Business Across Cultures Culture for Business Series_6 docx

Reconciliation: attribute the highest authority to those managers whohave refocused their goals to the reliable application ofexpertise as a prime criterion Management expertise and reli

based interviews This enables us to identify the common featuresand underlying constructs that underpin them We are therefore able

to apply clustering or factor-like analysis, to reduce these to a sentative set of “golden” dilemmas, which are, in effect, the tensionscommonly held by the senior management team

repre-FREQUENTLY RECURRING DILEMMAS

All scenarios for different transformations appear in practice Based

on our research and consulting, we now list the frequently recurringdilemmas for different possible combinations For completeness, weshow all combinations, although as can be expected and as indicatedabove, some occur more frequently than others We also suggest ini-tial ideas on how each dilemma could be reconciled

Transformation away from an Eiffel Tower (Transformations 1–3)

In many of our (organizational) culture profiles we see a shareddesire to get away from the Eiffel Tower type of culture Today, fairlyhighly-developed hierarchical thinking needs to become more egal-itarian and formalized sets of rules need to become guidelines inwhich people are empowered There’s nothing wrong here, but thislogic didn’t seem to work in the early stages of a process where theUS-based semiconductor manufacturer AMD opened a plant inDresden in the former East Germany

Could the Silicon Valley spirit of passion, time pressure, and doingthe impossible with a limited number of people be brought to life in

a region that lived for decades under the communist system? Herewas a chance to put this commitment to the ultimate test Would theformula work in this context? How would the different cultureswork with each other?

A famous German (Eiffel Tower) to American (Guided Missile)dilemma is the distinction between solving problems by reasoningand logical insight on the one hand, or by empiricism and pragma-tism on the other From the German perspective, the Americanswere too often, in team meetings, discussing this or that initiative.They kept changing tack and trying something new, instead of keep-ing to agreed avenues of inquiry They rarely spent any time alonethinking through their problems and coming to rational conclusions.The tension here is between the high-risk pragmatism favored bytask-oriented Americans and the lower-risk rationalism favored byrole-oriented Germans From the German point of view, the Ameri-cans “shoot from the hip” without taking careful aim, whereasGerman engineers, coming as they do from expert cultures, like tosolve problems by rational means In extreme cases, the Americansmight criticise the German engineers for “Paralysis by Analysis.”You don’t have forever to find solutions when problem definitionsare changing quickly.

The joke about centralized planning was that it spawned localimprovisation on a massive scale because the plans were so rigid.The value that the AMD Dresden team strove to endorse was that ofSystematic Experimentation The systematic part was designed toappeal to German rationality and the experimental element toAmerican pragmatism (and improvisation) What works pragmati-cally is retained What fails is discarded Rationality remains crucial

in providing insights into what works and what does not This holdstrue even more for painstaking systematic experimentation, and thatprovides an example of how to change an Eiffel Tower into a recon-ciled Guided Missile culture It enabled AMD Dresden to beat Intel –for the first time in history – when launching the 1 GHz chip

Reconciliation: attribute the highest authority to those managers who

have refocused their goals to the reliable application ofexpertise as a prime criterion

Management expertise and reliability versus consistent

goal-orientation around task

Reconciliation: make reliable expertise and long-term commitment

part of the task descriptionRewards increasing their expertise in doing a reliable job versus

contribution to the bottom line

Reconciliation: experts use their knowledge to fulfill very clearly set

Leadership authority is ascribed to the role versus authority is

personally ascribed to the leader

Reconciliation: leadership needs to understand the political aspects of

the technical activities they manage They become

servant leaders of relationships.

Management the power of expertise and reliability versus the

power of politics and know-who

Reconciliation: focus crucial systems and procedures so they support

the process of management

Rewards increasing their expertise in doing a reliable job versus

rewarding long-term loyalty

Reconciliation: members apply their expertise and fulfillment of

reliable roles to the advantage of increasing the powerand status of their colleagues

Reconciliation: to hold the experts responsible for the reliability of

their innovating outputManagement the power of expertise and reliability versus the

power of learning around innovation

Reconciliation: decentralize the organization into more expert

centers where roles are described in a very sharp wayand aimed at learning and innovation

