SPOTLIGHT ON THE NEW GLOBAL LEADER
This package examines the management ofglobal talent from three perspectives. For the C-suite: maintaining thecompany’s unique culture. For senior managers: getting team members on the samepage. For individuals: figuring out which behaviors need to change and whichdon’t.
CROSS-CULTURAL MANAGEMENT
When Culture Doesn’t Translate
Meyer | page 48
As companies internationalize, theiremployees lose shared assumptions and norms. People in different countriesreact to inputs differently, communicate differently, and make decisionsdifferently. Organically grown corporate cultures begin to break down;miscommunication becomes more frequent, and trust erodes, especially betweenthe head office and the regional units.
In their efforts to fix these problems, companiesrisk compromising attributes that underlie their commercial success. INSEAD’sErin Meyer presents five principles that can prevent disintegration. Managersshould:
• identify the dimensions of difference between the corporate culture andlocal ones
• make sure every cultural group has a voice
• protect the most creative units, letting communication and jobdescriptions remain more ambiguous
• train everyone in key norms
• ensure diversity in every location
Getting culture right should never be anafterthought. Companies that don’t plan for how individual employees and theorganization as a whole will adapt to working in a global marketplace willsooner or later stumble because of unnoticed potholes. By the time they regaintheir balance, their economic opportunity may have passed.
HBR Reprint R1510C
LEADING TEAMS
Global Teams That Work
Tsedal Neeley | page 56
Many companies today rely on employeesaround the world, leveraging their diversity and local expertise to gain acompetitive edge. However, geographically dispersed teams face a big challenge:Physical separation and cultural differences can create social distance, or alack of emotional connection, that leads to misunderstandings and mistrust.
To help global team leaders manage effectively,the author shares her SPLIT framework for mitigating social distance. It hasfive components:
• Structure. If a team is made up of groups with different views abouttheir relative power, the leader should connect frequently with those who arefarthest away and emphasize unity.
• Process. Meeting processes should allow for informal interactions thatbuild empathy.
• Language. Everyone, regardless of language fluency, should be empoweredto speak up.
• Identity. Team members must be active cultural learners and teachers tounderstand one another’s identity and avoid misinterpreting behaviors.
• Technology. When choosing between videoconferencing, e-mail, and othermodes of communication, leaders should ask themselves if real-time conversationis desirable, if their message needs reinforcement, and if they are opting forthe technology they want others to use.
HBR Reprint R1510D
MANAGING YOURSELF
“Companies Don’t Go Global, People Do”
Brandeis professor Andy Molinsky,interviewed by Sarah Cliffe | page 64
The author of Global Dexterity: How toAdapt Your Behavior Across Cultures Without Losing Yourself in the Processdraws on his years of field research, teaching, and consulting to advisemanagers who must learn to adapt to a new culture. Molinsky focuses on howpeople practice new behaviors in actual situations, such as speaking up in ameeting or giving performance feedback, rather than on the differences betweencultures. He suggests an approach that consists of three stages: (1) Figure outwhat the cultural norms are and how they differ from the home culture indirectness, enthusiasm, formality, assertiveness, self-promotion, andself-disclosure. (2) Figure out what the “zone of appropriateness” is in thenew culture for each of those six dimensions. (3) Once you know whatadaptations you can (and are willing to) make, practice them to develop “musclememory.”
Certain psychological barriers may arise inthe process. People get anxious about whether they’re being authentic, or theyfeel incompetent and worry that others see them that way, or they becomeresentful of the hard and stressful work of adapting. But they often learnsomething interesting about themselves, Molinsky says, and that can beexciting.
HBR Reprint R1510E
The Big Idea
COMPETITION
The Future and How to Survive It
Richard Dobbs, Tim Koller, and SreeRamaswamy | page 34
Since 1980 global corporate profits havegrown at an unprecedented pace, increasing their share of global GDP by 30%.North American and Western European multinationals have been the biggestbeneficiaries, capturing more than half of corporate profits by leveragingtheir scale and exploiting unprecedented opportunities for reducing costs.
This remarkable era is now coming to anend. Growth is slowing, costs are rising, and new rivals from emergingeconomies and from the technology sector are changing the rules of the game.The authors forecast that in the decade ahead profits will continue to increasein absolute terms, but they will fall to 7.9% of global GDP—about what theywere when the boom began.
To maintain their lead, executives inWestern multinationals must consider the following responses.
Be paranoid. Instead of focusinginternally, executives in Western firms need to understand their new rivals.
Seek out patient capital. Emerging-marketfirms and technology companies often take a long view, building their marketshare over years at the expense of short-term profits.
Radically self-disrupt. Companies mustovercome strategic inertia by reallocating capital as conditions change.
Build new intellectual assets. The mostprofitable businesses are in idea-intensive industries, so intellectual capitalsuch as data and algorithms is a prime asset.
Go to war for talent. As populations ageand talent becomes scarce, now is the time for human capital management tobecome a strategic priority.
HBR Reprint R1510B
Features
MANAGING ORGANIZATIONS
How Smart, Connected Products AreTransforming Companies
Michael E. Porter and James E. Heppelmann |page 78
The evolution of products into intelligent,connected devices is revolutionizing business. In a November 2014 article, “HowSmart, Connected Products Are Transforming Competition,” Harvard BusinessSchool professor Michael Porter and PTC president and CEO James Heppelmannlooked at how this shift is changing the structure of industries and forcingfirms to rethink their strategies. In this companion article, the authors lookat the effects inside firms, examining the impact that smart, connectedproducts have on operations and organizational structure.
Thenew capabilities and vast quantities of data that smart, connected productsoffer are redefining the activities of the core functions ofcompanies—sometimes radically. As software and cloud-based operating systemsbecome integral to products, new product-development principles emerge,manufacturing components and processes change, and IT security becomes the jobof every function. Companies need different skills and expertise, which createsnew imperatives for HR. In the marketing function, the ability to track aproduct’s condition and use shifts the focus to maximizing the product’s valueto the customer over time. Customer relationships become continuous andopenended, service becomes more efficient and proactive, and new businessmodels are enabled. The rich data on location and environment that productsprovide take logistics to a whole new level.
HBR Reprint R1510G
Managing Yourself
Collaborating with Creative Peers
Kimberly D. Elsbach, Brooke Brown-Saracino,and Francis J. Flynn | page 151
Some people in creative roles seem immuneto others’ input. But this apparent arrogance is not actually what makes themtick. Their resistance may have less to do with size of ego than with sense ofidentity.
A subset of creative professionals identifyas “artists,” meaning they value three things: having a signaturecreative style so that their work bears a unique stamp; remaining involved inthe execution of creative concepts rather than handing them off; and succeedingon noncommercial terms. The authors suggest four tactics for working withartists:
1. Offer broad suggestions. Artists may seespecific, fully formed ideas as attempts to wrest creative control. Plant justthe seed of a concept, and you inspire continued engagement.
2. Temper your enthusiasm. Don’t act tooinvested in your own ideas. A dispassionate demeanor works better with artists.
3. Delay decision making. Give artistsample time to consider your suggestions on their merits.
4. Show respect and likemindedness.Acknowledging an artist’s prior thinking and work reassures him or her thatyour ideas are not off base.
HBR Reprint R1510H