Working with other nationalities

[Andiline]

PREAMBLE: this thread is not meant to end in or do any national bashing. What I write reflects my own personal experience and whoever answers should do so as well and not just use 'prejucides' or 'common knowledge'.

First of all: I have been working with 'non-germans' (and germans) for the past 10 years. For the past 6 years I have been working with Jan, my german team colleague and I am happy with that since we get along very well. Never had any problems. Our manager is swiss and we are happy with that as well as all together we are a good team. We have another colleague in Cologne and two more in Zurich in our department.

Over the past 10 years we have been working with different nationalities. Started to work with americans 8 years ago and that stopped about 2 years ago when we didn't have any more colleagues in the US. Last year my company has been taken over by a french company so we have to deal with another nationality and since the past 3 days I've been in France it was obvious again that they have a completely different style of working than the one we are used to (and have known in the past). So I thought I'd start this thread. Someone else might have similar experiences (or different since these are based on my life only... ).

Americans: it was rather chaotical. 'We here in the United States....' was a sentence I heard more often than I would have liked it. The willingness to compromise was there in some people but other ones were thinking that their way of doing things had to stay as it had been in the past since this was the only way to do it. I am still in contact with some of the colleagues from the US I worked with though and although it wasn't always easy to work with them I still miss them (the 'One drink thursday's were usually lots of fun!!! ). Their main way of working was that someone told them to do something and they started to do it without planning anything. If 3 weeks later someone else told them to work in the opposite direction, they just turned around and walked in the opposite direction. The department manager was the only one to know the whole picture. The people below knew only the piece they had to work on and didn't know what the guy sitting next to them was doing. I call that 'keeping people in the dark artificially'. For us this sometimes created problems since we didn't know who was working on what and if people worked on items which were linked and didn't know it.... yeah.

Indians: there was a rather large community of indians among our programmers in New York. They did stick together. The ones I had to work with closely were intelligent and nice guys who were able to think for themselves and were not only stupidly doing what they were told. The only problem was their chinese manager who had a strange way of working and didn't understand what she was doing a lot of times.

Argentinian: I love them. I was in our office in Buenos Aires once and loved the colleagues there. Felt welcomed there and they were a great team and nice to us foreigners. Most of them are still with us and I am usually getting all the news from that office.

Swiss: yeah.... some of them are sort of slow Others are pretty arrogant (the worst emails I ever got were from swiss people) which doesn't surprise me since the swiss are know for hating germans. My boss is swiss (born in Germany though) and I don't wanna loose him as my boss. There are other colleagues in Zurich who have become friends over the years and we do get along very well. The swiss way of working is to organize first and then start it well planned.

Germans: taking myself as an example I think I am rather hardheaded. I know the rules and stick to them. Once I have made up my mind it is hard to convince me that I am wrong (occasionally my boss succeeds in it though... ). I can go mad like hell when the colleagues in Switzerland don't do what I have told them to do which recently happens a lot. But generally I am gentle minded...

French: well this is a new experience: when we have to work in Paris there is no way we go home early. In Zurich I can leave the office between 5 or 6 PM since most of the others have already left. From Paris I get a lot of mails after 6 PM which means we have to work late when we are there. But you will start early there as well as some people come in early and others come in late and leave late. Furthermore it looks like communication is done mostly via department managers and the people 'below' don't do anything without their manager's approval and don't contradict (my boss would love that!!!! ).

So, do you have any personal experiences in working with people from other nationalities?

[Mexivoof]

You are treading on such thin ice with this thread. Good luck.

Good thing you don't have an office in Sweden.

[sctx]

I enjoy working with Mexicans.... they bring me tacos for lunch....... sometimes I don't want to know what the tacos are made of, but it's still pretty cool

[Rissask]

hey Andrea

The PC people are going to be horrified by this thread.

I work in a global company that has factories all over the world. The company which owns my company is a very well known Italian company. We also have people coming here and meeting with us (and vice versa) from all over too, but in particular the US plants.

And others- like our translation company is in England (I talk to them weekly), and the company that does our new manual system is in Bayonne, France. And our line art is done in India.

There sure are very different approaches and attitudes to work between different countries, for sure!

Americans: I agree with a lot of what you said. They are very much process oriented, and not as interested in change or in new ideas. At the same time they are workhorses and take work more seriously in general than people here do- they have more of a serious attitude, whereas we are more laid back. Work is work and play is play to them. Here the lines are more blurred. When we go to the US offices, it is dead quiet, everyone bent over their computers, no interaction, totally unlike here.
Outside of work they have louder voices than us. They are more outspoken and more self confident- very friendly in general. Although I did find the men more 'old school'- ie. sexist. But that likely is the same all over.

