Assumptions

I m always fascinated by those famous black-and-white illustrations that at first appear to be one thing, then change as if by magic into something else. The young woman with the big hat looking away from you suddenly metamorphoses into the portrait of a wrinkled old crone, or the white vase on a black background that in a split second disappears and is replaced by two faces in profile. Of course the pictures themselves don t change, it s just your perception of them that does. A minority of people who look at these pictures cannot manage the shift of perception. They remain stuck in one dimension, incapable of understanding what is revealed to the other observers.

It s the same with things we have always taken for granted ” normal ways of behaving, the natural way of perceiving. We are used to looking at them from a certain perspective, and may have done so all our lives, when suddenly in a flash we get a glimpse of another dimension and realize that, contrary to our previous assumptions, there is another way of interpreting the familiar.

Examining our assumptions is not something we are used to doing. Assumptions are, by definition, those beliefs we do not question, and I know many intelligent and educated people of different nationalities (and admittedly a bit on the smug side) who have never questioned the fact that their part of the world is basically God s own country, and that although there are regrettably a few exceptions to the rule, their fellow citizens are basically nicer, wiser, and more trustworthy than those of any other country you could mention.

This attitude was certainly widespread in England in the nineteenth century when Cecil Rhodes, the Englishman who opened up much of Southern Africa to European development (and who founded the Rhodes scholarships), could say without the slightest doubt, Ask any man what nationality he would prefer to be, and ninety-nine out of a hundred will tell you that they would prefer to be Englishmen. Strange as it may seem, people like Rhodes have not followed the example of the dinosaur or dodo and joined the ranks of extinct species. Indeed, many men and women with an ingrained belief in the innate superiority of their own nation or culture are appointed to responsible positions abroad where, not surprisingly, they fail miserably.

This book is all about assumptions and our reactions to other ways of thinking, behaving, or simply being. The reaction may be surprise when we find out that money isn t some people s main indicator of success, or it can be a quick surge of embarrassment or disorientation when we meet the colleague we have spoken to so often on the phone and feel we know so well and realize she doesn t share our skin color . We may feel bewildered when we realize that some languages don t have a word for (or concept of) privacy, or shocked when we find people behaving in a way that seems to contradict what we had always assumed were universal male (or female ) patterns of behavior. Worst of all, we may feel real, blood-pressure raising fury at perceived insults by people who don t know us and don t appreciate our culture or our roles in it. It s very rare for anyone with international contacts not to feel at least one of these emotions when dealing with people from a different culture, because foreigners unconsciously challenge many of the things we had up to then assumed were normal or natural.

I know of a German manager who was known among his employees for his brusque and chilly manner (in a country where brusque and chilly managers are not a rarity). He always kept his employees at arm s length, was blunt to the point of rudeness, and didn t show even the most rudimentary personal interest in or courtesy to the people he worked with.

His company was taken over by an American multinational, quite a hard-nosed organization, but it didn t put a lot of store by job titles or formal manners and preferred to downplay its hierarchical side. He spent a couple of months studying the bright and breezy communicative style of the U.S. American executive managers in corporate communications and e- mails , and after the Christmas holiday his staff was astounded to receive a message from him which, instead of the usual itemization of things they had done wrong in the previous year, was a sentimental and rambling letter describing his grandchildren s reactions to their Christmas presents and their questions about what the New Year would bring.

He had always assumed that managers behaved toward and communicated with their staff in one particular way, but after contact with another culture he learned that this was not always the case, and in deference to his new foreign bosses had decided to adopt their style. Unfortunately his abrupt change of tone was not an unqualified success, provoking giggles in his subordinates rather than warm feelings of camaraderie.

