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The Assumption of Difference…or the Possibility of Difference?

Feb 27
Posted by Randall Stieghorst in American culture, Cross-cultural, Diversity, General, Inclusion, Intercultural Competence, Training

In our work with intercultural competence, we focus on helping others understand that our cultural backgrounds impact the way we think and see the world. People from different cultural groups (be those national cultures or sub-cultures within our own country) logically bring a different life experience to most every interaction.  There are certain times and situations, however, where someone who has a background very different from our own may actually be quite similar to us in their way of thinking and acting.  It is for this reason that when we talk about our own intercultural competence, we underline the importance of understanding that there is the potential for divergent ways of thinking and acting…but that it is a possibility and not necessarily a guarantee.

The assumption of difference, a core tenet of intercultural competence, should sometimes be re-framed as the potential for difference. It is indeed interculturally competent to walk into a conference room and anticipate that the cultural background of your colleagues is likely to contribute to different perspectives, attitudes, and expectations. It is also interculturally competent, however, to anticipate a level of commonality in objectives, interests, and definitions of professionalism.  Commonalities are what allow us to get along quickly and easily – to build common ground and to give the benefit of the doubt when we are unsure what is driving someone’s approach. Acknowledging the possibility of difference is what allows us to leverage our intercultural competence to move beyond interpersonal conflict when it arises.

This reliance on commonalities coupled with the expectation for the potential for difference is especially valuable for a group of professionals who have already developed some form of intercultural competence, either through a concerted self-development effort, or through the more passive learning that accompanies having spent significant time adapting to one or more different cultures. In such an environment, the potential for difference exists, but the likelihood that those differences will be disruptive to the process at hand is much lower.  Knowing when and where to expend the time and effort to seek out and adapt to below-the-surface cultural differences is the sign of well-developed intercultural competence.

Ignoring both the assumption of difference and the possibility of difference reflects a less-developed understanding of culture and its impact, and will undoubtedly lead to problems with interpersonal communication and relationships in a culturally diverse environment. So the next time you gather with a new team, or an old team, anticipate similarities…and anticipate the potential for difference.

 

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Americans, Relationships, and Contracts

Nov 21
Posted by Randall Stieghorst in American culture, Cross-cultural, Diversity, Intercultural Competence

Why do American businesspeople often seem less focused on personal relationships in the business world, as opposed to many of their global counterparts?

One of the most salient differences between Americans and many other cultures when it comes to establishing new business partnerships is the American tendency to “dive into business”, “get down to the nitty-gritty”, and negotiate some sort of written or verbal agreement as quickly and efficiently as possible.  Although we do our due diligence, we don’t necessarily feel the need to make a deep personal connection with everyone we intend to partner with.  Why, then, do business people from a great many other countries tend to rely on both due diligence *and* building a deeper personal connection?

In the U.S., we have a vibrant legal system. We have plenty of lawyers, a well-defined history of contract law, a relatively efficient and impartial court system, and a transparent, albeit sometimes expensive, process for leveraging the court system when necessary.  The bottom line is that in the US, we have recourse. We have little doubt that if we sign an agreement with someone, or even enter a simple verbal contract, it will be enforceable.  And if we do have to enforce it, we have systematic and institutionalized ways to do that.  The US is often criticized (sometimes rightfully so) for being a very litigious society; we rely on our court system to be the enforcer of last resort when protecting our personal and professional rights.  It’s the efficiency of the court system that makes this possible.  Even for minor grievances, we have “small claims court”. In the end, we don’t need to trust our potential business partners on a deeply personal level because we know that we have options if they don’t stand up to their end of the deal.

In many other countries, the legal system is simply not as transparent, easy to maneuver, or efficient. In such cases, businesspeople who are forming a new agreement will want to be sure they have other methods of enforcement besides the court system.  Building a strong relationship and getting to know your potential business partner (including their team, their family, and their social network) gives you a deeper and stronger connection.  Enforcement can then be based on commitment to friendship, an aversion to being shamed in front of one’s friends and family, or unwillingness to cause long-term damage to a professional network.  And in some places, those factors may act as a much more timely enforcer than a court system that may requires several years to reach a decision on a contract – by which time the market opportunity may not even exist any longer.
So for many Americans, the need to build strong personal relationships before entering into a business relationship is less intuitive, whereas for many international professionals, there is no better option to ensure success in a partnership.

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Guest Post: Six Steps to Deepen our Understanding of Unconscious Decisions

Nov 07
Posted by Howard J. Ross in Cross-cultural, Diversity, General, Intercultural Competence

By Howard J. Ross, Chief Learning Officer, Cook Ross Inc.

Raise your hand if you are biased.
If you were slow to raise your hand, you are not alone. Many of us are reluctant to admit we harbor some bias. We have been taught that to be biased means that we are bad. Or worse, that we are bigots and discriminators. But bias is a normal part of human behavior. It helps us survive by helping us make snap decisions that can save us from danger or protect our families and livelihoods. But it can also interfere with our desire to appreciate others and be fair to all. We all strive to be aware of the judgments we make about others. But it takes practice to question your gut instincts.  Bias resides inside all of us, whether we like it or not.

