Business_Spotlight_No_04_August__

• INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION PROFESSIONAL CULTURES

Case study

Comments

T

he sort of situation described on page 28, where a cus-
tomer wjthdraws trom adeal, is not uncommon when
complex projects involve differenl professional tunctions.
It can be even more difficult if those concerned are ~
in different countries and have riWe chance to meet !Ke..:.
12:..fat..e. The problem is that the different groups have dif-
ferent aims and interests; while Sa.J.es wants to get as much
business as possible, Engineerjng is concerned about qual-
ity, and the lawyers about the legal aspects of providing
something that was not menlioned in the contract. At the
same time, tiR has its own concerns aboul recruitment.
There is no easy solution to the problem. A starting point
must be for the various stake holders to understand the
perspectives of their colfeagues. Clearly, they need to com-
municate much more. The manager needs 10 make sure
that ~ are clear and that everyone shares them; tor
example, the safes manager must be given an jncenliye
not only 10 get the business bul to make sure thai what he
has sold can be delivered. Above all, everyone involved has
to communicale consjstent messages to the cuslomer.
Allhough it is often hard to determine whal is a result of
professional. rather than national or organizationa(' as-
pects, it is important 10 be aware of professional cultural
differences. As the workplace moves trom manual labour
10 knowledge sharing, networkjog and cOllaboratjve learn-
ing, people from diverse professions need 10 work logether
effec!ively. To do that, they need to understand their col-
leagues from other fields. Some companies are putling this
concept into action in the form of diversity programmes:
encouraging staff to move between functions 10 avoid cre-
ating a silo menlality. Just as awareness of national cul-
tural contrasts can be increased by working in another
country, so can sensitjyjty to professional cultural differ-
ences be developed by contact with different occupations.

abbot 1'a:b:u I

accountant [:I'kaunI:mtJ'c, __ _

appreciate 5th. J:I'pri:Jielt1

bastei: be - [be1st) , ___ _

collabofative IkJ'Ia::b:lr.ltlv)

consistent Jbn'sls""e,,' LI __ _

dense Idensl ...

engineering l,cnd31'nIJrloJ

face-to-tace [.fel5 tJ 'fe151

feature ]'(i:IJ:l1

HR (,. human resoun:es) [,eIlJ 'o:)

incentive !m'scnllv1 -

Input l'mput1

interdependence

(,lnl;:Kh'pcnd;ms J ___ _

invaluable [ln'v""ljuJb>I)

manual laOOm I,mren;"iW1 'leibai

monastery l'monJsl:lrij

networking ['netw:s:kuJJ

30 BusinessSpot1ighI

Abt Buchhaller(in~~;;;;) =_

elw. zu sch.!tzen wissen

semen Sitz ha"1!;"',''"-----

gemeinschaftlich

Obereinstimmend

dicht ~~;;:==-

hier: die technische

Able,luni-

pefSÖf1hch

Merkmal

Personalabteilung, -wesen

AnreiZ -

Beitrag

gegenseitige Abhllngigkeit

unschatzbar wertvoll

manuelle Ar,"',,"c.-__

(MOnchs-)Klosler

Konlaklaufbau und -pflege

Th_,

or pt8Ctlce:

medlcal

dlfference s

(Keiretm) and a ~ ne twork o f personal interde-

pendence. Promotion is still based on seniority and

nOt just on performance. Alt these facrors influence

rhe attitudes, values, bc licfs and behaviour of bankers.

Doctors

In her book on mcdicine and culrure (see " Fo r mo re in-

formation"), Lynn Payer shows how imponant national

differences a re in undersranding the cu[ture of doctors.

A[though there are so me universal features, there are

also man}' differences. Payer wrires that rhe training of

Brirish docrors is more pracrical aod based on experi-

out-of·the-OOx (,aut ;w 00 'boks1 unkonventionell. mcht

dem Oblichen Schema ent-

sprechend

particl~promotion t fpr:l'm;:KJJ[pIl'~"i"~'P~'~'~'n1 ";==~_~Tei,nehmer(~,~,BefOrderung ~~==

Quote sb. Ikw;:KJt] 'jmdn. zitieren

recruitment Iri'kru:imJnll Personalbeschaffung,

wies Iscl'lz]

• emstellun~,;;;::",,:;o;:;;c::­
  hier: die Verkaufsabteilung,
  der Vertneb

senior sensitivity seniority consuI.s[~'i:ni,sensaU~·"o~ti] ~I~'llvali] .'~i:~';~';k~"~'~":"~'~" ,1_ --Femgefuhl Dienstalter '~'~'''~'~'''~i''~''';';'~'''~;;'';;;

silo mentality ['SlIllau men,lId .. ti] MSllo-Mentali~t~ (alle Infor·

stakeholders ['stelk,h;:KJldJz)

tatension rltt ['ta:gI11~['icnJ'n] ;;;;;:;:

withdraw from sth. !wrö'dr,: (mm)

mationen fließen nur hierar-

chisch von oben nach untent

Interessensgruppen

Ziel(vorgabel

Spannung

von etw. zurOcktreten

4/2010