Interview of DR SHI-Xu

INTERVIEW OF DR SHI-Xu

DIRECTOR OF THE INSTITUTE OF DISCOURSE AND CULTURAL STUDIES OF ZHEJIANG UNIVERSITY

Dr SHI-Xu is the actual Director of the Institute of Discourse and Cultural Studies of Zhejiang University, China. He was visiting scholar and then did his PhD at the University of Amsterdam (1989-1996). He was also a lecturer at the National University of Singapore (1997-1999), and he was also a reader at the University of Ulster in United Kingdom (1999-2004). He wrote several books in English and in Chinese languages about discourse such as “Cultural Representations, A Cultural Approach to Discourse”, “Read the Cultural Other (editor) and Discourse as Cultural Struggle (editor)” and “Wenhua Huayu Yanjiu”. He is founding Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Multicultural Discourses (Routledge, UK) and Series Editor of Studying Multicultural Discourses (Hong Kong University Press) and serves on the editorial board of a number of premier national and international journals. Recipient of the New-Century Outstanding Researcher Fund from the Ministry of Education in china, he is Changjiang Distinguished Professor (Ministry of Education Appointment), Qiushi Distinguished Professor, Director of the Institute of Discourse and Cultural Studies, and Director of the Centre for Contemporary Chinese Discourse Studies (CCCDS) at Zhejiang University, Hangzhou (Xu, 2010).

Source:

SHI-Xu. (2010). Cultural Discourse Studies. Récupéré sur SHI-Xu: http://www.shixu.com/edetail.asp?style=7

Questions:

1.      Have you seen China changed during these last few years?

Enormously, politically, economically, socially and culturally. All for the better. But there are also new problems, which have to do development processes themselves on the one hand (pollution, corruption) and American-Western expansion and competition on the other hand (capitalism).

2.      Do you see China as a global country?

Increasingly so, but mainly in economic terms; America is still the superpower trying to contain China’s influence. China’s globalization will make the world less American and more diversified.

3.      How does the country adapt to the global world?

1.      Playing a bigger role in international affairs (changing the American rules); 2. Unifying and helping with developing countries; 3. Learning from other countries in politics, economy, science, etc.

4.      Do you think Chinese culture changed to become a more “global culture”?

Although China has changed the world, the world is also altering China. China’s influence will become bigger and more widespread.

5.      To which culture do you think China adapted the most (American, Japanese, Korean, British…)?

America has certainly the biggest influence in more bad ways than in good ways. As I said, America is the superpower and will continue to dominate over China.

6.      You lived abroad for a certain time, when you came back, did you observe some changes in the country such as the business environment, the people behavior, the culture, the tourists …?

As said above, I did see a better China, freer, more prosperous, more opportunities for everything.

7.      Do you think China is an easy place to travel in when you are from a different country? Do you think the government is trying to adapt some infrastructures to facilitate tourism?

It’s certainly a much more tourist-friendly country than even 5 years ago. Foreigners are everywhere and have a lot of opportunities as well. Travel by air and train is extremely easy nowadays.

8.      Do you think China should adapt more or should it keep its specificities to stay unique?

Both ways, opening up is the best way to consolidate yourself!

China Cultural Changes: The Rise of Generation Y

Since the cultural revolution of 1968 in China and the opening policy of Deng Xiaoping in 1978, the moral values of the Chinese society have dramatically changed and a new generation appeared. Tocqueville, a political scientist of the 19^th century said “Each generation is a new society coming to life”. This quotation perfectly applies to the Generation Y in China, which defines those born after 1980’s (Faure, 2013) and represent about 50% of the country's current working-age population. As part of the actual Chinese culture, Generation Y reflects the influence of the globalization of the country, and how the behavior of this part of the population influences the way to do business in China today and in the future. In this article, I will define what the Generation Y is, and then I will explain the particularities of this new culture growing in China.

