Bafa ba bafa fa. Faba? and CPQ

Let's do this synchronic time-style. This week at work I noticed something that made me think about the rehashing session we had at the end of our Bafabafa simulation. In our whiteboard list of "things we noticed about the other culture," there were distinct categorizations of the attributes: observation, interpretation, and evaluation. Many of the attributes that we intuitively brainstormed as observations were, in fact, interpretations or evaluations. The thing I noticed at work that triggered this flashback is a woman who works for one of the companies that occupies the other side of my building. The extent of our interaction has been occupying the same common room for a few seconds at a time. She looks like she was born earlier in the same decade as I. Out of culturally ingrained habit, I usually greet people at work with a nod, smile, or verbal acknowledgement. The last few weeks I have noticed that this woman never returns my greeting. I don't know if it's always been this way, but I have definitely recently noticed that any eye contact is quickly disestablished, my smiles ignored, and my "Hi"s unanswered. Up till today, I assumed it was because she was just cold and unfriendly. Today it dawned on me that ah ha! An interpretive evaluation where there should be only observation!! Then I started to hypothesize as to why, in both our industries where there are scarce few women, a fellow Double-exer wouldn't take advantage of what, to me, is a clear opportunity of camaraderie (i.e. I'm a girl, you're a girl, hey let's giggle or talk about shoes or something :P). What I hypothesize is this: from her manner of traditional dress, she is clearly very culturally connected to the motherland, and it's possible that women of this culture are not encouraged to make friends of un-vetted foreigners, no matter how friendly or similar in age they may be. This hypothesis was inspired by my role as an Alphan woman in the Bafabafa simulation, where it was unacceptable to speak to anyone not pre-approved by the community patriarch. It could be that I simply have not had the opportunity to earn this woman's trust. At the very least, I sure just hope she doesn't talk to me because of something stupid I did unawares.

CPQ highlights

Relation to Environment: I know I already have some mixed views about harmony vs mastery because I view it was mastering nature & environment to create harmony. What I mean is mastering nature enough to provide us what we need, but optimizing it so that it has as little effect on nature as possible. This requires conscientiousness of the impact of our actions and active remediation when the balance tips too far and the mastery becomes overwhelming. Creating this balance necessitates control over nature, and so my scores lean towards mastery.

Relationships Among People: well, I'm the high score for Individual. This is completely unsurprising because I have a strong, mama-bear loyal streak that covers close friends & family. I think that it's one's responsibility to look out for oneself and one's immediate family's interests because if one doesn't, who will? I believe in the generally good intentions of people, but I recognize that self preservation (inherent selfishness) is necessary on a basic level, i.e. the continuation of one's genes. Or maybe I watch too much House! But back on a serious note, I believe that if you've got some degree of a hold on your own drama/issues, you're better equipped to help with other people's. It's not a theory I've tested to any reliable degree, however, and may be one of those opinions that'll evolve as I gather more data & experience. I also think it's a culturally Chinese thing to save face and present a united family front.

Blogs at workplace, corporate social media....

It is really interesting to read other classmates blog posts, have come to know more about each and every team member (we are not only classmates but a team, almost everybody in the class has teamed with each other to participate in simulations and payed a great team member role). Sometimes, we work with our collegues and team members for a long period of time at work, but we really do not know their thoughts on everything related to work or in general.  I think promoting blogs at workplace would help to share thoughts, ideas, however it would add another dimension to corporate social media policies. 

Using social media tools is increasing in corporations, it is not promoted yet at my company, I am sure the social media tools will be very common at workplaces in the near future and it will have a positive impact in colloborating with fellow workers at workplaces.

My Globesmart Scores

The majority of my Globesmart scores seem valid. I have always enjoyed working in a team and building relationships that way. I like the feeling of belonging to a group of people and sharing a common goal with them. I specifically enjoy the communication process and the final results of collaborating.

My egalitarianism tendency was also to be expected. I believe that people should be flexible and viewed as equals.

I enjoy new and different experiences and I have taken some steps in my life that most people would probably not consider (or would need more time and convincing to reach). Uncertainty is part of life and we as well learn to embrace it.

I am a little surprised about my score on the Direct-Indirect dimension. I consider myself a very direct person (what you see is what you get). This is definitely more valid when it comes to personal relationships and not so much in a business environment. Since this tool was measuring our perspectives on business situations I can see how my score would be somewhere in the middle.

When it comes to focusing on tasks rather than relationships at work, I try to establish relationships in the process of completing job responsibilities. I develop relationships with colleagues and customers quickly even when my main focus is on finishing the task at hand.

My short-term orientation can be explained easily by the fact that I enjoy taking risks. I usually focus on planning only in the near future since circumstance change easily.

When comparing my results to what I believe my grandparents' scores would be, I definitely see that there will be a major shift from risk taking to a more restraint behavior. The main reason for that is mobility. We are living in a time where every place on Earth is within our reach, which is something my grandparents didn't even think about 30-40 years ago. The information flow and communication technologies allow our generation to be much quicker in making important decisions.

Another area of difference is the Task-Relationship dimension. I believe that my grandparents would have taken the time to establish a relationship first. They had worked at the same companies with the same people and customers for many years and building relationships was vital. They also had more down time at their places of employment which is not the case nowadays.

I found the comparison to the two cultures I have been exposed to very intriguing. I was born and raised in Bulgaria and spend the majority of my life there so one would expect that my scores would be close to those of other Bulgarians. This is the case when it comes to the Risk-Restraint, Independent-Interdependent and Short-term-Long-term dimensions. As for the second culture I have been exposed to in the past few years, I share similar scores on the Egalitarianism-Status and Task-Relationship dimensions. I have always felt comfortable with both cultures and appreciated the differences which is evident from my results.

Corporate Giants, Friend or Foe?

