Developing Intercultural Competence in the Workplace | Desklib

Learn about intercultural competence, cultural dimensions approach, and anti-essentialist perspective with Desklib's study material. Improve your workplace skills today. #interculturalcompetence #culturaldimensions #antiessentialism

Developing
Intercultural
Competence in the
Workplace

Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Selection of intercultural experience select for analysis: Film: American Factory:........................3
Cultural dimensions approach. ........................................................................................................4
An anti essentialist perspective. ......................................................................................................7
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................7
References........................................................................................................................................8

Introduction
Experiencing a intercultural exchange at early age is scientifically resulting to be
effective at different levels. For the purpose of getting a personal development and enhance the
awareness on global issues it becomes very important to develop a understanding of various
cultures that can lead towards Creation of a solid ground compassion of lives. There are different
consent that are part of intercultural competence (Blanchette, 2020). Knowledge does not brings
success alone it is related with some of the elements. The main competent is related with
application of knowledgable and further transnational of behaviour.
Coaching is related to achievement of areas of resources and learning to became
successful intercultural encounters. experience certainly builds the knowledge that is required for
development of behaviour, the behaviour may be repetitive or quite rigid. It is related with
recognising of the failure that change may be slow or non existent, there is requirement of
conscious decision to change and deal with the existing behaviour patterns that is related with
feeling of resistance (Goodman, 2020). Experience further provides information and ideas about
the instances of cultural adaptation. Knowledge does not transfer directly in practises but the
change runs across cultural assumptions.
Selection of intercultural experience select for analysis: Film: American
Factory:
The publicity for American factors has also suggested that it is a story of culture clash.
There is prevention of the Seattle of deferential slightly and uniformity of cold Chinese workers
that is snapping of attention into signing of the mournfully detriment song in contrast of testful
Americans. The cultural aspect that is part of this movie is related with the country to be verge
on full scale trade war with chain that is praised for making deals and further creation of jobs.
The main aspects of this is triatomic story of clashing of cultures. There is toe curling calls
moments. Americana affairs is a American documentary film that is directed by steben Bognar &
Julia Reichert that is occupying a moraine assembly, it is distributed by Netflix and further film
is also acquired by Barack & Michelle Obama production organisation. It has also won awarded
for best documentary feature (Freeman, 2018). The main overview of optimistic and is giving
setbacks to high tech china clashes that is with the working class America. There is

implementation of the documentary film-making approach. The American factory is nominally
film about America the part is astonishing about the way American faction is seeing everything
that is part of uneits stages through the eyes of various Chinese factor workers & managers who
are arriving to reopen and further restaff the plant in the rust belt. If there is any type of freedom
of expression then it is required to be analysed with verbal disappointment in the Americans as
workers.
experiences normally builds knowledge but may not develop the required behaviour, the
behaviour is always repetitive or rigid. So it becomes important to recognize the failure so that
conscious decision can be taken as per the existing behaviour patterns that is related to feel
resistance, in present scenario experience provides the information and ideas that are part of
existing behaviour patterns. It directly transfers into practise when change is running across the
cultural assumptions (Rist, 2017). In present scenario knowledge is a basic ingredient that is part
of intercultural competent that is gaining of knowledge that may also lead to wrong conclusions
that may happen in negative context, for the purpose of developing a detailed overview of
intercultural commence it becomes important to analyse it in terms of differences in which
culture is operating.
In the year 2014, the Fuyao group who is the Chinese manufacture if construction glass and
auto-mobile has bought a sdedunct GM auto mobile factory in Dayton. Fuyao's plan was suinole
that is to inject the capital for upgrading the infrastructure and combining of Chinese
management and supervisors methods with American workers to produce glass for the auto-
mobile factory.
Cultural dimensions approach.
Hofsteds cultural dimensions is a framework that is used for developing a detail overview
of the differences in culture that is taking place across countries and discerning the way business
is taking place across different cultures, the main aim is to develop a understand of the way
cultures are varying across (Goldstein, 2017). This theory was created in 1980 and the main aim
of the study is to determine the way cultures are affecting the functioning of organisations.
American factors is a Netflix documentary that is produced by Barack and Micelle Obama post
presidency production brand that is tackling the station of jobs making cars. This films is mainly
based on the way employees were laid off who were bought by chines glass company and then

