Impact of Culture on Multi-Cultural Teams

Th I t f C lt
The Impact of Culture on
Multi-cultural Teams
Multi cultural Teams
Catherine Mercer Bing
Managing Director,
ITAP Americas
(O) +1.215.860.5640
(M) +1.215.937.1557
http://www.itapintl.com
©2013 ITAP International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Presentation Contents
Presentation Contents
Defining Culture
Cultural Misunderstandings
Impacts on Team Members and
Projects
Improving Team Performance
Special Offer: Individual and Team
Assessments (CWQ and GTPQ)
2

Culture…
Culture…
“All people are the same. It is only their habits
p p y
that are different.”
Confucius
“Culture distorts how we see the world… We
have a blind spot when we look at ourselves.
We evaluate the behaviors of others against
We evaluate the behaviors of others against
what we perceive as normal…”
Schneider and Barsoux
3
3

Culture and Perception
Culture is…
• Learned
• Shared
Shared
• Unconscious
• Dynamic
• Ethnocentric
Perceptions are
influenced by our
• Ethnocentric
“We don’t see things ho the are
influenced by our
“cultural lenses”
“We don’t see things how they are,
we see things how WE are.”
Anaïs Nin
4

g
• A manager was criticized by a director who saw the
g y
manager repeatedly touching a potential client…
…touching is very natural (and expected) in Hispanic
lt
cultures.
• Packaging products in groups of four failed in Japan…
where the Japanese word for “four” also sounds like the
…where the Japanese word for four also sounds like the
Japanese word for “death” (which makes the number
four undesirable).
• In an advertisement, the NYC Helmsley Palace
compared itself to the Taj Mahal…
which is a mausoleum (a monument to the dead)
…which is a mausoleum (a monument to the dead).
5

g
• Time Magazine ran a Spanish language ad in its
B ili diti
Brazilian edition…
…in Brazil they speak Portuguese.
• A French company set up a timber mill in Africa
• A French company set up a timber mill in Africa…
…only to find, after it was constructed, that they did not
have enough consistent water power to run the mill.
• A Chinese scientist always copied his manager on
technical communications with global team members…
th US A i i ti t thi ff t t
…the US American scientists saw this as an effort to
“tattle” to the boss about the work of the US Americans.
• Red…
Red…
…is a blasphemous color in some African countries.
6

Are YOU Making Cultural Blunders?
Are YOU Making Cultural Blunders?
Do your project members ever:
1. Not work fast enough
1. Not work fast enough
2. Miss deadlines/milestones
3 Need more information
3. Need more information
4. Seem to have difficulty coming to the point
5 Spend too much time talking about unimportant
5. Spend too much time talking about unimportant
(and sometimes personal) things – sports,
family, weather, etc.
7
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What Were They Thinking?
What Were They Thinking?
Does it ever happen that your project
pp y p j
members:
1. Can’t make a decision without checking with others
2. Do not take initiative
3. Do not identify issues/problems until it is way too late in
the process
the process
4. Do not speak up in meetings
5 Go off and do things on their own and when finished
5. Go off and do things on their own and when finished,
bring their work back to the team
6. Agree with you (do not have their own opinion)
8

What Do I Need to Know?
What Do I Need to Know?
• As a team leader recognize that cultural
As a team leader, recognize that cultural
preferences are deeply embedded, not
easily changed
easily changed
• Attitudes about the qualities and
characteristics that make a leader effective
characteristics that make a leader effective
are culturally based - and therefore, team
members will have different perspectives
members will have different perspectives
9

What Are Those Cultural Drivers?
What Are Those Cultural Drivers?
• Individualism (Individual or Group Orientation)
Individualism (Individual or Group Orientation)
• Power Distance (Hierarchical or Participative
Orientation)
)
• Certainty (Need for Certainty or Tolerance for
Ambiguity Orientation)
g y )
• Achievement (Achievement or Quality of Life
Orientation)
• Time Orientation (Long or Short Term
Orientation)
10

