Description
Cultural difference is the variation in the quality of a society or person based on race, language, sexual orientation, religion and nationality. The term can also also refer to diversity regarding art, scholarly pursuit and manners among many other factors.
A PDI Research Report
Cultural Differences in a Shrinking World: Leadership Implications
Prepared by:
Robert E. Lewis, Ph.D.
January 2006
Cultural Differences in a Shrinking World: Leadership Implications A PDI Research Report
Executive Summary
Our world is shrinking. Witness the evolution of the internet and the 24/7 work environment. Software projects are shipped from Palo Alto to Bangalore to Dublin and back on a 24-hour cycle. It is common now to source components from one country, assemble them into products in a second country, and sell those goods in a third. Thus, work often occurs, and must be managed and coordinated, on a global basis. These changes have happened with no real attention paid to the people who must perform this work. Email, phone conferences, and videoconferences have enabled work to be done faster, but there’s no evidence we’re managing global project teams better or preparing/training people for the prospect of managing or working for someone who is from a very different cultural background. Following up on the common observation that disagreements often arise not from what people communicate, but how they communicate it, PDI engaged in a major study to analyze personality and behaviors of managers and executives across the world. Two large samples of data (one in excess of 12,000 managers and executives, the other in excess of 18,000) lend unique insights into the personality and behavior profiles that characterize leaders across the globe. In summary, we find: • Personality matters: Two key personality traits must be considered when staffing positions that involve global work. • The personality profile of executives across the globe is slightly, yet significantly, different than that of managers. • Managers and executives across the globe value competences and behaviors differently. Thus, what defines a “high performer” changes from country to country—a crucial finding if your challenge is to identify high potential talent and manage performance globally. Well-crafted personality and behavior assessment measures can help you capitalize on these differences and build a high-performing global team.
©
2006 Personnel Decisions International
1
Cultural Differences in a Shrinking World: Leadership Implications A PDI Research Report
Pressures to perform globally—to coordinate operations and produce results across the world—have increased markedly. PDI undertook an analysis of tens of thousands of managers and executives from all over the world to determine the personality traits and behavioral demands that characterize global work. In this report the case is built that changes in the world of work and the speed at which work must be coordinated and sourced around the work make the personalities of those who do that work more important than ever.
Global Work has Changed
In the past, working “globally” typically meant taking an extended assignment in another country and executing “corporate” strategies locally. There were few opportunities to create local products (since the cost of changing production lines was too great) and the most frequent accommodation made for export was to translate the label into the local language. The world of work has changed in significant ways, outlined in Table 1. From “Crossing Borders to Work” Multi-year assignments to a foreign country accompanied by family. Corporate direction executed locally. Little budget for customization or tailoring. To “Working Across Borders” Shorter assignments without family. Emphasis on developing local talent. Mass customization allows tailoring of products. Local ideas formally incorporated in product designs.
Focus on a single country or continent. Worldwide sourcing and coordination among suppliers, customers, and coworkers. Little emphasis on expatriate assignments or repatriation Need for global project management skills and skill in communicating frequently with those in other cultures.
Table 1. A comparison of influences on the nature of global work.
©
2006 Personnel Decisions International
2
Assignments are shorter now, and are much less likely to involve re-locating one’s family, which typically was viewed as the most risky element of sending an executive or manager on an expatriate assignment. “Mass customization” production processes, the introduction of the internet, and the rise of global sourcing and manufacturing networks have made it easier to design products and services to meet local needs and, at the same time, have heightened the need to have local input into product design and local talent. Whereas in the past managers and executives often took expatriate assignments with no clear path “home”—and generally no good use of the skills they had developed as expatriates—there is now much more emphasis on hiring employees with global skill sets. In essence, global work used to occur when managers and executives crossed borders. Now, a finance manager in the Midwest plains of the U.S. can communicate with a vendor in Asia and a customer in Europe without leaving his/her hometown. In a world where software development projects are worked on 24 hours a day as they are shipped from Palo Alto to Bangalore to Dublin the need for workers who can speak in global terms, and managers who can manage in global terms, is profound.
