Doing a Double Take

SAN MATEO (02/14/2000) - When John Lema was assigned to lead a team of 20 developers in building an online grocery system in Hong Kong and Singapore last year, he figured his biggest obstacle would be tackling old IBM Corp. mainframes and legacy systems he hadn't encountered before. What Lema had not figured on was spending so much time and energy learning to understand these countries' cultures -- and learning to conduct business from a completely different view.

Like many IT professionals, Lema -- a Los Angeles-based senior systems architect for U.S. Interactive, an international Internet services company -- believed that it would be relatively simple to adjust to working overseas.

After all, he reasoned, "computerese" is a global language.

"I figured the transition would be so easy, since I'm in the technology field," Lema says. "I knew that everything is coded in English, at least in Asia." But the transition wasn't so easy.

As more and more IT professionals are being sent around the globe to capitalize on new technology opportunities for their companies, many find that there's more to overseas endeavors than meets the eye. In particular, learning international business practices and customs, communicating clearly and effectively, and planning for the return home are crucial preparations that IT pros must make before leaping abroad.

Lema, who had previously worked successfully in New Zealand, expected another positive experience with smooth transitions, and was looking forward to the added leadership challenge this time.

He also reasoned that as engineers, he and his team colleagues "wouldn't have to rely so much on interpersonal relationships" as would, say, a banker working abroad. So to prepare for his eight-month long sojourn, Lema spent about four hours shopping for -- and reading -- tourist guidebooks to Hong Kong and Singapore, figuring that was ample preparation.

Two months into his assignment, Lema found himself increasingly frustrated. He realized he didn't know how to ask questions in a manner that would encourage his reserved Asian team to respond efficiently.

"Everyone would just answer with a simple yes or no all the time," Lema says.

"I had to learn to be extremely specific in what to ask. If someone asked someone on the Asian team if they got hit by a car, they would say no, even if they were hit by a bus. That's how specific I had to be in my questions. Plus, culturally, my Asian co-workers weren't used to asking questions. I discovered that documentation of the project became very important, so project information would be clear and easy to refer back to."

Lema did not regret his assignment. But "I was working with a Scotch-tape-and-bubble-gum technical operation," he says, "and I had to be extra-creative with my thinking. I learned I had to be more of a leader overseas."

Prepare for cultural challenges

Cultural challenges crop up where you least expect them. IT professionals who find themselves abroad must always think of what they can do to overcome the next challenges.

Vicki Sowinski, technology leader of Global Financial Capture and Controls for American Express, is currently based in Phoenix. When abroad, although she was assigned to work in the Western-culture, English-speaking environment of Brighton, England, she experienced great difficulties in cross-cultural communication just the same.

"I was one and a half years into my assignment, and one day someone on my team who reported directly to me had a funding issue, but I didn't understand what he was saying," Sowinski recalls. "He had used a slang term, 'dosh,' to refer to money. And I hadn't heard that before."

Sowinski also found that her management style was different from what her British co-workers expected. "I'm a relaxed leader," Sowinski says. "I make jokes. But in Brighton, the programmers were surprised."

Lema's and Sowinski's experiences are typical of IT professionals working abroad, according to Michael McCallum, director of business development at Berlitz Cross Cultural, the language training company's cultural orientation division, in Princeton, N.J.

"American IT workers have a superior technical understanding. They work abroad, usually to transfer technology to people," McCallum says. "When training colleagues in an overseas situation, they might not realize that their co-workers might not understand them. What many people don't realize is that it's even more important in the IT world to pay attention to cross-cultural communication than in other fields."

To help American workers prepare for assignments abroad, McCallum and his colleagues at Berlitz prescribe a two-day training session, which he states is the industry standard for preparing IT professionals to work abroad. Topics include how to delegate authority and how to create consensus in a particular work environment. Programs also include basic day-to-day living etiquette.

"IT people might overlook the fact that they will be drawn in on meetings," McCallum says. "And imagine the workplace awkwardness that would result if an [American] IT worker went to Japan not knowing beforehand that it's not customary to look into another person's eyes when speaking to them, a communication skill that's encouraged in the United States."

Learn to communicate

If he had to do it all over again, Lema would have prepared better by learning more about international business cultures. He says he would have researched sales practices and read local publications online to learn what to expect beyond the tourist guidebooks.

Looking back at her experience abroad, if she were to work overseas again, Sowinski says she would allow herself a three-to six-month cultural learning curve, during which time she would concentrate on learning how IT roles and processes worked in the new, foreign environment. And she would also start communicating with overseas colleagues before she left for the assignment.

The importance of strengthened communication cannot be emphasized enough, says Erran Carmel, author of Global Software Teams: Collaborating Across Borders and Time Zones, and an associate professor of management and co-coordinator of the new Master of Global Information Technology MBA program at American University in Washington.

