Cross Culture Management Interview - Desklib

The project seeks to interview Mr. Robert to get his experiences in a foreign country with different culture and people. His view forms the basis for discussion on cross-cultural management perspectives on managing ethical conflicts and managing work and motivation of workers.

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CROSS CULTURE MANAGEMENT INTERVIEW
By (Name)
Course’s Name
Instructor's Name
Institution
Location of the Institution

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Table of Content
Contents
Table of Content..............................................................................................................................1
Cross-Cultural Management............................................................................................................2
Introduction..................................................................................................................................2
Background information of the interviewee................................................................................2
Interviewee insight (with Mr. Robert).........................................................................................2
Analysis and evaluation...............................................................................................................4
Personal reaction level.............................................................................................................4
Analytical level........................................................................................................................5
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................6
References........................................................................................................................................8

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Cross-Cultural Management
Introduction
Many organizations are diversifying their market to other countries. Globalization has enabled
the transfer of human resources from one branch to another in different countries. As results,
different cultures are transferred to other organizations thus cross-cultural management become
important (Browaeys and Price, 2008). Mr. Robert was transferred for an assignment to a
Singapore branch of HCl Technologies where he was responsible to make the branch profitable
in the new market. The reason he was transferred to Singapore branch in an acting capacity as
the branch manager is that of his 15 years’ experience as the senior manager at HCL
Technologies. Mr. Robert is an MBA degree holder with background experience in business
development thus he was chosen and trusted with Singapore HCL branch manager in an acting
capacity. The project seeks to interview Mr. Robert to get his experiences in a foreign country
with different culture and people. His view forms the basis for discussion on cross-cultural
management perspectives on managing ethical conflicts and managing work and motivation of
workers.
Background information of the interviewee
Mr. Robert is a senior manager of HCL Technologies in Malaysia. He is an MBA holder with
over fifteen years of working experience in senior management levels. In the last six months, he
was working as acting manager of one of the HCL Technologies branches in Singapore. In
Malaysia, he was responsible for making major decisions affecting the organization which

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included investments in new technologies, the establishment of new technologies, important
financial decision, and more. His assignment as the acting manager aimed at supporting the
branch in the new market where he was expected to use his experience and expertise in the
senior management.
Interviewee insight (with Mr. Robert)
1. Tell me about one of your overseas assignments, from the time when you first learned
about the possibility of going to Singapore.
Answer: This happened six months ago when the company I was working with gave the
assignment to work in Singapore. The assignment came as a surprise to me because I
have never worked in a foreign country before nor was I expecting such a great offer
from my employers. I was assigned the task of the acting manager to one of the company
branches operating in Singapore.
a. Did you prepare this immersion in another cultural environment? If yes how?
Answer: Of course I had to prepare psychologically that I will go to a new
environment with a different culture and work ethics. I had to do research about
Singapore and its people with their values, belief, and behaviors at work.
2. What did you think when you first heard you were going to Singapore?
Answer: I thought new people, a new working environment, and a new culture. At first, I
saw this challenging but it was a learning experience for my career growth.
3. What were the first few days like?
Answer: I was lonely and lost. I must accept experienced newness syndrome. I was
confused by the new environment and need to be home where being used to live.

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4. Were there things that surprised you about the way people thought of Singapore?
Answer: I was surprised with how people are very meticulous in going about their daily
jobs. In Singapore, people have a culture of working with time and make sure least time
is wasted where applicable.
5. What was your first big “aha” about culture?
Answer: Culture is just a way people live and go about their daily works. The culture was
not as I thought previously about the hostility I might face. Culture is good especially
when you learn and appreciate how people live and work.
6. How would you sum up your six months?
Answer: My stay and work in Singapore were adventurous and full of learning
experiences from the natives. The experience attained will help me to adapt to any other
new working environment. I learned to work with different people away from my home
culture.
7. Did you have someone who could explain the local culture to you and that you could
confide in?
Answer: My employer had arranged for that. I could not have made it without a
confidant. She made sure am well oriented with local culture through visits to public
places and during my assignment.
8. How did people see you?
Answer: They saw me as a positive motivation in the workplace. They were also
interested in learning my culture which I saw as a sought of cultural exchange. This
helped me a lot in created a strong bond that existed in those six months of my
assignment.

