Quick E-tips
January 2008
We hope you enjoy this newsletter brought to you by International Advantage® LLC - Leading Across Cultures™. Every month we bring you tips to help your team and organization, especially those operating in culturally diverse environments, reach their business goals.
This Month's Topic
Making exceptions to the rules: A client case study in a cross-cultural context
I met with one of my former clients recently and we discussed his experience as related to the Legal Arizona Workers Act. This new state law, which is being challenged in a federal court hearing, requires business owners in Arizona to take extra steps to ensure their workers are legally employed. At risk are employers’ state and local licenses if they knowingly or intentionally hire undocumented workers.
My client had spent the last 4-6 months preparing his employees for the fact that as of January 1, 2008, if anyone was unable to prove legal employment status they could no longer work for him. During the same period, he added extra employees at each of his locations so that in the eventuality that one or more would need to leave, the store would not be short staffed.
By the end of December no employee had left and he called for a final discussion on the topic and it became clear that there were seven individuals who would not be able to continue working at the company. It was an unfortunate situation for all – undocumented employees who did not want to leave and an owner who did not want to lose them.
Despite the meetings, the employees were incredulous that they would actually be required to leave, knowing that they had been reliable and productive employees. Once the unpleasant realization set in, they began inquiring about their vacation pay. According to this company’s long standing practice, if an employee works even one day into a new year, he or she would receive the vacation days for the upcoming year to utilize at any time. Problem was, their last day was December 31st, and employees were angry that they would not receive vacation pay due to them one day later (in their minds, after waiting a year to reach that goal).
While the owner actually had no problem granting the departing employees compensation given the situation, he decided that any exception would open them to complaints from prior employees who could sue for some sort of discrimination. For him, it was simply an issue of risk.
Needless to say, employees were shocked at the rigid attitude of their employer. They could not understand why there could not be an exception to the rules given the unique circumstances. The meeting ended badly and abruptly because emotions were high and no amount of explanation seemed to be helping.
Question: Why did this happen when the employer had been communicating for several months with employees about the situation?
Answer: The underlying cultural issue that may not have been addressed was that in Mexican culture, exceptions are the norm. Given the unusual circumstances, employees would expect a different kind of “loyalty” from an employer since the employees had been “loyal”. “Loyalty” from a Mexican perspective means that an employer would take care of its employees in a significant way in a situation like this. From their perspective, examples might include actions such as: taking a risk to retain them as employees despite the lack of paperwork, find them a new job, or give them a significant bonus. Not doing so denotes a lack of respect of the individuals who have worked for you.
In U.S. culture, employers avoid exceptions that open them up to criticism or lawsuits, which of course are more prevalent. [For you cultural wonks out there, this is called having a “particularistic” (making case by case exceptions is more fair) vs. “universalistic” (apply the same rules no matter the situation to be fair)]. Of course, there is more at play here, but this is one clear element concerning cultural expectations.
Four insights: How to avoid surprise based on culturally-based expectations
- When addressing employees of a different culture, speak about the possible interpretations of a message based on cultural norms of that group. Ask someone who knows what the reaction to the message may be, given the context and plan accordingly.
- Leave space for discussion, while being clear what is negotiable and what is not negotiable.
- When the time is right, help employees move forward by talking about next steps. This can be delicate. In this situation, the owner might ask the group to each share what feels important to them to do first, as they leave the meeting room.
- Ask yourself broad, strategic questions, like “How do my processes and structures take into account multicultural employees who will have different expectations of me?”
This is a great example of how cultural insight, planning and skilled facilitation can make all the difference in getting the results you want.
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To your success around the globe,
Lisa Koss, Principal Consultant International Advantage® LLC Consulting, Facilitation, Training Phoenix, Arizona U.S.A. Direct: +1 - 623-866-8893 www.intladvantage.com lisakoss@intladvantage.com©Lisa Koss, 2008