Cross Cultural Management PDF

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corse of Cross-Cultural Management – Adriana Polverino, Sara Lombardi...

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CROSS-CULTURAL MANAGEMENT 1st lesson 17/02 Introduction to cross-cultural management Silvia Dello Russo, Sara Lombardi, Tine Koehler, Adriana Polverino (assistance) Emails: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected] Group project 30% + individual written exam 70% + individual participation in classes extra-points bonus valid just for the first session of exams If you reject a grade equal to or higher than 26, you can redo the exam by bringing the full program (full programs are compulsory reading and supplement readings) Project work: information will be uploaded today. Written elaboration + oral presentation of a movie looking at the cultural perspective. Maximum 6 or 7 people for each group, within two weeks inform Adriana about the members of the team. Teams will start working on their projects on March 17, and the presentation will be on April. Content of the course: the course explains different levels and components of culture, management and organizational behaviors (how people behave within a company?). Multinational corporations and international companies tend to operate across different locations, so they need to have an open approach to different cultures. Global companies have to take into account the cultural diversity of people working there. How culture can affect organizational behavior and management? We will deal with the following topics:  Global business environment and cross-cultural management  Definitions of culture  Features and dimensions of cultures and theoretical frameworks  Fundamentals of cross-cultural interaction  Motivation and leadership across cultures  Developing intercultural competence  Communicating in and between cultures  Negotiating internationally  Conflict resolution across cultures  Multicultural work groups in teams Purposes: Understanding the benefits coming from cultural diversity: there are a lot of benefits coming from cultural diversity in an organization Discuss some case studies with pros and cons Communication skills Learning skills  Handbook on syllabus Detailed schedule of the entire course on Luiss learn platform

2nd lesson 18/02 Introduction to organizational behavior and cultures The major concept is organizational behavior in order to understand leadership, motivation, conflict management. What do you think organizational behavior means? It is the study of individual behaviors and group behaviors in the workplace. They may acquire specific features and behaviors when they are in the workplace. We live in a globalized world which is multicultural, so it is important to highlight differences in cultures. Nowadays, we are interconnected at global but also at individual levels. Globalization led to greater economic and social interconnections; technology enabled international and multinational activities for orgs; increasing in individual mobility and migration flows. How would you define culture? Set of social values, beliefs, traditions which

characterize a country (include language, traditions, religion of a specific place). The system of values, norms, attitudes, beliefs and behavioral meanings that are shared (they are agreed) by members of a social group/society and embedded in its institutions and that are learned (we are born in a determined context, and we can acquire other values from other cultures = adaptation) from previous generations. The risk of generalization when we adopt a cultural framework leads to wrong assumptions = risk of stereotyping. Culture can show itself at many levels: iceberg  Artifacts is the top assumption in the upper part of the iceberg which are assumptions embedded in society which become explicit (above water, observable).  Espoused values which is what you consider important, what defines us as groups (underwater, difficult to observe).  basic underlying assumptions the bottom part of the iceberg (underwater, tarnished, somehow hidden). It is important to highlight the moment in which we move to the upper part of the iceberg. The first element of differentiation among societies is the difference between individualism and collectivism. The collectivity can only benefit just if any single individual can benefit = individualism based on individual agents. Why is culture important at work? Words like authority, bureaucracy, creativity, sociability, control, responsibility, compromise are perceived and interpreted differently in different cultures – different connotations in different cultures (ex. not all the cultures define leadership in the same positive way). So, you have to know the different cultural settings of the people in the teamwork. Cultural layers and features: culture is composed by language, communication, rituals, roles, customs, relationships, practices, expected behaviors, values, thoughts, manners of interacting, courtesies. Cultural model as the starting point when interacting with specific individuals. There are several levels of culture which interact:  National differences  Organizational differences  Regional differences  Professional differences  Industry differences In a business environment we can observe these several spheres of interacting cultures. Each sphere has its own set of artifacts, behaviors, beliefs, values and underlying assumptions. Each individual is affected by all these spheres. Differences between country culture (shared meanings, unconditional relationship, born into it, totally immersed) and organizational cultural (shared behaviors, conditional relationship, socialized into it, partially involved). In the organizational culture we are not completely immerged in this culture because we go to work and then we come back home, so we may still have a more alert view about this culture. But in some specific cases the organizational culture may be stronger than country culture as in case of MNCs. Thus, in general terms the country culture is stronger than organizational culture because in the latter individuals are just partially involved, but there are some exceptions such as in the case of multinational corporations. How different authors have identified different cultures:  Hall = collectivism vs individualism  Trompenaars = hierarchical power  Hofstede = major dimensions on which cultures differ (multiple dimensions, still running)  The GLOBE project = this project was started by House which developed classification based on 9 cultural dimensions (multiple dimensions, still running) Dimensions: 1. Power distance 2. Individualism vs collectivism 3. Masculinity vs femininity 4. Uncertainty avoidance

