PACE TULSA Elements

Change Management Leadership:  Leading across cultures

Deciding which leadership skills and competencies are requisite for leading across cultures in a global business environment is an example of strategic process planning.

In Project GLOBE (Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness), the researchers collected data on cultural values, practices and leadership attributes from 18,000 managers in 62 cultures working in the telecommunications, food and banking industries.

Objective comparisons involved multiple attributive layers and ascribed certain characteristics of people, places or objects represented.

For example, you may be having chicken soup or chicken pizza for lunch, but if you remove the descriptor “chicken” from the noun, you lose an attribute helper, establishing variable comparisons.

Or you could say, “calm rain” and those who’ve experienced feelings similarly to one another, will simply get it!

Understanding frameworks and practices that help cultivate experiences for greater influence and effectiveness while learning from biases and implicit assumptions about other cultures uniquely positions an industry leader to establish himself as proficient skilled to Leading across cultures.

The general consensus among experts is that there’s no substitute for experience. 

The findings from project GLOBE, with its country-by-country analysis, can give the manager contemplating an assignment in a new culture a head start on the process. 

Implicit bias impacts organizations and many decision-making processes driven by leaders. 

Cultural intelligence, or Cultural Quotient ‘CQ’, is the capability to relate and work effectively in culturally diverse situations. The development of CQ capabilities is critical for limiting implicit bias and its negative impact across organizations.  During this leading across cultures course we will be discussing these four aspects of strategic process planning:

1. Cultural Intelligence (CQ) Framework
2. Global Mindset Framework
3. Implicit/Unconscious Bias
4. CQ Development Plan

Our Communication and” the ways” we all relate to one another forms the basis of business culture.  Business culture in this light then becomes shaped by personal, moral, and identity values.  However, business culture is much more cohesive than personal culture. 

Working remote from a home office challenges traditional business culture because “modular function” is a significant part of culture within home personal spaces.  Moreover, if two people talking to one another remotely on a conference call share two different cultures, it’s because of modular space function.  The chance miscommunication will occur is frequently greater.  The reason for a greater chance of miscommunication is because you are not sharing that person’s culture directly with them in your own personal modular space.

I still want to wear my mask after Covid-19 mandates end.  Especially, in crowded places where undoubtedly at some point there is a chance that we all will cross paths with someone who has not been vaccinated.  After wearing masks for four years, the N-95 face mask is also a security blanket, protecting life from incurable diseases and germs.

Although the “Covid-19 Pandemic” has been difficult to navigate, one of the “behavioral benefits” of wearing a N-95 face mask is the feeling of having a secure space as close as my own nose.  And like quantifiable and qualitative business results the “uncontrolled germs” impacting our health have dramatically diminished since heightened awareness of Sars Co-V 2 virus. 

Feeling healthy, being able to move your body freely on your own power, being able to jog and run and increase your hand speed. Practicing eye movements and being able to control your peripheral vision is all a part of your body function in your work environment. However, if someone comes into your space and makes you sick with germs, that’s something that you might take offense to and also find out of your control. 

Randomly being exposed to factors and feelings that are outside of your control leading to sickness then becomes more than physical space security violation or infraction, it becomes personal.  Now you have to include another person’s illness into your own culture and you have to think of a way to explain it to that person so that they understand that exposing you to their disease is not something that is appreciated or accepted.  All of a sudden you’re immersed in the role of bridging and assimilating culture with your words. 

Nowadays, I don’t even want to catch a common cold. Coming in close contact with a person from an entirely different place can be unnerving. They may be international immigrants.  They may not come from a non-sovereign nation.  Having the willpower to be able to adapt to that person’s International or national domestic or foreign culture is something that is expected in a business culture.  The hard part is trying to re-establish yourself as someone who’s able to communicate with them, based on age, race, creed, nationality, religion, geographic origin, philosophy, marital status, disability, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, educational background, geographic location, income, parental status, work experience, gender, identity, lifestyle and hygiene variances, worldviews and etc. It feels great seeing the measurable and traceable benefits of being in control of helping secure my own space.  Every day the local and national health services report rising or falling contaminations and danger zones in our communities. 

