Intercultural Competence in Business (Distinction Criteria)

This dissertation explores intercultural competence in business and the importance of understanding cultural frameworks. It includes a cultural autobiography of two individuals from Romania and Germany, and compares their cultural differences and similarities using Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions Theory.

Competence in
Business ( Distinction
Criteria )

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Cultural Autobiography (Myself)...........................................................................................1
Cultural Autobiography..........................................................................................................2
Cultural Differences...............................................................................................................2
Culture Similarities.................................................................................................................3
Cultural Framework................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7
Online.....................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
A culture is a very important factor which helps in defining the relationship of people,
societal ethics, values and world view. With the growth of an internalized business, globalization
and environment. With the help of strong intercultural communication skills, it is very essential
for the international business. In context to strong intercultural communication skills, it is
considered to be very important and plays a very important role in international business as most
of the companies have to basically deal with the individuals coming from various cultural
backgrounds. In relation to Cultural autobiography, it is a self-analytic and reflective story of the
present and past. In context to Intercultural competence, it is basically the ability to function in a
effective manner across cultures for the purpose to act in a appropriate manner, think creativity
and also to work with other individuals who are coming from different backgrounds. In addition
to that, the managers must be good at intercultural communication as it will help them to interact
in a effective manner with the people coming from different cultures. The present dissertation
basically studies the culture of two people from different countries from the lens of two different
cultural frameworks which are Hofstede's cultural model and Hall model. In addition to that, it
comprises of face negotiation and uncertainty management theory of intercultural
communication(Fosnacht, Gonyea and Graham, 2020).
MAIN BODY
Cultural Autobiography (Myself)
My name is Sorina Florina Matei and I was born and brought up in the city of Reghin. I
lie in an average family with two siblings. My sister passed away a year ago due to suffering
from various health issues. My brother is married with a daughter and a son, and lives with them
happily. My parents are aged and live with my brother in my parent's house. In relation to my
studies, I studied primary school in my neighbouring town after that I went to a high school in
the city of Reghin. During my high school I was active and curious student. Moreover, I had
deep interest in the concept and subject of Environment Protection. Though, it was a good high
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school but it did not helped me or supported me in any manner. I was born on 4th November,
1990 and has lived 31 years of my life. In the year 2010, I got married and my life became more
complicated.
I had a very good family but unfortunately my ex husband decided to fight for another
women. In the year 2015, I decided to divorced for the purpose to implement and change
something in my life. Moreover, I decided to come to England for a new beginning. In the early
years, I struggled to make money and decided to become financially independent, so I could
achieve something in life. I had a relationship with a boy and I decided to have a baby with and
his name is Matei now I am fulfilled and single mother. My little baby changed my life and also
I got support from my mother who helped me in making good decisions in life and now I felt
more determined and stronger to fight with life. Now, I am currently settled in England and
trying to keep the traditions of my family. I am currently working in the warehouse and I have
decided to study business management for the purpose to start my own business.
Cultural Autobiography
My name is Miranda Joseph and I was born on 21st March, 1991 in Germany. I came from
a very wealthy family and has enjoyed all the luxuries in my life. Even though having a good
financial status, i suffered from anxiety issues and depression. My mother died at a very young
age which is one of the major reason of suffering from loneliness and pain. Though my father
supported me in every situation and always had my back. During my school days i was very
good at making paintings and doing artworks and also won various trophies. During my college
days, i met John who was my classmate and decided to marry him. Its been 6 years of our
marriage and we are blessed with 2 kids. Both my kids have keen interest in drawing and
paintings just like me. I always pay focus on spending more and more quality time with my
children and sharing a special bond of mother and child. Presently, i am working as a art teacher
in my kid’s school and planning to open my own art school.
Cultural Differences
From the above two profiles, one autobiography belongs to Romania and the other one
belongs to German. In context to both the countries, it comprises of major cultural differences. In
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context to Romania, the people are much involved in the activities related to environment
protection whereas the German people have more interest in art and craft. Another culture
difference in both the countries comprises of the traditions. In Romania, people are likely to
follow their traditions where “Celebrating Christmas” is considered to be one of the important
part of their traditions. In German, people are more involved in spending time with their loved
ones and stop working to come together in the afternoon for a cup of coffee. For German People,
there main tradition is “Oktoberfest”.
Culture Similarities
From the above two profiles, both the countries have various cultural similarities. In
context to Romania and German, the people are highly dedicated and interested when it comes to
acquiring quality education and knowledge. The people are highly emotional and cares about
their friends and Family. In addition to that, both the country’s culture combines of the love for
the sausages and beer, logic, art, philosophy, Christian values with literature and much more.
Both the Romanian and German people cares about their loved ones and are considered to be
highly emotional. In context to both the countries, people are not much involved in spending on
luxury items or living a luxury lifestyle and have the urge to control their aspirations or needs.
Cultural Framework
In context to Cultural Framework, it is basically a term used in the social science for the purpose
to explain traditions, symbols, value, myths and systems that are common in the given society. I
society may have multiple cultural frameworks (Héroux and Fortin, 2018).