The “one-child policy” and the economical boom in the last thirty years in China have brought to the post-80’s generation a constant period of prosperity and stability that they have only experienced. This context full of opportunities and success made the Generation Y more confident, pride and self-assured that those new changes are the right way to do things. As this new generation is coming into the actual workforce, it is also more exposed to the Western Culture, and this is influencing the traditional values of the Chinese society and the actual corporate culture (Huang, 2013). Moreover, the Generation Y is characterized by a new way of thinking, they pay a bigger attention to themselves, and they listen to what they want instead of what their parents want, or their bosses want or any authoritarian figure that used to have a crucial impact on their opinion in the past. The Generation Y being a result of the “one-child policy” they had the chance to be well-educated and intellectually stimulated at an early aged, which make them more creative and independent in the workplace than the previous generation, but on the other side, they tend to be professionally instable if the working environment is not matching their needs (creative, challenging, stimulating…), they can change of company or job more easily than in the past, which is a loss of young managers for the companies. “Generation Y don’t just want to execute orders, they want to participate in decision making” (quotation from Ning LU, China business director of InclusionINC). Consequently, companies are trying to adapt to this new generation by improving the workplace and offering more responsibilities in order to keep those employees interested as they also make companies evolve in the business place (Murphy, 2013).

When going to China, people often have the preconceived idea of a communist country with a group-oriented population, but the recent changes that China encountered had given birth to several changes in the culture, particularly noticed in the Generation Y.  An new aspect of the Chinese culture is quickly noticed when you start talking with the population, it is the general Individualism that characterizes the young people of Generation Y. They put their own needs and wants first in the workplace, as I explained earlier, but also in the daily life. Other examples of individualism can be observed while living in China such as people not paying attention to a person in need (steal, aggression…), crowd moves very frequent in order to be the first in a store, in a train…The rise of the Chinese economy in those last year made appear families where the child make a salary twenty times higher than what their parents make. This situation reconsiders the traditional family hierarchy model, and which leads to individualism. Another fact that illustrates this new trend is the increasing number of divorce in the country which indicates that people are according more importance to their individual needs and priorities (Faure, 2013).

Another aspect of the change in the Chinese culture is the money-oriented behavior. It became a major concern for the population to show external signs of wealth as part of a basic social recognition. They have an obsession with acquiring material values such as cars, apartments, luxury goods… This quest for social recognition can be analyses as a search for status, in a time where in less than 30 years the number of billionaire went from 0 to 130 in 2009 (Pierre, 2010). The rapid economic growth of the country gave to  part of the population, higher resources that they never had before, as Chinese people being short-term oriented, that could explain this tendency to spend their money in material goods in order to show-of their rapid success.

I will conclude this article by arguing that even though the young generation is changing to a more individualist behavior, the concept of family remains important for the Generation Y, and their success and gains will always be shared their kin, which is not always the case in the Western culture.

Ophélie

SOURCES:

Faure, G. O. (2013). CHINA: NEW VALUES IN A CHANGING SOCIETY. Récupéré sur China Europe International Business School (CEIBS): http://www.ceibs.edu/ase/Documents/EuroChinaForum/faure.htm

Huang, J. (2013). China's Generational Cultural Change. Récupéré sur Connect East: http://www.connecteast.net/blog/chinas-generational-cultura.html

Murphy, C. (2013, October 2). How Gen Y Is Changing Office Culture in China. Récupéré sur China Real Time: http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2013/10/02/gen-y-is-changing-office-culture-in-china/

Pierre. (2010, February 12). Les nouveaux riches de l’empire chinois. Récupéré sur Chine Croissance: http://www.chinecroissance.com/economie/les-nouveaux-riches-de-lempire-chinois.html

Ranking: countries where expatriates are the happiest

Last October, the bank HSBC published its annual study “Expat Explorer” on expatriates living conditions abroad. It ranks countries of the World according to where the expatriates are the happiest. This study is based on 4 aspects of life: the economic situation of the country, the quality of life of expatriates there, their purchasing power and educational facilities available for their children.

This study was carried out between April, 29^th and June, 11^th 2013 by YouGov, a survey and study institute. More than 7000 expatriates coming from almost 100 countries on 4 continents were interviewed.

