culture
Western Business Bias
CHALLENGES FOR WESTERN LEADERS IN A GLOBALIZED WORLD
By Gurnek Bains
Sergey Nivens / Shutterstock.com A gap exists with respect to the psychological mindset between
western cultures and emerging market cultures,
and yet the western business model has generally been
the default setting for global business. As the world’s
business landscape becomes increasingly globalized, western
leaders may need to assess their cultural biases to become more attractive
and welcoming of emerging markets.
At one level, most western multinational businesses would feel
they’ve been successfully operating on a global scale for years. Yet,
if you scratch the surface, the new multipolar world is creating new
challenges and asking deeper questions of global corporations and
their leaders.
As a rapidly growing number of organizations from emerging
markets are becoming leaders in business growth, western-based
companies will need to question some of their cultural assumptions
and look at what they can learn from other cultures. The
issue for western leaders is whether the skills that made them
successful as a leader within the western world will also lead to
success abroad, particularly in emerging markets. Furthermore,
western leaders will need to be aware of their own weaknesses,
which they need to manage as they step onto the new global stage.
ANALYTICAL VS. FLEXIBLE
The analytical, process-oriented, organized and structured approach
that is the default setting of many western multinationals
has given western societies an edge over others in past. However,
this thinking style may increasingly prove to be too slow-moving,
inflexible and cumbersome in a dynamic and fast-moving world,
where the unpredictable currents of change require a more intuitive,
emergent and flexible set of responses.
In fact, in an assessment of close to 1,500 senior executives in
seven world regions, flexible, open-minded and inclusive thinking
is a challenge for many western leaders. African, Indian and Latin
American leaders tend to display a particularly high tolerance towards
difference.
COMMERCIALITY VS. HARMONY
Western leaders out-score emerging market leaders in terms of
commercial thinking. Western leaders also tend to be more analytical,
particularistic and reductionist in their approach. They get
to the point quickly in business, which allows them to make fast
decisions when necessary. However, this approach runs the risk of
neglecting the human aspect of business. When placed within an
emerging market business context, western leaders may face problems,
as non-western cultures are more inclined towards holistic,
synthetic thinking and for both seeing and wanting to achieve interconnectedness
and harmony between different elements.
THE FUTURE BELONGS TO THOSE WITH
THE VISION TO SEE BEYOND THEIR
DOMINANT NATIONAL CULTURES.
HRPATODAY.CA ❚ JULY/AUGUST 2015 ❚ 35