When in Rome

Working Across Cultures

You know the saying, but carrying it out assumes you know what “the Romans do.”

As our world shrinks, we are all coming in closer and having more frequent contact with other cultures. Whether you and your managers are learning another language to accommodate the influx of recent immigrants to your workforce, doing business in other countries, or just reading about it in the pages of the daily newspaper, being comfortable outside your “home culture” is rapidly becoming an essential skill for successful businesspeople.

Many of us at The Wunderlin Company have been fortunate enough to have transnational and cross-cultural work experiences. In this and the Fall, 1999 issue of Changing Times, we will be sharing our lessons learned and best practices in the hope that they are useful to you. Please let us know what cross-cultural challenges you face and we’ll address them in upcoming issues.

Adios!

A Western Approach to Conflict Isn’t the Only One

by Judy Futch

For the past five years, Paul Smith and I have taught “Conflict Resolution for Counselors & Educators,” a graduate-level class at the University of Hawaii. We introduce a traditional western mediation model. In turn, the students research approaches to conflict and mediation present in the cultures of the Hawaiian islands. Here are some of their findings:

The goal in Japanese culture to create harmony and prevent conflict. “Wa,” or harmony, is the oldest and most important of Japanese values. When conflicts arise, Japanese generally use non-confrontational approaches to resolve the situation. It is not that they never risk confrontations, rather, as long as harmony (or the appearance of harmony) is to be maintained, non-confrontational modes must be exhausted first. Because direct communication is viewed as confrontational and is seen as negative and rude, the Japanese will often use the services of an intermediary who is known and respected by both parties. The intermediary may provide a breakthrough by presenting himself or herself as the person on whose behalf the parties are advised to forgive each other. The anticipated response is that both parties will comply in order to avoid humiliating the mediator.

In the Filipino culture “pakikisama” — getting along harmoniously — underlies the entire structure of social relationships. This acute awareness of the sensitivity and respect for others drives elaborate means to avoid giving offense. Speech is loaded with metaphors that convey a message with minimum risk of offense. A desire for a frictionless relationship leads to deliberate efforts to avoid direct confrontations, disagreement or criticism. Often people will “talk story” to tell their side of a problem — it may sound rambling and unfocused but it allows all sides to be heard in a congenial way.

To the Hawaiian community, the family is the center of all relationships. The Hawaiian “ho’oponopono” is a traditional method used to restore harmony through prayers, discussion, apology, and forgiveness. In conflict, the “tangled net” metaphor is often used to illustrate how the family and clan is a complex net of relationships; disturbances in one part of the net will disrupt the entire net. Conflict is viewed as a disturbance to the interrelatedness of all things.

In Samoan, “fono” is the term for a forum where Samoans try to settle disputes. Two types of speeches are used, a “laauga” (formal, ritual speech) and the “talanoaga” (talk, chat, discussion.) It is important to give thanks and to wish for “clear skies” — metaphorically meaning good health for the participants. Apology is an important ideology in a fono. Participants can also accuse, shame, blame as well as discuss possible solutions to particular conflicts.

As visitors to the islands, our language is heard as stiff, with little concern for others or for the natural environment. We like to “talk story” but not listen to other’s stories, just to tell our own. So what have we learned from our work in Hawaii?

• Research the culture where you will be working or visiting.
• Consciously adopt a respect for the new culture.
• Prepare yourself to listen especially carefully.
• Be aware that many cultures have a “natural mediation” approach that uses a neutral third party.

Korea’s Business Culture is Founded on Confucian Ethics

By Bob Amar

As an internal Organization Development consultant for GE, I traveled to India, China and Korea developing and implementing Human Resource strategies that bridged the American and Asian business cultures. Research shows that more than 80 percent of Western/Eastern joint-venture partnerships fail because of the absence of shared objectives, values, and standards that will guide the organization’s behaviors.

In 1996 I was invited to join LG (Lucky Goldstar), one of Korea’s largest chaebols and a growing global business force, as a consultant in organizational transformation. For two years I worked with teams of change agents in a broad variety of businesses that ranged from industrial products, household products, appliances, chemicals, securities and investments, and fashion. I found enthusiastic, intelligent and hard-working people who were eager to learn how American business had achieved its remarkable successes. My challenge was to adapt what I had experienced to a Korean business climate. My initial attempts to tap into the collective knowledge of members of the organization were met with polite curiosity. Where I had hoped to unleash creative energy across all layers of the organization, I found that I had instead succeeded only in raising senior management’s need to control and direct.

