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Date Submitted: 04/07/2013 10:07 AM
“How we are and how they see us” *
* Original title “Cómo somos y cómo nos ven” Translated by Marina D. Crosby. This paper was prepared for a Latin American audience
International Projects in and with Latin America
Marina D. Crosby, President, 2Americas Corp.
© By Marina D. Crosby. All rights reserved. Short sections of text, not to exceed two paragraphs, may be quoted
without explicit permission provided that full credit, including © notice, is given to the source.
Abstract
Every project manager with international experience knows
about the peculiarities and idiosyncrasies of working with people
from other countries and cultures. More often than not the
unexpected becomes the norm. (See exhibit 1)
There is a particular stereotype about the Latin American
business style. This view is somewhat based on reality but it
leaves out the reasons behind the behaviors which form it. As we
will see in this paper all the components of this “style” are
consequences of the Latin American environment.
As citizens of this fascinating region we, Latin Americans, do
not always understand why we fail to meet the Western
European or United States’ operating standards. We are not quite
sure if those standards would lead us to success in our own
countries. Nevertheless, our education and the economical and
geopolitical global realities put us in a position to copy those
models.
This work intends to move the veil of stereotypes to allow us to
see what we do well, even better than others, and what we
should change to be better project managers in this ever more
global world.
Exhibit 1: Comic by Caloi
Source www.caloi.com
Introduction
Talking and generalizing about Latin America is like doing the same thing about Europe, as if it was a homogeneous
group. Generalizations are of little value even within the borders on one country. In this paper we will use
generalizations as ways to express some commonly found events and behaviors but not as...