Saturday, February 28, 2009

Evaluating Intercultural Behavior

This particular incident was recounted to me by a Thai tutor, of my Human Resource Management class.

In a Toyota car manufacturing plant in Thailand, an engineer from USA was just posted to the plant as a manufacturing engineer. One of his first tasks was to lead the Thai technicians under him to accomplish part of the manufacturing operations. After giving a briefing to the local technicians, he asked,

“So do all of you understand your tasks on hand? Any clarifications needed?”

He looked around; smiles were hanging on all local technicians’ faces. He asked one more time, the same reaction. “Great!” he thought, it seemed like he was getting along well with his new team, and communication seemed to be perfect.

Sadly, when the American engineer next checked with the team again, all the work which was accomplished by the team was not what he wanted. Essentially, all the technicians had not really understood what he said, but out of courtesy, they did not question his instructions during the previous meeting with him.

Well, what can we learn from this saga? Personally, I think it was a case of a foreigner lacking in understanding of local culture. Thailand, being a “Land of Smiles”, is a place where people try to be courteous to everyone, especially to foreigners. This could potentially be a double-edged sword. In American cultural context, it might be the case that when there is no questioning, and coupled with a smile on the face, it is a sign of “Roger that boss, I got you loud and clear”. Questioning in American culture might be just a normal gesture which means no form of disrespect.

On the other hand, in Thailand, it might be considered rude to question one’s superior, especially a new foreigner boss. The unsuspecting American engineer, not foreseeing this possibility, and based on his own cultural assumption, went on to interpret that as a sign of understanding.
It might not be possible to thoroughly understand all the various countries’ cultures.

Nonetheless, it is only prudent to keep in mind that differences in cultures will spell differences in communication norms and practices. It will pay to be extra cautious about potential communication loopholes in a new workplace with a different culture.

6 comments:

  1. Hey Kenny,

    :). No comment. Haha!

    Okay, back to my Singaporean style! You provided great insights from the perspective of Thai culture as well as the American side. This reminded me of your first post where you mentioned that your future working partners consist of individuals from many different cultures.

    Like what you said, it is best not to have any cultural assumption based on our own cultural norms. Exercise cautious about potential communication gap is the key.

    Cheers!

    Johny

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  2. Hi Kenny,
    I was thinking how the I would have solve the miscommunication problem if i was in the American's shoes.

    Perhaps I would ask them to repeat what i have just said to make sure that they know what to be done. Or perhaps I would get a translator speak to the technicians so that they know what to do.

    Being a foreigner working overseas, it is indeed important to pay attention to potential communication loopholes in both workplace and social scenes.

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  3. Hi Kenny,

    I do agree that Thailand is a land of thousand smiles, the people there are indeed polite and will always smile back. Whereas in our local context, not many people will smile back at you, some may think you have a loose screw.

    One suggestion to resolve this conflict could actually be that the American boss can spend some pub sessions or so called "team bonding" sessions after work so that he can get to know his subordinates better and listen to their opinions about their work. I feel it is a good get to know each other or ice breaking session and the boss can encourage his subordinates to voice out their problems when they do not understand what the boss is talking about during meetings.

    Ji Fang

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  4. Hi Kenny,

    I remember this scenario! It was the one that we shared in class. Indeed Thailand is a land of thousand smiles. Everyone is so nice, friendly and polite.

    Just like what we suggested in class, i do agree with JF and Swee Guan. Having a company gathering can help to bridge the gap between the cultural differences, so as to minimize misunderstandings. =)

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  5. Hi Kenny,

    I am wondering how the Thai supervisors managed to get things done, if the subordinate's reply is just smiles no matter he/she understand or not...
    Maybe the American supervisor can ask his Thai colleague for advice on how they managed to get things done.

    cheers,
    Feng Lu

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  6. Hey Kenny

    I remember this scenario also cause we acted it out. I guess the American engineer must be very frustrated cause it will be extremely difficult to communicate with the Thai workers.

    I do agree with Swee Guan that the American engineer must get the workers to repeat the instructions so that he can be sure that they understand what he really said.

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