Fall 2004 IMQ

Intercultural Management Quarterly Integrating Culture and Management in Global Organizations

Fall 2004 Edition Volume 5, Number 3

Inside this issue of IMQ...

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Social Capital in Local & Transnational Immigrant Networks: An Analysis of the Indian Immigrant Community of Silicon Valley, CA

by Shilpa Hart

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The Price of Neutrality: Re-examining the Role of Interpreters in Intenational Business Negotiations

by Marianna Pogosyan

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The Difference Between Synergy and Disaster

by Didi Hirowaka and Natasha Gunn

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Book Review: Mahmood Mamdani’s Good Muslim, Bad Muslim

by Adam Mendelson

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The Intercultural Management Quarterly (IMQ) is a publication of the Intercultural Management Institute (IMI) at American University. IMQ is a forum for experts in the field of intercultural management to share their knowledge with a broad audience interested in intercultural issues. IMQ is produced with the active involvement of faculty, graduate students and alumni of American Univeristy’s School of International Service.

INTERCULTURAL MANAGEMENT QUARTERLY: www.imquarterly.org INTERCULTURAL MANAGEMENT INSTITUTE: www.imi.american.edu

From the Editor

IMQ STAFF

Towards a Deeper Understanding of Culture Welcome to the Fall 2004 edition of Intercultural Management Quarterly (IMQ). In this edition, we have included articles that focus, directly or tangentially, on the cultural anthropology dimension of intercultural management. Anthropological research can be a key to understanding culture. For the purposes of IMQ and its readership, anthropological research is a building block in our understanding of culture, allowing us to better comprehend its relation to cross-cultural communication and how to effectively address the interstices between culture and management.

Dr. Shilpa Hart’s article “Social Capital in Local and Transnational Immigrant Networks: An Analysis of the Indian Immigrant Community of Silicon Valley, CA”, is an incisive examination of the social networks forged by this highly educated, entrepreneurial community.

Dr. Hart examines the transnational and cross-cultural capacities of this community and discusses the fascinating concept of “social capital”.

The role of the interpreter is often crucial in intercultural communication and business. Marianna Pogosyan relates her own experience as an interpreter as she discusses the interpreter’s role and reflects upon the boundaries of an interpreter’s responsibility to the involved parties.

The cultural intangibles involved in the merger of two international companies can be critical to the merger’s success or failure.

Didi Hirowaka and Natasha Gunn analyze how to effectively recognize and address these issues.

Finally, as the new editor I believe that it is important to offer some written contributions to IMQ. In this vein, my review of Mahmood Mamdani’s relevant and thought provoking book Good Muslim, Bad Muslim appears in this edition of IMQ. You may have noticed some changes in this edition of IMQ: a new cover page and editor, for example. In the coming editions, we look forward to further tinkering with IMQ in order to make it as valuable to the intercultural management community as possible. In this endeavor, we encourage your feedback. Let us know how we’re doing; what we’re doing well, and what we can do to improve. Besides sending us your feedback, also send us your article submissions. At IMQ, not only do we value your opinions, but we also value your insight and experience in the field of intercultural management.

I hope that you enjoy this issue of Intercultural Management Quarterly, and I look forward to meeting many of you at the Intercultural Management Institute’s annual conference in March.

Best wishes, Adam Mendelson

Publisher • Dr. Gary R. Weaver Managing Editor • Adam Mendelson Publication Manager • Anna Lee Contributing Writers Natasha Gunn Dr. Shilpa Hart Didi Hirokawa Adam Mendelson Marianna Pogosyan Editorial Review Board Gary R. Weaver, Bradley David, Anna Lee, Annmarie McGillicuddy, Darrel Onizuka, Sherry Zarabi Interculutral Management Quarterly (IMQ) is published by the Intercultural Management Institute at American University.

IMQ combines original research conducted in the field of interculutral management with the applied perspectives of industry experts, professors and students.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES Professionals, scholars and students are invited to submit articles of no less than 1,000 words and no more than 1,500 on issues related to the contemporary study and practice of intercultural management. Submissions could consider aspects of training, research and any other scholarship that relates to the area of intercultural management.

Articles must be innovative and contribute to the knowledge in this field and yet authors should avoid overly academic jargon. Footnotes or endnotes are discouraged except for direct quotes, paraphrasing or citing the research of others.

Each submission is refereed by members of the IMQ editorial review board and accepted pieces are subject to editing to conform with the writing style appropriate to IMQ.

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Social Capital in Local and T ransnational Immig rant Transnational Immigrant Netw orks: An Analysis of the Indian Immig rant ComNetworks: Immigrant munity of Silicon V alley Valley alley,, CA

By Shilpa Hart In the United States, a nation of immigrants, the social and economic networks of various immigrant groups have long been a subject of interest and scholarly research. Much of the literature concerning economic networks of immigrants in the U.S. centers around low-skilled populations. While this research provides valuable lessons, it does not necessarily apply to those immigrants who are highly skilled professionals. Such immigrants tend to utilize more formal ties, from occupational or organized business networks, in addition to personal ties (Bagchi 2001).

Situated between two worlds: their native country and the United States, they also play a unique role in building transnational economic relationships.

This article examines the local and global networks of immigrant professionals in the U.S. Immigrants have played a central role in an increasingly globalized economy.

With the rapid growth of the information technology (IT) industry, the U.S. has relied heavily on immigrants to fulfill the demand for highly skilled engineers and computer scientists. Nowhere is this trend more apparent than in Silicon Valley, California. Indians play a unique role in the growing influence of immigrant entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley as demonstrated by their English language ability, strong ethnic ties, and educational background. Many of Silicon Valley’s leading immigrant entrepreneurs are graduates from one of six Indian Institutes of Technology, schools whose admissions policies are more selective than Ivy League institutions in the United States (Warner 2000). This article examines the local and transnational networks that facilitate the entrepreneurship of Indian immigrants in Silicon Valley, California. The local network concerns relationships among Indians in the IT sector who live in the region,

while the transnational network involves ties between Indian immigrants in Silicon Valley and Indians in India’s growing software industry.