It's so interesting how I hear about a corporate giant and I'm immediately thinking these people are evil. Perhaps I had the same misconceptions about Aracruz before the simulation we had in class. Playing the part of the NGO, I couldn't help but feel that my contributions to the rights of the natives were completely self-serving. Maybe it was the lack of background information, but in my opinion I was playing the part of a publicity whore. Now the other people in the simulation, FUNAI, the Native Indian, Aracruz, and the community were all so pleasant in the meeting that I couldn't help but feel that we were all conscious of respecting each other that we were too afraid to be confrontational. Again, maybe that's just my stance. And I can truly say with complete honesty that I initially wanted to totally rip into the corporate giant, but thought carefully about how to be most effective and the least challenging.

Regardless, the simulation was great in getting me to empathize with Aracruz. I don't know if it's because the person simulating them was so accommodating, but I actually began to feel sorry for them and try to come up with the best way to help them get what they needed. Unfortunately, that probably was true to my part.

When we debriefed in class I could quickly tell that not everyone was as "nice" as our group. I could feel the energy against the "corporate scum." But after Dr. Osland shared her insights about the situation, and the land perhaps not actually being occupied/owned by the native Indians, I just began to empathize with the "big bad giant" again. If I had paid for something, and I thought it was legally mine, how would I feel? How accommodating would I be? How nice would I be? Obviously those are rhetorical questions that lead me to the obvious ESTJ "that's not fair" response. However, for the last week, I have been so curious with what the solution to this whole chaotic mess could be. Can a corporate giant ever come to an agreement with a group of people who's complete mindset is unimaginable to them? How can I even empathize with the natives? I have no basis, no understanding of where they come from. And interestingly so, when I come to this epiphany I realize that they must be right to fight for the land, and the corporation must be wrong. And if I say otherwise I'm a greedy discriminating ignoramus. (My own projections of course.) Regardless I'm bound to believe that there's an answer to this issue, I have to hope that there's an answer. I just hope that someone, anyone, figures it out.

Smells like team spirit ..

First of all, I must say that through all the simulations that we have had in this class, I have been on various teams with different people and I have enjoyed great rapport with all. This is my first class and I think I couldn't have started on a brighter note!!

Last week was about reading and making sense out of the article that Anna and I had to present. Anna did a great job to prepare the skeleton of our presentation. It was a great read especially through the context of the world of facebook and Linked-in that we live in. We deal with several personal and professional networks. The article presented us with an excellent philosophy that as global leaders, if we can manage the creativity in the small world well, we can maximize our team's productivity and empower great inventors for our firms. Thank you all for patiently listening to us and taking keen interest in our presentation.

The 'flip-the-turf' experience was awesome even though I had done it before. The first group that I participated in this exercise with, had a completely different approach than us and yet both resulted in successful outcome which was very interesting to watch. In less than 15 minutes, we went through a real-life-project like scenarios of "this is an impossible task - to - lets brainstorm - to - lets execute - to - we are making progress - to - We did it"!! Again, it takes a lot of team work and trust (even in the simulation) to make it work. Kudos to all!

Of course the ba-fa-ba-fa simulation was the best of the lot so far! To me it felt closest to the real life situation. What appealed to me was how we learned about the other culture slowly but surely. No one can understand a different culture in one shot. It takes some time and careful homework. Each Alphan that returned from country Beta came back with something invaluable.

Again, along with the message that these simulations give us, I am very much impressed with the simulations themselves which obviously tend to bring the team spirit in everyone. I can't wait to use them on the teams that I will lead and benefit from the great outcomes that it will produce! That mixed with my favorite singer Curt Cobain .. inspires my blog title...

Globesmart - like the output

I was impressed by Globesmart's assessment quality and output and richness of the website. The results seemed accurate. For ex: I am still adopting to US way of working in terms of being Independent so my score is close to my birth country India. In Risk I am not that close to US and definitely away from birth country INdia.  One dimension surprised me is that I am task oriented person, however I am shown towards relationship side. I am very Close to US in Direct, Eagalatarianism, which are accurate.

I definitely dont think my grandparents or my oldest relatives would have the same profile as I have been a immigrant and worked and travelled in other countries and I work with diverse teams.

I am not a typical person of my culture (India), as I adopted a lot of traits being in US. I deviated with India in 3 dimensions largely and partially in 4 other dimensions.

My CPQ reflection

My CPQ results mostly in line with my expections. Because my results are close to the group which is quite diverse, except in two areas Subjugation in Relation to environment and Present dimension in Time orientation where I deviated from the group as well as birth country averages.

The learning I have to use is to bring myself to the center in the areas of Harmony/Subjugation and Present/Time dimension as I have to be close to the group.

Specifically when I am interacting with my colleagues on decisions concerning day-to-day I should focus more on immediate needs and factors. The other area where I have to discern is in terms of when to use Subjugation and when not to. I am a believer in nature's influence on Individuals at a macro life events.

BaFa BaFa simulation

The scenarios with the X-ians and BaFa BaFa simulations are ridiculous. But I think they are really effective learning tools under a low stake environment - we all laughed during the simulations and I think we all had fun. With the ridicules, we actually had an accelerated experience on situations we could possibly see only over years of real experience.

Aracruz Cellulose simulation

The Aracruz simulation was interesting and inspiring but also difficult. I think it amplified the difficulty of doing business in foreign countries - sometimes it's hard to understand the rationales from a North America perspective. It also ran against a win-win outcome - with such a diverse group of stakeholders whom have very conflicting perspectives and interests, it seemed impossible to arrive at mutually satisfactory propositions. The scenario was basically a slow-brewing crisis for Aracruz Cellulose.

The Aracruz simulation reinforced my learning on working as a team. Crucial conversations happen almost everyday at work but the conflicts and stakes were so much deeper and higher in the case of Aracruz, which made the dialogue more crucial and difficult. While we don't need to engage in stakeholder dialogue in everyday situation, they remain important to avoid misunderstanding and achieve common goals more effectively. I believe stakeholder dialogue skills can practically be used during any team projects - particularly during the initial problem definition phase. The simulation also forced as to solve problems through the brain storming process. Since there were no easy solutions, we could not jump to conclusions without brain storming as in some of our normal work situations.

