Fall 2009 IMQ by Intercultural Management Institute

Intercultural Management Quarterly

Integrating Culture and Management in Global Organizations

In This Issue...

Fall 2009 Vol. 10, No. 3

Contrasts in Leadership: Monocultural Overseas Japanese Managers and the Multicultural Barack Obama ............................................................................ 3 by Motoo Unno Selecting Expatriates: What Companies Areâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and Should Beâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;Doing ................................................................... 7 by Siobhan Cummins Managing Residential and Occupational Space ...... 10 by Richard Harris

From the Editor Dear Readers, I offer the Fall 2009 issue of Intercultural Management Quarterly to you with a mixture of excitement and wisftulness; this is a time of major transition for IMQ. By the time you read these words, a new Managing Editor will be calling the shots: I am pleased to introduce Kathryn Schoenberger, who has already overseen some significant developments for our publication (some exciting announcements are forthcoming). But first . . . In this issue, IMI’s own Motoo Unno starts things off with an analysis of President Barack Obama’s cultural influences, and how they have contributed to his unique management style, heavily contrasted with managers who come from monocultural backgrounds. Siobhan Cummins gives us insight not only into how potential expatriates can succeed in their assignments, but also how companies select candidates for overseas positions. As can be expected, these approaches differ greatly depending on an employee’s or employer’s cultural makeup.

IMQ STAFF

Publisher: Dr. Gary R. Weaver Managing Editor: Dan Deming

Editorial Review Board

David Bachner, Annmarie McGillicuddy, Adam Mendelson, Darrel Onizuka, Chris Saenger, Karen Santiago, Gary Weaver, Sherry Zarabi The Intercultural 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 1,000-2,000 words on issues related to the study and practice of intercultural management. Articles must be innovative and contribute to the knowledge in the ﬁeld but should avoid overly academic jargon. Footnotes or endnotes are discouraged except for direct quotes or citations. Each submission is refereed by the members of the IMQ editorial review board. Accepted pieces are subject to editing.

REPRODUCTION

No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the express written permission of the Publication Manager. Please contact the Managing Editor for reprint availability.

Richard Harris continues his series with a look at residential and occupational space, and how attitudes toward these types of spaces are informed—perhaps even controlled—by speciﬁc cultural and historical factors.

CONTACT IMQ

Intercultural Management Quarterly Intercultural Management Institute 4400 Massachusetts Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20016-8177 Phone: (202) 885-6436 Fax: (202) 885-1331 imqeditor@american.edu

And so, I am immensely grateful for the opportunity to bring you so many compelling and varied voices. Please join me in welcoming Kathryn, and I look forward to joining all of you as a valued reader of IMQ! Dan Deming

Managing Editor

AMERICAN UNIVERSITY W

Contrasts in Leadership: Monocultural Overseas Japanese Managers and the Multicultural Barack Obama by Motoo Unno Monocultural Overseas Japanese Managers’ Leadership Style

or some ten years I have been researching monocultural Japanese managers working for Japanese subsidiaries operating in China, and have found clear distinctions between ineffective and effective managers. Ineffective monocultural Japanese managers in China heavily depend on a transactional leadership style and hard power. They tend to use positive and negative reinforcements, such as rewards and punishment, when Chinese employees perform well, or make mistakes, or behave badly. For example, a Japanese manufacturers in Shanghai that produces car stereos punishes Chinese workers financially who invent or doctor data, or chatter with colleagues, while at work in the factory. Workers who run in the factory are similarly punished. Their salary is reduced because of their violation of rules. These workers are motivated by fear and pressures. In contrast, workers who made good proposals for Kaizen, or “continuous improvement,” are rewarded. This company’s Japanese managers are more likely to focus on extrinsic motivation (e.g., money) for Chinese workers, adopting a transactional leadership style. In another case, an effective Japanese CEO of an auto parts company in Jiaxing adopted Confucian values and made them a part of the corporate culture. He shows human heartedness to Chinese employees, respects their culture, and emphasizes Chinese values. He aligns his behavior and Confucian values in his company, and becomes a role model for Chinese employees. Currently a visiting scholar at the Intercultural Management Institute, Dr. Unno is also a full professor at Meiji University’s School of Political Science and Economies in Tokyo, Japan. In addition to his professional duties, Dr. Unno travels extensively to deliver lectures on intercultural management and communication, as well as presentations on organizational DNA and manager training sessions for effective communication between newly merged Japanese subsidiaries. Fall 2009