What accounts for their economic success in Silicon Valley? How do Indian immigrants build transnational ties in the global production network of the software industry? In an effort to answer these questions, I will identify and analyze the social capital embedded within these networks. In his wellknown analysis of civic communities in Italy, Robert Putnam defines social capital as “features of social organization, such as trust, norms, and networks, that can improve the efficiency of society by facilitating coordinated actions” (Putnam 167). I will argue that the social capital in these networks is the key to understanding the economic success of immigrant professionals both in local and global contexts.

Conceptual Framework It is difficult to say whether or not there is something inherent in Indian culture that explains the success of immigrant entrepreneurs in this region.

The answer could instead lie in the ways in which Indian engineers and scientists establish and navigate ethnic networks, building on their cultural, educational, and professional connections. An analysis of the social capital in Indian immigrant networks within Silicon Valley and with India requires specific criteria by which social capital can be identified and explained. Nan Lin provides a clear and useful framework that will serve this purpose in this article. He identifies four elements of social capital that explain how social networks enhance economic transactions: information, influence, social credentials, and reinforcement.

First, social capital facilitates the flow of information. Social networks provide important information about business, price discounts, and interest-free loans

for entrepreneurs (Yoo 1998). Second, relationships within a social network may exert influence on key individuals with power and decision-making authority. Third, an individual’s social credentials are highlighted when s/he is known to have access to the resources (or social capital) of a social network.

The individual is therefore bringing something extra, or beyond her/his personal resources to the organization.

The last element of social capital is that social relations reinforce identity and recognition. Lin’s understanding of social capital provides a method for analyzing the role of social networks in the economic success of immigrant professionals.

Case Study Analysis: Indian Immigrants in Silicon Valley I will examine the social capital of the Indian immigrants in Silicon Valley in terms of the four criteria explained above: information, influence, social credentials, and reinforcement in order to illustrate the embeddedness of economic activities in social networks and the ways in which immigrant groups use their social capital to ensure success in local and global economic contexts.

Information One of the most obvious resources that a social network can provide to its members is information. When they first arrive in the U.S., for example, Indian immigrants look to the existing Indian American community to learn such ethnic-specific information as where community centers or places of worship are located and where to buy South Asian groceries. Through social networks, immigrants find their place in the larger American community they have entered, learning about the geographic region in which they live, the schools their children will attend, and the various career opportunities available to them. In an economic Continued on page 4

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Social Capital...

Continued from page 3

context, such information is key for aspiring entrepreneurs to learn how to establish their own businesses. The Indian immigrants in Silicon Valley rely on social and professional networks to mobilize the information, skills, and capital they need to start their own firms.

AnnaLee Saxenian’s two studies: “Silicon Valley’s New Immigrant Entrepreneurs” (1999) and “Local and Global Networks of Immigrant Professionals in Silicon Valley” (2002), provide a wealth of data concerning the economic activities of Indian immigrants. Saxenian notes that as the immigrant engineering communities in Silicon Valley have grown, their associational activities have increased as well (1999: 28). Professional associations like the Silicon Valley Indian Professionals Association (SIPA) and The Indus Entrepreneur (TiE) facilitate the information exchange among Indian immigrants. “These organizations combine elements of traditional immigrant culture with distinctly high-technology practices: They simultaneously create ethnic identities within the region and facilitate the professional networking and information exchange that aid success in the highly mobile Silicon Valley economy” (Saxenian 1999: 31).

Among the reasons that networks, like the professional associations described above, are a good source of information is that they help to reduce transaction costs. Williamson describes transaction costs as “the economic equivalent of friction in physical systems” (1985: 19). Economic transactions not only involve the costs of production, but the costs of exchange.

In the case of an immigrant entrepreneur looking to start his/her own business, that individual must account for the transaction costs involved in acquiring not only the capital, but the also the information necessary for a successful business. Professional associations reduce these costs by providing a common meeting place for members with similar ethnic and educational backgrounds. Participation in associational activities provides members with

opportunities to interact with and learn from one another that they would not otherwise have. Thus, social networks can help to reduce the transaction costs of entrepreneurial activities.

For Silicon Valley immigrant engineers, global networks are also important sources of information. Indian immigrant professionals are building transnational networks to encourage business transactions between the U.S. and their native country. By establishing relationships with government officials and business leaders in India, Indian immigrants in Silicon Valley have provided channels for information sharing and economic exchange between the two countries. Through these networks, Indian entrepreneurs in the U.S. are obtaining advice concerning the financial and regulatory conditions for doing business in India as well as transferring elements of the Silicon Valley business model to their native country. In fact, in response to Indian government efforts to build business ties in the U.S., SIPA redefined its role to include attempting to “fill the information gap” between the two countries (Saxenian 2002: 44). Indian immigrant entrepreneurs are therefore in a unique position to facilitate the flow of information through local and transnational networks.

Influence The second element of social capital, influence, concerns the power of social ties to impact the decisions made within a network. Influence is not limited to powerful individuals in a community, but is also part of the structure of a social network. The embeddedness of influence in social networks illustrates what North refers to as informal constraints. While many social networks do not have a rigid hierarchy with explicit rules, they do have informal rules that structure the network.

One of the key elements of the informal structure of immigrant networks is the common culture shared by the members. North explains that culture is in fact the source of informal constraints.

Because the members of an immigrant

network often share the same ethnic background, religious affiliation, and in this case educational background, they all subscribe to the same unwritten rules and codes with which they were raised.

