Keynote presentation at CESSE AGM 2011 in Vancouver by Avinash Chandarana MCI's Group Director Global Learning

1. Crossroads of Culture
How to do business effectively in the
Global Marketplace.
Avinash Chandarana
Group Learning and Development Director
MCI Group
Avinash.chandarana@mci-group.com
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2. Culture eats
strategy and
processes for lunch!

3. “I don’t agree”

4. “Hmm, that’s a very
interesting idea”

5. “Let’s
go and have a
Campari and talk about it
tomorrow”

6. “I agree.”

7. “…………………”

8. “You gotta be kidding”

9. What is Culture?

11. Influence of Cultural Conditioning
Our Outlook and Body
World View language
Our motivations
Our
Actions Our
Understanding
Our
Our Communication style
Attitudes
Our concept of Space and Time
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12. Cross Cultural Misunderstanding
1. Values
– core beliefs
– national characteristics
– attitudes and world view
2. Communication patterns
– speech styles & listening habits
3. Concept of space
4. Concept of time

13. Stereotypes
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14. In an ideal world..
The policeman would be .. English
Car mechanics would be .. German
Cooks would be .. French
Hoteliers would be.. Swiss
And the lovers would be .. Italian
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15. In a living hell ..
The policeman would be .. German
Car mechanics would be .. French
Cooks would be .. English
Hoteliers would be.. Italian
And the lovers would be .. Swiss
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17. ‘Americans are arrogant and unsubtle.
And they are overweight and bad
dressers."
‘Americans always want to say your name:
'That's a nice tie, Mikko. Hi Mikko, how
are you Mikko'
‘Americans are always in a hurry. Just watch
the way they walk down the street."
‘Americans are distant. They are not really
close to other people -- even other
Americans."

18. ‘When my American professor told me 'I
don't know, I’ll have to look it up', I was
shocked. I asked ‘Why is he teaching me?'"
‘In the United States, they think that life is
only work.’
‘In the United States everything has to be
talked about and analyzed. Even the
littlest thing has to be 'Why, why why?"
‘Once we were out in a rural area in the
middle of nowhere and saw an American
come to a stop sign. Though he could see
in both directions for miles, and there was
no traffic, he still stopped!’

19. Human Mental Programming

20. USA

21. Arab countries
© 2001, 2009 Richard D Lewis

22. United Kingdom

23. Fog in The Channel.
Continent Cut Off

24. Germany

25. China

27. Guanxi - ( "guan-shee")
關係
关系

28. Categorisation of Cultures

32. People oriented, Task - oriented,
talkative highly organized
Interaction -
Difficult
Multi-Active Linear-Active
Interaction -
Interaction - Time
Satisfactory Consuming
Reactive
Introverted - respect
oriented listeners

37. ‘I have to rush’ says the
American, ‘my time’s up.’
- ‘What! Are you about to die?’
replied the Spaniard

38. Concepts of Time
Linear-active
Multi-active
&
reactive

40. Cross Cultural Blunders
Cross Cultural
Blunders

41. Cross Cultural
Blunders

42. Drinks advertising campaign

43. But in Arab speaking countries . .

45. British Coded Speech (1)
What is said What is meant
Hm….interesting idea What a stupid suggestion
You could say that I wouldn’t
We must meet about your idea Forget it
We shall certainly consider it We won’t do it
I’m not quite with you on that That is totally unacceptable
I agree, up to a point I disagree

46. British Coded Speech (2)
What is said What is meant
Remind me again of your strategy I wasn’t listening last time I wouldn’t
We must wait for a politically Forget it
correct time to introduce this
It has lots of future potential It’s failed
He works intuitively He’s completely disorganised
He’s our best golfer We keep him out of the office
Let me make a suggestion This is what I’ve decided to do

47. Intercultural Communication -
Problems affecting trust
• Coded speech (British)
• Hype, hard sell (U.S)
• Flexible, creative truth (Latin)
• Silence (Japanese, Finnish)
• Smiles (Asian)
• Humour (British, U.S)
• Verbosity (Latin)
• Loudness (Arab)
• Ambiguity (Asian)
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48. Trust variance
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50. Presentation Styles

51. Audience expectations

52. Audience expectations

53. Motivation
• Linear-active
Money, career challenge, word-deed correlation, punctuality,
reliability, result-orientation, speed
• Multi-active
Words, persuasion, warmth, compassion, feelings, personal
approach, development of relationships
• Reactive
Protection of “face”, building of trust, modesty, patience,
respect, courtesy, avoidance of confrontation
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54. Golden Rules

55. R ecommendations
When you interact with . .
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56. Interacting with Linear-Actives
• Talk and listen in equal proportions
• Do one thing at a time
• Be polite but direct
• Partly conceal feelings
• Use logic and rationality
• Interrupt only rarely
• Stick to facts
• Concentrate on the deal
• Prioritize truth over diplomacy
• Follow rules, regulations, laws
• Speech is for information
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57. Interacting with Linear-Actives
• Complete action change
• Stay results-oriented
• Stick to agenda
• Compromise to achieve deal
• Respect officialdom
• Respect contracts and written word
• Reply quickly to written communications
• Restrain body language
• Look for short-term profit
• Be punctual
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58. Interacting with Multi-Active Types
• Let them talk at length
• Reply fully
• Be prepared to do several things at once
• Be prepared for several people talking at
once
• Display feelings and emotion
• People and feelings are more important than
facts
• Interrupt when you like
• Truth is flexible and situational
• Be diplomatic rather than direct
• Speech is for opinions
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59. Interacting with Multi-Active Types
• Think aloud
• Complete human transactions
• Digress from agenda & explore interesting
ideas
• Seek and give favours with key people
• Remain relationship-oriented
• Spoken word is important
• Contracts may often be renegotiated
• Reputation is as important as profit
• Overt body language and tactility
• Accept unpunctuality
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60. Interacting with Reactive Types
• Good listening is important
• Do not interrupt
• Do not confront or disagree openly
• Do not cause anyone to lose face
• Suggestions, especially criticism, must be
indirect
• Be ambiguous, so as to leave options open
• Statements are promises
• Prioritize diplomacy over truth
• Follow rules but interpret them flexibly
• Speech is to promote harmony
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61. Interacting with Reactive Types (2)
• Share as much as you can
• Utilise networks
• Talk slowly
• Do things at appropriate times
• Don’t rush or pressure them
• Observe fixed power distances and hierarchy
• Show exaggerated respect for older people
• Go over things several times
• Face-to-face contact is important
• Work hard at building trust
• Long term profit is preferable
• Be punctual
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62. Acquire your ‘CQ’
• Use your “heart”: Commit to overcoming
challenges and believing in your own
success
• Use your “head”: Create a learning strategy
from observation
• Use your “body”: Adapt your behaviors to
customs in another country
• Educate yourself
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63. “Our world has greatly changed: it has
become much smaller.
However, our perceptions have not
evolved at the same pace;
we continue to cling to national
demarcations and the old feelings of
'us' and 'them.’

64. Crossroads of
Culture
How to do business effectively in
the Global Marketplace.
Avinash Chandarana
Group Learning and Development Director
avinash.chandarana@mci-group.com
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