This CEO takes a paternalistic leadership style and acts like a father. Yet, he does not take an authoritarian style because that reminds Chinese employees of Japan’s history of imperialism. He modeled his workplace after a family. Chinese employees see him as a “father” in this company. He tends to use more intrinsic motivation (e.g., a sense of meaningfulness). Finally, he recognizes cultural differences in terms of seeking and giving feedback—he has never scolded Chinese employees in front of others. As a rule, he mostly uses a transformational leadership style and soft power to Chinese employees, and in this way he gains respect from them. Effective Japanese senior managers in India, as in China, tend to pay more attention to transformational leadership and soft power. A Japanese manager working for an automobile company in the Delhi area focuses on the Indian workers’ families and their lives. He said, “The goal of our work is to improve the living condition of your family,” and “I want to think together about how to make your life more enjoyable.” Since in-group collectivism is a prime characteristic of the Indian culture, and Indian people tend to emphasize their families, he strives to behave and communicate with Indians in their cultural contexts. Is Barack Obama a transformational or transactional leader? “Transformational” and “transactional” are two major types of leadership. According to Bernard Bass and Ronald Riggio, charisma, inspiration, intellectual stimulation and individualized consideration are important aspects of the transformational leadership style. On the other hand, transactional leaders are those who see leadership as an exchange between them and their followers. Transactional leaders offer rewards in return for the compliance and good performance of followers. Barack Obama has many characteristics of transformational leadership. First, he is a charismatic leader, displaying a high degree of “personal magnetism.” Second, he has a clear ability to inspire voters. “Yes We Can”

Multicultural Barack Obama… and “Fired up? Ready to go!” were slogans devised by the Obama campaign, and his supporters readily identiﬁed with them. Third, he challenged voters to rethink old and conventional ways of approaching crucial issues during the campaign—such intellectual stimulation is a primary element of transformational leadership. Fourth, he often told voters, “One voice does matter,” “Your voice does matter,” and “One voice can change,” sending the message to voters that one person can bring about change.

Obama and Contextual Intelligence Matthew Kutz deﬁned “Contextual Intelligence” as follows: Contextual Intelligence is the ability to quickly and intuitively recognize and diagnose the dynamic contextual variables inherent in an event or circumstance and then intentionally adjust behavior in order to exert appropriate inﬂuence in that context (Kutz 2008, 23).

Joseph Nye Jr. distinguished between hard and soft Kutz pointed out that the contextually intelligent perpower. He argued that hard power is used to get others son always views the current context through the dual to change their position coercively. In contrast, soft pow- lenses of past experience and preferred future. Is Obama er is used to get the outcomes one wants by attracting a natural born leader with a high Contextual Intelliand/or co-opting others rather than manipulating them with material inObama seems to desire a practical partnership with former centives. Nye mentioned rivals who can bring different perspectives to his team. that hard power is similar to transactional leadership, and soft power gence? There are several indications that he developed resembles transformational leadership. his Contextual Intelligence during his childhood. If so, President Obama has tried to build a bipartisan rela- how did he obtain his soft skills to diagnose context? tionship through dialogue, using soft power. However, when he had difficulties passing his stimulus package, he David Pollock and Ruth Van Reken pointed out that went to the public to get support and put pressure on “Third Culture Kids” (TCKs), who have spent a sigCongress. This is hard power. Soft and hard power are nificant part of their developmental years outside the not mutually exclusive, and neither are transformational parents’ culture, tend to be cautious observers, always and transactional leadership styles: they are complemen- checking what is going on. These tendencies probably tary. Before his election to the Presidency, Obama wrote: contribute to the level of awareness in a present context. “Iran and North Korea could trigger regional arms races, creating dangerous nuclear flashpoints in the Middle East and East Asia. In confronting these threats, I will not take the military option off the table. But our first measure must be sustained, direct, and aggressive diplomacy—the kind that the Bush administration has been unable and unwilling to use. “ (Obama 2007, 9)

I argue that understanding how to use both transformational and transactional leadership styles depends on context. Leaders should have high Contextual Intelligence in order to use both leadership styles eﬀectively. President Obama seems to have a high Contextual Intelligence, appropriately using transformational and transactional leadership styles. If so, how did Obama develop his Contextual Intelligence?

This comment implies a mix of transformational and transactional leadership style, or an integration of soft and hard power.