The British people at the translation company I have dealt with work a lot more hours than we do per week. They are very by-the-book and professional and formal in their speech. But they can be naughty and love to be cheeky as well. And it sounds like they really enjoy their weekends, and their 'mini-breaks'.

French - I don't work much with them, my co-worker does though; her take is they abide by a strict set of rules and they work long hours (when she was there her days were from 7 AM until 9 at night (including going for supper). And they are more uptight and not as jokey and casual as we are. Very excitable.

Italians - wow. Where to start. Passionate and loud and very easily excitable. Lots of body language. Think we are like mice compared to them, we are 'too quiet' and not serious enough, which to them equates to lazy and uninspired. Tend to go off half cocked, making decisions without having all the facts or thinking them through (which is not good because they are our bosses ).

Indians- very hard working, long hours, professional and FAST.

Apparently we Canadians are dorky and goofy and way too casual in the workplace. And we probably work the least amount of hours, it seems.

Vive la difference!

[Rissask]

Originally Posted by sctx

I enjoy working with Mexicans.... they bring me tacos for lunch....... sometimes I don't want to know what the tacos are made of, but it's still pretty cool

did you read my trip report about the taqueria where the menu had, alongside the al pastor, cabeza and tripa tacos? We stuck with the al pastor.

[StephenB]

Can we put a special category in for people from New York City and LA?

[sctx]

Originally Posted by Rissask

did you read my trip report about the taqueria where the menu had, alongside the al pastor, cabeza and tripa tacos? We stuck with the al pastor.

you shoulda went for the nopalito y lingua....... I bet Sol has an old family recipe she can PM you

[Tommygurl]

I used to work with quite a few Philipino women. They put us to shame....Hardest working group of people I have ever had the pleasure of working with. Some of the ladies had 3 jobs & sent quite a bit of $ back home to their families....Never late for work. Never complained! I consider myself fortunate to have worked with them!

[gingele]

wow.

[Mindbender]

Ok well you asked... deep breath:

Polish, Czechs, Russians, French, Italians, Israelis, South Africans, Canadians, Germans, Spanish, Portuguese, Swedish, Finns, Belgians, Dutch, Gringos, Australians, Malaysians, Indians, Pakistanis, Mexicans, Greeks, Irish, Bulgarians, Turks, Icelandics, Croatians, Jamaicans, Kenyans, Ugandans - I think that's it, so far.

In addition to many on my list, La Señora has also worked with: Cuba, all of the Middle East, Most of Latin America, Europe, Rumania, Phillipines, Japan, Honk Kong, South Korea, Lebanon, China.

Some stereotypes did appear of course, good and bad. Generally speaking people are the same around the world but some cultures have more charm than others purely from a subjective point of view.

Apart from the Argentinians - they can't read maps.

[Rissask]

Originally Posted by gingele

wow.

You know what George Carlin would say.


Melissa- we have hundreds of Cambodian and Vietnamese working here at the plant. They are the hardest workers around. Yes, they put the white boysworking alongside them to shame.

[sctx]

Originally Posted by Mindbender

Apart from the Argentinians - they can't read maps.

[Rissask]

Originally Posted by sctx

you shoulda went for the nopalito y lingua....... I bet Sol has an old family recipe she can PM you

I have had nopales....cactus right? But what is that?

[Juanito]

Originally Posted by StephenB

Can we put a special category in for people from New York City and LA?

Or New Englanders? Or Southerners? Texans? Midwesterners? You want a Culture Clash? Try San Francisco and Los Angeles!

Seeing as I try to practice my Spanish as much as possible, you should hear what "Nacos" and "Chilangos" say about one another.

[raquelle261]

Originally Posted by Rissask

The British people at the translation company I have dealt with work a lot more hours than we do per week. They are very by-the-book and professional and formal in their speech. But they can be naughty and love to be cheeky as well. And it sounds like they really enjoy their weekends, and their 'mini-breaks'.

Wow indeed.

Sorry to disappoint you Riss, but if this snapshot you saw is what you think typifies we Brits at work you are far off the mark. For a start, what the **** are weekends? And "very by-the-book" and "professional and formal in their speech" just made me nearly pee my panties.....

Nice one honey.