Working through language, time, and cultural differences (Part 3 of 3)

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原文链接请见：
http://www.logigear.com/newslett ... ferences-part-3.asp

Part 1 of this 3 part article set discussed working through language differences. Part 2 discussed working with people in different time zones.

4. Working With Cultural Differences
If you work in a diverse culture and especially if you work with people located in different countries, cultural differences are a factor. The biggest difficulty I have is discovering the differences. As each person is raised in their culture, what is expected and acceptable behavior is learned. Differences in customs vary widely. Breaking acceptable behavior is a challenge since it’s not always clear what is considered appropriate behavior to another person. It can be very easy to offend someone without knowing you have done so. This is an unfortunate situation because you cannot begin to apologize for behavior you did not realize was offensive. The challenge is therefore discovering cultural differences, because once you understand someone else’s culture, you can adapt your behavior. Following are some examples that have revealed cultural differences for me.

Once I was managing a resource who was fasting during the day as a temporary offering in observance to her religion. Our project was going through a testing crunch time and she seemed tired and irritable. I didn’t say anything thinking that it was related to the extra hours we were all working. But after a few days, I asked if she was feeling well. She told me that she was struggling working through the fasting period for Ramadan. She briefly explained her Islamic beliefs and told me about the period of Ramadan. After I understood her fasting, we temporarily rescheduled her work hours to better accommodate her needs. Specifically, she shifted her working hours to start earlier in the day and to leave earlier in the afternoon. I also asked other team members to help work extra hours and was able to reduce her need to work additional hours during the period of fasting. From that one particular situation, I’ve made a point of being aware of the period of Ramadan and trying to be aware of other people’s religions. As a result of this experience I also now talk directly with each person I hire asking them to tell when personal or religious needs exist.

Another experience I had was managing a woman from a culture where as a woman, she has been raised not question people in authority and especially not to question a man in a position of authority. Unfortunately as part of her role as a tester, she needed to defend defects to the male director of development. As a natural part of their roles, he would question defects that would directly challenge her and her reported findings. In fact, the conversations could sometimes evoke direct conflict. She had difficulty with these conversations. Since we were physically located in different cities, it took a few failed communications for me to dig in to figure out the issue. Why would a skilled tester not be able to answer and stand her ground on reported defects? When questioned gently, she was able to articulate her challenge to me and we worked out ways to ease the situation for her. I was also fortunate to be able to talk with our director and ask if the “challenges” he had on reported defects could be handled in a less confrontational manner. I also learned to ask if she would be comfortable in upcoming conversations where I knew conflict might be involved and to ask if she would like me to join via phone or to set the meeting with a preliminary email. As the number of conversations she worked through increased, the frequency that she needs my help to pave the way decreased. So the cultural difference that was a barrier was reduced.

Another experience was discovering an employee who would not offer suggestions or criticisms of our test automation. Her skills in automation were excellent, the best in the group but she would not openly critique any work that was being developed. It took noticing that she would not ask questions but would develop whatever I assigned with no modifications. I realized that if I assigned test automation tasks without stating to consider or seek better designs where possible, that the task would be executed directly without being questioned – this was in fact her culture to not question authority but to execute as asked. After this, I set ground rules with all the automation testers (as well as with manual testers) that all designs can be questioned and that the better strategy should prevail regardless of whose idea or original task it was to build. I encouraged her and everyone else on the team to look for better design ideas and to speak up.

Adding onto this experience, is my realization that as Americans we openly critic each other’s work all the time. Had anyone critiqued her work and offended her? I admit, I don’t know. I think this experience has opened my eyes to recognize that cultural differences can be subtle and can cause challenges on both sides of communications between people.

In my research on the Internet, I have found several references and people specializing in cross cultural differences. [See References Section following] I’ve found cross cultural information based on specific countries vary greatly. If you will be working in a specific country, I recommend researching through the Internet. I also recommend that even if you won’t be traveling personally but will be working with people in other countries over the phone and through email that you research cultural differences.