The Success Formula for Global Workers has Changed
The implications of these changes are clear. More interaction with project team members in other countries, and with other cultural backgrounds, places more emphasis on the interpersonal and management skills of your staff. Yet, how well do you train an IT manager in charge of a global development project, or a finance manager working with a vendor a continent away, to deal with cultural and communication issues that naturally arise when working across cultures? Chances are you don’t train them very well. Contrast that with the training typically given a manager or executive embarking on an expatriate assignment. This person, and his or her family, would often get several weeks, sometimes months, of language skill training, cultural training, and assistance with acculturation. Yet, we expect managers and executives to oversee global project teams, call centers, and production facilities via phone and videoconferences and emails with nearly no preparation. Thus, the factors that lead to success when working globally have changed. It is no longer enough to simply be a high performer. Global workers now must possess the flexibility to match their personal and communication style with those of their global team members. They must have project management and communication skills that allow them to manage events and coordinate processes all over the world.
©
2006 Personnel Decisions International
3
The Role of Personality
If you don’t train people to perform globally then you, by default, are relying on their typical pattern of behaviors. In other words, their personality. Fortunately, personality assessment has advanced greatly and it is possible now to compare personality profiles from across the globe to thousands of managers and executives. These comparisons are possible for two reasons. First, we now have a truly global personality tool. Second, the field of psychology has come to broad agreement on how personality tests across the world should be interpreted. Let’s consider each in turn. The Global Personality Inventory PDI developed the Global Personality Inventory (GPI) in the late 1990s in response to the need for a personality instrument focused on the characteristics of managers and executives across the world. Teams of academic and consulting psychologists in North America, Asia, South America and Europe contributed items, which were translated and back-translated and then tested on thousands of managers and executives as well as over 1000 non-managers. This rigorous development and norming process resulted in a personality instrument that provides comparable results across cultures. The GPI is available in 13 languages and to date has been used to collect data on over 30,000 managers and executives worldwide. The Big Five The early 1990s saw a major advance in personality testing. Research investigating personality tests – large-scale analyses of dozens of tests over a 70-year time span — revealed that personality in general could be collapsed into five broad dimensions known as the “Big Five” personality model. This model dates to the 1930s, was replicated in the 1940s, and corroborated in major review studies every decade since. The Big Five factors, with brief definitions, are included in Table 2. These five key personality factors are quite stable, have been found to apply across the world and, because they are based on an analysis of dozens of personality instruments administered over decades, are not likely to change.
Personality Traits that Matter
To determine the personality traits that matter across the globe a large sample (12,000+) of manager and executive GPI profiles were drawn. Since the intent of this analysis is to determine how the personalities of managers and executives differ across the globe, each
©
2006 Personnel Decisions International
4
Extroversion
At one end of the continuum… At the other… Process data with others Avoids stimulation when Solves problems by talking thinking Prefers to work individually Seeks experiences Open to new thinking Diligent focus on goals Values duty Seeks harmony Puts group needs above individual Feels emotions strongly Emotions change quickly Avoids change Prefers status quo Spontaneous and flexible Adapts to changing demands Not concerned about appropriateness Puts individual needs first Muted emotional feelings Intellectualizes problems
Openness
Conscientiousness
Agreeableness
Emotional Balance
Table 2. Brief descriptions of the Big Five personality dimensions. person in this sample was categorized by country based where his/her formative years were spent. This sample represents twelve countries across the globe: the US, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, the Netherlands and the UK. The individuals in this sample are highly experienced; our manager sample averages more than 12 years of work experience and our executive sample averages over 23 years. Two of the Big Five personality dimensions reliably distinguish among countries in this sample: Emotional Balance and Agreeableness (see Figure 1). Countries are plotted by these two traits in Figure 2. Northern Europeans tend to be on the muted/suppressed side of the Emotional Balance dimension and the blunt/individual side of the Agreeableness dimension. Asians and those from the Middle East score quite the opposite. Their Emotional Balance scores reveal a tendency to feel emotions swiftly based on their environment or context while at the same time their scores on Agreeableness indicate a tendency to avoid conflict and promote group harmony.