There were clear differences in the interaction dynamics of Korean groups that I had to understand before I could be effective. I had to appreciate the impact of Confucian values on relationships and traditional learning processes that shaped behaviors. In a nutshell, I had to learn:

Tradition teaches Koreans to believe that there is a prescribed manner of relating to others which must be learned in order to act in a way worthy of a human being. Without this instruction, man will become an animal. The emphasis on human interrelatedness focuses behavior on the following virtues:

• Righteousness: Man’s dignity is determined by the degree to which he can rise above self-interest in relating to others. Self-profit is the vice of the barbarian or uncivilized man. (This is in direct contrast to the Western success model of the individual self-made man.)
• Humanity: It is the duty of each individual in a group to respect the humanity of every other member of the group and to defend them when they are unjustly treated. One cannot assert one’s own rights or demand equitable treatment since that would be self-serving. Individual interests are subservient to the group’s. One follows the group’s leader since his goals are for the good of the organization and to challenge his authority would be questioning his goodness and deny his humanity. Conflict is avoided at all costs. Any mistake made by an individual cannot be acknowledged publicly since this would lead to a loss of face before the group. Truth is welcomed only if it increases the esteem of the group. (These norms are alien to Western business practices.)
• Decorum: There is a direct link between one’s inner disposition and external appearance. The obligation to perform ancestral rites, the use of proper grammar, work associates smoothes and bonds relationships through these small acts of goodwill, respect, and friendship. (In the West we constantly challenge tradition. Being forceful and decisive are more valued than courtesy. We are taught not to allow personal relationships to influence the objectivity of our decision making. We are cautioned to avoid accepting favors or gifts from business associates which may be construed as bribery.)
• Wisdom: It is believed that knowing right actions is gained through a lifetime of study. Respect for the experience of elder leaders and age is predominant in Korean business. It has been said that if one does not continuously study, his mind will be choked with weeds and his vision will be cloudy. One must exhaustively investigate principals so that the path one must follow will become clear. (This approach to learning in Korea provides a framework for the thinking that guides behavioral responses and it is fundamentally different than American educational processes.)

Hosting Russian Executive Enlightens More than Just the Visitor

By Karen Wunderlin

Our family hosted Lev Barenbaum of Izhevsk, Russia for two weeks in December. (Izhevsk is in the Udmurt Republic near the Ural Mountains.) Lev was part of a business-to-business exchange program funded by the United States Information Agency whose purpose is providing Russian entrepreneurs with experiences and information about how to run a capitalist enterprise.

Lev is thirty-eight years old, married with two children. Before perestroika, Lev managed a data processing department for a state transportation organization. He now owns and manages — with a group of partners — a telecommunications business and a hardwood lumber manufacturing company. The partners are also shareholders in a locomotive manufacturer.

Lev went to work with my husband David, observing and learning about the daily operations of a lumber company in the United States.

We learned so much from our time with Lev, we thought you might enjoy reading more about his life in Russia and what he learned from his cross-cultural experiences in the United States:

Telecommunications, locomotive manufacturing, and lumber manufacturing are very different businesses. How did it happen that you and your partners own three such different businesses?

When Communism ended in our country, many businesses were privatized. The workers were given coupons for small pieces of the businesses in which they worked—one coupon per citizen. Auctions were held for large enterprises, enabling groups of workers to accumulate enough ownership in a given business to manage and control it.

What is your greatest challenge in running a business in Russia today?

There is very much corruption and theft. The idea of personal property and ownership is foreign to many Russians. Therefore, we have widespread theft in our companies — especially in companies where there is not a majority owner to whom the managers are accountable.

In addition, many corrupt individuals control certain aspects of the Russian economy. They demand payments; they want to control important parts of our business world. It is very difficult to run your business without these people becoming involved.

Our equipment is old and makeshift. For a lumber dry kiln, we used the base of an old missile. In our lumber business, we have 20 accountants and only one computer. Our companies have huge tax debts from before privatization-millions of dollars. We cannot pay weekly wages and the tax debt continues to grow. We have other political demands, also. For example, our wood manufacturing company is required to furnish heat for the community kindergarten. For this, we are paid nothing, but it does offer some assurance that the company will not be shut down for non-payment of taxes!

With communism, there was less freedom, but there was law and order.

What impact has the economic crisis of last summer had on you personally?

On a personal level, there is little or no money. My wife, who is a doctor, has not received a paycheck since last May. Fortunately, daily living in my Republic is not expensive. We pay no rent because all the living quarters were given to their residents during perestroika.

At my businesses, we feel the effects more dramatically. For example, our locomotive manufacturing business sells to the Russian train company. Since it has insufficient currency, it pays for new locomotives with transportation vouchers. Our company then needs to trade those vouchers for products and services we need.

Lev, with all these challenges, would you prefer a return to communism?

Never! I prefer our freedom. We will solve these problems eventually.

What did you learn on your visit to the United States?

You have many processes and ways to run businesses that are not known in Russia. I had an opportunity to observe a corporate board of directors meeting and saw how Robert’s Rules of Order enable you to make clear decisions. We are not yet using predictable structures such as this in Russia. I also went to David’s CEO Roundtable meeting. This is a concept that will be very helpful in my country, but the level of distrust is so high that it will be difficult to find other CEO’s who would trust enough to participate in such a group. Perhaps my other exchange colleagues who have had experiences in America similar to mine will consider forming a roundtable when we go back to Izhevsk.

I was also amazed at how committed the U.S. government seems to be to help American businesses succeed.

What can Americans learn from Russians?

That our people are very similar. Russian people are very much like Americans in their outlook on life and their commitment to families.

Our entire family is looking forward to continuing its relationship with Lev, our newfound friend on the other side of the globe.

Many organizations and cities host groups from other countries for in-home stays. To learn more about opportunities in your area, contact your local chamber of commerce.