This makes it easier for them to communicate with and trust one another. Vinod Khosla, a co-founder of Sun Microsystems, reinforces this point: “the ethnic networks clearly play a role here: people talk to each other, they test their ideas, they suggest other people they know, who are likely to be of the same ethnicity. There is more trust because the language and cultural approach are so similar” (Saxenian 1999: 48).

Professional associations are networks that have some formal rules, but are largely structured by informal constraints. These constraints can take the form of duties and sanctions which are instrumental in creating trust in a community. Satish Gupta of Cirrus Logic notes: “if you don’t fulfill your obligations, you could be an outcast…the pressure of, hey, you better not do this because I’m going to see you at the temple or sitting around the same coffee table at the TiE meeting…and I know another five guys that you have to work with, so you better not do anything wrong” (Saxenian 1999: 48). Portes refers to this mechanism as enforceable trust, “insofar as the ease with which transactions, concessions, and gifts are made among members of the same community is undergirded by certainty that no one will shirk their eventual repayment” (1995:14). In this case, the social and professional interconnections of the Indian immigrant community provide enforceability of the informal constraints in that community.

Social Credentials The social capital embedded in an immigrant network is often made apparent by the credentials of its members. The education, experience, and knowledge of each member contribute to the collective credentials of the group, enhancing the reputation of the network. In other words, the whole is indeed greater than the sum of the parts.

In the context of social networks, one of Continued on page 5

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Continued from page 4

the key credentials each member of a network possesses is his/her relationships with other members of the network. These connections are often perceived as an asset because working with one member of a powerful network provides potential future links with other members.

The educational background of Indian immigrants in Silicon Valley is an important social credential. These highly skilled immigrants are engineers and computer scientists that U.S. companies require to fulfill the demand for IT professionals. As mentioned earlier, many of the members of the Indian immigrant network in Silicon Valley are alumni of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT). These institutes have developed into centers for learning and research, earning an impressive reputation worldwide. The bicultural experience of working in the IT industries in two countries is not limited to IIT graduates, but true for many Indian immigrants in Silicon Valley. Educational background is an important credential, but perhaps equally important is the ability for immigrants to serve as crosscultural mediators in a globalized economy.

Radha Basu’s work for HewlettPackard (HP) illustrates this point. Basu came to the U.S. from India in the early 1970s to pursue a graduate degree in computer science at the University of Southern California. She then began a career at HP, and returned to India in the mid-1980s to establish HP’s software center in Bangalore. The Indian government had actually invited her to set up one of the country’s first foreign subsidiaries. Basu’s cultural credentials were crucial to the success of this endeavor: “You can’t just fly in and out and stay in a five-star hotel and expect to get things done like you can elsewhere,” Basu explains, “You have to understand India and its development needs and adapt to them” (Saxenian 1999: 63). Basu’s understanding of the cultural context of doing business in India made her a key asset for HP’s work in India. Saxenian notes that many

Indian engineers followed Basu’s lead in the early 1990s: “They exploited their cultural and linguistic capabilities and their contacts to help build software operations in their home country” (1999: 63).

Even those immigrants who do not facilitate transnational connections have access to the credentials of the network.

These credentials are embedded in the professional associations of Indian immigrant engineers and computer scientists. As mentioned earlier, organizations like SIPA and TiE are networks that facilitate the flow of information. Made up of members who have excelled in their own businesses and want to lend a helping hand to newcomers, these associations have developed good reputations within the IT industry. It is the good reputation of such an organization that acts as an impressive credential on the resumes of its members. To be a member of TiE, for example, is to be associated with leaders and entrepreneurs with great influence in the IT industry. Thus, the credentials of an entire social network greatly benefit each of its members.

Reinforcement The final element of social capital present in the Indian immigrant community of Silicon Valley is reinforcement.

One of the benefits of being a part of a social network is the support one receives from fellow members. New immigrants face many challenges when they arrive in the U.S., and the support they receive from the immigrant community serves to reinforce identity and recognition. Social networks provide these reinforcements for their members in many different ways, three of which will be discussed here. Mentoring is one example of reinforcement as it involves established members of a network helping to guide newcomers.

Transnational networks also serve to reinforce identity by connecting the immigrant both with her country of birth and the country to which she immigrated. Finally, social networks provide members with a sense of belonging that eases the struggle of adapting to a new

culture. By providing these sources of reinforcement, the immigrants in Silicon Valley enhance the social capital of their network.

Mentoring is a fundamental part of cross-generational knowledge sharing in a network. Immigrants who once struggled to make contacts and start their own businesses are now giving a hand to aspiring immigrant entrepreneurs through social networks. This mentorship can be seen in the formal events planned by the association like the monthly meetings and presentations as well as the annual conference. These events are excellent learning opportunities for members that also provide an environment for extensive informal networking.

In addition to knowledge-sharing opportunities, members of TiE are often looking to mentors for financial support.

While the organization itself does not engage in venture capital investments, many of its individual members do, and those investments bolster the confidence of new entrepreneurs. Portes explains that social capital is “the capacity of individuals to command scarce resources by virtue of their membership in networks or broader social structures” (1995: 12). Thus, the knowledge and financial support passed from one generation to the next uncovers the social capital embedded in the network.

Immigrants not only find reinforcements in the local Indian entrepreneur network in Silicon Valley, but also in the transnational network between the U.S. and India. When Indian engineers and computer scientists leave their native India for Silicon Valley, they enter an unfamiliar world in which they do not have the same reinforcements of home.

