Cross-cultural Management: Organisational Culture, Structure, Ethics and CSR

Cross-cultural management

Contents
1. INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................1
2. MAIN BODY..............................................................................................................................1
2.1 Organisational culture............................................................................................................1
2.2 Organisational structure.........................................................................................................3
2.3 Ethics and CSR......................................................................................................................5
3. CONCLUSION............................................................................................................................7
4. REFERENCES............................................................................................................................9

1. INTRODUCTION
Cross-cultural management can be termed as the study of managing people and activities
which have diverse cultural backgrounds and management of conflict in a heterogenous culture
is sought (Thomas and Peterson, 2016). In the following report, a case study of Hydro
Generations’ project of constructing a dam at Tanzania is being evaluated with respect to
different dimensions and perspective of cross-cultural management.
2. MAIN BODY
2.1 Organisational culture
Problem: It was identified that the practices and lifestyle adopted by Jones in Tanzania
were inconsistent with the culture of Hydro Generations leading to a disbalance between values
and beliefs of the organisation.
Culture can be termed as the values, beliefs and knowledge of a group of people in a same
geographical location which encompasses religion, language, social habits etcetera. Culture is an
element which acts as a tool for guiding the behaviour or conduct in a closed framework
(Middleton and Jones, 2000). Organisational culture refers to the shared values and assumptions
of an organisation which determine the behaviour of employees and the manner in which
organisational vision is to be accomplished (Alvesson, 2012). In the context of case study of HG,
a clear distinction between the cultural values adopted by Jones at Tanzania and the
organisational culture of HG was evident which was the concern or the problem for the
management of the company. It is important that organisational culture should be aligned with
the culture of the business territory but to an extent where the organisational culture suffers due
to extensive practicing of country culture without effective internal communication is a
challenging business scenario.
As identified by Steinberg, Jones was expected to promote the high standard of living
encouraged by the organisational culture which is also in harmony with the image and reputation
of the multinational company and instead he decided to maintain middle-class Tanzanian
lifestyle and decided against dwelling with fellow expatriate managers and help them to get
comfortable in the new and alienated environment of the country.
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