Our team was effective in initiating the dialogue and worked with others to frame common goals. I believe we were able to listen to others with an open mind but we often fell into conflicts and our communications sometimes turned confrontational. At one point, our discussion turned into a debate between Aracruz and FUNAI and Dr. Osland had to stop us from continuing the debate. I think it also pointed to our ineffectiveness in identifying conflicts and dissolving them quickly. With that said, if I could redo the simulation, I would first quickly lead the team to agree on common goals and remind everyone on the common goals whenever conflicts or irrelevant debates arise.

My cultural difference assessment

Since both CPQ and GlobeSmart are about assessing cultural difference, I am blogging about them together so this is a long one - be warned :-)

1. Both assessments provide baseline benchmarks from different cultural groups. Because of my diverse cultural backgrounds (mix of Chinese, British (HK being a British Colony), and North America (being in NA for almost 25 years), I am not surprised to see myself being a culture marginal to either China, HK, or US.

2. The GlobeSmart assessment shows that US and China are in two opposite ends of the spectrum. However, I am surprised that the benchmark from HK is so much closer to China.

My profile is much closer to US than to China - which makes me a cultural marginal to either the culture in China or HK. I think it make senses because I received my higher education in North America and spent my entire career in US. So, my culture values are more tuned towards US than to China, while still maintaining a strong tie to Chinese/HK culture from my family and friends. But it's interesting to find that the benchmark from UK is very similar to mine, except on the short vs long term category.

My grand parents' profiles will be different from mine because they didn't experience the North American culture. They also had to live through the WW-II environment (i.e., HK was briefly occupied by Japan during the WW-II) and the peripheral effects of the Cultural Revolution in China (i.e., HK was already a British Colony during the Cultural Revolution but we still had family ties in the mainland China) - both of them were life-changing experiences.

3. My CPQ score again shows that my profile is less similar to the benchmark from HK then to the benchmark of the class. My CPQ score is quite aligned with the class average but I seem to be more future and individual oriented. I think my choice to enroll into the SJSU EMBA program and this class reflect my future oriented attribute. For example, I could have taken classes in technology, project management, etc which are closer to what I need now for my job.

My CPQ score alignment with the class average make sense as I see the classmates representing a sub-culture in the SF bay area - highly educated professionals whom are open-minded, eager to learn, and immersed in a multi-cultural environment. However, I also realize that there are distinctively higher or lower results among the classmates. I think this variance reinforces the often forgotten fact that we are all different individuals even within a sub-culture. We need to be conscious of our differences in our daily engagements and be open-minded. To relate back to our BaFa BaFa simulation, we want to stay with 'description' and away from 'interpretation' and 'evaluation'.

Understanding Cultural Diversity

I think immigrants with deeper understanding of their traditional values and ethics from their origin country have to think more to answer the questions from Cultural Diversity exercise.
In real life situations, I think that people judgement is based on awareness of consequences in the living country, but not based on what they believe in their own culture.

I am  not surprised to see 93% of USA repondents answering "C" for The car and pedestrian scenario, but I a really surprised to see 65% respondents only for bad restaurant survey, I thought that USA would be around 80% range.

Aracruz Reflection My Role had good traction

Reality : I am recollecting our class Aracruz simulation and I was surprised by knowing the reality was different than what appeared on paper for the simulation. Hearing Karen and Prof Osland that native people never lived there where Aracruz bought the land mad me think, many times might is right in these agitations. At the end, whether its fair or not for the natives to ask Aracruz to evict is not a financial equation, its a social equation. It was unfortunate Aracruz caught in that social justice aspect.

Coming to our class simulation I learned a lot from the heterogenous simulation, I was playing the stakeholder for natives, and I had traction for my arguments as everyone is convinced that natives were at a disadvantage with figures like 4000,000 being displaced.  The key learning for me is f you have data to support your argument its easy for everyone to see.

Our group came to understanding and final agreement because everyone played true stakeholder, and created accommodation, compromise and synergy collectively.

Our group may be considered ineffective in terms of burdening Aracruz with all the responsibility and not making any conditions on NGOs and natives not to disrupt the peace.

Personally if I were to play stakeholder dailogue again, I would collect some more evidence so that I can establish my real BATNA(Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement) in negotiations. I would also read the case more carefully and prepare well before getting to the table.


Life lessons from this exercise are a) preparation b) data based arguments c) empathy towards other stakeholders d) Showing interest in synergy.

Aracruz?

Much like everyone else, I have spent a fair amount of time this week reflecting on our Aracruz simulation. After thinking about this more and more, I'm not sure that I agree that my team learned much about how to compromise and come to an agreement in high stakes situations. I'm not saying that I think that this exercise was without merit, however. I believe it gave us a fascinating view of the cultural dynamics within our own classroom.

The opposing goals of the Aracruz stakeholders were spelled out clearly in our informational packets, but I found that our real-life values and goals shined through much more strongly. We were told to reach a signed compromise by the end of the simulation. At some point in our discussions, focused shifted from "coming to a legitimate compromise that would solve the problems" to "how do we get something signed so we can make a good grade in this class"? I don't feel that 100% of the people in my group felt that way, but I know that I certainly did! It was very interesting to see some of us let our stakeholder values acquiesce and let our student values take over.

Aracruz Cellulose Simulation

If there's one thing I learned about the simulation, it's that there is no such thing as a right or wrong answer. In fact, there may be no such thing as the ideal solution. There are five key roles in the Aracruz Cellulose Simulation: the Aracruz corporation, the indigenous people, the international NGOs, FUNAI, and the community who work for Aracruz. Every group has a legitimate reason to support their position in the simulation. It is very difficult to find a solution that can satisfy every member affected by the case.

