Deirdre Mendez - The Culture Solution: How to Achieve Cultural Synergy and Get Results in the Global Workplace

Praise for The Culture Solution

The Culture Solution has it all: a deep command of the key intercultural concepts, scores of spot-on, real world examples, pages of immensely practical and instantly applicable adviceall in language immediately accessible to the non-specialist reader. This is a book to read and savour, to be sure, but most of all it is a book to be used.

Craig Storti, intercultural trainer and consultant, author of The Art of Doing Business across Cultures: 10 Countries, 50 Mistakes, and 5 Steps to Cultural Competence

Dr. Mendezs new approach provides useful and practical tools based on real-word situations. I highly recommend this book to anyone considering an assignment overseas.

Terry B. Kahler, Vice President, Dell, Inc.

The Culture Solution is useful for the novice and expert alike, providing a comprehensive, yet easy-to-use system for diagnosing cultural patterns and using this knowledge to be more effective at creating successful international business partnerships and relationships. I will use it as a key resource in my own work with students, managers and executives.

Andy Molinsky, PhD, author of Global Dexterity: How to Adapt Your Behavior Without Losing Yourself in the Process

Dr. Mendez postulates that its important to learn and use the skills of cultural and team dynamic analysis to size up situations and locations effectively. From my own business experience, this is the way it really happens. Do enough intentional business and you will find yourself someplace you know little about, trying to achieve something under circumstances where you could really use a map. Dr. Mendezs new book, The Culture Solution, provides just such a map. In addition to the utility of the approach, this is a fun read, enlightening and even self-illuminating.

Raymond J. Brimble, CEO Lynxs Group

As a practitioner, I appreciate the fact that The Culture Solution is based on analysis of peoples actual behavior of and not on aggregated country profiles. The result is specific and tailored coachingmuch more useful to clients than generalizations associated with national norms. The book provides links to practical exercises and tools as well!

Betsy Neidel, Managing Director, Blue Heron Holdings, LLC

I recommend The Culture Solution to anyone who leads international teams. Having spent a good part of my career creating and managing international organizations for software development, I know that the topics discussed in this book are a must-read for anybody who needs to accomplish an international mission. This book takes you quickly from understanding to strategy.

Karl Wimmer, PhD, Director, Design Enablement, GlobalFoundries

The Culture Solution is a crucial guide for those looking to develop an understanding of modern challenges in the global workplace. With her international business acumen and meticulous analysis of eight cultural dimensions, Deirdre Mendez opens the door to success for those navigating the waters of cross-cultural ventures. As a seasoned international consultant who has seen countless collaborations fall apart due to ignorance of cultural protocol, I thoroughly recommend Dr. Mendezs book as a resource for anyone who wishes to execute tactful, culturally-appropriate communication that fosters strong business connections.

Sharon Schweitzer, JD, author of Access to Asia: Your Multicultural Guide to Building Trust, Inspiring Respect, and Creating Long-Lasting Business Relationships

The Culture Solution

How to Achieve Cultural Synergy and Get Results in the Global Workplace

Deirdre B. Mendez, PhD

First published in the USA in 2017 by Nicholas Brealey Publishing

An Hachette company

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Copyright Deirdre Mendez 2017

The right of Deirdre Mendez to be identified as the Author of the Work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Mendez, Deirdre Brown, 1959- author.

Title: The culture solution : how to achieve cultural synergy and get results in the global workplace / Deirdre B. Mendez, PhD.

Description: Boston, MA : Intercultural Press, Inc., 2017.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016034440 (print) | LCCN 2016045160 (ebook) | ISBN 9781857886580 (pbk.) | ISBN 9781941176184 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: ManagementCross-cultural studies. | International business enterprises. | Corporate culture--Cross-cultural studies. | Intercultural communication. | Cultural competence. | Diversity in the workplace.

Classification: LCC HD62.4 .M463 2017 (print) | LCC HD62.4 (ebook) | DDC 658.008dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016034440

ISBN 978-1-85788-658-0
U.S. eBook ISBN 978-1-94117-618-4
U.K. eBook ISBN 978-1-47364-418-2

Printed in the United States of America

Nicholas Brealey Publishing policy is to use papers that are natural, renewable and recyclable products and made from wood grown in sustainable forests. The logging and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin.

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To my parents

As his employers top performer for the U.S. market two years in a row, Peter Chenault was confident that his skills and drive would make him successful anywhere. But six months after the company promoted him to its new international management team, hes less certain. The sales, negotiation, and management techniques hes perfected over the past decade seem not to work overseas.

Peter was delighted when his manager announced that his first assignment would be in So Paulo, Brazil. The companies he visited there greeted him warmly, but after a series of facility tours and excellent meals, he couldnt seem to move his hosts toward serious business discussions. Peter came home feeling guilty about spending so much time and money with so little to show for it. His trip to Berlin shortly afterward was no better. Peter arrived with presentations on the innovative features of his companys new product, which the German customers all but ignored. They seemed more interested in service agreements than in the product itself, and two of his contacts requested annual reports from his employer, expressing skepticism that theyd still be in business three years down the road.

And now it looks like his trip to Seoul has accomplished nothing, despite a promising beginning. When he presented a new marketing strategy for a struggling subsidiary product group, the members of the Korean marketing team reacted favorably, and he went home feeling optimistic. But although they agreed to send him a revised marketing plan, there has been no follow-through, and his attempts to move things forward since his return have met with polite evasiveness. As the leader of the team, hes insulted by this apparent insubordination, but he also has a feeling that there was something he missed.