Some of these immigrants take advantage of their unique position between two worlds to build transnational economic ties between India and the U.S.. In addition to benefiting the companies for which they work, these individuals develop ties with their home country that reinforce their identity as Indians. While they may not necessarily Continued on page 11

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The Price of Neutrality: Re-examining the Role of Business Interpr eters in International Neg otiations Interpreters Negotiations

By Marianna Pogosyan The world of interpreting is intriguing and far-reaching. It can take interpreters from subdued boardrooms during multi-million dollar business negotiations to thunderous boxing rings to decipher the delirious blabbering of blood-drenched Russian Taekwondo athletes amidst the intruding flashbulbs of Japanese media.

While the translator’s role is fundamental in the rebirth of a literary work in a nonoriginal language, it is critical in ensuring successful communication in fields such as medicine, law, business, pedagogy and social service. Interpreting is among the oldest of human professions as the oral conveyance of verbal communication between speakers of different languages.

While some translation theories advocate a literal word-for-word reiteration of the original text or utterance, others claim that due to the innate non-isomorphic nature of languages, interpreters should instead transfer the sense and the ideas of the original utterance. When transferring terminological, stylistic and extralinguistic information from a source language into a target language, interpreters strive to provide linguistic accuracy, ideational clarity, and neutrality.

Interpreters of business negotiations in international settings are faced with various unique considerations. Of primary importance is the issue of the neutrality of the interpreter. As the ultimate objective of business negotiations is to strike beneficial financial deals, interpreters are usually expected to exhibit loyalty to the company that has hired them. Interpreters could thus be requested to obtain information for the client through their linguistic skills, as well as provide additional feedback about the other party from personal observations. Economic dependence and corporate loyalty during international business negotiations may thus jeopardize the interpreter’s neutral role as a facilitator of communication by presenting him with ethical dilemmas.

An American client of a high-profile Japanese automotive company recently

hired me as an interpreter for negotiations.

Gladly agreeing to the adventure, I hoped to compensate for my lack of knowledge about auto parts with my considerable interpreting experience, which had taken me from UNESCO cooking classrooms to Taekwondo tournaments. On the day of my assignment, I headed to the client’s office building with confidence, choosing to leave my English adorned with a slight accent of unintelligible origins to retain my neutrality. During the introductory explanations about the upcoming negotiations by the Americans, the sudden chaos in the office indicated the arrival of the Japanese guests. Somewhere amidst the characteristic mannerisms and archetypal parlance of the Japanese delegation, I sensed a familiar nostalgia flood through me, as I was suddenly struck with the vivid presence of Japan. When I opened my mouth to start translating the first welcoming words of the Americans, I realized that even if I was able to choose to remain neutral in English using my accent as my shield, I was not able to do that in Japanese. I had readily discarded my accent in Japanese as a child when I discovered that speaking near-native Japanese and getting soaked in the Japanese culture would notably ease my assimilation as a foreigner into the Japanese society. As I started feeling an inexplicable sympathy towards the Japanese guests with each uttered Japanese word, I realized that retaining my neutrality as an interpreter would be more challenging than simply translating automotive terminology.

The hierarchical structure of the Japanese delegation, which was initially confusing to the Americans, was immediately clear to me. The executive at the top was an elderly man of characteristically few words, who seemed keener on chatting to me about my impressions of Japan than discussing business. He was accompanied by his serious assistant who demonstrated the most knowledge about their company, and a third man, who almost never participated in any of the discussions, took notes

on his laptop and provided comic relief for the rest of the team.

After a hectic day filled with meetings, presentations, and factory visits, my knowledge of the automotive industry was growing by the minute, and everything seemed to be going smoothly. Later that evening, suspenseful silence fell over the round table after the American executive made a demonstrative offer to the Japanese team during the final climactic presentation of the day. As the Americans eagerly looked on, my translation was greeted with a relentless sound of typing, synchronous tilting of heads, reflectively silent smiles, and readily nodding faces from the guests. After an oddly brief discussion amongst themselves, the Japanese delegation predictably concluded that they needed some more time to consider the contract before they could provide a final answer.

Following the lavish dinner reception, which included a surprising toast by the note-taker exalting the American hospitality and their successful trip, the unsuspecting enthusiasm of the Americans indicated their certainty about the positive outcomes of the negotiations. Surprisingly, the Americans were even interested in my opinion about the result of the negotiations. After a decade of life in Japan I had learned that the Japanese would seldom make on the spot decisions in business, thus their reluctance to immediately sign any contracts, which they had demonstrated through various verbal and nonverbal signs, was an expected outcome of their business ethics. In the meantime, the American managers had misread the smiling faces and approving nods of the Japanese managers, their few questions, and the promising toast as signs of victory.

The multi-million dollar breakdown of communication on the executive level displayed an invisible gap between the two parties which was brazenly evident to a neutral observer familiar with the sociolinguistic and business contexts of both cultures. However, as I observed the Continued on page 7

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Neutrality...

Price of Neutrality ...

Continued from page 6 two delegations part with incongruous assumptions about the outcomes of their negotiations, I felt captive to an ethical conflict inhibiting me from taking any action to ease the misunderstandings. First of all, I believed that since I was hired as an interpreter, my job was to facilitate communication between the two delegations by translating whatever palpable information was being said around me during meetings, presentations, receptions and other interactions between the two parties. However, translating the invisible layer of communication which was encoded in the sociolinguistic, pragmatic and ethical context of their interactions, seemed unprincipled. Secondly, since I did not have any previous knowledge of the history of either of the companies and was not aware of the logistics of their negotiations, I did not consider myself qualified to make observatory remarks about the pragmatics of Japanese and American business behavior. After all, the company had merely hired me as an interpreter to translate the tangible, while the executives would navigate their tactics accordingly, taking into consideration the subtle extralinguistic signs from the other team.

