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Friday November 21st, 2008 |
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The End Of The Ugly American Business Person - By Fernando A. Pargas Professor of Management, James Madison University
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No wonder, that as American managers we have a hard time succeeding overseas, when we fail to understand our employees' cultural differences. |
I remember having a conversation with one of my ex-bosses, a man whom I respected and trusted, the president of the company. I was explaining to him what I saw as a major flaw in my department.
'The problem we have in International is that the folks here in the U.S. think that we are the only ones with brains, experience, education and common sense, and that everyone else in all the other countries where we do business are idiots.' I appreciated the candor of his response--this was not a man who was afraid of saying what was on his mind-but I was still shocked by his comment: 'That may be my fault, Fernando, because that is how I think.'
Surely, I thought, this must be a unique situation, perhaps the poorly formulated opinion of a man who was a brilliant CEO but who otherwise didn't have much international experience. But as I searched through my mental file of my entire career, and spoke with other executives, professors, friends and co-workers overseas, I began to realize that the erroneous perception of American businesspeople that 'we know better' is prevalent and widespread.
The Aussies, in their wonderful approach to Americans that seems to demote us to naughty children who should be laughed at and put up with rather than punished, complained to me about it. The Chinese resented it. The Japanese thought it was barbaric. The Canadians rolled their eyes with that 'our neighbors to the south are at it again' approach. The Dutch couldn't understand what the fuss was about and why we didn't 'get it.' The British found it offensive. The Irish didn't care...
I teach students in my undergraduate Management class that the results of a study in which two experts interviewed 62 executives from around the world indicated that 'derailed' managers (defined as those who did not live up to their peers' and superiors' high expectations) reportedly suffered from the following shortcomings: 'problems with interpersonal relationships,' 'failure to build and lead a team,' 'failure to meet business objectives' and 'inability to change and adapt during a transition.' The first two are applicable to managing businesses internationally.
It is no wonder then, that as American managers we have a hard time succeeding overseas, when we not only fail to understand our employees' cultural differences, but actually believe that they are inept and that we always know better. The source of these managers' ignorance is a mystery to me. Is it that they don't actually have any real international experience-that they are simply thrown into it and forced to sink or swim? There is some of that to be sure. Is it that they are ethnocentric and don't seem to find any redeeming quality to anything or anyone outside of the U.S.? Is our schooling, and the social and political pressure to appear 'patriotic' from an early age, causing us to distrust the rest of the world? If so, this is a major problem, and our business suffers for it. Once you work with people from other countries you realize that overall, we Americans have much to offer...and so do they. My experience has convinced me that with two Hong Kong Chinese I can conquer the world. They are unafraid of obstacles, they are efficient, they don't whine and they get things done without much of a fuss. I have often heard ethnocentric comments about Mexican workers being lazy, yet this is a far cry from the truth. Never mind the backbreaking labor that Mexican immigrants perform in the U.S., which can hardly be characterized as lazy, but my staff in our Mexico City office put in extra hours and were often still at work long after all of us at the Washington office had gone home. And we have a lot to learn from the Dutch, who from time immemorial have been successful traders throughout the world. Their secret: speak other languages, be open and accepting, venture beyond your borders, and live and let live.
The great lesson my ex-boss taught me was that because HE thought that way, his thinking permeated the rest of the management team and beyond, infecting the entire organization. After all, the fish does smell from the head. As I help my students become successful managers, one of the greatest challenges I face is preparing them for what is now a truly global marketplace. If you 'don't play well with others' in this world arena, you will get kicked out of the sandbox. Far from feeling threatened or intimidated by our foreign staff, or worse, rather than feel so superior to our foreign staff, we should manage in a way that takes advantage of the unique contributions of each country, each culture, each person. If you micromanage with your mindset as an American in a country whose culture you don't understand, step back, listen more and talk less. Give fewer instructions and ask for more ideas. After all, do we want to feed our ego by convincing ourselves of our superiority, or do we want to improve lives throughout the world, develop people, and run profitable businesses? The ugly American is dead. The global manager is born.
Fernando Parga
College of Business
James Madison University
Harrisonburg, Virginia
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