In our discussion, one thing that really helped our group to be effective was not to debate. Professor Osland had to stop us at one point in our "discussion" when all the members began drilling the Aracruz CEO, putting him on the hot spot. Nothing was being accomplished at that point except that we were pointing fingers at each other. Being reminded of our objectives, our group switched focus to brainstorming potential solutions, any solutions -- any being the key world. This helped our group focus on what can be done versus what has been done and it drove us to foster a more positive environment.

If I could redo the stakholder dialogue part of the simulation, I would try to communicate my stance more clearly and objectively. This helps get my message across more efficiently and might also help generation solutions better. I could definitely replicate this in life as well, both my dialogue and also in my discussion technique. Stakeholder dialogue skills can be applied at work, in personal conversations (especially when negotiation is involved), and even with my mom. ha ha. I feel that it is very important to treat things in an objective manner versus a subjective manner because it takes out the heat of emotion and stresses more on the problem itself. Less offense would be taken between different people and cultures.

CPQ Results

My CPQ results were very close to the class graduate and and also fell close to the results for the American average. These results seem valid since most of my life, I grew up and interacted with people in the US. My family upbringing may play one part in the way I interact with people, but the environment I was brought up in also has played a major part in who I am today (as seen in the results).

Seeing the final results, I can definitely understand my behavior when reacting with people from different cultures. I seem to rank higher in dimensions that define me as an independent, individualistic person, a very American standard, I believe. This explains why I always seem to conflict with the morals and values within my family, who follow very Asian standards. Many decisions and choices, especially career related, is motivated by the community. I, on the other hand, believe that decisions should be influenced by mostly myself and immediate family.

One interesting results on the CPQ was the dimension good versus evil. Apparently I scored a tad bit higher than the American public and class average. Though not as high as the individual who scored 6.60, I' m pretty up there. It makes me wonder how cultural and family upbringing and affect our perspective on people. For me, it's mostly from personal experience. If you can hitchhike 2 or 3 times in your life and come out unscathed, you can definitely have some faith in the human race.

Global Assessment Profile Overview

Results from the global assessment profile test came as no surprise to me since they pretty much matched with my background, the beliefs and values ingrained in me, and my overall nature.

Since I have worked on large microprocessor designs(that are typically built by more than 200-300 engineers), I am very inter-dependent since I believe that no superstar is more important than the team collectively(all units of a monstrous machine should work correctly for the success of the project). Hailing from an Asian background, I am least surprised to see that I fall towards egalitarianism, restraint (cautious type), indirect, task oriented, and a person focussed on long-term.

I am a bit surprised about my task-oriented nature, but considering my type of work, I could very well be one in that category. I will try to observe myself more in the situations, and strike a balance balance so as to adopt a contingency style of management!

Aracruz Cellulose Simulation

I think Ganka's post below really drives home what I took away from the Aracruz simulation. Our "executives" decided not to focus on quantitative issues so that we could decide on the principles of what should be done, rather than amounts that we really didn't have the background to discuss. I suspect that this may be why we were effective and able to come to agreement, while in the real world, the situation is a multi-way stalemate.

It was very interesting to learn more information about the scenario after our discussions. We treated the landless natives as wholely victims in the situation and tried to resolve the issue from their view point. We knew that there had been some violence, but thought it was probably as a last resort. It wasn't until after the discussions that we learned of all the attacks and atrocities that were being committed.

I think this simulation translates well to business meetings where there are multiple stakeholders involved, which is a situation I am in frequently, if not daily.

Globe Smart assessment

My Globesmart assessment was similar to that of United States but with two surprising differences. I scored much higher in INTERDEPENDENCE and LONG-TERM than most Americans, which surprised me for two reasons. First, I think of myself as a very independent person, and have been consistently reviewed as such by managers, so I am wondering if I mistook some of the wording of the questions. Secondly, I was surprised to see the results of most Americans are so biased towards the short-term. I would have thought there would be a balance midway between short-term and long-term.

I think my grandparents would probably have a similar profile as myself, since they were very long-term thinkers. They worked hard to save money for their family that they could pass down to their children, while teaching them the value of money and hard work.

My reflections on Aracruz Cellulose simulation

Aracruz Cellulose Simulation in class helped me ( I am sure all other participants as well) understand objectives of Stakeholder communication, negotiation skills, listening to counter group members to identify issues at stake and interests, thinking positively from all dimensions, come up with a win-win situation for all stakeholders.

My group has focused on negotiating a mutually beneficial solution in a co-operative way, engaged in a dialogue to understand and identify areas of common ground among all stakeholders.

I think we could have thought about using an arbitration or consulting company to come up with a more beneficial solution for our group.

I do participate in stakeholder dialogue at my work very frequently, these dialogues are very common at Parent Teacher Associations at schools, community halls, issues due to new developments associated with environment, very frequently in worker unions.

Learnings from Aracruz Cellulose simulation

1. I learnt the techniques needed for holding effective stake-holder discussion. Although I felt a bit intimidated initially when all guns were pointed towards Aracruz to make some concessions, I tried to give some leeway to others, albeit not trying to fall over myself to come to a fruitful discussion. I knew that I would be opening a can of worms if I decided to review the lands that don't have prior contracts upon. So, I stuck to my guns and steered the conversation towards those lands that have contracts upon--thinking that the percentage of such lands would be infinitesimally small compared to the total lands occupied by Aracruz.

Open mindedness and awareness with observation are the key take aways.

2. I tried to be as phlegmatic as I can in order to give an impression to others that Aracruz is still interested in reviewing the past beaten down contracts.

3. Our group members all had very valid points and this helped us carry out our discussion with great enthusiasm. Brian, Eric and Britney all worked together in coming up with possible solutions to the deadlock.