And a general tip I want to share is to be careful using humor with resources you manage or with co-workers. Humor can so easily be misunderstood. I’ve learned to refrain from making humorous statements within business communications. No humor is worth alienating another person.

Each situation has presented new challenges for me as a manager and as a co-worker. Working with people from different cultures has been fascinating to me. Trying to learn about other cultures has been a gradual change as my work and the people I work with has begun to spread across to other countries. Become aware of other cultures. Honor the differences you find in other people and work towards understanding.

5. Conclusion
Trying to coordinate and manage people who speak different primary languages, live in different countries, and work in different time zones can be a headache. But these challenges are the new reality. The benefit of being exposed to different people and different cultures is exciting. Thinking through and learning how to eliminate or reduce language, culture, and time differences are some of the new soft skills both managers and co-workers need.

References
SameTime. A desktop sharing tool.
Live Meeting. A desktop sharing tool.
Use the Microsoft Time Zone application to add multiple time zones to your system tray.
World clock and a time converter tool for different countries.
For an easy-to-use currency converter, see: http://www.xe.com/ucc/
Lookup country codes when placing international calls.
An entry on the SBSBlog “E-Bitz - SBS MVP the Official Blog of the SBS Diva What time is it”.
See the following blog entry (from The Road to Know Where) on steps to set a secondary clock in Outlook and other information working with different time zones.
Internet site with articles on many topics including business and travel. Look for the authors Neil Payne and Kate Berardo both have insights on cultural differences. See: http://www.sideroad.com
The National Electronic Library for Health for an article on how to communicate clearly.
Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business for an article on teams that span time zones in the Magazine May 2003.
An Internet site focused on cross cultural learning. See: http://www.culturosity.com
An article online from Fisher & Phillips LLP on Cultural Differences in the Workplace Stereotypes vs. Sensitivity.
From Wehrspann & Associates – an article on Valuing Diversity, Cultural Sensitivity. See: http://www.sueswebsite.com/training_diversity.html
Karen Johnson, the Quality Assurance Manager at Bacon's Information, has 21 years of experience in information technology. She has extensive experience in all aspects of quality assurance in a variety of software applications. Karen has spoken at the StarEast and StarWest conferences. Karen is also a member of WOPR - the workshop on performance and reliability, LAWST - the Los Altos Workshop on Software Testing, and AWTA - the Austin Workshops on Test Automation.