A lot of what you have read in this book describes occasions where what we take for granted is challenged during some form of intercultural contact. There are times when we suddenly realize that our assumptions, unquestioned at home, are regarded as strange and inexplicable abroad. That is the moment when the focus changes ”when the picture of the young girl becomes the old lady, or the picture of the vase melts into two faces. That is the moment too when we are given the chance to see things from a new perspective, to think in a new way. These moments are worth waiting for, and those chances are well worth taking, for they help us make sense of our fast-changing world.

LETTERS 163 “164

It s not only the big things that surprise us in another culture. Our assumptions may be challenged by little things too.

Trust them Letter 163

FROM SWEDEN ABOUT ARGENTINA

I am in Argentina on a six-month trainee placement, and one particular thing here irritates me a lot. At home the supply cabinet is unlocked and staff are allowed to take what they need. Here I have to go to the appropriate person who will decide if I can have a new pencil or box of paperclips. Apart from being petty and time-consuming , the assumption seems to be that people here are just waiting for the chance to steal stuff, but I have always believed that if you trust people they will respond.

People aren t fundamentally more honest in Sweden. I know of a car plant there where all the components necessary to make a car were smuggled out over a period of a few weeks and carefully assembled to make a brand-new vehicle. I guess it s so expensive to employ people in comparatively wealthy countries like Sweden that it would be cheaper to write off losses than to employ someone to supervise supplies .

But there are other reasons why the supply cabinet is so tightly supervised. Workplaces aren t separate from the society in which they are located, and the locked cupboard reflects the fact that Argentina is a more hierarchical and authoritarian society than the one you are used to. Individual workers are not usually given much power or responsibility, and people are subject to a system of controls, often in the form of rules and regulations, that is designed to curb what is regarded as the natural dishonesty or laziness of employees. The consequence of this tight system of controls is of course that people devise ingenious ways to get around them, and will make determined attempts to get away with as much as they possibly can. The assumption is that the company is in some way the enemy, to be thwarted whenever and wherever possible. The Spanish even have a phrase for it, Obedezco, pero no cumplo , which means I obey but do not comply .

So your boss is probably wise to lock up the paperclips, as in the current cultural climate, if the contents of the cupboard were left unlocked they would disappear in the twinkling of an eye. It sounds as if your work-place is typical in at least one respect of most offices in Spain and Southern Europe, the Middle East, India, and Latin America: it is difficult for one company to change practices widely accepted in a culture as a whole.

Lack of respect Letter 164

FROM FRANCE ABOUT SWEDEN

We ve been taken over by a Swedish company, and they are now trying to ban wine in our cafeterias. They say they have that rule in their factories in other countries and so it should be the same here. I cannot understand their reasoning. Why should there be the same rule for all when it is clear that the French have different traditions? Swedes may not be able to handle wine, but that is no reason to ban it here where we have learned to treat it in a civilized way.

The importance of wine in French life has been underestimated by several global corporations. The U.S.-based Disney Corporation had a policy of not serving alcohol in its parks in California, Florida, and Tokyo, and extended it to France. This caused astonishment and rebellion in France, where a glass of wine for lunch is a given. After much consideration, in 1993 the Disney changed its policy and allowed wine and beer in its Paris theme park. Similarly, IBM does not allow alcohol in its company dining rooms ”except in IBM France.

Certainly the Swedish and French cultures could not have more different traditions when it comes to alcohol. Until 1954, alcohol was rationed in Sweden, and until 2000 you couldn t buy a bottle of wine anywhere there over the weekend , whereas in France, as in Italy and Spain, the production and appreciation of wine has been an expression of its culture for a thousand years . The problem arises not only because there are many Swedes who believe that alcohol consumption is fundamentally a bad thing, but also because Swedes assume that the same rules should apply to all. It is an expression of their belief in equality and fairness, but this can appear to be heavy-handed and lacking in flexibility to people from other cultures. France has traditionally not considered consistency a virtue, but regarded flexibility as a more useful quality. They also believe that for every rule there is an exception. However, there is certainly proof that control of machinery (including cars ) is impaired after drinking alcohol, so I can certainly understand them banning it in a factory, where accidents can happen so easily.

