ASIA FOCUS : Minimising the differences

ASIA FOCUS : Minimising the differences

Can trust stand in the way of open discussion ?

Confidence in and respect for one's colleagues are key to creating the right environment to conduct discussions and take important decisions.

Within diversity based on cultural norms and values, minimising conflict caused by differences in culture and personalities leads to enhanced trust and confidence.

In addition, INSEAD survey respondents mentioned that a stronger working relationship resulted in mutual respect for each other's professional competences, creating a virtuous cycle (see chart).

In fact, viewed from a western cultural perspective, the extent of agreement within an Asian company's management team on the key strategic priorities of the business (i.e., the critical challenges facing the business and the ways to deal with them) can be surprisingly high.

While most respondents in INSEAD's survey were certain they can fully trust their colleagues (85.2% of the sample), respect their professional competence (88.9%) and expect them to live up to their word (74.1%), frequent disagreements about the content of strategic decisions were ranked as a very rare occurrence (only 7.4% of the sample reported strong disagreement).

Responses from the survey point to a cautious view of diversity of opinion about the content of strategic decisions, though many entrepreneurial teams (48.1% of the sample) reported proposing different approaches to solving strategic issues.

In the West, the guiding principles of strategic management discussions have been reciprocal understanding and mutual enabling.

In the Asian business and entrepreneurial environment, true discussion was typically brought out by existing intimacy in the longstanding relationship, rather than being rooted in the merits of an isolated discussion.

General News
Bangkok Post
Saturday January 20, 2007