As technology advances so do American workplaces. We are moving farther away from a traditional office building and nine-to-five schedule and more towards open offices and co-working spaces. Companies are thinking more about teamwork and how employees working together and collaborating can bring new ideas and increase innovation. Increasing synergy between employees is often a goal of these new office design. Synergy is defined as “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.” (Moran, Abramson, & Moran, 2014, p. 266) Synergy aims to look at what talents and knowledge each employee can contribute to the organization or team. Increased synergy usually occurs at a team level. (PSU WC OLEAD 410 L6, 2018) Synergy between employees has been shown to increase in more adaptable business offices.

According to a Harvard Business Review study Unintended meetings and unplanned interactions between workers, both inside and outside of the company improved those workers performance. (Waber, Lindsay, Magnofli, 2014) Companies like Facebook, Google, and Apple have realized the importance of this and modified their offices to open spaces that include white board walls, mobile offices, and large collaboration areas. (Waber, Lindsay, Magnofli, 2014) Another survey by Deskmag found that once workers started working in a new collaborative office environment their isolation decreased by 86%, 75% of them increased their productivity, and 83% reported trusting their co-workers more. (Waber, Lindsay, Magnofli, 2014)

So why is this so important to global leadership? Creativity is set to become the third most important skill for a leader to poses by 2020. (Corridor,2018) University of Colorado professor Kate Goodman notes “if an organization is looking to change, adapt, and improve, it is absolutely essential to explore new ideas in a creative climate.” (Corridor,2018) So as we look to leadership in the future it is essential for leaders to create a climate for workers that increases creativity and team synergy. This can lead to increased productivity and positivity between workers. In order to achieve this leader themselves must start with themselves and look at how they can adapt and change their leadership styles to reflect a collectivistic viewpoint bringing workers together in one space for one goal teamwork.

References

Ben Waber, Greg Lindsay, Jennifer Magnolfi. (2014). Workplaces That Move People. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2014/10/workspaces-that-move-people

Corridor. (2018, September). Retrieved from Village Publishing: Cultivating creativity in the workplace: https://villagerpublishing.com/cultivating-creativity-in-the-workplace/

Moran, R. T., Abramson, N. R., & Moran, S. V. (2014). Managing cultural differences: Leadership skills and strategies for working in a global world. New York: Elsevier.

PSU WC OLEAD 410 L6. (2018, September). OLEAD 410 L6: Cultural Syngery. Retrieved from The Pennsylvania State University World Campus: https://psu.instructure.com/courses/1942644/modules/items/24935400

Sandwich Area Chamber of Commerce – Leads Groups

Have you ever been forced to work with a group of people in your workplace?  I say “forced”, because many people find it difficult to leave their desk to work with others on a project.  Working with others is not easy for most individuals.  As a matter of fact, Business News Daily delved into, “Why employees hate teamwork”. In an article written by senior writer, Chad Brooks,  we see that, “A study by the University of Phoenix revealed that that while 95 percent of those who have ever worked on a team believe teamwork serves a critical function in the workplace, more than three-quarters of employees would rather work on their own.”.  Unfortunately, is not easy getting individuals with different perspectives, ideas and goals to collaborate towards the same goal.  Negative team dynamics and self centered attitudes impede cohesiveness and progress, leaving a bad taste in many team-member’s mouths.

Business News Daily: Photo credit, Shutterstock

How do we overcome this misconception and begin to get more people to “own the power of synergy”?  First, we have to understand that “Synergy is a difficult word to understand, and even more challenging to implement.” (Moran, Abramson, Moran, 2014).  The change takes place in the act of experiencing the results that come from synergistic effectiveness.   It doesn’t happen over night and requires full participation by all involved.  It involves learning from others and adapting to their style of contribution without holding any bias.  Effort does not mean team members comprise because with synergy you do not give something up,  instead, you contribute to a common goal.  Helen Keller once said, “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.”.

Global Stepping Stone: Fundamentals in creating synergy at the workplace.

Once effective teams are created and a clear outline of roles and duties are provided, the team is ready to synergize!  Including ice-breakers that show similarities among groups when teams are formed, help to make participants more comfortable. Following the ice-breaker, the leader should outline (in detail) what the project vision and goal is.  Understanding the vision will allow team players to identify ways to contribute in the areas they govern.  Next, leadership should outline the steps required to get to the desired goal.  Allow the participants to make suggestions on the process.  Their input is valuable and can provide them with a sense of inclusiveness.  Lastly, once all of the tools are laid out, the team should be encouraged to provide solutions as they work together, to complete the common goal.  Once the project is complete, highlight areas of success and don’t forget to, “Own the power of synergy”!

