英国HRM study -外籍领导面临的挑战
08-07, 2015
许多企业把业务推向国际化层面，其中商业的全球化和技术的先进性起着决定性作用。跨国公司也越来越多，与此同时，在业务操作过程中也有许多跨文化差异问题出现。
企业比以往任何时候都更积极了解如何在国际环境下更有效率经营业务，以及文化差异是如何影响他们的业务。在其它国家的子公司遇到与不同级别公司之间的沟通问题，在管理多元文化团队时，他们更加关注要想达到一个有效沟通所遇到的一些壁垒。
定性研究的目的和设计—Purpose and design of qualitative study
对来自不同国家的公司，具有不同文化背景的外籍管理人士(不同国籍、年龄、工作经验)进行了5次采访。进行访谈的目的是探讨，了解多元文化的背景下对沟通造成的影响。这种访谈也是为了作出评估。从个人的角度来看，外籍人士在工作上的经验、观点、情感和策略方面做出了努力，以应对文化挑战，促进彼此之间的交流。
The globalization of business and the advancement in technology determine many organizations to extend their activities in an international context. International companies became increasingly prevalent and along with this, many cross-cultural differences appeared in their business operations.
Companies are more than ever interested in understanding how they can operate more effectively in an international environment and how the differences associated with the cross-culture influence their business. Organizations with subsidiaries in other countries encounter on different firm levels communication issues and they have paid more attention to understanding the barriers encountered in achieving an effective communication when managing multi-cultural teams.
定性研究的目的和设计—Purpose and design of qualitative study
The 5 interviews were conducted with expatriates who work on managerial positions in different foreign countries and have different cultural values (different nationalities, ages, degrees of experience on international assignments) and styles of communication. The purpose of conducting the interviews was to explore the influence that communication issues has in a multi-cultural context. The interviews also aimed to assess, from an individual perspective, the experiences, opinions, feelings and tactics that expatriates use in order to cope with cultural challenges and facilitate the communication flow.
Data was collected using a guide of interview and the structure followed the main objectives of the paper: gather basic information related to the interviewees, assessing to what extend they had previous interactions with the host nation cultural aspects and identify the main triggers and barriers that enable an effective communication when working with local employees.
#p#分页标题#e#
跨文化交流在国外子公司中的重要性—The Significance of Intercultural Communication in Foreign Subsidiaries
An "expatriate" can be defined as the person who lives and works in a foreign country, being sent abroad by his company on a temporary basis (Andreason, 2003)
The findings of the interviews show that inter-cultural communication represents a huge challenge for managers. Furthermore, the analysis indicates that employee's values and behavior in relation to people from different culture represents important barriers in achieving an effective communication. These barriers can be explained by the fact that cultural "baggage" has an important influence on how people think and behave which leads, in the end, to inter-cultural challenges.
Therefore, the investigation outlines there are two major interrelated components that enable communication in a multinational firm: culture and language. Our findings are confirmed by the literature review according to which culture and language are two inseparable concepts that influence each other in an interactively way (Selmer, 2006).
Language challenges represent a major barrier to achieving an effective communication. Even though language barriers can be relatively easily put aside by translators, translation software or linguistically competent employees (Peltokorpi, 2010), the ability to speak the host language in fluent manner facilitates a better interaction with the local employees which can be translated into a growth in job performance and a more productive collaboration. Although it is acknowledged that being able to communicate with local people in their language is a huge advantage ('Most important aspect that ensure a good working environment language skills for understanding the others point of view and not to say something that could offend the local employees' - Romanian manager working in Germany), he admitted that he could only have a basic discussion in German. He uses English as the master language and he benefits of the support of another employee most of the cases, but the need to understand the underlying message it is not covered all the time.
When it comes to analyze the other component that enables an efficient communication, culture is defined by Hofstede (1997) as "the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another." Hence, culture is a broad concept that refers to the different ways in which people act and behave in particular context, but also to how they expect other people to behave in similar situations.
A first important insight from our analysis is that having knowledge of the local community and knowing what are its vision towards both social and work values may facilitate better interactions. This is consistent with Gudykunst's findings according to which one can take advantage of his 'knowledge of cultural similarities and differences in communication' in order to explain other people behaviour (Gudykunst, 2003).#p#分页标题#e#
At the same time, Hofstede (1984) outlines that the adjustment to a new culture is directly dependent on the distance in the foreign culture and the expatriate own culture. The role plaid by the culture differences represents a salient factor in achieving an effective communication. This is also in line with our findings. Asked to mention what were the biggest challenges that they had to face when interacting with local employees, all 5 expatriates pointed out the cultural differences. It appeared that the more culturally different is their country than the one they are working now, the more likely is that expatriate managers to experience more difficulties when interacting with local employees.
