How difficult can it be?

A significant amount of overseas investment is wasted each year because there are invisible core differences between the American and British cultures. These are not always appreciated by corporations and leaders. Consequently the result can be culture clash. The damage to US – UK relationships leads to an absence of trust, the erosion of communication and cooperation and failure to achieve the common goal. When management time is applied to the ensuing crisis often only the symptoms are tackled.

So, what are the differences, how did they occur and what can we do to get over the shock and pain of culture clash?

Time is Money

The first obvious difference concerns pace, speed of response and the choice between urgent and important actions. In the US time is money. When the Founding Fathers and the settlers were staking land claims and working together to create a survivable environment time was life death. The threat was from starvation and exposure. The solution was food warmth and shelter. Critical survival decisions were taken quickly and persistently allowing the best prepared to make it through to spring.

Man has largely tamed the extreme effects of climate and scarcity of food but, whilst the enemy is different, (competition, cheap foreign labour, commoditization of mature products etc,) modern fears and behaviours are comparable. Money and wealth are now taken as signs of survival and   success. Rather than “appropriate” actions being taken, the UK view can be that, for the US, any action is preferable to none at all.

For some an hour of scheduled time has a dollar value and correspondingly a missed hour has a dollar cost.

Power and How it is Used 

If we take another dimension of difference – hierarchy – we can see an historical difference in the source of power, how power is manifest and the different ways in which it is perceived today.

The newly settled America had sheriffs and Mayors. Having been meritocratically elected or chosen they had real status and power but were also accountable to the mood of the crowd. This can easily be related to the modern US CEO. Whilst in power and being successful, they had authority and permission to give direct orders and put the company’s staff under pressure to act and perform to standards they have set and for the people to make personal sacrifices and take risks to get to those goals.

It could be a black and white existence with a large price paid for failure. If we look at the pharmaceutical, investment banking or automotive businesses we see that management styles can be explicit, direct and commanding in nature. Teams are expected to decide rapidly and take action quickly. Efficiency and deadlines are critical. It is “hard work now” for dream of “rewards in the future”.

The employee is automatically expected to have values that fit with the corporate ethos- ambition, intensity and focus and the desire for salary, bonus, promotion and ever more responsibility. Status is important and is measured by title, salary, office and trappings.

What is the solution to these contrasting styles? Can a foreign manager in the UK have it their way regarding reporting, deadlines, open communication and measures of quality and customer satisfaction? 

Can an American leader develop a UK team to have a sense of dynamism, accountability and pace that would match the US model? 

 So it’s impossible, right?

The symptoms and differences are shocking but not insurmountable. Britain and America would not enjoy such high amounts of mutual investment if it could not be made to work and to work well.

The shock experienced by US Leadership as they enter the UK is probably more extreme than the underlying differences themselves.

At this point it may be useful to avoid the stereotype trap and that of being judgmental. It is a waste of time and talent to judge either nation as good or bad, easy or difficult, right or wrong. They are simply different.

Post imperial Britain is a complex and confused place. We have lost our superpower status, our world ranking, and much of our credibility as innovators and pioneers.  We have lost our manufacturing base, our certainty and comfort. No longer are there jobs for life with large British firms paying good pensions at the end of a predictable career at the age of 60 or 65. As a nation we do not have a clear single identity, threat or goal. We have post – Empire confusion and nothing to unite against.

There are, though, fundamental differences. The US is imperial, the UK is post – imperial, the US is still a superpower, the UK is not. The US has a short history the UK a long one and the US has a Presidential system the UK a Monarchy.

How do the British do business?

Regarding feedback British managers will soften criticism, harsh realities, the appraisal or review process to the point where it difficult to directly detect what is being said. Difficult issues are not tackled in a straightforward manner but by writing lines that must be read between or by starting a whispering campaign around the coffee machine. 

The key difference though is subtle and unconscious. The UK is a relationship-based country. It’s who you know and who’s in the gang, on the inside, in the club or “one of us.”

Pace, action and urgency are not ranked as highly in UK culture companies. It is more about pragmatically getting to the result “somehow.”

Class?

Finally class, though disguised, is alive and well in the UK. Upper class values tell us that hard work is acceptable only if it does not show. That to look as if achieving something has cost you effort undermines the thing you are trying to achieve. The modern version of this is COOL.

We can quickly build up a picture of just how far apart our cultures actually are. 

What tools can help?

Everyone is free to use the knowledge that relationships are core to UK commercial life.

We need good manners, indirect speech and equal status communication to break through, bond and to form UK working relationships that are robust. This is the most powerful tool in translating US objectives into UK delivery.

By employing small talk, active listening and coaching techniques based on eliciting facts and answers from the person sitting opposite you the foreign manager will get a lot further than by giving commands or talking about shareholder value. If we can mobilize an employee using that employee’s own resources we will have created an empowered, independent and proud UK worker who will contribute more. 

The American manager, when shocked to discover that he has 10 or a hundred of these tricky Brits to manage, can begin by looking out for individuals that might bridge the cultural gap. These people will be identified by their values which will seem closer to home. Test them, recruit them and invest the most precious resource in them – MANAGEMENT TIME. They can spread the message in a UK friendly manner. They can also test the temperature and tell if things have gone too far.

