Humor and culture in international business | Chris Smit | TEDxLeuven

Summary

El guion ofrece una visión sobre la importancia de las diferencias culturales en la gestión internacional, utilizando el humor y los estereotipos para ilustrar la diversidad. Chris Schmitt, de nacionalidad holandesa, explora el sentido del humor en diferentes culturas y cómo esto afecta la comunicación. Expone dimensiones culturales como la distancia de poder y la evitación de incertidumbre, ejemplificando cómo impactan en la gestión de proyectos y la percepción de las respuestas de los gerentes. Concluye con una cita de Carl Jung que enfatiza la importancia de entender a otros para conocernos mejor.

Takeaways

• 😀 La importancia de entender las diferencias culturales en el manejo de percepciones y la gestión internacional.
• 🏷️ El uso de estereotipos para ilustrar la diversidad cultural, como la imagen del holandés que vive en un molino de viento y viste zapatillas de madera.
• 🎭 La humor como un reflejo de las diferencias culturales, con ejemplos de humor inglés, holandés y alemán.
• 🌐 La idea de que el humor no se traduce directamente entre culturas y que puede no ser culturalmente neutral.
• 🤔 La reflexión sobre lo que sería culturalmente neutral, cuestionando si algo realmente lo es.
• 👥 La definición de cultura como 'programación colectiva de la mente humana', enfatizando la importancia de la programación y el colectivo.
• 🔍 La perspectiva de que las diferencias culturales son determinantes en los negocios internacionales y cómo afectan la comunicación.
• 📊 La introducción de dimensiones culturales, como la distancia de poder y la evitación de incertidumbre, para entender las diferencias en la gestión.
• 📉 La comparación de cómo diferentes culturas manejan el proyecto, con enfoques distintos en la planificación y la acción.
• 🤝 La característica del modelo de 'Bolten' o consenso en la gestión de proyectos en Holanda, contrastando con otros países.
• 🧠 La cita de Carl Jung que sugiere que lo que nos irrita en los demás puede llevarnos a una mejor comprensión de nosotros mismos.

Q & A

¿Quién es Chris Schmitt y cuál es su nacionalidad?

Chris Schmitt es el nombre del orador en el guion, y su nacionalidad es holandesa (Dutch).

¿Qué es lo que Chris Schmitt intenta hacer con su introducción sobre estereotipos?

Chris Schmitt utiliza su introducción para tocar los estereotipos sobre los holandeses, con el objetivo de generar reflexión sobre cómo estos pueden afectar nuestra percepción y comprensión de las diferencias culturales.

¿Cuál es la relación entre los estereotipos y las diferencias culturales?

Los estereotipos representan una tendencia general en la sociedad y pueden ser vistos como una forma simplificada de entender las diferencias culturales, aunque no siempre son precisos o representativos.

¿Por qué Chris Schmitt menciona la importancia de la humor en diferentes culturas?

Chris Schmitt destaca la importancia de la humor para ilustrar cómo las culturas varían en su forma de expresar y apreciar lo cómico, lo que refleja diferencias subyacentes en sus valores y percepciones.

¿Qué es la definición de 'cultura' según Chris Schmitt y qué palabras clave resalta?

Según Chris Schmitt, la cultura es el 'programa colectivo de la mente humana'. Las palabras clave en esta definición son 'colectivo' y 'programación', lo que indica que la cultura se adquiere y afecta a grupos de personas, no a individuos aislados.

¿Qué ejemplo visual utiliza Chris Schmitt para ilustrar la importancia de la percepción en la cultura?

Chris Schmitt utiliza una imagen que al principio parece mostrar una cara con gafas, pero al leer diagonalmente revela la palabra 'mentiroso', lo que demuestra cómo la percepción puede cambiar con una nueva perspectiva.

¿Cuál es la diferencia entre la actitud de un trabajador estadounidense y un francés hacia un gerente que dice 'no sé'?

Un trabajador estadounidense puede estar bien con una respuesta de 'no sé' de su gerente, mientras que en Francia, dicha respuesta puede no ser percibida con credibilidad, lo que indica diferencias culturales en las expectativas hacia la gestión.

¿Qué son las dimensiones culturales de Hofstede y cuáles son las que Chris Schmitt destaca en su presentación?

Las dimensiones culturales de Hofstede son un marco teórico para entender las diferencias culturales, y Chris Schmitt destaca dos de ellas en su presentación: la distancia de poder (jerarquía) y la evitación de incertidumbre.

¿Cómo afecta la 'distancia de poder' o jerarquía en la comunicación entre empleados de diferentes culturas?

