Cross Cultural Management Essay - Desklib

This essay discusses the corporate culture in Singapore, including the demographics, religion, and beliefs. It also covers the management practices and skills required to succeed in Singapore. The Hofstede theory is used to analyze the cultural dimensions of Singapore. The essay concludes that Singapore is a collectivist society that supports its employees and other members.

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Cross Cultural Management
Essay
7/30/2018
Student Name

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Introduction
Corporate culture refers to the beliefs and behaviour that determines how the superior-
subordinates and management interact and handle the external business transactions.
Singapore is considered the multi-ethnic society comprised of Chinese, Malay, Indian, and
Eurasian communities. In Singapore, the majority of the people are from other countries and
have their own culture and values (Polevikova, 2018). To manage and cope up with the
different culture in the business is considered the difficult task that the managers have to
perform to have a healthy relationship with their clients. The Singapore business style is
famous worldwide due to the ways followed theirs in businesses. Singaporean is found
generally open and cosmopolitan in their outlook. The business etiquettes I find to be
different in Singapore. The businesses that are working in Singapore needs to understand the
behavior followed during the business meetings, negotiations, business lunches and other
important business procedures (Awan and Kraslawski, 2017).
Singapore culture
In terms of population, Singapore is considered the second densest sovereign state in the
world with a population over 5.69 million in 2016. The country is found to have the vast
culture and demographic diversity with various ethnic backgrounds including 74% of
Chinese, 13 percent indigenous Malays and over 6 percent Indians. National language in
Singapore is Malay; English is considered the primary working language and is used within
the educational institutions (Doris Fullgrabe, 2017).
In addition to a varied ethnic population, religious diversity has helped to create an even
richer culture in Singapore with Buddhism, Islam, Taoism, Hinduism, and multiple other
religions building the spiritual foundation of the growing country. Concerning the culture, the

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formal for men and women are most preferable in the meetings and offices. Singapore has
made the possible policies and rules which helps to support and enhance the role of women in
all areas of society. This freedom is given in both personal and business contexts. Many
official policies are also created for women are created to help women against the
discrimination (Gentina, Shrum and Lowrey, 2015).
Corporate culture in Singapore is given due importance due to the punctuality followed in the
business. In other countries, being punctual is not an issue but in Singapore, punctuality is
taken at the first priority by the corporates. Meeting should be held on time and delay in
meeting is not expected in Singapore. Business meeting should be done at the time without
any delay with the aim to include a direct discussion when handling the issues related to
money and funding. In the meeting, they are supposed to have a light shake hand with their
partners and clients (Grewal 2018). If the women find crossing their hand in front of their
chest then it will be considered as a protocol, which means they are not interested in shaking
hands with them. In such cases, to give respect to other person, women used to do a slight
shake their head for acknowledging the other person.
It is the habit of the Singaporeans to address the chines people with their surname whereas a
Malay or Indian introduce themselves by their first name only and then following with their
professional title. Discussing the religion or politics is considered as an offense in Singapore.
Raising voice or losing the temper in consideration to the topic related to the politics or
religion is harmful, as the laws in the country are very harsh (Walker and Dimmock, 2012).
Factors affecting the environment
The political environment in Singapore is found to be stable in nature. This is the reason
many companies are trying to open their business in Singapore. Nowadays, the country has a
parliamentary democracy. While the legal law system in the country is written under the

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English common law. In Singapore, mostly private limited companies are there due to the
low tax payable system in the country. On the other hand, fines are very high and foreign
people have to be very careful and have to study the rules regulation of law in advance
(Today, 2018).
The economic stability is there in Singapore while maintaining the wealth of the business and
individuals. The economic situation of Singapore is found to have the welfare of the people
and In terms of technology, Singapore has not found to be updated and modernized. The
culture of Singapore is not that much updated as other countries are.
Theory
One of the studies by the Greet Hofstede is Singapore. He has given the five dimensions,
which are related to the power distance, uncertainty avoidance, and individualism versus
collectivism, long-term versus short-term orientation and masculinity versus feminity.
The power distance in Singapore corporate culture is found in the levels of management as
the top-level management have higher authority as compared to lower level employees and
this will create the relationship status among the boss and subordinates. In Singapore, the
subordinates are seeing their managers as well-meaning autocrats (Guang-yu and Hua-jun,
2010).
Another factor relates to the uncertainty avoidance, which means the extent to feel the
uncomfortable or comfortable in the structured situations. In a country like Singapore, almost
all the situations are finding to be structured in nature as it is the habit of Singaporeans to talk
straightforwardly in dealing with the resources or funds with another party. The Singapore’s
companies try to avoid the uncertainty in their work environment so to concentrate and make
solutions for the present problems. Another factor in this theory is focused on Individualism
and collectivism. In Singapore, the culture depicts that the employer is concerned about their

