{"id":1613,"date":"2016-07-13T12:44:09","date_gmt":"2016-07-13T11:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/africa\/?p=1613"},"modified":"2016-10-26T15:25:34","modified_gmt":"2016-10-26T14:25:34","slug":"cultural-differences-hows-our-attitude","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/africa\/2016\/07\/13\/cultural-differences-hows-our-attitude\/","title":{"rendered":"Cultural Differences: What\u2019s Our Attitude Like?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week, I talked<\/a> a bit about the Pre-Doctoral Workshop that I led recently at Strathmore Business School<\/strong><\/a> in Nairobi. Today, I would like to consider the cultural differences<\/strong>\u00a0and what our attitude should be like<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

On the last day of the Workshop, participants received a certificate of attendance<\/strong> that I had to sign. As soon as I received the certificates, I noticed they were not in order. Trying to make life easier for the next person, I sorted them out according to last name<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

When participants were called on to receive their certificate, my order had been re-arranged: the first person being called was Agnes<\/b>\u2026 that was it! The initial ordering was alphabetical but according to first name! The lady whom I had past the certificates realized I had disordered them, and she hadn\u2019t realized either that I had followed a different convention<\/b>. Something really minor that was solved in just a few minutes. But cultural differences may have important consequences for cross-national activities<\/b>: for good and for bad \u2013 it<\/b> depends on our attitude<\/b> towards them.<\/p>\n

\"Strategy
Muti-cultural representation in a session at Strathmore Business School<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The main problem about cultural differences is not that they exist. The problem is that many times we are not aware of these differences<\/b>, and we evaluate other people\u2019s behaviors based on our own reference frame<\/b>. This is what happened to both my Kenyan colleague and myself: each one of us was coming from a different frame of reference (a different convention to sort out a bunch of names), and each one thought that the other had done a lousy job. When I tried to make up for hers, I ended up creating trouble<\/b> (she had to do her job twice).<\/p>\n

First step: recognize the differences<\/strong><\/h3>\n

We all know that cultural sensitivity<\/b> is important to succeed in international business. The trick is to recognize those differences<\/b>. When we enter unknown territory, we may be somewhat vigilant: an Italian company \u2013 just to pick one country \u2013 will be sensitive to cultural differences when they enter Nigeria<\/strong> in their first African venture.<\/p>\n

But once they have some knowledge<\/strong> of the Nigerian culture, they may become overconfident<\/strong> and think that now they will succeed in their next venture only to find out that the culture in Ghana is so different<\/strong> that you need to re-start your \u201ccultural clock\u201d again. This is a mistake that many companies<\/strong> \u2013 even those from the continent<\/strong> \u2013 make when internationalizing across Africa.<\/p>\n

Differences may be an advantage<\/strong><\/h3>\n

On the other hand, cultural differences may be a plus<\/strong>. Once I heard Chairman and CEO of Renault-Nissan Carlos Ghosn say that when there\u2019s a common goal differences become complementarities instead of a source of conflict<\/strong>. This requires a flexible mindset<\/strong>, one which not all of us have but which we can develop by mindfully appreciating the value of differences. Instead of blaming others for having a different perspective<\/strong> or a different way of doing things, let\u2019s start by thinking they may have a good reason for that<\/strong>: I\u2019m sure we\u2019ll learn many things if we take this attitude!<\/p>\n

Would you like to share any experience with cultural differences in the African context?<\/p>\n

\n

Related posts:
\n\u2022 Doing business in Nigeria: overcoming cultural challenges<\/a>
\n\u2022 Even neighboring countries are distant<\/a>
\n\u2022 How do the Chinese and Africans mingle?<\/a>
\n\u2022 From Nigeria to Kenya<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week, I talked a bit about the Pre-Doctoral Workshop that I led recently at Strathmore Business School in Nairobi. Today, I would like to consider the cultural differences\u00a0and what our attitude should be like. On the last day of the Workshop, participants received a certificate of attendance that I had to sign. As soon […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1654,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[85385,99106],"tags":[100268,13860,93591,951,981,1007,86281,67297],"class_list":["post-1613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-doing-business-in-africa","category-future-and-perspectives-for-africa","tag-attitude","tag-cultural-differences","tag-internazionalization","tag-kenya","tag-leadership","tag-management","tag-nairobi","tag-strathmore-business-school","megacategoria-mc-africa","megacategoria-mc-strategy"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t