Aspects of Individualism
Aspects of Individualism
Group Orientation
Individual Orientation
• Relationship prevails over task
• Task prevails over relationship
• Opinions are predetermined by group
membership
• Everyone is expected to have a
private opinion
• Harmony should always be maintained
and direct confrontations avoided
• Speaking one’s mind is a
characteristic of an honest person;
confrontations can be healthy
• Value standards differ for in‐groups
and out‐groups. In‐group customers
get better treatment (particularism).
• The same value standards are
supposed to apply to everyone.
11

Task Over Relationship
Which communication technologies do you find most effective for
your remote teams?
Most effective =
Telephone/Conference
Telephone/conference calls
Chat or other social media
Email
Telephone/Conference
Calls
(RELATIONSHIP
ORIENTED)
Email
Video conferences
Skype
Which communication technologies are used most often in your
remote teams?
Email
T l h / f ll
Used most often = Telephone/conference calls
Chat or other social media
Skype
Video conferences
Used most often
Email
(TASK ORIENTED)
12

Aspects of Power Distance
Aspects of Power Distance
Participative Orientation
Hierarchical Orientation
• Inequalities among people should
be minimized
• Hierarchy is for practical purposes
• Inequalities among people are
expected and desired
• Superiors are superior beings
• Hierarchy in organizations means an
inequality of roles, established for
convenience
i h k
• Hierarchy in organizations reflects
existential inequality between
higher and lower levels
• Matrix structures where work to get
done depends on cross‐professional
collaboration
E l t d t t
g
• Top‐down organization; focus on
functional specialties
• Employees are expected to follow • Employees are expected to go to
managers to report on progress and
suggest approaches to problem
solving
• Employees are expected to follow
through as ordered; they are less
likely to suggest solutions for
problems unless specifically solving
problems unless specifically
asked/told
13

Aspects of Certainty
Aspects of Certainty
Tolerance for Ambiguity
Need for Certainty
• There should be no more rules than
strictly necessary
• Tolerance of differences innovative
• There is an emotional need for
rules, even if they will not work
• More formal and widely • Tolerance of differences, innovative
ideas and a wide range of behaviors
• Trying new approaches is
• More formal and widely
understood ways of behaving and
getting the work done
• Comfortable in structured • Trying new approaches is
encouraged and rewards may be
given for “thinking outside the box”
Comfortable in structured
environments; matters that can be
structured should not be left to
chance
• Belief in generalists and common
sense
• Top managers are concerned with
• Belief in experts and technical
solutions
• Top managers are concerned with Top managers are concerned with
strategy
p g
daily operations
14

Aspects of Achievement
Aspects of Achievement
Quality of Life Orientation
Achievement Orientation
• Welfare society ideal; help for the
needy
• Performance society ideal; support
for the strong
• Work in order to live
• Stress who you are
• Live in order to work
• Stress what you do
• Modesty, solidarity, and helping
others are virtues
Stress what you do
• Assertiveness, competitiveness and
ambition are virtues
• Resolution of conflicts by
compromise and negotiation
• Resolution of conflicts by a show of
strength or by fighting
15

Aspects of Time Orientation
Aspects of Time Orientation
Short-Term Orientation
Long-Term Orientation
• Quick results are expected
• Measures such as profit growth,
• Success over a long time horizon is
valued
• Measures such as market position Measures such as profit growth,
ROI (Return on Investment), and
residual income are key in
evaluating business performance
S di f t t
Measures such as market position,
sales growth, and customer
satisfaction are key in evaluating
business performance
f • Spending for status purposes
(social consumption)
• Immediate gratification of needs
expected
• Thrift; sparing with resources
• Deferred gratification of needs
accepted p
accepted
16

Avoiding Cultural Blunders
If your project team members :
y p j
1. Do not work fast enough for you
– This could be a difference in Time Orientation
– You may have an Achievement Orientation and they
have a Quality of Life Orientation
2. Miss deadlines/milestones
– This could be Need For Certainty or preference for
Hierarchy
Hierarchy
3. Need more information
This could be Need For Certainty
17
– This could be Need For Certainty