5. Long term orientation 6. Indulgence vs restraint Power distance is the degree to which people in a society accept that there are power and hierarchical distances. High power distance countries = individuals have accepted this distance as a fact. Low power distance countries = decisions are collectively taken, and people expected to be consulted in order to take a decision and they would not accept not to be involved in the decision making. The group needs are put first compared to the individual needs. A vary indulgent society is one which pays attention on leisure time, the opposite for restrain societies which postpone the leisure time. China introduced “social index score” which is a credit score that you accumulate – less acceptable in different societies, because of cultural distances. In cultures where people used to postpone their gratifications and accept strict social control, they are more likely to become acceptable (ex. China). In indulgence societies people valued their gratifications and wouldn’t accept to postpone them. Individualism (individuals are expected to take care of themselves and their families only) vs collectivism (individuals can expect their relatives or members of a particular ingroup to look after them in exchange for unquestioning loyalty) – individual work (leader puts himself first in a most important position) vs collective/team work (using “we” rather than “I”). Masculinity vs femininity refers to the distribution of the emotional roles and values within society. The masculinity side represents a preference in society for achievement, heroism, assertiveness and material rewards for success. The femininity side stands for a presence for cooperation, modesty, caring for the weak and quality of life. Scandinavian countries are examples of feminine culture; whereas North America is an example of masculinity society. Countries differ on the acceptance of avoidance: some countries accept the unknown, others try to anticipate and control everything. Long term orientation is revealing the orientation. Countries which focus on long term orientation are future culture looking. The GLOBE group = global leadership and organizational behavior effectiveness. The study of leadership and organizational behavior, leadership behaviors acceptable in certain countries rather than in others. This group is interest in exploring the cultural values and practices in a wide variety of countries, and in identifying their impact on organizational practices and leadership attributes. The 9 cultural dimensions studied by the GLOBE group in its project:  Power distance  Uncertainty avoidance  Human orientation  Institutional collectivism  In-group collectivism  Gender egalitarianism  Assertiveness  Future orientation  Performance orientation The concept of cultural distance = based on quantitative measures of cultural dimensions, countries can be “quantitatively” compared. “cultural distance score” is an index that shows how natural cultures are culturally different from each other. Cultural models are not the best solution to describe individual differences: single individuals cannot just be reduced on the basis of generic cultural features = limitation of country culture research is the fact that it is not appropriate at the individual level.

3rd lesson 24/02 Four Seasons case study

What we have said last Thursday:  Culture has different layers  Common assumptions and shared values – what people say, and commonly accepted norms are different from rules  Why is culture relevant at work? People develop perceptions and ways of interacting with others change which are different from country to country (country-specific)  In order to analyze culture, two relevant models can be used: globe model and Hofstede model 15 minutes to answer the question (about the case study) individually: based on the case study “Four seasons goes to Paris” examine the cultural differences between America and France according to the Hofstede model. Which factors/elements would you focus on? Discuss how each factor differs between the two cultures. Make an analysis of cultural distances among North America and France. Main differences: 1. The long-term orientation – monochronic vs polychronic; termination 2. High level of formality in the relation with employees – communication among employees 3. French is less prone to change 4. Power distance – calling by name; take responsibilities; feedbacks to employees is not a common practice in France while in North America is more common 5. Individualism vs collectivism – golden rule; direct communication (due to feedbacks to employees) 6. Uncertainty avoidance – standards Four Seasons hotel chains adaptation to local environment/context. Country specificities affects the design and functionalities of the hotel in a particular setting. Four Seasons is not just a French hotel because it is also international: “a cultural cocktail”, so a mix of different cultures.

4th lesson 25/02 Leading a culture of innovation (event with Janna Flint) Moonshots 10X thinking – fresh approach to doing think differently. Google X was the incubation team. Innovation is about thinking big – incremental thinking (10%) vs transformational thinking (10X). In order to drive transformation, you cannot think incremental and small – remove your barriers and ask yourself “what if” in order to drive innovation and transformation: go bigger, transformational change. 10X = emotional connection power of purpose. Within 10X: we need huge problems, breakthrough technology and radical solutions. Examples of huge problems: wind energy, Indian people do not have access to internet, diabetes medicines. 10X in the everyday: purpose, accountability, culture. teams’ purpose, accountability and budget and cultural differences among employees – problems leaders face. Founder’ purpose of Google. Google figured out how to it at this speed and in a significantly better and different way. Janna Flit run Google in Singapore – purpose: Singapore to the world. Project Manjula: they changed fundamental principles in the way they think about Google. Firstly, they reorganize space within the Google office design, by reducing the previous definition of space. Secondly, the purpose was to bring partners to the future: they generated a platform which enriches Google. External relation with a New Zealand corporation: Kupu + Spark. Engagement of children in a positive way: pocky sticks + virtual reality + education. OKRs = objectives and main results. Culture: psychological safety of the environment. In order to have psychological safety, the leader must give any single person a voice, which lead to higher performances. Transparency + openness are fundamental aspects within the Google company. We have a lot of information, and people must have access to those information, principle of being transparent, even if there is no universal access to any piece of data. Respect + inclusion: give voice to all the employees. Happiness index: people are happier in the morning. Creating a belief system

through three things: purpose: 10 vs 10%, vision; accountability: what and how; culture: psychological safety and D&I. Online working there is no hierarchy, everybody is democratized: people are at the same level. 10X is removing constraints. It’s all about trust and empowerment: if I trust my workforce, I empower my team and I let them free to organize their work by their own.