further transformed in Fuyao glass America. There is creation of situation and culture clashes
that is leading to employees on a shaky ground.
Power distance index: power distance index considers the way culture is accepting iniquity and
the power differences by encouraging bureaucracy that is showing high respect for authenticity
and rank. In this high power distance index score indicates that there is high amount of degree of
inequality that is accepted between people and without power. It is related with the way society
accepts is unequal and there is hierarchy distribution of power that is understand the place in
system (Lessing and Brege, 2018). On the other hand a low PDI score is related when power is
shared and is widely disperse that is society members are not willing to accept the situation when
this power distributed unequally.
In the present scenario of American factory there are high amount of culture clashes that is
associated with Chinese supervisor are asking Americans to perform pantryman overtime works.
They are not able to understand Americans are cannot work as hard as employees who are part of
the Chinese factor. So the overall Chinese culture is actually creating a high amount of burden on
the American workers. So the PDI score is high because of three major reason that includes
centralised organisations, complexity in hierarchies and large gaps in the authority,
compensation and respect. Low power distance index indicates the way culture encourage the
organisational structure that is flat and further there is decentralised decision making
responsibility. In the movie, there is interaction of two different cultures, it is related with
documenting the struggles of American radicalism and the overall conflicts that are part of the
capital infrastructure (Haywood, 2017). The power distance index is high that is associated with
the struggles of American radicalism & conflicts with the capitalist infrastructure.
It is analysed that in the movie unionisation effort has become a narrative for American factory
that is management of meetings, rallies and the aggressive anti union rhetoric employees are
subjected to leading for more votes. There is need of higher labour standards that is to related
with the cultural differences for improving the overall working conditions.
Individualism verses collectivisms (low score): It is a factor that is associated with the
interpersonal connection that is among those who are not the part of core family. In this people
are willing to take less responsibility for the outcomes and cations. On other hand in case of
collectivist society people are supposed to be more loyal to the group to which they belong in

exchange the group may defend their interests. In this group is normally larger and people are
willing to take responsibility for another well being.
In the present scenario there is low score of individualism and collectivism in case of American
factory the main reason associated with it is there is no importance that is given to individual
culture or the America culture instead the main focus is shifted towards having emphasis on the
Chinese culture for this purpose there is low IDV score. It is further associated with three main
reason in American factory which includes there is only emphasis on building of skills so that
employees can perform their specified job roles, people are working for intrinsic rewards and
there is only maintaining of harmony among group members that is overriding the moral issues.
There is differences between the Chinese and American culture in which the superiority is of
Chinese culture where actually American employees are loosing their individuality and only
focussing on the collectivism approach of Chinese employees (Hoyt,, Morgenroth and Burnette,
2019).
Masculinity versus femininity: It is regarded as the disinhibition of roles between men and
women. In masculine societies the role of men and women are overlapping less and men are
expected to behave assertively. In case of feminine societies there is great amount of overlapping
between female and male roles that is modesty is perceived as virtue. In case of American
factory there is no importance given to maintaining of of relation amongst the employees instead
there is just superiority of the one particular culture that is being followed in the organisation.
Long term orientation vs short term orientation; The long term orientation as part of this model
is focussed on the future that is related with delaying of short term success or gratification for
achievement of of success. On the other shirt term orientation is focussed on near future that is
delivering of gratification that lays stronger emphasis on achievement of quick results at a
specific time period. In context of present situation of American factor the brand focussed on the
national cultural differences, there was a movie critic that is basis of the Chinese and American
culture (Kronfeldner, 2018). There is just focus on the long term orientation where the culture is
dominating other one. Indeed the culture term is associated with the way Chinese culture is
influencing the present working and mind set of the American employees.
Uncertain avoidance index: It is a dimension that is related with the way people are making
attempt to make things more controllable and predictable, avoiding uncertainty is not similar to
avoiding There is repeatedly a emphasis laid on the cultural differences that provides a basic

