Cross-Cultural Management Essay

This essay examines the challenges and opportunities of cross-cultural management in multinational teams. It uses Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions model to contrast two cultures and discusses potential problems in business interactions. The essay also critically analyzes barriers like communication, legal differences, and political risks, while highlighting the benefits of diverse perspectives and talent pooling.

Cross-Cultural Management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
Using an appropriate model of cultural values, contrast two cultures then discuss what
potential problems might arise for people from these two cultures doing business with one
another.........................................................................................................................................3
Critically discuss what the barriers and challenges facing multi-national groups
and/or teams and do they outweigh the opportunities. .......................................................6
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1
....................................................................................................................................................2

INTRODUCTION
Cross culture management means managing and handling the employees and work teams
for the culture that prevails in the organisation (Colomer, 2017). When employees working in the
company are from different companies or states than it is the duty of manager to manage them.
In this present report an appropriate model of cultural values will be defined in brief. In addition
to this, evaluate cross cultural communication as being an underestimated challenge will be
discussed in detail.
Box A
Using an appropriate model of cultural values, contrast two cultures then discuss what potential
problems might arise for people from these two cultures doing business with one another.
In every organisation there are some different culture that prevails and management requires
adopting it by applying different models and theories to there system. In an organisation The
same models are defined in brief below:
HOFSTEDE'S CULTURAL DIMENSIONS:
This is the theory which quantify cultural differences which was introduced in the year 1970.
From that time this model is started recognising as a standard for understanding cultural
differences. It is given by Geert Hofstede which has majorly six dimensions through which the
author has explained the concept of cross culture and its values. All are defined in brief below
Power distance Index: This refers to the degree of inequality that exists within the employees
of the company with or without power. There are two different Power distance indexes where
the power is high and low (Bretos and Errasti, 2017). When two organisation works together
they will have different culture due to society and also every company have their own
organisational culture. So this dimension of the model says that high degree of index means that
hierarchy is clearly established and every power is distributed as per the work system in
company. Whereas, on the other hand low index shows a different scenario where the
employees question the authority and attempt to distribute power. Organisation when comes up
with each other to work together problems of power arises with them and thus they face the

problem while working with each other. This will be a big problem for the organisation and
hence the culture is adopted by employees by adopting the models. This will help in adopting
the different cross cultures that prevails in the organisation. In low Power distance index work
and power is delegated as much as possible. All the employees are made available and
management make them Involved if they are affected by the decision making.
In the context of two companies who will come to work together, they might have
higher and lower power distance and that will be cross culture for employees and management
as well (Caiazza and Dauber, 2015). This will be a major problem which needs to accepted by
the companies and make changes in the culture as per the situation and employees demand.
Individualism and collectivism: These are two completely different cultures that are adopted
by companies. In individualism there is less connectivity with the people and here people take
less care of each other. This is a culture where the employee does mix there personal and social
life with each other and even while working they maintain a privacy level. This culture in the
company has always helped in working more hard as they will not be much involved in there
social life or with different group of people. On the other hand, collectivism means working
together as a team, in this culture of organisation teams are formed and employees support each
other as they have common goals and objectives (Dharmapala, 2014). This culture focus on
coming up with group activities and this accepts the different situations and deal with the same
in very easy way. Employees support each other in case of difficulties. When two businesses
come together and they follow different cultures than it makes it tough for the organisation to
adopt each other. As say for example if the organisation has culture of individualism and each
employee focuses on their own things than it will be very difficult for them to adopt
collectivism. On the other hand, if collectivism culture is adopted by the company than it will
be difficult for them to work alone and to be less social. So these are some cultural differences
that are faced by the companies and different ways are found to make employees work in these
environments (Colomer, 2017). This model says that in collective working environment people
have to loyal with each other if they are working together and have common goals and
objectives. This can also be said that individualism is a culture where work for rewards and
have they focus on developing their own skills whereas in collectivism all workers avoid giving
negative feedback in public at large and they work for organisation more than their own self.
Masculinity versus Femininity: These are also two different culture that runs in the companies