Rewards increasing their expertise in doing a reliable job versus

intrinsic reward of self-development

Reconciliation: experts use their knowledge systems and procedures

to fulfill clearly described innovation outputs

Transformation away from a Guided Missile culture

(Transformations 4–6)

The challenge is to find an approach that will be effective when thesurrounding culture is not compatible with this type of logic As Fons

explained in Did the Pedestrian Die?, we remember an American

man-ager of Eastman Kodak who had launched a very successful program

in Rochester, New York After launching the same formula in Europe

he cried on our shoulders He complained of the inflexibility of theFrench and Germans, saying he had done a whole round in Europe

and within each of the countries many had seemed supportive TheGermans had some problems with the process, wanting to know allthe details of the procedures and how they were connected to theenvisioned strategy The French had been worried about the unionsand keeping their people motivated, but he had left with the idea thatall were agreed on the approach When he came back some threemonths later to check how the implementation was going, nothinghad been started in either France or Germany.

Anyone with a little sensitivity for cross-cultural matters could havepredicted this Germans often believe in vision, but without theproper structures, systems, and procedures that make this visionlive, nothing will happen Germans have a “push” culture You pushthem in a certain direction They are not so easily “pulled” in a par-ticular direction compared to North Americans

This example demonstrates that transformations from one singlecorporate culture to another are not linear or one way only Trans-forming away from the Guided Missile to the Incubator is one step

in an oscillation that may then return to the Guided Missile – todeliver results Thus it may be better to describe the ideal culture as

a “Guided Incubator” in which the two are reconciled Such cyclicaltransitions are discussed further in Chapter Five

Reconciliation: attribute the highest authority to those managers that

have innovation and learning a prime criterion in theirgoals

Management consistent goal-orientation around task versus the

power of learning

Reconciliation: make learning and innovation part of the task

descriptionRewards extrinsic reward job done versus intrinsic reward

Leadership depersonalized authority by task versus authority

personally ascribed to the leader

Reconciliation: attribute the highest authority to those managers that

have made internalization of subtle processes a primecriterion in their goals

Management consistent goal-orientation around task versus the

power of politics and know-who

Reconciliation: make political sensitivity part of the task descriptionRewards extrinsic reward job done versus reward long-term

Typical Dilemmas

Leadership depersonalized authority by task versus authority

ascribed to the role

Reconciliation: attribute the highest authority to those managers that

have made reliable application of expertise a primecriterion in their goals

Management consistent goal-orientation around task versus

expertise and reliability

Reconciliation: make reliable expertise and long-term commitment

part of the task descriptionRewards contribution to the bottom line versus increasing their

expertise in doing a reliable job

Reconciliation: describe task in terms of expertise and reliability in its

application

Transformation away from an Incubator culture

(Transformations 7–9)

More than 90 percent of the world’s business today originates from

an informal- and person-oriented climate that the individual founderhas created Therefore the transformation from this incubator type ofculture to other ones with increased formality and depersonalisation

is quite relevant; when the founder of a family business takes off andgrows the business, you often see two main paths taken First thebusiness grows through adding family members You hear dilemmaslike: “On the one hand, we need a creative environment where one isfree in expression and movement, while on the other hand, thereneeds to be some order and respect for authority so we can build along term future.” The main dilemmas from the Incubator to theFamily have to do with a respect for authority that is personalizedand the loyalty that comes with it

The second major path is from an Incubator to a Guided Missile ture Here dilemmas unfold in the area of formalization, such as:

cul-“On the one hand, we appreciate the informal and personalized

learning environment, on the other hand, we need to get our ucts and services to market.” The Incubator is very often focused onthe learning and development of its members, whilst in the GuidedMissile this learning has to be applied to the increase of revenue.Another dilemma occurs around values The corporate values of theIncubator are often held and continuously expressed by the com-pany founder, whilst in the Guided Missile values are more oftenformalized and expressed in codified media such as posters and thelike.

