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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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