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9. Can you describe your relationship with your co-workers?
Answer: I cannot complain about my co-worker. Like I stated, their interest in cultural
exchange helped me a lot in creating a good relationship with them.
10. What did you think about your job?
Answer: The work gave me a chance to interact with different people at all levels in the
organization. The work was a chance to learn and develop my management skills.
11. What was the most important thing you learned in those first six months?
Answer: I learned how to work with people of different cultures ranging from beliefs,
values, and behaviors. Learning how to work with people of a different culture was great.
12. What did your family/spouse think about living in Singapore?
Answer: I must acknowledge it was not easy for them especially my wife and children.
They were used to seeing me at home but that changed when I went abroad for six
months.
13. Who did you mainly socialized with (people from your own culture, third-country
expatriates, or host-country nationals)?
Answer: I mainly socialized with the locals from Singapore. This is because they were
the majority co-workers and those who worked under my line of command.
14. How many host country co-workers did you interact with on an average day?
Answer: Because of the nature of my work, on average I socialized with more than 10
local people.
15. How many did you supervise? What was that like?

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Answer: The branch had more than 50 permanent workers and the rest were casuals. I
supervised more than 100 workers. I was happy to be entrusted with the management of
such a group of workers.
16. Did you feel you changed as a result of working in Singapore? If so how?
Answer Am not same like before I went to Singapore. That working experienced changed
me. It changed how I relate to people while at work. Also being able to appreciate other
people’s beliefs, values, and behavior which shape how they relate and work.
17. What was it like to come home?
Answer: Is good to be at home especially to my family. Am happy to come back and use
what learned here.
a. Did you prepare your “cultural” repatriation? If yes, how?
Answer: Not really. Six years is not long enough to forget my work and
organizational culture. However, I had to tune my mind back to my country.
18. Do you feel you get to use the skills you acquired abroad in your current job?
Answer: Yes, appreciating different cultures and values
19. What advice would you give to a friend who was on his/her way to a foreign assignment?
Answer: It is a learning experience and career diversification too.
Analysis and evaluation
Personal reaction level
Working in a foreign country is definitely not an easy task considering the cultural
differences in terms of beliefs, values, and behaviors of workers. My take is that one feels out of
place with totally new environment especially the language barrier. Before I interviewed Mr.
Robert my opinion on his experiences was quite different as I imagined him managing people

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who he did not understand their ways and work behavior. I saw him facing resistance from
workers which result in a disabled chain of command in the organization. Although I might
overly pessimistic, it is natural for someone to worry about the unknown.
One of the main challenges that I felt I would face is the interactions problems with the
co-workers and the juniors. I also expected to hear him talk of facing resistance by the virtue of
him being a foreigner in the workplace. How his management works will be undermined by the
communication barriers in the chain of commands, how he will be able to manage his
psychological conflicts and organization culture and requirements, and how he will be effective
in offering his services for the good of the all in the organization in the whole new environment
far from his home country.
Observing work ethics and upholding the organizational standards, to me seemed
challenging. I feel that, in the process of performing his management tasks, the aspect of ethical
differences will arise which may slow his management efforts. To me, cross-cultural
management requires prior experiences which Mr. Robert did not have. Therefore, the worker's
behaviors in form of beliefs, values, and behaviors will come between the management job and
the achievement of the organization objectives.
In addressing the issue of workers motivations in the midst of cultural conflicts also
become a major problem. The communication barriers that might exist between Mr. Robert and
the co-workers seem an uphill task to handle. He had a responsibility to create a working
environment that motivates employees to work. The difficulty in interactions with the workers
will prove difficult in coming up with effective reward systems and work incentives. I also feel
that as the leader will be unable to come up with better compensation schemes. This is because
the communication breakdowns will it difficult for employees to negotiate for better terms with

