Cross Cultural Management | Essay

Running head: CROSS CULTURAL MANAGEMENT
Cross Cultural Management
Name of the student
Name of the University
Author note

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Culture refers to shared set of the traditions along with the behaviours which is shaped
by the history along with the religion of a particular country (Thomas and Peterson 2016).
Middle East refers to the transcontinental region that is inclusive of Western Asia along with
the Egypt. They are an integral part of Arab world and history of the country dates back to
the ancient times. Value of the Arab culture have been found to be unique and Islam have a
great effect on the Arabian society. The people in the Middle East are dictated by the
principles that have been enshrined in the Koran. The beliefs in the Arab world are very
orthodox and this has an influence on the work ethics of the Arab people. This essay
discusses about the challenges that I faced while working in a project in the University of
Dubai and the useful knowledge that I was able gain with the help of my experience.
I am an MBA student in the field of International Business and Marketing in the
University of Dubai. I had to do a group work in the course of my first semester when I
encountered an experience that had a great impact on my mind. We had been asked to do a
project on the topic of “Effect of Corporate Social Responsibility on Financial Performance
of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company” during which time I had to work with the students of
various kinds of cultural backgrounds. There were some students of Japan along with
America in our group and the differing cultural background gave way to a cultural clash
while carrying out the project. Our group was comprised of some senior members and they
were working along with us on the project. There was a rift in between the group members
regarding how to organize the project and collection of the materials in relation to the
research (Bird and Mendenhall 2016). The people of our culture wanted to go along by the
opinion of the senior members whereas the people of the Japanese along with the American
culture had a distinct way of the work that impeded the progression of the work while doing
the project. The American and the Japanese people wanted to carry out the process of the
work collectively whereas the students belonging to the Middle Eastern culture wanted to

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work in the independent manner. There was discrepancy in relation to the process of the data
collection that cast a shadow over the completion of the project. The students belonging to
the Middle Eastern culture wanted to take recourse to the process of the primary data
collection so that correct information could be collected that can help in the maintenance of
the accuracy regarding the project. There were some students of the other culture who wanted
to collect the important data with the help of the secondary research method that can shed
light on the project. I had to go through painful experiences while doing the project that have
left a deep impression in my mind.
On the basis of the Hofstede Cultural Dimension, it can be asserted that UAE have the
high power distance and the people believe in a hierarchical order in the society. The people
who were senior wanted to take the lead in doing the project whereas there were people of
American along with the Japanese culture who laid equal attention to the perspective that was
put forward by the junior along with the senior members in the group (Tjosvold 2017). The
power distance have been found to low among the people of the United States and the Japan
that has a great influence on their manner of working in the society. The people believe that
the power is distributed in an unequal manner in the society that has an effect on the kind of
the work that is carried out by these people. UAE have a collectivist society and it fosters
strong relationships among the group members that can aid in the area of the long-term
commitment. In the American society, the hierarchy are generally established for the sake of
the convenience and the people in the higher level have to depend on the people in the lower
level that can help in driving the work. The hindrance was faced by us at the time of doing
the project on account of the fact that the students coming from the Middle Eastern culture
preferred the independent manner of working and on the other hand the American and the
Japanese students wanted to collect the information together at the time of doing the project.
The conflict took place in between team members owing to the method of the data collection