Cultural risk is a two way street

Cultural risk is a two way street

My thanks to Donna K. Woodward from Medan for her spirited
response to my article published in The Jakarta Post dated April
28, 2001, entitled Cross cultural risk in doing business. Donna
is right in drawing readers' attention to the fact that the
article was written from the perspective of Australians wanting
to engage Asia, but not having the cultural tools to do so
successfully.

There is of course another perspective. Cultural risk is a two
way street. Asian business leaders likewise need to be aware that
the Western worldview, including those views held by most
Australians, are different and unique and also built on thousands
of years of cultural development. Australia and Indonesia are in
fact in a unique position to explore the reciprocal
responsibilities of "cultural awareness, tolerance and common
courtesy".

However where I disagree with Donna is in her suggestion that
"there exists a stereotype of Asians as fragile, passive
associates, whose sensitivities need to be placated even at the
cost of corporate integrity and profitability". This is unhelpful
and misses the point altogether.

In my anecdote the hurried cappuccinos and the 9 a.m. business
meeting constituted only the superficial form of the
disagreement. It was the complete misunderstanding of the role of
hierarchy and the decision-making process in Asian business that
was at the heart of the Chinese delegation's decision to abandon
the project. To suggest otherwise, to infer that Asians are that
"fragile" is to be guilty of the same charge Donna so correctly
warns us about.

In a similar way the advice I often give Asian businesspeople
about the West is: perpetuating the myth that Western
businesspeople are all greedy, grasping, selfish, self-centered,
and egotistical does not address the issue that there are clear,
rational and culturally consistent reasons why Western people are
preoccupied with goals, targets and ends. Likewise there are
sound and equally rational reasons why Asians are preoccupied
with means, process and relationship building.

These are not myths, or stereotypes, but rather absolutely
fundamental aspects of cross-cultural exchange. They cannot be
brushed aside so easily without, as my story suggested,
disastrous consequences.

ROB GOODFELLOW

Wollongong University, Australia