All of us at this point are keenly aware of the potential for spreading the Co-V-Sars 2 virus.  Nobody cares about my health as much as I do.  So, seizing innumerable benchmarks which highlight productivity is very rewarding when you’re not getting sick because someone decided to come by your desk and sneeze on you at work. 

In fact, if you think about your attitude and how it influences your work experiences, you will understand a direct correlation with feelings of health and space security.  Factor in leading across cultures and the task at hand just went from 0 to 20.  Taking the time to understand why our overseas colleagues behave a certain way or expect certain things gives us a far better basis for communication.  Accommodating different daily routines and customs also shows respect and helps leader’s form a co-operative approach with business partners and team mates.  Observance of religious rituals, such as prayer and fasting, can heighten work participants’ experience.

Focusing on small points of etiquette along the lines of “Don’t hurry through meals” when dining with the French or “Speak in low tones and wear dark clothing” while dealing with the Japanese. When accurate, such tips can prevent embarrassments.  Accountability, time frames, and tactics influence organizational culture. Moreover, how we feel dominates the way we navigate our safe spaces while working. Remember, results in Helsinki or Beijing may not be the same as in New York City.  Two study’s leaders, Mansour Javidan, a professor of strategic management at Haskayne School of Business at the University of Calgary, Canada, and Robert House, the Joseph Frank Bernstein Professor of Organization Studies and a professor of management at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, argue in their working paper “In the Eye of the Beholder: Cross-Cultural Lessons in Leadership” that the absence of scientifically compiled information has prevented businesspeople from obtaining sufficiently detailed and context-specific suggestions about how to deal with significant cross-cultural challenges.

If you’ve ever worked for an organization based in another foreign culture or if you’ve ever visited another foreign culture workspace or you went to another country to work, then your understanding about cultural differences may be a lot more familiar.  But can you internalize how those differences shape where you’re working now and also can you communicate how those changes influence the way you respond to people you come in contact with who may be from different cultural identities? It is possible for managers to compare their own cultures with those business cultures of other countries. The major thrust of project GLOBE concerned the study of nine cultural attributes. Using a rigorously constructed survey, team members measured such attributes as assertiveness, tendency to focus on the future, attitudes about gender, comfort level with uncertainty, and “power distance” — the degree to which members of a society expect power to be shared unequally.

All surveys were based on a scale ranging from 1 to 7. To calculate a country’s aggregate score for, say, power distance, survey respondents assigned a number to such statements as “In this society, followers are expected to: Question their leaders when in disagreement” or “Obey their leaders without question.” A score of 1 would most strongly indicate the tendency to question leaders; a 7, the tendency to obey. On this particular attribute, Denmark, the Netherlands and South Africa scored lowest (aggregate scores of 3.89, 4.11 and 4.11), while Thailand, Argentina and Morocco scored highest (5.63, 5.64 and 5.80).

Is what you’re feeling about a person from a different culture an individual feeling or is it a personal feeling? Once you can step outside of your comfort zone and decide if it’s individual or if it’s personal then you can grow from that point forward to better understanding how you’re communicating with that person from a different culture.  Thai workers do not see it as their business to evaluate their bosses, and the bosses would be insulted because Thai managers do not think subordinates are in any way qualified to assess them. A typical U.S. manager might go into such a situation assuming that the 360-degree process is by definition the open-minded approach. But, GLOBE’s (Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness) leaders suggest that the manager would be risking real damage if he or she tried to implement the process without understanding how it would be received, whether in Thailand or France or Mexico.

Take a look at the workspace culture that you currently share with other people from other American cities and see the similarities more clearly than if you would compare them to others working from say a European country or maybe an Indian Nation or maybe Russian culture.  So when you pull your entire office together and you see for the most part most of the people in your company are American and you compare their different style of doing business with those people in the office who are from other nations the comparisons are more, and more clear because now you’re starting to look at them as business people who are also part of American culture and not necessarily people doing business in a foreign culture.  In Brazil, however, which scores high on the cultural attribute of “in-group collectivism,” the researchers contend that a team leader should spend as much time as possible with the team and should also invite the team members’ families to get together frequently. In that culture, a team functions best when it is seen as an extended family, they say. This is also true in Egypt, according to the research analysis, with one important exception: The team leader in Egypt is viewed as a paternal figure, a benign autocrat. Needless to say, that role will not come naturally to the U.S. leader trying to walk in an Egyptian’s shoes.  The GLOBE researchers point out that expat leaders, regardless of their nationality, also need to educate the host employees about their own culture. That’s the only way to overcome stereotypes and build mutual understanding and trust between people, Javidan and House conclude.