LETTERS 165 “166

Our underlying assumptions affect how we react to each other ” and because of this we sometimes shock our counterparts from other cultures.

Not in the mood Letter 165

FROM THE U.K. ABOUT VENEZUELA

I ve been working here in Venezuela for several months and am amazed by the response I get from some of my coworkers occasionally when I ask them to do something. They may not say it directly, but the essence is, I don t feel like doing that today. I m not in the mood. How can they assume that I will take an answer like that seriously? On the other hand, there are periods when they do work very hard ”it s just not possible to predict when ”and it s driving me mad.

People from cultures with a very strong work ethic combined with a relatively fixed view of how to organize time, like the U.K., the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Austria, will find this very hard to understand. But for a Venezuelan it is important to go with the flow, because if you are not in the right frame of mind to do something, you are bound to make a mess of it. It s much better, they reason, to wait until the time is right and you re full of enthusiasm and energy, and then you will be able to accomplish things in half the time with a minimum of effort. Venezuelans are very skilled at reading each other to see what mood they are in, and will time their requests to ensure that the other person is in the right frame of mind to act before asking them to do something. It s not laziness, or skiving as you might call it in the U.K., which causes them to dig their heels in, it is simply an awareness of their own feelings. This means that you will need to develop a sensitivity to how your coworkers are feeling if you are going to get the best out of them.

Management by walking about Letter 166

FROM BRAZIL ABOUT THE U.S.

We have a new manager from the U.S. who does not seem to enjoy working in his office. He spends the whole time wandering around the corridors spying and eavesdropping. It s making us all nervous and we re wondering when he has the time to do any work himself.

Poor man. I doubt very much that he has ambitions to emulate James Bond, and I would guess that his motive in wandering around is not to check up on you, because he probably trusts you to work on your own. Instead, he is trying to be approachable, and to break down the kinds of social barriers that often exist in Latin American companies between managers and employees. These hierarchical divisions, which can be a barrier to communication, are taken more seriously in Latin America than they are in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and the Northern European countries. These barriers are also seen as undesirable because they prevent the manager from getting a complete picture of the company in which he works as they isolate him from the majority of the workforce. It s this complete picture of the workings of your office I believe your manager is looking for in his wanderings. Unfortunately, no one has told him that employees in Latin America generally prefer that their bosses keep their distance and get on with what they are paid for rather than being one of the guys.

LETTERS 167 “169

An assumption that yours is the only natural way to work

implies that people who don t share your culture s norms are being stubborn or difficult.

Compromise = weakness? Letter 167

FROM THE U.S. ABOUT RUSSIA

This is our third visit to Russia and our team is currently involved in a trading deal with a local partner. However, these negotiations are dragging on and on and we are not getting anywhere. They simply do not seem willing to make any compromises, and they try to justify this by giving us a lot of philosophical and ideological reasons for why they are not going to budge.

Compromise is certainly central in a democracy, but democracy is something the Russians haven t had much experience with. It s the same for the Poles. Poland joined the European Union in 2004, and other European negotiators were surprised in their preliminary negotiations by the difficulties they met in discussions with the Poles. The give and take and routine compromises that accompany the decision-making process in other democracies was largely unfamiliar to them.

In the U.S., compromise is considered desirable and is assumed to be an inevitable part of doing business, but this does not form part of the Russian heritage. In fact, in Russian the word kompromiss has negative overtones and is considered a sign of weakness. The reasoning goes that if you have a correct and morally justified position you stick to it (a belief that kept the communist state up and running for over seventy years,) but that makes doing business pretty difficult. Things are changing, though, and a new breed of younger businesspeople is emerging, but they are regarded with suspicion by many of the population who see, among other things, their willingness to compromise as yet another sign of lack of solidarity and moral fiber.

