Intercultural Management

More and more companies around the world are crossing national borders to conduct business. No longer are we constrained by borders or distance. Our customers, suppliers and even our staff are increasingly based in foreign countries, drawn from a rich tapestry of cultural backgrounds. This globalisation has meant a fundamental change in who, where and why we do business. The role of the manager is evolving in response to the complexities of globalisation and the changing needs of companies operating on the international stage.

The 21st century manager has to adapt in order to offer modern solutions to modern problems. One area in particular of growing importance is intercultural management skills. So, what is intercultural management?

Until recently, organizations differentiated countries based on national cultures and managers were required to employ different management styles (known as cross-culture management) depending on the territory they were working in. Today, the emphasis is on developing skills and mechanisms through which culturally diverse managers with different ways of doing things can work together in any part of the world. The focus here is on developing intercultural management skills to cultivate global managers.

Effective global managers are those who are naturally flexible, agile and able to learn (or unlearn) continuously. Through their experiences, they are urbane, mobile and exposed to a wide variety of cultural influences. Well-educated and with a good grasp of communicating and managing across cultures, they do not have a designated foreign ‘patch' but hop around many countries. Their terrain might be as large as the EMEA region (Europe, Middle East and Africa) and their ways of thinking are just as large.

Companies wanting to retain a competitive advantage in today's globalised economy will need to rely heavily on their global managers. They will have to understand this breed of people and grow their numbers by investing and cultivating culturally sensitive and efficient global managers. With business interests dependent on foreign markets, exceptional managers with intercultural skills will be a vital source of competitive advantage. Therein lays the challenge for those who have to recruit and develop them.

It's important to be able to really look at a company's specific needs when it comes to developing global managers and implementing a very specific training programme to enhance the intercultural management skill base in an organisation. To find out more about training intercultural management in your organisation, click here.