me and blaming me for their team’s problems.  They would commonly copy other senior leaders of our organization on the emails, and the phrase seemed to assign blame for whatever issue they were having to me or my team.  I began to respond defensively to such communications when the phrase was used, and push for more detail of what was occurring only to get handed off to a less senior person to provide details which also reinforced my impression of what was being communicated.

Eventually I was on a work trip to India and while working with teams in their normal workspace noticed this phrase used several times in daily conversation with each other.  Both senior and less senior people in the organization used it with each other in my presence.  The tone and inflexion of their voices as well as their body language did not convey what I had been reading into the emails.  This aligns with research that suggest that 80-90 percent of communication is nonverbal (Hall as cited by Moran, Abramson, & Moran, 2014, p43).  As a result many of these details were unavailable to me before meeting face to face or even on the phone. While in the emails even our cultural conflict styles may have led to further misunderstanding (Croucher, et al., 2012).

In a conversation at English Language Learners Stack Exchange about the phrase ‘do the needful’ several commentors express their desire to use this because it simplifies conversation, and others provide several useful alternative methods to communicate the same thing, but Justinredd gave the following advice which pertains directly to this high vs low context issue of intercultural communication that I have observed and is commonly a point of conflict in high low context cultures.

 

“This is more about culture than about fluency. Americans prefer direct requests… …A polite desi will imply a course of action and request to ‘kindly do the needful.’

(Eg.) Mr. Singh, I’m sending my cousin who is interested in learning guitar. As you have better contacts with musicians, kindly do the needful.

This is well received in India, but this tends to frustrate and even confuse Americans. Most would prefer a direct request.

(Eg.) Mr. Singh, my cousin is interested in learning guitar. Would you use your contacts with musicians to help my cousin find an instructor?

Hearing this, an American will feel they are being treated with respect (justinredd, 2015).”

 

On the same business trip while at dinner with some of the senior leaders from the facility I was visiting we were discussing an issue that they acknowledged was outside my responsibility but that I understood well and was explaining the root causes of the issue for them.  After taking the time to listen and understand the causes the most senior leader looked at me and with great respect said to me “Phil, please do the needful.” That was the end of the conversation.

A mentor of mine who had spent many years on several expat assignments and traveled widely, was at this dinner with us.  When he and I made it back to the hotel, I asked him about this phrase and its’ frequent use.  He said he also found it unusual at first and that it could be used multiple ways, however he had come to understand its’ meaning as, “I have confidence in your knowledge and capability to take care of this matter for me and would appreciate your expertise in resolving it to avoid further problems. ” He observed that in the discussion at dinner that night it was meant as a compliment and the other less senior local managers at the table would have seen it that way.  The leader who had said it had not been blaming me, but had instead taken the opportunity to recognize me in front of his team as an endorsement, and to build further collaboration between us.

In fact, the next day at the office I received several invitations to join local teams at break time or lunch for a walk from the local managers.  I also received requests for meetings to advise on projects they were working on that they had not mentioned before.  They apparently found new value in a relationship with someone the ‘boss’ would put his trust in.  I did not resolve the issue we discussed ad dinner myself but instead contacted the actual team responsible in the U.S. by phone, explained the issue and the impact to the business, provided good local contacts to work with to get more detail, and a suggestion of how they could resolve it.  I asked them to keep me and the senior leader who asked me to do the needful in copy on email communications until the issue was resolved.  The responsible team then initiated resolution communication proactively rather than being blamed for the issue as the start of the email trail.  They collaborated with the local contacts and me for details on the issue as needed until it was resolved.

I have since talked about this experience with several of my direct reports in India and colleagues from India.  My colleagues thought it was humorous how I had seen the use of this phrase, but my direct reports seemed almost shocked that I would have that reaction.  It was a good chance to remind all of us that even though we work together daily the cultural filters that we view the world through can result in a significant misunderstanding even on an insignificant phrase.  We need to speak up if we hear a misunderstanding occurring and invite feedback from others especially on how we communicate to ensure that we don’t miss an opportunity for improvement.

