The Working and Managing Across Cultures Blog

Why Global Professionals Need Special Leadership Skills

Karine Schomer — Tue, 06 Jan 2015 17:51:56 +0000

By Karine Schomer, PhD, CMCT President and India Practice Leader

Three cultural mismatch stories - Karine Schomer

Our advanced technological world is also a global world. And while it may be "one world" in many ways, it's still astonishingly diverse. If you're one of today's "global professionals" who works with, manages, sells to or engages in business relationships with people from different parts of the planet, you need global personal and team leadership skills.

Our advanced technological world is also a global world. And while this world may be “one world” in many ways, it’s still astonishingly diverse. Dealing effectively with this diversity requires something more than generic leadership skills if you're a professional who works with, manages, sells to or engages in business relationships with people from different parts of the planet. You're what is nowadays referred to as a "global professional" and your path is not the same as that of people who operate within a single cultural environment.

Karine Schomer, PhD is President of Change Management Consulting & Training, LLC, and leads The CMCT India Practice, specializing in cross-cultural training and management consulting for doing business with India, competitive advantage through cross-cultural awareness, business etiquette and protocols, cross-cultural communication and teamwork skills, outsourcing management best practices, and offshore team leadership strategies. For more learning resources, check The Working and Managing Across Cultures Blog.

Sections:

Global Team Management

Global Differences in Work Style and How to Manage Them

Karine Schomer — Wed, 19 Nov 2014 12:40:38 +0000

By Karine Schomer, PhD, CMCT President and India Practice Leader

When you do business or manage globally, you encounter cultural differences in how tasks get accomplished, projects are carried out, and innovation takes place. Six management best practices can help you deal with the tension that can occur between free-flow spontaneous cultural approaches and approaches that place more emphasis on more structured adherence to plan, goals and timeline.

When you do business or manage globally, you encounter cultural differences in how tasks get accomplished, projects are carried out, and innovation takes place. Six management best pracgtices can help you deal with the tension that can occur between free-flow spontaneous cultural approaches and approaches that place more emphasis on more structured adherence to plan, goals and timeline.

Sections:

Global Team Management

Tags:

jugaad

improvisation

cultural differences

doing business globally

work style

project management style

management best practices

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What Can We Learn from India's Low-Cost Mars Orbiter Mission?

Karine Schomer — Mon, 29 Sep 2014 03:44:30 +0000

By Karine Schomer, PhD, CMCT President and India Practice Leader

On September 24, 2014, India became the first Asian nation to reach Mars. India's Mars Orbiter Mission successfully entered orbit around the Red Planet, two days after NASA's MAVEN orbiter. The Indian space venture had cost $74 million to NASA's $671 million. What made this possible? What strength of the Indian way of innovating and getting things done accounts for this technological feat on a shoestring?

On September 24, 2014, ten months after its flawless launch on Nov 5, 2013, India’s Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) successfully entered orbit around Mars, two days after NASA’s MAVEN orbiter reached the Red Planet. The news stunned the world.

Sections:

Doing Business with India

Tags:

awareness of cultural differences

ways of working

improvisation

economical solutions

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Communication and Culture Tips for Global Managers

webadmin — Sun, 04 Aug 2013 22:41:05 +0000

By Karine Schomer, PhD, CMCT President and India Practice Leader

When offshore outsourcing or other cross-border business ventures run into implementation difficulties, managers and team members often point to “communication problems” as the root cause. This attribution occurs both in anecdotal responses and in formal surveys.

When offshore outsoucing or other cross-border business ventures run into implementation difficulties, managers and team members often point to "communication problems" as the root cause. This attribution occurs both in anecdotal responses and in formal surveys.

Sections:

Global Team Management

Work-Life Balance for Women in India and the United States

webadmin — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 22:20:34 +0000

By Karine Schomer, PhD, CMCT President and India Practice Leader

Who has it easier when it comes to work-life balance: American professional women or their Indian counterparts? Many of the issues are common to women throughout the global corporate world, but the specifics in India and the U.S. differ due to policy, socio-economic and cultural differences.

Who has it easier when it comes to work-life balance: American professional women or their Indian counterparts?

Sections:

Doing Business with India

Improving the Cross-Cultural Competency of Offshore Teams

webadmin — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 22:41:39 +0000

By Karine Schomer, PhD, CMCT President and India Practice Leader

When I present seminars on Indian business culture to American managers and technical professionals involved in offshoring or offshore outsourcing to India, someone inevitably asks, “So what are our offshore teams and counterparts in India being taught about American business culture?”

The answer is, “More than they used to, but seldom at a level deep enough to inculcate the attitudes, thought patterns and behavior norms that would ensure optimal effectiveness in working with Americans.”

Sections:

Global Team Management

Workforce Diversity in India and the U.S.

webadmin — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 22:37:08 +0000

By Karine Schomer, PhD, CMCT President and India Practice Leader

When Indian and U.S. corporations work together or operate on each other’s soil, all levels of management need to understand differences in the workforce diversity challenges of the two countries. This article provides an overview of the main differences in workforce demographics, diversity categories, and legal frameworks between India and the U.S.

The world's two largest democracies, India and the United States, are also the world's most diverse societies. The demographics and structures of their diversity – and their legal frameworks – differ substantially. Consequently, the diversity challenges and priorities of business in India and the United States differ in many ways.

Sections:

Doing Business with India

Challenges Indian Offshore Teams Face in Working with Americans

webadmin — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 22:38:50 +0000

By Karine Schomer, PhD, CMCT President and India Practice Leader

Five special challenges Indian offshore teams face in working with Americans at the level of mindset, values and approaches to interactions, and the need to seriously educate offshore teams in the fundamentals or American business culture.

As the foremost “hot spot” for America’s offshoring and offshore outsourcing of technology and business services functions today, India presents an important case study of differences in business culture. In the course of years of giving seminars to both American and Indian teams working together, I have found recurring themes and incidents that point to underlying cross-cultural differences in mindset, values and approach to business interactions.

Sections:

Doing Business with India

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Cultural vs. Operational Issues in Offshoring

webadmin — Sat, 12 May 2012 22:45:39 +0000

By Karine Schomer, PhD, CMCT President and India Practice Leader

You've established your offshore center. You've navigated the initial transition hurdles. You have competent management in place at both ends. You've hired, oriented and trained the first hundred employees. The work has started to flow between the onshore and offshore teams. No major catastrophe has occurred in terms of missed deadlines, botched projects or information security breaches. As the start-up phase of your offshore undertaking comes to a close, you're breathing a sigh of relief.

Sections:

Offshore Outsourcing

Professional Women in India: Changing Social Expectations and Best Practices for Global Corporations

webadmin — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 22:30:16 +0000

By Karine Schomer, PhD, CMCT President and India Practice Leader

A 2010 Working Mother Research Insitute and Diversity Best Practices report by Dr. Karine Schomer. Details the most effective initiatives, programs and policies multinational corporations in India can use to attract and develop women employees. Includes case studies from Deloitte, IBM, Infosys and Johnson Controls.

This 20-page report was commissioned by Working Mother Research Institute and Diversity Best Practices.

In this report, Dr. Schomer looks at Indian professional women in comparative perspective, Indian family and gender roles in transition, generational differences, Indian women as corporate managers and leaders, success stories and role models, and generational differences.

Sections:

Doing Business with India