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 

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

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

Stereotypes only serves as entertainment, and can be quite funny.

Scientists like Edward T. Hall and Geert Hofstede have tried to build models, testing given criteria more scientifically.  They do describe interesting differences between cultures, but need to be read with caution as there are no individual who fit into a generic model.

” Culture is more often a source of conflict than of synergy. Cultural differences are a nuisance at best and often a disaster.”     Prof. Geert Hofstede, Emeritus Professor, Maastricht University.

 Follow the link on Hofsted to some interesting reading.

Edward T. Hall’s early works “The Silent Language” (1959) and “The Hidden Dimension” (1966) are still monumental works within this cross-section of science.

Follow the link on E.T. Hall for a summary of his models.

Anders, from Gjøvik, Norway

Diversity. A prerequisite in dynamic creative team-building.

I have had the pleasure to work in, and to develop and manage cross-cultural teams on all continents.  Part of the team dynamics experienced are general, mainly stemming from different personalities within the team.  The main toolbox is then to be found within the field of psychology.  Another important part of the team dynamics originate from different cultural background.  Fortunately, the toolbox needed is constantly improving and comes from multiple sources.  Most models though, are developed within social anthropology.  I will present some of the models I have found most useful on this page, so if you are interested in this field – stay tuned. 

Anders, alongside Lake Mjøsa, Norway

‘Globalization’ as a term is often used in connection with topics many of us consider either too complicated or way above our heads.  But globalization has another face, raising questions we all can relate too, although we are not always well prepared to discuss them:

• Is it OK to build a Muslim mosque in my Christian neighborhood?
• Can kids in our school wear hijab or other religious expressions?

And are we prepared to accept a discussion about our own use of Norwegian ‘bunad’ (traditional costume) in a foreign setting?

In today’s society, it is getting more and more common with mixed marriages across cultures.  Marriage is a challenging exercise in the best of circumstances, and a mixed one often has the additional dimension of different cultural background.  These differences seems to polarize in the case of a divorce.

Kids are torn between a mum and dad that in some cases decide to live worlds apart.  These kids are basically unprotected from international legislation and common practice, as we have yet to build the necessary super-national structures needed.

As a consequence, we get stories like the Kalid Skah case that is presently running in the news.  Allegations about kidnapping, diplomatic misunderstanding between the countries of Norway and Morocco, etc.  We have experienced the clash of cultures on both individual, institutional and national level.

Moroccos Minister of Foregin Affairs expressing his disagreement with the perceived actions of the Norwegian Embassy in Morocco.

We need to get started a process of making The Constitution of The World!

Anders, from a snow covered Gjøvik, Norway.   Copyright 2010 Anders Haug Thomassen.  The use of this material is not only encouraged, but highly appreciated as long as the source is mentioned.

Follow my other blog:  Globalization4U

Differences in culture between organizations can be as big and surprising as any cultural differences experienced on a distant travel.

Cultural Adaptation Process

The main challenge at home is that we do not expect cultural differences, or we have the presumption that these differences are well known to us, as well as how to handle them.  Too often we find that people struggle to cope and to adapt.

The World is Coming To Us

Another aspect today is that the cultural toolbox is needed in the most local of societies, as the world is coming to us.  This makes cultural understanding more important than ever.

In this blog I will discuss some of the key models and tools useful in cross cultural training.

Anders, from a cold a winter day in Gjøvik, Norway

Copyright 2009 Anders Haug Thomassen.  You are encouraged to use this material as long as you mention the source.  Illustration Per Kristian Strand.

During the 1990-ies we saw a similar development within other labour intensive businesses, first of all the construction business.  And globalization continues.  In the health sector, a significant percentage now comes from non-Scandinavian countries, and the percentage continues to grow fast.

All these foreign workers and their families have contributed to a fundamental change in most Norwegian communities.  Previously, Norway had one of the most homogeneous cultures in the world.  This is not the situation any more.  Fortunately, we have not only received labour we needed, but also a rich cultural addition and added knowledge.

One of the challenges, though, is that cultural understanding and knowledge now has become relevant even in the most remote Norwegian county or village.

