Leadership+&+Management


 * __ Leadership & Management __**

“//The Japanese do not like shaking hands, bow when greeting each other and do not blow their nose in public. Brazilians form unruly bus lines, prefer brown shoes to black and arrive two hours late at cocktail parties. Greeks stare you in the eye, nod their heads when they mean no and occasionally smash plates against walls in restaurants. The French wipe their plates clean with a piece of bread, throw pastry into their coffee and offer handshakes to strangers in bistros. Brits tip their soup bowls away from them, eat peas with their forks upside down and play golf in the rain.”// (Lewis, 2006, p. 3)

While we may find social behaviors differing by national culture amusing when we experience them as a traveler, an exciting role in managing across cultures can be a more challenging experience. As globalization has permeated the very core of organizational life in North America, managing across cultures has become a common experience. Globalization impacts the economics, politics and technology of the way we do business; some organizations are more skilled than others at demonstrating cultural intelligence in light of these changing factors. Earley and Ang (2003) define cultural intelligence as a person’s capability to adapt effectively to new cultural contexts. Achieving cultural intelligence is the constant challenge for leaders and managers in our global work environment. Team Teal was managed through the rotation of weekly facilitators. The weekly facilitator was responsible to manage the week’s activities and engage group members as necessary. As Teal was engaged in consensus based decision making, this role and associated communication was important to team success. In this team, the responsibility of leadership was shared equally between members and team members utilized their inherent strengths to improve the group process. Examples of this strengths include technical skill such as editing, encouraging the heart through positive feedback and project organization. As the leadership and management were shared evenly through the team, accountability was also dispersed; this ensured complete commitment to project success.

A study conducted by Brett, Behfar and Kern (2006), identifies four problems that hinder a team's success: 1) direct versus indirect communication, 2) trouble with accents and fluency, 3) differing attitudes toward hierarchy and authority, and 4) conflicting norms for decision making. They also argue that if a manager can identify the root cause of the problem early on, he/she is more likely to select an appropriate strategy for solving it. They also argue that there is no ideal strategy as all depends on the particular circumstances. Generally though, managers who intervene early and set norms, engage everyone on the team, and see challenges as stemming from culture rather than personality, succeed in solving culture-based issues. These managers are the likeliest to harvest the benefits inherent in multicultural teams. Commonly, individuals are ethnocentric. As such, we expect others that we encounter to be like ourselves, act the way that we do, dress the way that we do, and be motivated the same way that we are. Thomas and Inkson (2004), call this the game of “Be like me.” We all expect others to act according to our own cultural beliefs. When cultural differences become apparent, leaders may pass incorrect judgments about the individual exhibiting them. Cultural intelligence is being sensitive to the judgments within ourselves that keep us from seeing the individual a clear light. Cultural intelligence is not only being sensitive to our own judgments about other cultures, but examining our own cultural assumptions and the way that they impact our behavior. In // Riding the Waves of Culture //, Trompenaars (1998) emphasizes that understanding our own culture is a journey not a step. //**Skills and Strategies for Leadership & Management **// Just as the fish cannot see the water, as individuals we cannot see the culture that permeates our being. Find the common threads across your team. Enable the team to act with a compelling vision for the future. Uncover the passions of your team and harness them to improve the organization. Consider the needs of individual contributors. Part of true cultural intelligence is recognizing the individual and the needs that they have. Be available. Be sensitive. Brett, Behfar, and Kern suggest some principles for managing diverse teams: 1) adaptation (working with and around cultural difference), 2) structural intervention (changing the shape or makeup of the team to reduce friction), 3) managerial intervention (setting norms early or bringing in a higher-level manager), and 4) exit (removing a team member when other options have failed).

Demonstrating cultural intelligence is the duty of the Manager as he/she establishes trust within the team. Being able to lead the team with knowledge of the cultural dimensions enables individuals to feel understood and safe in the environment. There is no prescription for how to become a successful Manager across nations. The acquisition of the knowledge necessary to demonstrate cultural intelligence is a challenge for the international manager which can be resolved through training programs and independent study. Create knowledge of cultural dimensions within the business. See to constantly improve cultural intelligence. Adapt your intelligence to the situation.

International management challenges include finding the right balance of workforce segments. In the talent crunch of the mid 2000’s, it became clear that there are untapped labor segments, which include new immigrants, part time workers, and post retirement workers. This presents an opportunity to get creative. Seek out the segments that will work for your organization. Find foreign partners with which to collaborate. · Build cultural intelligence through knowledge acquisition. Be strategic about improving cultural intelligence. · Consider the needs of the individual. Understand cultural dimensions and what can be attributed to culture vs. personality. · Find the untapped labor segments. ||
 * **//Strategies and Skills //**