Much previous research has shown that success in international work is a function of an individual’s’ “Global Mindset” (Guy & Beaman 2003, 2005). Peter Senge describes global mindset as “deeply ingrained assumptions, generalizations, or even pictures or images that influence how we understand the world and how we take action” (The Fifth Discipline, 2006). An individual’s global mindset governs how they perceive things in the world and take action.

The Global Mindset model distinguishes three broad categories of mindset:

• Ethnocentric Mindsets take the home country as the basis for beliefs and evaluations, holding that their own culture and values are intrinsically superior to those of others, to the point even of assuming national superiority. It might be characterized by the expression: “the sun never sets on the British empire.” This type of mindset is effective when there is a need to standardize operations around the world or to protect the company’s intellectual property.

• Polycentric Mindsets are ones that adapt well to cultural differences and are effective at bridging the gap between home and host culture and company objectives. The polycentric mindset entails accommodation or assimilation with the foreign culture, sometimes even to the extent of “going native”. It might be characterized by the expression: “when in Rome do as the Romans.” This type of mindset is appropriate when there is a need for intense focus on the local market or regulatory situation.

• Geocentric Mindsets are ones that seek universals and commonalities across cultures and are effective at tying diverse groups together toward a common goal. A geocentric orientation implicitly assumes that a universal set of values govern human interaction, downplaying the importance of cultural differences. This mentality can best be summed up by the famous words of John Lennon, “Imagine all the people sharing all the world.” This type of mindset is appropriate for individuals who work at a global level, responsible for integrating the ideas and practices of different businesses and functions into a unified approach.

Different types of mindsets are best suited for different types of international assignments. With respect to international work, Paula Caligiuri and others have claimed that an individual’s global mindset is directly related to his or her effectiveness depending on the nature of the job. In his view, ethnocentric individuals tend to excel in environments that call for significant standardization of methodology or technology, while polycentric individuals thrive in situations that require considerable sensitivity to local conditions, and geocentric individuals excel in positions that require identifying commonalities and integrating different approaches. Hence, the role or job the individual is to perform is vital in determining the type of individual needed for the assignment.

A key role for Global HR is to understand the type of mindset required for each international assignment and to assess individuals to find the best fit based on the person and the job. Nothing can be surer of failure than to select the wrong mindset for the job. Imagine assigning an ethnocentric individual to an intensely local situation. The individual will be frustrated due to a lack of understanding of the environment, and the local team will be irritated at what they see as the arrogance of home office to have sent such a narrow-minded person. Similarly a polycentric individual sent to standardize and protect the interests of home office may be unable to achieve the objectives because of a deep empathy for the local people.

What type of mindset do you have? Do you know what type of mindset each of your international workers and expatriates have? Are you actively managing this aspect of your business?

One of the biggest challenges in working across cultures is clearly language. It never ceases to amaze me that, in the effort to save some money, companies often choose to do translations of corporate documents in-house using local staff. But translation is a discipline of its own and just because someone speaks the language doesn’t make them a good translator. In fact, often the opposite is true!

Consider these anecdotes from Gary Ferraro, The Cultural Dimensions of International Business (2005):

• An American airline offering service to Brazil advertised its “rendezvous lounges” in its business class section. They failed to realize that the word rendezvous in Portuguese refers to a room for illicit sexual encounters.

• The American Dairy Association’s successful ad “Got Milk?” was unfortunately translated in Mexico as “Are you lactating?”

• An American ink manufacturer attempted to sell bottled ink in Mexico through their advertisement that they could “avoid embarrassment” (from stains) through their brand of ink. However, the Spanish word used for “embarrassed” was “embarazar” (a “false friend”) which means to become pregnant. People thought the company was selling a contraceptive device.

These very embarrassing situations can easily be avoided through good translation services using native speakers, not someone who learned the language in school. It is only a native speaker who can understand the subtle messages that are being conveyed by the use of one word or phrase over another. And forget automated translation tools, such as Babelfish. While it’s a theoretically interesting concept, and many people have been busy for many years in the field of artificial intelligence trying to figure this out, the field of machine translation is still in its infancy.

HR should help the business identify the types of skills needed for different types of activities. For example, the ability to speak the language is clearly important for sales and marketing activities, whereas it is less important for a highly technical positions where the individual will be working with internal staff. Tying competencies and abilities to individual assignments (project-based on regular) — not just to specific job roles — is fundamental to working successfully internationally.

Tammy Erickson has recently posted a couple of interesting blogs about the challenges we’re currently seeing in the multi-generational workforce.

