Asia Digital Australia

With a rapid economic downturn, the Chinese Communist Party looks suddenly vulnerable. With a legitimacy built around maintaining its breakneck pace of growth, the Party now faces potential social unrest and massive public dissatisfaction as jobs are lost and economic growth plunges. What challenges does the current leadership face? And what shoes will the next generation of leaders have to fill? Asialink and PricewaterhouseCoopers are pleased to invite you to a briefing with Professor Cheng Li, Brookings Institution, and Dr Pradeep Taneja, University of Melbourne.

Professor Li is Director of Research at the John L. Thornton China Center, an initiative of the Brookings Institution. He is also a director of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, and focuses on the transformation of political leaders, generational change and technological development in China. Professor Li is visiting Australia for the week of the

13th of July.

Dr Pradeep Taneja s current research interests focus on the relationship between politics and business in China, the political implications of Chinas energy security policy and the rise of China as a regional and global power.

DATE: Thursday, 16 July 2009

TIME: 5.45pm for 6.15pm  7.15pm

VENUE: PricewaterhouseCoopers Sydney, 205 Sussex Street, Sydney

ENQUIRIES: Please contact Ken Lee at k.lee@asialink.unimelb.edu.au or call

03 8344 3583.

REGISTRATION: Please register via the Asialink website at

www.asialink.unimelb.edu.au

4:04:23 PM: Cross Cultural Intelligence Day Two, you can read it here http://bit.ly/IWTCq

4:06:04 PM: Dr Margret Byrne is introducing the second day and we are on our way

4:32:27 PM: speaking to someone else is like climbing a tree that climbs back; communicating is complicated, even within the same language

4:40:13 PM: in conversation; u may not be able to meet the other persons expectation but its important to know what the expectations are

5:05:40 PM: interesting discussion, developing cultural script for “battler” and the different interpretations

5:05:40 PM: interesting discussion, developing cultural script for “battler” and the different interpretations

10:14:44 AM: cross cultural brainstorming begins with building a frame of good working relations, even ahead of any brainstorming

10:17:21 AM: examining dimensions of cultural variation from the GLOBE Study

11:18:44 AM: impression management; we all want to create an impression of ourselves but across cultures this needs to be modified to suit diff audiences

11:33:10 AM: targeting your message by culture is okay but you must maintain the facts, simply position them differently

11:40:16 AM: all cultures want ethical leaders

12:45:51 PM: so many ways to say no across cultures with out the word no being used, listen for signals, diversions, avoidance of answer

1:08:50 PM: hybrid culture: create a team charter or micro culture with in the project team across cultures

2:18:59 PM: the higher up in the business hierarchy you get, the more you are paid to solve problems

2:23:32 PM: decision making and problem solving meetings are a better use of time that meetings about information, there are better ways to share info

4:11:47 PM: with rapport building and rules set up front a project moves much quicker even across cultures, invest in kick off and team building 2 begin

4:56:16 PM: End of day two, everyone is tired and we have had a great time, and learned so much. Thanks for following.

3:14:32 PM: Cross Cultural Intelligence Day One, you can read it here http://bit.ly/TgrBc

3:18:09 PM: We will join Dr Margaret Byrne for our live blog from 9AM Sydney time, you can watch on the site http://bit.ly/7yai1 or on twitter

4:05:48 PM: @MissHoolia introducing the day and introducing Margaret Byrne

4:07:32 PM: Commencing cultural intelligence for leaders in the 21st century

4:11:45 PM: opening the curtains, natural light helps to keep a team energised over two days

4:15:25 PM: you cant generate creative responses to complex cross cultural situations with out insight based on knowledge

4:16:45 PM: motivation + insight + skills = more productive interactions leading to better quality outcomes

4:21:40 PM: motivation: all of us have bias toward our own group, and this is right, however if we all think we are perfect this is a problem

4:22:45 PM: motivation: within our self esteem we must have room for change whilst maintaining a reasonable ego

4:27:16 PM: growing up and largely feeling good about our cultural group means its difficult to work cross cultures by nature

4:31:17 PM: every culture is as great as ours; this is not cultural intelligence, the professional challenge is very different

4:35:08 PM: we have to manage our biases and not suggest that we have no bias at all

4:38:26 PM: we will never have enough knowledge to fully and deeply understand all the worlds cultures, but we can develop skills to adapt

4:48:06 PM: cultures are learned, shared, patterned, changing, holistic, you aren’t born with a culture, and culture changes slowly

4:51:25 PM: the skill of observation is critical, noticing ourselves and noticing others, moving closer to or further from our goal in interactions

4:55:05 PM: generalising: open to learn, map only versus stereotyping: not open to change, fixed, territory

5:21:50 PM: looking at the Hoftede’s Rankings across countries, interesting Australia rates 90 on individualism versus most countries collectivism

5:23:00 PM: all english speaking countries cluster on the individualist end of the scale

5:23:45 PM: Australia is an “I” based culture

5:25:57 PM: highly collectivist cultures are “we” based, interesting Aboriginal culture is highly “we”based, immediate clash against AU “I” culture?

6:03:18 PM: managing individualist: focus on individual goals and kpi’s, value triggers, welcome initiatives, individual rewards

6:06:49 PM: managing collectivists: team based goals and benefits, be conscious of your leadership requirements, pay attention to team feelings

6:12:53 PM: it is possible for individualist cultures to form collectives in a work environment, more on this tomorrow

7:03:09 PM: 96% of Australians wouldn’t help boss paint house versus only 28% china, interpretive results

7:07:09 PM: anthropologists call Australia a super-egalitarian culture/society

7:15:56 PM: think about the cultural explanation of …ie and ….o in Aus, example davo and veggie

7:31:46 PM: most corporations dont understand the advantage of hiring an employee that has OS experience

8:25:41 PM: Question for the twiter-sphere, why do Australians put an O and I on words, davo, Vegi? Answer later today, what do you think?

8:26:57 PM: RT @asiadigitalau: Question for the twiter-sphere, why do Australians put an O and I on words, davo, Vegi? Answer later what do u think?

9:05:18 PM: discussing universalism and the need for procedures to respond to issues versus particularism and relationships to resolve

9:26:46 PM: complementary schismogenesis : two people compliment each other to create a communication breakdown

9:34:16 PM: key take out word; adjustment, how can we adjust our approach to solve issues

9:46:49 PM: communication preferences = tip of the ice berg, values are important below the water

10:43:18 PM: discovering the rational linear style of australian information in writing and presenting

10:45:09 PM: interesting to look at where the point is put in communication and how the point is led up to

11:06:59 PM: in AU if you find it difficult to get a turn to speak in meetings this will become a serious handicap

11:14:02 PM: north and south east asian in meeting pause between speakers and often have trouble getting a say in an AU meeting

11:30:58 PM: back channeling is important for communicating men to women, acknowledgment and the style is highly collaborative

11:45:32 PM: working across cultures there are always ideas which become stumbling blocks

11:48:47 PM: there are a range of core basic words that translate across cultures which can be used as building blocks

12:06:19 AM: writing cultural scripts to assist in explaining difficult terms

12:20:23 AM: big wow, cultural scripts are incredible, turn complex terms into basic explanations http://bit.ly/ST8YR

12:27:34 AM: why australians convert words with I and O etc on the end, like Davo? Linguists say this is anti-intelligence

12:28:53 AM: Day One has wrapped up on Cross Cultural Management, back for day two tomorrow at 9AM Sydney Time