Europe moved from communism to capitalism very rapidly in the 1990s: there,
‘old school’ managers may be efficient and experienced, but they may also
be reluctant to take initiatives and may defer unnecessarily to rules and authority
(not doing this could have lost you your job or got you thrown in jail even
20 years ago). In Japan there is a generation gap in the way industrial and
commercial society functions, such as with the gradual change from womb-
to-tomb employment to contract work, and the revolt of the young against
the ‘My company comes first’ work culture. In Japan, too, a modernizing
manager (often in his thirties or early forties) may be replaced by a more
conservative manager in his forties or early fifties. You may think that this
is just the natural effect of ageing, but social and cultural factors have a big
influence on the way managers see their jobs, especially when they are dealing
with managers overseas. For example, an older foreign manager may expect
respect by right of age that they simply don’t get in the UK or the US, where
you are as good as your performance. Similarly, an older UK or US manager
may be embarrassed by receiving what he sees as exaggerated respect or
deference in more age-respectful societies, such as China, Japan or Russia.
Gender
Catherine is an associate in a British law firm, and hopes to become a junior
partner in a few years. She is young for her level of responsibility, very
competent, very presentable and Afro-Caribbean. On a consultancy visit to
Brazil, it took a while for her and her colleagues to realize that she was not
being treated in the same way as the others in her team. Over a private drink
in the bar one night with one of the male members of the team, a Brazilian
lawyer assumed that she was obviously simply the mistress of one of the
partners, on a ‘jolly’ with her boss. Crudely put, he simply didn’t believe that
a beautiful, black, young female could be anything other than a plaything.
This is not typical of Brazilians, but nevertheless such attitudes are more
common than you might expect.
Even in the USA and the UK, sexism hasn’t been fully resolved. But in economies
where women still hold relatively junior positions or are normally expected
to leave work on marriage, male executives may find it difficult to deal with
female counterparts at their level. There are two rules for female managers
to help you to maintain parity and ensure respect:
1 Lead with your business card. Make sure it states clearly your level
of seniority within the company;
TWO HOW TO UNLOCK ANY CULTURE IN THE WORLD
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