Intercultural Management Quarterly

“Patchwork” Barack Obama Milton and Janet Bennett introduced the concept of cultural marginality. According to them, a person in a state of cultural marginality has difficulty controlling shifts between two or more cultures and cannot construct a unified identity. The person feels anxiety, isolation, insecurity, and is always self-conscious. Obama experienced similar symptoms: “...unless I dodged and hid and pretended to be something I wasn’t I would forever remain an outsider, with the rest of the world, black and white, always standing in judgment.” (Obama 2004, 111) In contrast, Bennett and Bennett argue that a person in a state of constructive marginality is comfortable moving between cultural identities. Muneo Yoshikawa calls this state “dynamic-in-betweenness.” Although the internal world of multicultural Obama may be more complicated, at least four cultures seem to influence his leadership styles: African American, Anglo Saxon, Indonesian and Pacific Islander. While he has diversified and contradictory values within himself, it seems that these values are reconciled with each other in a kind of internal “patchwork.” It seems that each culture affects Obama’s leadership style. For example, as described in his book, Dreams from My Father, Obama longed for an ideal father (he was abandoned by his own). In his Father’s Day speech on June 10th, 2008, Obama pointed out that fathers are like teachers, coaches, mentors, and role models for their families. He said that some of them gave up their responsibilities to their families, and argued that this irresponsible behavior weakened the foundation of the family. He added that that was seen in the African American community, and pointed out that more than half of all African American children live in single-parent households. Obama’s father went back to Kenya to rebuild his country; in this respect, he had a sense of responsibility. On the other hand, Obama’s father abandoned his familial responsibility. In this speech Obama seemed to

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reflect on his African father and stressed the importance of familial responsibility and obligation. This influence clearly affects the moral aspects of his leadership. Indonesian culture also has affected his leadership style. During his childhood in Indonesia, he faced new experiences in intercultural environments. For example, his schoolteachers used a bamboo cane on children when they behaved badly. He was introduced to dog meat, snake meat, and roasted grasshopper. Lolo, Obama’s second father, taught Obama how to control emotion, and how to survive in different cultural circumstances. Obama went to an Indonesian school and learned languages and customs. These experiences may have contributed to Obama’s openness, curiosity, complex schema and intellectual stimulation. These elements, learned during childhood, were essential to his development as a transformational leader. As a Hawaiian child, Obama seemed to develop a sense of diversity and inclusion. Obama was admitted to the Punahou School in Hawaii in 1971, an elite school with mostly white students. At the same time, however, he was immersed in the cultural hybridity of Hawaiian society. Unlike on the American mainland, in Hawaiian society, Asians are the majority: according to the 2008 U.S. Census Bureau, 55% of the population in Hawaii is Asian. 21% of the state’s population is Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander. Obama’s half sister, Maya, made a speech at the Asian Society’s gala on January 17, 2008, and said that her brother learned Asian cultures in Hawaii. In fact, Obama pronounced himself an “honorary AAPI,” or Asian American and Pacific Islander, on July 28, 2008, at the Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders meeting in Washington, D.C. In Hawaii, his white Midwestern grandfather used to take a young Obama to one of his favorite bars in Honolulu’s red-light district. Obama mentioned in Dreams from My Father that his grandfather was the only white man in the bar and had many African American male friends, most of whom were his poker and bridge partners. His diversified family in Hawaii also cultivated his sense of inclusion, and at the Democratic National Con-

Multicultural Barack Obama… vention in Boston on July 27th, 2004, he spoke of his gratefulness for the diversity of his heritage. In announcing his run for the presidency in Springfield, Illinois on February 10th, 2007, Obama said, “We are one people.” In his speech about race on March 18th, 2008 in Philadelphia, Obama talked about America as “a country that has made it possible to build a coalition of white and black, Latino and Asian, rich and poor, young and old.” In his Inauguration Address on January 20th, 2009, Obama stressed, “Our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus, and nonbelievers.” Obama sends a message that he cares for people of every race, ethnicity, and religion. Experiences in Indonesia and the Pacific Islands have seemingly cultivated the transformational side of his leadership, but the transactional side of his leadership has been influenced by the Anglo-Saxon culture. Yet, more importantly, Obama learned pragmatism from a white mother and grandparents who raised him. In the first Presidential debate on October 15th, 2008, Senator John McCain and Obama were asked by moderator Jim Lehrer how the government can cut spending. McCain proposed a spending freeze and Obama quickly responded: “The problem with a spending freeze is you’re using a hatchet where you need a scalpel.” This clearly shows his practical approach to the problem. In addition, his pragmatic thinking was seen in his Inaugural Address on January 20, 2009. Obama said, “The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works.” This sounds pragmatic—his message seemed to be that he would exercise pragmatism rather than emphasize ideology. Obama’s formation of his team also demonstrates his pragmatic thinking. Obama is mainly concerned about making an effective and workable team and understands the merits of a diversified team. According to historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, President Lincoln created a cabinet that included his rivals. One of them was Salmon Chase, the Secretary of the Treasury. In an inter-

