Before you try to change the way your colleagues, contacts and customers act, learn how they think. Culture involves multiple dimensions that often remain invisible, but the most important to grasp is the way different people process information and approach problems. Not everyone thinks the same, and not everyone likes the way you think.
[This article has been reproduced with permission from Knowledge Network, the online thought leadership platform for Thunderbird School of Global Management https://thunderbird.asu.edu/knowledge-network/]
Dear Mr LeClerc, Thanks for the compact format in this article. I do agree to a large extend regarding cultural thinking, decission making and the constraints for management. I have been working in 4 differnt countries yet, and have worked with over 29 nationalities. Your example with Airbus I can confirm. But is n't this a more wider problem of international oriented companies? I often found the board of management consisting out of different nationalities. If there is little awareness of the cultural preferences, there will be major misunderstandings and a brake on future developments. Power striggles in the board are not that unfamiliar. Is there any research done how international mergers and aquisitions are affected? Is there a potential market for intercultural management training´? Globalisation, revenu growth has come to a halt, but the markets are still there. I do see some parallels with the, westerm. tendencies to retreat to private grounds and blunt generalism:why shlould I care? Kind regards, Bram Beckers Hamburg
on Aug 29, 2011