 

Works Cited

Croucher, S. M., Bruno, A., McGrath, P., Adams, C., McGahan, C., Suits, A., & Huckins, A. (2012, January). Conflict Styles and High–Low Context Cultures: A Cross-Cultural Extension. Communication Research Reports, 29(1), 64-73. doi:10.1080/08824096.2011.640093

justinredd. (2015, July 7). Response to: What’s a preferred alternative to the phrase ‘do the needful’? (Stack Exchange Inc) Retrieved September 20, 2020, from English Language Learners StackExchange.com: https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/17278/whats-a-preferred-alternative-to-the-phrase-do-the-needful/61233#61233

Kruger, J., Epley, N., Parker, J., & Ng, Z.-W. (2005, December). Egocentrism over e-mail: Can we communicate as well as we think? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89(6), 925-936. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.89.6.925

Moran, R. T., Abramson, N. R., & Moran, S. V. (2014). Managing Cultural Differences, 9th Edition. Routledge.

van Everdingen, Y. M., & Waarts, E. (2003). The Effect of National Culture on the Adoption of Innovations. Marketing Letters, 217-232. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/docview/204470861?pq-origsite=summon&accountid=13158

Willy, W. (2018, January 30). Do the needful. Retrieved from UrbanDictionary.com: https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Do%20the%20needful

Communication is Key

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Throughout the course of human history, the ability to effectively communicate complex ideas has been at the center of our evolution. From the tower of Babel through to the social media revolution, the nature of humanity has expressed itself through the need for interaction. We are social creatures and our continued success depends upon our ability to communicate with one another.

In our shrinking world, the ability to thoughtfully communicate across different cultures and experiences is critical. Simply put, “communication is a process of circular interaction involving a sender, receiver and message (Moran, Abramson, & Moran, 2011).” Though accurate, this description does not tell the full story. In order to communicate effectively, our message must first be clear. Choices in language, terminology and expressions of intent are critically important to making sure the intended message is communicated, especially when sending messages across cultural divides. Consider the use of adjectives, when we communicate using connotative or denotative language our message may be enhanced or lost entirely. When selecting the language of a message, “the same set of observations can be represented by two very different sets of adjectives that lead to two very different judgments… (PHIL 10, 2020).” In order to communicate effectively, the choice of language is critically important.

Also, effective communication relies heavily on the ability to present a clear message without the interference supplied by cultural differences. Communicating effectively across cultures is not accomplished merely by translating from one language to another but rather through thoughtful construction of the message itself, made in such a way as to be accessible to the receiver. The cultures of both sender and receiver are “…a key ingredient within the practice of communication (Moran, Abramson, & Moran, 2011).” Understanding the implications of using certain words or titles through the lens of culture increases the likelihood a message will be received and reduces opportunities for misinterpretation (PHIL 10, 2020).”

Finally, effective communication requires an understanding of the significance of cultural norms as they relate to the sending and receiving of ideas. “The most basic skill that [we], must cultivate is learning how to effectively communicate and listen cross-culturally (Moran, Abramson, & Moran, 2011).” In order to do this, we must consider the objectives and normative behaviors of those we seek to communicate with. Understanding is how we bridge the gap between “us and them,” allowing us to create messages that will be well-received and to listen in kind. “Our normal tendency [is] to listen to only those with similar value priorities… (Browne & Keeley, 2015)” and without cultural understanding the message may be poorly received or lost.

Humans are social creatures and effective communication has been the key to our survival since time immemorial. In our globalist age, the most critical skill we can possess is the ability to communicate across cultures. This requires great care and attention to detail, both of which are essential to a successful outcome. As Stephen Hawking famously observed, “…speech has allowed the communication of ideas, enabling human beings to work together to build the impossible. Mankind’s greatest achievements have come about by talking, and its greatest failures by not talking. It doesn’t have to be like this. Our greatest hopes could become reality in the future. With the technology at our disposal, the possibilities are unbounded. All we need to do is make sure we keep talking.”
______________________
Browne, M. N., & Keeley, S. M. (2015). Asking theRight Questions: A Guide to Critical Thinking. Upper Saddle River: Pearson.

Moran, R. T., Abramson, N. R., & Moran, S. V. (2011). Managing Cultural Differences. New York: Routledge.

