presentation culture concept

Confederation ofDanish Industry

DI – Dansk Industri 2014

Culture

Confederation of Danish Industry

2014DI – Dansk Industri

Content

• Case 1

• Case 2

• What is culture?

• Case 3

• Rules versus relations

• Basic principles for working with culturaldifferences

• Case 4

• Pieces of good advice when working acrossculture



Imagine this:

• You are in a business meeting in an Asian country with your future business partners. You are having lunch and are about to seal your future partnership with an Asiancompany. You would like to celebrate this by proposing a toast and you raise your glassto the air and say: “A toast for the future partnership!”

• Suddenly the room becomes all silent and everybody just looks down and some peopleleave the room immediately and you start wondering – what did I do wrong?

• A kind colleague whispers in your ear: ”In this country you don’t do that – you have insulted them”. The eldest person in the room is the one toasting and his glass shouldbe the one above the others.

Case 1



Why invest time and resources in working with

cross cultural relations?



Content• Case 1

• Case 2


• Case 3






Case 2: Car accidentHow would you react?



What Right has your friend?

A. My friend has a definite right as a friend to expect me to testify to

the lower figure.

B. He has some right as a friend to expect me to testify to the lower

figure.

C. He has no right as a friend to expect me to testify to the lower

figure.



Content

• Case 1

• Case 2


• Case 3



• Case 4




When we meet others

Not ok box

OK box

http://2nomads1narrative.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/jaisalmer-indian-man.jpg

http://2nomads1narrative.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/jaisalmer-indian-man.jpg



Interoperationality is a question of attitude!



What is culture?

A definition of culture:

• The beliefs, customs, arts, habits, language, etc. of a particular

society, group, place or time

• A way of thinking, behaving, or working that exists in a place or

organization

(Source: Merriam-Webster 2013)



What is culture?

http://changingminds.org/explanations/theories/in-group_bias.htm



Language

Food

Architecture

Music

Clothing

LiteratureClimate

Noise

Pace of life

Public emotion

Work ethics

Physicalcontact

Reworked from: F. Trompenaars, D. Eaton, R. Gesteland

A perspective of understandingculture



ExplicitCulture





Implicit Culture

ExplicitCulture





Content

• Case 1

• Case 2


• Case 3



• Case 4




Case 3:Copyright or the Right to Copy?



Content

• Case 1

• Case 2


• Case 3



• Case 4




Rules Relations

National Culture – Rules




Rules Relations

CHI

GER

IND

MEX

S.A.POL

SPA

H.K. JAPFIN

SIN

SWE

NOR CZE S.Korea.

BRA FRA

MALU.S.

ITADEN

U.K.

SAU

RUS

• Consistency• Systems, standards and

rules• Uniform procedures• Demand clarity

• Relationships• Flexibility• Pragmatic• Make exceptions• “It depends”• At ease with ambiguity

National Culture – Rules




Content

• Case 1

• Case 2


• Case 3



• Case 4




Culture Basics



The Cross-Cultural 3R

RecognizeRespect

Reconcile



The Cross-Cultural 3R

3R• Be aware of own cultural assumptions and values• Work actively to uncover your counterparts' key values• Meta-communicate about differences to establish

common ground

• Accept your own cultural standpoint• Accept your counterparts’ standpoint• Don’t assume that what you meant was understood• Don’t assume that what you heard was what was meant

• Listen actively and test for understanding• Uncover propositions• Ask for background to understand• Work with positives and negatives• Reconcile for progress

Recognize

Respect

Reconcile



Looking at the case again with the ”3R”

principle in mind – what should have been

done?



Clashing ValuesUniversalCopyright(Rules)

Particular relationship with organization

Split the difference And irritate both


(5,5)



Clashing values

(10,10)


Finding a joint publisher

30

UniversalCopyright(Rules)

Particular relationship with organization



What’s a Dane like? How do others perceive us?

Or?




Results

Titles

Danish cross-company communication

What is good about it:Communication between experts and decision-makers possibleFaster decision makingTime saving (GM’s does not have to meet with GM’s over trivial matters)

What is bad about it:Decision-makers not always briefed on decisionsCompetences and education different (can hardencommunication if e.g. an engineer talks to a marketing person)

Brazilian cross-company communication

What is good about it:Communication from specialist to specialistThe decision level is clear from both sidesThe relevant departments and managers have fullknowledge on decisions

What is bad about it:Decisions are not made when managers cannot meetIf you are a lower level employee/manager you cannot closea deal with a higher level decision-maker in anothercompanyDecisions are not made by the specialists



(10,10)


33



Content

• Case 1

• Case 2


• Case 3



• Case 4




Case 4: The Malaysian CaseJoanne Smith was investigating a serious error made by a Malaysian worker at the Malaysian subsidiary of a US multinational. As a result, a component had been inserted upside down and the entire batch had been pulled out of production to be reworked. The cost of this was high. The US company had a management culture, and the rules veryprecisely stated that the person responsible should be interviewed in order to have the error corrected.

The subsidiary had an elderly Japanese as the Plant Director and a young 2IC from the US. Joanne called the young 2IC –whom she knew from the US – and asked him to address the problem, but nothing happened. So after a while she decidedto go to Malaysia herself.

Joanne met the Plant Director and the 2IC in order to cope with the problem. She started the conversation by asking the 2IC why nothing had been done so far. The answer was “I don’t know”.

Then Joanne, clearly frustrated, asked in a very loud voice the Japanese Plant Director which employee had made the error. Had she been identified? What action was being taken against her? She was amazed when the Director in a veryunfriendly tone claimed not to know. ”The whole work group has accepted responsibility” he told her. ”As to the specificwoman responsible, they have not told me, nor did I ask. Even the floor supervisor does not know and if he did, he wouldnot tell me either.”

”But if everyone is responsible, then in effect no one is”, Joanne argued. They are simply protecting each other’s bad work. ”This is not how we see it”. The plant manager was polite but firm. ”I understand the woman concerned was so upset, shewent home. She tried to resign. Two of her co-workers had to coax her back again. The group knows she was responsibleand she is ashamed. The group also knows that she was new and that they did not help her enough or look out for her or see that she was properly trained. This is why the whole group has apologized. I have their letter here. They are willing to apologize to you publicly.”

”No, no. I don’t want that”, said Joanne. ”I just want to prevent it from happening again.”

She wondered what she should do.

Questions

Should Joanne insist on knowing who the responsible individual was?

Should the responsible person be additionally punished?

What should she have done? What cultural issues are at stake here?



I We

CHI

GER INDMEX

S.A.

POLSPA H.K.

JAPFIN

SINSWE

NOR

CZE S.K.BRA

FRA

MALU.S. ITA

DEN

U.K.

SAU

RUS

• “I”• Decide on the spot• Achieve alone• Assume personal

responsibility

• “We”• Refer back to organization• Achieve in groups• Joint responsibility

National Culture – Individualism




Content

• Case 1

• Case 2


• Case 3



• Case 4

• Pieces of good advice when workingacross culture



No one can be said to be a typical member of a given culture

No culture exists in an original, pristine form

Focus on one cultural difference leads easily to stereotypes and an "us"-"them" mindset

The cultural dynamics are the same for professional, organizational, national, and personal differences

Do not exaggerate the importance of nationality. Focus on that only onedifference exaggerate the importance of this difference. It is not culturaldifferences as such that are interesting, but the meaning we attach to them! Individuals' multiple identities given to them by education, age, occupation, gender, etc.

Differences should be seen as a resource and not just as a problem

All cultures are dynamic

Cultural understanding

presentation culture concept

Education