MANAGING AN INTERNATIONAL TEAM

Exam
Class of Yasmina JADI

The Windy City Experience

By Olga Alejandra VELZQUEZ ARENAS
The expectations started from the moment I knew we were going to Chicago. Personally I
liked the idea of the American working culture (not their labor laws). I come from an
industrial city right in the border with the United States and I have seen that our companies
are widely influenced by their styles on management and Human Resources processes; also
there are several American companies allocating their manufacturing sites there, and even
when they are located in Mexico they try to adapt some of the original company culture to the
Mexican sites.
My first expectation professionally speaking was to find out if my preconceived ideas
about American companies and workers matched the reality: very wellness-oriented, focused
on the individual but promoting a healthy team attitude, approachable top management, casual
behavior in the offices and looking for happiness in general. As an organizational
psychologist, I believe these topics are the core focus of what Human Resources should take
care of; if you have these, the productivity levels and all the positive impact on the financial
statements of the enterprises will come by themselves.
On a personal level I had one big expectation, going back to the U.S. so I could be openly
friendly in public and to receive great services. Unlike many of my classmates this wasnt my
first time dealing with the American population and public spaces, I used to go very often to
San Diego just to take a walk, do minor shopping, eating or visiting tourist spots like parks,
beaches, zoos, or a bit further to themed parks like Disneyland or Six Flags. I love their
customer service and I was really excited to go back and enjoy it again. Also I wanted to see
how French people act in a different country and how other cultures perceive them abroad;
this also has a professional intention, because if I want to manage people in France who will
be in contact with international teams I think it is important to know how other cultures
perceive the French stereotype and see the truth and lies behind them so I can break barriers in
the future.
One of the conferences had a great impact for me on the professional side; it was about
victimization on the workplace and its effects on high performers and low performers, this is a
study published on The Journal of Applied Psychology and one of the researchers was there to
explain it. My first learning outcome was to know there is something called Evidence Based
Human Resources Management, a completely new concept for me, where HR Managers can
take decisions based on evidence from human behavior to obtain the best results, this
evidence can be found on statistics, the news, scientific research and reports, in history itself
and even on first-hand experience. To be able to have better people management the leader
should be someone with the will to learn on a daily basis from all the information that is
already out there. Listening to this conference really gave me a new hope to be able to do
scientific research inside companies on Psychology topics.
This research explains through the Social Comparison Process the reasons why some
people are targets of aggression inside companies (bullying or mobbing for a term better
related to the workplace): the high performers are seeing with envy and they raise questions

on equity, while the low performers evoke frustration and resentment of weighing down the
results of the team. The kind of aggression these two groups receive from the average
performers on the team is different, being a form of subtle passive-aggressive violence
towards the high performers and a more explicit hostility towards the poor performers. The
difference is based on the consequences the aggressor could face; the top leaders will defend a
high performer and will try to keep him safe, so if an aggressor is caught it is more likely that
there will be repercussions. On the other hand, top leaders will tend to leave the low
performers unattended, so if an aggressor is caught being hostile with one of the low
performers, it is more likely that he will not face any consequences. The course of action to
take with this information would be to decide how to deal with the group of average
performers to inspire a behavioral change where, on one hand, the high performer can be seen
as an inspiration and someone to learn from, and on the other hand, they listen to the needs of
the low performer and help him become better.
Another interesting learning came from an HR professional in the industry sector who
lived the Detroit automotive industry crisis. It was very moving to hear the experience of this
woman who, working for an automotive company, had the responsibility of dismiss so many
people from different levels on the organization while watching her neighbors, friends and
family being dismissed from other companies, knowing that at the end of this dismissal her
position would also be removed. This showed the bad and ugly side of being part of HR in
crisis situations. Also I learned that knowing the impact of a financial crisis in one specific
sector is important to make smart career decisions, it tells me to be aware of what is going on
in the worlds economy and a bit more specifically on the sector Im working so I can move
before a crisis explodes.
This conference was also very emotional and personal for me because, as I mentioned
before, the city I come from is mainly industrial and the automotive manufacturing was an
important part of the economy until the crisis of 2008 finally struck Tijuana in December of
that same year and the rest of Mexico in 2009. I knew that our crisis was a result of something
bigger happening in the U.S. auto industry, and fortunately Tijuana has recovered almost
entirely thanks to more investment in other sectors like the medical devices manufacturing or
the culinary arts, but I never imagined the real atrocity it was for a single city that hasnt
recover yet: Detroit.
The third conference was also interesting but I cannot say I had a new learning; it was on
the use of Data, Big Data and Internet of Things. I have been reading on the topic in relation
with HR, and on this sense the conference was not deep enough, it would have been great if
the presenter went deeper into the usage of Business Data Analysis and People Analytics to
make smarter and more accurate decisions based on predictions.
The company visits where refreshing, they met my expectations. You could feel the
relaxed attitude of the hosts and even their attire was casual. On the tours we had through the
facilities they all had in common the open working spaces, meeting rooms with crystal clear
walls, free drinks in the cafeteria with at least one day of free snacks or a specific food, people
wearing sport shoes and jeans, and a very particular emphasis on the importance of
networking. They had similar cultures of happiness, low hierarchy, flexibility and productivity
with quality. Specially one, BPI was a great experience for me, they are a consultancy
company for businesses but with a special focus on individuals and their wellbeing.