A few useful tools when you have people from different cultures are personality tests, reflectivity quizzes, trust-building exercises, the Gretchen Rubin study where you can read the design and user manual.  Once you establish the personality traits of the people who are from different cultures and decide the cultures that they came from where those personality traits maybe make up the difference in how you do business and they do business within your own culture then that’s when these tools become functional.  An American may say that you are more direct and your approach to leadership but my German colleagues and I see that you’re not very direct and your leadership style.  The German may say that you were more diplomatic.  So then you start to look at now where you stand but how much or how little or the way you communicate with others that you have to communicate with every day while working so then you start to base those traits on a scale and those scales are also way you can help your team develop a communication plan so that everyone’s culture is included in the entire overall picture of the company culture.  There is a book called the culture map by Erin Meyers, and that would be a great reference for someone in leadership to use to further explain everything that I just talked about.

Organizational culture plays a major role in choosing an implementation structure ranging from basic goal setting to more complex project management.  However, if your boss Jim Bob is a known “germ spreader,” and is also senior tenured, your attitude about making things work perfectly may change dramatically.  And your attitude about Jim Bob’s hygiene is probably not just noticed, alone by you, in your safe space while working.

In fact, I worked for a company as a project leader, but when everyone I worked with started getting sick because of another certain company worker, (I kept noticing that my throat would be sore) I told my supervisor that I was concerned about working with that person. He dismissed my concern as overblown and refused to reassign me to another project. 

That project immensely changed my attitude about the company’s organizational culture.  The company refused to accept responsibility for that employee’s “germ spreading” behaviors.  The lack of efficacy concerning the health and hygiene of that company’s staff caused working conditions to be problematic.  Ultimately, part of my decision for separation was because of that negative experience.  Matha Bird, a business anthropologist at ADP focused on understanding the cultural contexts of work and workplaces states, “The past two years have taught many of us that what’s visible isn’t a straightforward proxy for truth or fact. Just because someone looks well doesn’t mean they are; people with COVID-19 can be asymptomatic, and people who appear happy may be burned out. Likewise, unequal access to health care remained largely out of the public eye before COVID-19. Statistics on disease-related mortality rates have made visible the failings inherent in many of our “unseen” systems — political, economic, and social. When the invisible comes into view, it should become more difficult to ignore the ways in which inequality has been normalized by those who benefit most.

Low Context Communication. What you say is what you mean.  Concepts drawn on reputation are key to this statement.  While we tend to assume that everyone is in the same boat, we may have many more choices than the people around us. History has moved many people to look in different ways at the invisible and unequally distributed power.  Reproduced policies in our health care and educational systems, financial institutions, technologies, and workplaces causes workers that feel underserved by the system to seek visibility into systems, practices, and policies that makes them feel homogeneously enslaved.

High Context Communication.  More layered comparisons.  Tricky due to non-verbal attributes; facial expressions and hand movements.  Often retention analysis statistically is under-reported because of removed or absent attributive variables.  Sometimes understanding more in depth factors related to the numbers would clarify under explained conditions leading to huge shifts in trends.  Often historically mixed heritage immigrants must be more literal.  Often longer business traditions in more developed nations could be comfortable with High Context Communication. Take for example, the single mom assigned to a physical place of work while trying to manage remote learning for her young children.  Consider the home health aide who also cares for an elderly parent part time just to earn extra income.  Or how about the retail worker reliant on public transportation that has to work with a more flexible schedule that may not provide sufficient hours of employment.; Many front-line workers whose jobs put them at risk daily and who find it difficult to cover their basic costs of living. 

Direct v in-direct negative feedback.  Commonality helps to deal with perceptions.  Written feedback can be too harsh.  However, persuading others to convince them about the theory first is preferable. Philosophical thinking cultures may find the explanations too in depth.  Although, application first cultures may find that open discussions help change the way everyone in the conversations understands what is actually being communicated.

Egalitarian v Democratic cultures are different in that multi-cultural teams have participation problems because they may want written communication.  Controversial decisions must have some level of discussion.  Conversations that are hierarchical sometimes get over-discussed.

