“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.”- Marcel Proust
At the very outset, we were told that Cross Cultural Management is not just about managing across cultures; it is also about developing cultural sensitivity towards people in general and thereby leading to cultural intelligence. But the big question: Have we been successful in meeting the objectives? Come let’s take a journey through the entire course spread over more than two months, in a chronological order, and leave the answer to be pondered over-
Culture has three aspects- Concrete, Behaviour and Symbolism. While the Concrete alludes to the outward appearance of the denizens and the pertaining practice that the people go by in that country, Behaviour concerns the conduct prevalent in a region or country that drives them to behave in typical ways. Symbolism however, dates back to history which has traversed the odyssey of lineage to take the shape of custom and tradition.
To find differences between cultures is a cliché, but to unearth the similarities from those dissimilarities, itself is ingenuity. As they say, if you are out to find the truth, leave elegance to the tailor, we leave the craftsmanship to Viji. And when teams are built on a cosmopolitan cradle such tasks are never as hard as finding ‘Sanjeevani Booti’.
Sophisticated stereotypes aren’t as helpful in comprehending cultural paradoxes. Albeit it helps understanding disparities between cultures at a satellite-level, over-simplification spoils the broth. The salad bowl, cultural mosaic or the hundred and six other names you attribute to culture, like the avatars of Lord Krishna, mystify the common understanding. And above all, the context matters, just like crisis and opportunity are spelled with the same characters in Chinese, but mean the very different otherwise. That’s where the emic and etic perspectives kick in. On one hand the etic perspective views culture from outside the peripheries, on the other, emic betters the boundaries and views from within.
I am, in particular, fascinated by the coconut and peach concept. I have always had a notion about Germans: It’s hard to break into their proximity-zone, but once you do, you remain there forever and the discussion reinforced the same. So far as the Americans are concerned, one can even as a stranger, become privy to their personal information, but that may be yet another episode with no bearing on the sustenance of the same.
The culture map took us through a journey about how countries fare against each other in terms of differences or similarities in Communicating, Evaluating, Leading, Deciding, Trusting, Disagreeing and Scheduling. My own cultural profile had a few surprises in store as I appeared to differ from a typical Indian on a few aspects. It gave me the opportunity to introspect how different I was and why, when those parameters were concerned. A bit of retrospection and looking back in hindsight at a few instances substantiated those facts. The discussion on Hofstede’s Five dimensions revealed that India inclined slightly towards ‘individualistic culture’, which could be attributed to the concept of ‘Karma’, signifying the overarching belief that people themselves make or break their fortunes. Thus goes my favourite quote by Wayne Dyer: How people treat you is their karma, how you react is yours.
The guest lecture by Mr. Suresh Balasubramaniam, was quite amusing and interactive. We learnt about the notions that Indians hold about the superiority of their culture. He beautifully outlined why Indians are tough people to work with; unpunctuality, emotionalism, diversity, individualism and a knack for quick fix solutions being the most obvious reasons. A man, thoroughly accustomed to Japanese culture, Suresh highlighted how it is consensus-oriented and kindness driven. He rightly advised us not to stereotype, but to actively listen, look for positives, and be empathetic and non-judgmental.
We learnt how Message content, Message clarity and Delivery style are imperative to effective communication. The case study beautifully depicted how the Dutch are task oriented, whereas the Mexicans are relationship oriented, how their respective culture impact their style of communication, and how differently their communication can be perceived by the receiver.
You beautifully delineated how silence is perceived differently in different cultures and how organizational culture sometimes outdoes the national culture. You rightly pointed out how Verbal and Non-verbal cues, Attribution, Comprehension, Design and Motivation need to be put into perspective while communicating with people while interacting with people from a different culture. You touched upon communication styles involving Slangs and Jargons, Euphemisms, Proverbs, and also the meaning of colour and the management of time in different cultures. It was indeed one of those most power-packed lectures and we drew home the conclusion that mindfulness holds the key to effective cross-cultural communication.
We learnt about the steps involved in a negotiation process and discussed the similarities and differences in the negotiation styles of different cultures. It transpired from the discussion that much importance is attributed to pedigree in the English culture whereas personal achievements are considered the better virtue in American culture. You also took us through leadership styles across cultures and the group activity regarding arranging a picnic was thoroughly enjoyable. You randomly assigned roles to each of the five in every group. I believe, things would have looked better had each member been allowed to choose one leadership style they were comfortable with, which would, in turn, have instilled genuineness in enactment.
