Solomon and Schell – The seven keys to doing business with a global mindset
The theory of Seven keys is created for understanding different cultures and your own cultural position better. This post is based on the book Managing Across Cultures by Solomon and Schell.
"When you work across cultures, the best way to understand values and attitudes is to watch for easily recognizable behaviors that give you clues to the deeper belief system that drives a society. The theory of seven keys is a tool for businesspeople who need to understand their own behaviors as well as those of the people with whom they’re working.
The seven dimensions of the Seven keys are: hierarchy and egalitarianism, group focus, relationships, communication styles, time orientation, change tolerance, and motivation—work-life balance."
All the upcoming figures shows the differences between Finland, Netherland and Singapore.
1. HIERARCHY VS EGALITARIANISM
“Hierarchy/egalitarianism is the way individuals view authority and power, how much deference one gives to people in authority, whether people are entitled to express themselves, and how empowered they feel to make independent decisions and take the initiative. It is also one’s relationship to power and authority. Are people in authority better or have they earned that status by merit, and is it open to others with the same degree of effort?”
This figure shows “the way people view authority and power, whether they feel entitled to express themselves, and how empowered they feel to make independent decisions and take the initiative.”
In Netherlands personal effort and working as an individual is high valuated. They think that everybody’s equal and nobody should not bring over another. You can find similarities in Finnish culture as well, but it’s not as obvious as in Netherlands. Singapore is a whole different story, which is leaded by hierarchy. This may seen for example in companies; nobody leaves home before headchef does. Otherwise your behavior may be seen as a disrespectful.
Also in companies only one person is really responsible for the whole job and all the work which been done by his/hers subordinates will be approves thru him/her. So, the boss is charge for everything.
In organization everybody knows their places and respect the people who are higher in the hierarchy.
Living & Working in Singapore. Culture Shock & Cultural Differences: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rt9Vtr895U4
-Be patient and value relationships
2. GROUP FOCUS VS INDIVIDUALISM
“Group focus describes whether people identify themselves as part of a group or by their individual responsibility and whether work should be a collective output or a series of individual contributions.”
This figure shows “whether people see accomplishment and responsibility as achieved through individual effort or collective effort and whether they identify themselves as individuals or as members of a group.”
Both Finland and Netherland take a place in Theoretical framework by Solomon and Schell somewhere quite individual work environment, where individual work effort is higly valuated and where responsibility is given more likely to individuals than groups. What comes to the Singapore, the culture is quite groupfocused, where people work and make decisions together.
As an individual you are charge of your own decision and your own dream. But in collective culture group needs comes before yours. When you are part of group,you will represent your group, not just yourself.
“In individualistic societies, the goals of individuals are valued more highly than the goals of the group. Individuals are rewarded for behaving independently, making their own plans, and working toward achieving their personal goals. In these societies, individuals are hired and promoted largely based on individual achievement and qualifications. Examples of individualistic societies include the United States and Northern and Western European countries.
In collectivistic societies, on the other hand, the needs of the group are considered more important than those of the individual. In these societies, kinship ties are much stronger and may take precedence over expertise in matters of appointments and promotions. Collectivism is a value in Asian, African, as well as South American cultures.” Iowa State University.
3. RELATIONSHIPS (TRANSACTIONAL VS INTERPERSONAL)
“The relationships dimension describes the importance a society ascribes to building extensive connections and developing trust and how central relationships are as a prerequisite to working with someone.”
This figure shows “the importance and time devoted to building relationships and developing trust and whether trust and relationships are viewed as a prerequisite for working with someone."
4. COMMUNICATION STYLES (DIRECT VS INDIRECT)
What is communication styles?
“Communication style is the confluence of several cultural values. It reflects the following elements:
• Hierarchical beliefs of a society through body language and level of politeness
• Importance of relationships in word choice and tactful language
• Attitudes toward saving face and avoiding conflict by the emotion/lack of emotion of the message”
This figure shows “the way societies communicate, including the use of verbal and nonverbal expression, the amount of background information people need for understanding, and how directly or indirectly people speak. It also refers to whether brevity or detail is valued in a communication.”
In Netherlands people communicate in direct way, they will tell you directly how they think about something. Basically this means that the spoken words are most important. In this kinda cultures with a direct communication style, people say what they mean as clearly and briefly as possible without adding a lot of background information.
Secondly, in many cultures gestures is more important that the actual words. Countries which has this indirect communication style, might think that another part may not understand the message, if not using nonverbal communication like body language, eye contact, tone of voice, and hand and body gestures.
words people use in many societies.. It’s important that people can see each other when discussing.