die to the culture of the nation and society. In masculine society, the role of men and women are
tends to overlap less with each other and in this culture men are expected to behave assertively.
This culture is running in many organisations but on the other hand, in feminine society, In
feminine societies, however, there is a great deal of overlap between male and female roles, and
modesty is perceived as a virtue (Dharmapala, 2014). Greater importance is placed on good
human relationship with your direct superior, or working with employees who cooperate well
with one another. This will result in accepting their own trends and long hours of commitments
are required to be made in the same. Like for example, In japan and Austria there is a huge gap
between value of men and women. If two organisation are planning to work together which are
from Japan and Austria than it will be difficult for the organisation to work together (Nilsson-
Lindén and et.al.,2018). As in Japan, women are very hard working and even young girls are
very competitive and it has huge working experiences. Whereas, In Austria the womens and
men have different cultures due to the culture that prevails in the society and nation. This will
result in different cultures that run in the company. It also says that womens have to adopt the
culture as they have to manage their families as well. So this is cultural difference that is faced
by the companies and they have to manage the working with the entire organisation and their
work as well.
Uncertainty avoidance: It is a situation where the employees belongs to a culture or society
where they are strong enough to cope up with the future uncertainty. In these employees remain
stress free and avoids the risk that arises according to the situations. Here the employees have
the capacity to bear the different opinions and behaviours that come by many people (Damary,
Markova and Pryadilina, 2017). These results in that every employee should be prepared for
different situations that arises while working in a company. In addition to this, when business
comes together in order to work together than they have to avoid the different situations that
arises while working together. This has helped the workers in leading and dealing there work in
better way. It will help in making employees more strong and take their own decision while
working in the company. It also helps in different dimensions and working in a better way.
This, this is a dimension of this model which helps in adopting different cultures that prevails in
the company.
Long term v/s Short term orientation: These are two different orientations that are followed
in different countries. In long term orientation the culture is adopted by way of being more

modest. Here the employees and company majorly concentrates on virtues and obligations. It is
more likely to be seen as a positive value for the company. Whereas, on the other hand in short
term orientation company has focus on its tradition and the culture that is followed in the
nation. Stability is there major focus even while working together and coming up with new
collaboration (Caiazza and Dauber, 2015). This will lead to have major emphasis on because of
the different negative association which have growth purpose so they have to focus on different
cultures.
When two companies will come together there will be various differences in the culture and
majority of the problems will be faced in culture. Communication gap and major differences in
national ethnic culture are faced by the organisation. Management should come up with
different strategies and adopt such culture which gives maximum benefits to the organisation
along with job satisfaction of the employees.
Box B
Critically discuss what the barriers and challenges facing multi-national groups
and/or teams and do they outweigh the opportunities.
There are various problems that are being faced by the multinational groups as every one have
different culture that is required to be adopted by groups in order to work together. In this recent
time, many organisations and different groups come together to work as a joint unit and they
face different barriers while working together due to differences in the national cultures and
traditions. It has been critically evaluated that as per Hebous and Ruf (2017), while working
together multi nationally the groups feel difference in there working style and this leads to be a
major challenge for team members as it is difficult to adopt and understand the working styles.
This will also result in time consumption in order to understand the working style of each other.
Whereas, Reilly and Williams (2016) says that this will help in bringing more creativity and
different ideas due to the different brains and there various cultures. It is a huge opportunity for
the multinational groups to adopt each other and come up with something innovative and new in
the market. This can take the group or organisation to a new different level.
While discussing critically it has also been determined that as per Sternad and Schwarz-Musch
(2014), it is really difficult to communicate and understand the languages as every nation has

their own language which is not known by other people. So when people work as a team or
group it is really important to communicate in order to work together. But this language and
communication is the biggest gap that is being faced by them. But on the other hand, as per
Reilly and Williams (2016), working together in multinational group with different nation
people allows and helps in gaining local market knowledge hence it is really important to work
with a multi national team while a company plans to enter in to new market. It is a strategy to
enter in to new market to work with the local people so that it will be helpful in gaining more
knowledge about the market and its potential. In addition to this, the other barrier that is being
faced by multinational group is that it is tough to understand the different laws and rules that are
prevailing in the nation where the group is planning to work in. It makes really hard for
management to understand the different rules for every new thing weather it is accounting, tax or
new laws of imports and exports. All the new laws are required to be understand by the new
group that has come together. On the other hand, author says that diverse teams are better and
they perform in much better way .So it is an opportunity for the multinational teams to pool the
talents and adopt new different ideas in order to achieve their goals and objectives. In addition to
this, a different level and growth can be attained by the groups by working together and hence
this will result in huge profits and sustainable.
It has also been understood that as per Musamali and Martin (2016) political risks also is a bug
barrier that is faced by the company while working in different nations and there local groups.
As every nation has their own political culture that prevails in the nation. If one has to work
internationally than cultural and political are the biggest barriers that are faced by the group and
the team members. On the other side, the says that different skills are being adopted and it is
huge benefit that members have different skills and that can be used while working together in a
team internationally. This is a big advantage through which new markets can be entered and
competitive gain are possible. It is a culture where the employees belongs to a nation or society
where they are powerful enough to cope up with the future uncertainty and that is why they
come together to work on international groups. In these employees have higher stress but they
try to remove the risk that arises according to the different situations. Here the employees have
the capacity to bear the different opinions and behaviours that come by many people. These
results in that every employee should be prepared for different situations that arises while
working in a company. In addition to this, when business comes together in order to work

