Imagine a situation. You have just received a memo from your
CEO (you work for a huge global organisation). In the memo, the newly appointed CEO states his vision for the company, and the core values he will be implementing as part of his new strategy. The core values are: Freedom, Respect, Integrity. Very simple values and easily understandable. In fact there is little doubt what he is looking for……or is there?

Posted via web from The World At Work

Although I can give you a guide and a ‘quick fix’, transformational change in thought and action cannot be accomplished by applying a formula. Cultural understanding is cultural intelligence and it takes a deep commitment and participative approach to respect and sensitivity, to search out the world’s rich tapestry.

It requires us to reflect on our encounters and gut-feel responses:

Why did that seem strange?
What was I expecting?
What actually happened?
Why?
So, what does this mean?
What can I do differently next time?

This leads to further questions:

What assumptions are being made or were made?
What questions are being asked?
What does that communication really (actually)  mean?

But first, we need to examine the culturally-driven mind barriers we have created for our own self-entrapment that diminish our abilities to understand others.

Bribery is one of the greatest hindering factors to Russia’s investment climate. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev pledged to fight corruption when he entered office in May 2008, highlighting the issue as one of the country’s most serious problems.

How Much Is A Bribe?

The average size of a bribe in Russia nearly tripled between 2008 and 2009, despite a weakened global economic climate, according to a Russian Interior Ministry report published in March 2010. ”The size of a bribe, both commercial and personal, was more than 23,000 rubles ($776) last year,” the ministry’s Department of Economic Security report said. In 2008, the average size was 9,000 rubles ($304).

The Clean Up Campaign

A series of scandals involving police in 2009 culminated in a presidential decree ordering a major overhaul of the Interior Ministry, with personnel cuts of 20% over two years to be balanced by higher salaries for remaining staff.

“In 2009, 4,300 crimes were registered in commercial and other organizations, including 4,200 to the interior ministry itself. Some 1,700 of those were linked to corrupt business practices,” the report said. Around 4,000 people were arrested for bribery in 2009.

“The figure is unlikely to change in 2010. Two elements contribute to the problem of corruption: the bribe taker and the bribe maker,” says, Alexander Nazarov head of the Economic Security Department. He noted, however, that the number of such cases did decrease by 7% in the first two months of 2010.

A decrease of 7% isn’t exactly a sign of global victory but it does mean that the measures taken in 2009 are working.”

Russia’s Corruption Ranking

Russia was ranked 146th of 180 in the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index 2009, below countries like Nigeria and Ecuador. It moved up one place from 2008, when it was ranked 147th.

See my blogs on:

Russia: Insights Into the ‘Blat’ Economy

Russia: Bribery, Corruption & the High Price Of Bad Business

Russia: Cost of A Bribe Nearly Triples In One Year

What’s Your Country’s Corruption Perception Index

Useful Links:

Book: “Russia’s Economy of Favours: blat, networking, and informal exchange” by Alena V. Ledneva.

Transparency International, the organisation that publishes the world Corruption Perception Index

Trace International, a non-profit organisation providing compliance solutions for multinational companies and their commercial intermediaries

What is ‘blat’?

There is a pseudo legitimacy in “blat,” the term for ‘the informal exchange of favours,’ which is the practice of using personal networks and informal contacts to obtain goods and services in short supply and to find a way around formal procedures. It is grounded in personal relationships and in access to public resources – and has become all pervasive.

According to Alena Ledeneva, (author of Russia’ Economy of Favours’) ‘blat’ should be considered as the ‘reverse side’ of an over-controlling centre, a reaction of ordinary people to the structural constraints of the socialist system of distribution – a series of practices which enabled the Soviet system to function and made it tolerable, but also subverted it.

An ordinary Russian sees the ‘official system’ and bureaucracy as making life difficult, so s/he will always find ways to get around it. For most Westerners, the official version and reality are the same. Thus, for us, we have no need to develop the ‘blat’ mechanism or try to get around the system.

Foreigners may think of ‘blat’ as a kind of art, conferring an ability to read between the lines which Westerners are totally lacking – while for the locals it is nothing special at all – just a daily routine, habitual and automatic. Something taken for granted.

My Own Experience

I visited Russia with my husband and were waved through the customs gate, even though most others were being stopped to have their Customs Declaration stamped.  When we came to leave Russia at the end of our stay, a customs official looked at their Customs Declaration (unstamped) and said he would have to confiscate our foreign currency and jewellery.  When we protested that we had been waved through on arrival, and that the cash and jewellery had been brought into Russia from England, he just shrugged and kept repeating, “It’s your problem”.  This went on for several minutes, with mounting frustration on both sides.

