Intercultural Awareness in Business

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The human and organisational challenges of globalisation are immense, and culture, both organisational and national, presents itself as a key factor to take into consideration. Cross-cultural effectiveness requires more than common sense, and the pursuit of cross-cultural fluency is an essential tool in helping global businesses increase their competitive advantage. Indeed, research findings suggest that companies of the future will be populated by people who can look at organisational challenges from several cultural perspectives.

In the highly competitive and fast changing international business world of today, we need to get it right, and get it right first time. Whether we are presenting our ideas to an audience from another culture or negotiating with them, culture, theirs and ours, will impact on how we are perceived, and more importantly on our success. Their ideas about what makes a good communicator may be very different from ours, and what is a permissible negotiation tactic in our culture may be abhorrent in another. Furthermore, whilst it is important to consider what others admire most about our culture, we must be realistic enough to research what they admire least about our culture.

Being an international manager requires many competencies and personal characteristics. Unbridled inquisitiveness, patience, depth of field and self-awareness are some of these characteristics. However, this is only the beginning. International leaders need to acquire both operational tools and practical skills that will help them articulate their thinking and subject their culture to some rigorous analysis.

The dilemma that faces most international organisations is simple to diagnose but highly complex in nature. How do we become more global without loosing our sense of identity? This is a real issue that faces international airlines and technology firms alike. What do we globalise and what do we localise? What added value do we bring to our international clients, and what are our non-negotiables? Is there a right answer that cuts across all organisations, or does it depend on what they do, how long have they been doing it?

Working with different cultures becomes all the more rewarding when we know what we should be looking out for, and when we are able to recognise our own strengths and weaknesses. Working within a multinational team need not be a daunting task if we recognise the advantages and disadvantages that multi-national teams bring.

Visit the Programme Details page to access information on our range of intercultural management training programmes