As a result of my assignment, I realized that in order to maximize the benefit of interpreter-aided international business negotiations, a number of considerations should be addressed. First of all, executives should maintain familiarity with fundamental business and cultural ethics of their international partners. This critical knowledge could undoubtedly assist the executives in making more prudent decisions, and could alleviate interpreters from the task of cultural deciphering. I had taken on my assignment presuming such sociocultural competence by the executives, and its absence had presented me with an unforeseen set of impediments as an interpreter. If managers do not have access to such knowledge, interpreters should be ready to provide minimal cultural consultation meetings to familiarize both teams with each other’s business ethics. As a result, the informed executives will know what to expect during the negotiations and will be prepared to read the non-verbal

signs from the other team and change their negotiation tactics accordingly.

Furthermore, it is crucial to resolve ideographic (individual oriented) and nomothetic (general group oriented) conflicts prior negotiations, by clearly defining the interpreter’s own attitude and the expectations of those who have hired him. Expectations towards the role of the interpreter can especially differ during negotiations between high and low context cultures. It is even possible that one side will discuss confidential information in front of the interpreter assuming his neutrality, while the other side will expect the interpreter to report everything he hears. This and similar divergences can be settled by in advance discussing the expectations of both delegations and making an a priori protocol of what information will be interpreted and what will be left confidential.

Explicitly defined boundaries prior to the negotiations will facilitate interpreter’s task and eliminate possible ethical dilemmas.

Interpreters, no longer stigmatized as the necessary evil, can smooth interfaces by providing essential bridges as cultural mediators in international negotiations.

Because of linguistic and sociocultural competence, interpreters, who have been called intermediaries, mediators, gatekeepers and non-persons, are uniquely positioned to have access to both worldviews. Having a more intuitive and inclusive insight into the interactions between the two sides, interpreters can thus have a significant impact on the outcomes of negotiations. Managers should recognize the consequence of interpreters in the process of international business negotiations and capitalize on their skills to secure their own success.

Interested in contributing to IMQ? The Winter 2005 submission deadline is January 14, 2005.

Possible Topics Include: -Conflict/Post Conflict Management Overseas -Relationships between Culture and Development -Issues in International Human Resources -Intercultural Training -Culture and Technology -Cross-Cultural Negotiation -Issues in Development Management -Intercultural Management Theory

To subscribe or submit an article to IMQ, please e-mail the Managing Editor at imqeditor@american.edu

Marianna Pogosyan was born in Armenia and has lived, studied, and worked in Japan, Russia, Europe, and the United States. She has a Master of Science in Applied Linguistics from the University of Edinburgh and is currently obtaining a Ph.D. in Management and Communication from the International Christian University in Tokyo.

References Gentile, A., Ozolins, U. & Vasilakakoa, M. (1996) Liasion Interpreting: A Handbook.

Carlton South, Vic., Australia: Melbourne University Press.

Gile, D. (1995) Basic Concepts and Models for Interpreter and Translator Training.

Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Sussman, L. & Johnson, D. (1993) “The Interpreted Executive: Theory, Models, and Implications”. Journal of Business Communication. 30: 415-434.

Wadensjo, C. (1998) Interpreting as Interaction. London: Longman.

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The Differ ence Betw een Syner gy and Disaster Difference Between Synergy

By Didi Hirowaka and Natasha Gunn A non-international merger can already be complex enough with each company having its distinct business culture. When the merger becomes international, the complexity and the stakes increase. Not only do the merger partners have to reconcile different business cultures but they also have to contend with far-flung locations, different languages, customs and laws.

Didi Hirokawa and Natasha Gunn report on how to prevent a potentially lucrative merger from becoming a social and economic quagmire.

To take a recent example, the Air France-KLM merger announced on 30 September 2003 is expected to generate revenues of over USD 22 billion, according to news reports. As an airline serving 226 destinations with an operating fleet of 540 aircraft and over 100,000 people on their payroll, Air France-KLM is now the largest airline in Europe. The Air France – KLM example — which was finally approved by the European Commission in Brussels in February 2004 under strict conditions — illustrates the high stakes of a major international merger. Such a merger concerns not only billions of dollars but more importantly the careers and lives of tens of thousands of people. Here it becomes important to examine what HR professionals can do to ensure a smooth transition.

Says Paul Melessen, international culture and strategy consultant, “Air France and KLM have made a wise decision to only integrate both airlines at the holding level and leave the operating companies more or less independent from each other.

In fact 80 percent of international mergers destroy value instead of creating it. This is largely due to cultural differences.”

Melessen knows from previous experience with multinational management teams that it will be tough to accomplish integration in the board. “But once this integration has become successful inevitably the rest of the organisation has to follow the example. It’s all about reducing costs and shareholder value. From then on HR managers will ‘roll up for a roller-coaster ride’,” he says.

Carrie Shearer, a veteran with 25 years in international HR shares her thoughts

on how HR professionals can make a difference between synergy and disaster in international mergers. Furthermore, in the last six years, through her own consulting practice, she has specialised in working with companies going international for the first time. Communication is the key to defusing potential problems according to Shearer who advises, “First and foremost, HR should maintain a steady stream of communication with all employees using various mediums. All too often, managers will shield the truth or make promises that they cannot keep. It is up to HR to be the source of truth, even if it is unpleasant.

HR should clarify what will, and will not, occur during the merger.”

Along the same line, communication is also the key to avoiding a major pitfall.

Shearer warns against the tendency to paint a rosy view and to “gloss over the changes” while in reality the path of a merger is never a smooth road. According to Shearer, simple measures such as telling employees honestly that they will be going through a chaotic period and showing appreciation for their efforts goes a long way towards smoothing tempers.

When it comes to making decisions, Shearer believes it is the role of HR to act as the corporate conscience and caution other areas to keep the employees’ interests in mind when making decisions. This also goes for the ‘winner’ in a not-so-equal merger. She points out that the company doing the takeover may have a tendency to impose their policy and business practices. Such an attitude will no doubt result in a lot of resentment.

