6/23/2009
Exploring the culture dimension of business
Unlocking the cultural key to better business relations was the theme of Jim Mumper’s presentation on June 11at AmCham’s Young Professionals event, hosted by Mannheimer & Swartling.
Photos by Rob Nelson
Since he was born in California to an Italian mother and a father with a German background, Jim Mumper’s interest in intercultural relations goes back to his childhood. Add his education in China, UK and Canada – as well as several years consulting in Europe, the US, Asia and Russia, and it’s easy to see the weight of experience behind his stories.
According to Mumper, doing business in an inter-cultural setting is a lot more than just knowing how to greet one another properly. Negotiation strategies, cultural context and values play a much larger role than many think. The risk of misunderstanding is high and costly.
“Culture is what makes some of us as a group different from others as a group,” explains Mumper. “These things are reflected in the way in which we order our world and in how we prefer to live our lives. This all takes place ‘on autopilot’. We experience cultural difference when we observe different behavior patterns in another group, and problems arise when we are running on different ‘scripts’ from one another.”
Not reading from the same page
One example of a script conflict can be to compare the Swedish “Jante” culture ("Don't think you are anything") with the American “affirmation” culture ("You can become anything you want"). Imagine two people walking in the city and meeting an acquaintance of one of them. They stop to chat, but in a Swedish context, there is no need to introduce the partner to the friend. It's OK culturally speaking, and involves respecting the person’s integrity. Add an American from the affirmation culture in the mix and this is definitely not OK. Americans affirm through inclusion in social activity, pretty much always. Not doing that would communicate negatively.
Or imagine a business meeting in Russia, where emotions are coming to the surface. For the Russian, this is business as usual – emotions are a part of the human experience. But Swedes want to exercise control over themselves and their emotions. The Swede may interpret the Russian emotions as problematic, while the Russian may interpret the Swede as being untruthful by not showing something that is part of being human – emotions.
“I hear about companies who claim that they ‘have the guanxi’ it takes to do business in China,” says Mumper, “and yet guanxi is not something we possess. It is almost like a whole operating system in itself, working in the background of a collectivistic environment that is wholly different from more individualistic societies. So in China, guanxi is the what AND the how of building trust between partners, and it is all done according to different rules in a different environment."
Part of the key to intercultural competence, according to Mumper, is learning to identify and observe cultural phenomena from a neutral point. We need to step outside of that view in some way in order to learn to become more competent in intercultural settings.
“I'm amazed when I see how many business deals are ruined because of cultural differences,” concludes Mumper. “There is an attitude that it will work out if we are just nice, polite and friendly. But in many cultures those traits are either displayed differently than they are at home, or might even play no role in business. An increasingly globalized world says that this attitude must change in order for businesses to survive and thrive in the future.”
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