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The role of a manager is evolving in response to the needs of companies operating on the international stage. The complexities of globalisation brought to the area of management are great and require the 21st century manager to adapt in order to offer modern solutions to modern problems. One area in particular of growing importance is intercultural management skills.

The majority of companies can no longer escape the need to buy, sell or work with people from different cultures. Multinationals have offices spanning the globe; manufacturers increasingly rely on foreign markets and distributors; services and products are no longer solely marketed at native audiences and many industries rely on immigrant labour. In short, very few businesses escape the need for intercultural communication.

As a result, companies are increasingly recognising that in order to grow, diversify and retain a competitive advantage, intercultural management skills are critical. ‘Intercultural management skills’ is a loose term used to refer to the capability of a manager to communicate and deal effectively with people from different cultures. ‘Communication’ has long been recognised as the key to business success; however, ‘intercultural communication’ is now an increasingly critical term..

Intercultural communication is critical to business performance in a variety of ways. Internally, an intercultural manager needs to be able to act as a medium between senior personnel and staff; communicate clearly and effectively with colleagues; build and nurture efficient intercultural and transnational teams and display strategic global thinking.

Externally, an intercultural manger must demonstrate business acumen within a framework of intercultural awareness to supervise entrance into foreign markets; oversee the proper selection, mentoring and guidance of company representatives working with foreign interests; negotiate and manage conflict with clients and provide insight into potential areas of success or failure emanating from intercultural differences.

The intercultural manager is therefore tasked with the responsibility of ensuring that communication between colleagues, clients and customers is clear, coherent and free from intercultural misunderstandings.

In order to achieve this, the intercultural manager must possess certain key attributes. These are namely, intercultural awareness, flexibility, capitalizing on differences and patience.

Intercultural awareness is the fundamental foundation of all intercultural management skills. One must possess hands on experience of living and/or working in different cultures, an understanding of how culture manifests in interpersonal interaction and have received intercultural training to consolidate those insights and awareness. Only through an appreciation of intercultural differences will the manager develop further skills.

Once intercultural awareness is active within a manager and they are able to see beyond surface level manifestations of cultural differences, flexibility naturally occurs. Flexibility refers to the ability of the manager to adapt their behaviour and management style to deal effectively with intercultural challenges and to think out of the box when it comes to offering solutions. The flexible intercultural manager is able to cushion intercultural tests and control outcomes positively.

Similarly, the intercultural manager needs to be astute in using intercultural differences positively. Cross cultural differences do not inherently lead to negative consequences. They only do so when mismanaged. It is therefore the responsibility of the intercultural manager to assess the potential of personnel, products and policies being steered by cultural differences and ensuring it does so for a constructive outcome.

Finally, the intercultural manager needs patience. As the Dutch proverb says, “A handful of patience is worth more than a bushel of brains.” Patience is the key to a successful intercultural manager as it allows one to maintain focus, analyse problems coherently, evaluate options and implement solutions.

In conclusion, the success of businesses in today’s globalized world economy relies heavily upon them investing in cultivating intercultural managers. With human traffic across borders constantly on the increase and business interests dependent on foreign markets, the intercultural manager is critical to the co-ordination, supervision and implementation of clear intercultural communication.

Neil Payne is Managing Director of Kwintessential, a London based cross cultural training provider.
Visit their site at:
http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/cross-cultural/cross-cultural-awareness.html

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Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.

There are other useful definitions in this field, for example, creativity can be defined as consisting of a number of ideas, a number of diverse ideas and a number of novel ideas.

There are distinct processes that enhance problem identification and idea generation and, similarly, distinct processes that enhance idea selection, development and commercialisation. Whilst there is no sure fire route to commercial success, these processes improve the probability that good ideas will be generated and selected and that investment in developing and commercialising those ideas will not be wasted.

Psychological Reward

Psychological rewards and recognition are major factors in the motivation equation.

Status theory argues that every action, movement and inflexion of human beings is in some way related to status. There are compelling arguments that human behaviour is based on status seeking. In the animal kingdom, higher status individuals have more sex, more access to food and resources, more space and so forth.

The present day occupation with celebrities is a testament to the power of status. Big Brother and reality TV show how far people will go to get it.

Status is addressed in the corporate world in expressions such as “give the dog a bone.” Consequently, there is a tendency to give people high-sounding names without considering the other motivational factors. People either resent this or are happy for only short periods.