Melessen believes that key decisions have to be worked out in functional teams staffed by people from both companies.

“It is important to select the right people for those teams – interculturally skilled people with a cosmopolitan mindset,” says Melessen. He also believes that it is important “to help those teams to stay focused and know the team’s strengths and weaknesses. And of course: keep the people ‘back home’ informed.” According to Melessen this all helps to build trust as mistrust is “the devil in every merger and something which particularly becomes

visible when the strongest party tries to impose procedures and gives no say in appointments.” Melessen has observed that continental European companies are more sensitive in this respect than both UK and US-based corporations.

To ease the transition, Shearer advises HR to take a role of guiding a company towards setting policies that meet their mission objectives by adopting strategies from both companies or even creating new ones. “Go for what is in the best interest of the new company, not simply picking the best from the old. This is the time to do a ‘real needs’ assessment and re-think everything. Don’t lose sight of this valuable time,” she says. In other words, a merger can be seen as a great opportunity to scrutinise and refresh one’s business strategy.

Intercultural management guru Fons Trompenaars observes that there is growing conviction that wealth is created in alliances (including mergers and acquisitions) by reconciling values. To generate value he advises taking a three-step approach: recognition, respect, reconciliation. “First you need to help people to recognise the cultural differences - interviews or questionnaires could be used to do this, and, if both sides are respected, everything will turn into a dilemma,” he says. “Very often the emphasis is much more on differences than on sharing,” says Trompenaars, who sees cultural due diligence as the means to bring about reconciliation of these seemingly opposing views. “The role of the HR manager is to be a master in facilitating that process. The key is to be able to link the business issues with the value issues with the cultural issues,” he concludes.

The geographic hurdle is an inevitable feature of an international merger. This often involves closing down one or more offices and relocating people or introducing a new language as the official language to be used across the company. As corporations become multinational or search for new markets English, perhaps because it is already established as the language for science and technology, is often first choice.

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Continued from page 9 Poulenc merged in 1999 with the German Hoechst, Rhône Poulenc executives in Italy, Spain, and the United States had been used to speaking in French. After the merger, personnel were instructed to switch to English as the common language.

According to an English language teacher who was contracted by Rhône Poulenc in France to teach the employees English, “A lot of the French staff found it difficult to adapt to the language change, especially the older secretarial staff. Quite a few redundancies were made and a lot of them felt they would be picked to leave should they not achieve a certain standard of English within a given period of time. I was asked to test my students regularly and give the results back to HR. Senior management also required coaching in the English language as they had to start giving their presentations in English.”

Dirk Buyens, professor at Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School and the head of Vlerick’s HRM gives the example of national banks in Belgium, where, prior to an acquisition, people worked in Dutch or French. “Whenever you had to do something, it had to be done in two languages, even at the managerial level,” he says.

“Some banks have been taken over by Dutch banks, and the company has become English [speaking]. What you see, in less than a year, is that everyone can, more or less, speak English.” Buyens points out that under normal circumstances such a transition could have taken at least 20 years to come about.

Another transition that some staff members will have to deal with is a change of office space, but with good planning HR can considerably ease the relocation.

Shearer advises, “Always make certain that there is a place for the first person who moves. The rumour mill will make a meal out of someone moving into the new area and not having a desk much less a computer! Work overtime to guarantee that the first person who moves is handled well. This then makes others expect to be treated properly.” According to Shearer, HR ensuring that transferees have sufficient time to get settled in the new area is essential. “For single people, this may in-

volve additional assistance,” she says.

“When possible, create a ‘buddy system’ between new people and those who have been there for a while. This not only helps smooth the transition, it aids in developing good working relationships.”

Good relationships and the cooperation of the workers are key factors to making a merger work. Even a large-scale merger can be potentially derailed by the workers. In the Air France – KLM case, KLM’s unions are seen as one of the main potential obstacles that could send the merger deal south. The Dutch workers however have given their seal of approval. One of the key factors that secured the cooperation of the unions was a guarantee of no forced layoffs among the Dutch workforce for five years.

The main factor towards gaining such trust and cooperation from workers and unions is communication. As Carrie Shearer emphasises, “Communicate, communicate, communicate! I can’t say it enough. Hold focus groups - find out what employees like and dislike about their current policies. Find out what they would like to see. Find out what their fears are. In general, this is the time to listen to what your employees have to say and then act upon it. Let them know there is someone they can go to with their questions and concerns. In fact, name an ombudsman so

employees feel that they are safe to speak to someone who is on their side.”

Consultant Paul Melessen adds, “Keep in mind that an international merger is not only a threat. It also brings new opportunities for an international career. So it is also about influencing the mindsets of the people involved.” Melessen stresses the importance of defining clear and visible goals for cross-border teams. “Those teams are the key. If they perform well the merger will be a success. If they fail billions of euros go down the drain. It is important to have the right personalities on board with the right knowledge. And the team leader has to know where everyone stands. Those team leaders have to be great communicators and inventors – with the right information at hand.”

March 2004 Didi Hirokawa is a freelance writer and journalist. Natasha Gunn is the editor of Expatica HR. Reprinted with the permission of Expatica HR (www.expatica.com).

