Human Resource Management in Cross-Cultural Context: A Case Study of Naturo Condiments

Running head: HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Human Resource Management
Name of the Student
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Introduction
The global business and commercial framework has undergone considerable changes
and experienced huge dynamics over centuries, owing to the changes in the social, economic,
political, technological and demographics patterns in the international scenario. Over the
years the global commercial scenario has become more integrated, inclusive and complex,
much of which can be attributed to the international phenomena like Globalization,
liberalization of trade and industrial sectors of different countries, technological and
infrastructural innovations and other aspects (Peng 2016). These factors have enabled a
considerably large and increasing numbers of businesses to expand their domain of
operations from their base countries to other countries across the world.
Expansion of businesses to different geographical domains, however, include
incorporation of different aspects and challenges in the operational framework. Of these the
primary challenges which the businesses face while setting up their operations in foreign
countries are the challenges in the aspects of cultural differences, language barriers,
communicational differences as well as the differences in the way of living and working of
the people in the different countries (Ferraro and Briod 2017). These differences pose crucial
challenges particularly in the domain of management of human resources in the company,
which in turn has considerable implications on the success of the venture of the company in
foreign country and the sustainability of its operations and prospects (Aronczyk 2013).
Keeping this into consideration the essay tries to take into account the working of an
Australian spices and condiments company, named “The Naturo Condiments”, and its
operations in the Tokyo branch in Japan, especially emphasizing on the differences in their
strategies of human resource management which they have to take in the two different
operational bases in Australia and Japan. The essay tries to analyse the factors influencing the

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development and implementation of the human resource management strategies in their
subsidiary in Japan and the reasons behind such differences in the strategic framework for
Australia and for Japan.
Importance of Incorporation of Cultural Differences
Given the fact that the businesses in the contemporary framework are increasingly
going global, cross cultural communication and management of human resources keeping
into consideration the cultural differences between the different countries of operations
become immensely important in the operational framework of the companies and The Naturo
Condiments is no exception (Okoro 2012). Successful incorporation of cultural differences,
in every aspect of their operations, especially in the management of the human resources,
especially in their Tokyo branch can help them in having productive negotiations, a
productive work environment and better prospects.
However, to achieve the same, it is of utmost importance to analyse and observe the
cultural differences which are prevalent in the company’s two operational bases- their
country of origin, Australia and the country where they have their subsidiary, Japan. Both of
the countries in concern are rich in their own indigenous culture and lifestyle patterns which
have evolved over the years and shaped up in terms of their own history, geographical
location, natural resources, occupations, populations, principles of importance and mindsets
(Piekkari, Welch and Welch 2014). Culture, as a whole shows the ideas, customs as well as
the behavioural patterns of the residents of a society and is also a reflection of the intellectual
achievement of the population of the different societies, evolved and modified with time.
These aspects are thus, considerably important factors contributing to the success or failure of
the cross-country business ventures and are therefore required to be analysed and considered

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by the company in concern, especially while framing their business and operational strategies
(Adekola and Sergi 2016).
Cultural Differences between Australia and Japan: Hofstede’s Framework
There have been different measures and indices developed over the years for the
purpose of measuring the cultural differences and patterns in different countries. For the
concerned research, the essay uses one of the most popular methods, known as the Hofstede’s
Cultural Dimension Theory (Taras, Steel and Kirkman 2012). With the help of the same, the
essay tries to find the cultural differences between the countries in concern, Australia and
Japan, with respect to six dimensions, which are likely to affect the human resource
management of the concerned firm, in its subsidiary in Japan.
Figure 1: Cultural differences between Japan and Australia in Hofstede’s Framework
(Source: Hofstede-insights.com 2018)
a) Power Distance- The power distance index in the Hofstede framework reflects towards the
distribution of power in the society and the level of acceptance of the inequality in the same
by those who rank low in the aspects of power. A high value in this index indicates towards