5th lesson 3/03 Case study HBR from regional start to global leader He was promoted from country manager in China to global head of product development in a French perfume maker. Differences between East and West, how to adapt? Considering the HBR case study “from regional star to global leader” identify the main effects that the cultural clash is producing at Deronde international. Then, highlight the linkages between the case study and Joanna Flint’s speech. 1st question: 1. No teamwork/corporation –> difficulties in working in teams 2. Lack of communication –> difficulties in understanding what others say which lead to difficult to converge in strategic issues 3. Each worker thinks its country’s beliefs are the right ones, “my is superior than others” – no considering others’ opinions 4. Silos 5. Cultural literacy: they do not know other cultures’ values –> lack of communication and understanding 6. Closeness and stereotyping 2nd question: Lack of cultural sensitivity – as Joanna Flint said it is important for a global leader to be sensitive with respect to other cultures. Leaders must create a psychological safety with respect and inclusion, but in the paper, we cannot see any of these. Leaders must lead the change not in a direct way, Flint explained how they should be facilitated. Leaders should be the orchestrator director for stimulating ideas, as Giustiniano said. They did not implement an open environment, which as Flint said is important within a corporation. You have to do things in a completely different/new way: go beyond normal stuff is linked to the concept of “think big” introduced by Flint. Cultural change must be put at the top: leaders become a model that followers tend to imitate. Leaders have the role of modelling – key role: they become models that the others follow. HR as change and TRUST. Trust relationship is fundamental: the problem in the paper is the fact that the Chinese guy and the French guy do not trust each other. The idea is to engage people and to be open. Relevant cultural differences in the communication process (which is composed by 5 phases: encoding, transmitting, receiving, decoding and feedback).

6th lesson 4/03 The managerial action is affected by several cultural factors. Thinking differently across the world Leung & Morris paper Values approaches seems to be homogenized within the same culture. The values people show change based on different situations. People can be flexible in how they can approach values. “Temporary stability” are values which are stable over the time. No predicting behaviors because values are not always stable. The paper suggests two approaches: two alternative approaches. Social cognition approach – study the brain to understand how the brain works. It helps us to understand what is given for granted in my culture compared to others. Common perceptual illusions are

usually wrong. Context vs focal objects – differences between Western and Eastern countries: cultural differences. Westerners pay more attention to a focal object or a person, whereas Asians tend to have a more holistic view of a situation or a picture, context. Relative or absolute perception: two experimental groups which two different tasks. Two pictures: the first one is a close-up photo and the second one includes also the surrounding environment. The first one (lefthand side) is taken by western; and the second one (right-hand side) is taken by eastern. American pays much more attention on the objective compared to the environment. Do China & Germany share the same logic? Norms are completely different from country to country: thigh cultures (strict compliance with norms ex. Japan) or loose cultures (norms are weak ex. New Zealand).

7th lesson 10/09 Dekker Roos case and Latin America conversation rules: two documents to read and discuss together What was Dekker’s main intention in sending her message?  Getting the work done  Making sure his was aware  The reasons behind the problem  Accomplish her bosses’ requests, to get information to refer to her boss  Find a solution  Push Gutierrez  Express frustration  Lack of communication Gibson’s paper Encoding = phase in which the message is constructed, the building of the message. Then the message is transmitted. Then, the message is transmitted and decoded by the receiver (according to conversation rules, cultural values). Feedback stage: in which the receiver responds to the sender. The author suggests that all these features are affected according to certain features. These features change depending upon cultures. Gibson argues that the main difficulties result from the two phases which he calls “panel 1”. Strategies for effective intercultural communication. Highlight the differences among cultures and answer the question: how you would respond?  What cultural communication differences between Dekker and Gutierrez are evident that affect the encoding and transmission of messages between them?  How could they have used strategies for receiving, decoding and feedback to ameliorate the differences between them?  How should Derrek respond to Gutierrez? Come up with two or three options and evaluate the benefits and/or risks for each option.  Roos Derrek is a company based in Amsterdam; Gutierrez is a company based in Argentina. What are factors and complexity may have influenced the communication process and the ambiguity? The fact that they have never known each other, so geographical distance in addition to cultural distance: they have never met in person – virtually teams require the managers to consider also the geographical distance produced. Empathy cannot be created because they did never meet in person, no face-to-face contact. Moreover, they communicate by emails, rather than by telephone so they cannot listen to their voices. Moreover, none of them is a native English speaker. For all these reasons: misunderstanding due to cultural differences in the communication field. This case might suggest a lot of communicational problems within companies. Communication always implies at least two actors. There are completely different values which affect the communication process.

8th lesson 11/03 Communication across culture...