Doing Business Globally: Diversity and Global Etiquette
Mary Lynn Realff, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy Committee [email protected]
Michael Michaud, ASME Managing Director, Global Alliances
Session Outline: 1. Identify cultural biases in ourselves.
2. Recognize the importance of building cross-cultural awareness in our professional lives.
3. Increase awareness of global etiquette.
4. Understand the strategic value of diversity and inclusive excellence.
5. Learn to manage with a diverse lens.
Objectives & Outcomes
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Other Cultures – Other Worlds
• Culture is the dominant set of behaviors, values, beliefs, and thinking patterns we learn as we grow and develop in our social groups.
• Culture determines how we view ourselves and others, how we behave and how we perceive the world around us.
• We tend to believe that our way of viewing the world is the only way, or at least the best.
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Cultural Differences
• Some main indicators of cultural differences are: – Behavioral patterns: appearance vs. reality – Non-verbal behavior: Gestures, signs, mimics – Distance behavior: personal space vs.
closeness
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Behavioral Pattern
• If we don’t know anything about other cultures, we tend to use stereotypes as our knowledge base – Is this a right approach?
• What are stereotypes? – Negative labeling of a certain group or culture
based on the actions and/or appearances of a few individuals.
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Non-Verbal Behavior
• Understood as the process of communication through sending and receiving wordless messages.
• Language is not the only source of communication; there are other means, including:
– Gestures and touch
– Body language or posture, facial expression and eye contact
– Object communication such as clothing, hairstyles or even architecture and symbols
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Non-Verbal Behavior
• Nonverbal communication plays an important role on an emotional level.
• It constitutes a main part of intercultural communications.
• Problems and conflicts can occur when expressing gestures or facial expressions in other cultures – messages can often be misinterpreted.
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Distance Behavior
• The right personal distance when conducting business shows respect and acceptance.
– Too much distance gives the impression of dislike and discomfort.
– Too little will make the person draw back.
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Cultural Variables
Values Norms Beliefs
Attitudes Work Time Change
Materialism Individualism
Environmental Variables Affecting Management Functions
Individual and Group Employee Job Behavior
Motivation Productivity Commitment
Ethics
National Variables
Economic System Legal System Political System
Physical Situation Technological know how
Sociocultural Variables
Religion Education Language
International Management: Managing Across Cultures and Borders, 3rd Edition, Deresky, P. 106
High Context/Low Context
High Context Communication Needs:
• Establish social trust first
• Value personal relations and good will
• Agreement by general trust
• Negotiations slow and ritualistic
Low Context Communication Needs:
• Get down to business first
• Value expertise and performance
• Agreement by specific, legalistic contract
• Negotiations efficient as possible
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What is Etiquette?
• Code of behavior that delineates expectations for social behavior according to contemporary conventional norms within a society, social class, or group
• The etiquette of business is the set of written and unwritten rules of conduct that make social interactions run more smoothly
• NOTE: etiquette is not recognized as one uniform set of standards around the world!
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Why is Global Business Etiquette Important?
• With the “shrinking world” effect of globalization, a critical element of success is the demonstration of respect and appreciation for cultural difference.
• The ability to manage and do business with people from different countries is no longer just a nice skill to have; it is a necessity.
• ASME’s commitment to global impact comes with a responsibility to ensure that our members are prepared to work across cultural and geographic differences.
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Embracing and Leveraging Diversity
• Catering to a global workforce and engaging global members leverages geographic and cultural diversity.
• Increasing female and under-represented minorities within ASME leverages gender and ethnic diversity.
• Becoming indispensable to young engineers leverages age diversity.
• Achieving a multidisciplinary approach leverages technical knowledge diversity.
• Achieving a priority of enhanced industry-government involvement leverages sector diversity.
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Working on Cross-Cultural Teams
• Working with foreign colleagues should not be regarded as a burden, but as an enrichment.
• Be helpful when recognizing language barriers, but don’t be arrogant or correct every sentence.
