Make haste slowly! Cross-cultural perspectives for reflection
Dr. B. J. Prashantham
Story of the Monkey & a Fish
A monkey and a fish were caught in a terrible flood and were being swept downstream amidst torrents of water and debris. The monkey spied a branch from an overhanging tree and pulled himself to safety from the swirling water. Then, wanting to help his friend the fish, he reached into the water and pulled the fish from the water onto the branch. The moral of the story is clear: ' Good intentions are not enough. If you wish to help the fish, you must understand its nature'. Ancient Chinese Fable.
Freidman’s flat world concept is a reality. ‘India’s global power houses’ co- authored by our own Pradipto with Nirmalya and Suj raise the importance of cross-cultural perspectives for economic growth and success mediated through leaders with a global mindset. On a marketing plane, Kraft foods began its success only after learning and adapting to the reality that the Chinese do not like Oreo biscuits to be made sweet and the Indonesians want them sweeter! So, we have three types of Oreo biscuits for three countries and Kraft foods is finally blossoming as a global company with this simple understanding of their global customers. Prahlad has time and again alluded to the opportunities for creative business models for wider application when leaders move with a learning mind and heart beyond their borders. I invite the readers to reflect on the implications of the following ideas, which I found very useful in my cross-cultural training activities including during the last two months of training work with global company heads and leaders in Seattle.
Cultural Types
Terrence Brake has given us this useful framework to look at various dimensions of managing globally. We must remember that these types are not water tight compartments. A country like India can have features of more than one type.
Key Features
Autonomy - Individuality & Independence
Consensus - Driven by need for harmony. Alienation from the group can be traumatic
Status - Honor, respect for individuals and groups very important. Identity of individuals connected to a group like family, class, clan etc. Loyalty to strong leaders essential.
Applying cross cultural models
Seminars with leaders from global and Indian Organisations, I use the insights from the work done by people like Terrence Brake (shared above), Hofstede, Triandis and Tramponar to develop deeper appreciation about cross cultural differences. Non Indians in my workshop become more conscious of the relative importance of trust building over decision making. They also realise the hierarchical nature of our culture and the longer time it takes to get things done initially. This helps them to work with Indians far more effectively.
Similarly, it helps Indian leaders to learn to become more assertive and more explicit in their communication and also lot more structural in the way they manage time. With this heightened appreciation of one another’s culture, global leaders are able to transact business far more effectively.
Dr. B. J. Prashantham
Story of the Monkey & a Fish
A monkey and a fish were caught in a terrible flood and were being swept downstream amidst torrents of water and debris. The monkey spied a branch from an overhanging tree and pulled himself to safety from the swirling water. Then, wanting to help his friend the fish, he reached into the water and pulled the fish from the water onto the branch. The moral of the story is clear: ' Good intentions are not enough. If you wish to help the fish, you must understand its nature'. Ancient Chinese Fable.
Freidman’s flat world concept is a reality. ‘India’s global power houses’ co- authored by our own Pradipto with Nirmalya and Suj raise the importance of cross-cultural perspectives for economic growth and success mediated through leaders with a global mindset. On a marketing plane, Kraft foods began its success only after learning and adapting to the reality that the Chinese do not like Oreo biscuits to be made sweet and the Indonesians want them sweeter! So, we have three types of Oreo biscuits for three countries and Kraft foods is finally blossoming as a global company with this simple understanding of their global customers. Prahlad has time and again alluded to the opportunities for creative business models for wider application when leaders move with a learning mind and heart beyond their borders. I invite the readers to reflect on the implications of the following ideas, which I found very useful in my cross-cultural training activities including during the last two months of training work with global company heads and leaders in Seattle.
Cultural Types
Terrence Brake has given us this useful framework to look at various dimensions of managing globally. We must remember that these types are not water tight compartments. A country like India can have features of more than one type.
Key Features
Autonomy - Individuality & Independence
Consensus - Driven by need for harmony. Alienation from the group can be traumatic
Status - Honor, respect for individuals and groups very important. Identity of individuals connected to a group like family, class, clan etc. Loyalty to strong leaders essential.
Applying cross cultural models
Seminars with leaders from global and Indian Organisations, I use the insights from the work done by people like Terrence Brake (shared above), Hofstede, Triandis and Tramponar to develop deeper appreciation about cross cultural differences. Non Indians in my workshop become more conscious of the relative importance of trust building over decision making. They also realise the hierarchical nature of our culture and the longer time it takes to get things done initially. This helps them to work with Indians far more effectively.
Similarly, it helps Indian leaders to learn to become more assertive and more explicit in their communication and also lot more structural in the way they manage time. With this heightened appreciation of one another’s culture, global leaders are able to transact business far more effectively.