4. I guess we all did a great job. We can improve our discussion now since we know about the reality behind the situation--the status of land grabbing in Brazil and that of Aracruz.

5. Pretty much I see this in my company every day. Working in Applications group and torn between software and hardware groups, I am forced to do this without rubbing any one party the wrong way.

Global Business and Aracruz Sim

I think the Panamanian Carlos Ramirez exercise was a really eye-opening way of illustrating a type of business culture completely foreign to us (literally). The tips for getting on the inside track with people of a different culture are not just useful for business visits, but in general. It reminded me of how I felt several years ago when I was a hapless Spanish-language student in Costa Rica on a study abroad summer program. My extended family had business partners in San Jose (Costa Rica) with whom I stayed for my first few days before I joined the rest of my school group, but throughout the trip I mainly relied on my American contacts to help me make sense of the country. I now see that I missed out on a really good opportunity to let my local friends act as my cultural mentors, and should have focused more on what they could have shown me. I'm holding out for a next time!

In the Aracruz simulation, I think my group had some really good ideas for solutions for the conflict. When we reconvened with the entire class, it was very interesting to hear what the other groups came up with as well. What I noticed out of that class discussion was that the simulation generated creative solutions, but it ended up being idealized versions of the real thing. Joyce's description of what happened in real life was far more messy, greedy and hostile than our little summits. This is probably due to our detachment; we care, but we're not really emotionally invested in the ramifications of our decisions and discussions quite like the people in real time were. Our land is not at stake, it's not our money that's getting spent, and we don't have to deal first-hand with the violence. As such, we're a lot more able to sympathize and compromise with each stakeholder, as evidenced by the solutions we ratified--acting for Aracruz, I probably conceded on many more points than would have someone concerned with Aracruz's bottom line. Another interpretation of my actions is that my style of teamwork includes compromising a lot and pleasing the other members in the interest of arriving at an agreeable conclusion.

my 60 minutes of fame ..

I must confess! it actually felt great to act as the Sr. VP of Aracruz Cellulose (I was a self made man! ... literally...)! :-) I have to say, if the stakeholders involved are as smart, positive and sincere as our group was, we could actually experience peace and harmony! That was a great fruitful discussion .. thanks to Ganka, Lynnette, Maria and Michael!

It was a great exercise that helped us think from individual stakeholders perspective. First my fellow Aracruz executives Alison and Vadhi knew exactly what our company position was going to be. That made me go in the meeting with knowing how much I can and can not give.

Our meeting started well as we found ourselves unanimous in identifying the real issues and the points on which we had disagreements. We discussed our perspectives that formed our opinions. In the process, it became pretty aparrent that we all had a common understanding -"We need to co-exist for betterment of each other!" That was the tone set in our meeting right from the word go and hence we seemed to have developed some amount of trust in each of the characters we were playing! Of course we all realized that in the real world, things are far more challenging and some times the conflicts become an impossible one to solve. I believe, if we do get involved in such situations in our future, we can only continue to demonstrate strong leadership values and not deter from them. Consistent and strong leadership could eventually be impressed upon all parties involved which could lead to a solution.

I couldn't help but check out the company profile on the internet and I was amazed to find out that Aracruz accounts for 24% of the raw material supply that goes into making a paper in the world. Aracruz has been on the NYSE sustainability index as recently as in 2008. To find out more, you can go to http://www.aracruz.com/show_arz.do?menu=true&id=321&lastRoot=107&act=stcNews&lang=1

The Carlos Ramirez simulation in the morning session provided with a great insight as well. It was a very realistic situation that we might face in our future. I hope we cherish the learnings from this class for a long time apply them in the situations whenever they arise!

GlobeSmart Assessment

It is very interesting to see the results on the assessment. Although I grew up in Japan, most of my school and work are here in the United States. So I was expecting to see "independent" and "Direct" to be my dimensions since my job is somewhat in these characteristics .

But it seems that I do still carry a traditional Japanese type of thinking such that I emphasis and value more on long term and relationship. Security is another word that may describe them, yet I tend to take risks according to the test. I might take it one more time to see if it will make difference.

Aracruz Cellulose Simulation

The Aracruz Simulation was certainly helpful is our efforts to become more flexible, patient and open-minded when communicating with different stakeholders. The factual situation was quite interesting. It was easy to engage in discussions since the stakeholders' perspectives and goals were relatively clear.

I learned from the simulation that various stakeholders can have a fruitful discussion by applying the following communication techniques :

• actively listening to others' points of view;
• trying to understand where they are coming from;
• collaborating efforts in reaching a common goal;
• showing tolerance and respect;
• staying on the issue at hand;
• acknowledging and considering every one's input;
• being creative and innovative in search for solutions;
• clarifying own perspective;
• building trust;
• avoiding ambiguity.

Since we were able to reach 5 areas of agreement and generated 8 innovative ideas, I believe our group was effective. All participants were interested in solving the same issue and were eager to share their ideas. If there was a disagreement, we attempted to solve the problem in a way that would satisfy every stakeholder. The few problems we had came from the fact that our information on the situation and especially some of the details was different. There were certain points that were not mentioned in every one's handouts which prevented that stakeholder from actively participating when discussing specific issues. Another problem that we faced stemmed from our own limited knowledge on the situation as a whole.

In the Aracruz simulation I was representing the Community. Because this stakeholder was indirectly affected by the Aracruz problem, it was sometimes hard for me to have a direct answer to some of issues in the discussion. My understanding was that the community wanted to keep the region peaceful and prosperous but it wasn't clearly stated whether that involved the return of the land to the indigenous people (which turned out to be a major conversation point). If I could redo the stakeholder dialogue I would try to gather more information on the background of the situation.

As every other skill acquired in this class, stakeholder dialogue skills will be helpful in different situations which require a "win - win" result such as: town hall, student organization, parent - teacher meetings, corporate policy development efforts as well as many situations of personal matter.

