Cross-cultural Differences & Engineering Firms Cross-cultural issues also arise at the organizational level, because companies in different countries organize their daily business differently. Some of the most noticeable differences include the: • Relative hierarchy of departments. The relative power of the various departments within a corporation is often a function of the country where the corporation has its headquarters. For example, the manufacturing departments of German-based companies have influence over their marketing and sales counterparts that many Canadian and American manufacturing departments can only dream of. German manufacturing departments are often able to limit the number of products offered to a few options, thereby optimizing production and improving the quality of the products offered. By contrast, Canadian and American manufacturing departments tend to follow the lead of marketing and sales departments, which tend to favor a larger number of product options since this increases the probability of attracting a broader group of customers. These differences in the way products are manufactured and marketed create the need for different approaches to selling products and services. The same type of argument cannot be used to win customers in North America and Germany – whether through sales presentations or general marketing efforts. While North American customers look for flexibility and response speed in the products and services they purchase, German customers want durability, reliability, and quality. • Way information is shared and distributed. The way information moves within a company varies significantly from country to country. For example, in Germany, the flow of information tends to be fairly compartmentalized. Information flows within departments along hierarchical lines, and does not flow easily within a given hierarchical level or from department to department. In addition, Germans tend to share information with only those people they believe need to know the information. In Canadian companies, information tends to move within departments and to cross departmental boundaries more freely. It also tends to flow along the lines of communication networks used by individual employees. As a result, when working with German engineers as suppliers,
partners or customers, Canadian engineers are likely to receive less information than they would generally expect. A Canadian engineer supplying products or services to a German company may not receive all of the information he or she believes is necessary to fulfill orders or complete projects on time, resulting in either missed deadlines or incomplete orders. • Hiring process. Cross-cultural differences are fairly significant in this area. For example, people interviewed for positions in France will be asked personal questions that are considered illegal in Canada, such as their age, marital status and number of children, while German interviewers routinely ask candidates for the profession of their parents. More importantly, there are significant differences in the types of skills that companies in different countries look for in candidates. In France, for example, large corporations expect their engineers to work for them throughout much of their careers. They therefore tend to hire graduate engineers who appear to have longterm potential and create jobs for these engineers. As a result, large French companies tend to emphasize specific technical knowledge less and soft skills more than Canadian ones. HOW TO MANAGE CROSS CULTURAL ISSUES Here are a few tips that will help avoid miscommunication: • Clarify: When in doubt, ask; if not, ask anyway. It’s important to ensure that your foreign colleagues have understood everything you meant to say and nothing else. Ask them to feed you back what you have told them in their own words. This will help you discover and address any major misunderstandings. • Get into the details: Although it’s often tempting to agree on general principles and leave details to further discussions for brevity’s sake, this can create major problems at later stages. Indeed, an agreement on general principles may turn out to be empty, if it is not tested through negotiation on the finer details. • Summarize: The time taken to summarize the decisions made during a meeting and to issue minutes to all participants is often a
good investment. It helps to prevent future challenges of decisions reached at meetings and to ensure that action items agreed to at meetings are actually implemented. • Simplify: Use simple words that are easily understood and be consistent. Using synonyms can confuse your non-Canadian counterparts unnecessarily, particularly if they are not native English speakers. For similar reasons, technical jargon should be avoided where possible and explained clearly when it must be used.
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partners or customers, Canadian engineers are likely to receive less information than they would generally expect. A Canadian engineer supplying products or services to a German company may not receive all of the information he or she believes is necessary to fulfill orders or complete projects on time, resulting in either missed deadlines or incomplete orders. • Hiring process. Cross-cultural differences are fairly significant in this area. For example, people interviewed for positions in France will be asked personal questions that are considered illegal in Canada, such as their age, marital status and number of children, while German interviewers routinely ask candidates for the profession of their parents. More importantly, there are significant differences in the types of skills that companies in different countries look for in candidates. In France, for example, large corporations expect their engineers to work for them throughout much of their careers. They therefore tend to hire graduate engineers who appear to have longterm potential and create jobs for these engineers. As a result, large French companies tend to emphasize specific technical knowledge less and soft skills more than Canadian ones. HOW TO MANAGE CROSS CULTURAL ISSUES Here are a few tips that will help avoid miscommunication: • Clarify: When in doubt, ask; if not, ask anyway. It’s important to ensure that your foreign colleagues have understood everything you meant to say and nothing else. Ask them to feed you back what you have told them in their own words. This will help you discover and address any major misunderstandings. • Get into the details: Although it’s often tempting to agree on general principles and leave details to further discussions for brevity’s sake, this can create major problems at later stages. Indeed, an agreement on general principles may turn out to be empty, if it is not tested through negotiation on the finer details. • Summarize: The time taken to summarize the decisions made during a meeting and to issue minutes to all participants is often a
good investment. It helps to prevent future challenges of decisions reached at meetings and to ensure that action items agreed to at meetings are actually implemented. • Simplify: Use simple words that are easily understood and be consistent. Using synonyms can confuse your non-Canadian counterparts unnecessarily, particularly if they are not native English speakers. For similar reasons, technical jargon should be avoided where possible and explained clearly when it must be used.
doc_345662433.doc