Cross Cultural Communication in a Book Distribution Company

This case study explores the challenges faced by Jan, the owner of a book distribution company, in managing a diverse team in East Africa. It discusses the importance of effective communication, cultural understanding, and motivation in resolving cross cultural issues and improving employee satisfaction. The study also highlights the use of intercultural theories, such as the Iceberg Model and Onion Layer Model, to explain and support the discussion. Recommendations are provided to help Jan better understand and manage cross cultural problems.

Case Study

Table of Contents
Case 1 ..............................................................................................................................................3
Where did Jan go wrong? ..........................................................................................................3
How could you help Jan better understand this cross cultural problem? ...................................4
Use intercultural theories to explain it and support your discussion .........................................4
What would be your advice to Jan? ...........................................................................................6
REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................................8

Case 1
Where did Jan go wrong?
Jan was fascinated by the beauty of East Africa and he decided to start a book distribution
company. After sometime, there was an issue in which they were left behind in preparing a
proposal. He helped his staff and employees in working upon the proposal. Jan has some local
Kenyans who were working under him. He went wrong at the place of not motivating and
encouraging the local employees (Warren, 2017). There is need of managing the staff and
employees in proper manner so that they will be more efficient and able to increase the employee
satisfaction level. Jan must adopt various ways for increasing the employee relation. Some of
these are mentioned below -
 Promote dialogue and communication - These are mots important factor while providing
effective communication among employees. Jan must focus upon increasing
communication as it will help in expressing of grievances and resolving conflicts easily.
 Focus upon vision and mission of company – The company has to emphasise upon
providing information about company's vision and mission to the employees so that
employee's involvement can be increased (Bell, and Riol, 2017). Jan must share mission
and vision of the company with his staff and employees.
 Leadership – Jan must adopt effective and strong leadership for managing the employees.
This will help to enhance the employee's efficiency and productivity. Good leadership
will help in achieving organisational targets in less time.
 Inspire and reward – Jan can provide rewards and price to employees if they are doing
good work. This will help in enhancing employee satisfaction and engagement. This is
helpful for managing the organisational performance.
How could you help Jan better understand this cross cultural problem?
Jan must be able to resolve cross cultural misunderstandings that the company is facing.
There are various points that can be adopted by Jan for solving cross cultural issues and
problems. These are mentioned below - Adopt effective communication style - In company of Jan, there are Kenyans who are
working in the organisation. This is required by him to adopt new and effective

communication style that will be useful for attaining goals in specified time frame
(Chung, 2019). An effective communication is adopted by Jan for managing the
employees properly and providing them attractive rewards for increasing efficiency. Understand cultural value - There are different culture and values followed within
different organisations. As Kenyans are working in the new company, then Jan must
understand their values and beliefs in order to provide them familiar environment at
workplace. The culture followed among Kenyan employees is less stressful conditions.
They can work in this type of condition appropriately. Effective communication is also
important as it is helpful for resolving various fights and conflicts properly. If Jan is able
to adopt good communication then it becomes easy to enhance emotional intelligence.
Jan must adopt openness and ability for respecting as leaders and managing effective
leadership.
 Employ effective motivation – This is the key for doing effective functioning. Jan must
motivate employees by providing rewards and prices (Farrell, and Hutasingh, 2018).
There are various motivational techniques and incentives within the organisational
culture which Jan can follow. Jan has moved to a new geographical area and here, he has
to manage a cross culture team so he has to change the way fo motivating his employees
in order to achieve success.
Use intercultural theories to explain it and support your discussion
Iceberg Model of culture
Culture is defined as the belief and value which is followed within a workplace. In an
organisation, culture is associated with iceberg as it has both invisible and visible parts. There
are some factors of culture like clothing, food which can be seen and these are known as upper
part of iceberg. On the other hand, the way in which someone eats and dresses is hidden ans this
is associated with the hidden part of iceberg (Jiang, 2017). There are various ways by which Jan
could have changed the way in which he was conducting business operations in foreign country.
Intercultural training – As Jan was from Poland and he started business in Eastern African
countries, there was need to do conduct intercultural training. This will help in enhancing
intercultural competence. By doing this, company will gain understanding of new and improved
culture. This training also provide guidance for doing business in international countries.