together than they have to avoid the different situations that arises while working together. As
employees with different skills will come up with something better hence many benefits can be
enjoyed by multi-national groups.
In addition to this, there are certain more barriers of multi-national groups in which they face
the problem of organisational culture and working culture differences. As every organisation
works in its own way and it has different culture that is adopted by the employees. So when
different people comes up to work in the same group they face the problem in there working
style and thinking and way of dealing with the things. It will be a big challenge for the
multinational groups.
Now they have so many opportunities as well which are being discussed above by the authors,
the same are over weigh as this. Multinational teams adopts all the opportunities of different
talents that they will get by working with international people and hence it is a big opportunity
for the groups to pool different talent in the organisation. This will allow the company in coming
up with different things and hence it will be a big opportunity for growing more in international
market. It has also been said that as per Olivia and Dedzo (2017), social and economical risks
is also a bug barrier that is a challenge for the organisation while operating business in different
nations and the local associations. As every nation has their own social culture that runs in the
country. If one has to work internationally than cultural and social cultures are the large
obstacle that are featured by the group and the team members. On the other side, the Musamali
and Martin (2016), says that contrasting talents and highly skilled employees is a huge benefit
that members have different skills and that can be used while working together in a team in the
different part of the world. This is a great benefit through which new markets can be covered
and competitive analysis and competitive advantages can be accomplished. As employees with
different skills will come up with something better hence many benefits can be enjoyed by
multi-national groups. So these are the major challenges along with the opportunities that are
faced and gained by the multinational teams and different groups.
In addition to this, barrier of paperwork is multicultural workforces is also being a big
disadvantage. As the paperwork of every nation is very different and it is being varied as per the
rules and regulations of the nation. This is a huge challenge to understand and maintain the
paper work system as per the given rules and laws of the country. This all are the major barriers
and challenges that are being faced and managed while working with multinational groups.

These can be said that multi-cultural groups are both ways where the challenges and barriers
along with opportunities are also gained. This can be said that people have various advantages
and disadvantages by the same and they have the huge variations while working and
understanding each other.
Conclusion
From the above report it has been concluded that there are various cultural differences
faced by the organisation while working together. Language and communication is the biggest
gap that is being faced by employees while working together in multinational company. In
addition to this, forming multi national teams it is an opportunity for the teams to pool the
talents and adopt new different ideas in order to achieve their goals and objectives. Furthermore,
working together in multinational groups will help in bringing more creativity and different ideas
due to the different talents and there various cultures in multinational groups.

REFERENCES
Books & Journals
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multinational worker cooperatives: Lessons from the Mondragon Corporation—a case
study of the Fagor Ederlan Group. Organization, 24(2), pp.154-173.
Caiazza, R. and Dauber, D., 2015. Research on M&As–time for consolidation. Journal of
Organizational Change Management, 28(5).
Colomer, L., 2017. Heritage on the move. Cross-cultural heritage as a response to globalisation,
mobilities and multiple migrations. International Journal of Heritage Studies, 23(10),
pp.913-927.
Damary, R., Markova, T. and Pryadilina, N., 2017. Key Challenges of On-Line Education in
Multi-Cultural Context. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 237, pp.83-89.
Dharmapala, D., 2014. What do we know about base erosion and profit shifting? A review of the
empirical literature. Fiscal Studies, 35(4), pp.421-448.
Fonseca-Pedrero, E., Debbané, M., Ortuño-Sierra, J., Chan, R.C.K., Cicero, D.C., Zhang, L.C.,
Brenner, C., Barkus, E., Linscott, R.J., Kwapil, T. and Barrantes-Vidal, N., 2018. The
structure of schizotypal personality traits: a cross-national study. Psychological
medicine, 48(3), pp.451-462.
Hebous, S. and Ruf, M., 2017. Evaluating the effects of ACE systems on multinational debt
financing and investment. Journal of Public Economics, 156, pp.131-149.
Musamali, K. and Martin, B.N., 2016. Comparing higher education practices and cultural
competences in Kenya and the United States. Higher Education Studies, 6(3), p.127.
Nilsson-Lindén, H. and et.al., 2018. Organizing life cycle management in practice: challenges of
a multinational manufacturing corporation. The International Journal of Life Cycle
Assessment, 23(7), pp.1368-1382.
Olivia, A.T. and Dedzo, B.Q., 2017. Cross-Cultural Competence and Functional Diversity in
Business Negotiations: A Developing Country’s Perspective. In Advances in Cross-
Cultural Decision Making (pp. 85-98). Springer, Cham.
Reilly, P. and Williams, T., 2016. Global HR: Challenges facing the function. Routledge.
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Sternad, D. and Schwarz-Musch, A., 2014. Conflict perceptions in top management teams: a
cross-cultural study. European Journal of Cross-Cultural Competence and Management
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