Intro_To_Collaborating on Polish_German_Teams_Webinar slides-Part II

CROSS-CULTURAL TRAINING: INTRODUCTION TO COLLABORATING
ACROSS CULTURES (FOCUS ON POLISH-GERMAN CONTEXT)- PART II
BUSINESS SKILLS- business communication trainings in English
HOUSEKEEPING ITEMS:
- This webinar is recorded live and will be made available to all
participants for reviewing
- All participants are encouraged to use handouts designed for self-
reflection and work place application after the session
- All questions are welcome  and can be e-mailed to d.piotrowska@gazeta.pl

CROSS-CULTURAL TRAINING: INTERODUCTION TO COLLABORATING
ACROSS CULTURES (FOCUS ON POLISH-GERMAN CONTEXT)- PART II
PART I: Basic cultural concepts and historically conditioned Polish norms
PART II: Selected challanges in cross-cultural collaboration (Ger-Pol context)
PART III:Strategizing around cross-cultural differences-guidelines to
attaining cross-cultural competence

Agenda for PART II: Selected challanges in cross-
cultural collaboration (Polish-German context):
1. Review of key concepts from PART I
2. Stereotypes vs.Generalizations vs. Cultural filters
3. Selected differences in national cultural dimensions and their impact on
chosen business activities e.g.teamwork, meetings,feedback.
4. Preview of PART III: Strategizing around cross-cultural differences

1.Review of key concepts from PART I

“Ninety per cent of CEOs believe that if
cross-cultural communication were to improve,
profit, revenue and market share would all
improve as well. Yet many are not doing enough
to address the challenge” - Competing across
borders, The Economist Intelligence Unit, 2013

BUT WHAT IS CULTURE?
Two tadpoles are swimming in a pond. Suddenly one turns into a frog and leaves the
pond. Upon the frog’s return to the water, the tadpole sees the frog and asks:
“Where did you go?”
“I went to a dry place, ” answers the frog.
“What is ‘dry’?” asks the tadpole.
“Dry is where there is no water,” says the frog.
“And what is ‘water’?” asks the tadpole.
“You don’t know what ‘water’ is?” the frog says in disbelief.
“It’s all around you! Can’t you see it?”

Observable/above the
surface vs.below the
surface manifestations
of culture

„Culture is a collective transgenerational
programming of the mind that distinguishes
the members of one human group from another.”*
* http://geerthofstede.nl/culture.aspx

Multiple layers of culture that shape
our individual personality

Historically conditioned key Polish norms/values and below the surface
manifestations of culture:
 Family as top value
 Love of independence and freedom
 National pride
 People/relationship rather than task orientation-the importance of networks (also
hidden netoworks)
 Indirect communication (face saving)
 Dychotomy between high indivdualism coupled with respect for hierarchy
 Flexibility, creativity
 Vitality & Solidarity ( „Schicksalsgemeinschaft” behavior)

2. Stereotypes vs. Generalizations vs. Cultural filters

Germans about Poles: ”Poles always disrespect rules and procedures!”
Poles about Germans: ”All Germans are rules sticlers, even if the rules are absurd!”
Vs.
Germans about Poles:”Poles tend to stretch rules if they think it is likely to bring benefits.”
Poles about Germans: ”Germans prefer to follow the rules to ensure standardization.”

Emotionally loaded
prejudices that
dictate us how to
unfairlyinterpret
someone’s behavior.
Lead to oversimpli-
fication and misin-
terpretation.
Emotionally neutral
and general guides
that help us
anticipate cultural
behaviors and make
cross-cultural com-
parisons conducive
to collaboration
across cultures.

A Lens - did you know it
had this many layers
inside? Just think of the
layers of our Personal
Values Lenses…

We are all shaped by
multiple layers of cultural
influences. We are complex
individuals and see world
through our very own
particular set of cultural
filters/lenses.

To avoid misperceptions
that inevitably result in
cultural frictions make
sure you are fully aware
of and in charge of how
your own cultural filters
impact your perception of
and collaboration with
others

Over to You:
Take a moment to think of some situations where you used stereotypes
and/or cultural filters and how it affected your perception of the
given person/group of people? Use your webinar handouts to take notes
for future reference.

3. Selected differences in national cultural dimensions
and their impact on chosen business activities
(Polish-German context)

Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions
(source:http://geert-hofstede.com/dimensions.html)

Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner Cultural Dimensions
Source: http://research-methodology.net/trompenaars-and-hampden-turner-cultural-dimensions/

Sample cultural misperception:
„ All Poles are so over-emotional” „Germans are always so stiff and emotionally disattached.”

Remember? We are all subject to culture unique
programming of the mind handed down from generation to generation,
that manifests itself in observable behaviors that are driven
by our group system of values.

Over to You:
Take a moment to think of some business related situations where some of
the cultural dimensions we focused on today, had manifested
themselves/clashed with your national norms. What business contexts do they
tend to commonly occur in?
Use your webinar handouts to take notes for future reference.

Impact on selected areas of business collaboration:
 Meetings-Poles e.g. :reluctance to follow the agenda, many digressions, no open exchange
of opinions, at times emotional approach, overlapping speakers
 Feedback-Poles e.g.:unable to take/give constructive criticism (need for face
saiving),indirect communication,
 Teamwork-Poles e.g.: people/relationships and not task oriented, strongly individualist,
follow schedules loosely
How to navigate cross-cultural differences to improve collaboration on international
teams?
Teamwork is after all the fuel that
allows common people to attain
uncommon results.

Join us for PART III of this webinar series to
learn how to strategize around them!

4. Preview of PART III: Strategizing around cross-
cultural differences!

Learn how to develop general attitude and skills and then ...

...learn how to acquire specific cultural knowledge about self and others
in order to help you intergrate and collaborate succesfully.

Thank you and look forward to meeting you for PART III of this
Introduction to collaborating across cultures!
Feel free to e-mail your questions to d.piotrowska@gazeta.pl

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