See what your teammates need to garner trust.  Task based trust means establishing consistent performance.  Relationship based trust is relevant because you know your people and have invested time in their lives.  These types of relationships are important in multicultural teams.  But, Remote colleagues need accessibility to all team members in case of much needed one-on one-talks. Or other relevant Just in Case Scenarios.   Remembering your team mate’s names, birthdays, kid’s names etc.  These relationship keys help decrease the opportunity for disagreements with both direct and indirect confrontation.  Some countries completely avoid direct confrontation.  Cautiously phrasing written and verbal communication with the intent of creating a confrontation.

Productive energy and resource allocation especially during a weakened economy is critical. Real DPI decreased 0.2 percent in February and Real PCE decreased 0.4 percent the same month.  Goods decreased 2.1 percent and services increased 0.6 percent. The PCE price index increased 0.6 percent. Excluding food and energy, the PCE price index increased 0.4 percent including services.  Always establish project timing deadlines. Fluency, interruptions, fluid training and being aware of where the lines are drawn is extremely important.  Remote working guidelines, introductions, helping others establish relationship connections. Here’s an example based on what is going on in the United States economy in February 2022.  Government social benefits declined, reflecting the continued winding down of pandemic-related assistance programs. This means for consumers whose dollar-value has increased that the COVID-19 pandemic relief-assistance impacts buying power.  Less money means decreased opportunity to spend assistance benefits.  What can the company do to change negative trends that affect corporate priorities, as well as, their customers?

Here is a blanket list of strategic goals leadership that may turn-to supporting operational strategy.

1. Defining budget priorities
2. Creating maintenance budgets
3. Forming outreach teams
4. Employee forums and motivation
5. Marketing, public relations and
6. Human resource information
7. Using comprehensive data software
8. Simple staff learning applications
9. Goal charts to measure results

1. Increasing customer value by next quarter
2. Lowering production costs by years’ end
3. Balancing all costs by quarter four
4. Maintaining a realistic profit margin in six months
5. Expanding delivery market by years’ end

Objectives are measurable and quantifiable targets which inform leaders when goals will be met.  Also, they illustrate the amount of acquired achievement.  Progress objectives must be regularly recorded.  If no measure is assigned to the objective the extent of the action is only classified as a simple task. 

Factors that objectively measure results include:

1. Targeted performance
2. Baseline performance
3. The date of project / objective completion

Improving customer satisfaction by 65% from an already 30% satisfaction rating is quantifiable.  The end result is easily measured and reportable.  Objective goals promote success.  Measured examples leading objective, goal recording includes:

One to three words used to organize operational and strategic plans.  Most companies have four to six.  Theme goals focus on uniting a team by choosing a single idea that is easily understood.  A single idea that clearly states the aim.  For example:

• Safety first
• Unique recipe
• Fresh, quality ingredients
• Generations of leading kitchens
• Sky Banking

Goal statements with strategic themes allow for broad interpretations of a vision statement.  Broad interpretations help translate a brand’s identity into a meaningful concept. Using theme statements helps organizational strategy by creating actionable power. 

A community unites around a concept aim in the form of strategy and the people get together to bring those strategies into implementation, thus creating actionable power.

Where a company does business is just as important as how it does business.  Goal statement examples are useful to keep leader’s focused on developing a positive image.

1. Improving Drive Thru Productivity
2. Increasing Big Box Traffic
3. Increasing Online Ordering
4. Improving Combo Selections
5. Improving Quality Packaging

The COVID-19 impact on February 2022 Personal Income and Financial Outlays estimate for February reflected the continued economic recovery and government response to the COVID-19 pandemic.  The full economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic cannot be quantified in the personal income and outlays estimate because the impacts are generally embedded in the data and cannot be separated in the identified.  The COVID-19 pandemic affects the way we work, manage, and live our lives. Daily office commutes change to working in pajamas from home. Entire industries have been upended through government lockdowns, stores have struggled to meet customer demand in a global supply chain, and millions of people have left their jobs. The changes have been quick, but should they be permanent?

Fewer cus5tomers because of health issues, health fatigue, or health fatality is just the reality we all must now live with during the COVID-19 pandemic.