References:

Brooks, C. Business Daily Magazine. (2013). Grow Your Business, Your Team. Why Employees Hate Teamwork.  Retrieved from: http://www.steppingstoneglobal.com/fundamentals-in-creating-synergy-at-workplace/

Cultural Synergy. (n.d.) Leadership in a Global Context–OLEAD 410. Online course lesson, Penn State World Campus, The Pennsylvania State University. Retrieved February 13, 2018, from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/1916378/modules/items/23640546

Moran, Robert, Abramson, Neil, & Moran, Sarah. (2014). Managing Cultural Differences. Oxford: Routledge.

SSG_Admin,. Global Stepping Stone. (2014). Synergy.  Fundamentals of Creating Synergy In The Work Place. Retrieved from: http://www.steppingstoneglobal.com/fundamentals-in-creating-synergy-at-workplace/

Recently, there have been many pop songs released by well-known artists that have integrated both English and Spanish lyrics. With this sudden increase and success of these bilingual songs, cultural synergy has begun to have a new role in an industry that is part of the lives of almost all individuals: the music industry.

Synergy is defined as “the synthesis of what each individual in the group has to offer” (Pennsylvania State University, 2017). However, synergy can also be applied to a larger scale of cultures. Cultural synergy occurs when two or more cultures effectively combine in order to reach a common goal. Cultural synergy can be observed in the recent explosion of pop music featuring both English and Spanish lyrics. These songs often feature the music style of common Spanish songs, and feature lyrics from both languages. Also, these songs have featured many well-known American music artists, such as Justin Bieber and Beyonce.

Cultural synergy is evident here because the strong attributes of both the Spanish and English cultures has been brought together in order to achieve the best possible outcome within the music industry. For example, an article by NBC News states “Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee’s “Despacito” Remix featuring Justin Bieber is currently the top song in the country” (Moll-Ramirez & Armas, 2017). “Despacito” is only the first song of many that came to follow that feature bilingual lyrics. This also makes the “Despacito” Remix the first predominantly Spanish language song to obtain the coveted spot on the Billboard Hot 100 since the “Macarena” in 1996″ (Moll-Ramirez & Armas, 2017). Other songs that have come to follow this bilingual trend include “Mi Gente” by J Balvin, Willy William, and Beyonce and “Bailando” by Enrique Iglesias.

While “Despacito” may have started the feature of both English and Spanish lyrics in songs, it definitely was not the end, as there have been multiple billboard-topping bilingual songs that have seen success since its release. These songs are a perfect example of how cultural synergy occurs in a real-world setting. Although it may not be an organizational setting as many of us often picture cultural synergy occurring in, it is a great example of how both of the strong attributes (the likable style of Spanish music paired with big name American music artists)from each of the languages have combined to provide top results, thus showing how cultural synergy works at its best.

References:

Moll-Ramirez, V., & Armas, M. (2017, May 19). Despacito: The UnBeliebable explosion of a bilingual song. Retrieved November 11, 2017, from https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/despacito-unbeliebable-explosion-bilingual-song-n761681

Pennsylvania State University. (2017). OLEAD 410: “Lesson 6: Cultural Synergy.” Retrieved from: https://psu.instructure.com/courses/1867265/modules/items/22824739

                    I grew up in a town that’s focal point was to embrace diversity, it seemed like every year, twice a year there would be a cultural fair. For a chunk of the day the auditorium would be filled with children ready to bring together their own cultures and upbringings and shared them with their peers. These cultural fairs would encompass all sorts of concepts of culture; from food, to clothes, holidays, and books, we would share stories of how our families came to live in our town, and would share tales of celebrating diversity within our community. One of my favorite classes taught us the idea that The United States is not a melting pot, but a salad bowl. The Melting Pot has the connotation that once people leave their home countries, they all melt together into one Americanized culture. The Salad Bowl embraces the idea that everyone brings their individual cultures to the country, where they can all coexist and work together.

                   Cultural Synergy works very closely with that idea. Cultural Synergy, put very simply, is the union of what each member of a group has to offer. This stresses the idea of the combination of backgrounds within a group is greater than the individual. This means that that each individual brings their thoughts to the organization, and synthesize their thoughts together, to allow the group to come to conclusions that they may not reach individually. This occurs because they can combine each of their perspectives on the matter to ensure various viewpoints are being addressed within decision making.

                  Cultural Synergy: The Management of Cross-Cultural Organizations, by Nancy Adler, the woman who coined the term “cultural synergy”, addresses the implications of ethnocentrism and assimilation in cross-cultural organizations (Adler, 1980). These two topics are most commonly what prevents North Americans from creating cultural synergy within their organization. The view that North Americans are the best in our practices, and that everyone will benefit from the same practices creates a disconnect from reality, and prevents cultural synergy from thriving.

                  The idea that American practices are the best, and should therefore be shared and exported to the rest of the world creates the feeling of ethnocentrism. This prevents organizations from seeing the benefits of operating in ways that may be culturally different from their own. Being ethnocentric creates a disconnect and ignorance when interacting with people from different backgrounds. Ethnocentric Americans believe that everyone else is inferior, and that leads them to making cultural gaffes and ignoring the influence of culture on managerial models (Adler, 1980). This is dangerous, and can very negatively impact the relationship between the US and other countries, as well as within the country.

