Why Did I Write the Book?

Intercultural, or cross-cultural, studies is a relatively new subject. A few books appeared in the mid-1980s, and now, twenty years later, there is a steady stream of new publications and Web sites covering this area. This growth of interest reflects an increasingly global economy, which in turn has brought with it international contact for people who perhaps have never left their native country or even spoken to anyone from another culture.

The area of intercultural communication is a wide one, and this is reflected in the many types of books available. Some are etiquette books, giving lists of dos and don ts to bear in mind when you are working abroad or with people from other cultures. Others take a theoretical approach and are equipped with impressive diagrams charting and grouping cultures that share common characteristics. A few look at the relationship between corporate and national cultures, while others have specific functions, such as preparing people for the psychological and social pressures of a foreign placement, and still others delve deeply into the history and culture of a particular geographical area. All approaches are valuable and add to the sum of human knowledge.

However, I wanted to produce a book putting ordinary business-people s cross-cultural experiences center stage. It is these thousands of daily person-to-person contacts, whether in the boardroom or on the shop floor, that determine how successful (or not) a multinational company is going to be. All individuals involved in cross-cultural contacts have found themselves in unexpected situations, and their observations and impressions , as well as their questions, deserve respect and attention.

In short, a combination of sorts, between the behavioral guides and the cultural and historical theory, is what began to emerge. To be successful while interacting in another culture means that you have to make the cultural and social cues around you and then behave appropriately in response. The old adage, When in Rome, do as the Romans puts this in a nutshell . It is also as insightful today as it was nearly 400 years ago when Cervantes first conceived it, and thus provides a fitting title for the book.

Secondly, I wanted to write a book that in some small way examined our potentially harmful human tendency to divide people into them and us. The danger when a company suddenly experiences a greatly increased amount of international contact is that groups emerge with the us group being fellow nationals and them being those from other countries . Of course, you will find this us and them dichotomy in any company with more than ten employees ”it is a natural part of human behavior. But they become easier to identify when they are from another country, or look, dress, or sound different from us. Often executive management acknowledges the problem and tries to unite its work-force with mission and vision statements or with a corporate statement of objectives. These initiatives have varying degrees of success, but good managers feel compelled to do something; they know that where divisions widen beyond a critical point and when employees feel they have nothing in common, the company will start to suffer. Unfortunately, mission statements, however worthy, are not going to make a lot of difference if they ignore the underlying cultural differences of a company s workforce.

The best way to break down these divisions, or to stop them from arising in the first place, is of course to learn about the way your foreign counterparts usually do business. But just as important is to step back from your own national and corporate cultures and try to see them through new eyes ”the eyes of someone who does not automatically share your beliefs and values. This can be an uncomfortable experience, but it is a vital one, because before you can make sense of another culture, you have to understand your own.

My third reason for writing this book was to give everyone the opportunity to learn from the uncomfortable situations in which other people have found themselves. This is, of course, a much more pleasant way of learning than by making all the mistakes yourself.