Managing Cross-Cultural Teams in Global Organizations

The assignment content emphasizes the importance of cross-cultural management in organizations that hire employees from diverse countries. It highlights the challenges managers face when dealing with cultural differences, particularly between Western individualistic cultures (e.g., United States) and collectivist cultures (e.g., China). The content stresses the need for managers to be trained and educated on cross-cultural management to effectively handle conflicts and respect each other's cultural values. It also suggests that despite cultural differences, there are similarities among cultures that can help blend workforces together.

Cross –Cultural Management in Organizations
Culture and Managerial Implications
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Cross –Cultural Management in Organizations
Executive Summary
This project report intends to focus on the cross cultural workforce similarities and
differences that are experienced in multinational global companies. All the global companies
recruit from various different countries due to lack of skilled employees in their own country.
Since people from any country can be recruited and their individual culture practices vary
extensively it is quite obvious that it is challenging to manage all the employees effectively.
There can be many differences in terms of working timings, nature of work, behavior etc. to
mention a few. It is quite challenging for the managers to manage such diverse employee
strength with various cultural backgrounds.
For the study of the similarities and differences between various employee cultures
we have chosen the United States and China in this report. The employees from United States
take more individual decisions, are often aggressive and very fast in decision making process.
There is more freedom of speech and there are intense debates to make the decision making
process faster in United States. In United States employees are encouraged to speak up more
openly so that conflicts are resolved very quickly. The employees from China want to build a
great and strong relationship first before they enter into the decision making process. The
Chinese people try building teams first and give utmost importance to team bonding and then
take a collective decision. This often makes the decision making process slower and less
aggressive. The Chinese managers usually do not encourage discussing the conflicts directly
in order to avoid hurting individual’s feeling, thus taking several rounds of discussion for
solving conflict of interest.
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Cross –Cultural Management in Organizations
Contents
Executive Summary...................................................................................................................2
Introduction................................................................................................................................4
The Concept of Cross – Cultural Management (CCM).............................................................5
Assessment of Similarities in Managerial processes and Organizational Culture.....................5
Assessment of Differences in Managerial processes and Organizational Culture.....................7
1. Individualism versus Group Orientation.........................................................................7
2. Communications.............................................................................................................8
3. Decision Making.............................................................................................................8
4. Superior – Subordinate Relationships.............................................................................9
5. Managing Teams...........................................................................................................10
Conclusion................................................................................................................................11
References................................................................................................................................13
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Cross –Cultural Management in Organizations
Introduction
As business now – a – days operate globally and is a growing trend in global markets.
Due to high level of competition in global markets, it is a major concern for most of the
businesses to acquire and retain the skilled, talented and experienced human resources. Thus,
there is a growing demand of outsourcing human resources and effectively adjust the
shortage gap in the human capital (Bresciani and Comi, 2017). Also, global operation of
companies has led to the requirement of hiring foreign employees or workforce from various
countries and locations, different cultural backgrounds and origins etc. Managing a diverse
workforce is one of the biggest challenges faced by the managers in every organization.
Managers in every organization have to timely address the raising problems on cultural
differences as well as address the concerns on how the managers communicate their decisions
effectively that focus on equal benefits to both the organization and the human resources. The
expansion and shift of business from local to international or global markets help the
managers to gain an in – depth understanding of the significance of cultural diversity in the
workplace, specifically in the management of human resource that mainly deal with diverse
set of employees at each level of organization (Bresciani and Comi, 2017).
International working teams are found commonly in most of the businesses these
days. Companies interact with members of different national cultures and develop a strong
business relationship bond with them. This also includes their customers, business partners as
well as employees. Managers work is highly influenced by the creation of global economics
and thus the need to manage issues of communication and controlling in multi – national
companies of multi – cultural environment is a significant interest now. Managers, these days
have gone through unending competitive challenges in employee management of different
cultural nationalities and orientations, considering the basic human psychology of responding
to crucial situations culturally (Hopkins and Scott, 2016). Thus, understanding the concept of
cross – cultural management is very important for all the managers in globally operating
businesses. The main aim of this report is to assess the similarities as well as differences of
managerial processes and organizational culture in diverse workforce or cross – cultural
environment and understand the wide range of issues faced by managers as well as
organization in such a cross – cultural working environment. The wide range of issues
covered in the report include - Individualism versus Group Orientation, Communications,
Decision Making, Autocratic versus Delegate Leadership, Superior – Subordinate
Relationships and Managing Teams. Also, in order to discuss these concepts of
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Cross –Cultural Management in Organizations
organizational culture and cross – cultural management, the countries chosen are China and
USA.