I think I discovered one thing about my personality with this whole experience; I can
network better than I thought! Usually I consider myself a little shy when it comes to speak to
a stranger, I can speak to a whole audience without a problem, but speaking to one single
person I dont know can be a bit scary. In this trip I had the opportunity to approach the hosts
from the companies at the end of the presentation and ask them questions about their jobs or
personal experience, even ask for advice on how to launch my career better, which the answer
was you have to network, networking is key and turns out I am not that bad at it. Sharing
came naturally on me, so I guess I am a peach type of person, definitely not a coconut.
I learned a lot about the French personality, probably even more on this week than in the
whole eight months I have been living in France. French are coconuts, and that made it very
hard for me to adapt at the beginning of my adventure in Paris, at first they do not share, they
give you a weird look if you say you like their shoes or their coat in the bus, they say
bonjour but not really meaning it, at work they ask about your weekend but if you say more
than it was nice they get freaked out. But on the trip to Chicago I had the opportunity to
meet some of my classmates from the French tracks, the first day they were only between
them, but by the end of the week we were all going out together, taking pictures, dancing,
talking about our lives, and hoping to have more opportunities to be this close again when
coming back to Paris. It is true that when peaches meet coconuts there is a clash at the
beginning, but with a little patience from both sides the differences disappear.
Now I know that the American style of sharing is very practical, applications first, and
their low context communication helps this purpose; they did not need several hours of
conference to explain their ideas, they were straight to the point. In the conferences we were
able to ask questions at any time, while the presenter was speaking you could raise your hand
and he would give you the word, this enriches the conversation deeply, and at least for me this
is better than the French way of waiting until the end to make questions when the subject is
already cold, but that is part of their high context way of communicating.
I could see that for many French classmates the American attitude was perceived as fake
because they use many positive feedback words in their conversations such as great,
awesome, that is a very, very important question, thank you for asking, which shows
again a cultural difference. I do not think these attitudes are fake but maybe that is because I
have seen them before and people in my city are more or less the same and I know it comes
from an honest intention. However I can understand why they feel it is too much, for the
French culture the positive feedback is limited, ceest pa mal is the same as it is good but
literally means it is not bad which for Mexicans or Americans is an expression of this is
bad but I will not say it like that. So I guess they had the same impact as I when I arrived to
France, me for thinking they are mean, and them for thinking Americans are fake for being
too good.
I do not think we have enough material to judge the cultural differences of companies in
the U.S. versus companies in our home countries and France, it is necessary to work there to
really feel and live the culture so we could make a fair comparison. But based on what I saw
on the surface and what companies shared in the visits I would say the management styles in
the U.S and in France are completely opposite. This is a good opportunity for companies who
work in both countries to find a middle ground, since both styles have their advantages, for
example, the American culture could benefit more from the confrontational style of the
French, instead of trying to be very polite and politically correct to not offend the others with
a discussion, they could use discussions to raise disagreements on the team and see different

problems that might be hidden. On the other side, when the problem is identified, the French
could benefit from the decision making process of the American, instead of taking a decision
by one or two top leaders to solve the problem and then telling everyone below them what to
do, they could have a consensual decision addressed by the whole team and all the people
involved in the implementation of the solution.
I believe this adventure of living and working in a different country and experiencing a bit
a third one with the trip to the U.S. is teaching me valuable lessons on not to settle in the first
impression; it takes time to really get to know and understand why people act the way they
do. If I want to become a good leader, in my professional and personal life, patience and will
to learn from others are key, developing the skills to adapt to different cultures but also to pull
those who are different until we find a mid-point is the real challenge.