Finally, the Russian official decided to take direct action to resolve the situation.  He asked for our dollars, removed $80 and handed the rest back.  Only then did we realise that, when the official said, “It’s your problem” he was expecting to be asked, “What do we have to do to solve it?”  His choice of language provided the prompt, but it could only work with people who knew the system. We couldn’t ‘read between the lines’!

The Anti-Corruption Taskforce

The Russian Government is taking steps to clean up and the anti-corruption taskforce have prosecuted about 15,000 cases in the first few months of this year, 2000 of which were Government officials accepting bribes. This is just a tiny tip on an enormous iceberg.

Western Anti-Corruption Legislation

Unfortunately, Western managers working in Russia face a huge dilemma. The ‘blat’ system, the term for ‘the informal exchange of favours,’ is grounded in personal relationships and in access to public resources – and has become all pervasive. However, the companies they work for and the countries they come from mostly make a strong stand against corruption. This year, in Germany, two Siemens’ executives were found guilty of paying bribes in Russia and Nigeria. In New York, in March, Daimler Benz was fined $185 billion after admitting to paying bribes in various countries including Russia.

See my blogs on:

Russia: Insights Into the ‘Blat’ Economy

Russia: Bribery, Corruption & the High Price Of Bad Business

Russia: Cost of A Bribe Nearly Triples In One Year

What’s Your Country’s Corruption Perception Index

Useful Links:

Book: “Russia’s Economy of Favours: blat, networking, and informal exchange” by Alena V. Ledneva.

Transparency International, the organisation that publishes the world Corruption Perception Index

Trace International, a non-profit organisation providing compliance solutions for multinational companies and their commercial intermediaries

Bribery and corruption are so rampant in Russia, according to Transparency International, that many large Western firms are deciding to leave Russia for good. The cost of the ‘dark’ side of doing business has soared. The price of a minor building contract saw Moscow government officials pocketing £40,000 in bribes, according to Rupert Wingfield-Hayes – the BBC’s Russia correspondent.

The IKEA Experience

Such has been the experience of IKEA, the Swedish furniture manufacturer, that they froze all their investments in Russia in 2009. With ambitious plans to build giant malls across the country, they undertook to never pay bribes. However, their first project saw them needing 300 different permits to build and they agreed with the local government to start building and to finalise the paperwork later. Towards the end of the project the officials had changed their minds, resulting in IKEA having to spend £3 million on local infrastructure and projects to become ‘official’ so they could open.

Repeated experiences of a similar kind tried IKEA’s patience and sense of propriety. Inevitably there would be a straw to break the camel’s back which happened on their project in a town called Samara. On completion of the mall, local officials said the store would not be able to open because it did not have a permit to say the building was hurricane proof. That was their last project.

How Much Does It Cost To See The Russian President?

Incidentally, when IKEA tried unsuccessfully to see the Russian President with a long list of grievances they were told, “IKEA won’t like to see the President. IKEA is known for liking not to pay too much and it would cost US $5-10m to meet the President” (source: IKEA’s first boss in Russia).

Western Anti-Corruption Legislation

Unfortunately, Western managers working in Russia face a huge dilemma. The ‘blat’ system, the term for ‘the informal exchange of favours,’ is grounded in personal relationships and in access to public resources – and has become all pervasive. However, the companies they work for and the countries they come from mostly make a strong stand against corruption. This year, in Germany, two Siemens’ executives were found guilty of paying bribes in Russia and Nigeria. In New York, in March, Daimler Benz was fined $185 billion after admitting to paying bribes in various countries including Russia.

The Anti-Corruption Taskforce

Bribery is one of the greatest hindering factors to Russia’s investment climate. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev pledged to fight corruption when he entered office in May 2008, highlighting the issue as one of the country’s most serious problems. The Russian Government is taking steps to clean up and the anti-corruption taskforce have prosecuted about 15,000 cases in the first few months of this year, 2000 of which were Government officials accepting bribes. This is just a tiny tip on an enormous iceberg. The average size of a bribe in Russia nearly tripled between 2008 and 2009, despite a weakened global economic climate, according to a Russian Interior Ministry report published in March.

See my blogs on:

Russia: Insights Into the ‘Blat’ Economy

Russia: Bribery, Corruption & the High Price Of Bad Business

Russia: Cost of A Bribe Nearly Triples In One Year

What’s Your Country’s Corruption Perception Index

Useful Links:

Book: “Russia’s Economy of Favours: blat, networking, and informal exchange” by Alena V. Ledneva.

