Cross Cultural Management

This essay explores Trompenaar’s Onion Model of the Seven Dimensions of Culture and its application in Nepalese culture. It also discusses cultural intelligence, corporate values of Wesfarmers, and ways to be indispensable at work.

Running Head: CROSS CULTURAL MANAGEMENT
Cross Cultural Management
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
1. Understanding Trompenaar’s Onion Model of the Seven Dimensions of Culture.............2
2. Understanding the Onion Model with reference to Nepalese Culture................................3
3. Understanding how the ABS Population Clock and Central World Factsheet can be used
by International Managers..........................................................................................................3
4. Theoretical Definition of Cultural Intelligence......................................................................3
5. Cultural Intelligence in my Own Words................................................................................4
6. The 6 Corporate Values of Wesfarmers.................................................................................4
7. Reflecting on How to be Indispensable at Work...................................................................4
References..................................................................................................................................6

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Introduction
Culture forms an integral aspect of Australian demographics and it is necessary to know
how to understand and appreciate people from different cultures in order to be able to work
with them effectively and without offending sentiments in a business setting. This essay looks
at some of the ways in which theories on culture can be understood in the Nepalese context,
while also trying to understand other essential aspects about culture and its meaning.
1. Understanding Trompenaar’s Onion Model of the Seven Dimensions of Culture
According to Trompenaar, culture is one of the most common ways by which groups of
people interpret and understand the world. For instance, there are certain products that are
commonly available in various corners of the globe and can be bought by customers for a
similar if not the same price. In one part of the world however, this product is viewed as a
cost effective alternative while in another part of the world it is viewed as a luxury product
(Young & Rudin-Brown, 2017). For Trompenaar, culture can be viewed in different layers
just like that of an onion. To understand culture it must be unpeeled layer by layer. Every
culture comprises of an outer layer, a middle layer and the core. The outer layer refers to
what is known as explicit culture. It is the first impression that people have of this culture as
foreigners. It implies the observable realities of monuments, houses, buildings, monuments,
language, markets, shrines, agriculture, food, art and fashion. The middle layer refers to all
the deeper layers associated with a particular culture. As such, these refer to the values and
norms of an individual group. The norms essentially mean what is right and wrong, the
values determine what is good and what is bad. The core of the culture is by far the most
value that people strive for, which is survival. People always organize themselves to detect
ways and means by which they can respond to their environment in the most effective way,
using all the resources made available to them. For example, Africans have to deal with
drought, the Swiss with avalanches and earthquakes and the Dutch with rising water.
Solutions disappear from human awareness and become part of assumptions. Different
cultures have developed in different types of geographic reasons and because of this, they
have developed different solutions to survive and thrive (Khan et al., 2016).

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2. Understanding the Onion Model with reference to Nepalese Culture
When it comes to analyzing my own Nepalese culture with the onion model, it is safe
to say that the outer layer of the onion or of the model as developed by Trompenaar is the
view that outsiders have of Nepalese culture being quite harmonious. This is not true. There
are many class and caste divisions in Nepalese culture with the higher castes often oppressing
the lower castes. When it comes to the middle layer, it is important to note that Nepalese
culture is quite a value strung one (Baral et al., 2016). We have strong standards and norms
about what should and should not be. Children are not supposed to be disobedient with their
parents, girls should ideally opt for arranged marriages and marry into a culture that is
befitting of their families and women should ideally get married and have children even if
they are working professionals (Seo & Skelton, 2017). The core of Nepalese culture is in my
view, resilience (Gautam, 2017). We are a country that is affected hugely by earthquakes,
something that has made us as a people very strong and resilient. Even when overthrown or
disappointed by mishaps in life we know how to overcome life’s challenges and adapt to
circumstances depending on what the circumstances demand (Chauhan, 2017).
3. Understanding how the ABS Population Clock and Central World Factsheet can
be used by International Managers
ABS Clock provides up to date information about Australian demographics. The central
world factsheet gives information about the government, people, history, transportation,
communication, transnational issues and military of as many as 267 countries of the world
(Bezirgiannis et al., 2017). Both these tools can be used by international managers to
successfully manage and control a diverse group of people working under them. The tools
will provide them with the data that they need to understand how ethnically and culturally
diverse the Australian population is, and, how to best understand and overcome cultural
differences at the workplace (Robson & McKartan, 2016).
4. Theoretical Definition of Cultural Intelligence
Theoretically, cultural intelligence refers to the capability of a person to effectively
function in situations that are characterized by a good degree of cultural diversity. It is
essentially a four factor and multi dimensional construct (Livermore & Soon, 2015). People
who have high levels of cultural intelligence possess four key capabilities. Such people are