©
2006 Personnel Decisions International
5
Blunt and straightforward; expresses self without reservations.
Accommodating; seeks to promote harmony; will withhold own opinions to help the group.
Agreeableness
Quick and deeply felt emotional reactions; tendency to experience peaks and valleys. Calm, reasoned emotional reactions; even-keeled sometimes to an extreme.
Emotional Balance
Figure 1. Personality traits that matter across the globe: Emotional Balance and Agreeableness.
0 .4 00 0
N etherlands G erm any
0 .2 00 0
U nited States C anada France United K ing dom
0 .0 00 0
India
Emotional Balance
-0 .2 00 0
High concern with maintaining harmony, deeply felt reactions to people and things not readily expressed.
C hina Mexico
-0 .4 00 0
Hong K ong S audi Arabia
-0 .6 00 0
Prone to directness, unemotional reactions, low concern for group functioning.
-0 .6 000 -0 .400 0 -0.200 0 0.00 00 0.20 00
Japan
-0 .8 00 0 -0.80 00 0.40 00 0 .6 00 0 0 .8 00 0
Agreeableness
Figure 2. Average country scores on the personality traits that matter globally.
©
2006 Personnel Decisions International
6
There is, of course, no “right” personality. Instead, the opportunity is to choose people for global work who show the best fit with the cultures with which they’ll work. At a minimum, the value of the graph in Figure 2 is that it can be used to prepare global workers for the different personalities they might expect to face and lends insight into how they might change their own behaviors or perspectives.
A Closer Look at Executives.
Of the 12,000 managers and executives included in Figure 2, over 3,500 are executives. A separate analysis was completed on executives to determine if the traits that characterize them differ. Agreeableness and Emotional Balance remained important. Executives score on the slightly more aggressive side of Agreeableness (more blunt and straightforward than accommodating) and less extreme on emotional balance —that is, prone to quick emotional reaction. But another important trait emerges, Extroversion. The country in which an executive is raised has a major influence on how extroverted he/she will be (see Figure 3).
0 .8
0 .6
0 .4
0 .2
China
0
Canada
France
Germany Hong Kong
India
Mexico
United Kingdom Netherlands United States
-0 .2
Managers
-0 .4
Executives
-0 .6
. Figure 3. Extroversion scores for managers and executives by country.
©
2006 Personnel Decisions International
7
Executives tend to be more extroverted than their manager counterparts in countries where extroversion is the norm. In China, where introversion is the norm, executives tend to be more introverted. These results present a clear roadmap for selecting and developing managers and executives who can work globally. Finding talent that more closely matches the “personality” of the culture that talent will work with clearly creates a more productive and focused work relationship. An even greater return can be had by increasing the awareness level of people who have to work on global project teams or interact with vendors located in another part of the world. Each of the personality traits we’ve examine has behavioral correlates—characteristic ways of responding to situations and problems. With an awareness of how personalities differ across the world those who work in the global economy may get past the “bluntness’ they may attribute to some and the “emotional unpredictability” they may ascribe to others.
Behaviors Valued Across the Globe
Because behaviors can be valued differently depending on where in the world they occur a second analysis was undertaken to determine what managers and executives define as high performance. That is, what do they value when they rate the performance level of their direct reports? For this analysis data were drawn from over 18,000 managers and executives from across the globe. All rated the importance of 28 behavioral competencies to the performance of their direct reports. This dataset gives us a unique insight into the way performance is defined and valued across the world. The sixteen countries included in the analysis are: • Australia • Mexico • Canada • The Netherlands • China • Singapore • France • Spain • Germany • Sweden • India • Switzerland • Italy • United Kingdom • Japan • United States Ratings of the bosses who participated in this study were analyzed to determine the key groupings of competencies. Three emerged: Fundamental Leadership behaviors, ResultsOriented behaviors, and Business Know-How behaviors (see Table 3).