La distancia de poder puede afectar la comunicación al determinar quién tiene la autoridad para tomar decisiones y cómo se esperan las respuestas, lo que puede llevar a malentendidos o percepciones erróneas sobre la productividad y la competencia.

¿Cómo describe Chris Schmitt la 'evitación de incertidumbre' y cómo afecta la gestión de proyectos en diferentes culturas?

La 'evitación de incertidumbre' se refiere a la preferencia de una cultura por la estructura y reglas claras para manejar la incertidumbre. Esto puede afectar la gestión de proyectos al influir en la planificación y la implementación, con algunas culturas priorizando la planificación detallada y otras la acción inmediata.

¿Qué cita de Carl Jung utiliza Chris Schmitt para concluir su presentación y qué mensaje implica?

Chris Schmitt utiliza una cita de Carl Jung que dice: 'Todo lo que nos irrita en los demás puede llevarnos a una mejor comprensión de nosotros mismos', lo que implica que la frustración que sentimos al interactuar con culturas diferentes puede ser una oportunidad para aprender más sobre nosotros mismos y nuestras propias actitudes.

Outlines

00:00

🌍 Diferencias Culturales en la Gestión Internacional

El primer párrafo presenta al orador, Chris Schmitt, y utiliza el humor para introducir el concepto de estereotipos culturales. Se mencionan características estereotípicas de los neerlandeses, estadounidenses e italianos, como la tendencia a vivir en molinas de viento, el apego a los colores naranja y las pistas de fútbol. Además, se explora la idea de que el humor varía según la cultura, con ejemplos de la sátira en Reino Unido, la directividad y el humor sexual en los Países Bajos y la seriedad del humor en Alemania. El orador cuestiona qué puede ser culturalmente neutral, sugiriendo que la cultura influye en todos los aspectos de la vida y es fundamental en el éxito de las operaciones internacionales.

05:01

📚 La Programación Colectiva de la Mente Cultural

El segundo párrafo se enfoca en la definición de la cultura como la 'programación colectiva de la mente humana', destacando la importancia de entender la cultura como un conjunto de comportamientos aprendidos y no innatos. Se utiliza un ejemplo visual que puede ser interpretado de dos maneras diferentes para ilustrar cómo la percepción puede ser moldeada por la cultura. Además, se discuten las expectativas culturales en el lugar de trabajo, utilizando estadísticas sobre la aceptación de la incertidumbre en la gestión en Francia y Estados Unidos, y se introducen las dimensiones culturales de Hofstedter, como la distancia de poder y la evitación de incertidumbre, para explicar diferencias en la jerarquía y la estructura organizacional entre países.

10:01

🗂 Diferencias en la Gestión de Proyectos y la Evitación de Incertidumbres

El tercer párrafo profundiza en la evitación de incertidumbres y cómo esto afecta la gestión de proyectos en diferentes culturas. Se presentan ejemplos de cómo naciones como Alemania, Estados Unidos, Reino Unido y Francia abordan la planificación y la implementación, con enfoques que van desde la meticulosa planificación alemana hasta el enfoque más flexible y adaptable de Francia. Se utiliza una gráfica para comparar estas tendencias, y se destaca la importancia del consenso en la cultura neerlandesa, que se refleja en un enfoque de 'manos libres' en la toma de decisiones. El orador concluye con una cita de Carl Jung que enfatiza la importancia de la introspección y el aprendizaje personal a través de la interacción con otras culturas.

Keywords

💡Cultural Differences

Se refiere a las variaciones en las normas, valores y comportamientos que existen entre diferentes grupos étnicos o nacionales. En el video, esta es la base para entender por qué la cultura importa en el trabajo internacional, ya que afecta significativamente la gestión de percepciones y las interacciones entre personas de diferentes orígenes culturales.

💡Stereotypes

Son generalizaciones simplistas sobre un grupo de personas basadas en su nacionalidad, etnia o cualquier otra característica. En el script, se usan para ilustrar cómo las percepciones erróneas pueden influir en la comunicación y la comprensión en contextos internacionales, como los estereotipos sobre los neerlandeses, estadounidenses, italianos y británicos.

💡Sense of Humor

Es la forma en que una persona o un grupo cultural entiende y expresa el humor. En el video, se contrasta el sentido del humor de los británicos, que es seco e irónico, con el de los neerlandeses, que es directo y a veces de doble sentido, y el de los alemanes, que es más serio y menos propenso a bromas iniciales en situaciones formales.

