Culture and Business Assignment PDF

Culture and Business 1
Culture and Business
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Culture and Business 2
Literature Review
Culture and Business
Over the last few decades, business management has tremendously evolved. More
scholars have taken an interest in carrying international business researches, which have
contributed on knowledge and understanding of how culture and business are related in the forms
of global managements (Allan, & Mendenhall, 2015). The challenges and returns of studying
business management across national boundaries and cultural boundaries, the global business has
come to evolve. In the study and analysis of global business, global management gain
prominence as the researchers explain the importance of competent global leadership (Bird and
Mendenhall, 2016). They have come up with theories on culture and business to bridge the gap
that many organizations have looked to understand.
In a broader sense, culture is how and why people do, think and live together (Carpenter
& Dunung, 2012). Everything that people do encompasses their culture; eating habits, dressing,
work, interaction, and communication to name a few. In business perspectives, culture influence
how people think and communicate and how this is importantly integrated into different fields in
organization management.
According to Mohammadian, (2017), culture is seen from the following perspectives:
i. Power distribution-explain the approach used in the hierarchy of power-sharing
ii. Social relationships-whether people are individualistic or collectivism
iii. Uncertainty and social control-members of the society tend to avoid uncertainty or
whether they are relationship-based and deal with uncertainty when they come.
iv. Work patterns-how people go about their work. The methods they use in performing their
duties
v. Environmental relationship-explain how people live with what surrounds them and the
effect of their socioeconomic effects on the environment
According to Allan & Mendenhall, (2015) to understand culture and business, it is important
to understand cross-cultural management issues and how it is evolving to usher global
management and leadership. Cross-cultural management is dependent on cross-cultural

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communication issues, in other words, to manage cultural differences first have to understand
cultural communications. Cross-cultural communications are communication styles, attitudes
towards conflicts, the styles of making decisions, and approaches to knowledge. They defined
cross-cultural management regarding managing and accommodating cultural practice variances
in international management undertaking. In their journal, culture is seen as a fundamental part
of business management with must need to understand the environmental culture of an
organization.
Cross-cultural Management
Globalization has created market liberalization with people and resources becoming more
mobile. These have also enabled a wide range of cultural mobility with their host agents. That
means there is a higher contact of cultures between nations and countries which increase cross-
cultural communications. These cultural differences in communication have to be studied
critically and how they influence organization management. For instance, the cultural practices
in China exhibited in their ways of doing business, a partner or manager need to understand them
and have better perspectives on adjusting while maintaining management competency. Failure to
learn these cultural differences have undercutting effects on the success of a global subsidiary
manager.
Allan & Mendenhall categorized cross-cultural management research into three parts:
Unicultural research - which focuses on managing a business in a particular single country.
Comparative research - which examines organizational management between two or more
countries but does not give a comparison on them. Finally, intercultural study how employees
interact with each other from two or more countries. In this context of cross-cultural
management, the global leadership emerges. Whereby, global leaders have to be well acquainted
with these intercultural dynamics of management. (Advance Systems, 2017). They outline how
research has been done to explain the meaning and scope of global leadership.
The various ways to successful cross-cultural management include (Advance Systems, 2017).
i. Knowing the team members
ii. Step ahead in creating and maintaining culturally diverse human resource

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iii. Well-structured cross-cultural management
iv. Understanding cultural teams’ cultural differences
v. Creating a clear work style and sticking to it
vi. Creating lasting personal strong bonds
vii. An effective cultural conflict management system
Global Leadership Research
Global leadership is multi-dimensional composite research and experiments results from
the expatriate, intercultural communication, and global management research. The three are
interrelated as they have an element of culture. Global leadership features are well captured from
the three components.
Though the term “global leader” is widely used in Allan & Mendenhall journal, there is
no universally accepted concise definition which completely explains the term. A wide array of
papers has tried to define it in differing perspectives. (Ready & Conger 2007, Caligiuri 2006,
Caligiuri & Tarique 2009). Further, the term includes persons of different trades, talents,
responsibilities and managerial positions, which has resulted in fragmented definitions. The
definition is broad to elicit various perspectives on how the researchers explain the term in every
context.
Caligiuri & Tarique (2009) described global leader as a high ranked personality in an
organization such chief executive officer, chairman, directors, and senior managers working at
global levels of organizational management. They portrayed global leader as one with global
responsibilities. This description was supported by Harzing & Pinnington (2011). However, the
fact remains that these definitions remain broad.
In trying to understand global leadership, various research on different streams is analyzed.
1. Expatriation
2. Intercultural communication
3. Comparative leadership
1. Expatriation

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Allan & Mendenhall defined expatriate as where the employees are given job assignment to
work in a foreign nation for a specified period. Depending on the scope of their work in a foreign
country, the period of their stay will vary and so the experience gained in that period. Those
experiences of an expatriate, preferably long enough for adjustments and response, form the
foundation on which the global leadership research carried. Expatriate contribute to the
understanding of the global leadership through work experience, cultural adjustments and growth
gained over time outside their countries working for a subsidiary of their organization. We can,
therefore, say that expatriate managers lead to the emergence of global managers.
Selection of expatriates is better established, yet not a complete consideration, when there is
will to shift location and work in unfamiliar cultures. Though it is important, is not a predictor of
success. They further stated that personality traits are more successful in identifying superior
expatriate. According to them, factors impacting to successful adjustment and performance are
the stability of expatriate emotions, extraversion, being open, and person to engage with through
communication. Expatriates need three types of adjustments; work adjustment, interaction
adjustment, and general adjustments. Work adjustment is how well he is adaptive to the newly
assigned task, duties, and context, etc. Interaction adjustment is blending well with new cultural
variances, set rules and ways of relations. Finally, an overall adjustment which focuses broadly
on how expatriate generally adjusts to ways of life in a foreign nation. Global leaders need to
adjust to the new environment to successfully undertake their international duties.
How expatriates transform through experiences in the external environment was found to be
important for their success in the international subsidiaries of their organization. Transformation
involves five phases: interaction with new culture, breakdown, recovery, self-sufficiency, and
independence. Herman & Zaccaro, (2014) stated transformation through analysis of shifts from
old personality and thinking and the way experience in global jobs, and responsibilities point to
personal complexities, which the expatriate react by being responsive to those complexities
inherent in global work.
Inter-cultural Communication
Global leadership involves managing cultural differences. Therefore, it is important to study
intercultural communication competence of a global leader. Inter-cultural competence is how a

