2. Features

• "I saw the future, and it works!"/Boylan
• Cross-Culture at the Cross-Roads/Jicheva
• Tips for Creating a Global Corporate Ethics Program/Holton
• Dynamiques Interculturelles pour l'Europe (review)
• Management Across Borders (review)
• Putting Diversity to Work (review)

"I saw the future, and it works!"/Boylan

The 2003 SE conference: "I saw the future, and it works!" By Patrick Boylan We smile at doctors who, while lighting a cigarette, lecture to us about the evils of smoking.  And we laugh at professors of education who, from a podium before a group of hushed and immobile students, lecture about the merits of interactive learning and group work.   And yet, as European experts in intercultural learning techniques, we have come together for SE conferences year after year -- as consultants, business people, researchers, teachers from dozens of different countries -- to: 1)  listen to prepared papers on specialized subjects -- just the sort of learning technique we would never dream of implementing in our work; 2) participate in seminars and workshops, few of which take advantage of the diversity of cultures (national, stakeholder...) present in the room -- just the sort of wasted synergy that we tell leaders of public and private organizations to rectify through our expertise.   Is it not time that we put into practice, in our own conferences, what we so ably preach? This, in a few words, was the goal set by the SE Board for the 2003 Conference in Budapest.  We of the Steering Committee eagerly made it ours.  It proved not to be a simple task, however. We rapidly discovered that it would be easier to get a doctor to break his 30-year-old habit of smoking, or to get a venerable university professor to step down from his podium and invite his students to brainstorm in groups, than to convince many of our own members to call into question the value of the traditional conference format. To be fair, experience was to show that our more recalcitrant members were in a certain sense right.  It was an impossible task to find, on our first attempt, the exact dosage between top-down and bottom-up learning in a conference situation where interaction was limited to just three days and where expectations and styles of learning were so widely divergent.  And yet, all in all, the vast majority of the participants rated the 2003 Conference a great success: certainly a breakthrough if not the final word.   Much of this success was due to Klara Falk Bano's impeccable organization of the event:  this enabled participants to concentrate on learning from each other instead of trying to find rooms, remember schedules, plan meals and entertainment and so on. Much of the success was also due to the ability of the facilitators (Jeff Beeson's Entheos Group) to listen to criticisms and adapt on the spot.  But probably most was due to the format itself. One statistic tells it all.  To the question: "Should a participatory conference format (similar to this year’s Congress) be planned to follow-up this Congress?" the participants responded: 71 % Yes   22 %  No 7% Don’t Know   (from Jeff's report to the Board sent July 17, 2003.) Opinions were mixed with respect to the specific innovations proposed.  "Focus on learning experiences" was judged from average to very good as was the "Exploration of the past" activity.  "Exploration of current trends and link to own learning environments" was judged even more favourably -- from average to excellent --  as was "Development and Presentation of scenarios".  The highest rating was obtained by the "Collaboration opportunities" activity: very good to excellent.  The remaining activities -- "Exploration of envisioned future", "Creation of desired future", "Presentation of collaborative plans" -- were, as the first two activities, judged  from average to very good.   To summarize: no "Poor" marks, too many "just Average" evaluations, a majority of fine to excellent comments.   Good then, but not good enough: the format needs to be tweaked so that future conferences offer participants adequate new content (which has traditionally meant prepared talks on research findings but surely we can find other ways!) together with a participatory, constructivist definition of learning needs and present knowledge. Whatever form the SE conference takes in the future, the 2003 Budapest event is, in any case, sure to have a lasting effect.  Bottom-up participation is here to stay and, thanks to the conference format, SE itself is becoming a year-round provider of training and research initiatives, not just a conference organizer as in the past.  Two examples of the last kind of change: the website forum (and Information map) and the eleven Project Groups formed at Budapest, which any SIETAR member (whether present at Budapest or not) may still join by going to the SE website and writing to the convenor of each project: www.sietar.de, click on CONGRESS '03 then on PROJECTS. Revolts are immediate and produce few results. Revolutions are long in coming but when they happen, things are never the same again.  SIETAR's Hungarian Revolution will, it is safe to say, be long remembered.

