Managing Across Cultures

Overview

hether you run a giant corporation or work in a small business, it’s more than likely that you regularly deal with people of different cultures—from customers and suppliers to salespeople and colleagues.

It simply can’t be overstated: You will have trouble succeeding in business today if you don’t appreciate and know how to actively manage global cultural diversity. Managing Across Cultures examines why people around the world behave as they do and provides actionable tactics for succeeding in today’s global business environment.

Experts in the field of cross-cultural training, Michael Schell and Charlene Solomon describe seven readily recognizable behaviors and explain what they mean, how to interpret them, and most importantly, how to respond to them.

Managing Across Cultures is filled with case studies illustrating the importance of understanding and dealing with cultural differences in all aspects of business. You’ll learn how:

• Intel’s powerful global corporate culture is a critical element of its historic success
• Colgate-Palmolive integrates cultural understanding into its global marketing programs
• GE adapts its effective management style to local business cultures

You’ll also find out how underestimating cultural influence caused serious problems for organizations like DaimlerChrysler and Wal-Mart.

Managing Across Cultures takes you far beyond other books that simply catalog the customs, gestures, and language vagaries of other cultures. This in-depth, strategic guide will help in every facet of business—from hiring and motivating employees to developing winning sales pitches and marketing campaigns.

Table of contents

PART 1: Cultural Wisdom
1. Why Becoming CultureWise is More Important than Ever Before for Business Success
PART 2: What is Culture and What is Personal Style?
2. What is Culture? Understanding the CW Cultural Dimension and Your Personal Style
3. Hierarchy
4. Formality
5. Group Dependence
6. Relationships/Connections
7. Communication Styles
8. Time Orientation
9. Control
10. Motivation Work/Life Balance
PART 3: Putting CultureWise to Work
11. Creating a Global Mindset
12. Working with Diverse Colleagues and being on a Global Team
13. Effective Leadership Across Cultures: Creating Global Strategies to Manage Culturally Diverse Workforce
14. Special Issues Women Managers Encounter
15. Becoming CultureWise on an International Assignment

Biographical note

Charlene Marmer Solomon is executive
vice president of RW3, an organization that
designs and creates online cultural learning
tools. Through its CultureWizard Web sites
and blended learning programs, RW3 provides
online cultural training facilities for
dozens of the world’s leading global organizations.
Michael S. Schell is CEO and president of
RW3. He has founded and successfully managed
several global businesses, including
Windham International, the first integrated
global mobility and intercultural training organization,
and has been a pioneer in developing
intercultural training models.Solomon
and Schell are also the authors of Capitalizing
on the Global Workforce (McGraw-Hill).

Back cover copy

Effective management techniques
that cross all cultural boundaries

Managing Across Cultures examines seven behaviors common to all cultures and explains
how to pinpoint and interpret actions that might initially seem out of step with your way
of thinking and operating.

Business guides that take a situational approach just don’t cut it anymore. You need to do
more than learn the specific gestures of other cultures. You need a global mindset. You
need to strategize. You need Managing Across Cultures.

“This book provides a practical framework to help you understand and negotiate the
challenges of culture—I have used it with managers and MBA students alike!”
—Hans Brechbühl, Executive Director, Center for Digital Strategies and Adjunct Associate
Professor of Business, Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth College

“Cultural skill is a core competency for today’s business leaders, and as pointed out
in Managing Across Cultures it’s a learnable one. As a business learning professional,
I strongly recommend reading this practical and valuable book.”
—Nancy L. Brennock, Director of Textron University, Textron Inc.

“Managing Across Cultures is a must-read for anyone going to or thinking about
going to work in another country.”
—Andrew Walker, Head of Global Mobility, Thomson Reuters

“Managing Across Cultures is an engaging and comprehensive resource for anyone
who works—or will be working—across cultures. It is an excellent guide to help navigate
the complexities of working in the global marketplace.”
—Paula Caligiuri, Ph.D., Professor, Human Resource Management and
Director, Center for Human Resource Strategy at Rutgers University