British manager in Spain says: 'Nothing is easy, but culture is generally the most difficult challenge because it has such a wide impact and its impact and evidence are unpredictable'
Romanian manager in Germany says: 'Understanding the style of communication and differences in culture were the most important challenges I faced when first arrived in Germany'
On the contrary, a Serbian manager working in Hungary share its experience 'Comparing to Yugoslavia where I grew up and had my first work experiences, the change did not seam too dramatic'
Black (1988) found that prior experience in international assignments and pre-departure knowledge of the local community enables better work interactions by understanding the cultural differences and accepting the general culture. Our findings come to confirm this evidence and it resulted that those expatriates with prior knowledge of the host country (both language and cultural knowledge) managed to adapt more rapidly to the new cultural workplace: 'Having a postgraduate degree in History of Central and Eastern Europe I consider my knowledge and understanding of Hungarian culture and history above the average' (Serbian manager working in Hungary), but 'This was my first international assignment. I didn't know too much things about Belgium. Instead, I had knowledge of French people and I thought this will help me to develop good interactions. In my first months I realized there is a big difference between France and Belgium in what concern the style of communication' (Romanian manager working in Belgium)
Moreover, the in-depth analysis of the interviews showed an interesting aspect regarding the relation between the distance in countries' cultural differences and prior international experience or knowledge. Although the French manager had personal interest in learning about Chinese culture and attended a pre-departure training (a master degree specialized on Asia and more specifically on China) he experienced stress issues when first arrived in China and many difficulties in establishing productive collaboration with local employees. Hence, we can underline the prevalent importance of cultural differences over the interest of learning about the host community. The cultural shock and the symptoms, like anxiety and worry and reduction in job performance (Marx, 2001) that he experienced, lasted for about 6 months: 'When I arrived, I was very easily pissed, shouting on people, having an aggressive attitude, … 6 months later, I was quite depressed as it seems nobody would listen to me... then I understood that shouting or expressing in "front line" the negative things was not the way to manage properly my projects. I had to become more diplomatic, find some compromises, you have to be like the bamboo under snow: you bend a little to adapt yourself, otherwise you will just break. Basically it's either "you love (adapt) China or you leave China" (French manager working in China).#p#分页标题#e#
Therefore, cultural influence represents challenges to managers. They have to learn how to cope with these communication differences and ensure collaborative interactions. Expatriate managers have to adjust themselves to the cultural specific of the host country and overcome the communication barriers making changes in their management style (including formal and informal communication) and understanding the staff behaviours and the communication system of the organization (He and Jianchao, 2010):
'Now I understand local tendencies, I have decided and communicated the norms of communication….. On the other hand, our management meetings begin on time, with only one conversation at any one time and no interrupting' (British manager in Spain).
'People usually speak very loud … Rather than "imposing" my view and my method; I tend to adopt a "smoother" management style' (French manager in China).
Belgium don't speak straight forward and this way they seek to avoid conflict situation. But, sometimes it results in growing tensions that are usually disrupting the working relationships' (Romanian manager in Belgium).
The answers collected from the expatriate managers underline that adapting your thinking to the local values and behaviours represents the key of ensuring an effective communication. Therefore, cross-cultural adjustment means that expatriate managers have to learn how to cope with the issues encountered when communicating with other people in a new social and cultural environment.
The results of the study showed another interesting thing. When asked to mention some communication habits, all 5 managers were able to provide detailed explanations. Moreover, they have provided valuable insights regarding the strategies adopted to cope with these local particularities. The common point of these strategies is represented by an understanding of local habits, communication style - high and low context communication (Hooker, 2008) and ways of managing people - rule-based and relationship-based cultures (Now, after more than 2 years in Germany I can say I have adopted their communication style - I am direct when discussing with people and I think that truth is more important than diplomacy. This thinking is not very common in Romania (Romanian manager working in Germany).
Following the same idea, asked to define the "team work" term in a local acceptance and mention the key dimensions of it, the answers received reflected their effort to integrate themselves into the local cultural context.
Participants who took part in the study compared the local acceptance of the concept with their prior experience which shows that culture is a salient factor that enables the communication. 'There is somewhat stronger need for leadership within the teal concept' (Serbian manager in Hungary) or 'If there is any Spanish understanding of team work, it would be limited to seniority groups. There may be team work amongst employees but culturally there would be no team work between employees and manager (British manager in Spain)#p#分页标题#e#
Based on prior experience and learning about the local multi-cultural differences, managers were able to evaluate their position in the new cultural environment.
总结—Summary
The role of communication in business relations becomes increasingly essential along with the tendency of organizations to extend their activities in an international context. Due to the fact business implies collaboration between people which enhance the team work, cultural differences represents big challenges to managers.
