Cross-Cultural Challenges in Merging with Vantiv

Running Head: BUSINESS ETHICS
Business Ethics
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Author Note

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Introduction
Today in almost all the organizations, cross-cultural management is highly necessary. Cross-
Cultural management happens when an organization merges with another organization with
different cultural background. It also occurs at the time of teaming up with other countries (Ares
2018). In order to make the cross-cultural management effective, the managers should recognize
and acknowledge the differences in practices, culture, and preferences of the team members. The
managers and the organizations as a whole should adopt a few business processes or the systems.
Worldplay is the UK headquartered global payment processing company. The organization is on
the verge of merging with Vantiv, a US-based company in the same sector with different laws
and customs. There are various advantages of globalization, but at the same time, there are some
disadvantages too (Betancourt, Green and Carrillo 2016). Globalization helps to bring the global
talents subsequently increasing the productivity and innovation of the organization. The
downside is that the cultural, legal and behavioral differences might initiate clashes and disturb
the team spirit. The report is aimed at analyzing the cross-cultural challenges Wordplay will face
while merging with Vantiv. It will also discuss the challenges for the new international teams
within the organization.
Discussion
Cross-cultural management
The cross-cultural management is the exploration of people's behavior in the organizations
which are located in different parts of the nations across the world. The cross-cultural
management is gaining immense importance in the organizations having branches in other

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countries or merging with ire organizations in different cultural background. The expansion in
the international trade and the continued immigration flows have resulted in a diverse cultural
background in the workplace. The organizations from different parts of the world are operating
with each other, forming strategic alliances and joint venture for participating in the global
marketplace in full swing. Cross cultural management is essential for becoming more
globalized. There are different frameworks and models for the cross-cultural analysis which can
be used by the organizations for working effectively across the different parts of the world with
different cultures. One of the best models is the Hofstede model which will be used in this report
in respect to the United States and the United Kingdom.
The cultural dimensions of Hofstede
Green Hofstede in the year 1980, published the cultural consequences highly helpful in
referencing about the cultural differences in the whole world. Hofstede defines the national
culture as a set of the common values and beliefs which distinguishes people from different
nationalities. At first, Hofstede identified the four cultural dimensions, and later he recognized
the fifth cultural dimension presenting the possible origins, the consequences and the predictors
of the management behavior. The five cultural aspects are the power distance, the individual
collectivism, the uncertainty avoidance, masculinity versus femininity and the long term versus
short term orientation.

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Image – the Hofstede cultural dimensions
The power distance –
The power distance is the way inequalities are addressed among people in society. This
particular dimension describes the level to which the less powerful people of the society can
accept and expect the distribution of power to be done. The power distance norms are reflected
in the cultural and economic lives of humans. In terms of power distance, Britain ranks 35 which
suggests that people in this country believe that inequalities must be minimized. It is lower in the
higher class than in the working classes. In the US, it is believed that everybody is unique.
Individualism-
The fundamental issues related to this dimension are the degree of independence which is
maintained by the members of the society. It deals with people’s self-image defined in terms of
"I " and " we." The people in the community are supposed to look after themselves. The score
o UK is 89 which is the highest score. The British are highly private and individualist people.
The children from an early age are taught to think for themselves and find out the purpose of life.
Whereas, in the United States, the score on individualism is 91. It suggests that Americans are