New science and knowledge of organizational behavior reveals that most of the bias we may feel or exhibit exists in our unconscious. Much of that bias is cultural and is learned from our families of origin. We assume our own beliefs and norms are well…normal.  We assume others share our perspective. Imagine inviting someone into your home. What if you told them “Make yourself at home”, and they went to the refrigerator and drank orange juice right from the carton?  Clearly, we all have different worldviews and unique ways of navigating our environments!

Organizations that truly wish to create diverse employee populations and more inclusive workplaces have struggled for decades with overcoming bias. Clearly, individuals and groups should pay attention to how race, gender, sexual orientation, disability and multiple identities should be managed so that all employees can be successful, contributing members of their organizations. More times than not, people make choices that discriminate against one group and in favor of another, without even realizing that they are doing it. All of us need practice to unconceal our thinking and understand not only what we think, but how we think.

 

Here are six “conscious” steps to help you deal with unconscious bias.

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Generations and privacy: Boomers, Gen X, Millenials, Net Gen

Oct 08
Posted by smccuistion in American culture, Cross-cultural

“Translation” ; “Cross-Cultural” ; “Cross-Cultural Training” ; “Global Diversity” ; “Diversity” ; “Intercultural” ; “Intercultural Competence” ; “Localization” ; “Global” ; “Global Ethics”; “Globalization” ; “Global Business” ; “International Business” ; “Contextualization” ; “Cultural Adaptation” ; “Cultural Audit” ; “Global Delivery”; “Internationalization” ; “Inclusion” ; “Intercultural Training” ; “Global Cultures” ; “Global Business Skills”; “Global Workforce”; “American Culture” ; "Machine Translation"When the suicide of Rutgers’ student Tyler Clementi hit the headlines last week, people were shocked on many levels. Of course, there are huge issues around cyber-bullying and sexual orientation/identity. But what really struck me was the age of the people involved and what seemed to be the utter lack of understanding that some things were private. I was shocked to think that freshmen college students would think it was OK to video someone without their knowledge or consent, and broadcast that recording live across the web. Forget the fact that it was a sexual encounter of any kind; recording any activity of anyone without their knowledge and consent is not only an invasion of privacy, it raises ethical concerns, as well.

Technology has the ability to affect the way generations see the world, and every generation has had their “new” technology. When I was talking to my mom the other day about technology, she told me how it was a big deal when she got an electric washing machine to replace her ringer washer. But mom’s new washer was a convenience; she couldn’t hurt other people with it. Technology now is still about convenience, but it’s also about access to information. And, because of our celebrity culture, the access to information has turned into social networking and people broadcasting their own and other’s information, sometimes in quite inappropriate ways. The line between what is public and what should be private has been very blurred.

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Accent on the Accent: Perceptions of Non-Native Speakers

Sep 03
Posted by Sean Oliver in General, Intercultural Competence

“Translation” ; “World Cup” ; “Futbol” ; “Football” ; “Soccer” ; “Cross-Cultural” ; “Cross-Cultural Training” ; “Global Diversity” ; “Diversity” ; “Intercultural” ; “Intercultural Competence” ; “Localization” ; “Global” ; “Global Ethics”; “Globalization” ; “Global Business” ; “International Business” ; “Contextualization” ; “Cultural Adaptation” ; “Cultural Audit” ; “Global Delivery”; “Internationalization” ; “Inclusion” ; “Intercultural Training” ; “Global Cultures” ; “Global Business Skills”; “Global Workforce”; “American Culture”A recent study published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology by University of Chicago psychologist Boaz Keysar, shows that unconsciously, listeners are less likely to find speakers with an accent credible or trustworthy, and that the level of doubt increases with the “severity” of the accent.  The listeners “…misattribute the difficulty of understanding the speech to the truthfulness of the statements,” according to Keysar.  

Should this result surprise anyone?  There is a lot of research going on around how (American) children see and perceive cultural and physical differences, and the overwhelming majority of these studies shows that if the topic is never broached at home (in the hopes that the child will be “colorblind”), the children are likely to have less favorable reactions to people they perceive as different from themselves. 

Human beings are cultural; we have to learn almost everything…. But one exception might be somewhat of a natural preference for ones’ own group, or those we perceive to be part of our own group, whether that perception has any basis in fact or not.  If we don’t get information as children (or as adults), about how thing such as language, accent, color, religion, and even culture don’t determine another person’s value, it seems that we’re likely to create unfavorable opinions on our own.  Of course, exceptions probably apply for “third culture kids” (kids brought up in ethnically diverse environments, or kids brought up in multi-ethnic families). Third culture kids are probably less likely to perceive ingroup/outgroup on the basis of personal appearance.  

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