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American businessman and best-selling author Stephen Covey famously said, "Strength lies in differences, not in similarities." But when one speaks of organisations spreading their wings beyond their country of origin, managing such differences is hardly a breeze. In fact, as many as two in five managers are said to fail in their overseas assignments, according to a survey on global leadership trends released by Right Management, a global leader in talent and career management workforce solutions within ManpowerGroup. Only 58 per cent of overseas assignments were judged successful by CEOs and senior HR professionals surveyed last year by the workforce solutions provider.
In India, companies - especially in the pharmaceutical, IT consulting and construction domains - looking for growth have ventured overseas in large numbers. It is, therefore, imperative to place strong emphasis on grooming employees for international assignments long before the plane takes off. Such assignments affect the family members of the expatriate employee, and they need to be prepared and supported too, say experts. Remember, language or cultural training alone is not adequate. The Right Management research suggests that the best companies use a battery of assessments to determine whether or not an expatriate assignment will actually work. "Being aware of potential derailers that could stand in the way of success is critical to understanding and adjusting to an international role," Bram Lowsky, group executive vice-president of the Americas at Right Management, told the Society For Human Resource Management, post the survey.
So how exactly do companies ensure that a manager - comfortable with the language, people, work processes and living conditions of his home country - will survive in a foreign environment, working with people from different ethnicities and expectations? And how do firms tackle cross-national disputes, should they arise?
A whole new world
Everything - from job design, policies, language, nuances of announcements, to compliance, legal, economic and taxation framework - can be entirely different in different parts of the world. Hence, for an employee going abroad, it can be a challenge to accept that what has made him successful in his home turf may not work on the global wicket. For most Indians this challenge seems bigger as their educational system or work culture grooming does not necessarily prepare them for collaboration as much as it does for competition. The important thing then would be to start preparing the employee much ahead of the actual transition.
Take the case of Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, which operates in over 80 countries with around 75 per cent of its total sales ringing in from the overseas markets. Glenmark has a workforce of more than 10,500 employees belonging to 50 nationalities. The company runs a well-structured programme to prepare employees for overseas stints. If it is a non-English speaking country, the sessions begin with local language training that start in India and continue for them and their families in the geography they are going to settle in. Otherwise, in a country like Japan, for instance, it may be difficult to even order a coffee the right way.
"We have many teams reporting to non-India leaders who spend a significant amount of time every month in India for knowledge transfer. An external consultant runs the programme for us," says Swati Rustagi, senior VP and head, human resources, Glenmark. The sessions also involve helping employees identify and overcome perceptions about other cultures. The most important thing the company tells its people is to travel with an open mind. At a senior level, Glenmark goes so far as to coach executives on local food, etiquette etc.
Glenmark shares an incident where it has had to literally tutor a senior leader who was being sent to Russia to refrain from emulating Russians unthinkingly just to fit in. Thanks to extreme climatic conditions, Russia has one of the world's highest levels of alcohol consumption. Glenmark advises employees not to try to be 'one of them' as our physical make-up and culture doesn't prepare us to handle that level of alcohol. "'You will make a fool of yourself' we tell them," says Rustagi. "We coach them on such areas where extreme adoption of another culture can make them flounder."
Then take things like display of personal familiarity. Cuddling a customer's baby or pinching her cheeks may be acceptable in India, but considered harassment or abuse in some countries in the West. Similarly, being strict with your child is acceptable here, but not in most Western countries. Again, in England, you can invite customers home if you share a personal relationship with them. This may be considered violation of personal space or 'overfriendliness' in some other European country.
The work culture itself is very different in different counties of the world. For instance, in Latin America (particularly in Brazil) and Western Europe, you may want to send a text message to a work associate/client after work hours if it is urgent, instead of calling the person up, the way we do in India. This is because people don't take work calls after office. The broad belief is that the corporate culture overseas allows for a '9-to-5' work regime where employees are expected to be productive, with strict timeslots allotted for lunch, and no room for personal calls. It is even considered impolite to disturb workmates on weekends. Most French labour contracts, for instance, have to apply a 35-hour working week.
More recently, a labour agreement signed on April 1 by unions and employers in the high-tech and consulting fields refers to an "obligation to disconnect communications tools", after an employee has worked a 13-hour day.
This is vastly different from India, where employees are used to long work hours and prefer a hierarchical approach. "Back in India, asking someone's age, marital status or ethnic origin at the workplace is completely acceptable," says Santosh Karagada, vice-president, HR, Wipro. When one works in the US, he needs to learn that such questions can be construed rude.