Transparency International, the organisation that publishes the world Corruption Perception Index

Trace International, a non-profit organisation providing compliance solutions for multinational companies and their commercial intermediaries

by Adina Tarry

My brief stories relate to my personal experience in different countries, linked by a common language…or not.

I lived in London for a few years before going to Sydney, another English speaking place. Once there I found work and quickly noticed that my interactions with others were not quite fluid. Eventually an exasperated manager bit the bullet and challenged me one day, as I’ve been talking to him for some minutes. “Adina, what exactly is it that you want? Just tell me…??!!!” he interrupted. Slightly shocked by such abruptness I answered “Well…a meeting next Monday at 10 am if possible”, “No worries…why don’t you say so and waste my time…done…” and then he left…my English graces dismissed in an instant. The full impact of that story happened when experienced in reverse.

After 11 years in Sydney, I came back to London. For the first six months, every time I opened my mouth I seemed to horrify, insult or put someone off…very quickly I became disoriented and anxious about what to say and how to behave, so I kept quiet and a low profile, when with people, and simply watched and listen very hard…then mimic what I heard and saw…this involved not stating directly what I wanted, using the words “hope for”, “perhaps”, “maybe” “if it is not too much trouble” and also thanking and apologising repeatedly before and after sentence…This seemed to work.

After some time, and mellowed by the “English” approach, I found myself thinking, when working with Australian and American clients, who were in London looking for work: “Oh dear! Speaking like this will not get you far here, in spite of your brilliant qualifications”. And then shared my own experience and finings with them.

Something similar I can say about my visits to Paris (where I lived before coming to London) where in spite of my fluent French I do not say half as much as my friends whom I’ve known for over 20 years. They all find me much too quiet these days “you have become soooo English…” they say, whilst I think…”you have been talking for 3 hours now in a heated debate around a beautiful French meal, but for the life of me, I have no idea what you are talking about …” And yes… the key words for France are: journey, discovery, desire, pleasure, dream, enquiry…soooo not English !

As for my visits to Italy, that is something else again….around the table with my friend’s family comprising the parents, their three grown daughters, their “finanzati” then one or the other or both mothers (in law) plus a” drop in” neighbour, possibly with a baby, all talking at once around a large table that sits 12, with the sound of “pass me the bread”, “do you want some more pizza” and “is the lasagne heated yet” shouted at the top of their voices…is another experience to behold….lucky I speak Italian, otherwise I would think they are about to kill each other…

What can one learn from these stories: that language even when the same, does not override different social practices, that the temperament of a country may be expressed in language and the way it is used, that we must not make assumptions of any sort and invest time first and foremost, when moving around the planet, to observe what the local people do.

Whether we can and wish to adjust to the others and whether we can partly or completely change our behaviours depends on many factors including our personality and own thinking and communication styles and this adds even more layers to the complexity and fascination that cross cultural interactions offer us.

visit: www.adinatarry.com

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by Matthew Hill

The thought of foreign workers coming amongst us in the UK can be a daunting one. It can bring up emotive issues, practical considerations and a moment of contemplation about who we are and who are they?

Fear is part of the reaction – “Will they take my job?” “Will I be able to manage them?” “Will my life ever be the same again?”  One company was experiencing difficulty hiring experts in the UK…

Their large scale advertising campaign was failing and the recruitment agencies where not delivering. They needed to take a radical step forward – they scoured the English-speaking world for foreign qualified staff to take up short and long term assignments in London and cities around the UK.

Their UK staff reacted strongly, negatively and defensively. “This isn’t necessary.” “This will never work – we do things differently around here.”

“Our clients will not stand for it”

These statements said more about the UK staff than the inbound workers who, at the beginning, were an unknown quantity.

So, what is it about otherness that can be so frightening? And how can we adjust to make this process work?

Our culture is largely invisible to us and insights only comes after clashes and crashes with people who are culturally different. When workers from abroad come into our space we have no choice but to reflect on who we are. – It affects our sense of self, our security and our level of comfort. It exposes our values and our tolerance of change.

What can be done?

We can help staff tackle their fear of the unknown by making it known. We can involve staff in the processes – recruitment and logistics etc. and consult them on practical matters such as accommodation, workspace and social induction for the inbound workers.

Education about the countries the workers come from will dispel the most myths, irrational thoughts and fears.

The average British manager is not up to speed on the newly expanded EU let alone anywhere further afield. An overview of the history, geography, politics and economics of the donor countries can calm the nerves, fill in the gaps in knowledge and replace fear with curiosity.

For the UK staff themselves this is the time to look in the cultural mirror. Who are we? And what exactly is threatening about the new intake of workers?

