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Sep 21

The Shifting Leadership – How to Harness the Benefits of a Multicultural Workforce

Cross Cultural Training, Cultural training for Relocation, Culture, Culture training for Business & Management, Culture training for Human Resources, Culture training for the Public sector No Comments »

The appearance of international leaders coming from what Westerners usually call the “emerging countries” is creating new trends in the globalisation phenomenon. Once dominant companies are now being bought by Chinese, Brazilian or Indian companies and managers are increasingly recruited from these and other countries, creating new intercultural challenges.

Business People walking urbancow i1 The Shifting Leadership – How to Harness the Benefits of a Multicultural Workforce

© istockphoto.com/ Urban Cow

 

The merger between Arcelor and Mittal in 2006 is perhaps one of the best examples of this new trend. Arcelor, a powerful western steel company was bought by Mittal, an Indian steel manufacturing consortium owned by the Indian businessman Lakshi Mittal. This transaction faced heavy resistance and the French, Spanish and Belgian governments expressed their opposition alongside most of the Arcelor board members. Guy Dollé, the Chief Executive of Arcelor at the time, even described Mittal as a mere “company of Indians”.

This international merger shows us the difficulty many westerners have in accepting the fact that tomorrow’s decisions makers, managers and leaders will not only be German, British and North American but also increasingly Chinese or Indian. As these new international managers come onto the scene, they will bring with them their own unique cultural values and working practices which can be quite different to what most westerners are used to.

Perceptions of time, orientations toward hierarchy, approaches to decision-making or styles of communication are all elements of business which will be different. For employees of global organisations, having managers from different cultures means they could face intercultural challenges they may not have experienced before. Providing them with intercultural training courses before the new manager takes the role will help them to understand their managers’ style and expectations while it will also improve their ability to adapt to these new working styles. Failure to understand or adapt to another intercultural style may result in misunderstandings, conflict or poor performance.

Managers from countries like China or India coming to manage employees in the UK or Germany will face similar intercultural challenges. Understanding what their teams expect of them and knowing how to motivate, lead and manage them effectively requires a high level of cultural understanding and knowledge. Intercultural training provides managers with specific intercultural strategies and appropriate management tools that will help them achieve success in their different global projects.

Providing international employees and managers access to specific intercultural training programmes like Working Effectively across Cultures or Effective Global Leadership is crucial for global organisations employing multicultural teams or managers from other cultures. Enhancing the intercultural awareness and understanding of employees and their managers will not only reduce cultural misunderstandings and conflict but it will create a good working atmosphere allowing organisations to harness the benefits that their multicultural population brings.

With intercultural training, organisations such as ArcelorMittal can look towards joint ventures or M&As with other cultures more favourably so that Guy Dollé’s quote about the ‘company of Indians’ would instead be seen as a positive force rather than a negative one.

© Communicaid Group Ltd. 2010

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Apr 20

Challenges of Doing Business in the UAE

Cross Cultural Training, Cultural training for Relocation, Culture, Culture training for Business & Management, Culture training for Human Resources, Culture training for the Public sector No Comments »
Dubai shao weiwei i Challenges of Doing Business in the UAE

© istockphoto.com/ShaoWeiwei

 

Combining the strengths of seven individual states, the United Arab Emirates takes each state’s unique histories and identities to form an innovative, modern and vibrant state. The UAE balances its commitment to forward thinking and modernisation with a strong Islamic tradition, however this can often present challenges for those doing business in the United Arab Emirates without an understanding of the culture.

Cross Cultural Training Middle East programmes such as Doing Business in the UAE will help employees in your organisation raise their level of awareness and understanding of the differences and challenges of doing business in the UAE. The following are some of the major challenges of doing business in the UAE.

Communication Style
Communication styles vary across the world, from country to country and region to region. This can be challenging for organisations operating outside their home country. Organisations doing business in the UAE must be aware of some of the communication differences they will come across. For instance, the multiple meanings of ‘yes’ and ‘no’ may differ greatly from their own cultures. The level of formality and directness in the United Arab Emirates may also be hard to adapt to.

Islam
While the UAE is an increasingly modern state, especially in relation to its Gulf State neighbours, religion still stands at the centre of Emirati culture and society. Islam plays a crucial role in people’s everyday lives, in the office and outside. Islamic customs should be observed and the effects of the Islamic religion on business interactions must be respected when doing business in the UAE.

Attitude to time
In comparison with Europe and the US, timekeeping is viewed with a far more relaxed attitude in the UAE. Meetings, for instance, will often run over, start late or be cancelled at the last minute without any warning. Another important difference in business culture in the United Arab Emirates is that the working week is different from that of Christian countries, running from Saturday to Wednesday, with the ‘weekend’ covering the Muslim Sabbath.

Hierarchy
Hierarchy remains a very important concept that you should consider when doing business in the UAE. It is essential to respect people’s titles and position in society. Most businesses have a top-down hierarchy, with one important individual making most of the decisions.

The UAE is modernising rapidly but traditional Muslim practices are still at the heart of Emirati society. Organisations doing business there must understand the balance between the new and the old. Participating in a cross cultural training programme for business management such as Communicaid’s Doing Business in the UAE will help you develop strategies for operating effectively in the UAE thereby enhancing your organisation’s success.

