Multicultural Management – The Huge Challenges
A manager’s job is to deliver results, through people, according to the requirements of the company. Globalization has brought its share of complexities to the management front.
Managers with responsibilities around the globe who can adapt their style will have the edge. Not only must the mamager have great people skills, but they have to embrace the differences cultures bring to the workplace.
Nowadays, being ‘international’ is not an exotic adventure in business, it’s the way that businesses have to operate, through sourcing, manufacturing and, of course, selling.
With offices in all the major cities, production based in outreaches normally associated with TV specials and growing, wealthy markets just clamoring for appealing products, there are few organizations who remain untouched by the globalization of trade.
In a nutshell all companies must understand intercultural communication requirements.
Intercultural Management – What You Need To Know
In today’s world of cut-throat competition, companies are realizing that to attain an advantage and for overall growth and diversification, intercultural management skills have become crucial.
The term “intercultural management skills” is loosely defined as the ability of a manager to deal and communicate with people from different cultures.
Of course, one of the most vital skills is the ability to communicate clearly wherever your team is spread to around the globe.
It’s vital to recognize just how shared understanding is the most important piece of the puzzle in businesses that work across international boundaries.
The multicultural manager is critical in these situations as the ‘translator’ of policies, plans and strategic aims of the organization so that each individual country gets the right message.
That being said, one true talent is making the most of relevant skills and capabilites, which often, especially with specific activities, may only be available locally.
One way that a manager who works in diverse lands can make rapid progress is by living and working in the environment they are attempting to leverage. Carefully choosing appropriate personnel ready for such challenges is paramount.
And, of course, it’s vital to be able to build relationships on all sides to make this work as a mutually beneficial exercise.
Where things work out well, bank those for the future. Where there are some shortfalls, careful scrutiny of what could be done better will also forge the way for future success.
Intercultural Management – Different Skills – Or Not?
Apart from the more challenging differences across cultures, simply making sure that language issues are not a problem is the first and probably most obvious task.
Any intercultural manager has to use the experience he has and then supplement them with the following four skills:-
1. Know the key business opportunities
2. An ability to create value from new cultures
3. A flexible approach to different cultures
4. Taking change on board with ease
For any manager who has had experience in different cultures, the awareness of this alone is worth it’s weight in gold. It doesn’t necessarily matter that the country is different – the awareness that differences occur and how to aproach them is valuable in it’s own right.
Yet, of course, someone who knows a particular country intimately will have added value, simply because they have absorbed many of the differences just by having been there for a time.
International Managers Must Be Resourceful
Simply having lived in a number of different countries gives people the capacity to work almost anywhere. Their approach is to be flexible and ensure that they pace themselves and understand that things do not always go to plan.
When you have a flexible approach these problems can be handled with a certain amount of ease.
Likewise a manager with international responsibilities must use intercultural differences positively. Despite the challenges, cross cultural differences can only yield positive results when managed well.
Thus the assessment of the potential of personnel, products and policies leveraging cultural differences is a huge opportunity.
Managed well, by an effective manager, experienced in extracting the benefits of such a role, will lead to added value for the organization, as well as to the advantage of employees in the target country too.
There is a Dutch proverb that says, “A handful of patience is worth more than a bushel of brains”.
Thus patience is the key for success in intercultural management, because it helps maintain focus and leads to a coherent analysis and an effective solution.