view with the Harvard Business Review on April 2009, Goodwin pointed out that “as long as he was doing a good job at his post, that was more important than personal feelings.” She added, “Obama is obviously trying to do the same thing by choosing his chief rival.” Obama chose Joe Biden as his running mate, Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, Robert Gates as Secretary of Defense and James Jones as his National Security Advisor, and included former rivals and Republicans in his team. In my viewpoint, Obama seems to desire a practical partnership with these former rivals who can bring different perspectives to his team. This is yet another example of Obama’s combination of transformational and transactional leadership styles developed during his childhood. His early years had a great deal of impact on both leadership styles. Concluding Thoughts Both the effective and ineffective Japanese managers I investigated in China and India are monocultural. However, effective monocultural Japanese managers understand cultural context, are motivated to empathize with local employees, and are willing to engage in dialogue with them. In this sense, I say that they are “multicultural.” During the Presidential campaign of 2008, we saw Obama having a high motivation to empathize and dialogue with people holding similar and different thoughts and values to his. Multicultural Obama and effective monocultural Japanese managers seemingly have some common psychological infrastructure that makes it possible to build bridges among people from different cultural backgrounds. It is time for both political and business leaders to encourage multicultural leadership, in an effort to create effective, diverse organizations, and a peaceful global society. i

For a list of references, please see page 15

Intercultural Management Quarterly

Selecting Expatriates: What Companies Are—and Should Be—Doing by Siobhan Cummins

ach international assignment represents an investment on the part of both the employer and the employee – a monetary and human resources investment for the organization, and a career and family investment for the individual. It does not matter whether the organization is a large multinational with many expatriates in multiple locations or a small firm just entering the global market, employers still face complex decisions when staffing their foreign operations in light of the high costs associated with international assignees. Exacerbating the situation is the cyclical up-and-down pattern of the world economic situation – a major factor in who goes where, when, and for how long. Even though foreign assignments can have a large impact on corporate operations and budgets, some organizations continue to select the “wrong” candidates for these important positions. Frequently, this result is due to a lack of candidates, no formal selection process, or business decisions requiring fast action with no time for following procedures. Pressed for fast action, some companies do not consider the bigger picture, goals and objectives, how the assignment fits the individual’s longterm career goals, and the return on investment for the company. Not every employee and accompanying family members have the ability to successfully adapt to an unfamiliar culture and the stress of working in a different business culture with colleagues who may have very different views of job behavior. It is important to remember that the right choice of candidate should consider suitability for an assignment, as well as family issues. This article will explore what selection decisions mean for both

the employer and the assignee – and present a glimpse of how companies today are handling this issue. The Expatriate’s Decision When employees are offered a foreign posting, their decisions do not typically demand a simple yes or no response. There are job-related and personal considerations that also affect the decision and the individual’s work performance overseas. For example: •Uncertainty about the new job, responsibilities, and work habits are frequently causes for anxiety, resulting in concerns that while abroad, assignees will be so isolated from the corporate mainstream—“out of sight, out of mind”—that their careers will suffer. •Worries about their future careers and potential opportunities with the company can lead to further stress, as many companies do not guarantee a job (either in the home office or other worksites) once the assignment is over. In fact, only 17 percent of participants in ORC Worldwide’s 2008 Worldwide Survey of International Assignment Policies and Practices provide formal career planning or management. Looked at from a regional perspective, 25 percent of Europe/Middle East firms and 26 percent of Japanese firms offer formal guidance. Nearly half (44 percent) of all respondents offered informal planning and management. •The employee and accompanying family members face an adjustment to different customs, laws, schools, living conditions, and, often, a new language. They typically worry about adapting to unfamiliar situations, as

Siobhan Cummins is Managing Director EMEA for ORC Worldwide’s operations. Since joining ORC in 1991, Siobhan has been responsible for the management and development of the International Compensation Services practice in Europe. She is actively involved in international project consulting and, in particular, the design and development of international assignment policies. She has experience in all aspects of human resources, including international and domestic policy design and development, recruitment and selection, and general HR management. She also has specialist knowledge in the areas of Dual Careers and Work-Life Balance. Before joining ORC, Siobhan held a number of HR management positions with a variety of companies, and has lived and worked in the Far East, Middle East, Australia, and Africa.

