9 Decisions: head or heart

For a German and a Finn, the truth is the truth. In Japan and in Britain, it is all right if it does not rock the boat. In China, there is no absolute truth. In Italy, it is negotiable.

Richard D. Lewis

This instrument compares the degree to which people rationalize decision-making or are swayed by an emotional connection to group concerns: rational or subjective; head or heart.

Culture crash

Lorena Rodriguez, a young Colombian mortgage payment processing clerk, recently started a new job in a bank based in London. She’s enjoying her new life, getting used to the way of life in the UK and making great strides in her position. Her boss, the MD Lloyd Jones, is pleased with her progress and with the considerable improvements she has made in her first five months, something that no one else has managed during their initial time in the company.

Early one Monday morning, she receives sad news from home. Lorena tells Mr Jones that her mother has been taken ill and is in hospital. She enquires about taking time off to go home to visit her mother, and is surprised when her boss says she’ll have to run it past HR.

Culture tip

In Colombia, as in other South American cultures, hierarchy is prevalent and managers grant requests based on their own personal decisions. Decision making is far more intuitive and instinctual than in many other nations, and so it was natural for Lorena to go straight to her boss rather than the HR department. When Mr Jones informed Lorena that under no circumstances could he allocate time off to her and directed her to the HR office to ask them to review company policy and to suggest options, she thought him uncaring. She was at a loss and wondered what she had done wrong to deserve such treatment. In the London office, policies and procedures had been created so that everyone would be treated similarly.

Cultural insight

Western cultures have developed steps for a rational decision process, which take a type of ‘universalistic approach’ – they can be used any time and in any circumstances. Simplistically, these include: define the problem, gather and analyze relevant data, consider alternative solutions, identify minimum criteria for success, decide on the best solution and implement the choice. This programmed decision-making process reduces risk and stress for the decision makers as it is a tried and tested formula that everyone uses. Logic prevails.

A decision in these head-oriented cultures has a truth value, which is seen to be a constant. As one manager explains, ‘...You refer to the architecture rather than to the flesh first; we prefer objectivity rather than emotional attachment.’

Rational head-oriented cultures favour objective knowledge for decision making: ‘thinking outside the box’ and new knowledge are highly revered, and different opinions are encouraged to provide new insights. Speaking one’s mind, honesty and openness are valued. Therefore it is culturally acceptable to ask questions and challenge existing beliefs. Decisions can often be made quickly by an individual who has the authority to speak on behalf of a larger group.

‘How you convince someone from another culture is obviously very, very culturally predetermined. You come back here to the question of processing of information; questions of evidence, what constitutes evidence in one culture compared with another culture.’

Culture crash

During our research we interviewed Bob Scott, a senior manager in the oil and gas industry. He said, ‘If you are looking at the speed of decision making in South East Asia it’s pathetic. They are absolutely hampered by hierarchy. They have to have absolute consensus to make a decision. In the fast-moving, market-driven sector I work in, this makes life very difficult.’ This statement begs the question: By what standard and in what context?

Bob continued, ‘Everybody agrees that it takes our Asian colleagues forever to make a decision. In the West, we can implement much faster. I find working in Japan very frustrating...’

Culture tip

This example assumes that there is only one process for making decisions: the Western way. This presupposes an acceptance of deadlines as being the ultimate criteria; not so in many countries. Asian, African and South American cultures prefer the process of acknowledging each contributor’s status and contribution, all of which take time.

Decision making through logic can be problematic; some cultures find it incredible that logic can be used to force someone to agree or persuade them to another point of view. Objective reasoning, argumentation and sound logic will never persuade. In these cultures, people need to engage with their feelings about relationships and their obligations to others in all walks of life.

‘The other thing that drives me nuts is getting the French to make a decision. They will have just one meeting after another, and it goes on and on. Now, curiously, I think the Americans have far more meetings and talk a lot more than the British; when the Americans decide to go, they just go!’

