As business obtains a more and more international flavor, the need for a better understanding of your foreign business partners becomes critical. In a multinational environment, although we may share the same business goals, we don’t always share the same approaches to work. This may provoke conflicts, yet they can be avoided. In an effort to aid understanding, in this article we offer several tips on how to improve and make the most of your multinational business relations.

1. Consider Stereotypes
Dr. Geert Hofstede, a psychologist at IBM, invested a lot in understanding stereotypes when during 1967-1973, in one of his researches he studied questionnaire responses from more than 70,000 employees in over 40 countries. Even till today his work is considered the most comprehensive study of how our origin influences our attitude to work.

Thus, the psychologist measured 4 attributes: individualism, masculinity, the need for structure, and the respect or fear of power. The results of the research are very interesting.

The highest score on individualism got the six nations which are all English speaking. The bottom five nations in this attribute are all Latin American. The Scandinavians with their equality-conscious mentality scored lowest on masculinity, while top of that list is occupied by the Japanese. Second to Japan on the masculinity scale comes Australia, followed by Switzerland and Italy. The most need for structure is displayed by the Greeks, Guatemalans and Portuguese, while the Malaysians have the greatest fear of power, what makes them have troubles when it comes to making decisions.

Those stereotypes have a strong cultural influence, and while they may not be true in every case, they will be certainly close.

2. Learn to Speak Common Language
It is a matter of fact that English language is not as easy as it may seem. It has around 200,000 more words than most other European languages, let alone slang, idioms, and regional dialects. Yet, it is often easier for people of different nationalities to communicate with each other using English as a second language than it is for them to talk with a native speaker. This phenomenon led French businessman Jean-Paul Nerrière to consider the idea of creating a kind of basic English vocabulary, which he called Globish, containing about 1,500 words. In theory it should be enough to get a point across in any situation.

It sounds like a good idea since moderating our language to make sure we are understood may be very helpful. Offering your Japanese partners a drink on their visit to your office, you would likely say, “Would you like some tea?” And it would be much more helpful saying this than saying, “Fancy a brew, mucka?”, wouldn’t it?

3. Say What’s on Your Mind
Some nationalities have a tendency to be more direct in what they say or do, others prefer a little more delicate behavior. Researches show that subtlety is more common for the British, while Germans, for example, are more direct. The latter will always start their speech with a negative. They expect to get clear instructions, while British managers expect people to know from their tone what to do. That is why German approach will be considered too rude in Britain, and British – too soft in Germany.

However, from the point of view of multinational business relations, the German approach will be the best. It is important to express your thoughts directly and say it how it is, otherwise your partners will think you’re sly and will not trust you.

4. Expect Blame Avoidance
In countries like Japan, taking responsibility is everything. In other nationalities, buck-passing and blame avoidance may be more common.

Working with international companies and managing multinational staff, one should be aware of the bigger picture, of how people react to responsibility. In some African countries people, who are asked for directions, will be unwilling to disappoint and therefore will guess. The feeling of shame and losing face is what a lot of western managers don’t realize. Being more keen may be good when explaining what’s needed, but a little more gentleness can be useful when improving discipline.

5. Mind the Hours
Time, as surveys show, appears to be a huge attribute of cultural difference. On a multinational extent, attitude to time and time discipline varies a lot. For instance, in the UK the average midday break is between 17 and 28 minutes and the British have a tendency to do more unpaid overtime than any other Europeans. In Russia, people are often a bit more disorganized and, if it isn’t punished, might not show up in the office until ten or later. However, it’s not inertness because, if needed, these people will work until midnight. Thus, with the international partners watching the clock is something that may help.

6. Be Careful With Your Chat
Act cautiously when you want to get to know your intercontinental colleagues on a more social level. Most nations have the darker parts in their history and would hardly like to have a discussion about it. Even if you know nothing else about their country, such topics should certainly be avoided. A German colleague may not appreciate talking about the Hitler years, with religion to be avoided with almost everyone.

Some more delicate mistakes can be made based on mentality. For example, for the Japanese it’s common to ask lots of questions to get to know someone, while in the Western nationalities people usually talk about themselves. Thus, if unaware of this peculiarity, a European may seem too self-absorbed to the Japanese, and the Japanese will seem very secretive to the European.

7. Dealing with Blind Obedience
In Western nationalities, an employee can express his opinion to a manager who tells him to do something, by saying how he thinks it might be done better. Yet, there are cultures where people have a different approach to authority and where obedience prevails. In such cultures people will likely do what they’re told even when they think it might be wrong. In such a situation it would be helpful to learn knowing when people disagree by their emotions. In other case, people might do it anyway, but will be secretly thinking what a jerk you are.

8. Avoid Twofoldness
Saying it how it is and selecting correct words is not all for effective communication. In face to face communication a person can pick up on non-verbal signs to get the message correctly. But when communicating by email, it is often very easy to misunderstand the tone in speech. Thus, an email saying, “I need it done by Monday” might be taken a little rough. Deliver the same request in person, and with a sincere smile, and you will be certainly understood correct.

9. The Final Step
The final step in effective communication with international business partners would be moving from the multicultural to the intercultural. We interact with other cultures everywhere we go and share more of our cultural experience for a better interaction. This doesn’t necessarily have to be considered just in terms of the workplace. Start with helping some foreign tourist who has lost his way to find the right direction. And then take it to another level.

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