On October 16, 2008 the George Washington University School of Business hosted Proctor and Gamble President of Global Fabric Care, Mr. Jorge Mesquita. Mr. Mesquita gave a presentation to a group of graduate and undergraduate students from the University on the topic of culture and its impact within the business world, with a special insight from a multi-national organization such as Proctor and Gamble. Mr. Mesquita has spent most of his professional career working for P&G. He started in South America with a position in Product Development and eventually worked his way up through the ranks to his present position. Mr. Mesquita is keen on the influence of culture and his knowledge and awareness of the subject has undoubtedly assisted in his growth within the company. You can view Mr. Mesquita's presentation by clicking here to visit ICSB TV.  The title of Mr. Mesquita's presentation was ‘Cultural Diversity' and he tackled a number of specific aspects related to culture such as personality, individualism, universalist vs. particuarlist, time, power, communication and competitiveness. According to Mr. Mesquita, culture is an integrated system of learned behavior patterns that are characteristic of the members of any given society as well as being a total way of life for particular groups of people – everything that the group thinks, says, does and makes. The different aspects of culture represent the behavioral patterns mentioned while the norms and values are shared by the greater majority. It is important to note that the this perspective on culture does not implicate a stereotype becuase there are always personalities within each culture that don't fit the general profile; but in terms of the mean, many of the people within a culture are similar in many ways.
The dynamic of culture that Mr. Mesquita manages is centered upon his understanding of the differenences between people and how he as a manager can communicate most effectively with each employee. As is the case with any cultural society, those brought up within that culture have a set of unique experiences that have fundamentally shaped who that person is. Individuals from around the world are very different from each other in terms of their way of life and their approach to daily interactions, so it is necessary to understand what situations make people most comfortable. For example, Mr. Mesquita pointed out that when you work with people at P&G you have to know where they come from because you will find that some employees like to work in isolation where as a collectivist prefers to work in a group setting surrounded by others. Knowing where people are most comfortable ultimately helps you as a manager to determine which jobs to give them, what to focus them on, and how to deal and react to changing circumstances.
In regards to time, Mr. Mesquita provided a great example that demonstrates differences between monochronic and polychronic people. In this scenario, a manager is in his or her office having a very emotional conversation with an employee, to the point where the employee is in tears. In about 5 minutes the manager is scheduled to be at a very important meeting; What do you do? A monochronic person will say, “Here is a tissue, I must go to the meeting but I would like to sit down another time to continue this conversation.” A polychronic person, on the other hand, will say, “This person needs my attention right now and the meeting will have to wait.”
Mr. Mesquita stressed two key points in his presentation to assist the group in their understanding of the impact of culture. First, he explained that each student should define victory or success in the broader sense, meaning that winning is important but you don't have to win and let others lose. She said that in business you will often find that success comes when you win and others win with you. Realizing that you can succeed while also bringing a whole lot of people along for the ride can make a tremendous difference. The second key point is the ‘platinum rule,' which states that we should treat others as they want to be treated. In opposition of the 'golden rule,' the platinum rule requires that you understand each person for who they are and what motivates them, so that you may then modulate how to engage and connect with them in a way that brings the best out.
To watch Mr. Mesquita's presentation please click here to visit ICSB TV. |
