force if they want to stay afloat in the international market.

A "one size suits all'' policy for employees no longer applies, said Hamilton Rotary Club speaker Mrs. June James yesterday.

"As Bermuda's focus on international business continues to grow, we are expected to hire, socialise and interact with professionals from a variety of different cultures,'' she said.

"Our major mistake is having a multicultural work force and pretending we don't.'' Mrs. James is founder and president of Creative Computer Services which offers computer consultation to businesses, advising them on communication and presentation skills, public speaking and career dressing.

She said the Island can be divided into a British, American or Canadian and a Bermudian approach to work.

The former, she said, revolves around task, structure and time. In the latter, personal relationships are more important.

"The whole issue of time -- "Get it done now. Be here by four o'clock'', is not on the whole the Bermudian way,'' she said.

Instead, in a strategy she calls flex management, rigid cultural rules are abandoned as bosses cater to their employees' individual needs and different ethnic backgrounds.

Increased productivity results when employers take care to match their workers' skills to their jobs, reward them in meaningful ways, coach them and take account of their needs and interests outside work.

Bosses should take into consideration how their employees get to work, their families' needs, interests outside work and problems with child care and substance abuse.

"Flex management is a new mind set, a different philosophy of management,'' she said. "At the heart is an appreciation of individual differences and the understanding that equality does not mean sameness.'' To clarify her point she cited the example of two children solving a maths problem.

"A second grade schoolteacher posed a simple enough problem to her class: `There are four bluebirds sitting in a tree. You take a slingshot and shoot one of them. How many are left? " `Three, answered the seven-year-old European with certainty. `One subtracted from four leaves three.

" `Zero,' answered the seven-year-old African with equal certainty. `If you shoot one bird, the others will fly away.' "The organisations that learn to respect and value the perspectives both cultures bring to problem solving will be ahead in the 21st Century,'' Mrs.

James said.

She added this can be achieved by customising policies and work systems to each employee.

Bosses should learn to understand how their employees behave and talk their language. Increased productivity and decreased conflict are the payoffs, she said.

"Understanding different mind sets and cultural perspectives is more crucial than ever for effective management,'' she said.

Mrs. June James.