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.These specific modules are based on the first element.Performance Appraisal in a Global EnvironmentGlobal companies establish certain uniform cultural practices, andemployee management and recognition practices.Although establishinguniform standards globally is often a good idea, applying globalstandards for performance appraisals often is not.John Kovach, thetransitional HR manager who was to bring Nuovo Pignone into theGeneral Electric family (see Chapter 9 for the full story of NuovoPignone), experienced that challenge when he attempted to introduceGE’s 360-degree feedback method into the Italian company.The 360-degree feedback technique is employed to evaluateperformance.It is used to get performance evaluation reports from thefull circle of contacts with which an employee interacts, including thatemployee’s managers, colleagues, subordinates, and sometimes evenoutside vendors.During his tenure with Nuovo Pignone in Italy, Kovach was told tointroduce a 360-degree feedback program that the company wanteddeployed globally.By the time John was asked to deploy this program,he was well enough steeped in Italian management processes to realizehow difficult it would be to institute such a program in a relativelyhierarchical environment.He wasn’t sure it could be done at all.John began the process (as he did in many other instances) byletting the U.S.management know how difficult it would be because ofthe local hierarchical culture.288S O L O M O N - S C H E L LJohn approached one of the most senior members of the NuovoPignone management team and explained the importance of theprocess.The Italian acknowledged that he could see how it would beuseful in the United States but stressed how difficult it would be in Italy.He was incredulous when asked to pilot the program and complete anevaluation of his own boss.“It not only seemed inappropriate to him, but he also thoughtit was unthinkable to do a performance evaluation on his boss,”John explained.John said this was a company standard and asked thesenior executive to do what he could.The executive said he would tryand asked to be given a few days with the forms so that he could thinkabout how to complete the evaluation.John broached the idea with other Italian colleagues and found thatnone of them were able to do an evaluation of their own managers.It was only with great pain that they were able to evaluate their peers.“They could not bring themselves to be so disrespectful as to critiquetheir supervisor’s performance and couldn’t understand why the com-pany would want them to,” John said.It turned out that despite their best efforts, there was no waythe senior managers at Nuovo Pignone could bring themselves to doperformance evaluations of their own bosses.That incident provedhow difficult it is to institute globally uniform HR practices, especiallywhen they run counter to deeply held local cultural values.Althoughin a global organization it’s important to create standard managementpractices, what works in one culture does not always work in another.Performance evaluations, as with other kinds of feedback, arehighly charged communications and have to be handled with a greatdeal of cultural sensitivity.Imagine the potential for doing seriousdamage when a Danish manager who values blunt, straightforwardmessages shares negative feedback with an indirect, subtle communi-cator from Thailand.A comment as simple as,“I was unhappy with theway you did this,” would have one meaning to the Danish managerM A N A G I N G A C R O S S C U L T U R E S289but would be heard by the Thai recipient as a devastating condemnation.Unfortunately, a good and dedicated employee could be demotivatedby feedback that was intended to motivate change and improveperformance.At the other extreme, a Dutch employee from an Anglo-Dutchcompany who reported to a British supervisor felt confused by thefeedback he was getting.The British “sandwich” criticism.Beforeanything negative was said, the supervisor said something positive,quickly followed by the negative comment and then another positivecomment.The employee wasn’t sure where his manager was happywith his work and where he was not.For him, the message was lost in itstactful delivery.Performance evaluations are one of the activities that call on youto make use of all the cultural skills at your disposal.They need tobe approached with understanding, wisdom, and appreciation of thecultural message.Culture complicates the already difficult interaction aroundperformance issues.4 Research indicates that managers as well as employees are uncomfortable during this process.During stressfulmoments, we all revert to our accustomed ways of doing things.Thus,differences in cultural communication styles between manager andemployee could add to the already significant anxiety and potential formiscommunication.Part of the typical appraisal process in Western culture is toengage employees in establishing their own performance objectivesso that they take ownership of their responsibilities and development.This works well with empowered employees in egalitarian societies,but you can see the potential difficulty with employees from hierarchi-cal cultures.This can be confusing to those employees, and theappraisal process that is so successful in an egalitarian culturecould undermine the respect of a worker for his or her boss in a morehierarchical one.290S O L O M O N - S C H E L LGlobal LeadershipLeadership values are formed in earliest childhood by one’s heroes,teachers, and parents [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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