impression of the way Chinese workers are more hard working as compared to the American
counterparts (Merrick, 2017).
Indulgence versus restraint: It is the sixth dimension that is related with gratification of people
with one emotions and drives. It is related with people enjoying and there is emphasis on the
suppressing gratification and more relation of people behaviour and conduct. In American
factory the main focus was on the working nature so there was low score. As there was a
situation of high restraint where the behaviour was rigid and more controlled (Diffey, 2017).
There was expression of negativity during such informal meetings.
From the above made analysis of the cultural dimensions approach its is observed that
Chinese are iterating their employees in a very bad conditions and they are further expecting the
American workers also to depict the similar type of behaviour. It is a cultural differences that is
clearly accounting the overall differences in tabor standards across countries, that is shaped
vastly different histories (Christen, 2018). There is a divided that is named as “east vs west” that
is workers are having a complete different mind set of performing their job roles.
An anti essentialist perspective.
Essentialism is a perspective that objects posses some properties essentially that is the necessary
conditions for being part of this object. Anti essentialism that is skeptical about the real or mind
independent essences. Large group of septics are not rejecting the distribution entirely but may
be seen as non objective that is product of mental activity. There are instances of
multiculturalisms that is becoming resectable and is part of positive discourse. This document
has been released in 2019 and has attract the attention of the Chinese and American people. Just
after the movie had been released there are many constroversies that are associated with the way
different working cultures have been depicted in the scenario.
Cultural differences emerge early in the process as there are hundreds of Chinese employees who
are immigration to the America city to supervise local employees and to train. There are larger
differences of cultural expectation that are also coming into fore. This documentary is related
with the personnel meeting that is related with employees receiving instructions. From the
perspective of many Chinese demands are notified as unrealistic (Huwaë, and Schaafsma,
2018). In this process Chinese supervisors are attempting to enhance the efficiency by pushing of
Americans up to a limit. Here are many workplace and disquiet injuries that have lead to
contingent Americans pushes back. The anti essentialist perspective is related with the elements

that are not essentially part of the culture. There are many layers of interest in the film that is
related with the complexity and unasnwering honesty. The anti essentialist respective is related
with the American factory is offering the visual evidence of the essential nature of capitalism. It
is related with progress that occurs with the starting, creation and further destruction of the
norms. There is presence of low degree of trust and autonomy that does not affect the
productivity. Chinese value collar employees have very few options surviving in the competitive
labour market & membership in labour union are not offering rights as per the western
counterparts posses. Apart from this there is essential perceptive where employees are expected
to be hard-working. But in case of American workers they are having a attitude of just focussing
on best management practices (Eulerich. and Westhausen, 2018). There is emphasis on the two
culture dimensions which are matter of the most productivity which is trust and autonomy. The
hypothesis is that the more autonomous the employees there is small need for supervision.
Anti essentialism theory holds true fore very property and every individual these are the possible
works in which individual has the property & possible words it does not. In the present scenario
there is analysis of the widening cultural gap, it is relate to the way American and Chinese
employees can work together that must be equally identify with Fuyao. Even before the factory
stared productions Chinese managers speech is to the Chinese workers that there is need of
regular remuneration of the Chinese staff meetings (Shin, and Dovidio, 2017). Chairman went
further by invoking of patriotism and nationalism.
In America factory the female workers are representative of the female workers who are
struggling across UK to ensure their ends meet amid the contraction of the US manufacturing
industry. There is closure of many factories that is leading to American losing of their jobs and
houses. Chinese organisations are also investing in factories. The cultural differences are related
with the way Chinese and American workers are having high amount of cultural differences.
There are lot of cultural differences that is related with the behaviour, languages, beliefs, practise
and expressions that are considered unique to the members of specific race, ethnicity and
national origin. It is the quality of different cultures and diverse perspectives that is part of global
monoculture and homogenisation that is part of culture evolution. It is regarded as the different
cultures respect to each others differences (Xiong and Zhou, 2018).
There is need to make analysis of the way there are cultural difference that affects the present
functioning and working of employees. American factory clearly depicts this process about the

