Being aware of key cultural differences speeds the development of a business relationship, shortens the negotiation process and may even make or break a business deal. At Lucent Technologies Microelectronics Group, we've developed a unique program that engages the entire organization, blends business and cultural information for maximum "bottom line" motivation and is very low in cost-typically, one-tenth the per-employee cost of the usual group approach.

Japanese presentation and meeting styles are very different from the typical American approach. These differences can lead to significant misunderstandings and frustrations for both parties.

For example, the Japanese approach is to present the history and thinking behind a proposal so the audience will fully understand the recommendation and what is at stake for the organization in each aspect of the proposal. This style often appears tedious and unfocused to the American, who wants to know, up front, what the recommendation is, the pros and cons, and-most importantly-what it will take to close the deal.

For Americans, the historical perspective is, for the most part, irrelevant. Because of this, we often miss important negotiating information.

Cultural missteps
Beyond the cultural issues surrounding face-to-face meetings, more subtle, but equally important, indirect cultural misunderstandings occur every day through the various forms of written communication: data sheets, technical manuals and promotional literature. Developing materials that are easily understood by worldwide customers depends heavily on understanding the "must consider" communication issues of each culture.

Unfortunately, international relations is not a required course in a typical engineering curriculum, and most high-technology companies do not have the resources or the bandwidth to develop teams staffed with local nationals to support each country or region of the world. Yet, engineering teams, and virtually all other functions throughout an organization, must be cross-culturally aware in order to leverage resources to develop, market, manufacture and service increasingly complex products and services around the globe. Sensitivity to other cultures is a business need throughout the organization.

The program
The Lucent program is based on three major elements: a half-day country-specific seminar delivered simultaneously to all employees by video; a half-day business-culture immersion program delivered to interested employees with immediate needs or problems; and a company intranet site that captures country-specific culture and practical travel information. The intranet serves as a just-in-time refresher course prior to trips and customer visits. This popular internal site logs 40 to 50 hits a day, and the specific country summaries have had more than 5,000 hits in the past six months.

One of the reasons this training program works is that it is designed to address cultural diversity embedded with key business issues. In the initial half-day seminar, attendees hear Lucent's history and business plan for the country or region plus the unique cultural requirements for successfully doing business there. Another key segment of the seminar is the videotaped interviews of one or more regional customers.

Finally, an outside speaker offers an independent perspective about doing business in the particular country. The business-culture immersion session that immediately follows the morning seminar offers a forum to discuss interests or problems in dealing with people from a particular culture. All sessions are videotaped.

Bella Poborets is a member of the technical staff of Bell Laboratories. Bernard Schmidt is asia pacific region strategic marketing manager for Lucent Technologies' Microelectronics Group.

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