The new challenge of globalisation

It is now obvious: the world of business is no longer limited by national borders. And in order to develop, a company should embark on a conquest of foreign markets. This globalisation of finance, economy and exchanges has nevertheless not erased cultural differences. And more than a few companies have paid the high price of underestimating their importance. “I have witnessed projects worth several millions of euros come to a dead halt because Indians and French people no longer wish to have anything to do with one another,” says Ashok Patrick Pakiam, consultant and intercultural trainer.
Indeed, the issues facing companies that manage cultural differences within their teams are diverse. One company may seek to develop on a foreign market by establishing a partnership with a local company. Another may choose to create a subsidiary there, while yet another may want a locally based subsidiary to be managed by an expatriate. “Whatever the case, knowing one’s product is not enough for success,” warns Michel Leray, Managing Director of Europacific Management. “You need to be familiar with the territory. While large groups are beginning to be aware of the need to acclimatise and train people, SMEs too often launch in without being prepared.” Another scenario, just as common, is when two companies of differing nationalities merge their activities. “They combine two national cultures, but also two company cultures,” emphasises Patricia Lane, consultant in intercultural relations and English-language writer-translator. Attributing governance problems to intercultural relations is another common error, of which EADS was partially guilty. Even if differences in the working cultures of French and German engineers further complicated the situation. Take the following joke as an illustration: “when Germans have to construct a helicopter, they put down a bolt, then another, then another, until they finally get a helicopter; as for the French, first of all they get an idea for a helicopter and then everyone wonders how they are going to make it.”

Obvious differences
Add to these multiple difficulties others relating to the use of a third language to communicate… and then you’ll start to grasp the breadth of the obstacles that a company must overcome in order to develop overseas. “English is now the key language in many companies throughout the world,” observes Marie Meriaud-Brischoux, Managing Director of the Institut de Management et de Communication Interculturels. “But a French, German and Chinese person communicate together in English, they continue to speak different languages. Each must understand the culture of the other a little in order to understand the other.” So how to broach a different culture? Where to start? Ways of thinking, first of all, can diverge widely. Asian cultures, very visually focused, are therefore not particularly sensitive to concepts. “In Japan, a sketch is often worth much more than a long speech,” underlines Michel Leray. “Transmitting your knowledge is not about explaining why, but showing how.” Manager of the Renault Foundation, a structure created following the signing of the partnership between Renault and Nissan in 2001, which sponsors an MBA as well as the new Renault-Polytechnique-HEC Chair for Multicultural Management, Claire Martin confirms this observation. “As is often the case amongst Westerners, French people think in a highly abstract manner whereas the Japanese are very practical. They place a focus on procedures, have a feeling for detail, and the capacity to deliver extremely high-quality products at first try.” Major cultural differences can also be perceived in their relationship to time. Certain people groups are monochronic in that they prefer handling one task at a time. This the case of Americans who prefer concentrating on one matter before passing onto the next. Others are more polychromic, at ease with several tasks at once. “An Indian will see
no problem in answering a phone call from his mother-in-law during a meeting,” illustrates Ashok Patrick Pakiam. Relationships to the future and the management of uncertainty are also areas of difference. “For an American, a change is an opportunity; for a French person, it is a source of concern and mistrust; a Chinese person adapts,” sums up Annie Cattan.  Another big difference: the importance placed on the individual. “In China, a person defines himself in relation to a group which gives him an identity and security,” explains Annie Cattan. “Europeans and Americans are much more individualist.” As a result, it is quite common to do leisure activities with work colleagues in China. “Decision-making processes are also slower given that Chinese people determine their choices in groups,” observes Philippe Weiss.  

Avoiding faux pas
No one can ever hope to know all cultures perfectly, whatever efforts may be
invested in such attempts. “Even if you learn the ‘dos and don’ts’, you will never know everything,” confirms Annie Cattan. So the first piece of advice, when it comes to approaching a foreign country, is to be aware of your own culture. This is a matter of avoiding projections and realising that not everyone reasons in the same way as yourself. It is best to adopt an attitude of openness and humility by observing others and avoiding judgments. All the more advisable given that details can trip you up. “Chinese people shake hands with someone they haven’t seen for a long time,” explains Annie Cattan. “If you shake hands with a Chinese person you’ve seen the day before, he may think that you have forgotten who he is.” A faux pas that may well embarrass him and a situation difficult for you to mend. The second piece of advice comes in the form of a warning if your job is to manage a multicultural team from afar: expect to see your role change radically. “Bringing teams from different cultures together in a collaboration is very time-consuming initially,” says Claire Martin. “To understand how different parties reach solutions, you must observe how they act. It is also necessary to agree on everything, including use of vocabulary. Two people with the same title do not necessarily have the same roles in France and in Japan.” Patricia Lane advises: “A manager called to manage a team spread out in several countries should meet all team members at the start.” Organising this initial meeting as a team-bulding session can prove to be useful. “In an email, 100% of meaning is carried by the words themselves. In a face-to-face conversation, the proportion is only 13%. Hence the importance of meeting your work colleagues. It will then be easier to read between the lines and to understand if another person is joking, angry or simply saying ‘I don’t
understand’.” This session may be a chance for the new team to together define rules of conduct. For example, the frequency of teleconferences, how to decide on dates and times so that it is not always the same person who has to get up at 5 am. Once rules are established, learning will be two-way, but require constant effort, especially for the manager. “The manager of a multicultural team should be twice as accessible as that of a local team. It is his or her role to settle issues, or even possible conflicts, that will not fail to emerge. It is also up to the manager to define and promote the constitutive values of the culture that the team should develop in order to make progress.”  Finally, one last piece of advice, but not the least: learn a few words from the language of the country where you have business dealings. This may appear obvious, but it is far from being a reflex for all managers called to manage teams from a distance or even relocate. Your efforts will be noticed all the more for it.