During the US leader’s 6 – month or 3 – year assignment in the UK he can make an impact with the corporate team. It will not be achieved by shouting at them like a recruiting sergeant or by asking them about company vision and mission statements. It will come about by adjusting his communication styles by 5 or 10% to radically change the relationship with the British team. The start may seem slow and painful but the reward will be worth it as cooperation begins, and differences are leverage to create a positive outcome.

So? 

Adjusting tone, pace and vocabulary should make the leader more effective as his amplified message creates rapport and a strong platform for useful dialogue.

Without engagement, relationship and trust, and outsider should not expect to be successful in effecting change in an established British team. However using the techniques described above it should be possible to begin to break through and to learn something about how we can continue to develop communication and leaderships skills to be ever more effective both with foreign culture teams and our own.

 By Matthew Hill 

Matthew Hill is a Leadership Trainer and Intercultural Coach who aims to provoke but never offend (Unless he does.) He can be heard, now, at; http://www.ipadio.com/phlogs/MatthewHill/

Posted via email from The World At Work

The scope of the problems surrounding intellectual property rights in our globalised world is vast – how far can copyright and patent-holders go in preventing others from taking their property? Intellectual property protection is not a field of bright lines and clear rules. And, the economic consequences of the dispute are also immense.

In San Francisco, the music industry tried to take down Napster, a service that allowed users to swap digital music files over the Internet. In this case, the courts agreed that Napster’s file-sharing technology violated music copyrights. Across the Atlantic, advocates of “software libre” are introducing legislation in several European parliaments to give preferences in government procurement to software that can be freely copied and distributed. The Eurolinux Alliance argues that only free software “preserves privacy, individual liberties, and the right for every citizen to access public information.”

Unfortunately for those dealing with the Far East, that region has a very different take on IP from people in the West. Confucius, the world-renowned great thinker in Chinese intellectual history, passed on a moral and ethical code that has long influenced the ways of that part of the world. He believed that ideas once in a book were for the public domain and belonged to everyone, so the Chinese have never grown up with the concept of copyright. In reality, IP wars can be argued to be the tussle between the intercultural dimension of Individualism and Communitarianism. Knowledge and ideas are seen as one’s own indivuidual property in the west. So, cross-cultural differences exist.

Two recent books on the subject of International Intellectual Property Law are available which will be of interest to those working in this field:

Global Challenge of Intellectual Property Rights, Bird, R. & Jain, S.C. (pub: Edward Elgar, 2008). The publisher’s blurb states:

The importance of intellectual property rights is now well established as a vital component in the success of firms and nations. The diverse contributors to this volume, drawn from the fields of law, business and economics, clarify and analyze the problems and promise of IP policy from a global perspective. They discuss both developed and emerging nations and advance the understanding of this increasingly important topic .

The articles address issues from an interdisciplinary focus with an emphasis on current topical issues. Topics addressed include intellectual rights protection in emerging nations such as China, an exploration of a specific cross-national intellectual property perspective, strategies for protecting intellectual property rights, and a guide to understanding emerging and non-western legal systems. A mix of theoretical and practical observations helps the reader navigate the increasingly international topic of intellectual property as well as offers strategies for optimal utilization of intellectual property assets. The volume serves well both as a solution-oriented book and as a tool for facilitating further discussion and analysis in the classroom.”

Global Intellectual Property Law, Dutfield, G. & Suthersan, U. (pub: Edward Elgar, 2008). The publisher’s blub states:

Globalisation of trade means that intangible informational resources are now produced, bartered and consumed anywhere and everywhere defying jurisdictional borders. Intellectual property has moved into the mainstream of national economic and developmental planning; in the recent past it has also emerged as the central impetus in multilateral trade relations. The authors of this original and progressive textbook trace the evolving remits of intellectual property, which are rapidly expanding to embrace new subject matter and increase the scope of protection. This creates conflicts with current trade, development, cultural, ethical, human rights and economic mores.

This book reflects on intellectual property as it stands at the crossroads of these values. It considers the challenges presented by such developments as the commodification of persona, the commons, and life itself. Most significantly perhaps, the book examines the impact of intellectual property on the international stage, especially in respect of trade, development, economics and biological and cultural diversity. It is sure to become an invaluable reference work for scholars and students of intellectual property, international law, public policy, politics, government, human rights and development, as well as legal practitioners”.

Bibliographical details:

Global Challenge of Intellectual Property Rights: edited by Robert Bird (Assistant Professor of Business Law, University of Connecticut, US) and Subhash C. Jain (Professor of International Marketing, Director, Center for International Business Education and Research, Wisconsin School of Business).  Publisher Edward Elgar, 2008. Hardback, ISBN 978 1 84720 360 1. Ebook (ISBN 978 1 84844 488 . 1).

Global Intellectual Property Law, Graham Dutfield (Professor of International Governance and Co-Director, Centre for International Governance, University of Leeds) and Uma Suthersanen (Reader in Intellectual Property Law and Policy, School of Law, Queen Mary, University of London).  Published Edward Elgar, 2008. Hardback. ISBN 978 1 84376 942 2. Ebook ISBN 978 1 84844 386 0