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Selecting Expatriates… well as staying in touch with family, religious groups, clubs, and friends in the home country. •Spousal career issues play an increasing role in the decision – particularly in an economic environment of high unemployment. •Many assignees continue to own real estate in the home country or might worry about reentering the real estate market if they sold their residences at home before going overseas.

•Involve a representative from human resources or the global mobility team. According to ORC’s 2008 Worldwide Survey, only 28 percent of the overall participants always actively involve HR in candidate selection. Forty percent do so on a case-by-case basis. •Determine the speciﬁc skills and competencies necessary for the assignment. •Do not send an employee overseas without good preparation. Discuss the assignment with the candidate, reviewing all details (position responsibilities, reporting structure, package and other relevant information).

When asked to list the most common reasons that candidates turn down an international opportunity, respondents to ORC’s 2008 Worldwide Survey ranked spousal •Provide orientation, including cross-cultural trainand/or dual career issues When employees are offered a foreign posting, their decisions do as the numnot typically demand a simple yes or no response—there are jobber one rearelated and personal considerations that also affect the decision. son. Other reasons varied in importance ing and language lessons, as necessary for the employee, by nationality in some cases, as follows: spouse/partner, and children. The amount and depth of •The compensation package was not a sufficient incen- training may vary, but some orientation should be protive (which ranked first for Asia Pacific-based organiza- vided, even if the culture is similar to the home country. tions) •Send candidates on a pre-assignment visit to find ap•Expatriate career issues propriate housing, make educational arrangements for children, become familiar with local neighborhoods, and •Concerns about children, such as education (leading so on – all activities that will help them acclimatize more factor for Japanese companies) quickly on arrival. •Issues relative to the specific host location and local conditions •Decreased contact with family, friends, and the community at home. When selecting a candidate, consideration of the employee’s career development, future repatriation plans, and family-related issues are key factors in persuading the individual to accept the assignment. But what will help the process run smoother are the following key steps:

The Company’s Selection Process While all of the above points focus on the employee, how do companies really select what they consider to be the right candidate? Chart 1, “Regional Differences in Selection Criteria,” illustrates the diverse factors used by companies. For most respondents, skills/competencies and job performance were the two leading criteria. Japanese firms – citing job performance and job level – think differently.

Intercultural Management Quarterly

Other factors play a role in the company’s decision: •Some firms simply choose an excellent performer, without regard to long-term career planning for the individual. •Some companies consider people who are known to line managers, or ask technical, functional, and operational managers to provide candidate lists. •Other times, the company may quickly choose someone whose assignment costs will not be extremely high in an effort to save money; unfortunately, this choice may not be prudent, and could result in assignment failure or lack of delivery of the assignment objectives. •In the worst case scenarios, some firms assign poor performers elsewhere so that the home office does not have to “deal” with that individual any longer. Selection Should Be Common Sense Not all participants in ORC’s 2008 Worldwide Survey reported being impressed with the company’s existing selection process. Only 8 percent said that the selection was handled “very well” (only 2 percent of Japanese firms). Fortythree percent cited the process as handled “well,” with an equal percentage describing it as handled “somewhat well.” Balancing theory and practice to choose the best candidate for an expatriate position depends on the company’s philosophy, size of the assignee population, the company’s experience (or inexperience) in expatriate administration, and so on. But consideration of all factors– from both the expatriate and employer points of view – and establishing clear selection criteria offer the best chance for a successful international assignment. i

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Managing Residential and Occupational Space by Richard Harris Part Six of a Series There is no doubt whatever about the inﬂuence of architecture and structure upon human character and action. We make our buildings and afterwards they make us. They regulate the course of our lives. —Winston Churchill

n the United States, as in many other developed countries, construction companies claim not just to build houses, but homes, taking advantage of the warmly positive, albeit partly subliminal connotations of the latter term. Such usage has certainly encouraged, if not engendered, a convergence of meaning such that in everyday discourse the terms house and home are almost interchangeable — thus obscuring a distinction that remains vital in many cultures. The idea of ‘going home’ for many Japanese, for instance, means a great deal more than merely returning after work to the suburban structure one inhabits with one’s nuclear family; it implies an emotionally signiﬁcant journey back to one’s roots, the ancestral home, the place, probably in the countryside, where one’s family tree started and one’s ancestors are buried. The above example illustrates the main theme to be explored in the course of this essay: namely, that the assumptions we hold about what constitutes a house, or a home, can in fact vary widely across cultures, often giving rise to misunderstanding and conﬂict. The house, however conceived, is as Amos Rapoport notes, “an institution, not just a structure, created for a complex set of purposes.” So normalized are our ideas of the house, however, that these purposes may be unconsciously taken to be fairly constant around the world, driven mainly by what are assumed to be basic human needs for shelter, Richard Harris is a tenured professor in the Faculty of Management at Chukyo University, Japan, where he has lived for over 25 years. He teaches intercultural communication in Japanese at the undergraduate and graduate levels. He is the author of Paradise: A Cultural Guide, a study of cross-cultural concepts of the ideal.

