Tomalin B., Nicks M. The World’s Business Cultures and How to Unlock Them
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Britain claims that it is a multicultural country with strict laws against
discrimination by race, religion, gender, age, disability and sexual orientation,as
well as respect for human rights. This policy has, however, been thrown into
question by the 7/11 terrorist bombings of 2005 and debates about religious
dress and separatism. Economically, the UK is placed seventh in Goldman
Sach’s forecast of the world’s richest countries in 2050. Its strength lies in
the City of London’s financial services sector and in Britons’ personal wealth
in a buoyant property market.
You would imagine that a nation whose language has become the global
business language would be easy to understand. But this is not always the
case with the British. They remain an idiosyncratic island race: frustratingly
insular, reluctant to display overt emotion, and ambiguous in what they say.
The British are often uneasy and nervous when dealing with other people,
even amongst themselves. Perhaps this explains their reliance on their
notoriously unpredictable weather as a subject of small talk. It’s a shield to
save having to talk about – heaven forbid! – one’s personal life or feelings.
Americans get exasperated by the British fear of not saying clearly what they
feel and what they want, and this impassive, undemonstrative approach also
confuses many other cultures. You should, of course, remember the
differences between the UK’s four different cultures: the Scots can be healthily
frank, while the Irish and Welsh regard themselves as far more open and
passionate than the English.
Despite these drawbacks, combined with the devastating economic blows
of two world wars and the loss of empire in the twentieth century, Britain
has emerged into the twenty-first century as one of the world’s major trading
nations. The Brits themselves exist in a curious mix of regret for a lost idyllic
past, when life was supposedly less tense and less violent, and a relaxed
contemporary hedonism.
Values and attitudes
Just like any other culture, Britain is full of paradoxes. On the one hand, the
British continue to believe in the values of tradition, caution, restraint and
fair play. They support the underdog, tolerate eccentricity (often by ignoring
it) and think that taking part is more important than winning. Modesty and
politeness are also important to them. This, combined with their zeal for
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personal privacy, can produce bizarre effects such as a reluctance to say what
they actually do in their working life. If asked at a party what his job is, a
Briton might say, ‘I’m in advertising,’ when in fact he’s the high-performing
CEO of a major advertising agency.
The British are also famous for their legendary ironic and self-deprecating
humour. They find it useful as an ice-breaker at meetings, to defuse tension
and cover potentially embarrassing moments. The difficulty for visitors is that
they just don’t get what’s being said, or, even worse, take it literally. Britons
working internationally, or dealing with foreign clients in their own country,
should develop more awareness of this pitfall and modify what they’re saying
or writing accordingly.
What has changed in Britain in recent decades is that the country has become
much more informal in its social and business customs, and has shed much
of its former respect for institutions, title and age. In this it follows the American
model. People use first names very quickly, even to bosses, and the words
‘Sir’ and ‘Madam’ are now mainly used only by sales assistants in shops. Britons
do, however, maintain a generally high level of respect for the law and for
procedures, which largely explains the absence of corruption in British business
and politics.
This combination of tradition and rapid change can make life confusing for
the foreigner in Britain. The secret is to watch and listen carefully, and to
learn to read between the lines to try and establish what the British are really
saying. In this respect Britain is closer to some Eastern cultures than Western
ones. It can take years to fully decipher British codes, but this is also true of
any culture where much of what is truly meant remains unspoken.
Cultural style
Britain is a systems society, very much governed by a strong legal system
and a principle of fair play. The job comes first, the relationship second and
professionalism comes before friendship or a relationship. Once renowned
for its formality, Britain has become one of the world’s most informal business
communities with all levels of society on first name terms. This informality
is crucial to successful communication, and many foreign business people,
used to the stereotypical image of a 1950s’ English male in bowler hat and
pin-stripe suit, carrying a rolled umbrella, still fail to recognize it.
