Managing across cultures

MANAGING

ACROSS

CULTURES

This page intentionally left blank

MANAGING

ACROSS

CULTURES

The Seven Keys

to Doing Business

with a Global Mindset

CHARLENE M. SOLOMON

MICHAEL S. SCHELL

New York Chicago San Francisco

Lisbon London Madrid Mexico City Milan

New Delhi San Juan Seoul Singapore

Sydney Toronto

Copyright © 2009 by RW3 LLC. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the United States

Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by

any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the

publisher.

ISBN: 978-0-07-160586-1

MHID: 0-07-160586-X

The material in this eBook also appears in the print version of this title: ISBN: 978-0-07-160585-4,

MHID: 0-07-160585-1.

All trademarks are trademarks of their respective owners. Rather than put a trademark symbol after

every occurrence of a trademarked name, we use names in an editorial fashion only, and to the

benefit of the trademark owner, with no intention of infringement of the trademark. Where such

designations appear in this book, they have been printed with initial caps.

McGraw-Hill eBooks are available at special quantity discounts to use as premiums and sales

promotions, or for use in corporate training programs. To contact a representative please e-mail us at

[email protected].

This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject

matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is engaged in rendering legal,

accounting, or other professional service. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the serv￾ices of a competent professional person should be sought.

—From a Declaration of Principles Jointly Adopted by a Committee of the American Bar Association

and a Committee of Publishers and Associations

TERMS OF USE

This is a copyrighted work and The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. (“McGraw-Hill”) and its licensors

reserve all rights in and to the work. Use of this work is subject to these terms. Except as permitted under

the Copyright Act of 1976 and the right to store and retrieve one copy of the work, you may not decom￾pile, disassemble, reverse engineer, reproduce, modify, create derivative works based upon, transmit,

distribute, disseminate, sell, publish or sublicense the work or any part of it without McGraw-Hill’s prior

consent. You may use the work for your own noncommercial and personal use; any other use of the work

is strictly prohibited. Your right to use the work may be terminated if you fail to comply with these terms.

THE WORK IS PROVIDED “AS IS.” McGRAW-HILL AND ITS LICENSORS MAKE NO GUARAN￾TEES OR WARRANTIES AS TO THE ACCURACY, ADEQUACY OR COMPLETENESS OF OR

RESULTS TO BE OBTAINED FROM USING THE WORK, INCLUDING ANY INFORMATION

THAT CAN BE ACCESSED THROUGH THE WORK VIA HYPERLINK OR OTHERWISE, AND

EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ANY WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT

LIMITED TO IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A

PARTICULAR PURPOSE. McGraw-Hill and its licensors do not warrant or guarantee that the functions

contained in the work will meet your requirements or that its operation will be uninterrupted or error

free. Neither McGraw-Hill nor its licensors shall be liable to you or anyone else for any inaccuracy, error

or omission, regardless of cause, in the work or for any damages resulting therefrom. McGraw-Hill has

no responsibility for the content of any information accessed through the work. Under no circumstances

shall McGraw-Hill and/or its licensors be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, punitive, consequen￾tial or similar damages that result from the use of or inability to use the work, even if any of them has

been advised of the possibility of such damages. This limitation of liability shall apply to any claim or

cause whatsoever whether such claim or cause arises in contract, tort or otherwise.

Dedication

From Michael: To my wife, Lynne Schell, without whose love and forbearance

nothing would be possible, and to my grandchildren, Adalai and Asher, whom

I hope will one day enjoy this book. To the memory of the World’s Doctor,

Allan Rosenfield.

From Charlene: To Alan for your continuing love, amazing emotional support,

and never-ending encouragement to follow my heart, and to Elizabeth,Andrew,

and Chris, who inspire me to keep learning and who keep me laughing.

This page intentionally left blank

Contents

Preface

xv

PART I

Introduction

Chapter 1: How We Got Here

3

Chapter 2: Deal or Debacle—DaimlerChrysler and

Lessons from the Big Guys

23

PART II

Culture Basics: How Culture

and a Global Mindset Work

Chapter 3: What Is Culture and What Is Personal Style?

43

PART III

The Seven Keys to Managing Across Cultures

Chapter 4: Hierarchy and Egalitarianism

71

Chapter 5: Group Focus

93

Chapter 6: Relationships

111

Chapter 7: Communication Styles

137

Chapter 8: Time Orientation

163

Chapter 9: Change Tolerance

183

Chapter 10: Motivation/Work-Life Balance

201

PART IV

Doing Business with a Global Mindset

Chapter 11: Creating a Global Mindset in Business

217

Chapter 12: Creating Effective Global Teams and Working

with Diverse Colleagues

239

Chapter 13: Effective Leadership: Managing Talent Across

Cultures—Hiring, Training and Retaining

273

Chapter 14: Women Crossing Cultures

297

viii CONTENTS

Chapter 15: Creating Cultural Competence: The International

Assignee Experience

313

Further Reading and Additional Resources

331

Index

339

CONTENTS ix

This page intentionally left blank

Acknowledgments

Over the last several years there have been innumerable friends, colleagues,

and clients who have shared their wisdom, experiences, and insights with us.