©
2006 Personnel Decisions International
8
Fundamental Leadership Exhibit sound judgment Demonstrate adaptability Coach and develop others Walk the talk Results-Oriented Leadership Champion change Establish plans Lead courageously Manage disagreements Negative focus on relationships Negative adaptability Business Know-How Leadership Know the business Use technical/functional skills Do what is right Table 3. Three dimensions of work performance defined by 18,000 managers and executives across the world. Fundamental leadership includes a broad array of competencies that touch on thinking skills, people skills, and demonstrating adaptable leadership. There isn’t a focus on one particular style of management other than a well-rounded managerial style. This contrasts with the Results-Oriented dimension, which is focused clearly on planning for and driving results. In fact, managers and executives who rated competencies such as “champion change” and “lead courageously” as important also rated “build relationships’ and “demonstrate adaptability” as unimportant. Thus, managers and executives who value results-oriented leadership place a great emphasis on getting tasks done but attend rather little to people. The third dimension, Business Know-How, captures the value some managers and executives place on technical prowess. For these people, the most important quality a manager can have is to be a technical or functional expert and to make decisions based on his/her best technical or functional judgment. As was done with the personality analysis, managers and executives in this analysis were assigned to countries based on where they spent their formative years. Average scores on each of these dimensions were calculated for each country and are presented in Figure 4.
©
2006 Personnel Decisions International
9
Note how countries value different leadership styles. In Mexico, Fundamental and
A u stra lia US Ca nad a
UK
C hin a
S witze rlan d
Fra nce
S we de n
G er m an y
S pain
Ind ia
S in gap ore
Italy
N ether lan ds M e xic o
J ap an
Fundamental Leadership Results Leadership Business Leadership
Business Know-How leadership styles are moderately valued while great value is placed Figure 4. Leadership dimensions by country. on Results-Oriented leadership. In India, a very clear and ordered preference is found for Business Know-How over Results-Oriented leadership, which is much valued over a Fundamental leadership style. Use this “roadmap” as you would the personality roadmap in Figure 2. Consider the following question: If you were to place an executive in charge of call centers or financial operations in India, who might have more impact, an executive with an exceptional financial (or call center, or scientific, etc.) background or one who excels at basic business “blocking and tackling”; i.e. the fundamentals?
Applying These Findings
Oftentimes, problems at work occur not because of what someone says, but how they say it. Similarly, smart people will often come up with very similar solutions, but can do so in very different ways. These differences are heightened, with more significant consequences, when work is carried out globally. If you manage a global team or staff global positions the personality and behavioral roadmaps presented in Figures 2 and 4
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2006 Personnel Decisions International
10
can greatly help you. Think about the characteristics of your global workers—where are they located and how might their personality differences be best utilized? Where might some training raise the awareness of global team members to the benefit that can be gained from understanding others? A PDI client, a global manufacturer of business and retail products, engaged PDI in custom research to determine the personality and behavior characteristics of leaders within that organization. The result was a tailored personality and behavior profile for the company as well as a gauge of where talent was located throughout the world. This client now uses the results of personality and behavior assessments to select as well as develop their global executive pool.
Summary and Implications
Three key conclusions are drawn from this research. 1. Global work can happen anywhere. • You can be a global worker without ever leaving your hometown. • Most managers and executives performing global work are not trained or prepared for it. 2. It is crucial to factor personality into global staffing and development decisions. • Agreeableness and Emotional Balance are key traits for managers and executives. • Executives differ on Extroversion. • Differences among countries are reliable and profound. 3. Managers and executives differ greatly when rating the importance of behaviors as a function of their country of origin. • A core set of competencies apply to countries across the world. • Managers and executives, however, weight these competencies differently by country. • These reflect more than just surface differences or preferences for some mannerisms over others. These behaviors are central to how people approach work and people at work. To gain Real Leadership Advantage™ factor personality into your assessment of global talent. Using a personality tool that is global in reach and targeted to the demands of manager/executive roles will greatly help you determine where the talent with potential lies in your organization. Talent assessments that incorporate personality and behavior measures, combined with a strong understanding of your organization’s unique personality profile, will help you bridge the cultural differences you are bound to encounter as technology and the economy continue to “shrink the world”.
