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I have worked outside of the US for a large percentage of my career and have learned what some of the challenges are in managing a diverse and multicultural workforce. The following three challenges are becoming more common as more companies work more internationally and as the domestic workplace becomes more diverse.

Cultural arrogance, or the belief that an individual's cultural orientation is the best one, is common in many people. These individuals defend their way of doing things and criticize others who take different approaches based on their cultural orientation. However, other individuals are able to flex their approach in ways to match the cultural orientation of the group. Interestingly, Alder found that companies felt that they could train this skill rather than hire for it (pp. 33). I believe the opposite is true. Much of the challenges companies have in the success of managers working with diverse groups comes from assuming they will be able to adapt, or worse, assuming that the majority culture is superior than the minorities, therefore, companies do emphasize flexibility enough. I have seen many managers fail because they were not flexible in adapting to the needs (culture) of the local organization.

The second challenge is communicating for clear understanding. Many managers, who are great communicators in their home country, fail in other cultures because they underestimate the complexity of clearly understanding those from different cultures. Words are either translated incorrectly, or different cultural filters are used that bring people to different conclusions or even the tone or mannerisms of the presenter can lead to different interpretations. An example would be an American giving a "thumbs up" for agreement, while in parts of India this would be seen as an obscene gesture. Extra care and time must be taken to ensure the audience understands before one can think agreement has been reached.

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Lastly, understanding cultural differences around work expectations can be a challenge. For example, many Americans tell me the Spanish don't work hard. After all, the Spanish start their day around 9 or 10; they take long lunches, and often like to have late dinners and drinks. Meanwhile Spaniards tell me they find dinner or lunch meetings frustrating with Americans because they do not spend enough time socializing and getting to know one another. For Americans, a "working lunch" may be valued as an efficient use of time.

For the Spanish, who believe the relationship must be established firmly, before serious work can begin, long lunches or late dinners provide the opportunity to build confidence and trust and knowledge about one another. Hence, an American manager in Spain might be surprised that not enough work is getting done because of all of the socializing taking place. Meanwhile, a Spanish manager in America may not understand how the group will prefer working through lunch, gobbling up a sandwich and a drink while the meeting continues, rather than taking time out to establish the relationship. In both cases, either an American or a Spaniard may have difficulties managing a group from the other culture without clear understanding of these cultural work expectations.

References:

Alder, N.J. (1983). Cross cultural management: Issues to be faced. International Journal of Management and Organization. 13 (1-2), pp. 7-45.

Last Updated ( Friday, 01 December 2006 )