Gorin & Cook, Inc. - Communications Coaching & Personal Development

ABSTRACT:
Foreign-born professionals face barriers caused by their lack of familiarity with American language and culture and by American inexperience with diverse languages and cultures. This chapter examines these barriers and describes approaches foreign-born professionals may use to succeed in the American business and technical markets.

EXCERPT:
From the section called " The Foreign-born Professional and Business Culture - Interaction Styles":
Many foreign-born professionals clash with American business culture in such areas as harmony (specifically, saving face and tolerance for confrontations), concepts of group versus the individual (identity, assigning responsibility, competition, setting goals, and independence), valuing others (concepts of friendship and how people are hired and promoted), and attitude toward authority. (13) The table below exemplifies differences between mainstream America and many other cultures regarding attitudes toward authority: (14)

MAINSTREAM AMERICA	MANY OTHER CULTURES
Age is only one factor in determining who is in authority. A younger person can readily be placed over someone older.	Age is to be respected. If possible, a younger person should not be placed over someone who is older.
Gender has little to do with who will be in authority.	As a general rule, males more most likely to be found in positions of authority.
It is a good idea if the boss works alongside employees.	The boss should keep a formal distance from employees.
Employees should be encouraged to participate in decision-making.	The boss who does not make his or her own decisions is weak.
Employees should feel comfortable questioning authority figures.	Employees should not question authority.
Workers are best motivated by persuasion.	Workers are best motivated by an authoritarian attitude.
Workers should be encouraged to act on their own.	Workers should not act without direct orders from the manager.
Workers have the right, even the obligation, to judge the performance of managers.	It is inappropriate for employees to judge the work of superiors.

Other influential features are degree of openness or directness, especially about negative information, amount of emotion attached to work execution, manner of participation in groups, and the balance between social and business interaction in the workplace (15). Often foreign-born professionals aptly note the culture differences between their native and American business environments, but they do not feel able or even interested in "changing" their behavior to match expectations. One reason for lack of change is that the foreign-born professional may see a weakness in American business behavior that reduces the value of its imitation. This devaluation of certain American behaviors is rarely voiced to management. Examples include Taiwanese who are resistent to American speculative talk in meetings. They feel that this time-consuming kind of speaking lacks value. In their culture, one should not speak unless positive of what one is saying. Another example derives from the experiences of Hispanic professionals who originate in a culture where direct, emotional confrontation on business issues is desirable and has little to no long-lasting negative effects. In the more subtle American business environment, American managers dislike public criticism and confrontation, and they privately criticize the Hispanic professional for his or her "outbursts" and "lack of control." As a final example of cultural conflict, consider Africans, many of whom come from cultures where status and credentials are continually presented prior to business interactions. This leads to behaviors that Americans label as "boasting" and "arrogance." These cultural conflicts can be overcome by increasing awareness of their existence and by training to add American-style interaction patterns to the foreign-born professional's repertoire.

Footnotes:
(13) Thiederman, Bridging Cultural Barriers for Corporate Success, p. 107.
(14) William B. Gudykunst and Stella Ting-Toomey, Culture and Interpersonal Communication (Newbury, CA: Sage Publications, 1988).
(15) Thiederman, Bridging Cultural Barriers for Corporate Success, pp. 54-75.