The emotional cycle of worker relocation is a rollercoaster of highs, lows and step changes. The UK hosts need to be aware of how difficult it is to come to a new, mature and complex country with confusing language, references to last night’s TV, tabloid fear mongering and post-empire confusion and to try to quickly get into effective work mode. All this whilst feeling jet lagged, home sick, lonely and disoriented.

How can we help?

We can cut through the assumption that the English language is the same around the world and begin to adjust by taking some simple steps:

Glossary of terms – Clarifying what company business phrases mean to form a standard and usable common language for day-to-day work.

Rules of engagement – Clearly defining what is expected of the new employees in the UK work environment – dress code, punctuality, prayer arrangements, personal calls and internet use, start and finishing times, productivity and policy around alcohol, food, social life and other ambiguous areas.

HR briefings on life in the UK – The NHS, getting a bank accounts, communicating with the police, council tax, transport, places of worship, personal safety etc.

Country overviews – providing a context to the background of the inbound workers for UK staff.

Cultural sensitivity - Not offering a bacon sandwich breakfast to fasting Muslims (it has happened.)

Critically it is about cultural awareness and manners. Being sensitive to the needs and fears of the inbound workers whilst appreciating the UK worker’s position and objectively seeing what accommodations can be made to increase the comfort and dignity of the new staff whilst dispelling the fear and discomfort of the new for UK workers.

Time spent working on cultural differences can pay back in real terms.

Reduced assignment failure rates, reduced management time spent dealing with office tension, fewer employment tribunals and a reduction in client complaints about quality of service will save the company time, money and embarrassing publicity.

Investment in preparation for taking in foreign workers cannot begin soon enough. Knowledge can be the antidote to fear.

www.sietar.org.uk

Posted via email from The World At Work

Some years ago it was popular for OD consultants to observe that
many US organizational culture “managed by emergency.” s. In my several ongoing engagements with US groups, after living in France for some years now, it seemed to me that people in these organizations rushed about in a constant state of urgency, “putting out fires.” I won’t tell stories at length or repeat the literature on the effects of this kind of management on planning, productivity and morale, but I do want to share an observation about it that I did not remember seeing in this kind of discussion. It is much more of a cultural and personal insight. It comes from my US soul with the perspective of living abroad for many years now. The urgency is both part of me and something I recognize in others like me….

US culture values time as money and wasting time as at least secularly sinful. We were taught in the the Calvinistic vein that “idleness is the devil’s workshop,” rather than that “Leisure is the Basis of Culture.” We are unleislurely, according to Aristotle, in order to have leisure. But why then do we resist leisure when we have adequate resources to take it and profit from it. What is the root of the compulsion, greed, insecurity that leads to chronic workaholism? In short, why, in a US restaurant does the bill always land on the table before I have finished my coffee?!

I suggest that one of the psychological mechanisms that drives us to live in and perhaps revel in states of urgency is that it provides identity and hence importance, making us significant and needed. In a culture where we are largely defined by what we do rather than where we are from, doing is the key to identity and self esteem. Urgency is the attitude that broadcasts to ourselves and others that we are here to do what we do and to be heroes at it. Having something to do helps me sense my worth; having something urgent to do undergirds my sense of capability as well as tells others that I have a role, an identity in something that concerns us all.

Dr. George Simons, is the editor and betimes author of the diversophy game series (www.diversophy.com) and coauthor of eight instruments in the Cultural Detective series. He is currently working on the online development of intercultural learning through gaming in Second Life. He sits on the board of directors of both SIETAR France and SIETAR Europa.

Dr. George F. Simons
Résidence L’Argentière, Bât-A
637 Boulevard de la Tavernière
F-06210 Mandelieu la Napoule (FRANCE)

tel +33 4 92 97 57 35
+33 (8) 77 92 33 70
portable +33 6 14 82 60 90
www.diversophy.com
www.georgesimons.com
gfsimons@diversophy.com
napoule@gmail.com
skype: gfsimons

Posted via email from The World At Work

BEIJING (AP) — In her Vans cap, Quiksilver shirt and Adidas shorts, 19-year-old Terry Zhong is a walking checklist of sports brands as she sets out on a weekly shopping trip with a 500-yuan ($73) budget.

Global economic gloom has barely dented her willingness to spend.

“I don’t think it has anything to do with me,” Zhong said, striding through Beijing’s bustling Xidan commercial district carrying bags from H&M and Zara.

Young Chinese shoppers like Zhong are still spending freely, and major brands ranging from Nike Inc. to Barbie doll maker Mattel Inc. are courting them eagerly to shore up revenue as demand elsewhere slumps.