                    The other major issue is the idea of assimilation. This ties back to my discussion of the Melting Pot versus the Salad Bowl. Being in America does not mean that a person identifies with most of American culture. The idea of assimilation, in this context, means that we are all the same. This is based on the assumption that Americans will all respond well to a similar style of management, because they are all similar enough in that they live in America (Adler, 1980). This does not account for being an immigrant, or being raised by immigrants, or being an active member of a culture that varies in opinions from those of an “average American”. This is a piggyback off of ethnocentrism because it blocks the ability to view culture as an important factor in organization.

                   As it is very apparent, culture creates a variety that makes organizations impossible to run as a one size fits all operation. The different views being discussed and taken into consideration only has the opportunity to create cultural synergy. Cultural Synergy will spark conversations and creativity that may have been lacked otherwise which allows the organization to grow, and fit the needs of more communities .

REFERENCES

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

Adler, N. J. (1980). Cultural synergy: The management of cross-cultural organizations (pp. 163-184). McGill University, Faculty of Management.

In a global setting, having cultural synergy is a must for businesses. Working in a global setting myself, I have seen the importance of having a team that has a cultural emphasis. In this chapter, the subject of improving performance through team culture is covered.

“Organization’s culture emphasizes employee participation through team management, the group microcultures are likely to reflect that system’s macroculture” (Moran,Abramson,Moran, pp. 271). I fully agree with this statement. The company I am a part of focuses on getting product team members to learn from one another. While learning from one another we also focus on learning more from our international counterparts. Working with our international office we have been working to achieve synergy.

According to the chapter, “synergy occurs when the members listen to each other and enter into the private worlds of the others” (Moran, Abramson, Moran, pp.271). Working with our international teams and suppliers I have seen the effects of how the evolution of microcultures reflect the macrocultures.

This is especially evident when it comes to working with suppliers. Expressing the company goals amongst the team helps to build the microculture. Then projecting these goal onto our suppliers builds this culture within the collective group. During this process, we build upon the companies macroculture.

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

The leader in my life who could create the most cultural synergy I have witnessed between teams was also the most transformational leader I have met. Philip was the general manager of a hotel called Sunsail, that used to have a resort in Antigua. Philip transformed the hotel. He also changed my life in ways that I am still grateful to him for. He was a transformational leader and one of the ways he succeeded at this was his ability to get a multinational resort staff to offer great service to multinational hotel guests. Philip was originally from New Zealand, although he had worked in the UK, and Kenya. The staff were from all over the Caribbean, as well as British. Philip made sure to utilize all the various cultures and viewpoints to manage the hotel.

‘If the organizations culture emphasizes employee participation through team management, the groups’ microcultures are likely to reflect that systems macro culture. Thus, collaborative management should be evident not only within an individual team, but in intergroup relations. (Moran, Abramson, & Moran, Pg. 271)

Philip hired me shortly after he took over as general manager. The hotel was always full, yet hemorrhaging money. Prior leadership had not been ethical, there were no controls, inventories, or standard operational procedures being enforced. Philip was a leader who was very engaged, he spent a lot of time on property and working on developing a team from the ground up. Some were old staff who had not been corrupted, and some were new hires such as myself.

By being constantly present, available and helpful, Philip created trust and respect from his team. By instituting controls and procedures, he also ensured that staff had the tools to succeed in his vison of cutting fraud and theft, and improving upon the product offered to our guests.

‘To ensure top performance, the global leader continually updates and broadens his or her understanding of culture and its impact on our lives. Although there may be few management theories that can be universally applied across all cultures, there are many principles and practices of leadership that can be adopted to various countries.” (Moran, Abramson, Moran, Pg. 289)

I was the food and beverage manager, one of the most important departments from a guest perspective, and certainly a department that financially was vital to control for the hotels financial viability. There were also serious liabilities from food safety concerns that needed to be addressed. Philips strength and his transformational abilities were not only that he offered tools and support, he was always available to me should I need his advice.

In other hotels, I had been micro managed and second guessed. I have also had general managers let me take the blame for situations they had created. Philip did none of those things. He made me feel confident that if I put in my best effort I could even fail, and he would still be there and support me. Feeling that I no longer needed to fear failure, or be blamed for failure, was an enormously transformative experience. Philip challenged me to try for new heights to strive to improve and this inspired me, this made me feel excited about going to work, and extremely

‘We all have the capacity to inspire and empower others. But we must first be willing to devote ourselves to our personal growth and development as leaders.’ (Moran, Abramson, &Moran, Pg. 276)

Philip is semi-retired now, and lives half a world away. I still stay in touch with him and value his advice. Philip showed me that a truly transformative leader is an ethical and moral one, but also one who connects with their team, and stimulates them to always want to reach for the sky.

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