Globsmart Assessment

Interesting to see my assessment report after carefully selecting correct choices during self assessment.
It seems the tools shows you better reflection of yourself for all dimensions of you at the sametime which
a human brain is not capable of producing this kind of picture within your mind or we never attempt
to do so using our brain.

I am glad to find out that  I am towards interdependent rather than being independent which is required for being a team player, I have scored high on egalitarianism, I am also glad to find out that I am a direct person
which I am alwasy when it comes to work related, and I never had any differences with any collegues, or hurt anybodys feelings because of my direct nature, always communicated in a friendly and professional way.
I am totally surprised to see that I ended up rated as task oriented person which I am but I weigh high on relationship as well, so I might not have answered it right or there was not a correct choice to rate me in the middle. And Yes, I alway use long-term strategy both in personal as well as professional related decision making.

I was born and brouht up in India, so my personal culture is mostly Indian culsture, however, I have never worked in India, I came to USA as a student to do my graduate degree in computer science and I have worked in USA my entire career, so my workplace culture is mostly US based culture.
I see myself not a typical member of my culture, spending more than half my adulthood in USA.

Overall, GlobeSmart is an amazing tool, web site, I am really impressed with all the defitnitions and information maintained in their web site, and the short videos they have to portrait different profile dimensions.

Cultural Perspective and Dimensions

Culture is defined as the pattern of variations within a community, society, or more specifically, as the pattern of deep-level of values and assumptions associated with social effectiveness, religion, shared and followed by a group of people or communities, however, the entire cultural system may not be completely shared by ever member within a society or community. If the culsture is deeply shared by majority or all members within a society or community, then it is not open to change, it becomes closed, it it does not adpat to a changing environment.

It is my first time looking at different dimensions of Orientaios towards Relation to environment, relationships among humans, nature of Humans (I beleive that nature of most humans is essentially good, if not, some are molded by the society they brought up),  activity (my dimension towards activities is to think before acting, considering all things carefully and rationally before taking action), and time (in my opinion, the  decisions we make should be based on and balanced between Present - based on immediate needs and factors and Future - based on long term future needs and factors).

I have been working with several global teams from different countries through out my career, I came across a  team from a new country for me that I started working with and here are my observations about this team from Mexico.

Family comes first priority,  difficulty separating work and personal relationships, sensitive to differences of opinion,  versus family is usually second to work, personal sensitivity is separated at workplace from emotions, personal relationships.

By looking at my scores  versus Group results, I am surprised to see that I have scored High on two orientations for myself, and the group High score is relatively high on rest of the orientations.

Topics learnt on 9/18/2010

The day was packed with group activities and the class was lively through out the morning and afternoon sessions.

The morning session began with a case analysis--a newly appointed supervisor trying to impose a system in all the divisions. He goes to Panama to meet the head of the Panama division (Carlos) to discuss the issues, but is shocked to look at the nonchalance of Carlos in discussing the issues in hand. We were asked to list out the cues, interpretations, hypothesis, and actions that the new supervisor should take in tackling this rather unpleasant situation. The discussion essentially brought to the fore all the subtle cultural aspects that one should pay due attention to in Corporate meetings. We all agreed that the supervisor should have done some homework and should in fact seek the help of someone whom he can trust to learn the cultural aspects in a short time to handle Carlos effectively and win his trust and friendship. Also, inviting him and his wife for dinner was discussed as a plan of action. Cultural mentor is also a solution.

After breaking away for 15 minutes, we split up into 3 teams, each with a different cultural background, and had to discuss with other team members about selecting one out of 3 candidates for a managerial position. I belonged to the Eagle family that focussed on being aggressive and active, and we as a team ended up selecting Canopus as our candidate. However, when I met with other team members--who had selected Beetlejuice--we had to debate a little bit on the pros and cons of each of these two candidates, and were well along the way of arriving at a solution of selecting Canopus as our candidate. Here too, I learnt the art of having a keen observation in high level discussions, and be sensitive to others' cultural aspects.

The afternoon session was focussed on the Aracruz Corporation and land-grabbing case. I, as one of the representatives of Aracruz, had a hard time in defending our Company in the teeth of stiff opposition from NGOs, Indian representatives, and Government. I kept telling myself about keeping my aplomb as I felt that going through such a precarious situation and getting singled out to defend our position is far too common in business dealings:)

Overall, the class today was very experiential and taught me the importance of being sensitive to others' cultures, benefits of observation, stake holders discussions, etc in Global leadership.

Yes! We can ..!

Globalization is a phenomenon that touches our day-today lives on a daily basis and yet I never exactly gave it much thought in what it really means to the future of people! This class gives us an excellent opportunity to put it all in perspective.

I was thinking about globalization and our exercise in which we picked it's pros and the cons. I began to think how many of those really affected me when I landed in America at the age of 20. I believe coming to America made me the person I am today. Globesmart survey correctly assessed mine to be a hybrid American-South Asian personality. Here in America, I learned a lot about other cultures, developed curiosity as well as respect. Funny enough, I learned to appreciate my own culture in the process too! Globalization clearly had a positive impact on me.

For others, globalization may mean something different. A debate often rages in a business investment group that I am a part of. It is about the economic downturn and the role that globalization has played in it. The anti-group blames foreigners for taking away the jobs from the local workforce. The pro-group vehemently argues that foreigners deserve these jobs if they do work harder and smarter than the local workforce! The anti group strongly believes that it is their right to keep the jobs in the country where they are born to which the pro group argues that a job shouldn't be given to you based on where you were born but what you deserve. Having lived more than 1/3rd of my life away from my home country, I can truly empathize with both sides.

As you may agree, world indeed has become smaller. You no longer have to leave you country to be greeted by different cultures. With the invent of new technology, or because you are in a land of opportunities, several different cultures come to greet you on a daily basis. Believe it or not, we are all getting exposed to globalization. Having a fulfilling and successful life in such an environment despite our traditions and deeply rooted cultures, is an interesting challenge.