©
2006 Personnel Decisions International
11
doc_111506440.pdf
Cultural difference is the variation in the quality of a society or person based on race, language, sexual orientation, religion and nationality. The term can also also refer to diversity regarding art, scholarly pursuit and manners among many other factors.
A PDI Research Report
Cultural Differences in a Shrinking World: Leadership Implications
Prepared by:
Robert E. Lewis, Ph.D.
January 2006
Cultural Differences in a Shrinking World: Leadership Implications A PDI Research Report
Executive Summary
Our world is shrinking. Witness the evolution of the internet and the 24/7 work environment. Software projects are shipped from Palo Alto to Bangalore to Dublin and back on a 24-hour cycle. It is common now to source components from one country, assemble them into products in a second country, and sell those goods in a third. Thus, work often occurs, and must be managed and coordinated, on a global basis. These changes have happened with no real attention paid to the people who must perform this work. Email, phone conferences, and videoconferences have enabled work to be done faster, but there’s no evidence we’re managing global project teams better or preparing/training people for the prospect of managing or working for someone who is from a very different cultural background. Following up on the common observation that disagreements often arise not from what people communicate, but how they communicate it, PDI engaged in a major study to analyze personality and behaviors of managers and executives across the world. Two large samples of data (one in excess of 12,000 managers and executives, the other in excess of 18,000) lend unique insights into the personality and behavior profiles that characterize leaders across the globe. In summary, we find: • Personality matters: Two key personality traits must be considered when staffing positions that involve global work. • The personality profile of executives across the globe is slightly, yet significantly, different than that of managers. • Managers and executives across the globe value competences and behaviors differently. Thus, what defines a “high performer” changes from country to country—a crucial finding if your challenge is to identify high potential talent and manage performance globally. Well-crafted personality and behavior assessment measures can help you capitalize on these differences and build a high-performing global team.
©
2006 Personnel Decisions International
1
Cultural Differences in a Shrinking World: Leadership Implications A PDI Research Report
Pressures to perform globally—to coordinate operations and produce results across the world—have increased markedly. PDI undertook an analysis of tens of thousands of managers and executives from all over the world to determine the personality traits and behavioral demands that characterize global work. In this report the case is built that changes in the world of work and the speed at which work must be coordinated and sourced around the work make the personalities of those who do that work more important than ever.
Global Work has Changed
In the past, working “globally” typically meant taking an extended assignment in another country and executing “corporate” strategies locally. There were few opportunities to create local products (since the cost of changing production lines was too great) and the most frequent accommodation made for export was to translate the label into the local language. The world of work has changed in significant ways, outlined in Table 1. From “Crossing Borders to Work” Multi-year assignments to a foreign country accompanied by family. Corporate direction executed locally. Little budget for customization or tailoring. To “Working Across Borders” Shorter assignments without family. Emphasis on developing local talent. Mass customization allows tailoring of products. Local ideas formally incorporated in product designs.
Focus on a single country or continent. Worldwide sourcing and coordination among suppliers, customers, and coworkers. Little emphasis on expatriate assignments or repatriation Need for global project management skills and skill in communicating frequently with those in other cultures.
Table 1. A comparison of influences on the nature of global work.
©
2006 Personnel Decisions International
2
Assignments are shorter now, and are much less likely to involve re-locating one’s family, which typically was viewed as the most risky element of sending an executive or manager on an expatriate assignment. “Mass customization” production processes, the introduction of the internet, and the rise of global sourcing and manufacturing networks have made it easier to design products and services to meet local needs and, at the same time, have heightened the need to have local input into product design and local talent. Whereas in the past managers and executives often took expatriate assignments with no clear path “home”—and generally no good use of the skills they had developed as expatriates—there is now much more emphasis on hiring employees with global skill sets. In essence, global work used to occur when managers and executives crossed borders. Now, a finance manager in the Midwest plains of the U.S. can communicate with a vendor in Asia and a customer in Europe without leaving his/her hometown. In a world where software development projects are worked on 24 hours a day as they are shipped from Palo Alto to Bangalore to Dublin the need for workers who can speak in global terms, and managers who can manage in global terms, is profound.