The Concept of Cross – Cultural Management (CCM)
The growing significance of global business has developed a high demand for
managers in managing global workforce skills as well as working with individuals from
several different countries. The Cross – Cultural Management (CCM) can be described as
acquiring cultural synergy, intercultural effectiveness and productive diversity on the
performance of human resource management across several cultures, through procedures,
policies and processes that include cross – cultural type of adaptation and social engagement
as well as the skills that include the leadership of teams of cross – cultural type. In other
words, cross – cultural management can be defined as the individual’s behaviour in global
organizations which clearly reflect on how the employees or people with different
backgrounds and culture work together in an organization and fulfil their job roles assigned.
The major concern to effectively manage the employees hailing from different backgrounds
and cultural orientations is considered to be a significant factor to make an organization
successful. Companies dealing with people from different parts of the globe, must essentially
take into consideration of cross – cultural workforce as the rising conflicts can lead to failure
of the company.
Various researches have been carried out to identify the impact and significance of
cross – cultural management and the range of conflicts related to it. It has been found that
there is a significant difference in the attitudes and behaviours of employees and managers
across the globe. Also, this is mainly associated with the national culture managing the
differences in work – related attitudes and values over other significant variables such as –
profession, gender, age and position within the organization (Bresciani and Comi, 2017).
These differences are further segregated into four cultural dimensions. They are –
individualism and collectivism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance and masculinity and
femininity (Z. Khairullah and Y. Khairullah, 2012).
Assessment of Similarities in Managerial processes and Organizational Culture
In this section of the report, the assessment of similarities that exist in managerial
processes and organizational culture in China and USA will be discussed. Chinese are among
the most hard working people and thus, they give more focus on innovation and technologies.
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On the other hand, United States is considered to be a highly advanced country utilizing wide
range of innovations and technologies in their businesses. Both the countries, China and
United States believe in providing wide range of opportunities to their employees and
motivate their employees to put their best efforts in organizational success (Weihrich, n.d.).
This clearly means that the employees in China and United States are provided opportunities
to express their ideas, thoughts and experiences and give their best services to organization.
Managers in both the countries are supportive and provide employees with necessary tools
and technologies to carry out the organizational activities. Managerial processes and planning
in United States organizations are mainly short – term oriented and whereas, in China, though
the managerial processes and planning focus on long – term, they do consider short – term
plans when necessary. Managerial processes involved in business planning in both China and
United States make use of top – down approach and thus, the flow of information related to
business processes is from top to bottom.
In terms of organizing under management processes, individual responsibilities are
provided to employees in both the countries and thus, employees are open to wide range of
challenges and competition in the global market. Also, yet another similarity between China
and United States in terms of organizational culture and structure is that they follow formal
bureaucratic type of organizational structure to form their business. Managerial processes
under human resource recruitment and selection in both countries focus on acquiring skilled,
talented and experienced employees and also efforts put in to retain the experienced and
deserving candidates are higher (Weihrich, n.d.). Organizational culture in both the countries,
China and United States believe in rapid communication with employees at each level. In
order to motivate employees, and to make them highly productive, organizations in China
and United States providing effective and efficient Training and Development Programs. All
the decisions coming under managerial processes are taken by the leader or the head of the
group. Organizational culture in both China and United States are designed often in directive
style, which means the culture defines determined, strong and firm organizational goals,
mission and vision. As the organizations use top – down approach, the communication
carried out in both the countries is also in top – down format. Any kind of major controls in
managerial processes are managed and handled by the seniors or superiors in the
organizations. Quality control tools coming under the managerial processes are used in
limited number in both the countries, United States and China.
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Assessment of Differences in Managerial processes and Organizational Culture
Though there are certain similarities in managerial processes and organizational
culture between the two chosen countries – China and United States, there are many
differences that exist between these countries and are highly significant. These differences
lead to major issues in the organization and ultimately the overall business is affected.
Following is the detailed explanation of wide range of differences / issues that are significant
in managerial processes and organizational culture in China and United States
1. Individualism versus Group Orientation
The factor or more specifically the issue arising from individualism versus (vs) group
orientation or collectivism also affect the communication between individuals in both the
countries. Geert Hofstede developed a very popular and widely used model for effectively
defining the cultural dimensions called Hofstede Model, and individualism versus group
orientation or collectivism is one of the factors described in model. Individualism vs group
orientation or collectivism are referred to a range or degree to which people in a specific
country or location prefer individuality rather than acting as a group members or as a team.