Cross-Culture at the Cross-Roads/Jicheva

Tips for Creating a Global Corporate Ethics Program/Holton

Tips for Creating a Global Corporate Ethics Program By Valerie Holton The recent wrongdoings in global corporations have caused business leaders, academics and the general public to revisit issues around corporate governance, business ethics, and the importance of personal and group integrity. A multitude of pressures - competitive stresses, short-term earnings focus, the erratic and volatile economy, and the difficulties of working in a multinational environment with different cultural norms - all add to imperfect ethical decision making. This article will discuss briefly the historical framework of business ethics, the difficulties of designing international standards, and several strategic and tactical considerations when designing global ethics initiatives.   Historical Framework In the United States business ethics is a relatively modern business discipline emerging from the social, civil and post-Vietnam War political issues of the 1960s, the misconducts of the 1970s (Watergate and the insider trading scandals) and the early 1990s federal government mandates for companies with federal contracts. These significant events resulted in the creation of two regulatory documents that framed legal parameters around certain business conduct - the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (which focused on bribery in foreign countries) and the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines (which encouraged companies contracting with the Federal government to put in place ethics standards).  Recently, as a result of the recent corporate scandals, the U.S. government passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act which focuses on accounting standards and board governance reform. Around the world business ethics policies have evolved differently. Australia had trade practice laws in effect 10 years prior to the U.S. Currently over fifty percent of European companies have an ethics code, while in the U.S. approximately 80 of companies have a code of conduct.  What is different, and not surprising from a cultural viewpoint, is that that the U.S. ethics codes are based primarily on U.S. legal requirements, while in other parts of the world, particularly Europe, less than 20% of the codes are legally driven.  This certainly reflects the well-known litigiousness of the United States! This legal focus has increasingly become complicated as more and more companies become “multi-national”.  Suddenly country specific laws and restraints are less relevant.  Domestic compliance codes which are focused on laws and regulations of one country may not be appropriate overseas where laws in each country may be very different.  In fact, even the word “ethics” is culturally interpreted. The word ethics does not translate in Japan and the concept of business ethics is viewed in terms of loyalty to one’s company. In the United States equality and fairness are the underlying ethical principles, in the Middle East ethics is more closely associated with etiquette, and in Europe ethics has a strong moral underpinning. Strategic Guidelines for Designing a Global Ethics Initiative A company planning the design of an ethics program should begin with a high level “needs assessment”.  Answers to fundamental questions such as  Why are we doing this?  Who do we want to “educate” and inform?  What outcomes to we want from the program? How will we measure our success? are critical to the program design process. An additional way to approach the design of a global ethics program is to consider both the various groups impacted (the stakeholders) as well as each country’s unique societal pressures, laws, etc. By taking this “macro” approach (see chart below) the company can design its ethics initiatives more strategically, and then can design the tactical plan for the department’s structure and implementation.. {ref  SHAPE  \* MERGEFORMAT } Tactical Design of a Global Ethics Program In the United States companies design their ethics programs around the following key components: A code of conduct An Ombudsmen role and/or “helpline” communication tool (phone or e-mail) that allows employees to confidentially raise any ethics questions or concerns Ongoing training for all employees Communication tools such as newsletters, e-mail broadcasts, bulletin boards Monitoring and auditing tools to measure the program’s success To implement ethics standards internationally companies should consider taking the following additional steps: 1) Conduct a global audit consisting of interviews, focus groups, etc. that addresses questions such as: “What are the areas and business actions most likely at risk of misconduct?” and “Are there potential conflicts between the company’s standards and local practices?” Not only will this initial research help design the standards, but it will be critically important in getting the buy-in of employees outside the headquarters country so that the program is not seen as only home-country centric.  This information will also be critical in the training design and communication programs. 2) Include international personnel   from business units and functional areas (particularly finance, legal and HR) in the design of the global code of conduct. Decide how corporate standards will be applied across geographies and cultures. Will standards be applied universally?  Will local regions have their own standards or will there be a core set of principles that will be modified within certain limits?   3) Consider having local ombudsmen. It is unlikely that overseas employees will contact headquarters’ ethics offices for a variety of reasons including time zone and cultural differences.   Build the infrastructure that monitors and enforces the standards as determined 4) Constantly communicate, educate and train all employees on the concepts of corporate responsibility and integrity. When communicating the ethics and training programs internationally, companies must be careful to omit home country cultural references and should confirm that the wording and concepts are understandable within cultural contexts. Place all documents in the different languages of employees and verify translation. Find outside resources to help you. There are many consulting organizations that can help you with each stage of setting up your ethics programs  For training design there are lots of resources available.  The Ethics Resource Center (ethics.org), Ethics Officers Association (eoa.org), the Center for Business Ethics at Bentley College (bentley.edu), the Ethical Leadership Group (ethicalleadershipgroup.com), and the International Business Ethics Institute (business-ethics.org) are all organizations that can directly help you with turn-key or customized programs in place. VALERIE HOLTON is the Marketing Director for IOR Global Services located in Detroit, Chicago and London.  IOR provides intercultural services such as intercultural training, language tutoring, destination assistance, and group management training to global companies. Ms. Holton has over twenty years of marketing experience.  Ms. Holton holds a B.A. in political science from Northwestern University, and an M.B.A. from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University.  In addition, she recently completed an Advanced Certificate in Business Ethics from Bentley College in Waltham Massachusetts.