Intercultural Management Institute Spring 2005 Skill Institutes 1. UNDERSTANDING CULTURES: NEGOTIATING EFFECTIVELY; February 5-6, with J.P. Singh 2. GLOBAL HUMAN RESOURCE RESEARCH; March 8-9 with Tsila Zalcman 3. 6th ANNUAL IMI CONFERENCE: A FORUM FOR BUSINESS, EDUCATION AND TRAINING PROFESSIONALS; March 10-11 with Gary Weaver 4. PROGRAMMING FOR INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION; March 12-13 with David Bachner 5. MANAGING INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS: MARKETING, BUDGETING AND ADVOCACY; March 26-27 with Fanta Aw 6. INTERCULTURAL TRAINING AND FACILITATION; April 16-17, with Ray Leki

Summer 2005 Skill Institutes 1. PROGRAMMING FOR INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION; May 21-22, with David Bachner 2. LEADERSHIP AND DIVERSITY: THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF MANAGING CULTURAL DYNAMICS IN ORGANIZATIONS; July 30-31, with Ben Alexander For more information or to register, contact Anna Lee at imi@american.edu or 202-885-6439.

Registration forms and additional information available www.imi.american.edu

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Book Review

Review by Adam Mendelson

Good Muslim, Bad Muslim

By Mahmood Mamdani Pantheon Books, 2004 As any intercultural specialist is aware, a well-informed and nuanced understanding of different cultures allows one to better interact and cooperate with people of different backgrounds. Conversely, if our view of other cultures is oversimplified or reductionist, our interactions with other cultures are likely to be significantly handicapped. In order to foster a well-informed and nuanced understanding of any culture, we cannot allow ourselves to view culture as static or divorced from history, politics, or outside forces and filters. Unfortunately, according to Mahmood Mamdani, views not predicated on such tenets have captured the ear of the media and policymakers, as exemplified by such works as Samuel Huntington’s The Clash of Civilizations and the writings of the Princeton scholar Bernard Lewis. The attention devoted to these works and this oversimplified view of culture has often been to the exclusion of alternative voices which merit consideration, such as Tariq Ali, Ahmed Rashid and Mahmood Mamdani’s Good Muslim, Bad Muslim.

Rather than looking at Islamic culture as a calcified foil to Western culture or as the root cause of the militancy or terrorism perpetrated by some Muslims, Mamdani examines the political and historical factors that have encouraged the perceived emergence of a cultural or civilizational clash. He argues that these factors, rather than some enigmatic and ingrained cultural traits, have helped to foment contemporary tensions. In Mamdani’s judgment, these developments have been exacerbated by the compartmentalizing rhetoric often found in the media and among some politicians of a reductive binary of good versus evil and of ‘good Muslims’ and ‘bad Muslims’. According to these stereotypes, ‘good Muslims’ are often pro-Western and secularized whereas ‘bad Muslims’ are hostilely antiWestern, fanatical, and “clearly responsible for terrorism.” Although it may be a common perception that this distinction is reflective of an intra-Muslim cultural di-

vide, Mamdani instead argues that “judgments of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ refer to Muslim political identities, not to cultural or religious ones.” Mamdani believes that this distinction of good and bad is facile and is used to reinforce his concept of “Culture Talk”.

Culture Talk, according to Mamdani, “assumes that every culture has a tangible essence that defines it, and it then explains politics as a consequence of that essence.”

Mamdani gives the example of ‘Islamic terrorism’ to illustrate his point; the phrase “offers both description and explanation.”

According to this view, not only is Islamic terrorism a unique brand of terrorism, but terrorism is encouraged by Islam. This phrasing depends on and reinforces preconceived notions of Islamic culture, and is thus an apt example of Culture Talk.

Huntington’s oft-quoted characterization of “Islam’s bloody borders” is another example.

Although Mamdani decries the notion of using culture to reinforce or erect opposition between societies, by doing so he underlines culture’s relevancy as a panacea of the contemporary media for explaining current events. Mamdani pro-

poses that in the past, a state’s economy or form of government was the benchmark between an ‘advanced’ and a ‘developing’ state, with capitalism and democracy respectively being the pinnacle achievements of ‘advanced’ states. Currently, Mamdani argues that it is the idea of modernity which has assumed a position as a further benchmark. A state or culture embracing modernity is set in opposition to a state or culture which rejects or challenges the (somewhat vague) idea of modernity; such a state is pre-modern or worse, antimodern. Those who are depicted as pre or anti-modern often carry with that characterization connotations of fanaticism and violence, qualities historically associated with non-Western cultures in general and political Islam in particular. For Mamdani, modernity is a byword for culture. Therefore, a negative judgment on a state’s approach to modernity is in actuality a negative judgment upon the culture of that state.

Following this discussion of Culture Talk and the construction of culture’s impact on the contemporary view of Muslims and their political and social organizations, Mamdani embarks upon a discussion of the most notable ideologues of political Islam, itself a rather diverse movement. While Mamdani addresses the same key figures found in most works that trace the development of political Islam (Jamal al-Din al-Afghani, Hassan al-Banna, Sayyid Qutb, Abul A’la Mawdudi, et al.), he does an excellent job of summarizing and relating their arguments to one another and to their overall importance within the discourse of political Islam. Any reader interested in learning about the development of this important political trend would be hard-pressed to find a better starting point than this section of Good Muslim, Bad Muslim.

Mamdani then seeks to couch the current notion of political Islam within the history of the last thirty years. In doing this, he attempts to “place political Islam in the context of the Cold War…to question the widely held presumption…that extremist Continued on page 11

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Continued from page 10 religious tendencies can be equated with political terrorism.” In essence, he argues that terrorism is not born of a certain culture, but rather it is weaned on the political and social circumstances which that culture is exposed to. He contends that terrorism originates from “a political encounter” that has the capability to “harness…one or another aspect of tradition and culture.” Therefore, Mamdani seeks to argue that so-called Islamic terrorism would be more accurately termed political terrorism perpetrated by Muslims.

