Cross Cultural Management

INFOSYS

Infosys’ effective process to cope with the cultural issues in a transition to the Global Delivery Model.

Facilitates smooth functioning of cross-partner teams.

Promotes better understanding of work culture differences,

awareness and appreciation of different cultural backgrounds.

The Organizational impact of offshore and near shore

development leaves a footprint on process orientation,

collaborative working styles and project management.

Deals effectively with all three kinds of change.

Infosys conducts extensive Cross-cultural Training of staff covering

Cultural acclimatization,

Client business and organization overview,

Technical environment and processes specific to

the client,

Creating non-intrusive interactions for the client

Infosys has developed a unique 4-step Communication

Understand the offshoring process,

Understand their offshore partner

Collaboratively improve project

management skills

Draw up a strategy for continuous

process improvement

Step 4: Continuous Improvement Of Customer - Facing Process

Step 3: Optimize skill in Collaborative Project Management.

Step 2: Preview User Experience, For Managers & Customers New to Offshore.

Step 1: Position Relationship & Partner, Keep people up to Date.

Infosys' 4-step Communication Approach

Cross - Culture Coaching is the key for International Success

Executive development = Personal skills development

The critical challenges:

Increase the revenue growth worldwide through the

development of a strategy-based program for building

global leaders.

Organization's leaders, managers and key

employees must learn to do things differently in new

markets.

Bottom-line Benefits Gained from the use of Applied Behavioral Sciences:

Developing practical ways of studying culture change

and adaptation and human social behavior for groups

both small and large in an organizational setting.

Executive / Cross Cultural Coaches pay attention to

the informal as well as the formal, to the cognitive

and the emotional, data focused on the here and the

now, and on the unique as well as the patterned.

Focus on specific personal skills sets

or behavioral aspects directly

affecting successful integration

of new cultural skills

To achieve bottom-line beneficial

outcome & to produce a challenges

and constructs practical, applicable

solutions in productivity

or profitability .

Example; Participant's in Dr Skiffington's

Master Coach Course learn how to:

Develop an evaluation (ROI) architecture that includes

business goals, initiative objectives, and evaluation

objectives

Calculate the ROI and ROE

Use various types of hard and soft data collection plans

Use intake and outcome assessment

Calculate ROI for both observable (behavioral) and

inferable (developmental) changes

Convert data to monetary, production values and,

Identify direct bottom-line program effects and flow-on

intangible benefits etc

Building an Integral Behavioral-Based

Framework for developing Global Leaders

Develop and cultivate complex cross-cultural relationships in a

global setting.

Motivate people of different talent pools, backgrounds, disciplines

and generations,

Develop a framework for effective problem-solving across

cultures.

Assess the current culture, understand the leadership role in the

change process required for high performance.

Implement self change and change in the people

Design effective systems and structures, overcome barriers,

Decrease resistance and create an environment of driving change

and commitment to high performance

Leading Change Control and change emotions. Emotions are cultural

phenomena. Each person's experience of emotion has

individual features, culture shapes the occasion, meaning,

and expression of affective experience.

How to assess actions and social activities

Activities and values define the kinds of things that people

think about, perceive, imagine, remember, speak, and feel..

Acknowledge Value and behavior differences  &

learn adaptive behavioral pattern.

Consistency

New patterns of thinking and behaving

A leadership group that is able to; change their

people-related behaviors and business-related

behaviors, adapt itself across borders and cultures and

change infrastructures and systems to suit.

 Using Six Sigma in Europe: A Cross-Cultural

Perspective

Six Sigma is about Organizational

Improvement.

Six Sigma focuses on process

improvement, design and

management.

It is as much about people's

behavior as it is about the

behavior of processes.

The behavior of processes from

the behavior of people cannot be

separated.

National Cultures and the Route to Change

Organizations change is influenced by their predominant

national culture.So, Six Sigma has implications for how

companies ascribe status, recognize performance, structure

reporting lines and communicate.

Fons Trompenaars: Four primary organizational archetypes

depending on the degree to which organizations are

Decentralized or Centralized, Informal or Formal.

Different Techniques for Success

The Netherlands / Germany

Organizations are more centralized, collective effectiveness is

the objective of organizational improvement.

Raising the capabilities of a work team, department or business

unit is the focus.

Singling out individuals for recognition via special training or

certification risks creating an elite group who will be resented by

their peers.

The power of Six Sigma is in improving everyone's effectiveness

by creating a culture of process discipline.

Southern Europe

Business organizations are like families.

Power for the good of the group is ascribed by virtue of

knowledge. Senior managers have to internalize, then

personalize, the change for themselves and those for

whom they feel responsible.

In France, it means spending plenty of time educating

Senior Managers about the leadership aspects of Six

Sigma before ever picking process-based projects.

Sweden

An organization is a vehicle through which the individual expresses

him- or herself and can realize his/her full potential.

To generate enthusiasm for Six Sigma, one must anticipate the

question, "How will Six Sigma help me be more creative?"

The answer is, "When half of today's problems are avoided

through better processes, you will have more time to be

creative!"

Six Sigma frees up the capacity of individuals to grow and learn.

Its success depends on it.

Six Sigma Starting Points and Approach

Depending on the geographic region in Europe, the

starting point and approach to implementing Six

Sigma must be changed.

Generating genuine enthusiasm for Six Sigma means

putting it in the right organizational context and

communicating accordingly.

Cultural differences call for these different approaches:

In a French company, build awareness among Senior

Managers and all employees before rolling out Black

Belt or Green Belt training. Develop measures and

actions to improve employee satisfaction.

In a German company, clearly define who is

responsible for Six Sigma and how it fits with other

initiatives. Use Six Sigma as a means to elevate

collective performance through the wider application

of advanced process methods.

In a British company, link Black Belt and Green Belt

appointments to career development for high-potential

managers. Use Six Sigma to communicate good ideas

upward and provide recognition

Summary: Universal Applicability, Individual Implementation

Six Sigma is universally applicable, though how one communicates

the purpose of it and implements it should differ depending on the

predominant national culture.

Companies operating in Europe should beware of implementation

approaches that are based on a U.S.-style emphasis on the capability

of talented, well-trained individuals to get results "no matter what it

takes."

CEOs should develop an explicit leadership strategy to introduce Six

Sigma as a vehicle for strategic organizational change.

Bear in mind these pointers:

Take stock early on of who is involved and how to motivate them to

change.

Be sure to incorporate “Soft Skills Training" (e.g., facilitation and

change management) in the Six Sigma curriculum.

Train teams as well as individuals to build the capability of groups

and their commitment to implement and sustain improvements.

Be aware that teams from different countries will progress at

different rates.