security, and comfort. As Rapoport concludes, though, “what ﬁnally decides the form of a dwelling, and moulds the spaces and their relationships, is the vision that people have of the ideal life.” That is, notwithstanding the importance of climatic conditions, availability of materials, level of technology and other physical determinants, the most salient factor in forming the concept of the house is that of cultural values. As a starting point, then, let us take the traditional “American Dream” idea of the house, noting the arbitrary nature of many of its component features. For many, perhaps most U.S. Americans, the visual image of such a house is a freestanding, single-family structure, of basically Colonial design, surrounded by trees and grass in the country, or a suburb. So entrenched is this mental picture that children brought up in urban high-rises with no experience of these stereotypical dwellings nevertheless draw them when asked for a picture of a house. And the residence must be owned, not rented, even though mobility patterns in the U.S. mean that families only stay in a house for an average of 5 to 6 years, an astonishingly short period compared to most other countries. Moreover, U.S. house size has more than doubled since 1950, to a national average today of almost 2,500 square feet, even as family size has dwindled over the same period. Clearly there is much more involved in such a conception of the house than a response to physical need, a conclusion strengthened by the comparison with many Europeans (excluding Britons) of roughly similar socioeconomic status. Surveys have shown, for instance, that the ideal housing preference for a clear majority of Viennese is a rented apartment in the centre of town. Subordinating physical determinants to cultural or psychological ones, then, in order to emphasise the contingent aspect of the concept of the house, it may be useful to discuss it in terms of the related themes of security, privacy, status, and aesthetics. The ﬁrst of these factors, security, obviously has a physical aspect, in that a dwelling does indeed represent shelter from a more or less hostile environment, providing residents with an enhanced level of comfort. In extreme climates, such as that of the Arctic, the need for protection is evident, but in temper-

Intercultural Management Quarterly

ate zones where the external conditions are less severe, the degree of internal environmental comfort is largely a matter of choice, or of cultural conditioning. For many new immigrants to the U.S., the extent to which domestic and occupational environments are controlled can be shockingly uncomfortable, and the desire to throw open a window overwhelming. E.T. Hall has memorably recounted how, in his discussions with Arab immigrants coming from Middle Eastern homes filled with air and light, their most common descriptor for U.S. houses was that they were “tomb-like.” The second aspect of the security factor is perhaps even more important, by which the U.S. house represents a safe haven from predators, originally animal but nowadays human. The writings of Robert Ardrey, who argued that territoriality, the aggressive need to protect property, was a basic human drive, and of Oscar Newman, whose theories on defensible space have been hugely influential in urban design, have helped to foster a mindset among U.S. property owners that many outsiders see as overly paranoid. Armed response warnings and gated communities, often protected by private security forces, can be disturbing phenomena to those from more hospitably open cultures. The September 2001 attack on the U.S. may even have exacerbated these defensive attitudes, creating a greater perceived need for security and protection. The fact that the responses to such perceived needs may not always be rationally justifiable does not of course render them any less emotionally compelling. Differing cultural conceptions of privacy are notoriously difficult to understand or explicate, and the potential for inadvertent transgression almost limitless. The U.S. desire for a freestanding house would seem to indicate a high need for visual privacy, yet visitors from Europe are often surprised by the unfenced front lawns of U.S. suburbia—particularly in view of the security concerns described above. Similarly, the large picture windows at the front of many U.S. houses almost invite passers-by to look inside, a practice discouraged by gauze curtains or blinds in many parts of the world. Immigrants from Islamic cultures, where women are often strictly concealed within houses, may be particularly troubled by

