MA GLOBAL BUSINESS

CORE COURSE IN
HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN THE GLOBAL
ENVIRONMENT
Academic year
2007 - 2008

José Rivera © 2006 1

Competencies IHRM
Competencies: learning, practising and assessing , in a global business negotiation
and cross cultural environment, how to develop the required skills to:
Separate the people from the problem: Be “unconditionally
constructive” on the relationship

Focus on global, win-win interests, and not in particular positions

Negotiation Skills
Invent options for mutual gain: creating and distributing values
between all parties
Develop objectives criteria to sustained fruitful and long term
agreements
Recognize cultural diversity as the main Challenge of the Global
IHRM
Seek to understand and improve the interaction of employees,
clients, suppliers, and alliance partners (stakeholders), from different
countries and cultures
Cross Cultural Skills Assume the compromise to learn from any cross cultural experience
and adopt the vision of taking the cultural values into the global
strategy
Build-up competitive advantages based on Global
José Rivera © 2006 Values & Global Skills 2

International Human Resources Management

Cross Cultural Management:

Assessing Cross Cultural Skills

Prof. Asociado: José Javier Rivera - j.javier.rivera@uv.es

Departamento de Comercialización e Investigación de Mercados
Facultad de Economía - Universitat de València
 Cross Cultural Management

Contents:
 Introduction: Iceberg Model of Culture
 Cross Cultural Management
 Cross Cultural Skills
 The Cultural Model of Global Success
 Assessing and Practicing Cross Cultural Skills

Iceberg Model of Culture

Iceberg Model of Culture

 Culture Below the Surface

) Attitudes
– “I can’t live without a cell phone”
) Assumptions
– “Only boys can become engineers”
) Values
– “My family is more important than my job”
) Beliefs
– “My purpose in life is …”

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Culture Above the Surface - Examples

) Greetings
– How should you greet someone?
kiss, bow or shake hands
– Does it depend on who they are?
) Dress
– What is appropriate attire at work? at a funeral?
) Punctuality
– What does it mean to be “on time”?
– How quickly should you reply to an e-mail?
) Gift giving
– Should you give gifts to business associates?
– What should you give?
) Corporate Logos
– What projects the “right” image?

José Rivera © 2006 8

Cross Cultural Management

Technology and Globalisation are rapidly

transforming:
¾ the way we work,
¾ the way we think about work & people
¾ the management of global human
resources

José Rivera © 2006 9

 Cross Cultural Management
Are you a Naïve Local Manager?

) THEY behave as they do because it is in

their character.
) WE behave as we do because it is
perfectly valid and logical.

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Cross Cultural Management

Or do you plan to be a Global Cultural Manager?

) WE & THEY behave as WE do

BECAUSE ALL:
….. WE & THEY HAVE Cultural Values.

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What is Culture?
HUMAN NATURE
universal
to behave & to communicate

CULTURE
How is it appropriate to behave in different situations?
How is it appropriate to communicate in different situations?

group level construction

Culture is: a way of life passed down from one generation to the next
through education and experience – Concise Columbia Encyclopedia

PERSONALITY
individual
each of us behave / communicate at different ways / times / places

José Rivera © 2006 12

 Cross Cultural Management
Definitions of culture
) In management literature definitions of culture refer
to:
– national or ethnic grouping, including summations of
characteristics with reference to distinctive (culture-specific)
management style or negotiating style

– the special qualities of an organization (corporate culture)

– mental attributes (as in Hofstede’s, 1980 definition): Culture

is the collective programming of the mind which
distinguishes the members of one human group from
another

José Rivera © 2006 13

Cross Cultural Management

Definitions of culture
) Patterned ways of thinking, feeling and reacting
– Behaviour styles
– Negotiating techniques
– Protocol
– Business practices

) Cultural misunderstandings can threaten or even

destroy your efforts in a foreign country

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Cross Cultural Management

Definitions of culture

)… is not just about observing.

) “the same Behaviour can have different
meanings and different behaviours can
have the same meaning” [Schneider &
Barsoux, 1997]
) Why do people behave in this way?
) What are their values/beliefs?

