It is the adventure of being far away and still feeling at home....

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martes, 9 de marzo de 2010

Doing business in Argentina: How do we deal with cross-cultural misunderstandigs at workplace?

Globalization multiplies our opportunities of interaction with clients, colleagues and managers living outside of Argentina who know little about el “asado del domingo”, the Argentine dulce de leche or the “viveza criolla”.
As Argentine professionals or expats working in Buenos Aires, we face frequently the challenge of working as part of multicultural teams.

Let´s imagine different scenarios.

An European Manager was just transferred to the company´s offices in Buenos to lead a team. Or we report to a Regional Vice-President in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Or our company sends us periodically to negoiate contract with Asian clients.
Each of these interactions across cultural boundaries confirms that the way of measuring professional success, the importance of business relationships and the concept of time management at workplace, among other variables, are far from being universally valid.

On the other hand, these elements depend more on cultural related contingencies than what we can imagine.

Consequently, Argentine professionals and expats intending to work or do business in Argentina need to give serious thoughts to those questions that our European neighbors –in their melting pot - have been asking themselves for many decades now.

How to deal with possible disagreements and cross-cultural misunderstandings at workplace? What role does the Argentine idiosyncrasy play in our performance and well being in business settings?
Following the contributions of worldwide renown Interculturalists, such as Gert Hofstede, we know that, when doing business with partners coming from other cultures, we could go down a wrong path  if we base our decisions merely on cultural practices from our home country. We need to become aware of the cultural glasses that color our worldview.

Therefore, it is as essential to identify our own values, attitudes and communication style, as much as exploring cultural preferences of our business counterparts.


Call me "Licenciado"
To apprehend the real impact of cultural differences, let´s think together about the following situation.

In business environments, should I report each of my decisions to my superior? Or only when there is a specific issue that needs to be solved? Is it expectable to treat my Manager as an equal and feel free to express disagreement? Or should I follow rules and orders without questioning? This issue sheds light on the concept of Hierarchy across cultures.

Here is an example of cross-cultural misunderstanding based on the way we define hierarchy.

In Argentine-based organizations, titles (such as “Doctor” or “Licenciado”) and rank in chain of command are synonyms of power and authority, and they must be respected as such. On the other hand, US culture considers equality and egalitarianism as highly regarded values. So US based organizations tend to be less hierarchical and expect less power distance between employees and Managers.

Le´ts take now this national differences to a cross-cultural management scenario in a multinational company.

How could a US Manager perceive an Argentine employee who doesn´t feel comfortable discussing and sharing freely his point of view with superiors?
And the other way around…

How do you think that an US employee can be perceived by an Argentine Manager if, “forgetting” his lower rank in the organization, the US employee insists on questioning decisions made by his superiors?


Developing intercultural competencies

Intercultural Training is an innovative solution that addresses the needs of Argentine organizations and foreign companies doing business with Argentina, who envision the importance of training their work teams to face the challenges of international assignments.

Intercultural Training programs helps us determine our cultural preferences and compare them with those of our foreign business partners we interact with on a daily basis.
Only by becoming aware of these differences, we will be able to bridge cultural gaps,  wear the shoes of our foreign counterparts and interact more effectively with their needs, wishes and concerns.

Beyond the concept of hierarchy, intercultural training focuses on developing intercultural competencies to improve our business and personal performance in a wide variety of aspects.
To mention a few examples:

Group dependence: Do I depend on resources of others? Or do I tend to rely on my own strength and knowledge?

Diversity receptivity: Do I prefer to be around people different or similar to me at workplace?

Status attainment: How do I measure success? Through accomplishing professional goals? Or by having fulfilling relationships with family and friends?





What other elements would you add to the list?
What other topics could cause cross-cultural misunderstanding in a multicultural work team?
Do you have any experiences to share? How did you bridge cultural differences?
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If you want to learn more about this topic, join our Presentation on "Working and Doing Business with Argentines" - Next Intercultural Coffee Meeting for Expats and Argentinos.

Friday 12th March, 6.30pm in Palermo.
Limited seats.

To confirm attendance, please send an email to nomadasglobales@gmail.com





1 comentario:

Alejandro Tornato dijo...

Hello Natalia,
This is once again a very good subject for a general discussion, and I believe that the reason is because it is in the work environment that possible cross-cultural misunderstandings can occur most often. We have to look at this situation from the very simple perspective that on average most working people these days spend more than eight (8) hours a day in their offices, interacting with other colleagues, including of course, managers, and in most cases, people from other departments as well.
Now, can anybody tell me, what a better and more conducive environmental pot for displaying and finding cultural differences among people than this, the daily working environment? It is understood, however, that in this question I am referring to a company located in Argentina, which perhaps is a subsidiary of a European company, or south asian company, where there are people of various cultures working together in one location.

From my own personal experience, I have to say that my only time working in Buenos Aires happened some years ago, when I did some research work at the Atomic Energy National Commission (Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica), as a Chemical Engineer in training. I was very fortunate to work under the direction of great and quite renowned scientists, who also happened to be professors in the Chemistry and Chemical Engineering departments of local universities. An excellent team to work with, and although it was a very professional group of highly technical individuals, and they all worked very hard, but the general atmosphere was quite relaxed. However, one very striking characteristic to realize was that in such an easy going kind of environment, the relationships between managers and subordinates were formal, with a high level of respect, and the hierarchy of positions and titles was also respected and used consistently. Everyone was addressed by their respective titles, for example, Dr., Ing., Lic., etc; titles in pretty much the whole of Latin América are very important to help define a person professionally.

I do believe that compared to, for example, the working culture in the United States where the environment is much more regimented, and in general work is more rigid and structured, it is a bit more difficult to find a relaxed work environment; however, this varies from company to company. Now, very different from the Latin American custom with professional titles, Americans do not pay too much attention when it comes to titles, except in the cases of medical doctors, or professionals who have achieved their Phd's in their specialties. You see, the important thing in an American company is not your title, as much as your contributions and results from your daily work to projects that would benefit the company. However, the relationships between managers and employees below them is more equal and in some cases you may have more latitude to express your opinions and suggest possible changes that will help in positive results.

Thank you for another opportunity to share my thoughts and personal experiences with everyone in this forum.

Alejandro