💡Cultural Neutrality

La idea de que ciertos elementos o conceptos no están influenciados por la cultura. El presentador cuestiona esta noción al afirmar que, en su experiencia, no ha encontrado nada que sea culturalmente neutral, lo que indica la omnipresencia de la cultura en todas las facetas de la vida.

💡Hierarchy

Es la estructura de poder y autoridad dentro de una organización o sociedad. En el script, se utiliza para comparar cómo diferentes países manejan la jerarquía, lo que puede afectar la dinámica de trabajo y la comunicación entre empleados y superiores.

💡Uncertainty Avoidance

Es la medida en que una cultura prefiere la estructura y las reglas claras para evitar la incertidumbre. Se menciona para explicar por qué algunos países, como Francia, pueden tener una mayor tolerancia a la incertidumbre y la flexibilidad en el trabajo en comparación con otros como Alemania.

💡Project Management

Es el proceso de planificación, organización y dirección de un conjunto de actividades para lograr un objetivo específico. El video utiliza el manejo de proyectos para demostrar cómo las culturas diferentes pueden abordar el tiempo y la acción de maneras únicas, como la planificación meticulosa de los alemanes y la toma de decisiones más flexible de los franceses.

💡Consensus Building

Es el proceso de alcanzar un acuerdo entre varias partes. En el contexto neerlandés mencionado en el video, se refiere a la tendencia a tomar decisiones basadas en un acuerdo general, lo que puede llevar a un enfoque iterativo y adaptable en la gestión de proyectos.

💡Power Distance

Es la extensión de la desigualdad de poder entre diferentes miembros de una organización o sociedad. El script utiliza esta idea para ilustrar cómo las culturas con alta distancia de poder, como China, pueden requerir más tiempo para la comunicación en la jerarquía en comparación con culturas con baja distancia de poder, como los Países Bajos.

💡Cultural Dimensions

Son las diferentes maneras en que las culturas pueden ser clasificadas y comparadas. En el video, se hace referencia a los modelos de Hofsteder para explicar cómo las dimensiones culturales como la distancia de poder y la evitación de incertidumbre afectan la comunicación y la gestión en contextos internacionales.

Highlights

Introduction to the speaker, Chris Schmitt, a Dutch national with a humorous take on common stereotypes about the Dutch.

The use of humor to discuss cultural stereotypes, including the Dutch, Americans, and Italians, to illustrate cultural differences.

The exploration of humor as a cultural phenomenon, highlighting the differences in British, Dutch, and German humor.

The assertion that nothing is culturally neutral and the importance of understanding cultural differences in international business.

The definition of culture as the 'collective programming of the human mind', emphasizing the learned nature of cultural behaviors.

An optical illusion example to demonstrate the concept of perception and how it relates to cultural understanding.

A comparison of managerial expectations in the United States and France, highlighting the impact of cultural dimensions on business practices.

Introduction of Hofstede's cultural dimensions, specifically power distance and uncertainty avoidance, to explain workplace dynamics.

A discussion on the hierarchy within different countries, using a visual of triangles to represent the concept.

The impact of hierarchy on communication in the workplace, with examples from the Netherlands and China.

An explanation of uncertainty avoidance in different cultures, using Germany, the UK, and France as examples.

A practical application of cultural dimensions in project management, comparing Germany, the US, the UK, France, and the Netherlands.

The Dutch 'Bolten' or consensus-building model in project management and its unique approach to decision-making.

A conclusion that emphasizes the importance of self-awareness in understanding cultural differences, with a quote from Carl Jung.

The call to action for managers to be aware of cultural nuances to better manage international teams and business operations.

