In the autumn of 2003, the participants of the International Space Station were confronted with cultural interpretation of the safety rules. New batteries were supposed to be sent to the ISS; the Russian team, knowing the reliability of the devices, did not want to go through safety procedures that were strengthened after the Columbia shuttle explosion. The Americans insisted the testing. This example shows the two approaches space specialists have towards safety concerns: In the U.S. program, something must be proven safe, while the Russian line is “prove it’s not safe.”

Riding the waves of the Russian culture
By Jérôme Dumetz, Guest columnist

Throughout the world in the past three decades, promises of a borderless, colourless world echoed. International competition would shape a global culture where best practices would be the new benchmark. National traditions would blend into an international way of doing business. Yet, business today remains largely unchanged. Giant multinational corporations are still attached to their home business cultures and most companies exporting products are stunned by the numerous ways business is actually conducted around the world.

While many foreign companies rushed into the early days of free market economy, many left a few years later with a bitter taste in their mouth. In Russia, many newly relocated businesspersons have the feeling that regular business practices do not fully apply in this country. If the Russian economy is often dubbed as “in transition,” this term is even more applicable to its business culture.

The Federation of Russia has returned to its position as a major international player in the diplomatic, cultural and business world. While recent financial crises are in everyone’s memory, the economy of the country is growing and is benefiting from some foreign investments. More and more western concerns are opening offices in the country and Russian investors have, in return, begun to invest abroad.

However, the cultural identity of Russia is far from being either deciphered or absolute. If its relation to the West and its expansion to the East influenced Imperial Russia, the USSR was in turn greatly influenced by the tsarist culture. Naturally, today’s Russia is the outcome of various layers of the true “Rus” identity.

Each foreign businessperson in Russia faces, at some point, misunderstandings and pitfalls. In order to navigate this environment, it helps to understand the Russian style of management. Scholars have created a new discipline called “cross-cultural management,” Composed of a bit of anthropology, a bit of sociology and a lot of management theories, this new field helps in understanding why the Russian culture is so different.

One of the leading authorities in this field is Fons Trompenaars. In his best-seller book, “Riding the Waves of Culture,” he analyzes cultures through the prism of seven dimensions. To illustrate, for instance, the differences between the British and Russian cultures, one dimension is particularly relevant, the Diffuse/Specific dimension.

According to Fons Trompenaars, “people from specific cultures start with the elements, the specifics. First they analyze them separately, and then they put them back together again. In specific cultures, the whole is the sum of its parts. Each person's life is divided into many components: you can only enter one at a time. Interactions between people are highly purposeful and well defined. Specific individuals concentrate on hard facts, standards, and contracts.

People from diffusely oriented cultures start with the whole and see each element in perspective of the total. All elements are related to each other. These relationships are more important than each separate element; so the whole is more than just the sum of its elements. The various roles someone might play in your life are not separated. Qualities cherished by diffuse cultures include style, demeanour, ambiance, trust, understanding, etc.”

These behaviours do not exclude each other. It is worth understanding that we are all both diffuse and specific. However, according to the situations and to our cultural background, some patterns emerge. The spectrum of possibilities in front of a dilemma is the same for everyone but our cultural profile influences us to choose one course of action over another. In other words, we all have the same options, but the order of priority differs according to our culture.

Readers of this article already understood that Russia is a diffuse culture while UK is more specific. In Russia, roles and status are combined with the private and professional sphere. Not surprisingly, an idealized image of the modern Russian business person is specific orientated. Yet, such behaviour is very new and actually not so spread throughout the country and the industries.

This aspect creates situations that may seem curious to specific orientated foreigners dealing with Russians. A call from your boss at 11 p.m. after a business day to inform you about last moment changes in tomorrow’s presentations is not surprising. In reverse, most Russian employees would naturally turn to their supervisor for advice, help or support in a wide range of subjects.

In this logic, asking for a day off because a parent or a child is sick or the permission to bring home some scrap material for one’s own use is not understood as perks or benefits but as a token of respect. Diffuse management in Russia means that even an authoritarian leader must care for its subordinates. The extreme stereotype is obviously the good Tsar, harsh but fair. 

Stemming from cross-cultural management and confirmed by seasoned managers in Russia, if one piece of advice could be given to a newly arrived expatriated manager, it would be to listen to subordinates, show interest in their after-work life, express compassion and support when necessary, and make a speech at celebrations.

In practice, a cross-cultural situation may also appear daunting to a Russian person dealing with a specific orientated situation. For instance, brainstorming sessions are easily understood as a sharing of ideas. The more the other will be specific (“Don’t take it personally, but…”), the more the meeting may become unbearable to the Russian business person. For the diffuse Russian, ideas are not separated from personality and status. The notion of passing judgment on one’s idea, without wishing to criticise the individual, needs to be carefully explained in Russia.

For a diffuse orientated person, the first conclusion that is drawn from an encounter with a specific oriented one is that the other side does not know anything. When Russian negotiators express the belief that foreign counterparts have a poor level of knowledge, it is likely to come from this fact.

Another example is the relative absence of specific and meaningful job titles in Russia: everyone is supposed to help when something unexpected appears; work is more structured by projects than strategies.

Therefore, one way of restricting future frictions is to set some guidelines before-hand. For instance, business negotiations may be interrupted with breaks in order to exchange views on different subjects.

Other business practices greatly influenced by such dimension are meetings and negotiation patterns. Typically, a diffuse person will start the discussion with generalities: family, politics, sports or weather. The specific guest wishing, for the sake of efficiency, to “stick to agenda” and to “get down to business,” is easily confused. Usually, wherever he or she comes from, you start with business and then, if everything goes well, you gently slip to generalities to conclude the deal and build the relationship.

Businesspersons planning ahead a trip to Russia with a tight schedule may come back home with feeling that while much talking took place, very little was accomplished. This explanation may help you understand why. This example of “diffuse versus specific cultures” illustrates just how much we are confronted with numerous dimensions in our international life.

The goal of cross-cultural management is first to develop awareness of those differences, then to understand them, and finally to overcome them. Documenting oneself about the other culture is a necessary initial step. Then, open-mindedness and communication are the subsequent ingredients of a successful cross-cultural management. In complement, or to accelerate the process, tailor-made trainings may be organized. They prove to be surprisingly effective.

Misunderstandings and crises are embedded in any cross-cultural environment, nevertheless many solutions exist to prevent and overcome them and cross-cultural management may be a useful facilitator then.