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global leader is capable of handling communications in the culturally diverse environment. The
most important skills needed in inter-cultural competencies are: thinking of others person,
intellectual flexibility, behavioral flexibility, open-mindedness and multicultural understanding.
Being able to listen, is being open to new knowledge, new categories, and multiple
viewpoints. This is a way of being attentive to prejudgments, cognitions, and reactions to which
communication is made. Cognitive flexibility is the ability to view things to in different
dimensions. Behavioral flexibility is being adaptable, and you are capable of responding
situationally appropriately. Further, according to them being open-minded perceives uncertainty
of situation as desirable. And finally, multi-cultural understanding as being the ability to
experience some aspect of reality different from own culture.
2. Comparative Leadership
Comparative studies on global leadership involve more than one culture with the conclusion
that culture influences how groups interact, therefore, affecting the behavior of a global leader.
The research has established the behavior of follows in different leaderships between one or
more cultures. In this regard, leaders in high power distance cultures are more likely to be
tyrannical than their counterparts in low power distance cultures.
3. Global Management
In the modern day understanding of international trade and issues influencing global trade is
better than before (Mohammadian, 2017).
Theoretical Perspective of Intercultural Management
International
management
Intercultural
negotiation
International
strategy
International
business
environment
Inter-cultural
communication International team
work
Inter-cultural
leadership
Expatriate
management
International
HRM

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Source: Mohammadian, H. D. (2017). Theoretical Perspectives of International Management
Because global leadership involves oversea duties and often requires balancing of
competing and contradictory demands in different regions and countries, research on global
managers is grounded to domestic managers. A starting point in examining managerial roles is
using seven roles: monitor, spokesperson, leader, liaison, decision maker, innovator, and
negotiator, keeping in mind that these roles have variations in manners managers perform these
roles moderated by the environment, job, situation, and person. The studies have proven that
there is the difference between domestic managers and global manager regarding personality
characteristics, work roles, and skill requirements. The studies help in understanding how to
improve and grow global management skills in managers.
Global Leadership
The authors seek to understand the various roles and competency demands of leading at
global management. They argue that findings from different studies show that, some were
extending domestic leadership ideas to global settings which did not solve the problem of inter-
cultural differences. Later studies drew their finding from experiences of global managers. They
were able to get key competent global leaders.
Global leadership competencies
The following are the competencies held by the global leaders:
i. Visioning
ii. Global business expertise
iii. Global organizing savvy
iv. Traits and values
v. Cognitive orientation
vi. Cross-cultural relationship skills.

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How to develop global leadership
They pointed out that scholars have questioned how best they can develop global leaders.
Developing global leadership involve creating programs which focus on business and culture and
international management. Publications have also been made on how global leadership can be
developed, and many global leaders have taken interests on these findings.
Developing global leadership also involve growing key talent and competencies that are
inherent to the adaptability in the global management. To better understand these development
needs, it is important to investigate personality traits required and the existing global
competencies.
Conclusion
The author's research and explanations on the global management, intercultural
management, cross-cultural management and global leadership, came out clearly. They have
used different scholarly studies on culture and business to get interconnections that existed in
global management. They also established the need for global businesses to manage both
intercultural and cross-cultural differences as critical ingredients of the success.
However, they duos did not account for modernization and civilization which has eroded
much of the cultural practices in the contemporary global market. It is clear that what was being
practiced in the 20th century has changed or evolved. Culture is not merely people’s way of life;
it is what surrounds them and makes them act or respond in a particular manner. The
transformation that has taken place over time constitute the environment from which culture will
be derived over time. For instance, way dressing, music, language, habits, and traditional values
continue to diminish and lack meaning to the majority of modern communities. These variations
in culture should be factored when researching on intercultural management as a subset of
business and culture.

Culture and Business 9
References
Advance Systems. (2017) Seven effective ways of successful cross-cultural management. [blog]
Employees Self-Service. Available at: https://www.advancesystermsinc.com (Accessed 1st April
2018)
Bird, A. and Mendenhall, M.E., 2016. From cross-cultural management to global leadership.
Pearson.
Caligiuri, P., & Tarique, I. (2009) Predicting effectiveness in global leadership activities.
Journal of World Business, 44(3), 336-346.
Carpenter, M., Dunung, S. (2011) International business. Saylor foundation publishers
Cligiuri, P. (2006) Developing global leaders. Human Resource Management Review, 16(2),
219-228
Harzing, A. W., & Pinnington, A. (2011) International human resource management. Sage.
Herman J. L., Zaccaro, S. J. (2014), The Complex Self-Concept of the Global Leader, in Joyce S.
Osland, Ming Li, Ying Wang (ed.) Advances in Global Leadership (Advances in Global
Leadership, Volume 8) Emerald Group Publishing Limited, pp.93 - 111
Mohammadian, H. D. (2017) An overview of international cross-cultural management. Web:
Retrieved from www.fh-mittelsland.de (Accessed 1st April 2018)
Ready, D. A., & Conger, J.A. (2007) Make your company a talent factory. Harvard business
review, 85(6), 68.