Culture as a major obstacle to business

Morale was high at the US based contracting company. They had just been invited to join a consortium of companies that had pre-qualified for a big public works tender in Central Asia. The offer came via e-mail. After concluding the initial round of correspondence with their counterparts, a two man team made up of one senior engineer and one business development exec were sent to Europe to meet up with their potential partners and sign the consortium agreement.

The trip started well, as they were well received by their hosts at the airport, guided to their hotel and were pleased to see that a well planned itinerary awaited them. Two mid- level managers took them out to dinner that night, and a jovial relationship was established.

The next day, still dazzled by the late night and effects of jet lag the US team met with the senior execs of the consortium and gave a strong power point presentation as to their capabilities, past business performance and key deliverables. Everyone was all smiles at lunch, and things were very cordial in the afternoon during the contract negotiations. The US team e-mailed back the tentative consortium agreement late afternoon and was treated to a special evening of entertainment and fine dining "Asian" style by the corporate execs.

Previous Newsletters: This month's newsletter is from the Philippines.

Project: To increase the income of a fishing village
Action: To package and transport the fish to urban centers and place the product on supermarket shelves.(The project involved product development and design, packaging, distribution and promotion)

Traditional subsistence fishing model
The traditional model for the village was to catch enough fish to supply the village with its staple form of nutrition, and try to sell the remainder to anybody willing to make the long trek to the remote village. Wholesalers would drop in occasionally to purchase fish at low prices if fish at easier to reach locations was not available. As a result of the subsistence model the village stayed put; and in poverty as no attempt to sell their catch was made as a result of lack of funds and knowledge.

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A Sexual Harassment Case
We recently came across a situation in a multi national corporation in New York that involved a sexual harassment case. We were not asked to consult in the matter, as it is not our mission to solve such cases, but I felt that it would be a good subject for this month's newsletter as it reflects the importance of communicating across cultures, and the gaps that exist due to different paradigms.

The Setting
The setting was a multi-national organization; the alleged offender was a gentleman from Kazakhstan, (former Soviet Union republic) who was supervising the alleged victim, a woman of Filipino origin. The organization tried to settle the matter internally before the matter was litigated and a Japanese manager was assigned to arbitrate in the matter.

The abuse was in through a hand gesture, with the Kazakh supervisor criticizing the work of the Filipino employee and making a hand gesture (incidentally the same hand gesture means different things in different countries). The woman protested that she did not deserve such a comment and asked for an apology, and when that was not forth coming, launched a formal complaint.

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