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UK cultural style
Communication
1 COMMUNICATION STYLE
2 WORKING STYLE
3 DISCUSSION STYLE
4 BUSINESS ATTITUDE
5 LEADERSHIP STYLE
6 BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP
7 DECISION-MAKING STYLE
8 BASIS FOR DECISION-MAKING
9 ATTITUDE TO TIME
10 WORK/LIFE BALANCE
Live to work Work to live
Scheduled Flexible
Facts Instincts
Individualistic Collective
Relationship Task
Flat Vertical
Progressive Traditional
Fast-moving Slow and measured
Formal Informal
Direct Indirect
UK
Communication
As we have already seen, Britain has copied many social and business
mannerisms from the USA. People use first names almost immediately: many
bosses actively encourage their staff to call them by their first name. This
informality even extends to those you are dealing with purely by phone or
email: the person you have just contacted responds using your first name
even though they may know nothing about you. The practice is uncomfortable
to many foreigners, and has one very obvious drawback. If the relationship
goes wrong and disagreement sets in, you are left in an uncomfortable position:
having to address someone in a friendly way when you are feeling anything
but that.
British style is to be courteous and friendly but detached. It’s polite to shake
hands at the beginning and end of meetings. However, if you’re a frequent
visitor to a company, you will not be expected to shake hands with everyone
in the office, only with those with whom you’re dealing directly. You’ll receive
a limp, tenuous handshake from a surprising number of Britons: it’s their
nervousness at confronting someone new, combined with the British
reluctance to reveal too much emotion too soon.
The British are practical, empirical people, and distrust too much theory,
philosophizing and idealism. So pack your presentations full of attainable
objectives, concrete detail and provable statistics. Time your presentation to
last around 20 to 40 minutes, depending on the gravity of your proposal, and
allow opportunity for debate and questions. People will concentrate more
on the content of what you say than on how you say it or your body language.
Remember that even if your audience is wildly excited about your project,
their response may be muted: it’s that British reserve at work, that fear of
being seen to be too enthusiastic. If your audience is highly divided, the
discussion is unlikely to be heated: a sense of calm and proportion usually
prevails in British business.
Organization
The British are renowned worldwide for their punctuality, so ensure that you’re
there on time. Some British managers can get agitated if someone is as little
as two or three minutes late. However, road congestion and rail disruption
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are common in the UK, and the Brits are becoming more tolerant towards
people who are delayed by genuine travel problems. You can defuse any tension
by getting the mobile phone number of the person you’re going to meet: if
you do get into a jam, call or text to let them know what’s happened and when
you expect to arrive.
Office hours tend to start at 8.30am or 9am, although many professions in
London, such as the media, tend to arrive at 10am and leave correspondingly
later in the evening. As in the USA, eating lunch at your workstation while
surfing the web is becoming commonplace.
Meetings and negotiations
A formal business meeting in Britain will generally run to an agenda. If the
discussion wanders too far from it, the chairperson may feel uncomfortable
and try to drag everyone back on line. If important new matters arise in these
digressions, the chair will often suggest that they are put on the agenda at
the next meeting, or, if urgent, addressed rapidly by a sub-group of people
outside the meeting. Meetings generally end on time.
Following the American example, British meetings can be highly egalitarian
affairs. Managers are often happy to sit beside staff and not at the top of the
table, and will try to draw everyone into the discussion. The ideal is to achieve
consensus so that everyone feels that they ‘own’ the decision. The British
like to arrive at decisions and action points in their meetings, which
managers are then expected to follow up. The focus is on action rather than
going through an exhaustive discussion of options.
In debates the British tend to avoid dogmatic and absolute statements, and
use words such as ‘perhaps’ and ‘maybe’ to imply that alternative points of
view might be valid. In negotiations they are often willing to compromise to
achieve a win-win situation in which both parties can feel that the agreement
offers a reasonable deal and prospects of further cooperation.