Through this blog article, we will transmit a part of the results of this study and compare them with what we have been observing so far.

According to the study, Asia seems to be the continent where expatriates are the happiest. Indeed, Asian countries constitute, most of the time, half of the top ten destinations of each ranking. In the ranking specific to expatriates’ quality of life, ease of installation and integration, Thailand is ranked number one, China 3^rd, Singapore 6^th, followed by India and Taiwan. In those countries, expatriates seem to have a richer social life and make friends easily (compared to their home countries).

The two other aspects where Asia leads are the economic situation of the country and the purchasing power of expatriates. It has been noticed that expatriates living in Asia earn more money than expatriates in Europe, which of course has a positive impact on expatriates’ purchasing power. On the contrary, European countries are ones of the most expensive destinations for expatriates (mostly Ireland, Netherlands, Italy, UK and France). Lower wages and a higher cost of life take European countries at the bottom of the ranking.

Expat expenses ranking

Regarding the economic situation of countries, expatriates living in emerging countries or the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India and China) are said to be very optimistic about the local economy. The top three of this ranking analyzing the potential for increased income, disposable income and the degree of satisfaction related to the economic outlook, is: Switzerland, China and Qatar. Expatriates living in those countries seem to have noticed an improvement of their financial situation after their expatriation.

So far, Asian countries lead in most of the rankings: quality of life, economic situation of the country and purchasing power; but they are not in the last one: “educational facilities available for expatriates’ children”. Except for Singapore, no Asian countries are present in the top ten. Europe leads this ranking with 4 European countries in the top ten of this study that considers childcare, health, welfare and education services.

1	Germany
2	Singapore
3	France
4	New Zealand
5	South Africa
6	Belgium
7	Australia
8	Canada
9	Spain
10	Russia

If we compare this study to the survey we’ve carried out few months ago (see the article published on August 27^th, “Foreigners’ perception of global cities”), we can notice than results are coherent. While France received a poor grade in term of accessibility of the local culture and adaptability to the local life, Seoul and Canada got good ones.

As recent posts were about the city of Paris, let’s take a deeper view on France.

France seems to attract expatriates from all ages: 32% of them have between 18 and 24 years-old, 33% between 34 and 54 years-old and 35% have more than 55 years-old. This last percentage is way more above the World average which is 21%. This shows how attractive France is for elderlies. Indeed, looking at the results, we can see that France is a destination where expatriates come to find opportunities for their career advancement. Only 28% of expatriates work full time in France which 26 points inferior to the World average.

France seems to be a better place for retirement than to work.

This kind of study is really interesting for people wanting to go work abroad. They can compare the results with what they expect from the destination they will live in. Apparently, this year, Asian countries are the most attractive for expatriates mostly because of career opportunities and high purchasing power. But we’ve heard many times that “money does not make happiness”, so for people with other priorities, others destinations will have to be considered.

References:

Le Nouvel Observateur, Challenges. 2013, Octobre 30th. Classement: les pays où les expatriés sont le plus heureux.

Retrieved from: http://www.challenges.fr/monde/20131029.CHA6249/classement-les-pays-ou-les-expatries-sont-les-plus-heureux.html

Intercultural communication

After comparing the management of cultural issues in companies to the management of a multicultural city thanks to the academic article “Managing Multicultural Teams” published in the Harvard Business Review in November 2006, I decided to analyze another academic paper, but, this time, on intercultural communication. A lot of material is available on that topic, as it a challenge face more and more nowadays with the globalization phenomenon. First papers about communication between different cultures have started to appear in the 60s and they have been growing and multiplying since them.

When two persons from different cultural background communicate, frustration and misunderstanding often happen, even with good intentions from both sides. What is the cause of that? The answer is that, cultural differences may cause obstacles to communication (by the word “communication”, I mean: exchange ideas and information, manage to make the kind of impression we want to make and live and work together...).

