A manager's job is to deliver results, through people, according to the requirements of the company. Globalization has brought its share of complexities to the management front.
It's a valuable manager indeed who is able to work across the cultural divide. Having an ability to get the best performamce from employees, often spread across the globe, is a quality a new breed of intercultural managers have in abundance.
Nowadays, being 'international' is not an exotic adventure in business, it's the way that businesses have to operate, through sourcing, manufacturing and, of course, selling.
Every well known worldwide business has a global reach today, both to create new markets, as well as sourcing opportunities.
In a nutshell all companies must understand intercultural communication requirements.
Intercultural Management - The Bottom Line
The bottom line is that there is now, in a tough marketplace, a need for exceptional managers who can work worldwide to get the best from cultural differences.
'Intercultural Management' is all about being able to maximise value from the differences across the world, by overcoming the challenges that such locations might throw up.
Just imagine the incredible importance of communication across the void of different cultures and the value it can unlock.
It's vital to recognize just how shared understanding is the most important piece of the puzzle in businesses that work across international boundaries.
Within the business, an multicultural manager plays the role of a go-between for senior personnel and employees and must have clear and effective communication with all.
Then there is also the talent required to extract the potential from a valuable team drawn possibly from all four corners of the globe too.
Externally a multicultural manager will have expertise in broad and varied cultural awareness for supervising the entrance into foreign markets. The selection and training of people who will work in foreign interests must be overseen.
And, of course, it's vital to be able to build relationships on all sides to make this work as a mutually beneficial exercise.
Where things work out well, bank those for the future. Where there are some shortfalls, careful scrutiny of what could be done better will also forge the way for future success.
Intercultural Management - Worldly Experience Counts
Apart from the more challenging differences across cultures, simply making sure that language issues are not a problem is the first and probably most obvious task.
Then it's down to work and life experience, added to previous opportunities to work elsewhere on the planet. These four angles are worthy of consideration:-
1. A broad international awareness
2. Vision to capitalize on differences
3. Considered approach to business
4. A great sense of patience!
Intercultural awareness is the basis of wide ranging management skills. Having a hands-on experience of working amongst varied cultures is critical.
Knowledge about the different relationships and their manifestations across international boundaries is necessity, because such managers can only develop the requisite skills by absorbing the many intercultural differences in the target country.
Flexibility Is The Key For Cross-cultural Managers
Flexibility will often happen naturally once a manager becomes aware of cultural differences and can see beyond superficial level experiences. Flexibility means thinking out of the box, when considering solutions to intercultural challenges.
Problems will need different solutions than perhaps might expect - and this often requires a very different approach.
It's amazing how those who do really well, learn fast how to get the best from their local environment, leveraging local knowledge and radical solutions that come from out-of-the-box ideas that may be completely unexpected elsewhere.
Then new possibilities come from new horizons, that any business can value and create new outcomes from.
The manager with the best capacity to see and seize opportunity will, of course, be the one who brings home the prize.
"A handful of patience is worth more than a bushel of brains", as the Dutch are known to say.
Thus patience is the key for success in intercultural management, because it helps maintain focus and leads to a coherent analysis and an effective solution. - 16747
It's a valuable manager indeed who is able to work across the cultural divide. Having an ability to get the best performamce from employees, often spread across the globe, is a quality a new breed of intercultural managers have in abundance.
Nowadays, being 'international' is not an exotic adventure in business, it's the way that businesses have to operate, through sourcing, manufacturing and, of course, selling.
Every well known worldwide business has a global reach today, both to create new markets, as well as sourcing opportunities.
In a nutshell all companies must understand intercultural communication requirements.
Intercultural Management - The Bottom Line
The bottom line is that there is now, in a tough marketplace, a need for exceptional managers who can work worldwide to get the best from cultural differences.
'Intercultural Management' is all about being able to maximise value from the differences across the world, by overcoming the challenges that such locations might throw up.
Just imagine the incredible importance of communication across the void of different cultures and the value it can unlock.
It's vital to recognize just how shared understanding is the most important piece of the puzzle in businesses that work across international boundaries.
Within the business, an multicultural manager plays the role of a go-between for senior personnel and employees and must have clear and effective communication with all.
Then there is also the talent required to extract the potential from a valuable team drawn possibly from all four corners of the globe too.
Externally a multicultural manager will have expertise in broad and varied cultural awareness for supervising the entrance into foreign markets. The selection and training of people who will work in foreign interests must be overseen.
And, of course, it's vital to be able to build relationships on all sides to make this work as a mutually beneficial exercise.
Where things work out well, bank those for the future. Where there are some shortfalls, careful scrutiny of what could be done better will also forge the way for future success.
Intercultural Management - Worldly Experience Counts
Apart from the more challenging differences across cultures, simply making sure that language issues are not a problem is the first and probably most obvious task.
Then it's down to work and life experience, added to previous opportunities to work elsewhere on the planet. These four angles are worthy of consideration:-
1. A broad international awareness
2. Vision to capitalize on differences
3. Considered approach to business
4. A great sense of patience!
Intercultural awareness is the basis of wide ranging management skills. Having a hands-on experience of working amongst varied cultures is critical.
Knowledge about the different relationships and their manifestations across international boundaries is necessity, because such managers can only develop the requisite skills by absorbing the many intercultural differences in the target country.
Flexibility Is The Key For Cross-cultural Managers
Flexibility will often happen naturally once a manager becomes aware of cultural differences and can see beyond superficial level experiences. Flexibility means thinking out of the box, when considering solutions to intercultural challenges.
Problems will need different solutions than perhaps might expect - and this often requires a very different approach.
It's amazing how those who do really well, learn fast how to get the best from their local environment, leveraging local knowledge and radical solutions that come from out-of-the-box ideas that may be completely unexpected elsewhere.
Then new possibilities come from new horizons, that any business can value and create new outcomes from.
The manager with the best capacity to see and seize opportunity will, of course, be the one who brings home the prize.
"A handful of patience is worth more than a bushel of brains", as the Dutch are known to say.
Thus patience is the key for success in intercultural management, because it helps maintain focus and leads to a coherent analysis and an effective solution. - 16747
About the Author:
(c) 2008 Martin P Haworth has written Super Successful Manager!, a very simple, step-by-step weekly development program for managers of EVERY skill level. Want a free sample lesson? It's waiting for you at http://www.SuperSuccessfulManager.com.