Making sure we keep fueling relevant organizations with necessary cultural competence, we have a resource in our society that will prove itself more and more important.

Anders, from a snowy white Gjøvik, Norway

Interested in a speech, seminar or team-building exercise on this topic, look me up at:  www.thomassen.me

Aborted assignments as high as 40%.  The sad story behind the figures is that a dramatic improvement is possible with very basic and inexpensive means.  A highly motivate professional, with the right set of skills, might return because the spouse cannot handle the new environment or its culture.    Several studies have documented family related reasons as the main reason for aborted assignments, such as:

* The spouse’s difficulty to adjust.

* The employee’s difficulty to adjust.

* The employee’s personal or emotional immaturity.

* Other family issues and problems.

So where in the selection process are HR departments or management teams taking the wrong way?  Too much focus on job competence and compensation packages, and way too little focus on personality and family issues is my experience.   It is a costly mistake each and every time.

Check list for improved selection:  Employee selection criteria

Three areas an effective selection process should consider in selecting a candidate: self-orientation, others-orientation and perceptual-orientation.

Self-orientation focuses on activities and attributes that strengthen the expatriate’s self-esteem, self-confidence and mental health.  Such attributes might include

* Stress-reduction skills – the ability to recognize potential conflicts and circumvent negative reactions.

* Reinforcement substitution – the ability to replace pleasurable home activities with substitute activities in the host country.

* Technical competence – the ability to accomplish tasks with self-confidence, sometimes with little or no help.

* The ability to deal with alienation and isolation.

Others-orientation focuses on activities and attributes that enhance the expatriate’s ability to interact effectively with host-country nationals (HCNs). These include

* Relationship skills – the ability and willingness to develop long-lasting friendships with HCNs.

* Language skills – more than fluency, this refers to a willingness to use the local language as often as possible, without fear of being incorrect, sounding silly or stupid, in a desire to understand and relate to HCNs.

* Understanding importance of nonverbal communication, including the ability to pick up on nonverbal body language in the host country, which may have different meanings than it does in the home country.

* Respect and empathy for others.

Perceptual-orientation focuses on the ability to understand why foreigners do what they do.  These skills include

* High tolerance for ambiguity, being nonjudgmental – waiting to accumulate all the facts before jumping in with an opinion, stereotype or incorrect decision.

* Being open-minded and being able to make correct assumptions about the reasons or causes of HCN behavior.  Knowing how HCNs will likely react to situations reduces the stress of uncertainty in personal interactions.

Having worked with the topic of foreign assignments both in theory, and later through several challenging experiences of my own, I find it very rewarding now to assist new generations of expatriates to master the challenges this exiting experience offer.

Some further reading:  BNET

Follow my blog on globalization at Globalization4U

Copyright 2009 Anders Haug Thomassen, Gjøvik, Norway.  You are encouraged to use this material as long as you mention the source.  Comments are more than welcome!

For professional contact:  Anders Haug Thomassen home site

For background on me: LinkedIn

Are there any correlation between empathy, emotional intelligence and cultural sensitivity?

Studies seems to confirm that types of personality respond differently to the challenges of meeting, living and working in different cultures. In training and preparing employees to cope with new cultures, it helps to map and discuss the importance of emotional intelligence.   Equally, it is an important communication tool to work around Jung’s type index.

Jung’s description of the dominant “introvert” often struggle with inter personal communication at home.  It is documented that such deficiencies will worsen in a challenging cultural setting.  It seems in Jung’s theories, that the attitude “extrovert” (E) and the way to deal with the outside world, “perception” (P), plays an important part in social interaction.  A new cultural setting is less of a challenge to these types.

When building efficient teams to cope with both complex business situations, and complex cultural situations, it is of utmost importance to ensure a balanced distribution of all competencies required.

The emotionally intelligent person is skilled in four areas: Identifying emotions, using emotions, understanding emotions, and regulating emotions.

According to HR magazine, November 1997; “…success at work is 80% dependent on emotional intelligence and only 20% dependent on IQ,”

Anders, from Gjøvik, Norway