This dimensional factor clearly focuses on the relationship that exists between individual
people and teams or any larger social group. Organizational culture in the chosen countries
vary significantly on the emphasis level they provide (US) on encouraging individuality /
uniqueness and on conformity and interdependence (Laowai, 2016). Managers and
employees based in United States tend to focus more on themselves and their performance.
Also, employees tend to work individually without taking much assistance from their co –
workers or seniors. In Chinese organizations, employees believe achieving organizational
goals and objectives, by collectively working towards them. So in one or the other way
employees are interdependent on each other in an organization. Also, their managerial
processes and organizational culture define collectivism as their success factor.
Organizational culture in United States focus on individualistic growth and also the
managers tend to implement this characteristic in all of their employees and help them grow
in their domain. When Chinese employees work in US organizations they face a lot of
problem adjusting to the working culture and environment (Laowai, 2016). Also, individual
rights and duties in the organization are the major concerns for the foreign employees.
Employees in United States based organizations believe in bringing up a better quality life
individually rather than depending on their seniors or co – workers to assist them at work.
Whereas in the Chinese organizations the managers and team leaders encourage group work
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and focus on developing strong relationship between employees at each level and share their
ideas, thoughts and knowledge and help each other to accomplish work standards. For the
Chinese managers, needs and requirements of a team or group is more important than the
individual employee needs. When an employee from US – based works with Chinese people,
he face a lot of problem interacting with a group and work in a group. These issues create
chaos in the team and affect the project on the whole.
2. Communications
Communication or the style of communication is one such factor that can create chaos
between employees and managers in workplace. Managers in Chinese organizations consider
people from United States to be very upfront in the way they speak with other people in
teams. This has been creating a lot of differences and misunderstanding among the team and
miscommunication has affected the work balance significantly. Now, employees in United
States organizations are trained and educated in such a way to defend their opinions and ideas
which has the ability to create a serious debate or a confrontation and until a person or an
employee is proved right, this debate tends to continue (Thompson, 2017). Whereas, people
in Chinese culture tend to just agree with the opinions and ideas of other employees in a team
and reflect that they honour and respect the opinions and ideas of others. Agreeing terms can
create lot of confusion for people working in each other organizational cultural environment.
Managers in Chinese – based organizations believe that being too direct to express
ideas and opinions like US people in a project team is considered to be humiliating and the
individual is considered to be rude. Thus, employees and managers from United States
organizations believe in direct expression of ideas and thoughts and Chinese employees and
managers follow the culture of blunt communication which is a subtle and an indirect way of
expressing their opinions and thoughts (Zhang and Yu, 2016). Thus, it can be considered that
the employees of United States are more dominant and tough in terms of expression of
thoughts and communication and Chinese employees are less aggressive in comparison with
US employees. American communication style is considered as highly unprofessional by
Chinese people as well as their organizational culture.
3. Decision Making
Managers and leaders from United States organizations primarily make the decision
through the approach of rational decision – making. United States have strong cultural
preferences to the idea of individualism and thus, there exists a reputation risks for the
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decisions made by the managers in the organization. Managers and employees in US – based
organizations making decisions to enhance their productivity as well as to increase the
profitability of the organization provide for acceptance and recognition through shareholder
appeal. The decision making approach used by US culture is risky for Chinese culture as it is
assumed that the managers as well as employees are provided with unlimited information on
the project and also possess cognitive ability to make logical as well as rational choices. The
major limitation of decision making approach used by United States people is that it limits
creative thinking as per the Chinese organizational culture and managerial processes and also
lacks robust and wide range of solutions and options for the process of decision making
(Wang, 2012).
On the other hand, it is already known that Chinese organizations believe in operating
collectively and thus the approach used for the process of decision – making in these
organizations are full – emotional and semi – rational perspective. Managers and employees
in Chinese organizations work collectively with the aim to achieve a common goal that
makes use of structured and formalized approach in their tools of decision - making process
(Wang, 2012). This approach used in decision making has the limitation of spontaneity and
flexibility of sharing opinions and ideas for the people of American organizational culture.