Carmel claims that Lema's and Sowinski's experiences represent the biggest challenges facing IT professionals working abroad today. "In IT, people work in groups, so communication is a key facet. Without it, there is no way to be a team," he says.

"For supervisory or managerial staff, exposure to the IT world in that country is very important to establish ahead of time," says Carmel. "That means reading trade journals or [visiting] Web sites that might indicate the state of IT in that nation. Getting a lay of the land can help. Sometimes IT people forget to ask basic questions. How many people have phones? Do they use common software?"

Carmel also suggests posting a unified team Web page with all application information, time zone differences, even photographs of team members, so that managers and engineers can stay abreast of international projects both in the United States and abroad, before, during, and after their completion.

In transit

In order to make the technical transition abroad -- and back home, which is another hurdle in itself -- Sowinski says that her company's internal Web site helped her make smooth transitions back and forth. "I can easily keep up with what's been going on technically thanks to our internal Web site."

Because of rapid industry shifts, it's important to keep current on developments before coming back to the United States.

"Even if an IT pro misses six months of being exposed to technology developments in the U.S., he or she misses a lot," Lema says. "People forget that there isn't a large proliferation of technology publications readily available outside of the U.S."

Even if a company doesn't have an internal Web site, the Internet itself is a valuable resource for information that might help American IT pros make their transitions to and from other nations.

When in Hong Kong and Singapore, Lema says, he spent most of his time researching the legacy systems he was working to upgrade. Because he didn't regularly pay attention to technical developments in the United States, it took him longer than he expected to adjust technologically upon his return.

"If I were to go abroad again, I would have spent some time each week doing online research into what was going on in America," he admits. "It would have saved me valuable time upon my return. I would say I had to spend one to two months catching up, loading up on IT and development magazines."

Repatriation roadblocks

Aside from the technical considerations, repatriation sometimes proves to be more stressful than going abroad.

To help battle repatriation stress, Sowinski learned to apply the cross-cultural communication skills she was cultivating while abroad when communicating with her American colleagues, both before and after her return to the United States.

"My re-entry strategy was to keep up the continuity of my relationships with my colleagues. So I had open discussions with my peers in America," recalls Sowinski. "I had regular conference calls, not just about projects but about processes as well.

"While abroad, I became more aware of how things could be perceived in other offices. I learned that I could be adaptable," Sowinski says.

However, those same skills gained also mean that your culturally seasoned employee may find more opportunities elsewhere.

"Sending an IT pro abroad is a huge investment," says McCallum, "and if they leave a company upon their return, well, no manager wants someone with a cultivated set of global skills walking out the door."

In many ways, whether job experiences -- abroad or elsewhere -- are excruciatingly frustrating obstacles or important learning lessons is simply a matter of attitude.

"The cultural challenges that IT workers face 10,000 kilometers away from their home country can serve a multifaceted purpose," says Carmel. "The battles and disagreements they might overcome can help them build skills that can apply when dealing with people anywhere."

Reena Jana is a free-lance writer in New York.

Culture advantage

Sometimes cross-cultural differences can be seen as advantageous to an IT manager, as Basil Qubain discovered when he arrived in the Middle East. Qubain is the deputy general manager at the Amman, Jordan, site of ONEWORLD Software Solutions, an Internet software development company based in Cambridge, Mass.

"Jordanians are very structured and overly polite. That could be perceived of as 'bad,' because their politeness might prevent them from speaking up, which is a hardship since in IT we need constant feedback, because our products grow at such a fast rate," Qubain says. "But their demeanor also allows them to be extremely sensitive and attentive as well."

Qubain discovered that the Jordanian IT world isn't as large and competitive as it is in the United States, so his co-workers were more open to new software development ideas.

"Jordanians, like many people in emerging countries, see the U.S. as a role model, as a technology leader. So they are more susceptible to believe in a start-up," Qubain says.

"In the U.S., there is such an overwhelming influx of competing tech companies, that many in IT have adopted a hold and wait approach. After all," Qubain says, "the U.S. has been through multiple fad cycles. But the Jordanians are passionate in this respect."

Helpful Web sites

World Information Technology and Services Alliances - www.witsa.org:

This site consists of information industry professional organizations from around the globe. The Global IT Resources page links to numerous groups, so you can easily find out what specific issues IT professionals are facing in the country to which you are assigned.

Society for Information Management, Global Division - www.siia.net/program/global:

This site is a clearinghouse for information and online activities to help IT pros cope with the dilemmas particular to the global information management industry. There are sections devoted to specific regions and nations.

Center for International Assignment Management - www.ciam.erc.org:

Geared toward its members, professionals who oversee those working abroad, this site offers some valuable information to the public, including a small database of service organizations such as international cross-cultural orientation and training specialists.

Institute for International Human Resources - www.shrmglobal.org:

This site features a "Worldwatch" section with extensive profiles of various nations. Maps, business practices, customs, and periodicals information are included.

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