National cultures
The deepest level of culture – values
Our value programming defines how we feel and relate to different things on average. It is usually unconscious and automatic. People from the same culture tend to act in a similar way for maintaining social cohesion (even though individuals don’t always fully share all the value preferences of the majority), especially when they are together.
The more we are under stressful situations, the more we tend to fall to our most instinctive behavior based on these deeply rooted values.
For a global manager, understanding the unwritten rules of the game, being able to bridge the gaps and ability to create trust in different cultures is a powerful asset.
Ask yourself, how much it could help your business results if:
- You could interpret your foreign counter-part’s intentions, thinking and acting better in international encounters?
- You could adapt your negotiation style and process to be more efficient in different cultures?
- You could solve the common business problem of centralization vs. de-centralization by finding a working compromise solution based on cultural clustering?
- You could adjust your international operations better fitting the cultural needs of different markets?
- You would be more confident in leading your multi-cultural team members thus increasing your team performance?