two different types of workplace cultures that is figuring out the way to interact and the struggles
of American traditionalism. Apart from this there is analysis of the way there are conflicts
associated with the capitalist infrastructure (Rosenblatt, 2017). The first aspect of the movie is
focussed on the culture clash where there charming scenes of Chinese and American workers
willing to known each other, apart from this there is analysis of the way expectation are
presented and understood in more detail to evaluate its long term implication (Li, 2017).

From the above made analyses it is summarized that in case of America factory that is a movie
produced in the year 2019 as part of critical commentary on the Chinese foreign investment in
unites states. The movie was based on high productions and is featured by Netflix. The American
workers are critical to the environmental and safety working practises they are really of a view
point where willingness to follow all the rules and for a ideal workplace is very high. They are
also angry that they are not having proper union representation. The movie clearly depict the
scenes where Chinese workers are adapting to laid and gun practise on farm. The main emphasis
was on the way Chinese enterprises are working towards building in factories across unites states
that is solving the problem of unemployment in some part of UK. There are lot of cultural
differences that arise
the main aspect of the documentary film is focussed on three major element or questions of the
practical interest. Firstly it is related with raising of productivity, second aspect is the types of
management practises that is associated with high productivity and third aspect is related to
culture and its relation with greater productivity (Wittkower and Termansen, 2021).
Employee skills: in any organisation there are three basic dimension of enhancing the
productivity through employee skills such as effectiveness that is producing at desired quality,
another aspect is efficiency that is production taking place at competitive unit cost & the speed,
the Chinese employees at fuyao are ahead of the America counterparts. They are having long
working hours that includes 12 hours shifts and six days in a week. Further employees are
working more effectively and faster.
In china there are skilled workers and technicians who are feted along side with theoretical
scientists, entrepreneur and technology speciality that are the “highly talented' group. The
Chinese supervisor Mr. wrong has started working in the Chinese factory at age of 18 & 20 years
that is arrived at the the time of experience to supervise the American workers. There are many
American workers who posses little or no experience in glass production. In china the workers
are feted and skilled technicians along with technology specialists, theoretical sceities and
entrepreneurs are regarded as the highly talented group. As per the recent study there are 48
million “highly skilled' employees in china and among them 59 are recognized as “industrial
pioneers”. Across many towns and cities the apprentices are also regarded as the highly skilled
exponents. The movie clearly reflects the way cultural differences are affecting the present

functioning of employees across various industries and sectors. It is also related to the way there
is abundant supply of factory employees who are jumping starting the china manufacturing
industry in 1980.
the overall cultural and productivity differences are affecting the present functioning of
employees in long run. Such as the productivity deepens on the cultural norms that is a idea
which can be traded as part of 20the century. The two dimensions of culture are related to the
aspect of productivity includes the trust and the autonomy. The vision of control is a big issues
in Unites states as it is associated with way workers are organized in American factory. The
American & Chinese employees are working towards managing the differences in Chinese and
American ideas about loyalty towards employer.

Conclusion
From the above discussed scenario it can be said that cultural differences is a perspective
that is depending on the cultural norms. It is a idea that is discussing about the two aspects of
culture matter of most for productivity. In the present changing times there are many different
cultural aspect which affect the way employees are working in a organisation. It is important to
evaluate and analyse it to understand its impact on the overall functioning of employees on long
term functioning. As per the documentary there have been many differences that are arsing
between the way of working for Chinese and American employees that reflects the basic
instances of cultural conflicts. This is mainly related to the way the employees are working and
their acceptance towards intensity of work.

