As opportunities for global expansion increase, so does the 
trend toward more diversity in the workplace. Successful 
companies are recruiting professionals with different 
backgrounds, cultures, styles and motivations. Yet this great 
resource presents increased possibilities for misunderstanding 
and cultural blunders.

It is obvious that organizations will need to expand the 
capacity for people to handle the challenges of working with 
other cultures if they are to participate successfully. Those 
companies that continue to struggle with domestic diversity 
will find themselves even more challenged.

Leaders must be flexible and be able to adapt to this diverse 
workforce and global consumers. This requires an understanding 
of the historical, political and economic references of people. 
Leaders must understand differences in worldviews, communication 
styles, ethics and etiquette of the people they deal with, both 
internally and externally.
When Cultures Collide

According to Richard D. Lewis (When Cultures Collide: Managing 
Successfully Across Cultures, 2000), the world’s several hundred 
national and regional cultures can be put into three groups:

  Linear-active : These are the task-oriented planners such as 
  the Germans, Swedes, Swiss, American and the Dutch. In these 
  cultures, people focus on a scheduled timeline and like to do 
  one thing at a time.
 
  Multi-active : These are people-oriented cultures that are  
  more focused on interactions and dialogues, such as the  
  Italians, French, Spanish, Mexican, Portuguese and Arabs.  
  They don’t care as much about schedules or timelines.  
  Meetings may run long; the priorities are the relationships  
  that come from them.
 
  Reactive : These are the more introverted cultures. They are  
  respect-oriented listeners such as the Japanese, Chinese,  
  Finns and Southeast Asians. They like to concentrate on what  
  a speaker is saying and rarely interrupt. They often speak in  
  monologues and may express ideas using a passive voice.

This simple perspective can help one to begin to understand 
basic differences in ways of doing business in foreign countries.
However, one must be cautious to avoid working with unverified 
assumptions.

Imagine the conflicts that can arise when these cultures with 
different priorities try to work together. They exist on a 
different timeline and often irritate each other. People from 
a data-oriented culture (Swedes, Germans, Americans) like to 
get information by doing research before they act. By contrast, 
dialogue-oriented people (French, Spanish, Arabian), gain much 
of their information through a network of personal contacts.

Other major differences occur in the way that cultures view 
leadership, status, and time and the ways in which they 
communicate.

People must move beyond simply accepting cultural identities 
and differences to a place where they can be leveraged for 
competitive advantage, superior performance and creative growth. 
There is tremendous creative energy and innovation that can be 
harnessed when people from different perspectives work 
successfully together.

Global business is challenging in large part because cultural 
habits and attitudes blind people to other ways of doing things 
and make them unwilling or unable to change.

The full 2,000-word article includes the following concepts:

    Six dimensions to consider when doing business with a 
      foreign culture:
    Universalism versus Particularism
    Individualism versus Communitarianism
    Specificity versus Diffuseness
    Achieved Status versus Ascribed Status
    Inner Direction versus Outer Direction
    Sequential Time versus Synchronous Time
    Different Ways of Doing Business
    One Size Does Not Fit All
    Leveraging Cultural Diversity
    A List of Resources 

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Patsi Krakoff, Psy.D., CBC
(52) 376 766-4803

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