© Communicaid Group Ltd. 2010

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Apr 07

Challenges of Doing Business in Singapore

Cross Cultural Training, Cultural training for Relocation, Culture, Culture training for Business & Management, Culture training for Human Resources No Comments »
Asian Lantern espion i1 Challenges of Doing Business in Singapore

© istockphoto.com/espion

 

A top destination for business, Singapore is known worldwide as a prosperous, modern and efficient country. Regularly heralded for its thriving economy, high standards of management and ease for doing business, Singapore is rightly seen as an attractive area for investment. In fact, according to the Singapore Economic Development Board, Singapore is the easiest country in the world to do business.

It is clear that doing business in Singapore offers immense benefits for international organisations and it may therefore be easy to assume that doing business in Singapore comes without cultural challenges. However, there are a number of key cultural stumbling blocks that could result in huge costs to the organisation if overlooked.

Cross-cultural awareness training programmes such as Doing Business in Singapore help organisations ensure those working in Singapore understand the cultural challenges and develop a set of strategies for overcoming these differences. The following are five of the key cultural differences international organisations face when setting up or doing business in Singapore.

Relationships – Being heavily influenced by Asian philosophies, Singapore places emphasis on the importance of creating good relationships with others before doing business with them. This is often an unrushed process as Singaporeans are cautious and like to make sure they are doing business with someone they can trust. When doing business in Singapore remember that investing time in creating strong bonds initially is likely to benefit you in the long run. A Doing Business in Singapore cultural awareness programme will help organisations understand how to establish a good and genuine relationship with Singaporean counterparts to demonstrate capabilities and good character.

Harmony – Somewhat tied into Singaporean concepts of relationships, harmony refers to a value promoting the good of the group over that of the individual. At the core of this focus is the family, which is held in high regard in Singapore. Although the concept of harmony is quite a collectivist sentiment, Singapore is quite unique in the fact that it can also be quite individualistic in some ways, for example in its competitive nature.

Chinese businesswoman 6 zhudifeng i 200x300 Challenges of Doing Business in Singapore

© istockphoto.com/zhudifeng

East meets West – A relatively young country, Singapore draws influences from both East and West and is positioned well to do business equally successfully with both. The most developed country in Southeast Asia, it seamlessly strikes a balance between traditional and modern, Eastern philosophy and Western technology. Similarly, Singapore is quite unique in the way it embodies both collectivist and individualistic sentiments. It is at the same time deeply respectful of ancestors and fiercely competitive, direct in some ways, indirect in others. A Doing Business in Singapore cross cultural programme will help enlighten those unfamiliar with the intercultural influences as to how Singapore manages to maintain seemingly contradictory ideals.

Face – When communicating with Singaporeans, it is wise to pay attention to the protection of “face.” Face is closely linked with personal pride and forms the basis of an individual’s social status and reputation. In order to avoid losing face, Singaporeans control their behaviour and emotions in public and do not criticise directly. When doing business in Singapore, it is wise to remember that damaging face through overt confrontation or criticism can be destructive to hierarchy and disastrous for business relationships.

No common identity – Singapore’s diverse population is one of its strengths. Singaporeans are predominantly of Chinese, Malay or Indian ethnicity and due to an open immigration policy, one in three people living in Singapore have come from abroad. However, to be successful when doing business in Singapore, it is important to fully appreciate and understand the many different customs and traditions which impact Singaporean business culture and etiquette.

Recognising the cultural differences which exist when doing business in Singapore is only the first step. International organisations must also understand the what, why and how behind them to develop effective strategies for appreciating and benefiting from the ethnic and cultural diversity of the Singaporean society. A Doing Business in Singapore programme will help the organisation maximise the immense opportunities of doing business in Singapore and ensure they understand the subtleties of Singaporean business and social culture on all levels. Furthermore, the Doing Business in Singapore programme will also help develop an interculturally competent workforce, giving the organisation a huge advantage in this fiercely competitive global world.

©  Communicaid Group Ltd. 2010

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Dec 21

Coming Home: The Hidden Challenges of Repatriation

Cross Cultural Training, Cultural training for Relocation, Culture, Culture training for Human Resources No Comments »

The thought of returning home after an international assignment usually creates a variety of mixed emotions for international assignees.  The excitement of seeing family and friends, anxiety about how they might be accepted professionally and personally and feelings of sadness about leaving the life they created abroad are all symptoms of reverse culture shock that many international assignees face upon repatriation.

Most people underestimate the potential challenges of readjusting to life back home.  In fact, studies show that repatriation is often the most difficult phase of the international assignment process and that reverse culture shock often affects both professional and personal reintegration.

Major professional challenges may involve the:

• Lack of recognition of improved professional skills
• Lack of an appropriate professional role
• Challenge of integrating into a potentially different organisational culture

On a personal level, international assignees often:

• Have unrealistic expectations of life at home and how it has changed
• Make false assumptions about how easily they will be able to fit back in
• Have difficulty supporting family members experiencing reverse culture shock

Studies show that over 40% of returnees leave their companies within one year of their return.  This has serious direct and indirect cost implications for the company.

Repatriation Training can help international assignees anticipate the challenges of returning home and develop strategies for dealing with them. Repatriation training provides international assignees an understanding of what has changed in their home country, tips for dealing with reverse culture shock and support from an expert to understand the hidden challenges of returning home.  Organisations can also benefit from providing cross-cultural training programmes for relocation to international assignees as it will help them harness their new skills and experience and ensure they have a professional place to come back to.

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