Culture Competence – Part 5: It’s Not About “When in Rome”

The Harvard Business Review Blog posted a piece this week entitled “Adapt to a New Culture – but Don’t Go Too Far”. The article, written by Andy Molinsky, an Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Brandeis International Business School articulates the perils of changing your behavior to be more like the dominant culture that you are in when you do not fully understand that other culture. Molinsky says that the old adage “When in Rome, do as the Romans do” means that you adapt to the other culture’s ways.

I disagree with the author. I think that the adage really means that you “copy” or “mimic” the behaviors of the other culture without necessarily understanding why you are doing it or how to do it. To me adaptation means that you really deeply understand the nuances of the other culture and are able to appropriately shift your behavior in different cultural contexts.

Molinsky uses the example of a Chinese professional who has come to the U.S. to work for a major consulting firm. He is told that he needs to be assertive with management, voicing his opinions in meetings and even disagreeing with the boss, very different from the cultural norms he is accustomed to in China. He takes the advice and tells his boss that his idea is “crazy.” The author says: “As uncomfortable as it was to call out his boss in this way, he feels proud about having expressed himself.”

Well the boss did not think that the Chinese professional’s approach was something to be proud of! The Chinese professional “over-switched” as the author calls it. While the US expects a higher level of assertiveness than would be considered appropriate in China, he went too far.

Molinsky states that he sees the “over-switching” phenomena quite often in his work as a business school professor and I would posit that it is because we are not adequately teaching cultural competence and how to adapt in different cultural situations.

Rather than simply tell people who are moving in and out of different global assignments to be more this or less that, we need to help them to understand why and how to adjust. This takes time and education.

Here are some tips:

1. Study the culture that you will be working in. Do not just learn the basics…for example, do I kiss, shake or bow. Learn about the cultures history, its form of governance, religion, politics and core values.
2. Learn more about the cultural dimensions. Is this an individualistic or community oriented culture? Is direct or indirect communication style preferred? How is power perceived? Is it more task or relationship orientated, etc.?
3. Watch and observe before you start making adjustments to your behavior because the organizational culture may differ from the national culture.
4. Encourage open dialogue to discuss cultural differences.
5. Recognize that everyone is an individual and will to varying degrees embrace the cultural norms for their culture.
6. Adaptation does not mean that you give up your own culture and its values. It means that you have a high degree of cultural self-awareness and a high level of understanding of other cultures and you are able to maintain who you are while at the same time adjusting appropriately for other cultures. Not easy to do but certainly a skill that can be honed.

Molinsky says that even if you are able to master the “cultural code” mistakes are inevitable. I completely agree with that and we have to learn to be more patient, understanding and forgiving of the mistakes. Use them as learning opportunities to advance our cultural competence and not to chastise and punish.