By far, this is the most widely read post on my blog, with 40,098 people having read it recently.
I have made some minor changes as well as additions- and thus re-publishing. I must admit that it is a great source of pride that people are least getting exposed to this message.
OD consultants still haggle with my claim that OD values and tools are culturally tainted! When OD consultants own their western bias, there is a lot of “unlearning” to do, and new skills need to be acquired in order to support multicultural organizations. That’s a high price to pay!
IF (a big IF perhaps) you would like to know about the degree of your western bias, answer these questions with a yes or no.
1) Is having an ongoing candid dialogue at work more effective than ignoring differences and pretending that they do not exist?
2) If someone misrepresents key facts in a meeting on purpose, are they lying?
3) Do people all over the world think that teamwork means collaboration with their peers?
4) Is being mildly authentic at work generally preferable to showing rigid emotional restraint?
5) Does honest feedback generally motivate all staff, world wide, regardless of culture?
6) If staff participates in decision making, do they trust their leader more than if he decides alone?
7) “Instead of dividing up the cake, let’s bake a bigger cake”. Is this mode of thinking universally applicable to better educated people?
8) When referring to “showing respect to one another”, do we all mean the same thing?
If you answered YES for all 8 questions, I would suggest that you try to better understand your biases, and start unlearning the universality of your beliefs.. Otherwise forget about being effective in the global workplace.
I spend tens of hours each month with managers, consultants and investors to help them rid themselves of these biases in order to improve their effectiveness. The hardest bias to work on is #2. And that’s the truth! 😉
For those interested in reading about how western cultural bias also impacts so-called women’s’ rights, I recommend the work of Prof Lila Abu-Lughod, especially her work on Bedouin women in Egypt.
For those interested on how western biases impact how disease is diagnosed, read Crazy Like Us.
For those interested about the validity of the western principle of “maternal instinct”, read Nancy Scheper Hughes masterpiece Death without Weeping.
On other things to think about when choosing a consultant see this.
Finally, there is a western biases at play vis a vis the portrayal of Palestinian Israeli war in the west. The first bias is to blame Jews, an ancient bias of the west, especially in Europe. This bias has now been adapted by the woke left and the fascist right. The second bias is to push for compromise (half a loaf is better than none).
Although neither side may want a two state solution, a western mind set prefers compromise: “it’s best to achieve a compromise than to fight for what you want.” Thus, the pathetic misunderstanding of those trying to force an agreement on two sides who want to win, not compromise. It’s hard to understand? Really? Try again!
Mais, Gloria n’arrives pas comme ca, mais hui? Alors, niemand ist an island. Duniya gol hain. Patterns are like footprints of time in social waves of interaction, on desert sand dunes, or like curls on troughs of ocean current.
We can become so much more effective when we admit we have ‘blinders’ and can really reflect on where we are ‘coming from’. As practitioners, it is absolutely essential that we keep an open mind and constantly challenge ourselves to ‘see’ differently.
Helene
Mais oui!
Wearing “cultural lenses” is a term I use to explain the subjectivity in reaction to working in a multi cultural environment. This came from a great article on the subject done a couple of years ago. Knowing that our first reaction to something surprising is usually a cultural/instinctive one and adjusting to the local environment to explain the difference is an ongoing status in the life of an expat, no matter how long expat it is.
I had one yes and four no’s. Are you hiring?
3 yes, 1 no, 1 I don’t know!
Even asking for a YES/NO answer is controversial – sometimes a both/and is preferable to an either/or approach. That said:
1) I’d lean towards yes, but acknowledge that addressing differences might best be done in a circuitous route that would seem like “ignoring” to a direct talker.
2) Maybe, maybe not. saving face is sometimes valued more highly than a technical truth.
3) I’d like to hear more from you about what this question means to you.
4) Do authenticity and restraint have to be mutually exclusive?
5) I think personality types trump culture here. I’ve met both feedback-resistant and feedback-seeking people in different cultures. The form and manner of feedback, however, is highly important.
This post’s title is perfect clickbait, except the content is sound. I’ve followed this blog long enough to know that the answers should not be Yes, although my internal Western animal yells “Of course!” to almost all of the questions. It would be extremely useful if you could add a link or two to posts in the blog that served as an answer to every question.
Gracias Eva.
I add these links.
Next test in 6 months 🙂
I answered yes for all five questions.
The more I look at OD being practiced in different parts of the world, the more I see the needed cultural adaptations necessary to make our practice relevant. May be, when it comes to culture, we need a whole overhaul of our approach, because our national cultures and even internal sub-culture determines how we could be better effective culturally.
I mean I answered No for all five questions but not yes as I posted earlier
I answered No for all five questions.
The more I look at OD being practiced in different parts of the world, the more I see the needed cultural adaptations necessary to make our practice relevant. May be, when it comes to culture, we need a whole overhaul of our approach, because our national cultures and even internal sub-culture determines how we could be better effective culturally.
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I had different answers when I listened to the questions from my North American client experience compared to when I listened to the questions from my client experience in Malaysia and France.
Alon you have done it again- So true…and importent when working globaly or in the same country with people with different cultural backround
תודה דגן
איזה צעיף צבעוני.
אלון
ps
i thanked Gilat and complemented her on the scarf
While the Theories, Frameworks, Principles and Tools of OD are globally relevant and applicable; the manner in which a Consultant weaves them into a fabric would be very different across the globe. It is similar to the manner in which a Physician would practice medicine in the Western world as compared to what the Physician would do in the Eastern world at a very high level. Below this there would be differences based on the Country and region within a country, etc., etc.
The manner in which you have asked for the response is very ‘black’ and ‘white’. However, the reality for someone like me lies in the ‘grey’ for which there is no response provided by you. 🙂
I agree with Brian on the yes/no binary bias. My answers were all “not necessarily”. I often believe most of what is considered “OD values” are not only culturally biased but personality type biased. Which begs the question of “what IS international OD”? Is it OD or is it consulting to help people be more effective?
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5 and 3 are an easy “no” from my point of view. Am I saved? I have my own questions though: is this the same as the historical east – west? That is, Persia and Greece? If Europe and the US are the current “west,” does that include Kurt Lewin? What is Israel? East or West? If In have an “eastern” viewpoint, does that mean I don’t have biases? I think you are talking about socio-centric, consensus orientated, “let’s all get along and only say nice things” od, which seems popular especially in the US. Since most people think “east-west” is an actual thing, you are probably wise to ignore me and stick with that definition of what you are talking about lol.
I would never ignore you Gil.
Agree? That another story.