4.3: Practical Issues in Canadian Corporations
1.Corporation-Client Dynamic:
This is a variation on the ‘individual/group’ construct and is at the centre of the idea that the “customer is always right”. In Canada, the worker must go out of his way to anticipate and meet customer needs. No one is as important as the customer, not even the company’s president.
2. Channels of Authority
Traditional hierarchies are very much alive in Canadian corporations. While team building and team-focused activities have been around for as long as organized trade/service, hard-core team-based constructs only gained popularity in Canadian companies in the 1980s. It has become a near-universal employment requisite that workers possess excellent interpersonal skills and know how to communicate effectively and diplomatically with co-workers, supervisors and clients.
3. Ethics and Confidentiality The commitment to maintain confidentiality is a delineated requirement of most employment contracts. It is an understood requirement of all employment contracts. Workers have a legal and ethical responsibility to protect the interests of employers, both current and past. In the event that ethical issues arise, you will have to find a way to resolve them reasonably and responsibly.
4. Intellectual Property
Information, products, or techniques that employees develop or create during the term of their employment belong to the employer. Workers do not have the right to benefit from these items outside the reach of contracts.
5. Teamwork and the Canadian Workplace
The Canadian workplace has undergone a number of revolutions in its organizational approach. These days employers want employees who are a hybrid of the individualist-entrepreneur and the team-player. The ideal employee is independent as well as group-driven.
To be successful in the Canadian workplace, one must be able to work competitively while being an excellent team player; abide by group rules while making self-directed decisions. There is a growing intolerance within corporations for people who can’t or won’t play by team rules. Where once employers only cared that a person could ‘get the job done’, now they are equally interested in how well a person will ‘fit’ into the corporate environment.
6. Time Matters in the Canadian Workplace
Arriving at work promptly is expected in Canada. Doing things promptly and efficiently is important. Employees are required to put in their agreed time and avoid absences. Comedian Woody Allen once joked that 80% of success in life is “just showing up.” While this idea doesn’t take productivity and work quality into consideration, it does, nonetheless, hold a small grain of truth.
7. Getting to the Point in Business Discussions
In Canada, business discussions are friendly but linear and occasionally abrupt. Very little time is spent on the ‘getting to know you’ phase of work relationships. This may appear rude to those from cultures where interpersonal relationships are established as a precursor to doing business.
8. Family / Work Relationship
While every workplace is unique, Canadian organizations generally maintain a separation of family and work. In many companies, family issues are not discussed and matters such as absences for family reasons will be accommodated only to a point. Until it becomes clear to you that the culture of an organization is ‘family-friendly’, it’s best to leave personal and family issues at home.
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