This report explores the concept of cross culture in the business world and discusses how companies can adopt different cultural and communication theories to cope with and resolve cross cultural differences.
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INTERCULTURAL MANAGEMENT IN BUSINESS
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Table of Contents INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3 MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3 Where did John go wrong ?.........................................................................................................3 Intercultural theories-...................................................................................................................4 Evaluation of cross cultural problems.........................................................................................5 Advice to John-............................................................................................................................6 Management behaviour for cultural differences-........................................................................6 Cross cultural problems in case of joint venture and merger......................................................7 CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8 REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9
INTRODUCTION Cross culture is the combination of efforts that the company will put in order to establish the interaction among the employees of the company with the business professionals of other nation or different cultural background. It is one of the major and important issues of the corporate world. This report will study about the concept of cross culture in the business world along with its significance and impacts. This report will also discuss how companies will adopt different cultural and communication theories or frameworks in order to cope and resolve such cross cultural differences. MAIN BODY Cross culture: The simple meaning of cross culture is the difference of culture between the employees or company and business. It usually occurs when the employees or professional of two different companies meet for some specific purpose like training and skill development then the clashes which arise due to cultural, traditions, thinking, or communication difference is referred to as cross cultural differences. Where did John go wrong ? It would be wrong to say that john was completely wrong because he called the Japanese workers for the betterment of the company and its employees. He basically called those employees for the learning of new technology and improving the efficiency of its workers. But choosing of completely different country for training and technological up-gradation which means as the company where John was working were located in England, and he chose the mechanics and machines of Japan which is completely a different country in terms of culture, behaviour, language, skill and many other terms (González-Salinas, 2018). Since the working culture in terms of working skills or hours are very much different in both the counties. Also, the technological advancement of Japan was very high in comparison of other country which also creates a difference in the form of skill and intelligence. Like the technological advancement and working culture there is a major gap and difference between the two countries in the form of communication which is again a very important element for the efficiency and success of the company (Juddi, Perbawasari and Zubair, 2018). Apart from these differences there are some more and important difference between the two countries in the form
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of decision-making or disclosures policy, attitude differences, way of competing and performing the task, handling and knowledge of equipment’s and various other differences. And due to such major differences between the working culture and communication gap the planning of john got failed, and he goes in the wrong direction. Intercultural theories- Cultural differences include the integrated and system of socially acquired values which drives the actions, beliefs and develops rules which makes a direct impact on the limits of accepted behaviour which is distinguishable from of one group to another (Oetzel, 2017). Organizations is the collection of individuals who are having differences in their cultures, educations and social wealth because of which differences in working capabilities can be seen in organizations. Due to increasing market competitions organizations have to increase their geographic reach in other international locations because of which effectiveness of miscommunication problems has increased which can be seen in the case study.Following are the two widely used intercultural theories which are as following. Intercultural communication theory- Intercultural communication is the communication process which is established between individuals from different cultural, race, gender, economic condition and social backgrounds. Differences in cultures creates differences in working capabilities and procedure because of which diversity at work place arises. This happens because each culture is having different ways ofcommunicatingthroughspecificselectionsoflanguages,bodygesturesandclothing (Presbitero and Attar, 2018). Thus it becomes important for organizations that it tend to understand the differences in different cultures and then develop effective working strategy in such a way that employees are able to collaborate their efforts with each other depict of their cultural differences. By which company can make sure that it is having high work productivity at their work place. Iceberg cultural theory- The theory states that cultural beliefs are core values which makes a direct impact on the workingcapabilitiesofanindividualandbecauseofwhichindividualstendstoface inconsistencies while interacting with others outside their culture because of which difference in approach for solving a problem can be seen. With that the theory also states that cultures are the
deep down believes of an individual because of which organizational training has to be provided to employees in such a way that employees are able to achieve efficient amount of working capability.Eventhoughtheyarehavingdifferencesintheirworkingandunderstanding capabilities. Evaluation of cross cultural problems John has to undertake various market research and analysis before taking any major decisions. He has to carefully analyse the culture of both the countries by adopting proper methods and techniques and making investment in research and development to have the clear view of the cultural difference of both the countries. Since he had never went Japan ever (before) than that make it more important for him to first analyse and research about the country and accordingly take the decisions. John has to understand that the level of understanding in the employees of his company and the existing technology used in the company would be very different from the Japanese highly advanced technology and the level of knowledge of the Japanese employees. John also have to look that the working culture of every company and country is different for one other like in Japan they can't waste even a single minute and totally devoted towards the work (Adamczyk, 2017). In-fact they are that much devoted that they use their free time also in order to perform more work which is again creating a major difference between the working culture of Japan and England. John also have to take and consider the views and ideas of the employees of his company that whether they are satisfied and agree with his decision or either they want to change or wants modification in it. Taking the views or understanding the employees mind also helps the John in understanding the cross culture difference and taking such major decision by which company may incur heavy loss in the future. John also have to be aware that in-spite of the cultural differences there could be a major difference which may occurs if he takes such major decision regarding the company and that major difference would be the communication gap or problem because the way of communication in terms of language or gestures or posture of different country is obviously varied from one other (Matveevskaya and Pogodin, 2017). Thus, John had to be careful regarding the above points before taking such decisions and able to better understand cross culture difference.
