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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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Aug 24

Managing International Teams – Reduce the Risk and Reap the Benefits

Cross Cultural Training, Culture, Culture training for Business & Management, Culture training for Human Resources No Comments »

Have you ever thought of multicultural teams as a distraction? Do differences in approaches and opinions always get in the way of the decision making process? Some people think that cultural difference is something that must be enjoyed but should not get in the way of achieving goals. How could that be an effective perspective at work?

Business People 8 Sean Locke i1 Managing International Teams Reduce the Risk and Reap the Benefits

© istockphoto.com/ Sean Locke

 

Prioritising goals over relations can be considered a culturally specific trait. Team members may, depending on their cultural background, place more importance on completing tasks over relationship building. People who place tasks before relationships may also value assertiveness and antagonism as opposed to compromise and cooperative achievement. But how could it be possible to enjoy an international environment and the differences that exist if you think that culture is an obstacle to achieving targets?

You can’t fully enjoy and appreciate something that you do not know very well, and the same applies for cultural differences. Either through extensive international experience or by attending a cross cultural awareness training course such as Managing International Teams or Working Effectively across Cultures, you will be able to understand how culture influences the way people communicate and, in particular, how they approach business relations.

The way people talk to each other, their working standards and the ability to adapt constitutes challenges in an international environment. Hence, it is crucial to acquire the right skills to acknowledge with an open mind the cultural gaps in order to pursue effectively your team’s goals without letting them be in the way of your operations.

Managers should make sure that members of international teams have appropriate cross cultural training to make them aware of the different styles of communication and approaches that their international colleagues or customers might display. Harnessing the many cultural perspectives and opportunities of cross-cultural teams requires the ability to motivate each team member no matter their culture by creating a sense of trust between employees.

Through an understanding of culture and its impact on business and cross cultural teams, intercultural training helps global organisations remove any potential of conflict and risk and gives them the knowledge they need to reap the benefits of a culturally diverse team without taking the focus off the targets.

© Communicaid Group Ltd. 2010

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Mar 08

Cross Cultural Training for International Mergers and Acquisitions

Cross Cultural Training, Culture, Culture training for Business & Management No Comments »

When different organisations merge into one, the success of the operation is not solely down to maximising market share, cost savings and efficiencies. Particularly in the case of international companies, the merging process brings together employees and staff from different cultures who may have very different expectations of how to work together.

The smooth integration of both companies is dependent on whether the organisations consider issues relating to national culture through cross cultural training programmes.

It is widely recognised that the management of organisational change and the smooth integration of corporate cultures is essential for any merger and acquisition. However, a fact many companies are not aware of is that approximately 60-80% of international mergers are unsuccessful because strategies to deal with and integrate cultural differences amongst employees were not in place.

iStock 000000579915Medium 300x200 Cross Cultural Training for International Mergers and Acquisitions

© istockphoto.com/ Mike Bentley

 

By integrating two different cultures, the M&A’s success depends upon creating a ‘third culture’, shared and embraced by all employees. Language, cultural values, attitudes and behaviours are issues that inherently affect the integration process, and the parties involved in the M&A need to address them.

Cross cultural training for mergers and acquisitions can help provide the necessary cultural understanding and sensitivity, contributing to the success of the merger or acquisition.

© Communicaid Group Ltd. 2010

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Nov 30

International Mergers and Acquisitions – Obstacles and Opportunities

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 last decades have seen tremendous change in a multitude of aspects affecting the way we live and work. The ‘global village’ is moving closer and closer together. Organisations are no longer restricted by national borders in their operations. New opportunities for international business operations arise constantly and are enforced by the ever-improving information technology sector.

Cross-cultural mergers and acquisitions are common and often used to acquire more efficient access to resources and human capital, to expand markets and to create new ones. Due to promising predictions, as well as a considerable amount of time and money spent on legal and administrative issues, potential difficulties deriving from cross-cultural differences and hidden cultural rules are often neglected. These can have a tremendous impact on the international workforce and global business operations if not addressed in the early stages.

It is estimated that between 60% and 80% of cross-cultural mergers fail (Industrial Management, 2000) and in fact, cultural factors and the lack of preparation for them are often listed as key reasons for international M&A failures.

Obstacles for international M&As in the cultural field include differing values, attitudes and behaviour between the home and the host culture which can cause misunderstandings, client and employee dissatisfaction, increasing opportunity costs, direct financial losses and potential business failure. Intercultural competence developed through cross-cultural training programmes is therefore an essential success factor in today’s business world.

All of the parties involved, including management, employees and contractors on all levels, need to recognise the significance and impact of underlying cross-cultural values and attitudes in different cultures. This involves the understanding of different cross-cultural decision-making styles, perceptions of hierarchy, attitudes to polychronic or monochronic time as well as different communication styles such as high and low context.

Cross-cultural training programmes such as Communicaid’s Managing International Mergers and Acquisitions programme is essential to ensure that cross-cultural difference does not attribute to what is already very challenging.

© Communicaid Group Ltd. 2009

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