But then we as humans have overcome several challenges in our evolution period, haven't we!. There was a time when people believed that killing other men gave them the power. The muscle power ruled the brain power. There was a time men and women did not have equal rights. There was a time when it was believed that one human race was superior than the other. But over time, we adjusted to and conquered challenges after challenges and continue to do so.

Globalization is one of such challenges. Thinking global can simply mean treating everyone fairly. It can mean that the right by merit over-power the right by nationality, origin or birth. The election of the current president of USA is a testament to the shift in people's thinking (keeping the political views out of this).

To turn this challenge in our own favor at the personal level, we need to believe that we are the responsible global citizens. We should not treat each other as Americans, Indians, Chinese etc but as fellow global citizens. It is a huge shift in our thinking. It's an intimidating thought to think whether with so many different cultures, personalities, boundaries, conflicts, can we all really get along? Well, if you think 'Globalle' , then YES! We can ...!

Global Leadership Class , real experiential !

I took the Globesmart assessment as part of the class requirement and it was an eye opener how my birth country India and domiciled country USA vary in terrms each of the attributes ( Independent/Interdependent , Egaltarianism/Status, Risk/Restraint, Direct/Indirect, Task/Relationship, Short-term/Long-Term ) and it is very clear that I have to align myself a lot in some of the attributes.

 I enjoyed the last two classes more than any of the other 13 classes I have taken so far. Thanks to Lady Dianna( our TEacher's Associate) who was in my classes earlier who suggested/recomended this though I was considering taking some other elective.  The class simulations were nicely done especially last Saturday's card game. Its surprising to see how our mental models affect our behavior, assuming rules between different tables be the same. When you are confused, the chance of making mistakes increased by several hundred percent...this aspect was very clear during the transitions and many of us ended up voilating the rules.

Surprise Surprise

I took the Globe Smart assessment tonight. My scores indicated that I'm an independent, egalitarian, risk taking, direct, task oriented long term thinker. Needless to say there are no surprises here. If I had the opportunity to guess what my results were going to be I would have probably been spot on. However, perhaps I'm just proving the self fulfilling prophecies really do exist. My results couldn't be more indicative of who I am.

I'm independent, yes! I like be accountable as an individual, sometimes I think if you want it done right, you have to do it yourself. That's probably why my performance talk with my boss included discussions on learning how to delegate and saying "no". Regardless of my independent nature, I love working on teams. I get so turned on when a team has complete synergy. It's the best feeling in the world.

As far as egalitarianism goes, I'm flexible (and get easily frustrated both those who aren't). And one of my greatest assets is that I'm self directed. I also don't mind taking risks. I'm a firm believer that with big risks comes big rewards.

Now one of my weaknesses is my directness. I'm direct to a fault and can unknowingly hurt peoples feelings. However, I'm good at building relationships and quick to do so (usually through the work I perform.) My feelings aren't easily hurt, but if someone attacks my work I pine over it for days.

The assessment also said I'm a long term thinker. I think this is probably especially true right now because of where I'm at in my life. I'm really finally feeling "established" in my career, I'm unmarried, and about to graduate from school. Who wouldn't be thinking long term at this point!!

Now, do I think my grandparents would've had the same profile? Let me tell you a little bit about my grandparents. My fathers parents are from Panama, my grandmother had 5 boys, (yes BOYS!!) and stayed at home, my grandfather was a politico within the Panamanian government and served as an ambassador to several countries. On my mother's side my grandfather was from Northern Ireland, a spit fire Irish man, and my grandmother is from Cambridge, England. Both blue collar, cookie cutter Brits.

Ironically when wondering who would have the same profile as me I think my grandfathers yes, and my grandmothers no. Maybe it's generational, maybe it's due to their sex, regardless I feel strongly that my grandmothers were not independent, direct, long term thinkers. Again, perhaps it's not ironic, maybe my parents raised me that way on purpose.

As far as my results go, I'm completely opposite the Panamanians, and somewhat similar to the British and Americans. I think next time my mom says she doesn't understand my dad I'm going to show her my results. :)

The Choices of Globalization

It is our choices... that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.

-J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

This quote from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets has stuck with me since I first started reading the iconic series many years ago. When I think about our debate the first night of class, I can’t help but notice that most of our anti-globalism arguments focused on an assumption that industrialized nations with stable economies would be taking advantage of third-world and developing nations.

I agree whole-heartedly with Ganka that globalization is an inevitable force. As the trend continues, the power of the industrialized nations will afford them the opportunity to take advantage of those less fortunate. But, like Rowling (as Dumbledore) says, “It is our choices... that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.” Globalization also gives those of us that are more fortunate the opportunity to make a positive change in this world. We are taking this class because we hope to be counted among the future leaders of the unbelievably diverse Silicon Valley.

Perhaps I am naïve, but I believe that none of us (or even those in a similar position as us) are interested in growing our businesses at the expense of those less fortunate. As we learn more about the world’s cultures, we are arming ourselves with the information that will help us make the right choices and help others to make the right choices as well.

I’m a big fan of Hans Rosling’s Ted Talks. He breaks globalization down into some very interesting statistics--and let’s face it, most of us MBA types are a fan of seeing the numbers. If you have 20 minutes to spare, this first talk of his is excellent, but all of the others are great too. He really shows that if we arm ourselves with the facts and make the right choices, we can harness the power of globalization to make this world a better place.

The Making of Hybrid Species

My GSA results gave me surprising, yet not so surprising results: I am an American and Asian hybrid. As I was running through the questions, I'd run through scenarios from work and school and recall of my behavior and reactions. Select the option. Select another another option. I would look over my results and haphazardly think: these choices look like what someone from the American culture would choose. After all, I was born in the US and lived mostly with American ideals. As a result, when the last of the many questions were completed, I predicted that most of my communication style would be predominantly American.

