November, 2005

Interviewed by Elizaveta K. Levina

Jerome Dumetz, a French national, is an expert on cross-cultural management. Always passionately interested in cross-cultural communication, in the following interview he gives practical tools for tackling cross-cultural conflict in the workplace.

What does cross-cultural management mean? Is it a new idea?
Cross-cultural management, as a defined concept, is no more than twenty years old. It came into being because in the past decade international companies have become truly international. They are not just exporting; they are opening offices in other countries or buying into joint ventures. As a result, they employ lots of foreign employees, many of them local hires, and have their own employees living and working in other cultures.

Cross-cultural management training teaches, explains, consults, and conveys modes of communication to people so they can better understand a culture foreign to them.

Of course we all understand, intellectually, that things are done differently abroad, yet many people tend to forget this in the heat of daily business. Not all workplace conflict is caused by cultural differences—some people just can’t get along—but often it is. Employees must be taught how to manage and be managed across cultures.

I have always had strong passion for cross-cultural management. I have done much research on the subject, including cooperating with Dutch researcher, consultant, and cross-culture guru Fons Trompenaars on the translation of his best-selling book, Riding the Waves of Culture, into Russian. When I started teaching on this subject here in Russia, the field was virtually unheard of.

How do you define culture?
There are many ways to define culture. The definition I prefer is, "how we do things". Intriguing, I know, yet culture is like the air you breathe - only when you put your head under water do you realize that you’ve been breathing air and now you are deprived of it. The same is true for culture: when we are in our home countries, we are swimming in culture without seeing or sensing it since it’s how we were brought up. Only when you leave your country, or start working with foreigners in your home country, do you become aware of your own culture.

When a foreign company opens an office in Russia, for example, it imports its culture here. Not only do the expatriates working here experience culture shock, but so do the Russians working in the company. Naturally the experience of working and interacting differs depending on whether you work for a German, French, or Japanese company.

How does culture shock operate?
With culture shock we have curves. When you first come into a new culture, you are happy. Then you start seeing the negative things, even if you are in your own country working for a multinational company. For example, a Russian employee working at an international company may initially find everything fantastic—free coffee, cool badges, everyone is great. But then he grows to dislike some aspects of the environment—maybe in a month or two, it depends. Then he may come to loathe it. Ultimately the worker either acculturates and understands the environment, or quits.

One always carries his/her culture and it is always done on the subconscious level. When you come into a new culture, you are shocked because it confronts your own. If you try to push your culture onto the people and environment around you, people will find you difficult. The key to understanding any culture is information—you must look around and ask questions, even if you think they are stupid questions.

Is business all you talk about when lecturing on cross-cultural management?
The lessons I share are not just business centered—participants often show up with families and kids in tow. I speak about how it is to live in Russia; just explaining something like the way healthcare works here in Russia can really open some eyes. We talk about life.

And I don’t just train foreigners who want to learn about Russia; I also give training to Russian companies that want to open offices abroad, teaching them about foreign cultures.

Why does it help people to teach them about the culture? How does this reduce workplace conflict?
If no one explains to you how another culture functions, you will not know how to interpret the way its people interact with you; it may seem like they just don’t like you. There are lots of avenues I use to describe culture: history, traditions, nature, and even the ways of society. This helps reduce conflict because by the end of the course people understand more about the culture, and, more importantly, become more open minded. They may still not like their colleague as a person, but at least it isn’t because he is American, French, or English.

Cross-cultural management doesn’t claim to solve all communication issues and get rid of all workplace conflict. But it does one thing for sure: it brings to light the cultural issues many of us keep hidden. It teaches people to accept the fact that differences do exist.

What should a person be ready for when going to work in an international company?
First of all, anticipate that you are probably not going to understand what is going on. It is natural for people who do not understand to start blaming somebody else. For example, if your expatriate boss asks you to do something, but you feel he would never make such a request if he understood what Russia is, you will naturally think him an idiot. To combat this, you need lots and lots of solid communication.

These cultural differences may be apparent even from the resume stage of a job search—for example in Russia it is traditional to include your date of birth, nationality, and marital status on your resume. To Westerners this is strange; to avoid any discrimination, resumes focus only on skills and experience. When you apply for job at an international company, I advise you ask for a sample resume. Then you will know what is the best form and language to use.

What advice would you give to a company coming to a new culture? How should it cope with cultural issues and what should they expect?
First you, the company leaders, need send pioneers—people with international knowledge and experience working abroad. Many foreigners put the blame for their bad experiences on the country they are going to, when it is really the fault of living and working abroad for the first time. Living abroad is not easy.

The pioneers you send then start looking for a business partner. Whether you settle on a joint venture or take on a local partner, sit down and discuss your cross-cultural issues, and come up with a strategy. When you hire locally, first choose those who have experience in an international environment. It is much more difficult to open an office directly, rather than taking on a partner or creating a joint venture, due to laws and regulation. And this is not just true in Russia—foreigners encounter difficulties in any country.

I always advise people not to jump to conclusions and blame Russians for their problems. First consider how foreigners are treated in YOUR country.

Jerome Dumetz teaches at the Plekhanov Graduate School, is a visiting lecturer at the Mirbis institute and Essec Business School, and is a consultant to various western companies. Mr. Dumetz studied in France, Holland, and Russia. During and after his studies, he worked in Russia, France, America, and Canada, and conducted various projects in other countries.