“Many foreign brands are looking at China as a life vest,” said Mary Bergstrom, founder of Bergstrom Trends, a youth-trend research company in Shanghai.

China has 200 million potential consumers aged 15 to 24, according to the national census bureau — a group nearly twice the size of Japan’s entire population.

Their spending has been buttressed by China’s resilience in the face of plunging exports and foreign investment. With the help of a 4 trillion yuan ($586 billion) government stimulus plan, economic growth accelerated in the latest quarter to 7.9 percent over a year earlier, up from 6.1 percent the previous quarter. Retail spending rose 15 percent in the first half of 2009.

Young Chinese make especially attractive customers because “one child” birth limits and rising incomes mean many are only children with more disposable income. A 20-year-old might be living rent-free while getting money from two parents and four grandparents.

Major brands are expanding energetically in China and developing products and marketing aimed at young Chinese consumers.

Nike created lighter-weight basketball shoes for Asian players and a model dubbed the Nike Zoom Kobe IV Beijing in tribute to its pitchman Kobe Bryant’s role on the gold medal-winning U.S. Olympic team.

In July, Beaverton, Oregon-based Nike flew Bryant, 2009 NBA Finals most-valuable player honoree, to the western city of Chengdu for a promotional event. He was greeted by thousands of young Chinese fans chanting “MVP! MVP! MVP!”

Rival Adidas AG, based in Herzogenaurach, Germany, created an online basketball community named “Basketball Superstar.” Adidas spokeswoman Sabrina Cheung said it has attracted more than 600,000 registered users.

China is Nike’s second-largest market after the United States, and the company says that while sales in its home U.S. market in its March-May quarter fell 2 percent from a year earlier, they rose 6 percent in China. That was all the more impressive because it was a gain over the same period in 2008, when the Beijing Olympics sparked sports mania that helped to push up Nike’s sales by 60 percent.

Companies are pushing ahead with expansion in China even as some cut back abroad.

Quiksilver Inc. opened its 47th and biggest outlet in China in April — a 330-square-meter (3,300-square-foot) flagship store in Shanghai. The Huntington Beach, California-based company sells sports-oriented clothing, shoes and other products.

“The China market is extremely important to Quiksilver. It’s huge,” said the company’s Greater China general manager, Cathey Curtis, in an e-mail. Curtis said Quiksilver plans to open more outlets in China this year.

Quiksilver’s worldwide revenue plunged 17 percent from a year earlier in its latest quarter to $494.2 million. Curtis declined to give figures for China but said the global slump has had little impact on its market.

Wang Wei, 22, a Beijing college student, goes shopping once or twice a week, spending 500 yuan ($73) each time. He gets money from his parents on top of his wages from a weekend sales job in an appliance store.

“I think foreign products are high quality and their stuff is just cool,” Wang said.

Zhong gets a monthly allowance of 1,000 to 2,000 yuan ($146 to $293) from her parents, a sum that is unchanged despite the global crisis.

In the United States, the weak economy has caused fashion spending by teenagers to fall by 14 percent over the past year, according to investment bank Piper Jaffray, which surveyed 8,100 adolescents with an average age of 16.

Barbie, the global dollhouse, opened its first store in China in Shanghai in March, to coincide with the doll’s 50th anniversary.

Barbie usually appeals to 5- to 8-year-old girls, but in China, “in the teen and younger adults, there’s absolute infatuation. They love Barbie,” said Richard Dickson, general manager for the Barbie brand in China.

China could grow to be Barbie’s No. 1 market in seven or eight years, Dickson said. He declined to give sales figures but said China is meeting expectations at a time when global second-quarter sales plunged 15 percent from a year earlier.

Cable TV channel Nickelodeon, a unit of Viacom Inc., launched “ChinaToon,” an one-hour program of Chinese animation in July. The channel beamed to 13 Asian countries is the first region-wide showcase for Chinese animators.

Some popular Western brands have had less success.

Taco Bell, a Mexican-themed fast food chain owned by Yum! Brands, Inc., opened three outlets in Shanghai and the southern business center of Shenzhen starting in 2003 serving its distinctive spicy, salty food.

All three restaurants had closed by last year, though a company spokesman in Shanghai, Sky Yu, said he had no details why.

China is still an unusual market that can be a challenge for some brands, said Kathleen Gasperini, senior vice president of Label Networks, a youth culture research firm in Los Angeles.

Sports such as surfing and skateboarding that are mainstream in the West are considered too dangerous by Chinese parents, Gasperini said.

“This is a very, very different marketplace,” she said.

Source: By Bonnie Cao, Associated Press Writer:  http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Global-brands-turn-to-Chinas-apf-3248577918.html?x=0&.v=1