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!
