An excerpt from the diary of a global traveler
Being handed an expensive Rolex watch as a gift with no strings attached sounds like something wonderful. But not so in the case of an American key account manager visiting his Asian customers. This customer was extremely grateful that the American was able to accommodate some special requests and meet tight deadlines. He wanted to show his gratitude in a way that was appropriate in his culture, the presentation of an impressive gift.
As the American was receiving this gift, several things went through his mind: My company expressly forbids exchange of items valued at more than $25 between its employees and its stakeholders.
I know my customer’s culture well enough that to turn down such a gift is a serious insult and would likely have a negative impact on the future of the business relationship between these two people.
We see that what is ethical in one culture may be considered a kickback or bribe in another. As Key account manager for international accounts the American needed to have a strong sense of ethics while employing creative solutions to dilemmas that may never have been anticipated by those back at headquarters who write the policies.
He came up with an elegant solution. He generously thanked his customer for the very thoughtful gift and placed it immediately upon his wrist, admiring the fine taste of his customer who had selected. But as soon as he returned to his American home base, he informed HR about his receipt of the item and turned it over to the company to be added to their property book as a company asset. The watch was then stored in a safe in the company headquarters. It was recorded that whenever that particular key account manager was traveling to the country where he received the gift or whenever he and that customer were likely to see each other anywhere in the world (visits to the headquarters, attendance at international trade fairs, etc.), He was authorized to sign it out and wear it in the presence of the gift-giver (important as a sign of respect).
There are many other examples of customs not being respected by well-meaning business travelers from other cultures. In Korea for example visitors bring gifts to their hosts and if their hosts are several persons it is essential that the perceived value of the gift needs to align with the relative importance of the host. In other words, all key members of the host team receive gifts, but the boss gets the best gift. Imagine bringing a gift of appropriate value for each of the three persons on the host team that have been your contacts. Then realizing after those three gifts have been presented that there is yet a more important person who shows up to participate. Sometimes gifts must be organized on very short notice and some who seek to avoid such strain bring along more gifts than they think they will need – – just in case. xxx
The darker side of this topic is when attempts at blackmail are used to secure a contract. I assigned a highly competent assistant of mine to go on-site in a developing country where we were going to organize a five-day event for more than 20,000 people. One of the bidders for a particularly lucrative contract learned that they were unlikely to be chosen. With the creative use of Photoshop, they produced a photograph that gave the appearance of my assistant in a compromising position with a local woman. He was informed that the photograph would be sent to his wife back in the US if he did not change his mind about selecting them.
Fortunately, he had a cool demeanor and our relationship was good so that he shared the situation with me. I took the problem out of his hands by informing him that I would make the final decision about the contractor and that I would inform the company that was attempting to use unfair pressure that my assistant would have no say in the final decision. So, it would be useless to make any further attempts to pressure him. It worked.
Throughout this series of posts, I will tell a number of stories. They actually occurred and the most happened to me. I have done my best to relay the details as accurately as possible. If I have misrepresented any of the facts, I assure you that it was unintentional and not with malicious intent. I have avoided using the names of companies or real people as it is not my goal to cause anyone embarrassment.
Under no circumstances am I looking to point fault but rather to show lessons which I learned that I hope may be useful to you, the reader. I hope you will find these stories interesting and the lessons that can be derived from them useful to your business and personal success in this marvelously diverse world.
Nancy J. Adler, professor of organizational behavior at the McGill University in Montréal, taught us that whenever any kind of diversity is added to a monocultural team (and here we may mean gender, profession, sexual orientation or nationality), that team will either experience enhanced or degraded performance depending upon how it deals with the new elements in the team. We shouldn’t however think that a safe course is to maintain a monocultural team to avoid the possibility of degraded performance because in our increasingly competitive global business environment only enhanced performing teams will succeed. Like former General Electric CEO Jack Welch told his senior management, we should immediately divest any aspect of our business in which we are not or cannot quickly become number one or number two. There is no longer an opportunity for number three to be financially successful.
Globalization has dramatically changed the workplace in developed countries over the past 35 years. Large companies purchase raw materials and component parts in one part of the world, process or assemble them in another and sell them to still others. Even the smallest retail business finds itself stocking items that were made in a distant country. Universities actively recruit the best and brightest from all over the world to sit next to homegrown students in their classrooms which are taught by professors that similarly may come from distant locations. And our next-door neighbor may have a name we couldn’t have pronounced just a few years ago.
Take-aways: Your iPhone was assembled in China. Your General Motors car is a United Nations of parts that were made in the Czech Republic and Malaysia and literally several dozen other countries. Your customer service requests may be routed by phone or chat halfway around the world to a technician who has been told to use the pseudonym Bob or Tina. If the rep used a real name, some callers might have more trouble relating to the rep.
The more complex and diverse business becomes, the more truth we see in the sentence “business is communication and communication is business.” It may take a village to raise a child, but it takes the whole world to build the products we demand. Just look at the organization chart of any medium to large company and it becomes obvious that without a good flow of communication between the departments and the persons in those departments, there will be a continuing drain on productivity and quality. Yet with so many languages and cultures, not to mention the diversity of personalities that exist, it is no wonder that effective communication is more of a challenge today than ever before despite tools like emails, texts social media and video chats.
Herb