Transcripts

you

I'm going to talk to you about why

culture cultural difference actually are

the management of perception or to put

it differently why culture matters when

we're working internationally first a

bit of an introduction about myself Who

am I as you can see my name is Chris my

last name is Schmitt my nationality is

Dutch and as they say if you ain't Dutch

you ain't much or to put it somewhat

different is as a finishing touch god

created the Dutch I know one more which

is more along the lines more in reality

and that is that the gods created the

universe in the earth and the Dutch

created Holland maybe that's somewhat

closer to the truth because two-thirds

of the country is actually below sea

level

now if the country is below sea level

and where do I live I live of course in

a windmill like all the Dutch do where's

where's my windmill located it is below

sea level like I said 2/3 of the country

is below sea level and what do I

normally wear my wooden shoes and the

traditional Dutch dress but being in

front of a significant civilized crowd I

decided to wear something different now

you can look at this introduction and

ask yourself what's the point I'll tell

you what the point was with this sort of

introduction I was trying to sort of

border on stereotypes stereotypes that

you might be missing about the Dutch or

maybe the colour orange the fact that we

never will win the World Cup football or

soccer for the Americans and maybe the

red light district in Amsterdam stuff

like that you can go to the Americans

and talk about stereotypes there as well

what comes to mind first potentially may

be the word big or the word hamburger or

trigger trigger-happy stuff like that

then you could go back to Europe and

talk about the Italian stereotypes or

stereotypes about the Italians what

comes to mind maybe the word mafia comes

to mind

Mamma Mia the hand gestures that the

Italians are so fond of stuff like that

are they all true or not are they all

true or not I think that stereotypes

sort of display a general trend in

society and

maybe more or less with culture is about

but besides from talking about

stereotypes my introduction is also

based on humor or at least I was trying

to be funny I'm not sure if I succeeded

I won't even ask you as well I'm not

going to shoot myself in the foot there

but if I show you this image here and I

would ask you how he described the

typical British sense of humor so not

per se what he is doing but the British

the typical British sense of humor you

might come up with ironic with dry

self-deprecating humor a Brit can

stumble and fall and look back and say

hey that was funny of me stuff like that

contrast that with this person and for

those of you who do not know him he's a

dutch comedian singer songwriter

presenter quite a talented guy and if he

would characterize the dutch sense of

humor as opposed to the british sense of

humor you might come up with statements

like blunt direct sexually connotated

and the dutch tend to make fun of others

rather than themselves whether they're

here or not that doesn't make much of a

difference and then finally if you sort

of wrap it all up and if you would ask I

want out if I would ask you how would

you characterize did German sense of

humor then it might come to mind and I

see somebody nodding already no they

have no sense of humor is that true

however well fundamentally of course not

to the Germans also have a sense of

humor but the contradiction in terms

here is is that humor for the Germans is

a serious thing humour for the Germans

is a serious thing in other words you

don't start something serious with a

joke so have a meeting you don't start a

meeting with a joke because why would

you undermine the seriousness of the

meeting by starting it with a joke

there's a time and a place to be funny

according to the Germans three countries

the UK the Netherlands and Germany

geographically relatively close to each

other and still they have a different

sense of humor I believe that jokes

don't translate in language and also

that they don't translate in culture so

if humor is already not culturally

neutral my question to you to ponder on

is what is culturally neutral I've done

this work for about eight

years and I haven't found anything that

is culturally neutral it touches us

everyday and very often we don't really

see it but first of all before I

continue there is really nothing good or

bad about culture there are only

differences it's important to realize

and understand the cultural differences

are often the determining factor when

you're doing business typically when

you're doing business internationally

the Rakhal Chur has been mentioned a

couple of times it's sort of put a frame

around this and a definition the

collective programming of the human mind

in that definition they're two words are

important one is collective and the

other one is programming when we're

talking about culture or cultural

differences we talked about groups of

people and not about isolated

individuals and the second word that's

important to realize in this definition

is that the word programming is there

because you're not born with your

culture culture is so called thought

behavior so collective programming of

the human mind showing you an image here

my question to you is what do you see if

you're like most people you would see a

face with the glasses the nose and the

mouth and a part of the of the chin and

the neck right but if you read it

diagonal and pause and wait a little

longer you would see that you can also

read the word liar the L the I with the

dots on the I the a and the are so

pausing and waiting and maybe looking a

second time at a different culture might

actually teach you a lot more as I said

culture is about the management of

perception if you read the following

quote it's important for a manager to

know the exact answers to most of the

questions that his subordinates may

raise about their work I give you two

countries and two percentages the United

States and France match up the countries

to the percentages all right the answer

is 80 percent for the United States and

53 percent for France what this means is

is that if ace American worker if you

want goes to his manager asks him a

question to which he doesn't know the

answer the American worker is quite okay

with and I don't know while in a country

like France

for instance the answer I don't know

from management doesn't give him a lot

of credibility so the expectation of a

French manager is that he or she is much

more knowledgeable about the content or

stuff that he is actually managing to

explain this we need to cultural

dimensions from professor here

Hofstadter's model of culture one being