prod-Transformation 7

Current Ideal

Incubator Guided Missile

Typical Dilemmas

Leadership development of creative individuals versus

depersonalized authority by taskReconciliation: attribute the highest authority to those managers that

have innovation and learning a prime criterion in theirgoals

Management job enrichment and personal development versus

consistent goal-orientation around taskReconciliation: make learning and innovation part of the task

descriptionRewards intrinsic reward self development versus extrinsic

reward job doneReconciliation: describe task in terms of clearly described innovation

outputs

Transformation 8

Current Ideal

Incubator Family

Typical Dilemmas

Leadership negation of authority versus authority is personally

ascribed to the leader

Reconciliation: get the support of the leaders so they underline

themselves the importance of learning and creativity

They become servant leaders of learning

Management the power of learning around innovation versus the

power of politics and know-who

Reconciliation: celebrate the achievements of the present learning

environment, to take the best practices from them,personalize them and make them historical eventsRewards intrinsic reward self development versus reward

long-term loyalty

Reconciliation: members are personally held accountable for the long

term commitment to the company

of expertise and reliability

Reconciliation: decentralize the organization into more learning centers

where roles are described in a very sharp way andaimed at learning and innovation

Rewards intrinsic reward self development versus increasing

their expertise in doing a reliable job

Reconciliation: use creativity and knowledge to build reliable systems

and procedures enabling them to become even better

in their creations

Transformation away from a Family culture

(Transformations 10–12)

This is a situation we have observed frequently where dilemmas arisefor Western organizations in their effort to globalize their activities.Consider an American organization that thinks its Singaporean man-agement takes too long to make a decision All that consensus is fine,but it doesn’t serve well in times of urgency On the other hand, theSingaporeans think that the Americans make decisions too fast andwith insufficient thought, which therefore – no wonder – leads toproblems during implementation, partly because too few peoplehave been consulted

In contrast, we can all recognize the “quick-on-their-feet managers”who induce a “follow me, follow me” attitude On the otherextreme, we have observed Asians spending far too much of theirtime involving all kinds of ranks to gain consensus

The organization culture paradigm that reconciles these extremes isbest described by the notion of the servant leader, as previouslydescribed In this person you would find the parent figure that is sopopular in both Latin and Asian cultures He (stereotypically a “he”)acquires his authority from the way he serves his team through for-mulating and specifying the tasks of his colleagues with rigor andclarity

Transformation 10

Current Ideal

Family Incubator

Typical Dilemmas

Leadership authority is personally ascribed to leader versus

development of creative individuals

Reconciliation: to get the support of the leaders so they underline

themselves the importance of learning and creativity.They become servant leaders of learning

Management the power of politics and know-who versus the power

of learning

Reconciliation: take the best practices from the past, codify them, and

apply them to the present learning environmentRewards long-term loyalty versus intrinsic reward

self-development

Reconciliation: members are personally held accountable to motivate

creative individuals and creating learning environments

Transformation 11

Typical Dilemmas

Leadership authority is personally ascribed to the leader versus

depersonalized authority by taskReconciliation: attribute the highest authority to those managers that

have made internalization of subtle processes a primecriterion in their goals

Management the power of politics and know-who versus consistent

goal-orientation around taskReconciliation: make political sensitivity part of the task descriptionRewards reward long-term loyalty versus extrinsic reward job

doneReconciliation: describe task in terms of loosely described long-term

Typical Dilemmas

Leadership authority is personally ascribed to the leader versus

authority ascribed to the role

Reconciliation: management needs to understand the technical aspects

of the activities they manage They become servantleaders of experts

Management the power of politics and know-who versus of

expertise and reliability

Reconciliation: get the support of management for the implementation

of crucial systems and proceduresRewards reward long-term loyalty versus increasing their

expertise in doing a reliable job

Reconciliation: members apply their power to the advantage of

increasing the expertise of their colleagues

Example: current corporate culture: Guided Missile; ideal

corporate culture: Family

This is a commonly-desired corporate change and we have includedtwo examples here In the first, a US-based company – “Conflux” –

we assembled the following profile of their senior management:Amongst several dilemmas, the organization had particularly iden-tified the need to reconcile the following:

• Every business group was out for itself, making profit thatcredited their leader, versus every business group contributing

to Conflux’s overall success and helping all customers

• Striving to make incremental progress in terms of marketshare and profitability for the next quarter, versus needing aholistic and sustainable vision that can be shared with custom-ers for an overall sense of identity

• Preparing products for internal review to achieve internalbudgets, versus aligning product developments to meet cus-tomers’ needs