AssistKD Book Review

'The Culture Map' by Erin Meyer is an eye-opening dive into cultural differences and their impact on business relationships. Mike Williams reviews the book and considers how useful it could be for business analysts and business change professionals.

The Importance of Cultural Understanding for Business Analysts

From time zone differences to language barriers, working with associates from other countries presents many challenges. Misunderstandings can happen all too easily. When dealing with international stakeholders, it's important for the Business Analyst to be aware of the impact of cultural differences on communication, collaboration, establishing trust and reaching a consensus.

Hofstede's Dimensions of Culture

In 1973 Geert Hofstede came up with the 'Hofstede Dimensions of Culture', mapping the countries of the world on a scale of 1 to 100 for six key cultural characteristics such as 'collectivism vs individualism'. While revolutionary in its time this model has become slightly outdated, describing powerful and competitive cultures as 'masculine' and collaborative and cooperative cultures as 'feminine'.

Improve your Business Relationships with International Stakeholders with the 8 Scales of International Culture

In her book 'Culture Map' Erin Meyer outlines 8 Scales of International Culture: Communicating, Evaluating, Persuading, Leading, Deciding, Trusting, Disagreeing and Scheduling. Meyer believes you can improve relationships by better understanding where you and your international business partners stand in relation to one another on the different scales.

The UK and the US, for example, are at the 'lower context' end of the Communicating scale with most communications very much at face value. Japan, China and Saudi Arabia are at the 'higher context' end where communication is implicit, nuanced and layered. Simply being aware of this difference is helpful, as is avoiding specific images, cultural references, idioms and slang that could exclude or alienate.

Where we sit on the scales influences how we perceive and how we are perceived by other cultures. Strict schedulers the UK and fluid timekeepers India are at opposite ends of the Scheduling scale while France falls in the middle. So the UK sees France as less focused on timekeeping, but at the same time India sees France as stricter than they are on keeping to schedule. It's all relative.

The Netherlands is at one extreme of both the Evaluating and Disagreeing scales. They are very direct in giving negative feedback and are plain spoken when they disagree which can be perceived as blunt and confrontational by other cultures. Japan in contrast avoid confrontation, are subtle in expressing disagreement and will soften negative feedback, preferring to give it in private.

Understanding the cultural perspective of a stakeholder from another country makes it easier for the Business Analyst to persuade them to come 'on board'. On the Persuading scale, some countries such as France and Germany respond better to a 'Principles first' approach, they like to be given the theoretical background first. In contrast, the UK and the US prefer an 'Applications first' approach, starting with a practical focus. It's also useful to know that while decisions tend to be made by consensus in Japan or Germany, in India decisions are ultimately made by the director or manager.

The Trusting scale reveals, fascinatingly, that you are more likely to build trust with the US, Germany or UK through sharing tasks and business activities whereas with Japan, India and Saudi Arabia trust is built through establishing social relationships over time.

As different scales are combined it gets even more interesting, you can really 'dig down' and develop your understanding. Familiarising yourself with the 8 Scales of International Culture will open your eyes to the perspectives of different cultures and help you communicate, collaborate, build trust and persuade effectively.

AssistKD's Stakeholder Engagement course is a game-changer for business analysts, project managers and IS consultants who want to build positive and productive relationships with stakeholders.