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such openness. At the same time, the lack of external privacy in U.S. houses is in contrast to the interior space, which is meticulously divided for privacy, each member of the family often having his or her own room, with obscure (to an outsider) rules about who is allowed where. This arrangement is almost perfectly reversed in Japan, where the external privacy is high, houses often screened by walls or trees, but internal privacy is minimal, with spaces being used for multiple purposes by all members of the household. In the occupational context, Japanese offices can be disconcerting to outsiders since they are generally open spaces where everyone can see, and often works in close proximity to, everyone else. The advantages in terms of space economy and communication are obvious, and the idea of seclusion in an individual room is deeply unattractive to Japanese workers. In contrast, in northern Europe and the U.S. preference has been for a private office with a door and a window. Indeed, the reaction to the open office movement of the 1960s in the U.S. was almost entirely negative, but led eventually to the inspired compromise that Stewart Brand calls “cave and commons,” in which workers have a tiny office with a door that leads out to a comfortable common area for conversation, thus satisfying the requirements for both privacy and collegiality. Status is a hugely important factor in U.S. housing, showing clearly the symbolic importance of the house rather than its functionality. (Many of the observations made in this section are equally applicable to considerations of office space.) The individualist character of U.S. society encourages a desire to stand out, to succeed. Home ownership is a visible sign of success, and the larger the dwelling the greater the achievement, social worth and standing being indicated, often pejoratively, by a range of house-related expressions, such as starter home, the wrong side of the tracks, and the offensive trailer trash. The realtor’s mantra of “location, location, location” has much more to do with site desirability in status terms, rather than with physical exigency. Of course, for most people ownership actually means paying money each month for a long period of time to a finance com-

Residential and Occupational Space… pany, the real owners—a practice tragically brought into question by the recent sub-prime mortgage crisis. Newcomers to the U.S. from cultures with less tolerant attitudes to personal debt and where housing is not such a status symbol are often perplexed by the size of houses, and astonished by the financial commitment of U.S. Americans to their residences. They are also bemused by the U.S. culture of entertaining at home. Few Japanese would expect to be invited to dinner at a friend’s house, such social encounters taking place at restaurants, a practice clearly connected to the concept of the house as exclusively a family domain. Indeed, there are cultural traditions, such as in parts of Cambodia, where the presence of anyone but a relative or a very close friend inside the family home is unthinkable. Furthermore, kitchens and bathrooms, purely functional areas of dwellings in many parts of the world, tend to be showpieces in U.S. houses, the number of bathrooms often exceeding the number of bedrooms. (Horace Miner’s 1956 essay “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema” is still the best observation of this cultural phenomenon.) To an extent, many of the points raised in this section relate to the U.S. conception of the house as largely independent of the surrounding community; many cultures make far greater use of local amenities such as cafés and bathhouses—examples of the “third place” in Ray Oldenburg’s formulation, distinct from home and work—reserving the house for non-social functions such as sleeping and family intimacy. Aesthetics, in the sense of the look of houses, is not a significant factor in many parts of the world, where vernacular architecture produces dwellings that vary only slightly from a traditional, communally-accepted model that changes only slowly over time. In such cultures, residences designed by specialists according to client requirements are exceptional, the preserve of the very rich or high-status individuals, increasingly influenced by globally mediated images of prestige. Such exceptions are still rare though; it has been estimated that only 5 percent of the world’s houses are architect-designed. In the U.S. however, vernacular style, in the sense of a building pattern that has evolved to suit the needs of a community, and in which residents participate, has largely disap-

peared, a development concomitant with the high degree of mobility alluded to earlier, and high value is placed on originality. At the same time, a massive expansion (at least until recently) in speculative tract housing has created a kind of top-down, imposed vernacular, in terms of similarity in housing style, but without any popular input. These developments are often marketed as readymade “communities,” but meet few of the criteria that immigrants from truly communal cultures would recognize. A common observation of newcomers to U.S. suburban streets is that although the houses look as though they belong together, there is no street life indicative of a collective commitment, and no obvious way to become part of the society. Front porches are largely absent, having been replaced by multi-car garages, and few residents walk to local stores, providing minimal opportunity for informal neighbourly encounters. Such perceptions clearly lead to feelings of exclusion and alienation, further hampering transition to a new way of life. Similar feelings of isolation may be engendered in the workplace by the sterile-seeming cubicle farms still favoured by many organizations. Because of its ostensibly private character, residential space is in many respects of less obvious concern to U.S. managers than the spaces discussed in previous articles in this series. However, a more informed understanding of what the concepts of house and home mean to workers from other cultures will also help to appreciate their reactions to occupational space. Notions of status, privacy, and territoriality, as well as communication behaviours, are learned in the home, but are carried over into other spheres of life, and only by bringing such topics into open discussion can a shared perspective be attained. A simple acknowledgement that houses and workplaces can never be purely utilitarian, but also have to fulﬁll different cultural, psychological, and spiritual needs, is the ﬁrst requirement to this essential dialogue. As Rapoport concludes: “Man may build to control his environment, but it is as much the inner, social, and religious environment as the physical one that he is controlling — the ideal environment in cultural terms.” i