Psychological rewards include an environment of psychological safety and freedom - accepting an individual as unconditioned worth; recognising that the individual is capable of producing but that their value is not based on producing; understanding empathetically; understanding the individual from their point of feeling and view (Vernon, 1970).

These and other topics are covered in depth in the MBA dissertation on Managing Creativity & Innovation, which can be purchased (along with an Innovation Management Bible, a Creativity and Innovation DIY Audit, Good Idea Generator Software and Power Point Presentation) from http://www.managing-creativity.com/

You can also receive a regular, free newsletter by entering your email address at this site.

Kal Bishop, MBA

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You are free to reproduce this article as long as no changes are made and the author’s name and site URL are retained.

Kal Bishop is a management consultant based in London, UK. He has consulted in the visual media and software industries and for clients such as Toshiba and Transport for London. He has led Improv, creativity and innovation workshops, exhibited artwork in San Francisco, Los Angeles and London and written a number of screenplays. He is a passionate traveller. He can be reached on http://www.managing-creativity.com/

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The single greatest obstacle preventing organizations from becoming great-achieving superior results, exceeding customer expectations, attracting and retaining talent, developing leaders, and creating work environments where people at all levels can learn and grow and prosper is painfully simple: Management Malpracticeabuses of power, knowledge and relationships that bog down systems, frustrate people, thwart teamwork, divert focus, and compromise results. What exactly is management malpractice? Any organizational practice or activity that makes it difficult for people to perform their jobs, develop themselves, coordinate with others, find fulfillment, create value and get results for themselves and their organizations. It occurs when management principles or corporate values are preached but not practiced and always involves an abuse of power, knowledge or relationships. Management malpractices at all levels in an organization must be constantly exposed and routinely eliminated if the enterprise expects to achieve and sustain greatness.

Great management principles that are considered by most people to be timelessly and universally true principles such as sharing ideas at every level, fostering a healthy dissatisfaction with the status quo, treating employees as your most valuable asset, valuing the contributions of each individual, creating an environment where people feel free to raise concerns, establishing a foundation of respect and trust, enabling people to tap into their full potential, listening to all viewpoints, constantly challenging assumptions and biases, and accepting responsibility for your actions provide a vital shield and protection for individuals in organizations. When such universally accepted principles and truths are ignored, forgotten or preached but not practiced, individuals lose their protection and become subject to managers and leaders who can easily manipulate, abuse and injure them. Just as a nation without the rule of law cannot protect its citizens from physical harm, an organization without the rule of great management principles cannot protect its employees from emotional and psychological damage. Management malpractice occurs whenever managers and leaders fail to apply principles that have been tried and tested, proven and accepted as timelessly and universally true.

Oftentimes a vicious cycle is at work in organizations: leaders consciously or unconsciously malpractice management, employees react with disappointment and disgust, leaders attempt to correct their malpractice, employees perceive leaders’ corrective efforts as disingenuous and manipulative, leaders react with disappointment and disgust but they try again, employees cautiously give leaders another chance, leaders improve but not as fully and quickly as employees would like, employees become angry and call leaders hypocrites, leaders become angry and call employees whiners, and so on until both leaders and employees accept management malpractice as the norm. It is an inescapable reality of modern organizational life.

This vicious cycle continues until the organizational culture becomes mired in cynicism and distrust. The solution? Break the cycle by seeing it and exposing it - both the leader’s under-reaction to malpractice and the employee’s over-reaction to imperfection. Only when management malpractice is replaced with a widespread adherence to great management principles (timeless and universal) will the labels of hypocrite and whiner disappear. Only then can the vicious cycle be prevented from returning.

Craig Hickman is the author or coauthor of a dozen books on business and management, among them such bestsellers as Creating Excellence; The Strategy Game; Mind of a Manager, Soul of a Leader; and The Oz Principle. After receiving his M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School, he worked in the areas of strategic planning, organizational design, and mergers and acquisitions for Dart Industries and Ernst & Young. In 1985, he founded Management Perspectives Group, a consulting and training firm that helped companies implement the business strategy, corporate culture, and organizational change principles set forth in Creating Excellence and Mind of a Manager, Soul of a Leader. His clients have included: Proctor & Gamble, American Express, Unilever, AT&T, PepsiCo, Honeywell, Amoco, Nokia, and the U.S. government. He has lectured throughout the world for the U.S. State Department as part of its American Participant Program and is currently CEO of Headwaters Technology Innovation Group, a subsidiary of Headwaters Incorporated (NYSE: HW).

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