In this blog article, we will focus on the paper called “Stumbling blocks in intercultural communication” written by Laray M. Barna, published in 1994. This article is referencing several authors that were mastering the subject, such as Paul Ekman, pioneer in the study of non-verbal communication.

In his paper, Barna identified six obstacles to intercultural communication. As he’s pointing out: “Learning the language, which most visitors to foreign countries consider their only barrier to understanding, is actually only the beginning.”

Through this blog article we’ll analyze the six “stumbling blocks” (as Barna call them) and try to relate intercultural communication with the management of a multicultural city.

Stumbling block 1: Assumption of similarities

The first obstacle identified in this paper that will lead to frustration and misunderstanding is that “many people naively assume there are sufficient similarities among peoples of the world to make communication easy.” They presume that because their basic needs as Human Beings are the same (according to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs: physiological and safety needs) their way of communicating should be identical. “Unfortunately they overlook the fact that the forms of adaptation to these common biological and social needs and the values, beliefs, and attitudes surrounding them are vastly different from culture to culture. The biological commonalities are not much help when it comes to communication [...]”.

Misunderstandings mostly come from nonverbal communication (nodding, smiling, etc.). Indeed, even if facial expressions were considered as universal, someone’s culture impacts on what, when and to what degree emotions are displayed.

Assuming that our interlocutor communicates similarly than us, is always easier than trying to deal with differences. Unfortunately, dealing with differences is necessary to avoid frustration and misunderstandings. “Since there seem to be no universals or “human nature” that can be used as a basis for automatic understanding, we must treat each encounter as an individual case, searching for whatever perceptions and communication means are held in common and proceed from there.”

On the other hand, when no similarities are expected, it often results in exclusionary attitudes. What is important, to face that obstacle, is to deal with cultural differences by making efforts toward mutual understanding. It can only happen if differences and similarities are both acknowledged. Without the assumption of differences, signs and symbols are likely to be misread and the scene could be judged ethnocentrically.

The key to face this obstacle is not gather information about customs in other countries, as we could easily think so; it is to study the history, political structure, art, literature, and language of other countries. Context is really important to understand current situations, customs, etc. It provides “a framework for on-site observations”. What’s important is to understand the assumptions and values of other culture by observing and interacting.

At the scale of a city, we could easily think that people who traveled a lot, studied abroad and immigrants dealing daily with locals for their jobs, would be more willing to understand different cultures. But, researches and tests showed that, surprisingly, they’re not! The reason could come from the fact that they regularly face the challenges and stress of dealing with cultures different from theirs. Their counterparts who remain in ethnic enclaves without attempting to adjust to their new homeland would then seem to suffer less than them. Would this means that not adjust to a culture is the key to face this challenge? Of course not! But it definitely means that dealing with differences is tiring and not easy psychologically. Thus, efforts from the other side are always welcome!

Stumbling block 2: Language differences

The second obstacle is obvious. It is the basis of communication: language. Whether it is because of the vocabulary, the syntax, the idioms, slang and dialects used, language differences, of course, make communication difficult. Considering this, even persons speaking the same language can experience communication troubles.

Besides words and grammar; context, connotation, tone and inflection are really important to consider when communicating.

As we saw in previous articles, language differences are quite a big obstacle to communication and access to information, that is why translations are important in key places of a city such as transports, tourist spots, restaurants, etc. so foreign visitors don’t feel lost.

Stumbling block 3: Nonverbal misinterpretations

“People from different cultures inhabit different sensory realities. They see, hear, feel, and smell only that which has some meaning or importance for them. They abstract whatever fits into their personal world of recognition and then interpret it through the frame of reference of their own culture.”

Among nonverbal communication, body movements (gestures, postures…) are usually easily identifiable and learn their meanings is possible. On the other hand, “it is more difficult to note correctly the unspoken codes of the other culture that are less obvious such as the handling of time and spatial relationships and subtle signs of respect or formality.”

Stumbling block 4: Preconceptions and stereotypes

No need to explain what stereotypes are. I think at this point, every reader of this blog must know what they are. What Barna highlight in his paper is that they exist to “reduce the threat of the unknown by making the world predictable.” They increase the feeling of security and are psychologically necessary for most people.