The Success Formula for Global Workers has Changed
The implications of these changes are clear. More interaction with project team members in other countries, and with other cultural backgrounds, places more emphasis on the interpersonal and management skills of your staff. Yet, how well do you train an IT manager in charge of a global development project, or a finance manager working with a vendor a continent away, to deal with cultural and communication issues that naturally arise when working across cultures? Chances are you don’t train them very well. Contrast that with the training typically given a manager or executive embarking on an expatriate assignment. This person, and his or her family, would often get several weeks, sometimes months, of language skill training, cultural training, and assistance with acculturation. Yet, we expect managers and executives to oversee global project teams, call centers, and production facilities via phone and videoconferences and emails with nearly no preparation. Thus, the factors that lead to success when working globally have changed. It is no longer enough to simply be a high performer. Global workers now must possess the flexibility to match their personal and communication style with those of their global team members. They must have project management and communication skills that allow them to manage events and coordinate processes all over the world.
©
2006 Personnel Decisions International
3
The Role of Personality
If you don’t train people to perform globally then you, by default, are relying on their typical pattern of behaviors. In other words, their personality. Fortunately, personality assessment has advanced greatly and it is possible now to compare personality profiles from across the globe to thousands of managers and executives. These comparisons are possible for two reasons. First, we now have a truly global personality tool. Second, the field of psychology has come to broad agreement on how personality tests across the world should be interpreted. Let’s consider each in turn. The Global Personality Inventory PDI developed the Global Personality Inventory (GPI) in the late 1990s in response to the need for a personality instrument focused on the characteristics of managers and executives across the world. Teams of academic and consulting psychologists in North America, Asia, South America and Europe contributed items, which were translated and back-translated and then tested on thousands of managers and executives as well as over 1000 non-managers. This rigorous development and norming process resulted in a personality instrument that provides comparable results across cultures. The GPI is available in 13 languages and to date has been used to collect data on over 30,000 managers and executives worldwide. The Big Five The early 1990s saw a major advance in personality testing. Research investigating personality tests – large-scale analyses of dozens of tests over a 70-year time span — revealed that personality in general could be collapsed into five broad dimensions known as the “Big Five” personality model. This model dates to the 1930s, was replicated in the 1940s, and corroborated in major review studies every decade since. The Big Five factors, with brief definitions, are included in Table 2. These five key personality factors are quite stable, have been found to apply across the world and, because they are based on an analysis of dozens of personality instruments administered over decades, are not likely to change.
Personality Traits that Matter
To determine the personality traits that matter across the globe a large sample (12,000+) of manager and executive GPI profiles were drawn. Since the intent of this analysis is to determine how the personalities of managers and executives differ across the globe, each
©
2006 Personnel Decisions International
4
Extroversion
At one end of the continuum… At the other… Process data with others Avoids stimulation when Solves problems by talking thinking Prefers to work individually Seeks experiences Open to new thinking Diligent focus on goals Values duty Seeks harmony Puts group needs above individual Feels emotions strongly Emotions change quickly Avoids change Prefers status quo Spontaneous and flexible Adapts to changing demands Not concerned about appropriateness Puts individual needs first Muted emotional feelings Intellectualizes problems
Openness
Conscientiousness
Agreeableness
Emotional Balance
Table 2. Brief descriptions of the Big Five personality dimensions. person in this sample was categorized by country based where his/her formative years were spent. This sample represents twelve countries across the globe: the US, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, the Netherlands and the UK. The individuals in this sample are highly experienced; our manager sample averages more than 12 years of work experience and our executive sample averages over 23 years. Two of the Big Five personality dimensions reliably distinguish among countries in this sample: Emotional Balance and Agreeableness (see Figure 1). Countries are plotted by these two traits in Figure 2. Northern Europeans tend to be on the muted/suppressed side of the Emotional Balance dimension and the blunt/individual side of the Agreeableness dimension. Asians and those from the Middle East score quite the opposite. Their Emotional Balance scores reveal a tendency to feel emotions swiftly based on their environment or context while at the same time their scores on Agreeableness indicate a tendency to avoid conflict and promote group harmony.
