Cultural friction zones (1)

“The Flat World” with free movement of thoughts and ideas is a tough process of change.  Major changes in history seems to be tough.  Friction zones between cultures and regimes have appeared frequently over resent years;

As predicted in "The Clash of Cultures", an important friction zone is between the Muslim world and the western world.

The Muslim World and the Western World; How far apart?

Is this a “clash of cultures” or an easier conflict of interests?  Are we discussing differences in fundamental thoughts, values and beliefs?  The trigger to conflict is far more obvious;  The Have-a-lot against The-Have-nothing.

Hopefully the Arab revolt in 2011 is part of a process updating Arab societies to 21st century transparency and democracy, with better distribution of wealth.  Then  we can all accept and live with the differences in culture.

Anders, Gjøvik, Norway 

Chinese Management Style Causing Culture Crash in Africa

Increased Chinese presence in Africa has fueled discussions on many issues.  There are obvious cultural differences and numerous incidents are coming to the surface, such as this weeks shooting in Zambia.  Local miners protested to how they are treated by Chinese management, and the Chinese managers answered by firing shotguns and wounding 16 miners.

New York Times can report:

• As in many other African nations, the Chinese are an enormous economic presence in this impoverished but mineral-rich country, and their treatment of local workers has become an explosive political issue, presenting an awkward balancing act for governments desperate for foreign investment. “We’re an economy in transition, and we can’t afford to lose the cow that gives us milk today,” said Labor Minister Austin Liato.

We have only seen the tip of the iceberg so far.

Anders, Gjøvik, Norway

Culture Shock Unexpected

Experience confirms what academia has researched and proven:  Obvious cultural differences are easier to deal with than the unexpected!

My favourite case in discussions on the cultural dimension in business are the close encounters where none of the parties expect cultural differences to play a role.

Cultural differences played a major role in destroying attempts to merge Swedish Telia and Norwegian Telenor.

So a warning need to be issued:  Cultural differences should never be ignored, but be a standard procedure element of any relevant analysis.   

When travelling far, we are mentally prepared to meet a different culture – different way of thinking.  But those differences are actually around us, even within apparently homogeneous cultures.

Anders, from a rainy and chilly Gjøvik, Norway