PHIL 10. (2020, 09 20). L04 Denotation and Connotation. Retrieved from PHIL 10: https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2077033/pages/l04-denotation-and-connotation?module_item_id=29508590

PHIL 10. (2020, 09 20). L04 What’s In A Name. Retrieved from PHIL 10: https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2077033/pages/l04-whats-in-a-name?module_item_id=29508588

Fresh baguettes and French racism

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As we have learned, as a global leader it is important to learn the cultural norms of the country that you are doing business in so that you do not offend.  This concept is a wonderful concept for most business people to grasp when doing business in foreign countries, but what happens when those foreign countries that you are doing business discriminate against you?  As a black person, and especially a black woman, it is a harsh reality in the international business world. Often when booking vacations, we have to google “how is the racism in this country”, and when doing international business we must do the same thing.  

 

Moran, Abramson, & Moran (2014) describe the French as friendly and charming people who value personal honor and integrity.  When doing business in France it is important to note that French businessmen are not competitive and, like most of Europe, have a relaxed and fluid concept of time management.  As a black person doing business in France, it is also important to note that they are also….racist.  

 

Jacobs (2019) explains that France and Sweden are among the high discriminatory countries in Europe. The job discrimination in France and Sweden rivaled that the United States.  Jacobs (2019) states “On average, whites receive 65 to 100 percent more callbacks in France and Sweden than non-white minorities,” they report. “In Germany, the United States, and Norway, they receive 20 to 40 percent more.”  As a black woman future leader, those numbers do not give me hope that the business landscape in France will look anymore diverse than it does in America. The boardrooms will be filled with white men who will pretend to listen to your thoughts but will not fully consider them.

 

Alford (2020) says that France does not even keep any statistics concerning, religion, ethnic origin or race. This fact makes it very tough as a global leader to fully grasp the best practices when doing business in France.  Alford (2020) also goes on to say “there may be 3 to 5 million blacks in France.  But there are no black ministers (cabinet officials); no black ambassadors; no black senators out of 305; one black member of parliament out of 555; no black CEO’s among the top 100 companies; no black senior military officers among the top 100 executives”.  Business leaders must take the temperature of the racial climate in any country that they are doing business in especially if they have a diverse set of leaders and negotiators. While in business, one must become accustomed to the culture in which you wish to do business, it is also important to not send your leaders into a country that will diminish and demean them based on their race.  While the blacks in France are making strides to throw away the cloak of invisibility that the French seem to have cloaked them with, they still have an uphill battle.

 

References:

 

Alford, H. (2020). Blacks in France are Invisible.  National Black Chamber of Commerce.  Retrieved from https://www.nationalbcc.org/news/beyond-the-rhetoric/457-blacks-in-france-are-invisible

Jacobs, T. (2019). Hiring discrimination is greater in France and Sweden than in the U.S.  Pacific Standard.  Retrieved from https://psmag.com/news/hiring-discrimination-is-greater-in-france-and-sweden-than-in-the-u-s

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

Bridging the Literal and Figurative Gaps of a Global Team

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A global team consists of a geographically dispersed group working together to accomplish a common goal; this type of team faces not only time zone and cultural differences but also different languages, national customs, values, and norms of behavior. As the world continues to become more connected, working within a global team is becoming more common. Global teams don’t always have the luxury of meeting face-to-face due to budget and time constraints and instead rely on virtual team meetings. These meetings can be full of pitfalls; I know from personal experience the struggles a global virtual team can face.
An ethnocentric view is a lens through which one views the world and is developed through an individual’s experiences (Moran, Abramson, & Moran, 2014). As we mature, we try to make sense of a chaotic world, drawing conclusions from what we observe and experience in our little corner of the globe. If we aren’t exposed to other cultures, beliefs, and values, our conclusions go unchallenged; the longer this remains, the more entrenched we become in our ethnocentric view (Moran, Abramson, & Moran, 2014). A geocentric view, is one takes the time to consider and understand another’s perspective; adjusting the approach to communication and behaviors to eliminate noise that can be added by
The following are some tips to ease the issues of virtual team meetings:

Face to face meeting

If possible begin a project with a face to face, it strengthens the ties between team members and can be used to establish the scope of the project as well as ownership tasks.

Create an agenda

Distribute an agenda prior to the meeting and stick to the topics outlined in the agenda. Any meeting can meander off-topic, but because of behavior and language differences, you need to mindful of showing respect for everyone’s time (Oshri, Kotlarsky & Willcocks, 2008).

Request feedback

Seek feedback; you may need to set due dates for feedback and stress the importance of responses from everyone involved. It isn’t always clear when you are finalizing a decision, and you may receive feedback at the last minute. Be direct about requiring input within a specific timeframe (Moran, Abramson, & Moran, 2014).