However, it is possible to negotiate with the Russians if you are prepared to display patience; for Russians, in common with East Asian business people in general, are prepared to wait in order to gain concessions from partners who are in a hurry. Time is money is not a Russian saying, and the quick agreement (usually based on mutual compromises), which is part of the American way of doing business, is alien there.

As a final point, if you are dealing with middle-ranking employees rather than the top man himself, they may not have the authority to negotiate terms autonomously. This might be another reason for their lack of flexibility.

No news is good news Letter 168

FROM THE U.S. ABOUT GERMANY

I ve been working here in Germany for over a year but cannot get used to the complete lack of positive feedback on my performance. I have worked hard and, if I say so myself , have made a positive contribution to the department s improved performance. However, nobody has ever given me the slightest indication that they think I have worked well. But if I make the smallest mistake in filling in an order form, or misspell someone s name , I hear about it loud and clear.

Don t take this personally. If you look around your department, I suspect nobody receives positive feedback. It s the German way. It is assumed that you will do your best without being told, and that you won t need the boss to tell you what you already know. Too many compliments would make a German employee, or a Scandinavian one for that matter, suspicious that the boss was being insincere. Germans tend to see the hamburger approach as patronizing, where criticism (the meat) is surrounded by empty praise (the bun). The same applies in France, where both positive and negative feedback may be regarded as an unwelcome commentary on who you are rather than on your job performance. There s no question about comments not being taken personally . For the French, and indeed for Southern Europeans and most Latin Americans, you can t get more personal than when someone tells you how they think you do your job.

As a U.S. manager you find this difficult to accept because you have been taught to believe that an important part of doing your job is to give feedback to subordinates, and to focus on their positive contributions to encourage them to do their best in all areas of their work. This isn t the case in Germany, and while you are working there you will have to adjust your expectations, because it doesn t sound as if your boss is likely to break the mold.

Where s their initiative? Letter 169

FROM THE U.S. ABOUT MEXICO

I work for a medium- sized production company in the U.S. and am in Mexico to try to raise productivity at our subsidiary. What amazes me is the lack of initiative of the workers. If, for example, they see that we are going to run out of a certain component, they never say anything until production has come to a halt. And I continually come across employees sitting around doing nothing because they are waiting for instructions from the boss, when the job is in front of them and waiting to be finished!

You answered your own question in your last sentence . They were waiting for the boss s instructions. In Latin America, Spain, Africa, Indonesia, the Middle East, and India, where companies are usually organized in a clearly defined hierarchy and people are very aware of who is responsible for what, senior managers are the people expected (and paid) to make decisions, and management as a whole ensures that these decisions are executed. In particular, people at the lower levels of the organization often expect an authoritarian type of management accompanied by clear and specific instructions, and would worry they would get into trouble if they stepped outside these parameters and started to use their own initiative. The standard of education and training of employees at this level of the organization is often not very high, and they are used to bosses checking on their performance. If you want to change this way of working you are going to have to communicate clearly to your employees that you respect their judgment, make it clear what you expect them to do, and arrange training so they know how to do it. You should also accept that if people are to be encouraged to use their initiative, they will also be granted the power to make mistakes. You should make clear that they will not be blamed if they fail, and give them plenty of praise when they succeed.

IN A NUTSHELL: Assumptions

GLOBAL WARNING

When working across borders there will be times when we suddenly realize that our assumptions, unquestioned at home, are regarded as strange and inexplicable abroad.

 

Here are a few examples of what different countries take for granted:

• Argentina: Lack of trust in fellow workers results in tight systems of controls. Hierarchical divisions, which can be a barrier to communication, are taken for granted. (See Letters 163, 166, 168, and 169.)

• Australia: Strictly observed social barriers between bosses and employees are regarded as unnatural and undesirable. (See Letter 166.)

• Austria: A strong work ethic is combined with a relatively fixed view of how to organize time. (See Letter 165.)