There are some factors which can be used by Jan for knowing about the area of iceberg which
was under water. There are following factors that were present within workplace. Visible and tangible indicators – These consists of business performance and it has to
suffer if there is no proper functioning within the workplace. There is need to manage the
employees if they are dissatisfied. Less visible but accessible – When the company has stagnant innovation and there are
leadership and management challenges then there is rise in organisational culture
problems.
 Invisible and subconscious - When culture and strategy are not aligned properly, then
there is problem for managing the stakeholders properly.
Jan was not able to analyse the problem that occurred in the company and reason of
Kenyan employees to feel dissatisfaction. It is very important for Jan to know what are the inner
problems like values, feelings and beliefs of employees faced by the employees. It is of utmost
importance that all employees are satisfied and working effectively (Oleksenko, 2016). There is
also need to manage the problems of workplace creating discrimination as these help in making
employees efficient and productive. There is need to adopt strong leadership style which can be
used for managing the workplace culture. Jan has to work upon increasing employee satisfaction
as it helps to manage the overall productivity of work.
Onion layer model of culture
According to this model, There is image of onion which is related with the different
layers of culture. In case of Jan, culture can be broken into various layers. There is outer layer
which comprises of products and artefacts. This also consists of behavioural patterns. There is
next layer which consists of norms, beliefs and values that are adopted by the company. Centre
part of onion is referred as cultural values and assumptions. The last and most hidden layer of
culture includes the core values which a company adopts. In context of Jan, there are some
values and beliefs which are followed in accordance for providing positive work culture.
Similarly, the workplace of Jan also consists of various layers of culture followed. It is the
responsibility of him to manage providing positive culture at workplace. This is an important
aspect for Jan as it will help in providing positive environment in which employees are satisfied.
In this way, there will be no issue of employee dissatisfaction. In this way, Jan will be able to
work upon providing positive workplace environment. Also, there is need for increasing

employee satisfaction level. It is very important for Jan that he is able to provide good and
positive environment at workplace. There are three layers of workplace culture which can be
managed by Jan. these are mentioned below - Outer layer – These are associated with primary needs of employees such as clothes,
food, language, housing, etc. Jan is providing good salaries to employees so that they can
build their career and manage to have all the primary requirements. Middle layer - This is defined as values and norms which are followed by the company's
culture. There is need of understanding core of culture as it helps in providing positive
environment to employees in which they can work in an effective manner.
 Inner layer - Each and every workplace culture is based upon beliefs and assumptions.
These are associated with the managing of company's inner valued and ethics which is
associated with increasing employee efficiency.
What would be your advice to Jan?
Jan has decided to start business in cross cultural scenario. Hence, it is very important
that he must adopt the techniques and ways to mange cross cultural issues that this company is
facing. There is growth of business globalisation and it is very important to remove barriers for
accelerating business growth. Jan must understand culture of Kenyans and what are the values
and beliefs followed by Kenyan workplace. This will help in providing similar organisational
behaviour. It will lead to increase in employee satisfaction. It is also advised to Jan that cultural
gaps are bridged properly. It helps in reducing conflicts and fights. There are various negotiating
styles which can be employed by Jan while facing various cultural problems. It is very important
for Jan to provide positive work culture as it leads to manage the employees in effective manner.
Moreover, employee satisfaction is the key to success and all organisations are able to function
properly if employees are satisfied. Jan is advised to follow all the cross cultural rules in order to
minimise conflicts and fights. He should provide support to staff and employees to put upon their
views and thoughts on several company issues. This will help to manage efficient work properly.
CONCLUSION
From the above case study, it is interpreted that there it is must for all organisations to
follow a positive workplace culture in order to enhance performance of employees and staff.
There are different ways that can be chosen by companies for providing positive workplace
environment. To avoid conflicts and fights, it is necessary to adopt cross cultural strategies.

When anybody plans to run business in foreign country, they must adopt workplace culture
followed by that country. This helps in keeping employees engaged.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Warren, T.L., 2017. Cross-cultural Communication: Perspectives in theory and practice.
Routledge.
Bell, R. and Riol, C.F., 2017. The impact of cross-cultural communication on collective efficacy
in NCAA basketball teams. International Journal of Cross Cultural
Management, 17(2), pp.175-195.
Chung, L.C., 2019. Crossing Boundaries: Cross‐Cultural Communication. Cross‐Cultural
Psychology: Contemporary Themes and Perspectives, pp.375-397.
Farrell, W.C. and Hutasingh, T., 2018. Cross cultural communication between developed and
emerging markets: a qualitative study on small and medium-sized enterprise
communication technology selection and utilisation. International Journal of
Globalisation and Small Business, 10(1), pp.1-20.
Jiang, X., 2017. Experimental Approaches to Socio‐Linguistics: Usage and Interpretation of
Non‐Verbal and Verbal Expressions in Cross‐Cultural
Communication. Sociolinguistics: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, p.125.
Oleksenko, O., 2016. Formation of cross-cultural communication experience of future
managers. World Scientific News, 40, pp.108-123.