Indirect communication is very typical for example in Thailand and China. This are also countries which are more group focused than individuals.
In another hand, direct communication is typical for example in Netherlands and mostly in Finland as well. In this countries is also typical that people are more individual. It also might be a difficult to quote a well-understood only gestures or by changing the environment in some way. The essential message of the words, and they are listened to and are the focus. Keva. 2014
"The communication straightness or unstraightness are cultural differences that may occur in the workplace, how to instructions, feedback and instructions will be provided. Direct expression of style in favor of a speaker expresses its views openly and tells the needs in beating about the bush, while the indirectness inclined to the user in real message may hide rows intervals.
Also direct feedback may confuse a person who comes from a different culture.
Emotions are also expressed in slightly different ways in different cultures. Others are accustomed to a more open expression and others more neutral, thus avoiding the strong emotional expression.
People who are coming from culture where expressing oneself in very open way, may think that being neutral signal that people are not really involved and interested in what they are doing. In many cultures the way how Finnish look down of gaze wandering around while discussing may signal rude and unreliable behavior.
In many cultures, the silence is avoided and it is polite to interrupt the speech of another, as it shows interest. Vaasan Ammattikorkeakoulu VAMK. Suora vai epäsuora kommunikointi.
Singlish language tips: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StHBkhpTKsE
5. TIME ORIENTATION (HIGH VS LOW)
What is time orientation?
“Time orientation is the degree to which people believe they can control time and whether schedules or people are more important. It affects time management, long- and short-term planning, schedules, and adherence to agendas and deadlines.”
This figure shows “the degree to which people believe they can control time and adhere to schedules or whether schedules are seen as deadlines or estimates. It also includes whether schedules or people are more important.”
"Time orientation is both simple and complex. It is simple to recognize.You can see it in the promptness of meeting start times, the speed with which people move, and how important it is to get something done on schedule.At the same time it is complex. It is often compounded by other cultural dimensions, such as the need for harmony in the workplace and the importance of investing in relationships. We refer to cultures that believe they control time as high-time cultures and those that don’t as low-time cultures.High-time cultures such as northern Europe and the United States and Canada view time as something that is finite, an entity that can—and must—be controlled lest it be wasted and used up. By contrast, in the world’s many low-time cultures, including southern Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa, people believe that time is a variable.Time is not their taskmaster, and they pay greater attention to relationships than to deadlines and schedules.” Solomon and Schell p.169-170)
6. CHANGE AVERSE VS CHANGE TOLERANT
“Change tolerance refers to the perception of how much control we believe we have over our lives and destinies and our comfort level with change, innovation, and risk taking. Do we see change as bringing opportunities or as threats to be avoided?”
This figure shows “the perception of how much control people think they have over their lives and destiny and their comfort with change, risk taking, and innovation”
7. MOTIVATION WORK-LIFE BALANCE (STATUS VS BALANCE)
What is motivation/work-life balance?
“Motivation/work-life balance describes the emphasis that people in a society place on achievement and status by hard work versus the focus on personal time and activities.”
This figure shows “whether people work to live or live to work, whether they can achieve status in a society by trading personal time for the opportunity to advance.”
Sources: Managing across cultures URL:http://lib.freescienceengineering.org/view.php?id=465661 Accessed: 17.11.2014
Business Standard. URL: http://www.business-standard.com/article/pf/how-risk-tolerant-or-risk-averse-are-you-113020901086_1.html Accessed 25.11.2014
Iowa State Universitu URL: http://www.celt.iastate.edu/celt-resources/international-resources/cultural-differences/
Keva. 2014 URL: http://keva.wikispaces.com/Suora+ja+ep%C3%A4suora+viestint%C3%A4
Turku. Kulttuuri. 2007 URL: http://www.turku.fi/Public/default.aspx?nodeid=13072&culture=fi-FI&contentlan=1 Accessed: 25.11.2014
Vaasan Ammattikorkeakoulu VAMK. Suora vai epäsuora kommunikointi URL: http://www.puv.fi/fi/com/harjoittelu/international_trainee_handbook/monikulttuurinen_tyoyhteiso/suora_vai_epasuora_kommunikointi/
Vaasan Ammattikorkeakoulu VAMK. Tiimipelaaja vai yksilösuoriutuja. URL:
http://www.puv.fi/fi/com/harjoittelu/international_trainee_handbook/monikulttuurinen_tyoyhteiso/tiimipelaaja_vai_yksilosuoriutuja/
