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What you thought you said to Bangalore is not what they heard in ShanghaiRoger Kent, PMP
www.marpoltraining.com
The ChallengeTranslating British Admiralty Legalese for 85% of ship’s crews who do not speak English as a native language
Direct Messages
Indirect Messages
Whatever you can rightly say about
India or China the opposite is also true
India or China in 2012 is not what it was in 1992
Musical Chair Game What are the implicit and explicit messages?
Your goal is to be the final and only individual sitting in the chair. If you listen carefully to the sixteen bar pattern of the music you may be able to discern when the facilitator will remove the chair.
Group A
The Team will be successful when they are somehow able to last as many rounds as possible with none of their team members being called “out”.
Group B
Individual Success is the main implicit and explicit goal
Look out for #1
Group A
Group Success is the main implicit and explicit goal
Cooperate for mutual
gain (or else)
Group B
Which group belongs to which continent?
The Eastern emphasis on self regulation of emotion, empathy and avoiding hurting other’s feelings requires [the] development of a style that places more value on indirect, hypothetical and metaphorical communication, turning it into an art form.
Kedar Dwivedi
Indirect Communication
What words characterize the values this picture implies?
What words characterize North American Culture?
• Materialistic• Individualistic• Achievement-oriented• Time-oriented• Youth-oriented• Practical • Efficient
Intel employees learn to fully evaluate ideas through “constructive confrontation.” The objective is to attack the problem, not the employee, but some critics claim the process is a license for some Intel staff to be bullies.
Steven McShaneConflict Management
What skills do you need in a more collective culture?
“No” may not mean no.
Not saying “yes” means no.
•Openly disagreeing with what someone says
•Correcting what someone else has said
•Criticizing someone else who is present
•Challenging something another person says
•Giving negative feedback
Saving Face (1)
•Not being able to answer a question one should know the answer to
•Saying something is not possible
•Admitting that one does not understand something
•Admitting that one does not know something one should know
•Admitting a mistake
Saving Face (2)
Martin: How’s it going, Kartik?
Girish: Fine. Very fine.
Martin: Are we still on schedule?
Girish: The team is working very hard.
Martin: Great. My marketing people are anxious to see the new application.
Girish: We are doing well. When are they expecting it?
Martin: By the end of the week, as we agreed on in the plan.
Girish: Yes. It turned out to be quite a job, didn’t it?
Martin: We knew you could handle it. Thanks for your help.
•No response.
•Avoiding the question
•Changing the subject
•Postponed answer
•Repeating the question
•Turning the question on the speaker
•Qualified or conditional “yes”
Indirect “No” options
Should Asians become more direct?
Should Westerners learn to interpret indirection?
Partner Exercise
You try it!
Coaching Asians to be more direct
Coaching Possibilities
--Explain you want them to be more direct
--Explain why
--Western direct is rude and impolite to them
but Westerners do not take it that way
--Be patient
--Give positive feedback