As we know, Gen X’ers are not thrilled with corporate life. They tend not to trust institutions in general and resent the Boomers’ confident assumptions about life. Here are Erickson’s 10 Reasons by Gen X’ers are Unhappy at Work:

1. X’ers’ corporate careers got off to a slow start.

2. X’ers witnessed adults in their lives being laid off from large corporations.

3. Most corporate career paths “narrow” at the top.

4. The economy started to slow just when they entered the workforce.

5. The pesky Gen Y’s are impossible to manage.

6. X’ers are surrounded by a love fest between the Boomers and Gen Y’s.

7. X’ers are the most conservative cohort in today’s workforce.

8. Many X’ers’ are not as comfortable with technology as everyone seems to thinks they are.

9. Boomer colleagues are annoying.

10. Parenting pressures are at a peak.

In, The Baby Boomer – Generation Y Love Fest, Erickson talks about the challenges and successes with multi-generational mentoring. From her research, she is finding that Boomers and New Mils (Gen Y) actually enjoy and mutually benefit from working together. Obviously through their 30+ years of work experience, Boomers have accumulated a lot of experience and want to share their knowledge and pass on their learnings to the future generations. The New Mils are eager to learn and and don’t feel the need to figure everything out on their own, to prove something to the world. They are thirsting for knowledge, and the Boomers are thriving on giving it!

As a result, Gen X is being squeezed out — caught in between these two. Of course, the reality is that most Gen X’ers prefer it this way. They are very independent and not particularly interested in getting involved with mentoring others. They believe they have had to learn things the hard way and so should others. Still, it’s obvious that some may Gen X’ers may find themselves in situations where their direct reports are being mentored by their superiors!

As the saying goes, “you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.” HR should think about various ways to set up and organize mentoring programs, such as pairing Boomers and New Mils together. Trying to force Gen X’ers to participate in such programs may only force them out the door. Provide options and let people self-select the when, how, and who. The best mentoring occurs with both individuals have opted to work together on their own, rather than when they have been “assigned a mentor” by HR.

Fons Trompenaars and Charles Hampden-Turner have become very popular in the business world for their cultural model and Culture Compass — a tool that evaluates the aspects of an individual’s cultural profile and preferences and compares them to another national culture. The goal is to uncover differences so that individuals can learn and be coached in the different ways of working before starting a new assignment in a foreign environment.

Trompenaars’ model distinguishes culture along seven dimensions:

• Universalism versus Particularism describes the differences between rule-oriented cultures and relationship-oriented cultures. Universalistic cultures feel that rules and obligations are paramount and set the bar for how all people should act. In contrast, particularistic cultures are those who believe that individual circumstances and relationships are more important than general rules. They tend to see themselves as pragmatic and flexible, often arguing “it all depends.” Particularistic individuals often seen universalistic people as rigid and overly disciplined. Universalistic people tend to see particularists as inconsistent, arbitrary, and “playing favorites.” Clearly the opportunities for cross-cultural conflict and misunderstandings are ripe in this domain.

• Individualism versus Collectivism, like Hofstede, highlights the differences between individual-oriented cultures and group-oriented cultures. Individualistic cultures are those that prize personal achievement and recognition over those that favorite teamwork and group recognition. One has only to look at American culture, which is highly individualistic and competitive, in comparison to the group-oriented Japanese culture to see the strong cultural differences in this domain. In fact the Japanese have a saying, “the nail that sticks up gets hammered,” demonstrating the importance of not sticking out in group.

• Neutral versus Affective describes cultures that are very affective/expressive versus those that are more neutral in displaying their emotions. While there are clearly strong personality characteristics along this dimension, there are also significant tendencies between cultures. The Latins (in particular, Italians and Spaniards) are known for their expressive passionate behaviors in comparison to the British and Japanese who are much more reserved in their reactions. We also see considerable variation within national cultures, such as the expressive New Yorkers and the reserved Mid-Westerners in the United States.

• Specific versus Diffuse covers cultures where the assignment of responsibilities is specifically designated and accepted by individuals versus those cultures that take a more varied approach in determining who is responsible for what. Clearly the challenges for the global project manager are fierce in this domain. The German manager who has laid out a project plan with specific assignments for his/her French team members is often surprised and confused at the perhaps protracted and verbose approach that may be taken in completing their assigned activities.

• Achievement versus Ascription refers to the situation in which individuals are granted status based on their own individual achievements (compare the views of Gen X and the New Mils discussed in an earlier post) or based on the role that they have been given in the group, such as the father or mother in a family or the president or director in an organization. Highly individualistic cultures tend to also be achievement-oriented cultures, such as the United Status; likewise strong collectivist societies are also often ascription-oriented cultures, achieving their status based on their role, such as the Japanese.

• Sequential versus Syncronic describes cultural tendencies to do things in a sequential fashion, one thing after the other, or synchronic, working on multiple things simultaneously. Anyone with children these days recognizes that this domain is one in which we see not only differences across national cultures but also across generations. The New Mils (or Gen Y) are a good example, with their focus on the integration of information and technology, with 20 windows open on their computer, chatting with 10 different friends, while twittering and sending SMS text messages to several others.

• Internal versus External Control refers to what cultures believe about the amount of control they have over their environment. Do the individuals control the environment themselves or are they controlled by it? The differing perceptions cultures have in this dimension can affect what we often think of as “work ethic.” If an individual feels they are truly controlled by the environment, then they are less likely to exert themselves and try to change things as a opposed to an individual who believes they can change the environment and circumstances through smarter and harder work.

What sort of cultural differences have you experienced either nationally or internationally and how do you feel such differences impact the workplace? What can HR and company leaders do to help avoid cultural conflict and misunderstanding?

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