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able to anticipate with ease what is likely to transpire in cross-cultural situations, they have
enough confidence in their own abilities and are also interested intrinsically in experiencing
settings that are culturally diverse. People with high cultural intelligence are able to vary their
non-verbal and verbal behaviors as a response to the cultural characteristics of a situation.
They also have an excellent and extensive understanding of all multicultural situations
(Livermore & Soon, 2015).
5. Cultural Intelligence in my Own Words
In my view, cultural intelligence is a term that refers to the capability of relating to
and working effectively across different cultures. I am personally quite global in my outlook
to life. While I am of Nepalese descent, I can easily relate to the culture of my fellow white
Australians and the culture of other ethnic groups living here in Australia like the Chinese
and Indians. I can relate to their mannerisms and cultural traits when spending time with them
in public and in private and do not feel isolated, alienated or out of place when interacting
with people from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds.
6. The 6 Corporate Values of Wesfarmers
Wesfarmers is a renowned farmer’s cooperative in Australia that is well known for its
six corporate values. These are to be outstanding people, to strive for commercial excellence,
to empower culture, to encourage innovation, to undertake social responsibilities and to
always aim for robust financial capacity.
7. Reflecting on How to be Indispensable at Work
In order to make myself indispensable at work, I will, first and foremost take up tasks
that matter rather doing the type of work that is easy. As stated by Hoover, it is important to
dig deeper and think about the type of work that is matters to the company you are working
for and its business success. Therefore, I will focus on tackling difficult projects instead of
easy ones. Another way, by which I can make myself indispensable at work, is to monopolize
particular skills. I will look for tasks that the organization that I am working for needs to get
done at the earliest, and I will try to make sure that only I am capable of performing such a
task. A third way by which I can make myself indispensable at work is to display willingness
to do extra work. This of course does not mean that I will allow myself to be exploited by my

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employer. I will just make it clear that I am willing to take up tasks and assignments that
other employees do not want to do and that I do not have any qualms in putting in a few extra
hours in order to get all the tasks accomplished in a timely manner (Guerra et al., 2015).

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References
Baral, Y. R., Skinner, J., Van Teijlingen, E., & Lyons, K. (2016). The uptake of skilled birth
attendants’ services in rural Nepal: A qualitative study. Journal of Asian
Midwives, 3(2), 48-55
Bezirgiannis, N., de Boer, F., & de Gouw, S. (2017, September). Human-in-the-loop
simulation of cloud services. In European Conference on Service-Oriented and Cloud
Computing (pp. 143-158). Springer, Cham.
Chauhan, R. K. (2017). Perception and Practices of Academic Leadership in Technical
Schools. Journal of Training and Development, 3, 22-32.
Cross-cultural differences in automotive hmi design: a comparative study between uk and
indian users' design preferences. Journal of Usability Studies, 11(2), 45-65.al of Asian
Midwives, 3(2), 48-55.
Gautam, B. (2017). Case Study 8: Disaster Recovery through Art and Tourism. In Good
Intentions Are Not Enough: Why We Fail at Helping Others (pp. 119-120).
Guerra, R., Gaertner, S. L., António, R., & Deegan, M. (2015). Do we need them? When
immigrant communities are perceived as indispensable to national identity or
functioning of the host society. European Journal of Social Psychology, 45(7), 868-
879.
Livermore, D., & Soon, A. N. G. (2015). Leading with cultural intelligence: The real secret
to success. Amacom.
Robson, C., & McCartan, K. (2016). Real world research. John Wiley & Sons

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Seo, S., & Skelton, T. (2017). Regulatory migration regimes and the production of space: The
case of Nepalese workers in South Korea. Geoforum, 78, 159-168.
Young, K. L., & Rudin-Brown, C. M. (2017). Designing Automotive Technology for Cross-
Cultural Acceptance. Driver Acceptance of New Technology: Theory, Measurement
and Optimisation, 317