The question is: why stereotypes are considered as an obstacle to intercultural communication? According to the author, “they interfere with objective viewing of stimuli” and are not easy to overcome. They sustain the “tendency to perceive selectively only those pieces of new information that correspond to the image held.”

Stumbling block 5: Tendency to evaluate

The fifth stumbling block to intercultural communication is the tendency that people have to “approve or disapprove, the statements and actions of the other person [...] rather than to try to comprehend completely the thoughts and feelings expressed from the world view of the other.” The fact that each person’s own culture and way of life always seems right, proper, and thus best than others’, prevents open-minded attention that is needed when communicating with a person with a different cultural background.
What can be retained from this, is that empathy is needed in intercultural communication while judgments prevent from achieving a fair and total understanding. “Once comprehension is complete it can be determined whether or not there is a clash in values or ideology.”

Stumbling block 6: High anxiety

“Stress, is common in cross-cultural experiences due to the number of uncertainties present.” Stress is said to be an obstacle to intercultural communication as it disturbs the internal equilibrium of the individual system. Anxiety and tension require “some form of relief which too often comes in the form of defenses, such as the skewing of perceptions, withdrawal, or hostility.”
This stumbling block is linked to the others previously explained, like the assumption of similarities and stereotypes, for example. They are defense mechanisms for people to alleviate the stress of the unknown.
Manage stress, regains internal balance and have positive attitudes will help people carrying out the communication process successfully. “Accept cultural diversity with interest instead of anxiety and manage normal stress reactions by practicing positive coping mechanisms, such as conscious physical relaxation” would the key attitude to have here.

As we previously seen in this blog, communication is a key element in culture differences. It’s seems to be the first step of adaptation and acculturation. Learning how to communicate with native people from the country we currently live in, enable to avoid culture shock.
Acknowledging and understanding those 6 stumbling blocks to intercultural communication is the first step to face them. “For most people it takes insight, training and sometimes an alteration of long-standing habits or thinking patterns before progress can be made. The increasing need for global understanding, however, gives all of us the responsibility for giving it our best effort.”

References:

Barna, L. M. 1994. Stumbling Blocks in Intercultural Communication.

What adjustments Paris tourist spots offer to foreign visitors?

Let’s go deeper in the subject! What adjustments Paris tourist spots offer to foreign visitors? If you want to know our point of view, read this short article.

I’ll try to be brief as we already talk about tourism in Paris, in previous articles. The goal here is to go deeper into the subject by identifying adjustments Paris tourist spots offer to foreign visitors.

“For several years the destination Paris, Ile-de-France has been the most visited tourist region in the world. […] Tourism is one of its major business sectors. From an economic point of view, it represents about 600,000 direct and indirect jobs. A dynamic sector, the number of people it employs is also increasing at a rate of growth higher overall than other business sector. By creating employment, tourism also generates a lot of wealth. For instance, it alone generates nearly 10% of the region’s gross domestic product (GDP).” (Le nouveau Paris, Ile-de-France, 2013) 

To plan a trip or visits in a specific place, the Internet seems to be the most used tool. Hundreds of travel and sightseeing websites are available for tourists that wish to learn about the destination and organize their stay. The Ile-de-France Regional Tourism Committee by agreement with the Ile-de-France Regional Council created one, called “Le nouveau Paris, Ile-de-France” to promote the region as a tourism destination.

This website is available in French, English, Spanish and German and targets Paris visitors and future Paris visitors. The entire stay in Paris can be plan on this website: from housing to where to eat, where to go and what to visit. This website is quite comprehensive. The goal of this website is to help users access to the information they need, to plan their trip and help them do more during their time in Paris. A paper guide has even been created. It lists all the tourist places to visit in Paris and its region and give you practical information and tips about each sites.

Below is an example of useful information for tourist about the Eiffel Tower provided in the paper guide.

Useful information for tourist about the Eiffel Tower

In terms of cultural sites to visit, Paris does not lack of it. As a tourist you’ll always find something to do or visit in this city.