The management of Chinese organizations arrive at a conclusion of viable options and
solutions through high propensity for developing relationships with other members in the
team and the organization (Wang, 2012). Chinese organizational culture and managerial
processes are highly sensitive when compared to the culture adopted in United States
decision making process. Due to these cultural preferences, the Chinese management in
organizations adopt collaborative method for decision making process and at the end; the
management is considered and thought to be a single team. Managers in Chinese
organizations develop solutions to problems occurring in teams and project collaboratively
over a couple of meetings (Hopkins and Scott, 2016). Thus, for the managers and employees
from United States culture, this approach is way too lengthy and time consuming and
according to them, decisions in project and teams are to be made dynamically.
4. Superior – Subordinate Relationships
Just like other factors, the superior and sub – ordinate relationships in United States
and China also varies significantly. It is already known that the managerial processes and
organizational culture of United States focus more on individualism and quick decision
making, aggressive and open minded talks and discussions etc. These factors are again
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Cross –Cultural Management in Organizations
adopted in the relationships that exist between senior or managers and their subordinate
employees. In the American organizational culture, the superiors or managers foster
independence to their employees and the employees are ensured to experience autonomy and
openness in the organization. The employees are encouraged to express their thoughts, ideas
and opinions in team meetings and each employee is encouraged to have uniqueness in their
approach towards project work. The relationship that exist between managers and sub –
ordinates in United States – based organizations lead to high degree of work autonomy for
the employees. Due to this culture, the conflicts are reduced within a short span of time as
managers come and deal with their sub – ordinates directly and find solutions to the problem
in less amount of time (Chen & Hambrick, 2012). This also shows that Americans are more
efficient in terms of communication with employees at each level in organization.
On the other hand, Chinese organizations believe in group work and thus,
individualism is not given importance in the organizational culture (Chaney & Martin, 2012).
Managers and employees only focus on the project requirements and when it comes to
expressing opinions and thoughts, employees are not encouraged as much the American
culture does. Chinese believe in adopting indirect approaches and tactics to conflict
resolution and does not believe in open discussions for expressing ideas and thoughts and
discussions (Ao, 2016).
5. Managing Teams
Now, considering the last factor of assessment of differences in Chinese and
American culture, the ways of managing teams and teamwork styles also varies in these two
countries. The managers in United States culture are more comfortable using project –
oriented style (Dickson et al., 2012). During the phases of project, the responsibilities and
roles are effectively and clearly defined and are equally divided among the members of team
depending on their skills and designation. Managers ensure to conduct meetings at regular
intervals of time to gather updates from employees and exchange necessary information.
Employees are trained and educated to focus on their particular job roles and tasks (Huang,
2015).
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Figure – 1 Managing Teams in USA and China
On the other hand, Chinese managers are more adopted to using people – oriented
working style and managing teams. Here, the roles and responsibilities within project are not
well defined and employees seek help of their co – workers or managers whenever they face
any issue in the assigned work. Thus, managing teams in Chinese work culture involves them
to work in multiple projects in an organization that compete for their resources and time
(Huang, 2015).
Conclusion
Most of the top companies in the world have businesses and operations running all
over the globe. The workforce in each region has their own cultural values and practices. It is
very obvious that the regional culture influences workplace culture also. In addition to this
there is shortage of resources for several businesses which forces organizations to hire
employees from different countries (Chen & Hambrick, 2012). It is very much possible that
these employees hired from a different country could have differences in their cultural values
in comparison to the parent company. The management of these companies face certain
challenges with regard to difference in cultural values. It is extremely important to respect
each other’s cultural values, at the same time trying to achieve certain company goals and
ambitions. Giving importance to respecting each other cultural values and handling conflicts
effectively not only helps company to achieve its targets but also increases the brand value of
the company globally because these are factors that are considered for rating
organizations(Great places to work)
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Cross –Cultural Management in Organizations
It is the responsibility of managers who work on cross cultural teams to be fully aware
of these aspects. Managers need to be trained and educated on the topic of cross cultural
management. It is important to note that despite so many cultural differences amongst
employees there are lots of similarities as well amongst cultures (DeVellis, 2012). It is
extremely important to identify and encourage these cultural similarities which can help
blend the workforce together. Similarly managers need to follow diplomatic and healthy
practices to handle the differences in the various cultures. One of the examples for employee
cultural differences are people from United States and China. The people from both the
countries have different working style altogether. People in the United States are more
individual contributors where as people in China like to work in groups. Another difference is
in terms of freedom of expression of thought in Unites States. People in United States have
the freedom to voice their opinion, debate topics where as people from China are more used
to blunt communication, less discussion. The managers can bridge the gap by devising
methods to interact effectively with different cultural workforce.
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