Culture crash

An American IT consultant, Josh Brown, was working with a large electronics corporation in Japan. He had a great idea to improve one of the bestselling devices the company produced. Dying to share his innovative thinking, Josh gathered various influential members of the company together and made a stunning presentation, logically taking everyone through the thinking behind the innovation. He was sure he would win everyone over with his ‘no brainer’ concept. However, no one enthusiastically supported his idea.

The next day he asked his Japanese friend for advice. ‘My dear friend, Josh,’ he said, ‘have you never heard of nemawashi? If you want to get anything to happen in a Japanese business you will have to exercise patience and trust in your colleagues. What you have to do is speak informally with each one and say, “By the way, I wanted to tell you about something I’ve been working on...” This is the nemawashi system. If your nemawashi succeeds then your proposal will be accepted for sure; if there are some people who don’t like your proposal you can improve it, adding or modifying until everyone is happy. If your idea is bad, it will be cast out before the senior management know.’

‘Since Japanese work in groups, the business decision-making process is rather slow. Unlike American businesspeople, who have been authorized to make business decisions within the capacity allowed by upper level management, Japanese businesspeople are not normally given authorization to make a decision alone.’

Culture tip

Nemawashi (see also Productivity) is the most important concept you need to know if you want to understand how Japanese companies work; it is the principle of making decisions by consensus through trust at the wa level (harmony with nature). The procedure in a European or American company is to arrange a meeting and make a proposal in front of the main team. It is a slick and pretty fast-paced process, with decisions on how to progress being made then and there. In Japan, before making a formal proposal to senior managers you need to make sure your peers agree. This prior informal consultation is called nemawashi. To see success, Josh needs to consult his entire department. Once the process of nemawashi is complete, the initiating department has permission to make and implement a formal proposal (note this now a group proposal, not Josh’s).

In highly group-oriented countries such as Japan and China, you may need to rethink some aspects of your approach to getting a decision. Learn not to expect direct and quick answers to your questions, and allow colleagues to consult each other without being suspicious about it. In such cultures, employees will tend to rely more on the group for support, with aspirations towards orderliness, security and duty. Your reaction may be to view such colleagues as being indecisive and lacking in confidence, while they may be uncomfortable with your demands for individual and rapid responses.

Cultural insight

Consultative authority is the cornerstone of the Arab decision-making process: male leaders at the top, who retain relatively unquestionable authority, make decisions after consultations that range from the appearance of and resemblance to participation. The lower one goes in the hierarchy, the less meaning consultations take and, in most cases, they are non-binding. Consultations seem to be superficial in the sense that the manager seeks to obtain the agreement of organizational members on decisions already made. This projects an image of consultation and participation which reflect the influence of Islam and tribal values and beliefs. The notion of personal relationships is highly valued in the decision-making process, much more than the task itself. Arab executives find that the purpose of consultation is to fulfil the egos of the parties involved rather than to improve the quality of the decision.

Arab managers prefer to rely on their market instincts rather than hard data, so you need to emphasize the short-term effects of the business relationship and/or deal in order to make the proposal convincing and appealing to them.

Cultural insight

Cultures value different types of knowledge. All societies value both explicit and tacit knowledge. However, there is a cultural bias towards one or the other. Data and knowledge are extremely important elements for Western managers for decision making. For them, knowledge is a rational, objective entity. These ‘head’ cultures tend to prefer explicit knowledge.

In Asian cultures, knowledge and body are as one. There is no mind–body split, as has been developed in Western thinking. Knowledge is not individualized, but readily shared with a network to create a body of knowledge. ‘Heart’ cultures prefer tacit, intuitive, relationship-based knowledge. Tacit knowledge is highly revered. Remember: people from ‘heart’ cultures tend to come from relationship-based societies and value group membership as a central aspect of identity, sacrifice for the common good and maintain harmonious relationships with others. Their decisions support those values over logic and speed.