While on the topic of communication, there is something called an email etiquette, which coaches employees on the best practices of writing crisp, professional emails, using language that isn't abrasive or offensive, and when to take the direct or indirect approach. For instance, in the US, using 'ALL CAPS' (writing words in capital letters in a sentence) is frowned upon as it sounds like you're yelling, while in India, this may simply be seen as someone trying to emphasise a point. Furthermore, in places like the UK, people have a strong sense of time, where, unlike in India, arriving late for a meeting is unacceptable.
"We have seen more team orientation and patience in Indian employees who return from international assignments, in addition to improved big picture vision," says Rustagi.
Devil in the detail
If it is a family with children that will accompany the employee, the training programme will be different, involving information on local schools, accommodation, hospitals, medical policies, immigration policies, public holidays, social security numbers, local festivals, labour laws, helpline numbers, maps, local politics/history etc. Consider Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), which has three lakh employees belonging to 118 nationalities in over 50 countries. TCS even organises programmes for the spouses of these on-site employees to interact with each other. "Most of the staff sent overseas is already in touch with their on-site counterparts, so they are coached on local conversation topics like American baseball if it is the US, or London rain if it is the UK," says Ajoy Mukherjee, executive vice-president and head of global human resources, TCS.
There are 'educational inclusiveness programmes' at TCS to eliminate bias against other nationalities that an Indian may harbour. The TCS 'dos and don'ts' list also includes a list of crimes, places to avoid, safety precautions and policies.
The IT behemoth also has a 'Culture Meter,' an information-sharing tool on the intranet that 'profiles' various cultures, in addition to a 'Global Village Programme', an annual gathering that showcases culture and cuisines across countries.
That said, working with people from different ethnicities or cultures could lead to minor misunderstandings at best or a racism/harassment lawsuit, at worst. NIIT Technologies, which went international in 1992 and has a presence across 18 countries, gears its employees through a Global Etiquette Training Programme on what to expect when they go abroad. (See box). If an incident blows out of proportion, counselling is provided to the employee in the home country or on-site, available via telephone, chat or a meeting. "If the problem involves racism, then we would take it up very seriously at a corporate level," says Rosita Rabindra, chief people officer, NIIT Technologies.
Unity in diversity
In all this, one mustn't forget the more mundane issues related to the physical relocation to a new country. "Availing of services of relocation companies to help in the initial settlement, buddy programmes on-site and welcoming the extended family into the organisational community help significantly," says Prithvi Shergill, chief human resources officer, HCL Technologies.
An engineer moving to the UK to work at one of HCL's client locations, for example, will go through the 'i-fly' programme that will provide detailed information on living in the UK and also the client's culture in terms of policies and processes. On reaching the destination he will go through a tailored induction programme.
HCL uses a web-based tool, which offers country-specific information for over 80 countries in over 45 languages. It also contains e-modules for cultural introduction via simulation exercises like interactive sessions, videos, quizzes, reading materials etc. It contains global advice on over 25 topics essential for a first-time as well as a seasoned traveller.
The cost of expatriation is a big investment for companies and the return on this investment becomes difficult to reap if the talent is poached, in which case, career management and the international compensation philosophy should be clearly articulated. Further, there are standard practices like non-compete agreements and legal terms stated at the time of employment.
"Diverse experience is good because it broadens a person's horizon and brings the added value of best practices, some of which may be replicable, given the individual demographic environment," says Rajeev Dubey, president, group HR, corporate services and after-market; and member, group executive board, Mahindra & Mahindra.
Most often, overseas exposure brings about additional work ownership and enables quicker resolution of issues. It is also very critical that employees being relocated see the movement as an opportunity to learn and contribute and not a 'reward' for past performance. And that success abroad thus rests on attitude, flexibility and cultural empathy - not dissimilar to any effective recruitment process on the home turf.
STEP BY STEP
NIIT Technologies runs a Global Etiquette Training Programme that contains information on the following:
HIGH AND LOW COMMUNICATION CONTEXT
* Indirect and direct style of communication across geographies
* Sensitised cross-cultural communication
* Dos and don'ts of effective business emails
GREETING ETIQUETTE
* How to greet people in business scenarios
* Heptic (science of touch) and maintaining proper space
* Handshake
* How to give and receive business cards
DRESS ETIQUETTE
* Dos and don'ts of attire (formal, semi-formal, casual)
* Power dressing
* Hygiene norms
DINING ETIQUETTE
* How to handle cutlery when fine dining
* Body language
TELEPHONE ETIQUETTE
* Dos and don'ts
* How to take a message
* Voicemail
All this is taught through activities and discussions to cater to the needs of all three types of learners (auditory, visual and kinesthetic)