©
2006 Personnel Decisions International
5
Blunt and straightforward; expresses self without reservations.
Accommodating; seeks to promote harmony; will withhold own opinions to help the group.
Agreeableness
Quick and deeply felt emotional reactions; tendency to experience peaks and valleys. Calm, reasoned emotional reactions; even-keeled sometimes to an extreme.
Emotional Balance
Figure 1. Personality traits that matter across the globe: Emotional Balance and Agreeableness.
0 .4 00 0
N etherlands G erm any
0 .2 00 0
U nited States C anada France United K ing dom
0 .0 00 0
India
Emotional Balance
-0 .2 00 0
High concern with maintaining harmony, deeply felt reactions to people and things not readily expressed.
C hina Mexico
-0 .4 00 0
Hong K ong S audi Arabia
-0 .6 00 0
Prone to directness, unemotional reactions, low concern for group functioning.
-0 .6 000 -0 .400 0 -0.200 0 0.00 00 0.20 00
Japan
-0 .8 00 0 -0.80 00 0.40 00 0 .6 00 0 0 .8 00 0
Agreeableness
Figure 2. Average country scores on the personality traits that matter globally.
©
2006 Personnel Decisions International
6
There is, of course, no “right” personality. Instead, the opportunity is to choose people for global work who show the best fit with the cultures with which they’ll work. At a minimum, the value of the graph in Figure 2 is that it can be used to prepare global workers for the different personalities they might expect to face and lends insight into how they might change their own behaviors or perspectives.
A Closer Look at Executives.
Of the 12,000 managers and executives included in Figure 2, over 3,500 are executives. A separate analysis was completed on executives to determine if the traits that characterize them differ. Agreeableness and Emotional Balance remained important. Executives score on the slightly more aggressive side of Agreeableness (more blunt and straightforward than accommodating) and less extreme on emotional balance —that is, prone to quick emotional reaction. But another important trait emerges, Extroversion. The country in which an executive is raised has a major influence on how extroverted he/she will be (see Figure 3).
0 .8
0 .6
0 .4
0 .2
China
0
Canada
France
Germany Hong Kong
India
Mexico
United Kingdom Netherlands United States
-0 .2
Managers
-0 .4
Executives
-0 .6
. Figure 3. Extroversion scores for managers and executives by country.
©
2006 Personnel Decisions International
7
Executives tend to be more extroverted than their manager counterparts in countries where extroversion is the norm. In China, where introversion is the norm, executives tend to be more introverted. These results present a clear roadmap for selecting and developing managers and executives who can work globally. Finding talent that more closely matches the “personality” of the culture that talent will work with clearly creates a more productive and focused work relationship. An even greater return can be had by increasing the awareness level of people who have to work on global project teams or interact with vendors located in another part of the world. Each of the personality traits we’ve examine has behavioral correlates—characteristic ways of responding to situations and problems. With an awareness of how personalities differ across the world those who work in the global economy may get past the “bluntness’ they may attribute to some and the “emotional unpredictability” they may ascribe to others.
Behaviors Valued Across the Globe
Because behaviors can be valued differently depending on where in the world they occur a second analysis was undertaken to determine what managers and executives define as high performance. That is, what do they value when they rate the performance level of their direct reports? For this analysis data were drawn from over 18,000 managers and executives from across the globe. All rated the importance of 28 behavioral competencies to the performance of their direct reports. This dataset gives us a unique insight into the way performance is defined and valued across the world. The sixteen countries included in the analysis are: • Australia • Mexico • Canada • The Netherlands • China • Singapore • France • Spain • Germany • Sweden • India • Switzerland • Italy • United Kingdom • Japan • United States Ratings of the bosses who participated in this study were analyzed to determine the key groupings of competencies. Three emerged: Fundamental Leadership behaviors, ResultsOriented behaviors, and Business Know-How behaviors (see Table 3).
