As reported in the April 2002 Design Firm Management & Administration Report, "no matter what the U.S. manager's expertise, team members from different nations and cultures have dissimilar, often conflicting expectations, priorities, behaviors, methods, and objectives which can place a project in jeopardy unless they are resolved." Dean Engel, the subject of that article, "Do's and Don'ts of Managing International Project Teams," distills here what he has learned from 30 years of experience.

There are many assumptions that come naturally to U.S. building-team managers: the best decision makers turn to their team members for ideas, everyone at every level points out areas for improvement, the best person for the job should get the job, everyone pitches in when the job requires it, competitive spirit breeds teamwork and success, do what you say you will do. The can-do spirit that drives construction and industry in this country, however, from the Seabees to Saturn cars, is sometimes the antithesis to team behavior in other cultures.

To be an effective team manager in China, for instance, you should know that public praise makes a person there uncomfortable. A forthright "no" is considered inappropriate in Japan. In India, when a person moves his or her head quickly back and forth in response to something you say, it doesn't indicate disagreement, but rather signals, "yes, I understand what you're saying." It is offensive in the Middle East to see the soles of someone else's shoes. In many places outside the U.S. and Europe, you must establish a relationship with someone before that person will be willing to begin a business deal.

But how is it possible to get a grasp on all of this? With so many ways to go wrong and never know it, you need to do a little preliminary work, starting with solid sources of information.

Both with AMI and the East West Group, we're in the business of helping people with these sorts of predicaments. I have come to trust several books that are readily available.

First of all, I should point out the distinction between behavior and the values and beliefs from which behavior derives. A lot of the books out there, especially the older ones, tend to focus strictly on behavior. They might tell you how to give and receive business cards in Japan, for instance. Although that is useful, I don't think it is sufficient knowledge, because you're going to run into situations that are not covered in the book.

So my approach has always been to focus instead on what the values and beliefs are that drive the behavior. For example, the reason you treat business cards carefully in Japan is that they are seen as an extension of the person. The value behind the proper exchanging of business cards, then, is that the Japanese value each other as individuals and respect each other as part of the culture. So once you know that, then you know how to behave and why. By extension, you also understand that an older person in the room is likely to be the most carefully listened to and deserving of deference.

Developing a competency based on an understanding of the culture with which you are dealing is especially important in business because there are so many unwritten behaviors in business. The people with whom you are working are so familiar with these nuances and protocols that they don't question them. They will question anyone who does not share their understanding. This includes notions of leadership and the role of team members, whether advice is offered or solicited, how people get promoted; every aspect of managing business goes back to these kinds of things.

For that reason, an American manager asking a group of Subcontinent Asians for their opinion on what to do is going to cause a lot of damage within the team. First of all, they're not likely to offer their viewpoints. Secondly, they may wonder why the manager has that job. In their mind, it is clearly the manager's responsibility to decide what to do, not theirs.

So, having said all of that, here are some good reference books covering some of the most important levels of interaction you will find working on an international team.

• Kiss, Bow, or Shake Hands: How to Do Business in 60 Countries, by Terri Morrison, which you can find on Amazon.com.
• Rules of the Game: Global Business Protocol, by Nan Leaptrott and published by Van Nostrand Reinhold.

These are a couple of general books on a variety of different cultures and how they interact.

And if you're looking at particular cultures, I'd start with World Trade Press. They have a number of series of books about particular countries. Their Passport Series is the broadest and by far the fastest to digest. They are 96-page books and not very expensive.

The more elaborate series, which would be appropriate if a firm were thinking about actually doing business in a country, is the Country Business Series, which are compendia of information about the legal system, how you get licensed, commercial law, and almost anything you can think of. The countries this series cover tend to be the ones where U.S. firms are doing most business.

For someone who's traveling a lot, World Trade Press puts out a wonderful book, The Global Road Warrior, which covers more than 100 countries, dealing with everything that's impossible to find out: what the money looks like, how to use the telephones, where to go if you're injured or sick, and that sort of thing. Although there's nothing cultural, per se, in this reference, it is very practical information in just getting along in a country.

Copyright 2002 The American Institute of Architects. All rights reserved.