Intercultural Management Quarterly

References and Further Reading Ardrey, R. (1966). The Territorial Imperative: A Personal Inquiry into the Animal Origins of Property and Nations. London, U.K.: Atheneum. Alexander, C., Ishikawa, S., & Silverstein, M. (1977). A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Brand, S. (1995). How Buildings Learn: What Happens After They’re Built. New York, NY: Penguin. Busch, A. (1999). Geography of Home: Writings on Where We Live. New York, NY: Princeton Architectural Press. Hall, E. T. (1966). The Hidden Dimension. New York, NY: Doubleday & Company. Hayden, D. (2004). A Field Guide to Sprawl. New York, NY: W.W. Norton. Marcus, C. C. (1995). House as a Mirror of Self: Exploring the Deeper Meaning of Home. Berkeley, CA: Conari Press. Nakagawa, T. (2005). The Japanese House: In Space, Memory, and Language (G. Harcourt, Trans.). Tokyo, Japan: International House. Newman, O. (1973). Defensible Space: Crime prevention Through Urban Design. New York: Collier Books. Noble, A. G. (Ed.). (1992). To Build in a New Land: Ethnic Landscapes in North America. Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press. Oliver, P. (2003). Dwellings: The Vernacular House World Wide. London, UK: Phaidon. Rapoport, A. (1969). House Form and Culture. Englewood Cliﬀs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Rybczynski, W. (1986). Home: A Short History of an Idea. Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin Books.

Fall 2009

Intercultural Management Institute

Skills Institutes Fall 2009-Spring 2010 Gaming Simulations and Experiential Exercises for Intercultural Training October 24-25, 2009 with Gary Weaver, Executive Director, IMI, and Professor, School of International Service, American University; and Gary Wright, Adjunct Professor, School of International Service, and former Vice President of Campus Life, American University Managing International Student Exchange Programs November 14-15, 2009 with Fanta Aw, Vice President of Campus Life, American University Building Mediator Capacity in a Multi-cultural Context January 23-24, 2010 with Gururaj Kumar, Training and Policy Program Director, ICONS Project, University of Maryland, and Jared Ordway, Program Specialist, National Association for Community Mediation Intercultural Training and Facilitation February 20-21, 2010 with Ray Leki, Director, Transition Center of the Foreign Service Institute, U.S. Department of State Creative Arts and Intercultural Conﬂict Resolution February 6-7, 2010 with Michelle LeBaron, Director, Program on Dispute Resolution, University of British Columbia

www.imi.american.edu for schedule and registration 13

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Intercultural Management Quarterly

References and Further Reading: Motoo Unno’s Multicultural Barack Obama Bass, Bernard M, & Riggio, Ronald E. 2006. Transformational Leadership. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers. Bennett, Janet M. 1993. “Towards ethnorelativism: A developmental model of intercultural sensitivity.” In R. M. Paige (Ed.), Education for the Intercultural Experience (pp. 21-71). Yarmouth, ME: Intercultural Press. Bennett, Milton J. 1993. “Cultural marginality: Identity issues in intercultural training.” In R. M. Paige (Ed.), Education for the Intercultural Experience (pp. 109-135). Yarmouth, ME: Intercultural Press. Goodwin, Doris K. (2009, April). “Leadership lessons from Abraham Lincoln.” Harvard Business Review. 4347.

Nye Jr., Joseph S. 2008. The Powers to Lead. New York: Oxford University Press. Obama, Barack. 2004. Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance. New York: Three Rivers Press. Obama, Barack. 2007. “Renewing American leadership.” Foreign Aﬀairs, 86, No. 6. Pollock, David C., & Van Reken, Ruth E. 2001. Third Culture Kids. Boston, MA: Nicholas Brealey North America. Yoshikawa, Muneo, J. 1980. “Cross-cultural adaptation and perceptual development. Cross-cultural adaptation: current approaches.” In Y. Y. Kim, & W. B. Gudykunst (Eds.), International and Intercultural Communication Annual, 11. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

Kutz, Matthew. 2008. “Toward a conceptual model of contextual intelligence: A transferable leadership construct.” Leadership Review, Vol. 8, Winter.

IMQ publishes book reviews, case studies and other articles that explore culture and management in global organizations.

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Fall 2009

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