Take attendance and plan ahead

Keep track of who attended each meeting; global teams can celebrate different holidays, and alignment to everyone’s schedule can be especially challenging. I am currently working with a global team consisting of individuals from France, China, and the United States. You can save a lot of time if you are aware of when others will be out of the office and can set deadlines based on this information (Moran, Abramson, & Moran, 2014).

These tips help with awareness and can bring you one step closer to adopting a geocentric view. Being globally aware will help you build a stronger working relationship with colleagues who are from a different background than your own, which can then help you all be more successful.

References

Moran, R. T., Abramson, N. R., & Moran, S. V. (2014). Managing cultural differences (9th ed.). Oxford: Routledge.

Oshri, I., Kotlarsky, J., & Willcocks, L. (2008). Missing links: Building critical social ties for global collaborative teamwork. Communications of the ACM, 51(4), 76-81. doi:10.1145/1330311.1330327

 

Planning for Disruption

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In Schein’s 1980 three stage planned change theory, he discusses unfreezing, “creating the motivation to change what was previously mentioned”, changing, “The actual changes in behaviors and attitudes to the new desired behaviors and attitudes”, and refreezing, “freezing the new behaviors into the standard behavior”. But why is this important to business, and us as leaders, leading the business? Planned change aims to prepare the entire organization, or a major part of it, to adapt to significant changes in the organization’s goals and direction (Rao, 2009). I would like to focus on the unfreezing part of this planned change theory, as sometimes it is very overlooked. As leaders, we need to be open to learning, even if it means unlearning something first.

When looking back at the Organizational Change definition, “adapting the group to meet changes in the environment” (PSU, 2020), we realize that change is inevitable, and our companies need to be adaptable and agile to move with new problems and challenges. Disturbance to businesses will always be around. There will always be something to create disruption and change, whether it’s a natural, technological or manmade disaster. When you are the business that is getting disrupted, it’s easy to fall ball back on what you know.

In her 2015 TedX Talk, Liz Wiseman talks about starting at Oracle and being put in charge of building Oracle University. She talks about being a total rookie, just a year out of business school, but always asked a lot of questions, even naïve simple questions, just to keep it simple and not over complicate the building process. After the success she had with the program, the company decided that they needed to bring in someone more experienced to run the program she had built, so they brought in an experienced manager who knew all the steps. But we must remember how Wiseman got to this point, she was adaptable, and changed with her environment, questioning everything so she could learn and grow. If she hadn’t been constantly learning and growing, what would have happened?

She and her team would have hit a wall, they would not have been able to move as quickly as they needed to get to their next point. Wiseman needed to unlearn (unfreeze), her usual way of working to be able to move quickly and be what she describes as “scrappy”. If she had just gone back to her original ways of not being agile, not slowing down to remember the small things, and not just asking the simple questions, do you think she would have gotten to answer the question she asks “what’s the most important thing for us to get right?”.

She goes on to state, “because I had no real agenda of my own, I sought guidance, I stayed close to my stakeholders, I needed their feedback. What my team and I lacked our experience we compensated for and our willingness to learn to think creatively, and to deliver quick wins.” When looking back at the definition of planned change, adapting the group to meet changes in the environment, Wiseman did just that, her team was agile, always taking feedback, always being creative, moving with the environment around them.

I’ll leave you with one final quote from Wiseman that stuck with me:

“When we’re experienced, we gain knowledge and confidence and credibility, but once we have seen a pattern, once we know that pattern, we can be blind to the other possibilities. We stop asking why, and we just do. We build up scar tissue and we learn to be afraid of going down certain paths, and we now have a reputation to protect, and so we don’t let ourselves make mistakes or fail essentially. We acquire a set of adult-onset learning disabilities, and once we stop learning. We stop having fun, and we stop finding success.”

When we’re experienced, we freeze patterns, going back to what’s comfortable, it’s been successful for us, but we have to get to the next level as leaders, we have to unfreeze. We have to change.

Living and working with child-like wonder. (2015). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GN1V8Y_kOEI

Pennsylvania State University. (2020). Lesson 05: Planned Change. https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2041071/modules/items/27977845.

