Page 10 - Harnessing the Strengths

BACKGROUND

recently merged multinational has its fi rst meeting
with its new management team. The Americans are
Afull of anticipation, curious about their Japanese
colleagues’ opinion of the upcoming developments in the
stock market. However, there is an uncomfortable stillness
in the room. After several ever more desperate attempts to
get the conversation going, there is an awkwardness hang-
ing in the air. The Americans cannot understand why the
Japanese refuse to open their mouths and get a conversation
going, while the Japanese are at a loss as to why their new
colleagues are being so confrontational.
Similar situations occur on a daily basis, all over the
globe, wherever people work across cultures. In their own
cultures, their modus operandi is the norm; it is considered
socially acceptable, and, because of that, they never take a
moment to consider that there might be other ways that are
equally acceptable in other cultures—that is until they have
an experience with a new colleague from some other part
of the world, other organization, or other department, who
does things in a completely foreign way. And the way their
colleague does things is not only foreign but also, at least
from their point of view, less optimal. Ironically, the new

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