In many European languages, the closest
word implies separation rather than the inclusion sought by U.S. diversity programs.
61 Foreign fi rms doing business in the United States face similar challenges
understanding and dealing with diversity issues. For example, Japanese leaders at
Toyota Motor Company seriously bungled the handling of a sexual harassment
complaint in the company’s North American division, leading to a lawsuit. When
Sayaka Kobayashi sent a letter to Dennis Cuneo, senior vice president of Toyota
North America, saying she had endured months of romantic and sexual advances
from her boss, Cuneo told her he would discuss the issue with the boss, Hideaki
Otaka. However, Cuneo allegedly said that he didn’t want to offend the man (a
cultural norm), so he planned to say it was Kobayashi’s boyfriend who was upset
about the overtures. European companies have also been tripped up because of a
lack of understanding of the American concept of sexual harassment, according
to employment lawyer Wayne N. Outten. “There are some European countries
where a certain degree of what we would consider over-the-line . . . is
more the norm in the culture,” Outten says.62