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the management. Therefore, it will take an adaptive manager to come to terms with these facts
while keeping up with the responsibility vested in him/her (Luthra and Dahyia, 2015).
Analytical level
The interview with Mr. Robert has cleared my doubts and pessimistic thinking about
working as an expatriate. His experiences as the acting manager and how he was able to adapt to
the environment exhibit a character of the effective cross-cultural manager. I have learned that to
succeed as the expatriate manager, one must have the ability to be adaptive by learning to leave
with the new work culture rather than working to change the worker's culture (Harvard Business
Review, 2004). It is also a virtue to manage the conflicts of workers beliefs, values, and
behaviors while balancing it with organization requirements.
Mr. Robert is one instance of a global ethical leader because he successfully managed an
organization he had neither prior knowledge about nor experience. A global leader is one who
has competence in managing people’s cultures by reciprocating that for the better working
environment. He was able to manage the challenges likely to be faced in such an environment
and steer HCL Technologies to the intended market orientation. Some of the challenges he was
likely to faces were:
 Adapting to the new beliefs, values, and behaviors of the people of Singapore
 Communication barriers in terms of language differences, or style of communication
 Resistance from the workers. This challenge was likely to arise because of him being a
foreigner
 The workers may appreciate his presences and hence his contribution to the HCL
Technologies

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He was able to balance his beliefs, values, and behaviors with organizational
requirements. This included foregoing some of the home practices to fit in the current working
culture. To achieve this required flexibility, agility, and commitment of the global leader.
According to the interview, Mr. Robert practically exhibited these critical characters hence he
was able to survive the turmoil of ethical conflicts (Kok-Yee Ng, Van Dyne AND Soon Ang,
2009).
A manager’s capacity to manage cross-cultural differences is important in managing
work and workers motivation. It is the responsibility of a leader to create an environment where
workers feel motivated to achieve the organization goals (Conrad, Ghosh and Isaacson, 2015).
The global leader is able to build a good working environment by his/her ability to communicate
change and value to the workers. In an environment where cultural differences exist, the
motivation of workers may be a challenging task. This is because of the innate and personality
variations across the organization which basically forms the foundation of a relationship with the
workers and thus affects the interactions that exist. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the global
leader to be aware of these variations and be able to come up with strategies for building better
relationships and working environments to motivate employees (Walsh and Gittell, 2004).
The global leader understands the culture of the workers to be able to come up with ways
of improving their appreciation of roles in the organization. Further understanding the
psychology behind the motivation to work is of great importance (Benjamin and Flynn, 2006).
These approaches will assist the leader to come up with workers’ incentives and rewards. Getting
it wrong in workers analysis may lead to ineffective reward and incentive systems which may
lower the worker's morale. The cross-cultural management also looks at workers development in
terms of compensation and working opportunities. A global leader needs to provide opportunities

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for workers career growth within the organization by providing achievable metrics for
promotions and compensation. Therefore, the holistic work management and motivation need to
focus on workers culture, incentives and rewards, and compensation and career growth
opportunities.
Conclusion
The interview with Mr. Robert has given me new insight on adapting to the new cultures
by providing a room for learning the foreign culture while allowing the co-workers learn from
my culture. These two ways learning culture learning and adoption process create bonding and
interactions with the workers. It will also help in relationship building with the workers hence
better working conditions for the expatriates (Walsh and Gittell, 2004). Therefore, more research
is required on the aspect of cultural exchange between the global leader and the workers and how
it becomes effective in cross-culture management.

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References
Benjamin, L. and Flynn, F. (2006), Leadership style and regulatory mode: Value from fit?.
Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 100(2), pp.216-230.
Browaeys, M. and Price, R. (2008), Understanding cross-cultural management. Harlow,
England: Financial Times/Prentice Hall.
Conrad, D., Ghosh, A. and Isaacson, M. (2015), Employee motivation factors. International
Journal of Public Leadership, 11(2), pp.92-106.
Harvard Business Review, (2004), Cultural Intelligence. [online] Available at:
https://hbr.org/2004/10/cultural-intelligence [Accessed 6 July, 2018].
Kok-Yee Ng, Van Dyne, L. And Soon Ang (2009), From Experience to Experiential Learning:
Cultural Intelligence as a Learning Capability for Global Leader Development. Academy of
Management Learning & Education, 8(4), pp.511-526.
Luthra, A. and Dahyia, R. (2015), Effective Leadership is all about Communicating Effectively:
Connecting Leadership and Communication. International Journal of Management and Business
Studies, [online] 5(3), pp.1-6. Available at:
https://www.mcgill.ca/engage/files/engage/effective_leadership_is_all_about_communicating_ef
fectively_luthra_dahiya_2015.pdf [Accessed 5 July 2018].
Walsh, D. and Gittell, J. (2004), The Southwest Airlines Way: Using the Power of Relationships
to Achieve High Performance. Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 57(3), p.474.