Case Study: Using Strategic Thinking in Cross Cultural Situations

One of the basic tenets of culture is that it consists of levels and sublevels. It is useful to think about culture in terms of five basic levels: national, regional, organizational, team, and individual. Within each of these levels are tangible and intangible sublevels of culture. Cultural Intelligence helps you to understand at the different levels of culture at play. Additionally, CI can be useful in helping you to break down habitual patterns of thoughts.

Read the case study below and respond to the questions that follow.

A businesswoman from the United States is in Germany for contract negotiations between her employer and a large German bank. The meeting is scheduled for nine o’clock in the morning. When she arrives to the meeting a few minutes before its start time, she is amazed that all her German counterparts are already seated and ready to begin the meeting.

A few days later, upon her arrival back to the United States, she remarks to her American colleagues about her experience with German culture. In particular, she notes their level of attentiveness to punctuality and planning and says, “I thought we were punctual here in the United States! It’s nothing compared to how Germans view punctuality.”

Strategic thinking is “thinking about thinking.” It is being conscious of your thinking processes, such as how you have gathered and organized the information and experience in your memory (old information), and then how you reorganize it (new information) to fit a new situation. You have to connect the new information to what you already know in order to help make sense of what actions to take. You can do this by identifying what you know and what you do not know about a cultural situation.

1. If you were in her position, how would you “think about your thinking” in this situation?

2. What are some habitual patterns of thoughts that are unconscious for the business woman as well as for her German colleagues?

3. How would you coach the business woman to develop a stronger strategic thinking skill set?

This example illustrates the national differences between two cultures: American and German. National differences refer to the cultural influences of a nation that result in its national characteristics. Although nation-states have regional and political differences, national culture can be viewed as the values held by a majority of the population within the nation. These values are largely unconscious and developed throughout one’s childhood. The values are pushed to a level of consciousness when in contrast to another nation’s cultural values.