According to the website “Tout-Paris.org”, here is Paris tourist spot ranking top 10, in terms of number of visitors in 2012:

As we can see on the table above English is the language the most offered in terms of tourist information in Paris, followed by Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese and Asian languages such as Japanese, Mandarin and Korean. It is not surprising to find a large number of European languages, given the geographical proximity of these countries with France. Asian languages are so much offered due to the percentage of tourists in Paris that come from Asia. According to a study carried out in 2012 by the Shanghai-based company Hurun Report, traveling Chinese millionaires are increasingly attracted by Europe and mostly France for their purchases of luxury items. The number of Chinese travelers abroad has increased from 10 million in 2000 to 83 million in 2012, according to the UNWTO (The World Tourism Organization). At the same time the international tourism expenditures of these travelers have almost eightfold (L’Express. L’Expansion, 4^th June 2013). The expenditures of Asian tourists represent significant revenues for the city of Paris that is why it is important to attract them.

What can be noted is that to facilitate the access and payments for visitors, the Paris Museum Pass has been created.

This pass provides unlimited access, without queuing, to more than 60 museums and monuments in Paris and its surrounding region. It provides access to museums’ permanent collections. Four different versions of it are available depending on the length of your stay: two days, four days or six days. It can be bought at tourism information points.

Once again we can see that communication is the most important element. When visiting a cultural site abroad, the tourist is expecting brochures, explanations, information about it that he can understand. That is why offering brochures translated into different languages and multilingual staff and guides is important on a tourist site. Visitors will feel welcome and at ease.

References:

About.com, Paris Travel. 2013.

Retrieved from: http://goparis.about.com/

L’Express. L’expansion. 2013, June 4th. La France attire toujours autant les riches touristes chinois.

Retrieved from: http://lexpansion.lexpress.fr/economie/la-france-attire-toujours-autant-les-riches-touristes-chinois_387932.html

Le nouveau Paris, Ile-de-France. 2013.

Retrieved from: http://www.new-paris-ile-de-france.co.uk/?gclid=CJCV9NKcvroCFWbMtAodEVQAKg

Tout-Paris.org. 2013. Classement des sites culturels français les plus visités.

Retrieved from: http://www.tout-paris.org/classement-sites-touristiques-les-plus-visites-paris-6481

"Living a Dream in China": Introduction to a blog

In this article, I will introduce you to a blog I found during my research about Chinese culture. It is very interesting as it deals with several subjects such as Chinese culture, the language, the education, and the tourism.

è http://sarajaaksola.com/

“LIVING A DREAM IN CHINA” is blog created in 2010 by Sara Jaaksola, and counts more than 200 articles since its creation, which makes it a rich source of information about China. She left Finland, her home country, to study Chinese while preparing a major in history, and she decided to stay in China since then. She is passionate about the Chinese culture and she lives with her Chinese boyfriend and his family, so she can be part of a typical Chinese life , with an external eye.

I selected some interesting articles that give a good understanding of the Chinese culture nowadays.

The first article is named “Cup Noodle Education” à http://sarajaaksola.com/cup-noodle-education/

It talks about Chinese young people education in the recent years. Sara explain the cup noodle education as “Chinese parents pour the hot water over their kids and require them to get ready for life in three minutes.” It explains how Chinese parents do everything for their kid to be successful in their study, but by depriving them of their independence. They don’t know how to deal with themselves until they start working, which can explain the behavior of some Chinese students, and how they seem immature.

In the second article “Take your patience with you to China” (à http://sarajaaksola.com/take-your-patience-with-you-to-china/) introduce you to the term mashang, which means wait it will come right away (not literally but that is the meaning). Indeed, in a country that counts more than 1 billion of people, you sometimes need to wait to get your taxi, or your fridge to be repaired. Patience is part of the Chinese culture, as Chinese people are usually optimistic they don’t complain a lot in “difficult situation”. It is sometimes that many foreigners have trouble with and that I experienced myself while living in China. But the more you understand the country and how it works, the easier it gets, and one thing that I can say I learned in china is: PATIENCE.

