Cross-cultural Leadership and the PDCA Cycle

1
Five Pillars of Successful Multicultural
Management
Communication
Mentoring
Understanding
Trust
Delegation
Lessons learned in the Japanese-American Workplace
2
Institute Mission

• Articulate the culture-related causes of negative
  attitudinal outcomes
• Provide training ground where managers can
  explore and develop specific supervisory
  behaviors
• Provide a forum for exchanging experiences and
  ideas among participants

3
Curriculum Derived from Research Results
Expectations of Communication Coaching Delegation
Monitoring
Cultural Differences
The most necessary training ishow to work with
and manage a multicultural workforce.

Perceptions of Trust Fairness Role Clarity
Attitudes about Quitting Commitment Job
Satisfaction
4
Evidence of a Problem?

• If Americans fail on a project, they are never
  given another chance. Yet, Americans are rarely
  explicitly told what their authority is.
• In Japan, formal job descriptions dont exist.
  This can lead to role ambiguity in the U.S.
• One source of frustration for Americans is the
  lack of input in decision making.

5

• Our engineers leave because of the constraints
  placed on innovativeness and flexibility
• I seem to have several bosses, which can be
  confusing.
• My supervisor doesnt spend enough time
  preparing me for this position.
• Theres a lack of open, honest communication.
• I cant make your meeting, Wally, because two of
  our section leaders just quit.

6
Anecdotal Evidence Concerning...

• Trust
• Role Clarity
• Role Satisfaction
• Fairness

but, difficult to teach these.
7
Culture and the Causal Chain
Negative Attitudinal Outcomes
Intermediate Perceptions
Supervisory Behaviors
Cultural Differences
8
Supervisory Behaviors

• Mentoring
• Psycho-social
• Career-related
• Delegation
• Authority-specific
• Task-related
• Communication
• Effectiveness
• Formalization

• Monitoring
• General
• Corrective
• Intrusive
• Interpersonal Exchange
• Exchange Quality
• Acculturating Exchange
• Abusive Exchange

...teachable in management development and
training program.
9
Research Methodology

• Key issues identified by previous focus groups,
  interviews, and scholarly research
• 212-item questionnaire distributed to 20
  Japanese-American companies
• Statistical analyses explored causal pathways
  among key factors

10
Specific ResultsIndirect Causal Pathways
Involving Supervisory Behaviors

• Communication behaviors
• Delegating behaviors
• Mentoring behaviors
• Monitoring behaviors
• Interpersonal exchange behaviors

11
Communication Model
Fairness
Commitment
Communication Effectiveness
Trust
Job Satisfaction
Multicultural Effectiveness
Role Clarity
Formalized Communication
Low Propensity to Quit
Role Satisfaction
12
Delegation Model
Fairness
Commitment
Authority Delegation
Trust
Multicultural Effectiveness
Job Satisfaction
Role Clarity
Task Delegation
Low Propensity to Quit
Role Satisfaction
13
Mentoring Model
Psycho- social Mentoring
Fairness
Commitment
Trust
Career- related Mentoring
Job Satisfaction
Multicultural Effectiveness
Role Clarity
Low Propensity to Quit
Job- related Feedback
Role Conflict
14
Monitoring Model
Invasive Monitoring
Fairness
Commitment
Trust
Job Satisfaction
General Monitoring
Multicultural Effectiveness
Role Clarity
Low Propensity to Quit
Corrective Monitoring
Role Conflict
15
Personal Exchange Model
Procedural Justice
Acculturation Exchange
Commitment
Trust
Job Satisfaction
Exchange Quality
Multicultural Effectiveness
Role Ambiguity
Low Propensity to Quit
Non-abusive Exchange
Role Conflict
16
Choice of Institute Topics Driven by Research
Results
Negative Attitudinal Outcomes
Chain of causality often neglected
Intermediate Perceptions teachable?
Supervisory Behaviors receive scant attention
in most training programs
Cultural Differences basics commonly understood.