Analyzing the insights collected during the 5 interview, we can conclude that culture has a decisive influence on organizational communication. Having a good knowledge of the language and host nation values becomes essential in creating productive interactions between the expatriate person and local employee which will lead to a sustainable development of the co
企业比以往任何时候都更积极了解如何在国际环境下更有效率经营业务，以及文化差异是如何影响他们的业务。在其它国家的子公司遇到与不同级别公司之间的沟通问题，在管理多元文化团队时，他们更加关注要想达到一个有效沟通所遇到的一些壁垒。
定性研究的目的和设计—Purpose and design of qualitative study
对来自不同国家的公司，具有不同文化背景的外籍管理人士(不同国籍、年龄、工作经验)进行了5次采访。进行访谈的目的是探讨，了解多元文化的背景下对沟通造成的影响。这种访谈也是为了作出评估。从个人的角度来看，外籍人士在工作上的经验、观点、情感和策略方面做出了努力，以应对文化挑战，促进彼此之间的交流。
The globalization of business and the advancement in technology determine many organizations to extend their activities in an international context. International companies became increasingly prevalent and along with this, many cross-cultural differences appeared in their business operations.
Companies are more than ever interested in understanding how they can operate more effectively in an international environment and how the differences associated with the cross-culture influence their business. Organizations with subsidiaries in other countries encounter on different firm levels communication issues and they have paid more attention to understanding the barriers encountered in achieving an effective communication when managing multi-cultural teams.
定性研究的目的和设计—Purpose and design of qualitative study
The 5 interviews were conducted with expatriates who work on managerial positions in different foreign countries and have different cultural values (different nationalities, ages, degrees of experience on international assignments) and styles of communication. The purpose of conducting the interviews was to explore the influence that communication issues has in a multi-cultural context. The interviews also aimed to assess, from an individual perspective, the experiences, opinions, feelings and tactics that expatriates use in order to cope with cultural challenges and facilitate the communication flow.
Data was collected using a guide of interview and the structure followed the main objectives of the paper: gather basic information related to the interviewees, assessing to what extend they had previous interactions with the host nation cultural aspects and identify the main triggers and barriers that enable an effective communication when working with local employees.
#p#分页标题#e#
跨文化交流在国外子公司中的重要性—The Significance of Intercultural Communication in Foreign Subsidiaries
An "expatriate" can be defined as the person who lives and works in a foreign country, being sent abroad by his company on a temporary basis (Andreason, 2003)
The findings of the interviews show that inter-cultural communication represents a huge challenge for managers. Furthermore, the analysis indicates that employee's values and behavior in relation to people from different culture represents important barriers in achieving an effective communication. These barriers can be explained by the fact that cultural "baggage" has an important influence on how people think and behave which leads, in the end, to inter-cultural challenges.
Therefore, the investigation outlines there are two major interrelated components that enable communication in a multinational firm: culture and language. Our findings are confirmed by the literature review according to which culture and language are two inseparable concepts that influence each other in an interactively way (Selmer, 2006).
Language challenges represent a major barrier to achieving an effective communication. Even though language barriers can be relatively easily put aside by translators, translation software or linguistically competent employees (Peltokorpi, 2010), the ability to speak the host language in fluent manner facilitates a better interaction with the local employees which can be translated into a growth in job performance and a more productive collaboration. Although it is acknowledged that being able to communicate with local people in their language is a huge advantage ('Most important aspect that ensure a good working environment language skills for understanding the others point of view and not to say something that could offend the local employees' - Romanian manager working in Germany), he admitted that he could only have a basic discussion in German. He uses English as the master language and he benefits of the support of another employee most of the cases, but the need to understand the underlying message it is not covered all the time.
When it comes to analyze the other component that enables an efficient communication, culture is defined by Hofstede (1997) as "the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another." Hence, culture is a broad concept that refers to the different ways in which people act and behave in particular context, but also to how they expect other people to behave in similar situations.
A first important insight from our analysis is that having knowledge of the local community and knowing what are its vision towards both social and work values may facilitate better interactions. This is consistent with Gudykunst's findings according to which one can take advantage of his 'knowledge of cultural similarities and differences in communication' in order to explain other people behaviour (Gudykunst, 2003).#p#分页标题#e#
At the same time, Hofstede (1984) outlines that the adjustment to a new culture is directly dependent on the distance in the foreign culture and the expatriate own culture. The role plaid by the culture differences represents a salient factor in achieving an effective communication. This is also in line with our findings. Asked to mention what were the biggest challenges that they had to face when interacting with local employees, all 5 expatriates pointed out the cultural differences. It appeared that the more culturally different is their country than the one they are working now, the more likely is that expatriate managers to experience more difficulties when interacting with local employees.
