Working across cultural differences – professional, organizational or national

Some common reactions to encountering cultural differences are :-

Ethnocentric pitfalls - seeing culture as given

1. Ignore differences

• Be physically or mentally isolated/separated
• Deny

2. Recognize differences but evaluate them negatively

• Denigrate others
• Feel superior
• Place others on a pedestal

3. Recognize differences but minimize their importance

• Trivialize
• Fail to notice the unique – "we are all the same"

Ethnorelative approaches - seeing culture as a process

4. Recognize and accept differences

• Acknowledge, appreciate, understand
• Acceptance / agreement, surrender
• Acceptance needs to be instinctual and emotional as much as intellectual

5. Adapt to differences

• Move outside one’s comfort zone
• Empathy (temporary shift in perspective)
• Adaptation / adoption, assimilation

6. Integrate differences

• Hold different frames of reference in mind
• Analyze and evaluate situations from various cultural perspectives
• Remain grounded in reality; it is essential to avoid becoming dazzled by too many possibilities

7. Leverage differences

• Make the most of differences, strive for synergy
• Proactively look for gems in different cultures
• Achieve unity through diversity

Sources: Bennett, M. & Rosinski, P. in Rosinski, P. "Coaching across Cultures", 2003, Pubr Nicholas Brealey.

TCL Feb 2010