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Riding the waves of the Russian culture

In the autumn of 2003, the participants of the International Space Station were confronted to cultural interpretation of the safety rules. New batteries were supposed to be sent to the ISS; the Russian team, knowing the reliability of the devices did not want to go through safety procedures that were strengthened after the drama of the Columbia shuttle explosion. The Americans insisted on going through the testing… Whether or not the testing was subsequently implemented, this example shows the two approaches space specialists have towards safety concerns: In the US program, you need to prove it is safe, while the Russian line is” prove it’s not safe”…

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Throughout the world, in the past three decades, promises of a borderless, colourless world echoed. International competition would shape a global culture where best practices would be the new benchmark. No other domain than business was supposed to be so affected. National traditions would blend into an international way of doing business. Yet, the miracle (or nightmare) is still due to come. Even large multinational corporations are still attached to their home business cultures, and, most companies daring to export are stunned by the numerous ways business is actually made in the four corners of the globe.

Since the early 90’s, a new member joined the choir, Russia. Many foreign companies rushed in the early days of free market economy, many left a few years later with a bitter taste in their mouth. As a matter of fact, many newly relocated businesspersons in Russia have the feeling that the regular business practices do not fully apply in this country. Easily, one cannot make head or tail of what is going on around. If the Russian economy is often dubbed as “in transition”, this term is even more applicable to its business culture.

The Federation of Russia is now back to its position of a major international player in the diplomatic, cultural and business world. While financial crises are in everyone’s memory, the economy of the country is growing and is benefiting from some foreign investments. More and more western concerns are opening offices and Russian investors even start to invest abroad (in football clubs for instance).

However, with such a dense recent history, the cultural identity of the country is far from being either deciphered or absolute. If its relation to the west and its expansion to the East influenced Imperial Russia, the USSR was in turn greatly influenced by the tsarist culture. Naturally, today’s Russia is the outcome of various layers borrowed from the true “Rus” identity up to the recent soviet past.

Each foreign businessperson in Russia faces, at some point, shocks, misunderstandings and pitfalls. Each of us has built up a set of “tricks” in order to better navigate through this turbulent environment. But, what about the newcomers? The spouses or the infrequent travellers? How to approach the Russian culture while minimizing the risks?

Scholars have created a new discipline called “cross-cultural Management”. Composed of a bit of Anthropology, a bit of Sociology and a lot of Management theories, this new field helps understanding why the other is different.

One of the leading authorities in this field is Fons Trompenaars. In his best-seller book, “Riding the Waves of Culture”, he analyses cultures through the prism of 7 Dimensions. To illustrate, for instance, the differences between the British and Russian cultures, one dimension is particularly relevant, the Diffuse/Specific one.
According to Fons Trompenaars, “people from specific cultures start with the elements, the specifics. First they analyze them separately, and then they put them back together again. In specific cultures, the whole is the sum of its parts. Each person's life is divided into many components: you can only enter one at a time. Interactions between people are highly purposeful and well defined. Specific individuals concentrate on hard facts, standards, and contracts.

People from diffusely oriented cultures start with the whole and see each element in perspective of the total. All elements are related to each other. These relationships are more important than each separate element; so the whole is more than just the sum of its elements. The various roles someone might play in your life are not separated. Qualities cherished by diffuse cultures include style, demeanour, ambiance, trust, understanding, etc. “

We are not contemplating behaviours that exclude each other: It is worth understanding that we are all both diffuse and specific. However, according to the situations and to our cultural background, some patterns emerge. The spectrum of possibilities in front of a dilemma is the same for everyone but our cultural profile influences us to choose one course of action over another. In other words, we all have the same options but the order of priority differs according to our culture.

Readers of this article already understood that Russia is a diffuse culture while UK is more specific. In Russia, roles and status are combined with the private and professional sphere. Not surprisingly, an idealized image of the modern Russian businessperson is specific orientated. Yet, such behaviour is very new and actually not so spread throughout the country and the industries.

This aspect creates situations that may seem curious to specific orientated foreigners dealing with Russians. A call from your boss at 11:00PM after a business day to inform you about last moment changes in tomorrow’s presentations is not surprising. In reverse, most Russian employees would naturally turn to their boss (or the representative of the authority) for advice, help or support in a wide range of subjects. In this logic, asking, say, a day off because a parent or a child is sick, or the permission to bring home some scrap material of one’s own use is not understood as perks or benefits but as a token of respect.

Diffuse management in Russia means that even an authoritarian leader must care for its subordinates. The extreme stereotype is obviously the good Tsar, harsh but fair.
Stemming from cross-cultural management –and confirmed by seasoned managers in Russia-, if one piece of advise could be given to a newly arrived expatriated manager, it would be: listen to your subordinates, show interest in their after-work life, express compassion and support when necessary, and make a speech at birthday celebrations. Life in this diffuse world will be much smoother afterwards!

In practice, a cross-cultural situation may also appear quite dreadful to a Russian person dealing with a specific orientated one. For instance, brainstorming sessions are easily understood here as a covered-up tribunal of one’s ideas. The more the other will be specific (“Don’t take it personally, but…”) the more the meeting may become unbearable. Your ideas are not separated from your personality and status. The notion of passing judgment on one’s idea, without wishing to criticise the individual, needs to be carefully explained in Russia.

For a diffuse orientated person, the first conclusion that is drawn from an encounter with a specific oriented one is that the other side does not know anything. If often, Russian negotiators express the belief that their foreign counterparts have a poor level of knowledge, it is likely to come from this fact.
Another example is the relative absence of specific and meaningful job titles in Russia: everyone is supposed to help when something unexpected appears; work is more “organic”, more structured by projects than strategies.

Therefore, one way of restricting future frictions is to set some “rules” before-hand: For instance, the business negotiations may be interrupted with long breaks in order to exchange views on different subjects.

Other business practices greatly influenced by such dimension are meetings and negotiation patterns. Typically, a diffuse person will naturally start the discussion with generalities: family, politics, sports, weather, etc… The semi-conscious concept is to gauge the interlocutor. When a more precise image of the visitor emerges, business issues may start. The specific guest wishing, for the sake of efficiency, to “stick to agenda” and to “get down to business” is easily confused. Usually, wherever he or she comes from, you start with business and then, if everything goes fine, you gently slip to generalities to conclude the deal and build the relationship.
Businesspersons planning ahead a trip to Russia with a tight schedule may come back home with the feeling of a lot of chitchat and nothing serious accomplished. You probably now understand why…

This example of “Diffuse versus specific cultures” illustrates just how much we are confronted with numerous dimensions in our international life.
The goal of cross-cultural management is first to develop awareness of those differences, then to understand them, and finally to overcome them in a reconciliation process. Documenting oneself about the other culture is a necessary initial step. Then, open-mindedness and communication are the subsequent ingredients of a successful cross-cultural management. In complement, or to accelerate the process, tailor-made trainings may be organized. They prove to be surprisingly effective.
Misunderstandings and crises are embedded in any cross-cultural environment, nevertheless many solutions exist to prevent and overcome them and cross-cultural management may be a useful facilitator then.

Comment by Jerome Dumetz, teaching cross-cultural communication at the REA Plekhanov in Moscow, and independent consultant.