©
2006 Personnel Decisions International
8
Fundamental Leadership Exhibit sound judgment Demonstrate adaptability Coach and develop others Walk the talk Results-Oriented Leadership Champion change Establish plans Lead courageously Manage disagreements Negative focus on relationships Negative adaptability Business Know-How Leadership Know the business Use technical/functional skills Do what is right Table 3. Three dimensions of work performance defined by 18,000 managers and executives across the world. Fundamental leadership includes a broad array of competencies that touch on thinking skills, people skills, and demonstrating adaptable leadership. There isn’t a focus on one particular style of management other than a well-rounded managerial style. This contrasts with the Results-Oriented dimension, which is focused clearly on planning for and driving results. In fact, managers and executives who rated competencies such as “champion change” and “lead courageously” as important also rated “build relationships’ and “demonstrate adaptability” as unimportant. Thus, managers and executives who value results-oriented leadership place a great emphasis on getting tasks done but attend rather little to people. The third dimension, Business Know-How, captures the value some managers and executives place on technical prowess. For these people, the most important quality a manager can have is to be a technical or functional expert and to make decisions based on his/her best technical or functional judgment. As was done with the personality analysis, managers and executives in this analysis were assigned to countries based on where they spent their formative years. Average scores on each of these dimensions were calculated for each country and are presented in Figure 4.
©
2006 Personnel Decisions International
9
Note how countries value different leadership styles. In Mexico, Fundamental and
A u stra lia US Ca nad a
UK
C hin a
S witze rlan d
Fra nce
S we de n
G er m an y
S pain
Ind ia
S in gap ore
Italy
N ether lan ds M e xic o
J ap an
Fundamental Leadership Results Leadership Business Leadership
Business Know-How leadership styles are moderately valued while great value is placed Figure 4. Leadership dimensions by country. on Results-Oriented leadership. In India, a very clear and ordered preference is found for Business Know-How over Results-Oriented leadership, which is much valued over a Fundamental leadership style. Use this “roadmap” as you would the personality roadmap in Figure 2. Consider the following question: If you were to place an executive in charge of call centers or financial operations in India, who might have more impact, an executive with an exceptional financial (or call center, or scientific, etc.) background or one who excels at basic business “blocking and tackling”; i.e. the fundamentals?
Applying These Findings
Oftentimes, problems at work occur not because of what someone says, but how they say it. Similarly, smart people will often come up with very similar solutions, but can do so in very different ways. These differences are heightened, with more significant consequences, when work is carried out globally. If you manage a global team or staff global positions the personality and behavioral roadmaps presented in Figures 2 and 4
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can greatly help you. Think about the characteristics of your global workers—where are they located and how might their personality differences be best utilized? Where might some training raise the awareness of global team members to the benefit that can be gained from understanding others? A PDI client, a global manufacturer of business and retail products, engaged PDI in custom research to determine the personality and behavior characteristics of leaders within that organization. The result was a tailored personality and behavior profile for the company as well as a gauge of where talent was located throughout the world. This client now uses the results of personality and behavior assessments to select as well as develop their global executive pool.
Summary and Implications
Three key conclusions are drawn from this research. 1. Global work can happen anywhere. • You can be a global worker without ever leaving your hometown. • Most managers and executives performing global work are not trained or prepared for it. 2. It is crucial to factor personality into global staffing and development decisions. • Agreeableness and Emotional Balance are key traits for managers and executives. • Executives differ on Extroversion. • Differences among countries are reliable and profound. 3. Managers and executives differ greatly when rating the importance of behaviors as a function of their country of origin. • A core set of competencies apply to countries across the world. • Managers and executives, however, weight these competencies differently by country. • These reflect more than just surface differences or preferences for some mannerisms over others. These behaviors are central to how people approach work and people at work. To gain Real Leadership Advantage™ factor personality into your assessment of global talent. Using a personality tool that is global in reach and targeted to the demands of manager/executive roles will greatly help you determine where the talent with potential lies in your organization. Talent assessments that incorporate personality and behavior measures, combined with a strong understanding of your organization’s unique personality profile, will help you bridge the cultural differences you are bound to encounter as technology and the economy continue to “shrink the world”.
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