“The Ugly side of Parenting in China” (à http://sarajaaksola.com/ugly-side-of-parenting-in-china/ ) introduce the particular way most Chinese children are raised. From an external eye you could think that Chinese parents don’t take good care of their child as they hit them or scare them to obey, which however makes them more independent, especially in the rural areas. But on the other side, the new generation of unique child is being spoiled, and this generation is self oriented when they become older, and have difficulties to do thing that are not in their own interest.

I found more interesting articles, that can help understanding China, I will not explain them all, but here are their links:

-“So are Chinese people polite or not?” à http://sarajaaksola.com/so-are-chinese-people-polite-or-not/

-“3 bad habits I’ve unfortunately picked up while living in China” à http://sarajaaksola.com/5-bad-habits-living-in-china/

-“Being a Western woman in China” à http://sarajaaksola.com/being-a-western-woman-in-china/

-“Is it absolutely necessary to know Chinese when living in China?” à http://sarajaaksola.com/is-it-absolutely-necessary-to-know-chinese-when-living-in-china/

-“The Cliché relationship of Foreign man and Chinese woman” à http://sarajaaksola.com/the-cliched-relationship-of-foreign-man-and-chinese-woman/

 However, my next article will talk about Chinese Cultural sudden Changes in the Global world, so we will be able to understand how China changed and if it changed to adapt to the Global world or not.

Ophélie Bourgeois 

Managing multicultural teams in a company & managing a multicultural city

After Ophélie’s article about “The Canadian Mosaic in the workplace”, I decided to use the academic article published in the Hard Business Review in November 2006, called “Managing Multicultural Teams” to compare the management of cultural issues in companies to the management of a multicultural city.

When a company has an international presence, workers may come from different countries and, therefore, have different cultural backgrounds. Cultural differences within a same team can lead to conflicts and serious obstacles which impacts the progress of the shared project. This more and more common situation could be compared to the integration of foreigners within a country where the local culture is different from theirs.

In their article “Managing Multicultural Teams”, Jeanne Brett, Kristin Behfar and Mary C. Kern identify three different steps to follow to resolve conflicts within a multicultural team.

The first phase is to identify the cause of the conflict. According to the authors’ researches 4 categories can create barriers to a team’s success.

The second step is to assess the situational conditions under which the team is working and the last one is to analyze the right strategy to apply. Four types of intervention to resolve conflicts, explained in this paper, are used by successful teams and manager when it comes to dealing with problems.

In the following blog article, I will analyze “Managing Multicultural Teams” while comparing the process identified to the management of a multicultural city.

Step 1: Identify the cause of the conflict

The four obstacles presented by Jeanne Brett, Kristin Behfar and Mary C. Kern, in their article “Managing Multicultural Teams” are cultural differences that can cause destructive conflicts within a team.

The first barrier called “Direct versus indirect communication” is about communication style. Westerners tend to use direct and explicit communication whereas Easterners would use indirect communication, “where meaning is embedded in the way the message is presented”. When a Westerner and an Easterner have a conversation together, the Easterner can understand the direct communication style used by the Westerner but this last one will have difficulties understanding the indirect communication of the Easterner. Direct communication can sometimes give the feeling that boundaries have been violated for an indirect communication user. Communication issues “create barriers to effective teamwork by reducing information sharing [and] creating interpersonal conflict.”

The second barrier identified in the paper is “Trouble with accent and fluency”. Indeed, when the official language of a company is not some employees’ mother tongue, express themselves may be more difficult for them than for the others. Their accent and poor speaking level can also make them difficult to understand which will lead to misunderstandings. Frustration will be created too as the difficulty communicating knowledge of nonfluent team members will make them feel undervalued. If not expressed properly, the rest of the team won’t recognize and utilize their expertise.

Those first two barriers identified in the article show how much communication is important to avoid conflict between people from different cultural backgrounds. This confirms what has been analyzed so far on this blog through the diverse articles about Seoul’s and Paris’ facilities that offer various translations so foreign visitors can understand information that is communicated.