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 Cross Cultural Management
What is cross-cultural management?
) CCM studies the behavior of people in organizations
around the world and trains people to work in
organizations with employee and client populations
– It describes organizational behavior within countries and
cultures
– It compares organizational behavior across cultures and
countries
– Seeks to understand and improve the interaction of co-
workers, clients, suppliers, and alliance partners from
different countries and cultures
(Adler, 1991)

José Rivera © 2006 16

Cross Cultural Management

What is cross-cultural management?
) Accessible from several management disciplines
– International management and business
‹ e.g. comparisons of managerial behavior in different countries,
differences on doing business
– Organizational theory and behavior
‹ e.g. impact of culture on different organizational functions (for
example, HRM and organizational development)
– Culture theory
‹ e.g. comparisons of work-related value orientations in different
countries
– Management communication
‹ e.g. impact of culture on verbal and non-verbal communication,
comparisons of communication styles in different countries

José Rivera © 2006 17

Cross Cultural Management

What is cross-cultural management?
) Fostering cross-cultural learning and participation
(Holden, 2002; Schneider & Barsoux, 1997)
– not to neutralize or contain cultural differences but
to build on them
– not so much about operating across cultures as
through them, by means of them

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 Cross Cultural Management
Global Management Competence

Global Knowledge Facts and understanding of

global issues and affairs

Empathy Seeing issues positively, from

another perspective

Cultural Skills Personal + Professional

Competencies for the personal
and business development in
a Multicultural world

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Cross Cultural Management

WHY and WHEN the understanding about different
cultures is important ?

) Working in multicultural environment

– Multicultural workplaces
– Virtual teams
– Leadership in multi-cultural environment

) Working abroad
) Having foreign suppliers and customers
) Doing business in multicultural environment

José Rivera © 2006 20

Cross Cultural Skills Situations

Return
Rejection
Withdrawal or Escape
Time Servers
Partial Adaptation
Beavers
Integration Adjusters
Biculturality Participators
Multiculturality Learners

José Rivera © 2006 21

 How to learn Cross Cultural Skills?

) Observing Less Interactive

) Listening
) Reading
) Watching
) Asking
) Participating More Interactive

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5 Steps for Implementing Cross Cultural Skills?

Grasp the form, Produce mutually

content and cultural satisfactory
significance of the outcomes
cultural differences

Understand Manage

Identify Cope Integrate

Differences and Elements of
similarities in the React difference in your own
external cultural appropriately to operating cultural
environment the cultural paradigms
José Rivera © 2006 differences 23

Cross Cultural Skills – My proposal

1. Flexibility and adaptability Level
Level11
2. Tolerance and patience
3. A sense of humor
4. Intellectual and social curiosity
5. Self-confidence and control
6. The ability to communicate Level
Level22
7. The ability to identify and exploit diversity
8. The ability to integrate cultural values in your organization
9. The compromise to learn from any cross cultural
experience
10. The vision of taking the cultural values into your global
strategy

José Rivera © 2006 24

 What for Applying Cross Cultural Skills?

) Producing Results
) Getting Along With People
) Helping People Get Along With Each Other
) Solving Problems
) Generating and Using Resources Efficiently
) Finding New or Better Ways To Do Things
) Being efficient
) Matching Global Success
……………….In our today 2006 business
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The Cultural Model of Global Success

The 4 Cultural laws for Global Success

Recognizing Diversity as the main Challenge of the Global IHRM

Identifying Cultural Values under Diversity

Conduct Your Global Team

Prepare You &
Your People

Success
Global

Developing Cross Cultural Skills To Manage The Diversity of Cultural Values

Building-up Competitive Advantages Based On Global Values & Global Skills

Assessing and Practicing Cross Cultural Skills

The Brands Case

“Brands reflects Values
Brands become global”

Analyze the Brands Evolution Map from a

Global Business & Cultural Perspective
 The Brands Case
Colours Values in Different Cultures
Colour Red Blue Green Yellow White
Culture
Anglo Danger Strong; Success Coward Purity
reliable Safety
French Aristocrat Freedom; Crime Lucky; Neutral
peace temporary
Chinese Happy; Heaven Ming dyn.; Wealthy; Death;
Success clouds powerful purity
Japanese Anger; Villain Young; Grace; Death
danger energetic nobility
Arab Death Virtue Fertile; Happy; Joy
strong wealthy
Indian Life --- Wealth; Success Death
fertile

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The Brands Case: Corporate Brands

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