Dynamiques Interculturelles pour l'Europe (review)

Management Across Borders (review)

MAB - Management across Borders Editors: Frank Brück / Astrid Kainzbauer / Helmut Kasper / Wolfgang Mayrhofer The MAB series is focused on publications dealing with cultural aspects of international business. The editions use multidisciplinary approaches and are published in German or English language. The first 2 books of the series are available now! ---------------- Astrid Kainzbauer Kultur im Interkulturellen Training Der Einfluß von kulturellen Unterschieden in Lehr- und Lernprozessen an den Beispielen Deutschland und Großbritannien  IKO Verlag, Frankfurt 2002, ISBN 3-88939-637-2 Cultural differences in training styles - are German and British intercultural trainings really different?  Astrid Kainzbauer’s book demonstrates culture's influence on management trainings and the respective implications for planning and implementing trainings in different cultures. The author has conducted a study on differences in training styles and their cultural background in Germany and Great Britain. The cultural differences that have been identified through interviews and training observations include German Theoretical Orientation versus British Practical Orientation German Explicit Communication versus British Implicit Communication Behaviour German Task Orientation versus British Person Orientation The publication analyses the implications of cultural preferences on teaching and learning  styles, programme contents, training activities and training structure, as well as the role of the trainer and the role of training participants. The book intends to encourage educators and trainers to prepare their programmes in a culturally compatible way. --------------------------------------------    {HYPERLINK "JavaScript:parent.parent.extra.core.prodLink('media/586.html','%3cbr%3e%3cbr%3e%3cIMG%20%20%20%20SRC=\\'','\\'%3e');" } Frank Brueck Interkulturelles Management A comparison of the cultures of Austria-Germany and Switzerland IKO Verlag, Frankfurt 2002, ISBN 3-88939-586-4 By using the method of relative cultural standards Frank Brueck analyses the subtle cultural differences amongst Austria, Germany and Switzerland. The results of the survey lead to a better understanding of the sometimes difficult relationship of these three cultures. The author demonstrates how cultural differences influence management and training styles. A large number of practical examples in so called critical incidents make this book a valuable resource for managers, trainers and all people who want to learn more about German speaking Europe.

www.iko-verlag.de

Putting Diversity to Work (review)