United States Mexico Cultural Educational Foundation

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The Real Crisis
A look at the real source of the current global
crisis
United States - Mexico Cultural Educational
Foundation
Fundación Cultural Educativa México - Estados
Unidos
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A crisis of culture, not a crisis of law
Much has been said about the current global
crisis, and there is widespread agreement that it
was originated by unethical behavior by the
financial community. Unfortunately, the solutions
that we are seeing are fiscal and political, much
the same as those that were applied to the Enron
and WorldCom scandals that were, in effect, first
warnings of the real root problem we are now
facing critical incongruence of the
cultural system.
The only real solution to the problem that has
originated the current global crisis, and that
will greatly reduce the risk of such a thing
happening again, is to ensure that in the future
all key organizations public and private, meet
the highest standards of cultural congruency, and
cultural effectiveness, two key objectives of
Cultural-System Management (CSM)
www.usmcef.org
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Honesty is the first chapter of the book of
wisdom. Thomas Jefferson 3rd president of US
(1743 - 1826)
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Cultural-system incongruence, the unregulated,
overlooked, source of crisis after crisis.
Merrill Lynch demonstrates its commitments to
clients and shareholders through the firm's
emphasis on excellence, integrity and ethical
behavior.
The Bear Stearns Companies Inc. and its
affiliates and subsidiaries is committed to the
highest level of honesty, integrity and ethics.
These are just samples of value statements from
two of the organizations that played important
parts in detonating the current crisis,
organizations that no longer exist. When we
analyze their declarations of values (a
cultural-system standard), we repeatedly find
integrity and ethical behavior, but we find
no operational definition of their meaning
whats more, the policies and procedures that
shaped their real cultural systems were, in
effect, opposite to their generally accepted
meanings. Even more surprising, there is no
regulatory framework to ensure that these
incongruencies would not be accepted in the
cultural system of an organization.
www.usmcef.org
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Cultural Effectiveness and Transparency
Aware of the public and private governance crisis
in North America, and the knowledge that the lack
of appropriate answers that focused on
cultural-system congruence, would precipitate
other such situations, the United StatesMexico
Chamber of Commerce, through its Cultural and
Educational Foundation, undertook the development
of a unique tool to help organizations manage
their cultural systems and ensure true
congruence, integration, and effectiveness. The
result is the worlds only system, and
certification of cultural transparency and
effectiveness (CTEC). The CTEC provides tools and
methodologies to initiate the Cultural-System
management process, resulting in a congruent,
effective organizational environment, which in
turn, reduces the incidence of ethical and
operational crisis, communication problems, and
the state of permanent reprocess that are a
natural part of any unmanaged system.
www.usmcef.org
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Cultural System Management (CSM) has two main
objectives
Why a Cultural Certification?

• Cultural clarity, which ensures that cultural
  standards are fully aligned with organizational
  strategies, and provides an environment of trust
  and certainty.

• Cultural effectiveness, which standardizes
  day-to-day organizational interaction under
  parameters of world-class effectiveness.

These are the cornerstones for sustainable
ethical congruence, long-term competitiveness,
and healthy social growth. The Cultural
Transparency and Effectiveness Certification
(CTEC) is a tool that accelerates and ensures
adequate cultural-system management, by providing
benchmarks and indicators for a process that,
until now, was perceived as mostly intangible and
soft. The CTEC also provides a tangible focus
point for CSM efforts in the organizatiom, and
creates a sense of urgency that speeds the
process.
www.usmcef.org
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The Areas of CSM Implementation
These are the four areas of organizational
activity, that more directly shape the cultural
system. The key is to ensure the effectiveness
and congruency in each. The CEC has developed the
only system for auditing, and certifying each,
based on clear, quantifiable indicators.
Organizational Knowledge management 5 indicators
HR Management Policies Procedures 4 indicators
Internal External Interaction Processes 9
indicators
Cultural Effectiveness of Leadership 3 indicators
www.usmcef.org
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Interested?
Contact us to get more information, and even a
no-cost talk on how to manage and certify your
cultural system
www.usmcef.org
Virtual conference, subject to time and
infrastructure availability
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United States - Mexico Cultural and Educational
Foundation 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W., Suite
G-3 Washington, D.C. 20004-3021 Tel (202)
312-1520 Fax [phone]
www.usmcef.org
Contact
Alberto Garcia-Jurado President
garcia-jurado_at_cicultural.com
Gerardo Funes Coordinator
gerardo_at_usmcoc.org