ABOUT TDM
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Western Arrogance and Strategies of Poles to resist - A Cause of Severe Communication Problems in Intercultural Business Negotiations
I would like to present some findings of a research project which I have carried out in Warsaw on intercultural communication problems in business. I think these findings are of interest here, because they support Professor Wälde´s model of mediation in respect to some intercultural and emotional reasons relating to disputes.
In terms of intercultural communication analysis, business contacts between Western and Polish managers are often a source of mutual misunderstanding - and sometimes even lead to a break in the cooperation - caused by the arrogant behaviour of the Westerners. In order to understand what is going on in such cases of mutual failure, one must take the cultural background of both sides into consideration.
Western managers tend to behave in an arrogant way when they are doing business in Poland because for them it is evident that Poland is partly still at the level of a developing country. Although this is true, this fact does not explain sufficiently the arrogant behaviour on the side of the Westerners. From the interviews which I have conducted in Warsaw with Western managers who are living and working in Warsaw, I have found some more reasons for that style of behaviour. I will mention two of them here.
One reason is a Western misunderstanding of the modest behaviour of well-educated Poles. Modesty in public behaviour is a hallmark of a well-educated Pole. Polish directors whom I trained on one occasion for intercultural contacts in their business all showed a similar modesty. When they came into contact with Western colleagues (I told them), this behaviour could be misunderstood as 'shy' or even 'defensive' because there is a cross-over of different social values - being 'self-confident' or even 'showing off' are high-ranked social values in many Western cultures. Therefore, on the basis of this misunderstanding, the arrogant Western behaviour seems to be proper, as opposed to somebody - like the 'shy' Pole - who is seen to be 'not so good'.
Another reason is connected with the high pressure of professional efficiency and work-discipline under which Western managers perform. The reason why arrogance towards members of an emerging country like Poland is connected with such pressure can be explained from the point of view of psychoanalysis. The crucial point here is the difference between the 'ego-ideal' (representing how someone should be in his job according to ideal norms of capacity, success etc) and the real state of this 'ego'. Because of the high professional standards of Western managers, this difference between them can easily occur with the result that the individuals suffer from it. They have the unpleasant feeling of 'not being as good as one should be' and the fear that somebody else could be aware of that. What is shown as arrogance is indeed then the visible means to cope with that negative feeling by laying stress on the difference - 'I am doing my job professionally - You are not!'.
And the Poles? They call this behaviour 'imperialistic'. By this label, they interpret the arrogant behaviour of Westerners according to Polish history. It is a new example of what Poles have often suffered from in the history of their country: a foreign power is occupying Poland in order to exploit it. It is because of this collective memory that many Poles nowadays react to the arrogance of Westerners in a very sensitive way. They feel offended, both in their national pride and in their individual self-assessment.
But they will not tell their Western colleague: 'I feel devalued by your behaviour. Please stop it.' This non-communication is nothing special for the Poles. In general, a feeling of this kind is a very personal problem which individuals do not find easy to communicate to each other. There must exist a specific personal relationship of mutual trust before we are willing to talk to somebody about such a feeling. And this relationship does not exist in business negotiations or in other public situations where a third person is present - eg in court where a judge tries to find a solution for a dispute which may have started because one side felt deeply hurt by the behaviour of the partner who holds him in low esteem. Many disputes which develop to litigation in a war-like style are motivated by 'narcissistic' wounds of this kind.
Nowadays, Western economy in general and a Western company in particular is for many Poles a foreign power indeed. How to react to an offence from the side of this power? Again it is history (ie collective memory) where they can find some strategies of resistance. I will mention three of these strategies which I have found in the interviews mentioned above.
One strategy of resistance is the hidden obstruction of work. Polish staff may use this strategy in an international company where the boss is a Western director behaving in the 'imperialistic' style. Overtly, all his orders, instructions and plans are accepted. But in reality, none of these orders, instructions and plans are carried out by the staff. In a hidden way, the Poles block them, or even work against them. This is often done very skilfully, so that the director is not aware of it.
Another strategy of resistance, which can be used in business negotiations, is just 'being stubborn', not willing to move one centimetre, and not open to any argument. - even when there is a risk that this behaviour may cause severe disadvantages to the Polish company´s interests. For the foreigner this behaviour may be strange because he is not aware of its connection to his arrogance. For the Pole it is a way of demonstrating his self-determination against a foreigner who tries to execute his power on him.
The third strategy is connected with the Polish attitude to social rules. In Poland, these rules are not 'sacred' - as they are in Western cultures. Poles take those rules as guidelines which they may follow - or not. It depends whether these rules are advantageous for them or not. As a consequence of this, it may happen that Poles do not stick to the agreements which were made in the course of negotiation. A Westerner who does not know the cultural background of this behaviour may draw the conclusion that the Poles are 'not civilized' and 'anarchistic'. But again, this attitude to social rules is rooted in historical experiences which Poles have had with foreign powers who have dictated the rules.
It is interesting to see that concerning this issue of Western arrogance and Polish strategies of resistance, both sides are affected by 'narcissistic' problems. The Western manager tries to cope with his fear of not 'being good enough' by showing arrogance whilst the Poles come along with the feeling of being undervalued or exploited by the Western partner.
As mentioned above, there is only one way to access these emotions to achieve communication: a personal relationship of trust. It is the mediator who has the chance to get this access and to solve the communication problems which are caused by these emotions.