British manager in Spain says: 'Nothing is easy, but culture is generally the most difficult challenge because it has such a wide impact and its impact and evidence are unpredictable'
Romanian manager in Germany says: 'Understanding the style of communication and differences in culture were the most important challenges I faced when first arrived in Germany'
On the contrary, a Serbian manager working in Hungary share its experience 'Comparing to Yugoslavia where I grew up and had my first work experiences, the change did not seam too dramatic'
Black (1988) found that prior experience in international assignments and pre-departure knowledge of the local community enables better work interactions by understanding the cultural differences and accepting the general culture. Our findings come to confirm this evidence and it resulted that those expatriates with prior knowledge of the host country (both language and cultural knowledge) managed to adapt more rapidly to the new cultural workplace: 'Having a postgraduate degree in History of Central and Eastern Europe I consider my knowledge and understanding of Hungarian culture and history above the average' (Serbian manager working in Hungary), but 'This was my first international assignment. I didn't know too much things about Belgium. Instead, I had knowledge of French people and I thought this will help me to develop good interactions. In my first months I realized there is a big difference between France and Belgium in what concern the style of communication' (Romanian manager working in Belgium)
Moreover, the in-depth analysis of the interviews showed an interesting aspect regarding the relation between the distance in countries' cultural differences and prior international experience or knowledge. Although the French manager had personal interest in learning about Chinese culture and attended a pre-departure training (a master degree specialized on Asia and more specifically on China) he experienced stress issues when first arrived in China and many difficulties in establishing productive collaboration with local employees. Hence, we can underline the prevalent importance of cultural differences over the interest of learning about the host community. The cultural shock and the symptoms, like anxiety and worry and reduction in job performance (Marx, 2001) that he experienced, lasted for about 6 months: 'When I arrived, I was very easily pissed, shouting on people, having an aggressive attitude, … 6 months later, I was quite depressed as it seems nobody would listen to me... then I understood that shouting or expressing in "front line" the negative things was not the way to manage properly my projects. I had to become more diplomatic, find some compromises, you have to be like the bamboo under snow: you bend a little to adapt yourself, otherwise you will just break. Basically it's either "you love (adapt) China or you leave China" (French manager working in China).#p#分页标题#e#
Therefore, cultural influence represents challenges to managers. They have to learn how to cope with these communication differences and ensure collaborative interactions. Expatriate managers have to adjust themselves to the cultural specific of the host country and overcome the communication barriers making changes in their management style (including formal and informal communication) and understanding the staff behaviours and the communication system of the organization (He and Jianchao, 2010):
'Now I understand local tendencies, I have decided and communicated the norms of communication….. On the other hand, our management meetings begin on time, with only one conversation at any one time and no interrupting' (British manager in Spain).
'People usually speak very loud … Rather than "imposing" my view and my method; I tend to adopt a "smoother" management style' (French manager in China).
Belgium don't speak straight forward and this way they seek to avoid conflict situation. But, sometimes it results in growing tensions that are usually disrupting the working relationships' (Romanian manager in Belgium).
The answers collected from the expatriate managers underline that adapting your thinking to the local values and behaviours represents the key of ensuring an effective communication. Therefore, cross-cultural adjustment means that expatriate managers have to learn how to cope with the issues encountered when communicating with other people in a new social and cultural environment.
The results of the study showed another interesting thing. When asked to mention some communication habits, all 5 managers were able to provide detailed explanations. Moreover, they have provided valuable insights regarding the strategies adopted to cope with these local particularities. The common point of these strategies is represented by an understanding of local habits, communication style - high and low context communication (Hooker, 2008) and ways of managing people - rule-based and relationship-based cultures (Now, after more than 2 years in Germany I can say I have adopted their communication style - I am direct when discussing with people and I think that truth is more important than diplomacy. This thinking is not very common in Romania (Romanian manager working in Germany).
Following the same idea, asked to define the "team work" term in a local acceptance and mention the key dimensions of it, the answers received reflected their effort to integrate themselves into the local cultural context.
Participants who took part in the study compared the local acceptance of the concept with their prior experience which shows that culture is a salient factor that enables the communication. 'There is somewhat stronger need for leadership within the teal concept' (Serbian manager in Hungary) or 'If there is any Spanish understanding of team work, it would be limited to seniority groups. There may be team work amongst employees but culturally there would be no team work between employees and manager (British manager in Spain)#p#分页标题#e#
Based on prior experience and learning about the local multi-cultural differences, managers were able to evaluate their position in the new cultural environment.
总结—Summary
The role of communication in business relations becomes increasingly essential along with the tendency of organizations to extend their activities in an international context. Due to the fact business implies collaboration between people which enhance the team work, cultural differences represents big challenges to managers.
Analyzing the insights collected during the 5 interview, we can conclude that culture has a decisive influence on organizational communication. Having a good knowledge of the language and host nation values becomes essential in creating productive interactions between the expatriate person and local employee which will lead to a sustainable development of the co
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