Rao, S. R. (2009, January 28). A Planned change is needed. Retrieved from https://www.citeman.com/4820-a-planned-change-is-needed.html.

Schein, E. H. (1980). Organizational psychology. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Addressing Culture Shock

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Addressing Culture Shock

Expatriates Require Ongoing Cultural Training

By Amelia Young | February 26, 2020

You’ve probably heard of culture shock but may never have explicitly thought about what this means. Culture shock often occurs with significant transitional experiences and can be described as “a psychological reaction to a totally unfamiliar or alien environment” (Moran, Abramson, Moran, 2014, p. 243).

We encounter culture shock when we find ourselves in unexpected situations where our automatic coping mechanisms don’t recognize how to react. When in familiar situations, we are not consciously aware of how we orient ourselves to various situations because it’s automatic. Because we are entirely familiar with our own culture, we feel comfortable with cues we encounter, such as “words, gestures, facial expressions, customs or norms” (Moran et al., p. 243). Culture shock is a response to anxiety caused by losing the familiar and encountering the unfamiliar.

Culture shock can be experienced by anyone encountering unfamiliar environments. In his book, Alvin Toffler (1970) recognized a type of shock he called future shock (as cited in Moran et al., 2014). When cultures change rapidly, groups can experience this type of culture shock. Today large groups of people are being bypassed by mainstream civilizations due to being unable to cope with the modernization resulting from substantial and accelerated “technological, scientific, and knowledge advances” (p. 244). These people experience the same stages of culture shock as expatriates, people who work and live outside their native country. D. W. Klopf (as cited in Moran et al., 2014) has identified six primary stages of culture shock.

  1. Preliminary stage –You prepare for travel and are excited to begin the adventure, but you likely have unrealistic expectations.
  2. Spectator stage –Can also be considered the honeymoon stage. You’re fascinated by the sights and excited to be among a new culture.
  3. Participation stage –The initial excitement has waned, and you’re getting into the nitty-gritty challenges of life within a different culture, especially the hard work required if you must learn a new language.
  4. Shock stage – Adjusting to the new culture is becoming overwhelming and challenging to handle. Feelings of irritability, depressions, lethargy, and loneliness are being triggered by challenging tasks and everyday life.
  5. Adjustment stage – By this stage, you’ve begun to develop relationships with the locals. You are beginning to feel accepted and are developing a sense that you are identifying with the new culture.
  6. Re-entry stage – For those living abroad temporarily, this becomes the transition stage where you must return to your old life and begin the stages again, but in reverse. Reverse culture shock can result in disorientation and discomfort.

International Assignments

Multinational enterprises (MNE) can help support their employees and reduce culture shock by carefully considering the expatriate selection process. Surveys indicate that individuals who possess characteristics such as “flexibility, personal stability, social maturity, and social inventiveness are likely to more easily adjust to cultures outside their own (Moran et al., 2014, p. 245). In an article published in the Harvard Business Review, Linda Brimm (2016) encourages MNEs to consider assigning international roles to what she calls “‘global cosmopolitans’— highly educated, multilingual professionals who have already lived, worked, and studied for extensive periods outside their home regions” (p. 1). Brimm identifies five-key characteristics that make global cosmopolitans highly effective at tackling the complexities associated with intercultural situations. Because of their international experiences and exposure to multi-cultural living, global cosmopolitans may be less susceptible to the psychological challenges of culture shock.

  1. Global cosmopolitans embrace and see change as an opportunity and as a normal and positive part of life.
  2. Global cosmopolitans redefine the bounds of a situation and view it from different perspectives and angles. They will adapt when faced with unexpected or new conditions.
  3. Global cosmopolitans possess self-awareness and are flexible. They can reinvent themselves and are willing to experiment with their identities as they move into new settings.
  4. Global cosmopolitans absorb the subtle and emotional aspects of change and find assimilating into a culture rewarding.
  5. Global cosmopolitans seize opportunities presented them as chances to learn. They are eager to use new ways of thinking and are willing to take risks that lead to self-efficacy.

Once expatriates are identified, the organization must ensure these individuals receive training before, during, and after time spent working abroad. Training can help individuals understand the cultural differences in both leadership and communication styles, as well as within the local community. However, it’s crucial expatriates recognize that cultural training can oversimplify cultures because “within a country, cultural differences may vary by region and individuals may not conform to cultural norms” (Smith, 2019, p. 22). Nothing can substitute for actual experience.

