Professional Documents
Culture Documents
When Cultures Colide
When Cultures Colide
24 May 2010
Michael J. Gates
GROUP MANAGING DIRECTOR
RICHARD LEWIS COMMUNICATIONS
GERMAN
“I don’t agree”
ENGLISHMAN
“…………………”
STEREOTYPES SHOULD BE…
• accurate
• used consciously
• descriptive, not evaluative
• modified from time to time
• used as a first “best guess”
LAYERS OF CULTURE
NATIONAL
REGIONAL
PROFESSIONAL / EDUCATIONAL
GENDER
CLASS
RELIGIOUS
GENERATIONAL
ETHNIC
CORPORATE
PERSONAL
Areas of
Cross Cultural Misunderstanding
1. Values
– core beliefs
– national characteristics
– attitudes and world view
2. Communication patterns
– speech styles
– listening habits
3. Concept of space
4. Concept of time
Human Mental Programming
– UK –
Human Mental Programming
– USA –
Human Mental Programming
– Germany –
Human Mental Programming
– Russia –
Human Mental Programming
– India –
Human Mental Programming
– China –
Human Mental Programming
– Israel –
French – USA Horizons
Cultural Categories
DAYS
options
risks
dangers
opportunities
CONTEMPLATION
National Communication Patterns
– Brazil –
National Communication Patterns
– Russia –
homogeneous
teams
diverse
teams
led diverse teams
poorly led well
Team performance
Based on
1. Creating value with diverse teams in global management, J.J. DiStefano; M.L.Maznevski,
Organizational Dynamics, Vol. 29, No 1
2. Dr C. Kovach’s research, UCLA
Rules for Winning Multicultural Teams