Working Across Cultures: Bridging the Gap Between 'Slave' and 'Sloth'
Last month, I conducted a little survey about Korean and American working culture. I asked my Korean contacts who worked with Americans/US companies about US working culture (18 responded). I also requested input from my American contacts who worked with Koreans/Korean companies on Korean working culture (11 responded). I’d like to share the results of the survey and my takeaways.
Before I share my takeaways, I ask that you please use this information with caution. These are small sample sizes and should be assessed with that in mind. If there are views that resonate with you, think more deeply and try to make sense of them to your benefit. Understanding cultural differences can potentially be helpful or harmful. Being able to see other sides in important matters is crucial. The danger is in using this kind of information to fit your binary perceptions – ours or theirs, or right or wrong. Please use this information to see the possibility that some cultural differences can impact our behavior and therefore we could respond with more patience, flexibility, and empathy.
Here are my three key takeaways. See more detailed survey results in the below presentation slides.
First, there was a clear indication of cultural differences - clear patterns of thought from both sides looking at the others - from this survey. For example, “overworked” or “hardworking” was mentioned 8 times out of 11 from US participants thinking of Korean culture. “Autonomous” and “egalitarian” were mentioned more by Koreans looking at Americans. Most cultural orientation, even working culture, comes from our upbringing and influence from the people around us when we were growing up. Even after 19 years of living in the US, I still recognize my Korean cultural background at work often, especially in my strong desire to eat together at lunch and being very cautious in sharing my opinion to the hierarchical figure.
Second, the biggest difference I see in the results is that Korean culture is perceived as hierarchical and demanding, and accepts individual sacrifice for the group. Conversely, American culture is perceived as too individualistic. “There's this general belief that work comes before everything else.” Comments about Korean culture cannot be more opposite from “[Americans] put him/herself first over the group or company.” From an egalitarian perspective, it is difficult to see how people would want to behave with such rigid hierarchy. As far as I know, no Korean companies are proud to say that their organizational culture is hierarchical. And yet it is true. One aspect that can help Americans to understand why is that hierarchical culture in Korea comes from the strong influence of Confucius' belief that playing their roles is important. For example, the roles of leaders is leading the group from the front and protecting members and subordinates’ roles are supporting and following well. People in Korea grew up with those expectations.
In my coaching experiences, these differences are shown quite frequently. For example, a leader initiated a new project for the team. The team needed to understand the project and discuss how to go about it. In this situation, Koreans perceive Americans as asking too many questions about “why” rather than “how,” and they therefore do not move quickly to action. (Lazy-Sloth). From Americans’ perspective, Koreans follow higher-ups’ direction without questioning or even understanding their bosses’ intentions, which is crucial for a successful outcome. (Slave). Have you had that experience? Where do you see yourself and others in this dynamic?
Third, there is a difference in mindset about voicing opinions: it is important to share my opinion freely vs. maybe we should focus less on me. Notable survey comments include: “Say what is on your mind (advice from an American to Koreans)” and “Think more of others and others’ situations” (advice from a Korean to Americans). These comments show a big difference. As a Korean-born person working in the US, I can see both sides’ arguments well. “How can we create something different and innovative if we are not sharing all the differences even when the opinion is different from the top boss?” “Sharing opinions is good. But we shouldn’t waste our time with stupid opinions. If you don’t have good insights, don’t just speak for the sake of speaking.” I have thought both ways throughout my career.
Even though these insights come from very specific examples about Korean and American cultures, I believe the lessons can be shared with many more. What can we do about it? Are you aware of these tensions, and do you think about how best to combine both sides? In those situations or moments of frustration, think of the possibility that the other person is acting based on their own cultural background. Be empathetic, patient and flexible.
One last thought, particularly for my Korean friends:
Everyone in the world is on the journey of becoming themselves. However, one particularly twisted aspect of hierarchical culture is that it can be very status-driven with the focus on saving face, which makes everyone’s journey much more difficult. Robert Kegan and Lisa Lahey defined terms which I believe are integral to this problem - moving from “the socialized mind” to “the self-authoring or self-transforming mind.” It is a journey from meeting my community’s expecations only to holding internal capacity to define my beliefs, identity and social relations. I am focusing on developing a self-authoring mind together with my coaching clients. For someone from a hierarchical culture, it can often be a struggle to move away from being status driven, thinking less about losing or saving face. It is a long and challenging journey to be fine with who I am. But in a hierarchical culture, being and acting who I am can be even more challenging within an organization. For example, it is rare to see leaders in a hierarchical culture who accept their mistakes and adopt subordinates’ opinions - instead, most leaders feel challenged by subordinates voicing dissenting opinions in front of others. This situation is much harder for a leader to deal with in a hierarchical culture because even though the leader has the capacity to move beyond their ego, everyone in the room feels that the leader shouldn’t be wrong or weak. Everyone else in the room expects the leader to act within the social norm.
Imagine what you will do in that situation. If you recognize that the other opinion is better, could you, as a leader, be gracious, willing to learn from your subordinate, and drop your opinion to make a better decision for the organization, even in front of other people?
Resources: If you are interested in cross-cultural mindset, please also check-out these resources.
Hofstede country comparison tool: Hofstede cultural dimension is a framework for cross-cultural psychology, developed by Geert Hofstede, one of the cross cultural study pioneers. It shows the effects of a society's culture on the values of its members, and how these values relate to behavior. You can see the differences of culture on different spectrums using this tool.
The Culture Map: Developed by Erin Meyer, a professor at INSEAD, the framework and study compares different country cultures on several spectrums such as communicating (low context vs. high context), leading (hierarchical vs. egalitarian), etc. It shows a very practical way to see the differences among different cultures. I found this framework to be very insightful to understand each other among Americans who often have different cultural backgrounds.
Robert Kegan and Lisa Lahey: You can find their works and books in this website. Their two books “The Immunity to Change” and “An Everyone Culture” include the theory of human development and how we can grow as a person through different exercises.
Let me know if you have any thoughts. jsong@shimoopartners.com