• Brazil: Lack of trust in fellow workers results in tight systems of controls. Hierarchical divisions, which can be a barrier to communication, are taken for granted. (See Letters 163, 166, 168, and 169.)

• Canada: Strictly observed social barriers between bosses and employees are regarded as unnatural and undesirable. (See Letter 166.)

• China: Patience is seen as an important virtue and a contributor to long- term success. (See Letter 167.)

• Denmark: Strictly observed social barriers between bosses and employees are regarded as unnatural and undesirable. (See Letters 166 and 168.)

• Finland: Giving and receiving feedback does not come easily, and is not regarded as a priority. (See Letters 166 and 168.)

• France: Feedback may be regarded as an unwelcome commentary on who you are rather than on your job performance. (See Letters 164 and 168.)

• Germany: Giving positive feedback is not a priority. You can assume you have done a good job unless told the contrary. (See Letter 168.)

• Hong Kong: Patience is seen as an important virtue and a contributor to long-term success, though the pace of business here is high. (See Letter 167.)

• India: Lack of trust in fellow workers results in tight systems of controls. People at the lower levels of the organization often expect an authoritarian type of management (See Letters 163 and 169.)

• Indonesia: People at the lower levels of the organization often expect an authoritarian type of management. (See Letter 169.)

• Italy: Lack of trust in fellow workers results in tight systems of controls. (See Letters 163, 164, and 168.) Japan: Patience is seen as an important virtue and a contributor to long-term success. (See Letter 167.)

• Mexico: Lack of trust in fellow workers results in tight systems of controls. Hierarchical divisions, which can be a barrier to communication, are taken for granted. (See Letters 163, 166, 168, and 169.)

• Netherlands: A strong work ethic is combined with a relatively fixed view of how to organize time. (See Letter 165.)

• Norway: There is a relatively high degree of trust in the honesty and integrity of the average worker. Strictly observed social barriers between bosses and employees are regarded as unnatural and undesirable. (See Letters 166 and 168.)

• Poland: Compromise is considered a sign of weakness. (See Letter 167.)

• Russia: The word kompromiss has negative overtones and is considered a sign of weakness. (See Letter 167.)

• Saudi Arabia: Lack of trust in fellow workers results in tight systems of controls. People at the lower levels of the organization often expect an authoritarian type of management. (See Letters 163 and 169.)

• South Africa: People at the lower levels of the organization often expect an authoritarian type of management. (See Letter 169.)

• South Korea: Patience is seen as an important virtue and a contributor to long-term success. (See Letter 167.)

• Spain: An authoritarian type of management operating through clear and specific instructions is commonly expected. (See Letters 164, 168, and 169.)

• Sweden: There is a relatively high degree of trust in the honesty and integrity of the average worker. Strictly observed social barriers between bosses and employees are regarded as unnatural and undesirable. (See Letters 163, 164, 166, 168, and 169.)

• Switzerland: A strong work ethic is combined with a relatively fixed view of how to organize time. (See Letter 165.)

• Taiwan: Patience is seen as an important virtue and a contributor to long-term success, though the pace of business here is high. (See Letter 167.)

• Thailand: Patience is seen as an important virtue and a contributor to long-term success. (See Letter 167.)

• Turkey: Feedback may be regarded as an unwelcome commentary on who you are rather than on your job performance. (See Letters 163 and 169.)

• UK: A strong work ethic is combined with a relatively fixed view of how to organize time. Compromise is considered desirable and assumed to be an inevitable part of doing business. (See Letter 165.)

• US: A strong work ethic is combined with a relatively fixed view of how to organize time. Compromise is considered desirable and assumed to be an inevitable part of doing business. (See Letters 166, 167, and 168.)

• Venezuela: Lack of trust in fellow workers results in tight systems of controls. Hierarchical divisions, which can be a barrier to communication, are taken for granted. (See Letters 163, 165, 166, 168, and 169.)