Cultural awareness leads to successful business ventures with other cultures. In the United States, change and all things new are a driving force. Koreans are conservative, influenced by Confucian ethics of respect. In Saudi Arabia, the tenets of Islam dictate the way business is done. Today I’ll compare business structures in these countries.

It’s no surprise that business structures in the U.S. vary greatly. There are some commonalities though. For example, all large companies are considered entities in themselves; they are separate and independent from employees. Usually there is a CEO and some senior management at the top of the structure. The CEO has a lot of influence and is held accountable for the success or failure of the company.

My work takes me around the world and I find it fascinating to learn about different cultures; such knowledge is invaluable. Thanks to globalization, cultural awareness is crucial for business success. I would like to share some of my observations with you.

In the U.S., business is quite impersonal; beliefs about religion and cultural traditions are “left at home.” American ideas about business are also very scientific; approaches are analyzed, methodology studied in a search for what is more efficient, more cost effective, and/or more unique.

With this cultural awareness, a foreigner doing business in the United States can understand why change is readily tolerated here. New ideas change the way business is done and the work force is constantly revolving; some leave, some are fired and new people hired. Friendly working relationships don’t often carry over to after-work hours.

Some cultures are not so comfortable with change.

Six months ago you became part of your company’s change management team. Now it’s time to assess whether or not the changes were successfully implemented. If something went wrong, there are two places to look at first.
If the change management team did its job the transition was step-by-step with plenty of two-way communication between management and its multicultural workforce. Goals and objectives were clear; everyone accepted the change and carried out their responsibilities flawlessly.

Things never go according to plan.

Big changes within a company are most likely to succeed if a change management team is created. I talked about that team’s role last time. There are many people, not part of the team, who also have an important role in change management.

Change takes time; this is especially true with a multicultural workforce. Senior managers and other “upper” management who are already looking past the change and into the future may forget to practice patience with others who are just beginning the change process. Executives need to get in-sync with employees and become a visible, and vocal, “cheerleading” squad. Lack of leadership is the main reason change fails, even with a solid change management plan. When a multicultural workforce sees the “big bosses” actively committed to the change they are reassured that this change will be a good thing.

When a member of a multicultural workforce has a question, who do they go to for answers? Their immediate supervisor will be the one to communicate information about change.

It’s important to have a change management plan, especially for a multicultural workforce, but who creates the plan and who carries it out?

Change management plans are carried out by a team. Even a small business needs more than one person “on board” for change to be successful.

The change management team is the group of key people who come up with a strategy for change. Someone from each department should be on the team. The team’s main role is to manage the “people” aspects of the change. This team will make sure that important information gets communicated to everyone.

Remember that communication is very important for a multicultural workforce. Have information booklets printed in the languages used by your multicultural workforce. Then have small group discussions with a translator present to answer questions and address concerns. Members of the team will be the “go-to” people for everyone else; they are the ones who keep up the momentum when challenges arise.