Cross Culture Interaction in Business
Added on 2020-10-05
12 Pages4120 Words341 Views
CROSS CULTURAL
Table of ContentsINTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................1PART A...........................................................................................................................................1Contrast between UK and South Africa culture and issues related to cross culture interactionin business ..................................................................................................................................1PART B............................................................................................................................................6What is meant by stereotyping, provide an example and discuss how this might act as abarrier, or an aid, to effective communication............................................................................6CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10.......................................................................................................................................................10
INTRODUCTION Culture can be defined as norms, beliefs and social behaviour that is possess by people. Ittakes into consideration a number of factors comprising encompassing, phenomenon andanthropology that can be transferred through social coordination and learning among varioushuman societies. Cross culture management is critically important in today's business as firms allover world are conducting operations in various nations. Thus, developing understanding ofcross culture management and its different models and frameworks aids a company to improveand enhance its functionality effectively with people and regions belonging to different cultures .The assignment will focus on Barclays Plc which is one of the leading multi-national financialinstitution in UK (How Barclays are leading the way in terms of Diversity and Inclusion, 2015).Company is to enter into new market in South Africa which is having contrasting culture incomparison to that of Britain. The report will discuss comparison between to nations havingdivergent culture and various issues encountered by firms while conducting its activities in thesecountries. Also it will explain how stereotyping can be barrier or aid for an effectivecommunication between cross culture workforce.PART A Contrast between UK and South Africa culture and issues related to cross culture interaction inbusiness Culture is explained as behaviour, values and concepts that is inherited by an individualfrom its family and its society. Today, world is becoming a global village, which has lead topeople from different regions, backgrounds and cultures to work together in a firm. Thus, it hasbecome top most priority for companies to provide a working environment of social cohesion toits employees. Barclays Plc is a global investment bank and financial service provider which wasestablished in 1960 with its base in London, UK. It operates four core businesses includingpersonal banking, corporate banking, investment and wealth management in more than 40nations across the world. Barclay Plc is well known for its management that supports firm insuccessfully dealing with various issues related to moral values, ethical conduct, workingenvironment and multi culture (Velo, V., 2011) . Thus, company formulates various policiesand schemes related to its hiring function, training and development, performance managementetc. in order to manage a multi culture workforce diversity. Barclays Plc under its diversification1
policy and to capture new potential market have planned to expand their financial services in oneof the emerging economies South Africa. At initial stage it is easy to conduct the businessactivities however with span of time various issues are to be encountered due to huge gap inbetween the cultures of these nations. Therefore, for the sustainability and growth of the newventure it is of utmost importance for Barclays Plc to conduct a cross culture analysis. This willassist company to gain knowledge about the culture, background, work ethics and perceptions ofpeople of South Africa that will help firm to self-adapt it business. For culture analysis companyadopts mentioned below Hofstede's Culture Dimension theory to compare cultures of UK andSouth Africa.This model provides systematic structure for evaluating contrast between cross and multiculture psychologies based on six different cultural dimensions.Power-distance forms its first dimension that can be described to an extent to which lesspowerful individuals expect and accept unequal power distribution (Friedman and et. al., 2012) .UK in this dimension scores less as the British Society is a firm believer that a person in certainway should be considered and treated equal. However, society of South Africa believes inestablishment of hierarchy level in an organisation and they accept that subordinates shouldfollow instructions given by their superiors. Thus, the likeable problem that Barclays Plc. isexpected to encounter is that firm will be requiring more staff for supervision. Also, firm will berequired to develop more hierarchy levels that implies more staff to be recruited and extraexpenditure to be incurred in providing them renumeration. The second dimension i.e. individual-collectivism describes the extent to which a personis accepted by a group. UK is one of the top rated nations that scores high in being anindividualist countries who follows theory of self-fulfilment. On other hand South Africansociety believes in collectivism i.e. an individual should support and take care of their dear onesand immediate family members. The likeable problem that Barclays Plc is expected to encounterin this context is that as Africa scores high on collectivism and increased concern regardinggroup members there migh be chances of hostility or indifference by employees from Africanorigin towards out group members that ultimately is to affect firms efficiency and productivity.Uncertainty avoidance forms the third dimension of the theory. It explains the philosophyof a society on taking risks and manner in which it handles uncertainties and unexpectedsituations and changes. UK in this aspect scores low as they are clear and confident about their2
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