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4.在不同的文化背景下工作
如果你工作在不同的文化背景下尤其是与不同国家的人一起工作，我发现文化的差异是个最大的困难。每个人都会在自己的文化背景下提出什么是希望得到的、什么是能够接受和学习的，在风俗习惯上的差别是最为普遍的。打破已经接受的行为是一个挑战，因为不是总能考虑到一种恰当的方式去同别人沟通，会很容易就在你不知道怎么处理的情况下冒犯了别人。这是一个非常不利的境地，因为你无法去为你没有意识到的冒犯去道歉。这个挑战就是：如果你发现了文化的差异，你就会站在其他的人的文化背景下考虑问题，你也可以驾驭你的行为。下面就讲一些我遇到的文化差异的例子吧。
    一次我在处理关于有人接受她宗教临时献礼绝食几天的情况， 我们的项目是观察咀嚼时间的试验，但是她看起来是很疲惫和急躁。关于我们工作的额外工作量我没有讲任何的想法。但是过了几天，我问她是否感觉良好，她告诉我说她正在与斋月的禁食苦斗。她简要的解释了下伊斯兰信条并且告诉我一些关于斋月时间的问题。当我理解了她的禁食以后，我们临时重新制定了她工作时间的计划以便更好的适应她的需求。这样特殊的，她将她的工作时间该成了早上早来下午早走。我同时要求其他的组员在额外的时间帮助完成工作以减少她在禁食期间需要完成的附加工作。自从这一个细节的状况的出现，我再遇到问题时都会注意到斋月的德问题，并且尽量的注意到别人的宗教。这个经历的结果我同样直接跟我雇用的人讲，要求他们在宗教有什么需要存在的情况下说出来。
     我有着的另外的经历就是从文化管理看女性作为女性管理的地方, 她已经被唤起不去质疑别人的权威尤其是男人的权威位置，不幸的是她作为测试员，她需要去 抵御来自开发部门男主管的缺点。作为众多任务中正常的一部分，他愿意遭受质疑缺陷将直接挑战她和她汇报调查结果。事实上,这种交谈会引起直接的冲突，她很难进行谈话. 自从我们站在别人的角度考虑问题，我在找出问题时沟通失败率就减少了，为什么一个技能很强的测试员不愿意抗辩和站在自己的角度去报告缺陷呢？当有小的质疑问题时，她能对我说清楚其遇到的困难。我们要想办法让她处于放松状态。我总是庆幸我和我的直接主管可以直接交谈，并且问他是否觉得在很少面对面处理问题时报告缺陷是挑战的。我也总是问她是否在即将来临的可能引发冲突的谈话中能够镇定自若的，问她是否愿意让我通过电话方式加入或者通过一个临时的信件来调整下会议的安排。随着交谈次数的增加，她寻求我帮助解决问题的频率也降低了。所以因为文化的差异造成的障碍也在减少。
    另一个例子就是：我发现有个雇员在进行测试自动控制时听不得建议和批评。她在自动控制方面的技能是很优秀的,是这个队伍中最优秀的，但是她不能接受公然地揭露工作问题的批评。值得注意的是她不会去质疑我分配的不带任何修改的任务。我意识到如果我分配没有经过深思熟虑的可能某些地方还能够该进的测试自动控制的任务，那么这个任务就不会遭到任何质疑地执行下去–这就是她的不去质疑权威始终按照要求的去执行的文化背景。从此以后，我对所有的自动化测试员都制定了基本的规则（手工测试员也一样）：不管任务的来源和谁的主意，所有的设计都可能被质疑。我鼓励她和其他任何人寻找并大声说出设计想法。
     加上这个例子，使我意识到作为美国人我们一直都在工作的时候公开批评对方，有人批评过她的工作冒犯过她么？我得承认我不知道。我认为这些经历让我开了眼界，明白了文化差异是多么的微妙，给沟通的双方带来多大的挑战。
      通过我在互联网上的调查，我发现一些参照文献和有些专门主攻交叉文化差异的文章[可以参考以下部分的参考文献]。我发现交叉文化的信息中要是在一些特殊的国家变化比较大。如果你想在一个比较特殊的国家工作，我提醒你先通过互联网仔细研究一下，即使你不是亲自去那个国家工作而只是通过电话和Email沟通我也劝告你要仔细的研究下文化差异。
     作为一个一般的提示，我想分享的是要用谨慎的幽默方式去对待你的管理和同事。幽默很容易就被错误理解。我试着学会在商业交流中忍住不使用幽默声明。没有幽默就意味着会同其他人疏远。
     作为一个管理者和同事，每一个状况对我来说都面临着新的挑战。与不同文化背景的人在一起工作对于我来说是一件迷人的事情。设法在学会其他地区的文化已经逐渐成为我工作中的一个挑战了和我一起工作的人也开始向其他地区的人传播文化，变得逐渐意思别的地区文化了。尊重你发现的他人文化的差异就会让工作朝着谅解的方向前进。
5. 结论
     设法对讲不同语言、居住在不同国家，工作在不同时区的做好调整和管理是一件让人头痛的事情 。但是这些挑战却又真实的存在着。将不同的人和不同的文化差异暴露出来的好处是令人兴奋的。思考和学习怎样消除或者缩小语言，文化，和时间上的差异是所有管理者和合作者共同需要的新的软技能。
参考文献：
后面就略了。。。。。


以上是我对这篇文章的翻译。自己翻译的时候就觉得有些地方不太通顺。。。但是又不知道怎么去该,希望各位多提宝贵意见。。。让我们共同进步。。。。。。