Home | Business News | Browse by Publication | R | Research Technology Management

Integrating cultures: R&D leaders' newest task.

Article Excerpt
The world has high hopes for research/technology leaders. You are expected to jump-start the global economy with innovations in areas such as green technology, biotechnology, stem cell cures, nanotechnology, virtualization, cloud computing, software as a service, and wireless broadband mobility. To succeed, you will likely have to integrate technical professionals from different cultures into high-performing teams. This is a huge challenge, but also a great opportunity for personal development in what you need to know and be able to do.

You will be faced with different types of cultural integration requiring different approaches. These are:

* Integrating research and development teams from different countries in your own company.

* Working on products and solutions with customers and partners from different companies, government agencies, or universities.

* Organizing professionals from different disciplines to work together on solutions.

* Leading a team with members from different national cultures.

For each type, your leadership challenge is to integrate a group of people with different ways of thinking, values and emotional attitudes into an effective and efficient team with a shared purpose and identity. Let's consider what you need to know and do with each type of cultural integration.

Twenty years ago, when ABB was formed by merging engineering organizations in Sweden, Germany and Switzerland, I was hired to find out why distrust was undermining integration. I found that the managers in each national culture had different approaches to products, customers and managerial decision-making. And each group was highly critical of the others.

Because the Swedes were used to exporting to lessdeveloped countries, they made products that were easy to service and resistant to extreme temperatures. Their customers respected the superior knowledge of Swedish engineers and followed their recommendations. The management team had a tradition of avoiding conflict and favoring consensual decision-making. They met in frequent offsites, sometimes with families, to cement strong relationships. Those managers not convinced of the leader's view seldom voiced their concerns. They viewed the Germans as autocratic and unfriendly and the Swiss as unreliable and inefficient.

The Germans were used to selling complex technology to highly qualified engineers within Germany. In their decision-making process, they encouraged open debate based on facts. But when the Meister made a decision, they all marched in step. Managers did not socialize outside of work, because they believed friendships might undermine objectivity. They viewed the Swedes as inferior technologically and lacking integrity in their decision-making. However, they agreed with...

View this article FREE - Now for a Limited Time, try Goliath Business News
Free for 3 Days!