Many organizations don’t consider the importance of repatriation training. Returning home after evolving to the culture within the assignment country can cause a reverse culture shock as individuals try to settle back into their pre-international assignment lives. It can be extremely stressful for the individual and their families. When organizations do not provide expatriate training, 50% of these individuals leave their organizations within 2-years. When they are provided repatriation training after they arrive home, that number drops to 25% and is as low as 10% when repatriation training is provided before their return (Smith, 2019).

Culture shock is inevitable for expatriates, but MNEs can help minimize the discomfort and anxiety it causes. When employees are sent to other countries, organizations have an “obligation to ensure that such persons are adequately selected, prepared, and supported, as well as assisted when they return to the homeland” (Moran et al., 2014, p. 253).

If you’re interested in learning more about how to optimize the potential benefits of expatriate assignments check out this article by Molinsky & Hahn (2016) that appeared in the Harvard Business Review: 5 Tips for Managing Successful Overseas Assignments

 

References

Brimm, L. (2016). What the best cross-cultural managers have in common. Harvard Business Review Digital Articles, 2–4. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2016/06/what-the-best-cross-cultural-managers-have-in-common

Molinsky, A. and Hahn, M. (2016). 5 tips for managing successful overseas assignments. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2016/03/5-tips-for-managing-successful-overseas-assignments

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

Smith, A. (2019). Helping expatriate employees deal with culture shock

HR Magazine, 64(2), 22–23. Retrieved from https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/news/hr-magazine/summer2019/pages/helping-expatriate-employees-deal-with-culture-shock.aspx

 

Communication Errors, Feat. President Trump

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We all have experienced errors in communication. A topic of a lot of controversy in today’s conversations around the world is President Donald Trump and the failures of communications throughout his office. While I do have personal views in our politics like most Americans, I am approaching this post as unbiased as I possibly can. According to Pennsylvania State University (2020), communication is “about the exchange of information between individuals.” To extend on this definition, I will also state that it is also information that is passed between media outlets as well.

As my conversation is revolved around our current president, I will begin by discussing his main media outlet that he uses. President Donald Trump likes to utilize his Twitter account in order to share his reactions with the world. These statements that he has posted has started a lot of conversation throughout the different news outlets. The photo below is an example of one post that he has made in December of last year:

(Trump, via Twitter, 2019)

According to Pennsylvania State University (2020), “being overconfident about one’s ability to communicate leads to an egocentric point of view when one creates and sends a message.” The above photograph is one of many examples that President Trump has stated throughout his term. Rhett Power (2017) also points out 5 separate leadership failures that President Trump has shown. Number two mentions “No matter what I do, its your fault.” This is an example of egocentrism. Basically, the president believes that what he is stating is fact. However, if one would think about the above statement, anyone that is reporting anonymously could be too afraid to say their true feelings because they are scared of the repercussions. This would be an error in communication because he is only looking at one side of the story.

Another error in communication that Power (2017) discusses is that Trump has no strategic plan. He continues to mention that even though President Trump has many ideas that may be beneficial to the country, he has not put together a plan to put them into action. This is an error in communication because by not consulting the plethora of resources that he has, he is not staying as well-educated as he possibly can and making more problems than he has to. Crowley (2017) also makes a good statement that “there are strategic thinkers around him, but he is driven by political impulse.” This supports Powers’ statement because by not consulting these people and acting on political impulse, where he does not have a lot of professional experience, could be detrimental to his purpose as president.

In all, communication is necessary for everyone. It is how we educate ourselves and how we are able to work together with others. While everyone has their own opinions, we still must respect those of others. By doing this, we would be able to provide everyone the respect that they deserve.

References

Crowley, P. (2017, April 28). What We Have Here is a Failure to Communicate. Retrieved from Politico Magazing: https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/04/28/what-we-have-here-is-a-failure-to-communicate-215082

Pennsylvania State University. (2020). Leadership in a Global Context [Online Course Lesson]. Retrieved from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2041071/modules/items/27977838

Power, R. (2017, June 20). 5 Leadership Failures of President Trump. Retrieved from Inc: https://www.inc.com/rhett-power/5-leadership-failures-of-president-trump.html

Trump, D. (2019, December 6). Retrieved from Twitter: https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/1202931589833011200?lang=en

 

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