• Take an interest in other cultures. Encourage colleagues to share their unique experiences.
• Be careful not to mock or joke about culturally sensitive issues. Humor is highly subjective and varies widely across cultures.
Credit: KeKCo - Kerstin Kühlborn Coaching & Consulting 14
Bottom Line Impact
5 Keys to Doing Business Globally
1. Be aware of your own culture and its impact on you. 2. Don’t expect others to think the same way you do. 3. Accept local customs and norms and try to adapt
your behavior, but don’t try to imitate or act against your own norms and values.
4. Be open, flexible, self critical, tolerant, sensitive and show willingness to get involved in another culture.
5. Open your senses--be attentive and stay patient! Listen, observe and try to understand before judging and evaluating other behaviors.
Credit: KeKCo - Kerstin Kühlborn Coaching & Consulting 16
ASME’s Global Strategy Statement:
ASME will deliver locally relevant engineering resources to advance public safety and quality of life throughout the world.
Specifically, ASME will provide locally relevant standards, certification, technical information, and networking for business, government, academia and practicing engineers to positively impact the quality of life throughout the world.
Source: ASME Fact Sheet http://files.asme.org/asmeorg/About/33771.pdf
Diversity @ ASME
ASME policy P-15.11 “Diversity and Inclusion”
“…ASME shall dedicate time and resources to ensure the active participation as well as leadership opportunities of talented individuals from all segments of society.”
18 Source: http://files.asme.org/asmeorg/Governance/7648.pdf
Diversity as Strategy
• Strategic Diversity is the effective deployment of strategies that leverage the strengths of a diverse organization operating within a diverse marketplace or society.
• Managing Diversity is the ability to effectively “inspire” people to appropriately do what’s needed, where needed, when needed, and make the most of the resources available.
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Defining Diversity & Inclusion
Diversity refers to differences such as age, gender, ethnicity physical appearance, thought styles, religion, nationality, socio-economic status, belief systems, sexual orientation and education.
Inclusion refers to the creation of opportunities and the
elimination of barriers that allow all people to participate in and contribute to ideation, planning, projects, programs, processes, teams, organizations, social activities, fun or any other opportunity that helps achieve successful outcomes.
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ASME Core Values In performing its mission, ASME adheres to these core values:
•Embrace integrity and ethical conduct.
•Embrace diversity and respect the dignity and culture of all people.
•Nurture and treasure the environment and our natural and man- made resources.
•Facilitate the development, dissemination and application of engineering knowledge.
•Promote the benefits of continuing education and of engineering education.
•Respect and document engineering history while continually embracing change.
•Promote the technical and societal contribution of engineers.
– Source: http://www.asme.org/about/Vision_Mission_Core_Values.cfm
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Conclusions • Rules of conduct and business etiquette exist in every
culture and help us to know how to behave in each situation.
• We know how to behave in our culture of origin, but we don’t know how to behave in a foreign culture – there are no general international rules of etiquette.
• Global etiquette can make the difference between opening or closing doors to business opportunities.
• We need to build cultural awareness and seek specific knowledge of other cultures to navigate global business and partnership opportunities.
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Cultural Resources
• Kiss, Bow, or Shake Hand, The Bestselling Guide to Doing Business in More than 60 Countries, Authors: Morrison, Conway
• Culturegrams.com
• CIA World Factbook - https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/
• Riding the Waves of Culture: Understanding Diversity in Global Business,Trompenaars, Hampden-Turner
• International Management: Managing Across Cultures and Borders, Third Edition, Deresky
• Managing Cultural Differences, Eighth Edition: Global Leadership Strategies for Cross-Cultural Business Success, Moran, Harris, Moran
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Contact Information
• Contact Information: – Dr. Mary Lynn Realff
– Michael Michaud <[email protected]>
• This presentation will be posted on the 2013 LTC Web Site, at:
http://events.asme.org/ltc13/
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