The two other barriers identified by this paper are “Differing attitudes toward hierarchy and authority” and “Conflicting norms for decision making”. Both of these barriers are specifically linked to the corporate world, they can hardly be compared to the daily life in a specific city. However what can be retained is the solution offered to avoid conflict when it comes to decision making: “The best solution seems to be to make minor concessions on process – to learn to adjust to and even respect another approach.”

Step 2: Assess situational conditions

Before identifying the right strategy to fix the problem, the context and conditions in which the team is working have to be assessed. What needs to be identified, for example, is the team manager’s autonomy on changing the composition of the team; what additional resources are available and could be added to the project; what is the level of flexibility of the team for change; is the team permanent or temporary; what is the project’s deadline; etc.

All these factors need to be considered when the type of intervention is selected. Exactly like, situational conditions are analyzed by decision makers when it comes to choosing the right migration policies.

Step 3: Identify the right strategy to apply

The first strategy that teams going through a conflict should try is “adaptation”. Adaptation is when team members acknowledge cultural gaps openly and work around them by adapting their practices or attitudes without changing the group membership or assignment. It is considered as “the ideal strategy because the team works effectively to solve its own problem with minimal input from management”. To accommodate all members and reach higher quality decisions, the team tries to “merge” the cultures in its process. “This approach, called fusion, is getting serious attention from political scientists and from government officials dealing with multicultural populations that want to protect their cultures rather than integrate or assimilate.” If you remember right, in a previous article called “Business management and city management towards foreign culture” posted in July on this blog, we’ve seen that marketers were using adaptation strategies to accommodate their customers that were mostly from Latin America. The adaptation strategy in a multicultural team is not that different from acculturation orientations that we described few months ago. The key stays the same: acknowledge and name cultural differences and develop tool or attitudes to live with them.

The second strategy presented in this paper is “structural intervention.” “A structural intervention is a deliberate reorganization or re-assignment designed to reduce interpersonal friction or to remove a source of conflict” within a group. This intervention may result, depending on the problem, in hiring someone from outside the company to lead meetings so people feel more at ease than with their boss or create smaller working groups within the team when some members are too shy to speak in front of a large group or higher management.

To fix a specific issue, “managerial intervention” is sometimes required. For example, when dealing with a problem related to the differing attitudes toward hierarchy and authority among cultures. Indeed, in some culture hierarchy is strictly adhered to when in others hierarchy in companies is pretty flat. In countries paying careful attention to status, a managerial intervention may be necessary to respect the counterpart culture and resolve the issue. Moreover, in every multicultural teams, “managerial intervention to set norms early in a team’s life can really help the team start out with effective processes.”

The “exit” strategy has to be considered as a last resort solution. It happens when a member is removed from the team, either voluntarily or after a request from management. This situation usually happens when emotions run high and professional differences switch to personal differences.

This blog article tries to analyze “Managing Multicultural Teams”, an academic article published in the Harvard Business review in November 2006. We have seen that three steps are needed to resolve a conflict happening in a multicultural group. Whether this kind of problems happens within a company or in the daily life of a city, this process could apply to both situations. Indeed, when cultural conflicts happen, the first phase decision makers should do is identify the cause. We now know that they usually come from communication, attitude toward authority and decision making process. Situational conditions, like the flexibility of change of local policies, etc. also need to be assessed before choosing the right strategy that will apply to the situation.

Of course, as we’ve seen earlier, adaptation is necessary and seems to be the best solution, but sometimes, when it’s not only about cultural differences, you’ll have adapt to the style of whoever you’re dealing with. But that’s another issue…

One of the main factors that clearly appear once again, like in other articles posted on this blog, is communication. It seems to be the basis of cultural integration and adaptation. This is why next month we will study intercultural communication and how it could apply to the management of a multicultural city.

References:

Harvard Business Review. Brett, J., Behfar, K. & Kern, M.C. November 2006. Managing Multicultural Teams.