If your project team members:
y p j
1. Seem to have difficulty coming to the point
– This could be a communication style that is less
y
linear than yours might be
2. Spend too much time talking about unimportant
(and sometimes personal) things – sports,
family, weather, etc.
Thi ld b G O i t ti b ildi
– This could be Group Orientation – building
relationships as opposed to Individual Orientation
where task prevails over relationship
18

What’s Driving Their Behavior?
What s Driving Their Behavior?
1. Can’t make a decision without checking with others
(Group or Hierarchical)
2. Do not take initiative (Group or Hierarchical)
3 D t id tif i / bl til it i t l t i
3. Do not identify issues/problems until it is way too late in
the process (Hierarchical)
4. Do not speak up in meetings (Hierarchical or Group)
4. Do not speak up in meetings (Hierarchical or Group)
5. Go off and do things on their own and when finished,
bring their work back to the team (Individualism)
6. Agree with you (do not have their own opinion)
(Hierarchical)
19

So what?
So what?
• Team leaders need to be sensitive to the
Team leaders need to be sensitive to the
needs/preferences of their team
members in order to motivate them and
members in order to motivate them and
to avoid rework
• Analyze your style and be prepared to
• Analyze your style and be prepared to
style-flex when necessary to improve
productivity
productivity

The Nagging Questions
The Nagging Questions
• Do I need to make allowances for every
Do I need to make allowances for every
culture I come into contact with?
• Why don’t they just do it my way?
• Why do I have to be the one to change?
y g
21

The Answers
The Answers
• Do I need to make allowances for every culture I
Do I need to make allowances for every culture I
come into contact with? It helps productivity if
you understand what drives your team members
• Why don’t they just do it my way? There are
many ways to get things accomplished; you do
not always know best
• Why do I have to be the one to change? If you
d i b d fi d
want productive team members, you need to find
out what drives their behaviors and leverage
what makes the team productive
22
what makes the team productive.

To Improve Individual
To Improve Individual
and Team Performance
We have this special combination offer for $750 includes:
1 Culture in the Workplace Questionnaire™ (CWQ*)
1. Culture in the Workplace Questionnaire (CWQ )
– Individual cultural profiles for each team member (up to 10)
– Comparison - anonymous bar charts of team member results
– 1 hour virtual debriefing with the team
2. Global Team Process Questionnaire™ (GTPQ**) to improve team
dynamics and improve performance
– 1 iteration for the same team
– 1 additional hour virtual debriefing with the team
1 additional hour virtual debriefing with the team
INTERESTED? Email me (cbing@itapintl.com) and enter PROMOTION
CODE IC14CWQ in the subject line
* CWQ retails for $100 per person and debrief coaching @ $350/hour
Q $ p p g @ $
**GTPQ (Premium version) retails for $1,000/team plus debrief or interventions for the
team @ $350/hour
23

Measuring Team Alignment
Measuring Team Alignment
ITAP measures human process
ITAP measures human process
interactions on teams.
Reports include:
Reports include:
• Executive overviews
Q tit ti d lit ti
• Quantitative and qualitative
responses
• Automated diagnosis
• …can be customized…

Other 2013 ITAP Presentations
Other 2013 ITAP Presentations
1 Impact of Culture in Multi-cultural Teams
1. Impact of Culture in Multi cultural Teams
2. Establishing Leader Credibility on Multi-
2. Establishing Leader Credibility on Multi
cultural Teams
3. Building Trust on Multi-cultural Teams
4. Establishing Relationships on Multi-
cultural Teams
25

Questions? Please email or call me…
Catherine Mercer Bing
Questions? Please email or call me…
CEO, ITAP International, Inc.
cbing@itapintl.com
ITAP International Inc
ITAP International, Inc.
353 Nassau Street, 1st Floor
Princeton, NJ 08540 USA
(W) 1.215.860.5640
//
http://www.itapintl.com
…thank you…
Remember put PROMOTION
CODE IC14CWQ
in the subject line of your email.
26
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Impact of Culture on Multi-Cultural Teams

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