Those generous individuals have talked with us, debated issues with us, sent

us resources, and generally stimulated our own thought process, and we thank

them. All of that thinking made this book possible.

First we would like to acknowledge the contributions of our key staff

members:

• Valerie Greenly, whose kind and positive perspective on everything that

happens, coupled with her energy and attention to detail, have enriched

lives and perfected our work. For the past 20 years,Valerie has helped make

our work both fun and successful.

• Paul Bailey, whose efforts on the other side of the Atlantic have made our

endeavors in Europe fruitful and wonderfully enriching.

• Joshua Sturtevant, who enthusiastically embraces new responsibilities and

impresses us daily with his expertise and creative vision.

• Carrie Shearer, who has made an enormous contribution to this book, is

largely responsible for Chapter 14, “Women Crossing Cultures,” in which

she shares her significant depth of experience and understanding of the

international assignment experience. In addition, Carrie’s tireless creative

energy and remarkable resourcefulness have contributed significantly to

the overall success of CultureWizard.

We’d also like to thank Annette Messler, who for the past 20 years has kept

our financial lives in order, and to thank Sean Dubberke, Barbara Thorp, and

Miranda Rowe, on whose unique energies we call everyday.

We give a special thank-you to Paula Caligiuri, Ph.D., Associate Professor

of Human Resource Management at Rutgers University, School of Manage￾ment and Labor Relations and Director of the Center for Human Resource

Strategy. Paula, who is the creator of the SAGE (Self-Assessment for Global

Endeavors), SAGE for Spouses, and SAGE for Global Business Leaders, has

been a most valuable advisor and colleague for over the past decade. We’ve

learned so much from her about global leadership development. Her

contribution was a critical component of our work in Chapter 13. Paula’s

ongoing support and direction allows us to continue to do cutting-edge

research and bring significantly greater value to our clients and to our online

content and community.

Yang Zhang, PhD., also eagerly supported our research initiatives and

gave us a deeper understanding of the generational and cultural differences

in emerging China. She was extremely helpful in our work on intercultural

global teams as well as a variety of other areas.

We would also like to thank the following individuals who helped us con￾tinue to develop our thoughts and perspectives: Michael Bruck, previously

the head of Intel China, who generously shared his significant experiences in

China that allowed us to gain wisdom on that critically important part of the

world; Milton Ives of Mars, Inc., previously with HSBC Bank, whose gentle

prodding and questioning kept us reaching for continuous improvement;

Franck Andreutti of Motorola, who shared his own depth of cultural appreci￾ation to enrich our understanding; Gerry Rausnitz, CEO of Meopta-Optika,

who frequently shared his tactical business appreciation of Eastern Europe;

Geremie Sawadogo of The World Bank, who gave us a new perspective and

depth of awareness about Africa; and Jan Jung-Min Sunoo of the Interna￾tional Labor Organization, who generously offered wisdom and expertise

about Southeast Asia.

As you’ll see throughout the chapters in this book, we are indebted to cul￾turally astute professionals who have allowed us to interview them and share

their experiences: Franck Andreutti, Aaron Arun Baharani, Peter Bregman,

xii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Liam Brown, Mark Burchell, Philip Durocher, Paul Grogan, Ed Hannibal, Jeri

Hawthorne, Warren Heaps, Roger Herod, John Kovach, Dimitra Manis, Saira

Mathews, Nazma Muhammad-Rosado, Anke Puscher, Geremie Sawadogo,

Nancy Settle-Murphy, Jan Jung-Min Sunoo, Joyce Thorne, Dale Welcome, Ray

Wilhelm, and Yang Zhang.

There are also other special friends and colleagues without whom we

would not be where we are: David Abromovitz, Brenda Bellon, Andres Conde,

Gary Dittrich, Ilene Dolins, Michael Elia, Sheri Gaster, Steve Gott, Johanna

Johnson, Faye Lepp, Louis Lima, James Liu, Brian Lovell, Greg Nichols, Dave

Nugent, Terry Paule, Jennifer Rowe, Seymour Siegel, Eric Stern, Ibraiz Tariq,

Gina Teague, Rachelle Tobias, Igor Ulis, Rita Wagner, Patti Wilkie, and Katie

Zaher. And personal thank-yous to Melinda Marmer, David Marmer, David

Ben-Zur, Jon and Angela Schell, and Adam and Tracy Schell.

Editorially, Brenda Sunoo’s cultural insights, sensitivity, and exceptional

editing skills were instrumental in helping us achieve the kind of manuscript

and tone we envisioned. Brenda has been a good friend and incisive editor of

ours for over a decade, and she continues to urge us to stretch and explore

new areas. We would also like to thank fellow writers Shari Caudron, Susan

Golant, Samuel Greengard, and Allan Halcrow for their continued editorial

input and encouragement. We would also like to thank Leah Spiro, our editor

at McGraw-Hill, for her constant encouragement, enthusiasm, and support.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xiii

This page intentionally left blank