What a surprise.

I compared my results to the United States, United Kingdom, and then two other Asian cultures -- Vietnam and Japan. It was a 50/50 split between the American culture (independent, egalitarianism, task) versus the Asian culture (restraint, indirect, and long term). 

Maybe this really shouldn't be a surprise. On the first day of class when we were discussing the advantages and disadvantages of globalization, one argument was that globalization would eventually destroy cultures and would become mostly "white."  The stronger, influential culture eventually would dominate and erase other cultures. The results from the GSA survey, however, seemed to disprove this logic. I was born in the US, but I lived in a mostly Asian upbringing household. I pretty much am a hybrid: a nice mixture of both Eastern and Western cultures. This shows that when people are exposed to different environments and cultures, they can pick up different values and interests. It would be like a new culture in the making. In my case, I would be an example of the Asian American culture.

The GSA survey was definitely an eye opener and very interesting. I am looking forward to the future surveys and lessons in the upcoming classes!

First impressions

I'm really looking forward to the remainder of this course. Both classes that we have had so far have been very interesting, much more so than any other course I've taken in the program(not that it's a competition.). I can't help but think this should be a required class, or put another way, this course feels like what the BUS202 course should have been.

As far as take aways from the class so far, I've had two that I'd like to touch on. On the first night, I was struck by the connections that people drew between globalization and outsourcing. I feel that outsourcing is a component of globalization, but not the entire puzzle. I think that most of us look at this that way because we are in the United States where most globalization practices are uni-directional(outward). Where as in developing countries, or even some developed countries, globalization may be more bi- or -multi-directional.

Secondly, the element of discovery that Alison touched on, has been eye opening to me. As I mentioned in class on Saturday regarding the card game, my behavior was drastically altered by the inability to speak during the game. I became a much more passive participant in the game than I would have been if I could have articulated myself whenever something came up. I've always fallen on the side of outspoken, but never realized how much of a "crutch", if you will, the spoken word was to me.

I can't wait to discover more surprises from the remaining simulations and evaluations that we will complete during this class.

Global Communication and Globesmart Assessment

We've only had 2 classes in 2 days, but the discussions and activities in that span has already allowed for a lot of self-discovery. What I find most interesting amongst the nuggets of revelations is that while I have always thought of myself as a pretty open-minded, culturally sensitive sort of person, the reality is that I am not. I've discovered that I shut down and withdraw in unfamiliar/uncomfortable social situations (X-ians, anyone?), and that I have a communications superiority complex (i.e. I have the strong urge to believe that western modes of communication are superior to eastern, and can even find some choice negative terms for some characteristically eastern behaviors). The point of the exercise here, though, is that I have become aware of these aspects of myself (even if the jury is still out on how OK I am about my tendency towards arrogance). Regarding my potential as a global leader...I will simply say that I know my potential can only improve as I work my way through this class.

I found my Globesmart Assessment survey results rather compelling--I predicted that I would register as a fully red-blooded American because I was raised in a predominantly white community where my only ties to my Chinese heritage were my racial appearance (1. which itself was regularly questioned, and 2. I don't think I fully realized I wasn't Caucasian until I was about 11) and my mother (who is unusually assimilation-focused). The result was almost half and half.

Challenges with US vs Global Team

In the last 2 classes, we have debated on pros and cons of globalization. We also discussed and experimented on different attributes of inter-cultural communication and collaboration. I think US is geographically and socially diverse enough such that various different challenges with global teams apply equally to US domestic teams.

For example, I find the workplace culture of California can be quite different than the East Coast. East coast teams that I have interacted with in the past 15+ years usually start their workday early in the morning. West cost teams are generally late starter. So, we should be sensitive in arranging meeting times that work well with teams at both coasts.

In my opinion, we have the luxury to observe and work with different cultures even among US domestic teams. Those experiences will serve us well as bedrocks to build our global skill sets on.

On globalization

Globalization is inevitable. Whether we approve of it or not; it is happening and it is affecting the lives of billions of people all over the world. That is why I believe it's important to study the positive and negative effects of globalization. It was interesting to have our own discussion in class (Friday 9/10) on the overall impact of globalization on today's world. Many viewpoints were expressed and all of them were valid. It is hard to determine whether the effects of globalization are strictly positive or negative.

The business world seems to be favoring globalization. I believe that humanity should have a greater goal than monetary growth. George Soros criticized globalization for making the provision of private goods more important than the provision of public goods such as peace, the eradication of poverty, the protection of human rights and the environment (The Pros and Cons of Globalization, p.143). And since globalization is happening as we speak, we have the power to make the necessary changes so that both business and people benefit from it. It is important to focus on a better use of generated wealth (investing in the development of industries in countries with limited resources, empowering locals to manage their own businesses, improving the quality of health care of people living in developing countries).

Globalization is one of the unique characteristics of this century. It is our responsibility to make the most out of it for everyone involved.

I find the first two classes of 297D very unique since I have never seen a class with as much class participation as this one! It stands to reason that such a practical class is of immense value to folks bent on improving their soft skills, like me.

I learnt the concept of globalization in the first class. Although it initially seemed like a cut-and-dried concept initially, a discussion on the pros and cons made us think about it a bit. It changed my opinion a bit too--after all a leader should seldom be obdurate about doing his/her own way.

The second class (9/11) was just great. We did several simulations, and it showed about our bias and attribution levels based on a simple card game. I thoroughly enjoyed the game and the fun!

The Xian simulation was also a fantastic, and it showed all of us how keenly we should observe and adapt accordingly on the fly as global leaders. In the middle, we also learnt the slides on the leadership dimensions (Hofstede) and saw a short video on the communication styles in a class room (direct/emotionally charged etc).

All the class members are friendly and it is turning out to be one of the best classes of the program, and I feel sad especially to part from the program:)