The General Knowledge game helped us learn who’s who pertaining to several countries as we were supposed to guess their respective capitals and their currencies. To guess the countries from their respective flags, was a greater fun and helped us learn a lot. Thanks for the ‘gamification’, Viji! The Ethnic Day celebrations was a terrific experience, having come across the traditional/ ethic attires and delicacies from not only every part of the country, but from other countries as well including Germany and Iran. It was such a novel initiative and helped us imbibe significant knowledge about the diverse culture and customs within the country and beyond. The presentations about states and countries helped us gain immense knowledge about their geography, topography, tourism, administration, beliefs, lifestyle, history, art, culture, tradition, business and commerce, organizational culture, civic rules, so on and so forth. You beautifully allotted states and countries to groups to present on and it indeed served the purpose of making us more cross-culturally intelligent at a wide level.
I never knew, even food could be divided in anyway other than on the basis of time, place and content (vegetarian or non-vegetarian). But you brought forth interesting, mystical-sounding classifications like Saatvic, Rajasic and Tamasic. Not being aware of the nuances of the Sanskrit dialects, these initially sounded to me like the yoga asanas. You beautifully drove home the conclusion that people need to appreciate the similarities and the differences in each other’s way of thinking. The props that you used, as in the aquarium where the Americans viewed only the focal object- the fish and the Japanese took note of the context- the complete background, was really creative and commendable. You consolidated the comprehensive idea by asking us to group the pictures of a monkey, a banana and a panda into two. While some grouped the two animals together, others grouped the monkey with the banana, given the former’s love for the same. It’s such a simple yet effective way to convey the simple point of appreciation of similarity and disparity of thought process.
Mr. Ranganathan, an expert in Japanese culture revealed the latter’s work-culture of working in a team beyond boundaries. The propensity to push themselves to extreme limits is deeply ingrained in the Japanese system, and it all starts in the formative years. As per Mr. Ranganathan, the Japanese people adhere to virtues like punctuality, cleanliness at the work place, humility, clemency and hospitality, enthuse for education and smiling. He inferred in a signature style that the process is as important as the goal. A plethora of analogies, experiences, tales and anecdotes really helped us understand his points better and made it a thoroughly enjoyable event.
Mr. Nabil Raad, who works at Ford, gave us an umbrella perspective about Global Leadership. In the context of culture, he rightly advised us not to be judgemental. He highlighted the fact that globalisation and standardization aren’t one and the same and Global Leadership entails both Global Integration and Local Development. To ensure the understanding of people across different culture, it’s always helpful to pose the same question in four or five different ways. Among the skillsets, the most crucial for a Global Leader is the characteristic ability to handle contradiction and build good relationship. Mr. Raad pointed out that culture is a mechanism for external adaptation and internal integration. I remember, during my school days when students were supposed to submit letters for leave of absence, most of them would get the same corroborated by their guardians, stating, “It is a true fact”. The headmaster would then say that a fact is always true and hence the word ‘true’ in the sentence is redundant. But until this lecture happened, I hardly knew that fact could also be distinguished from truth. Mr. Raad beautifully stated that a fact is something that has happened, whereas a truth is how we perceive things. Mr. Raad, by virtue of his immense experience in cross-cultural setups, gave shape to one of the most informative of sessions.
In the ultimate lecture, to ensure that the sheer objective of being culturally intelligent had been broadly met with, you gave us some mantras. Honestly speaking, they weren’t anything less valuable than gold dust to us, which comprised openness to other cultures, being curious about other cultures, importance of body language, avoidance of stereotypes, a helicopter view, and not letting biases influence us.
Might it have been communication, negotiation, multicultural team work, leading globally, cultural metaphors, decision making, cross-cultural skills, or cross-cultural intelligence, each team did a fabulous job during the video presentations, in getting their points through. The idea of unearthing the cultural underpinnings from the video clips, in relation to that theme, was just another brilliant idea. Might it have been the Individual Dynamics in Organization or Cross Cultural management, your demand from the teams to go beyond the obvious and uncover layers in the content presented, is imperative to critical thinking and, linking perspectives and reading the fine prints brailled in cultures. I believe you can encourage the students to read books on cross-cultural management (recommended by you or self-selected), don the hat of a lecturer for a day, and teach back the concepts and underlying principles by virtue of review/ critical appreciation of the books. You can also incentivise the students with brownie points if they can draw references from their personal, professional life, narrate other stories they have heard or read, or cite anecdotes to substantiate their learning from the books.
The Dakshin Chitra trip would have been such a pleasant experience. I was told, our seniors discovered the richness of Indian patrimony and how the four south Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh, despite being so similar are significantly different in terms of culture. They supposedly came back to present comparisons of the respective cultures. Nevertheless, you have worked really, really hard over the years to set the combination right, give this course its current shape, and it’s all evident. Individual cultural map, movie review, culture presentation, reflective blogs, ethnic day celebration, group tasks and discussions, in-class exercises, guest lectures, enactments, suggested prior and post readings, it’s been such a comprehensive course and full marks go to both of us: To you, for offering this course in its current shape and form, and to me for making the correct choice of opting for the same.
Go Viji, go!
No comments:
Post a Comment