To do so, he traces the political developments of the post-Vietnam era that have sown the seeds of this brand of terrorism which has carried the label of Islamic terrorism. Mamdani highlights a number of events for close discussion, including America’s proxy and covert wars during the Cold War, such as Iran-Contra and the Soviet-Afghan war, as well as the Iraq wars of 1991 and 2003. In the course of giving this history, Mamdani emphasizes American complicity or outright encouragement of terror tactics (by Muslims and others), rendering moot the question of a stark division of good versus bad, and presenting a much grayer and ambiguous division between ‘us’ and ‘them.’ While some may feel Mamdani’s recounting of history is incisive and others may feel that it is controversial, he does back up his points with evidence and extensive footnoting, allowing the reader to further pursue any issues which might be of interest or question.

In the concluding section of his book, Mamdani warns of the danger of dichotomizing the world into good and evil, us and them. He argues that some Americans and Muslims have been guilty of this, particularly political leaders. According to Mamdani, this way of seeing the conflict reinforces the idea of a cultural rather than a political clash. If this conflict continues to be seen in cultural rather than political terms, Mamdani sees no end to the continuance of violent conflict: “if the struggle against political enemies is defined as a struggle against evil [i.e., against a certain culture], it will turn into a holy war. And in holy war, there can be no compromise. Evil cannot be converted; it must be elimi-

nated.” Thus, for our purposes, Good Muslim, Bad Muslim is an effective warning against the dangers of regarding culture as an explanatory panacea, where the origin of every action can be mined for and discovered. Rather, Mamdani shows how culture can be ensnared in the service of political rhetoric to bifurcate more ambiguous, yet highly intense political struggles. Whether one regards Mamdani’s historical arguments as confrontationally apologist or refreshingly iconoclastic, they are nothing if not thought provoking and highly relevant to our continued understanding of the role of culture in the contemporary world.

Adam Mendelson is an M.A. candidate in International Peace and Conflict Resolution at American University with a focus on the Middle East.

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move back to India permanently, Indian immigrants sometimes maintain connections to their country of birth through the business relationships they establish, hoping to give something back to India.

Ultimately, a social network reinforces identity and recognition by providing its members with a sense of belonging. In the case of Indian immigrants, that sense of belonging requires overcoming religious, linguistic, and regional distinctions. While in India an individual might identify himself in terms of his caste, the state he is from, or the languages he speaks, in the U.S. that person would be encouraged to become part of a greater Indian community.

There is no doubt that many Indians take great pride in their regional language and traditions, seeking to maintain their culture in the United States. Still, with the challenges of adapting to a new country, Indian immigrants tend to find more in common with one another than they may have back home. These commonalities reinforce a sense of belonging to an Indian community in the United States.

Conclusion Immigrants not only develop local networks to achieve economic success, but they also maintain ties to their home country, building transnational networks. Indian immigrant employees in Silicon Valley have served as ambassadors of sorts in forging relationships with the growing software industry based in Bangalore, India. Among their social credentials is the ability to communicate effectively across cultural boundaries, a skill essential to the success of global economic transactions. The transnational networks established by Indians immigrants in the U.S. and Indians living in their native country are made strong by the social capital embedded in those networks.

Instead of claiming that Indians possess an ethnic or cultural propensity for engineering and entrepreneurship, this article examines the social capital of immigrant networks. Social capital is not unique to a particular ethnic group.

Continued on page 12

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Continued from page 11 Rather, it is found in the interrelationships of a social network. In the case of Indian immigrants in Silicon Valley, social capital is characterized by the professional associations that facilitate the flow of information, the influence within the network to enforce trust and lend a helping hand, the social credentials of being a IIT alumnus or having crosscultural skills, and the mentorship and support that reinforce each member’s identity in the network. All of these elements combine to illustrate the ways in which social capital strengthens each member in the network as well as the

References Bagchi, A. (2001) Making Connections: A Study of Networking Among Immigrant Professionals. New York: LFB Scholarly.

Lin, N. “Building a Network Theory of Social Capital.” in Social Capital: Theory and Research. (2001) Eds. N. Lin, K. Cook, R.S. Burt. New York: Aldine De Gruyter.

Portes, A. “Economic Sociology and the Sociology of Immigration: A Conceptual Overview.” in The Economic Sociology of Immigration. (1995) Ed. A. Portes. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

Putnam, R. Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy. (1993) Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Saxenian, A. with Y. Motoyama and X. Quan. “Local and Global Networks of Immigrant Professionals in Silicon Valley.” (2002) San Francisco: Public Policy Institute of California.

Saxenian, A. “Silicon Valley’s New Immigrant Entrepreneurs.” (1999) San Francisco: Public Policy Institute of California.

Warner, M. “The Indians of Silicon Valley.” Fortune. 141:10. 15 May 2000.

Yoo, J. Korean Immigrant Entrepreneurs: Network and Ethnic Resources. (1998) NewYork: Garland Publishing.

Dr. Shilpa Alimchandani Hart is an intercultural communication consultant and diversity trainer who has dedicated her career to facilitating communication across cultural boundaries in both domestic and international contexts. She teaches courses in cross-cultural communication in the School of International Service and Washington Mentorship Program at American University.

Intercultural Management Institute 6th Annual Conference on Intercultural Business, Education and Training

March 10-11, 2005 Sessions include: Global Relocation International Education Programs International Training Intercultural Management Diversity in the Workplace Intercultural Coaching

Dr. Gary R. Weaver Executive Director, IMI Clarence Page, Keynote Speaker.

Page, the 1989 Pulitzer Prize winner for Commentary, has been a columnist and a member of the Chicago Tribune’s editorial board since 1984.

Page is an occasional guest panelist on The McLaughlin Group, a regular contributor of essays to News Hour with Jim Lehrer, and an occasional host of documentaries on PBS.

For more information or to register, contact Anna Lee at imi@american.edu or 202-885-6439. Registration forms and additional information available www.imi.american.edu

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