Advice to John- Organizations have to make sure that they are able to change their working capabilities according to the changing market trends by which it can make sure that company is able to work according to the requirements because of which chances of goal achievement has increased. Thus John tends to improvise the working of its machineries and because of which it implemented cross cultural activities, but was unable to evaluate the cultural differences because of which has to face limitations in work process. Thus John could have implement a balanced working procedure because of which employees were given an opportunity to efficiently manage their personal and professionallifebecauseofwhichemployee’sengagementinorganizationalactivitiesis increased (Vassou, Zopiatis and Theocharous, 2017). With that John could have also implement technologically advancements like translators or intermediated because of which effective communications could have been established in the working procedure because of which it might have understood the cultural differences in the working capabilities because of which high work efficiency can be achieved. John must also have analysed the differences in the cultures of different geographic locations because of which it could have showcased the situation to employees by which it might have reduced the chances of facing resistances. Improper follow of organizational working structure is also a case because of which only the sessions were continued even after the scheduled time slot due to which unbalanced condition between personal and professional life of employees arises. Therefore, it is advised to John that it must have searched to effective options within the local market and then tend to increase its reach in external market because of which he could have minimized the resistance caused due to the cultural differences. Management behaviour for cultural differences- Management has to make sure that it is efficiently managing organizational operations in such a way that high work productivity is achieved depict of cultural differences because of which employees can be motivated to increase their engagement in organizational activities because of which employee loyalty can be increased (Vastola, Russo and Vurro, 2017). This is important because differences in cultures will create differences in understanding of messages because of which negative arises on organizational working. This can be seen in the above case study in which due to the differences in working environment of UK and Japanese workers John has to limitations in training process due to which employee’s working capabilities was affected.
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Thus in order to efficiently manage organizational workforces with the diversity in their cultural background management has to develop effective working structure in such a way that employees are given an opportunity to understand the differences in working process of each other and then improvise their working strategy accordingly by which it can increase the chances of goal achievement. Management has to make sure that working plan is made in such a way that it follows all the employee legislation laws and also motivate employees to increase their working capabilities by learning new skills because of which the work productivity efficiency of the company is increased (Tarba and et.al, 2019). However, management also has to make sure that employees are empowered to showcase their issues which is making negative impact on their working capability because of which it can make concentrated efforts to resolve the issues which employees are facing. Organizational management has to make sure that employees are working according to the developed working strategy by which it can make sure that employees are able to work according to the organizational requirements because of which chances of goal achievement increases. Thus it is important for management to efficiently monitor the organizational working because through this it can make sure that employees are working according to the develop working strategy, because if employees are not able to work according to the developed strategy then organizational conflicts may arise. Cross cultural problems in case of joint venture and merger Merger: In case of merger there occurs many cross cultural problems in the form of difference in decision-making policy of different company, leadership style in the form of democratic or autocratic towards the employees is also different in different company, tendency of employees towards accepting the changes may also vary, employees personal beliefs or culture difference in the form of working practice or handling of problems may also be different in different companies (Yang, Lütge and Yang, 2019). Joint venture: Difference in usage of resource according to the policies of different companies, working practices of the different companies, way of handling the problem in case of occurrence, co-
ordination problem which may occurs due to different thinking ability, personal beliefs, thoughts andpre-assumptionofemployees,pressurehandlingtendencyofemployeesofdifferent companies, language barriers would all be counted as cross cultural problems which may occurs at the time of joint venture of the companies. CONCLUSION From the above report is concluded that cross culture is one of the important and major issue for the companies because on the one hand company got the chance to deal with international professional for raising its performance in terms of learning new techniques but on the same side it may create major issues in the form of cultural differences and clashes among the employees in the company. However, companies by adopting various theories and frameworks including the interculturalcommunicationtheoryoricebergculturaltheorymayresolvesuchcultural differences and issues.
REFERENCES Books and Journals Adamczyk, M., 2017. The importance of cultural differences in international business.Central European Review of Economics and Management.1(2). pp.151-170. González-Salinas,andet.al.,2018.Cross-CulturalDifferencesinAssociationsbetween Temperament and Behavior Problems. InToddlers, Parents and Culture(pp. 46-55). Routledge. Juddi, M.F., Perbawasari, S. and Zubair, F., 2018. Communication Competence in Cross-Culture Conflict. Matveevskaya,A.S.andPogodin,S.N.,2017.Theessenceofcross-culturalconflict (presentationofaproblem).ВестникСанкт-Петербургскогоуниверситета. Философия и конфликтология.33(1). pp.115-118. Oetzel, J.G., 2017. Effective intercultural workgroup communication theory.The International Encyclopedia of Intercultural Communication. pp.1-5. Presbitero,A.andAttar,H.,2018.Interculturalcommunicationeffectiveness,cultural intelligenceandknowledgesharing:Extendinganxiety-uncertaintymanagement theory.International Journal of Intercultural Relations.67. pp.35-43. Tarba, S.Y. and et.al, 2019. The impact of organizational culture differences, synergy potential, and autonomy granted to the acquired high-tech firms on the M&A performance.Group & Organization Management.44(3). pp.483-520. Vassou, C., Zopiatis, A. and Theocharous, A.L., 2017. Intercultural workplace relationships in the hospitality industry: Beyond the tip of the iceberg.International Journal of Hospitality Management.61. pp.14-25. Vastola, V., Russo, A. and Vurro, C., 2017. Dealing with cultural differences in environmental management: Exploring the CEP-CFP relationship.Ecological Economics.134. pp.267- 275. Yang,Y.,Lütge,C.andYang,H.,2019.Organisationalcultureaffectingpost-merger integration.Review of International Business and Strategy.