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employees and give them security to have good standards and healthy living. From this, it can
be said that the companies are running on the concept of ‘we’ and are focusing on the overall
staff in the organization. Singapore is said to be a collectivistic society (Polevikova, 2018).
The dimension of masculinity and feminity illustrates the sharing of emotional roles between
the genders, which is another major problem for any society. In Singapore, the index of men
is found to be more as compared to the women after giving the equal opportunity to every
person in the business. Men still find to have the more powerful than the female in Singapore.
The last dimension relates to the long-term and short-term orientation, which is related to the
company culture, is focused on the future or planning to have for the short term in the
business. In Singapore, the individuals are finding to have the cultural values in order to
support the long-term investments. People in Singapore have the sense of disgrace and
employees do not hasten with their decisions (Guide Me Singapore, 2018).
Management Practices
The company in Singapore prefers to have the planning before doing any meeting. This
planning is useful to them as they decided to advances what topics to be discussed, in which
manner they have to behave, and other related business things. This planning makes the
proper management of the company while communicating with the other parties (Inter
Nations, 2018).
The relation between the employer and employee is found to be paternalistic from the
employer’s side. The top-level management is treated with the same respect as one show to
their parents. The employers are to concern about the families, living standard health and
another practical life issue of their employees. Singapore is considered a hierarchical culture,
the boss is considered to be at the superior level. The staff members are not required to ask

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any questions, as it would indicate that the boss has not explained what was necessary in
performing their role (Kingdom of Netherlands, 2018).
Setting up of business in Singapore is an easy task as compared to hiring the employees. The
decision making involved in hiring the employees include many legal protocols, which are
adhered to both employees and employers. In a culture of Singapore adhering to the
employment act, is mandatory and all the employers and employees are aware of this fact.
This gives the clear idea of their rights and responsibilities that will be there under the various
legislations. There will be a proper contract made of the employment in Singapore so that the
employees and employers both are binding to each other with their committed (Laine, 2013).
The employees are promoted according to their performance in the company. No partial
culture is adopted in Singapore, as they believe in giving equal chance to everyone
irrespective of the age, sex, caste, and religion.
To get the promotion in the country like Singapore, it takes around 4 years. This was
analyzed by the report (Today, 2018). This made the employees morale down in the
company. However, all the companies in Singapore are following the same trend in
promoting their employees. The employers have found the solution for the same by giving
add-on advantage and incentive to their employees if they are performing more than an
average employee (Money Smart, 2018).
To get the motivation in the workforce, the Singapore culture focuses on providing the
transparency in the work and in the decision-making process. The working culture in
Singapore is usually fair and allows the staff to follow a career path that let them grow.
Employees in Singapore are motivated because the local companies are further along with the
training growth curve. The training and motivational sessions are given to the employees so
that they remain productive and can perform to their best ability (Siakas and Siakas, 2015).

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Skills and Abilities
Firstly, the skills required by the expatriates should have the knowledge of the common
language to communicate. Another ability that a person should have while dealing in a
country like Singapore is that having the broad-based social ability. This will give them the
big scope and connection in dealing in other countries and Singapore. In Singapore, there is
the special custom in exchanging the business cards. They present the card with them both
hands and the name in the card should be facing the business partner. If the business is done
with the Chinese people then one side of the card should be written in Mandarin. Singaporean
thinks that the respect given to the card is equivalent to the respect given to their business.
That is the reason they do not write anything on these cards or crumple them carelessly in the
pocket (Inter Nations, 2018).
One more skill expatriate should have in them while dealing with Singapore corporates
business is the negotiation style used. Like in the culture of Singapore peoples are prefer to
deal straightforward rather than molding the statements (Singapore Business, 2018).
Conclusion
From the above discussion, it can be concluded that the Singapore culture is found to be
different from other countries. Every company differs from each other in any one of the
ways. However, the Singapore corporate culture finds to be unique in nature. There are
various other dimensions taken into consideration, which include the cultural dimensions,
religion, and beliefs, language used in Singapore. The people in Singapore are finding to be
religious and ethical in nature and do not try to cheat the other party. In dealing with the other
business, companies are focused on the matter related things rather than focusing on
defrauding the other party. From the Hofstede theory, it can be concluded that the Singapore

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culture is found to be extensive and different in nature. Understanding the cultural part and
norms are taking the huge part in the organizational structure of the Singapore company-
working environment. Singaporean society is not found to be homogenous in nature. The
companies can easily set up their business in Singapore due to the low tax rate and have the
political stability in the country. In the last, it can be said that the Singapore is a collectivist in
nature, which support their employees and other members.

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References
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on the relationship between relational governance and firm social performance. International
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Gentina, E., Shrum, L.J. and Lowrey, T.M. (2015) the role of assimilation and individuation
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