References
Books & Journal
Blanchette, A., 2020. Porkopolis: American animality, standardized life, and the factory farm.
Duke University Press.
Goodman, A., 2020. 12. American Dreams and Immigrant Realities in a South El Monte Shoe
Factory. In East of East (pp. 124-134). Rutgers University Press.
Freeman, J.B., 2018. Behemoth: A History of the Factory and the Making of the Modern World.
WW Norton & Company.
Rist, R.C., 2017. The urban school: A factory for failure. Routledge.
Goldstein, A., 2017. Janesville: An American Story. Simon and Schuster.
Lessing, J. and Brege, S., 2018. Industrialized building companies’ business models: Multiple
case study of Swedish and North American companies. Journal of construction
engineering and management, 144(2), p.05017019.
Haywood, J.M., 2017. Anti-Black Latino racism in an era of Trumpismo. International Journal
of Qualitative Studies in Education, 30(10), pp.957-964.
Hoyt, C.L., Morgenroth, T. and Burnette, J.L., 2019. Understanding sexual prejudice: The role of
political ideology and strategic essentialism. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 49(1),
pp.3-14.
Diffey, T., 2017. Wittgenstein, Anti-essentialism and the Definition of Art (pp. 37-51).
Routledge.
Merrick, H., 2017. Naturecultures and feminist materialism. In Routledge Handbook of Gender
and Environment (pp. 101-114). Routledge.
Kronfeldner, M., 2018. What's Left of Human Nature?: A Post-Essentialist, Pluralist, and
Interactive Account of a Contested Concept. MIT press.
Christen, M., 2018. Comparing cultural differences with domain-specific differences of
appreciating and understanding values. Journal of Moral Education, 47(3), pp.333-345.
Huwaë, S. and Schaafsma, J., 2018. Cross‐cultural differences in emotion suppression in
everyday interactions. International Journal of Psychology, 53(3), pp.176-183.
Eulerich, M. and Westhausen, H.U., 2018. Cultural differences and similarities between German
and Chinese internal audit functions. Journal of Governance and Regulation, 7, pp.57-73.
Shin, H. and Dovidio, J.F., 2017. Cultural differences in the role of economic competitiveness in
prejudice toward immigrants and foreign workers. Analyses of Social Issues and Public
Policy, 17(1), pp.7-32.
Wittkower, E.C. and Termansen, P.E., 2021. 27. Cultural Psychiatric Research in Asia (pp. 433-
447). University of Hawaii Press.
Li, X., 2017. Cross-cultural interaction and job satisfaction in cross-cultural organizations: A
case study of two Thai companies founded and managed by Chinese people. Journal of
Administrative and Business Studies, 3(6), pp.255-262.
Rosenblatt, P.C., 2017. Researching grief: Cultural, relational, and individual
possibilities. Journal of Loss and Trauma, 22(8), pp.617-630.
Xiong, Y. and Zhou, Y., 2018. Understanding East Asian Graduate Students' Socio-Cultural and
Psychological Adjustment in a US Midwestern University. Journal of International
Students, 8(2), pp.769-794.
Online

American Factory: Clash of Cultures or a Clash of Labour and Capital?, 2020 [online], available
through<https://madeinchinajournal.com/2019/12/22/american-factory-clash-of-cultures-or-a-
clash-of-labour-and-capital/>
Anti‐essentialism (1979), 2020 [online], available
through<https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/0199251487.001.0001/
acprof-9780199251483-chapter-5>
What is the anti-essentialist view of IDENTITY?, 2020 [online], available
through<http://kjtenglishnotes.blogspot.com/2017/04/what-is-anti-essentialist-view-of.html>