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Team-working
Operating in management teams is a basic principle of British business. This
includes sharing information, regular briefings and teams taking credit for
success (or getting angry if the boss does so without crediting them.) Team
members are chosen for their experience and qualifications, but also on the
basis of ‘usefulness’. The team leader is responsible for setting the objectives
and tasks, but team members take responsibility for implementation:
delegation is an important principle of British management.
Consultation is important, although team members will normally abide by
majority decisions. However, the way of giving feedback can sometimes be
quite adversarial. Criticism should not be seen as an attack on personal
competence.
Leadership and decision-making
American management approaches and methods have also influenced this
area of British business. Power is often devolved downwards, and people
are expected to ‘champion’ and to take responsibility for their particular
projects. Britain operates on a ‘tight’ time environment, so managers are also
expected to deliver on schedule, or have a pretty good reason for why it’s
not possible. The more enlightened companies welcome input from any
member of staff, no matter how modest their experience.
British managers often have fewer academic and technical qualifications
compared to their equivalents in other countries, but tend to compensate for
this by having more on-the-job experience. Some cultures regard British
practices as unprofessional and slack: ‘muddling through’ is the British term
for pulling everything together in the end, but this approach does not impress
the Germans, for example.
The general management attitude in the UK is warm but detached, and
relationships tend to be functional rather than personal. If confrontation
emerges, it will be resolved face-to-face by focusing on the issues rather than
on the personalities.
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Socializing and gift-giving
‘Going for a pint’ after work is common in Britain. Join in: it’s a good place
to make friends and get to know the Brits, and you don’t have to drink alcohol.
Despite their reputation for reserve, the British are quite quick to invite visitors
to their homes for dinner or for lunch at the weekend. If you are asked, don’t
arrive more than 15 minutes late, or you risk disrupting the hosts’ timing.
The evening will probably finish by 10pm or 11pm. Take wine: Britain is not
a major wine-growing culture, so ‘bringing a bottle’ is an accepted convention.
You may also want to take flowers or some chocolates for your hostess. Dress
is almost always smart casual in out-of-office occasions.
Gift-giving is not necessary to the business process: it is more common to
invite people to a good lunch to express appreciation. If you wish to offer a
present, something from your country is always acceptable: remember that
the British tradition is to open gifts immediately so that both giver and receiver
can share the pleasure.
Great gifts: Wine, chocolate, a speciality from your own country.
Avoid giving: Most presents are acceptable. Maybe ask a florist about
appropriate flowers. Red roses or white lilies may send the wrong message.
Conversation topics
Ice-breakers Ice-makers
British weather – it never fails Religion, politics and immigration
Property prices – but don’t ask someone
directly what theirs is worth
People’s salaries and personal worth
Laments about traffic, parking and public
transport
‘Why do British people put their parents in
homes?’
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Doing business in Germany
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Doing business in Germany
Overview
Germany’s economic potential in the 21st century remains a topic of hot debate
among cynics and optimists. Some believe that the world’s biggest exporter,
and its third largest economy, can shrug off the sluggish performance that
has been a feature of recent decades and compete effectively with energetic
nations to the east, both in Europe and in Asia. Others claim that any changes
that Germany is making to its internal systems are inadequate, and that any
business surges and unemployment dips that the Germans experience may
be only temporary.
The country is weighed down by problems typical of Western European nations.
Its social costs and taxes are high, and its population is ageing and unwilling
to surrender privileges. In addition, Germany continues to modernize and invest
in the east of the country, pumping millions into the former Soviet satellite
territory. All this, and the threat of jobs disappearing eastwards from its
manufacturing sector, which is already suffering unemployment problems.
The government is struggling to address all these challenges, and it is hard
to imagine that a country so rich in resources will not manage to throw off
at least some of its shackles.
Five Ways to Succeed Five Ways to Fail
Demonstrate efficiency and punctuality Be disorganized and ignore due process
Be straightforward and direct Promise and fail to deliver
Do what you say you will do Do things without consultation
Find out the rules and follow them Go over the heads of line managers or
reports
Respect the management hierarchy Be over-familiar with colleagues