power distance or hierarchy and the

other one being uncertainty avoidance

let's starts with the first one dealing

with hierarchy you could argue that all

societies are unequal but some are more

are more unequal than others or to put

it differently all animals are created

equally but some are more equal than

others I've given you here a list of

countries the Netherlands Belgium the UK

Norway in China quickly make up in your

make up in your mind which country you

actually think scores highest or in

which country would actually score

lowest the answer to that question is

you might be righted by China you might

have guessed maybe the Netherlands being

the lowest one but in this case it is

Norway quick word about these numbers is

that anything more than 10 points

difference is something that you would

experience internally when you would go

to that specific country so if a

Dutchman would go to Belgium the

Dutchman would experience that there is

a stronger hierarchy in this country

than in his own country

if the Belgian would go to China the

Belgian would actually experience that

there is a stronger hierarchy in China

than in his own country now how does

this work in reality you see two

triangles two triangles and under on

your left hand side you see weak

hierarchy or flat and egalitarian on the

right-hand side of the slide you see

that that strong hierarchy and it's

called steep and it's sort of

hierarchical notice that the circles are

equally in size on the left-hand side

and the top dog if you want on the

right-hand side is bigger than lower at

the bottom suppose you have this

situation whereby peer to peer workers

say somebody from the Netherlands asks a

question to his coworker in China can

you give me an update on this in this

process

what do you think is going to happen

it's highly likely that it will go up

the hierarchy this will take time the

perception that the Dutchman on the

left-hand side might have of his Chinese

colleague is is that he might be lazy he

doesn't know what he's talking about why

is this taking so long right

eventually the answer will come but it

just takes time and perceptions are

already shaped now turn the situation

around where you try to get the Chinese

to ask the Dutchman can you give me an

update on this in this project what do

you think will happen the Dutch having a

relatively low hierarchy has the

tendency to answer directly and with the

result that the Chinese colleague will

actually wonder how did you come up with

that answer so fast you're probably

trying to cut some corners and you

didn't give me the right correct answer

I'm going to ask you again hence the

blue line going back that way the second

dimension to explain the difference

between the United States and France is

uncertainty avoidance as they say in

Germany everything is forbidden unless

it's allowed you can continue like that

within the UK everything is allowed

unless it's forbidden the total opposite

there and in France everything is

allowed even if it is forbidden and mind

you there is a fourth one as well which

is the Dutch version in the Netherlands

everything is tolerated even if it is

forbidden there you go this talks about

the amount of rules and structure that

cultures and people within these

cultures appreciate and would like to

have again which countries from this

list the Netherlands Uruguay Belgium the

UK in Germany do you think needs them or

has or needs the most structure in

detail and which country do you think

has the least amount of structure and

detail this is a very difficult

dimension to actually understand and the

answer to this puzzle is that the UK

scores the lowest of this list not in

the whole list of countries and the

Uruguay has a score of 100 again 10

points difference is something that is

significant the UK

me that doesn't have a written

constitution but goes with common law

for instance and for the Belgians

present here at this presentation the

score of 95 explains to some extent why

all Belgians are born with a brick in

their stomach that sounds familiar for a

lot of you it might be okay if we sort

of put that in a graph and in a

practical example what does that mean

when we look at project management in

doing business different cultures deal

with different project management in

different ways so on the horizontal axis

there's time and on the vertical axis

there is action and implementation as a

function of time the line that you

currently see there is just for

reference there Germany first Germany

how do you think the line of Germany

will run well Germans get their act

together they form a group of people of

highly specialized people around the

table they sort out all procedures and

eventually will come up with a

relatively rapid implementation

something like this now when the

Americans and then the Brits come to the

table asking the Germans what are you

doing and that the Germans looked up

look up annoyed at the Americans and say

we're planning and the Americans go well

what good is that for because the

Americans have more of a just to do it

approach a trial and error approach and

get going and if you don't understand it

at first only then you start reading the

manual continuing like this take the

country France but you could also

substitute here Spain Italy Iran China

India's countries like that the line is

somewhat different and I know it usually

generates a laugh but it needs a little

note in a margin here is that what the

line should actually look like is pretty

much at the beginning here like a small

tremor around the German line so not

with a big earthquake but that's just a

shortcoming of PowerPoint my apologies

for that

so what you what you see in a country

like France is that there is a

preference for doing things organized

but sometimes it just doesn't work and

that is because of the elbow

work in the hierarchy and the in the

corridor backstabbing political games

going on that's what the tremor is about

now finalizing this slide with the the

Dutch line not that the Dutch are so

important it is just that the line is so

significantly different from the Dutch

from the rest of the countries here and

the Dutch are known for their Bolden or

Boulder a Modell the Dutch word or the

consensus building and the line sort of

takes this shape right and what you see

going back in time is not really going

back in time it is more that it is doing

project management with growing insights

so what we have decided yesterday could

change today because of new gained

information again alright wrapping it up

this presentation with a quote from Carl

Jung is that everything that irritates

us about others can actually lead us to

a better understanding of ourselves

thank you