In reference to Culture Frameworks, the values, rituals, beliefs, symbols and thought processes
are considered to be the major key components of the Culture (Rot, 2018). For the purpose to
have deep knowledge and compare both the two profiles, Hofstede Cultural Framework is taken
into consideration which will help in detailed understanding of the culture and behaviour of
people.
Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions Theory
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Hofstede's culture dimension theory is a module that can help to understand culture and taste
of different countries. It can help the organisation to able to understand large variety of people in
different counties. This module assess the organisation to measure the differences and
similarities of countries (Aranzadi, 2018). In context to Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions
Theory, it basically wants the individual around the world to know the distinctiveness in the
culture of people and helps in recommending ways through which the organisations can easily
thrive despite the cultural differences. As per the viewpoint of Hofstede, these are very important
and plays a significant role as a cultural dimension which basically helps in identifying the
differences with the culture of individuals (Rehman, 2021).
Power distance: In context to Power Distance, this segment basically deals with all persons
are not same as it shows the living style of individual are not equal amongst us. It shows how
society tackles the inequality between individuals. In relation to German culture, there is highly
decentralised power which is supported by middle class where as in Romania, the individuals
accept a hierarchical order which further reflects the inherent inequalities. (Fujii, 2018).
Individualism: This segment shows, level of liberty maintain by individual in society as it
defines the self image of individual that is “I” and “we”. In different society world, how people
take care of individual with the exchange of loyalty. In context to Germany culture, mostly
people have small families as they have more focus on parent-children relationship instead of
uncles and aunts where as in Romania the society fosters strong relationships where each and
every individual takes responsibility for their fellow members involved in the group. As
compared to German People, Romanians have more close long term commitment to their
extended relationships, family and extended family (Hofstede Insights Romania, 2022).
Masculinity: A high mark on this segment basically indicates that the society focuses on
success, achievement, and competition. A low mark depicts individual’s care and respect to
others. With reference to German culture, Germany scores 66 when it comes to masculine
society. The school systems in Germany involves students division into separate group at the
age of 10 (Litvin, 2019). In context to Romania, the feminine society basically involves the sign
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of standing out from a group whereas the Masculine society basically reflects that the society is
driven by Success, Competition and achievement.
Uncertainty Avoidance: In reference to uncertainty avoidance, the society majorly deals with
the fact that the future can never be known. It basically involves the extent to which the members
of the culture feel threatened by the unknown situations and ambiguous and have created
institutions and beliefs. In reference to Germany, it is among the uncertainty avoidant countries
where the score is on high end (Venkateswaran and Ojha, 2019). In context to German People,
they are more likely to prefer planning, thinking and presenting whereas the Romanian People
highly prefer to avoid uncertainty.
Long Term Orientation: In context to this dimension, it basically describes how every society
has to maintain few links in relation to the past while dealing with the future and present
challenges. In reference to normative societies, it basically scores low on the dimension and
those who score high are basically involved in taking long pragmatic approach and encourages
efforts and thrift in the modern education (Abubakari, Wang and Paa-Grant, 2018).
In context to Germany, the country scores 83 which indicates that the country is pragmatic.
When it comes to pragmatic approach, the truth basically depends upon the situation, time and
context. In reference to German People, they are likely to adapt traditions in a more easy manner
as compared to Romania. In relation to Romania, the people encourage efforts and thrift in the
modern education for the purpose to prepare for the future (Hofstede Insights Germany, 2022).
Indulgence: In context to this dimension, it basically defines the extent to which individuals try
to control their impulses and desires based on the way they were raised (Meny, Seiferlein and
Chen, 2021). Relatively weak control is known as Indulgence and is relatively strong control is
known as “Restraint”. In context to German Culture, the country scores low score of 40 and is
Restrained in nature. In reference to both Romania and German, the individuals do not focus
much on the leisure time and try to control their satisfaction of the needs, desires and aspirations.
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CONCLUSION
From the above report, it can be concluded that culture plays a very important role in the
organisation and is considered to be a significant factor that helps in defining the values, societal
ethics, relationship of people and world view. With the help of Cultural Frameworks, it helps in
understanding the people and their culture in a detailed manner. In addition to that, it helps in
understanding the intercultural communication skills which plays a very important role in
international business and also helps in dealing with various individuals from various cultural
backgrounds. Moreover, the managers must be good at the intercultural communication as it
supports in interacting effectively with the other's culture. In addition to that, it helps in detailed
study of the German and Romanian Culture with the help of Hofstede's Cultural model. In
addition to that, the report helps in understanding the culture similarities and culture differences
among Germany and Romania.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Abubakari, Z., Wang, M. and Paa-Grant, R., 2018, August. Hofstede-GLOBE inspired cultural
dimensions: a review and application in international business research and cross-cultural
strategy. In Proceedings of the 2018 International Conference on Information Management
& Management Science (pp. 83-88).
Aranzadi, J., 2018. The Socio-Cultural Framework of Individual Action. In Human Action,
Economics, and Ethics (pp. 23-30). Springer, Cham.
Campbell, M.D., Hall, S.G. and Obenour, D.R., 2020. Application of packed bed reactor theory
and Bayesian inference to upweller culture of juvenile oysters. Aquacultural
Engineering, 90, p.102098.
Constable, A.M.J., 2020. A Mixed-Methods Study Examining the Ethical Competence of
Business School Students Enrolled in a Business Ethics Course at a Private Christian
University in the United States (Doctoral dissertation, Oral Roberts University).
Fosnacht, K., Gonyea, R.M. and Graham, P.A., 2020. The Relationship of First-Year Residence
Hall Roommate Assignment Policy with Interactional Diversity and Perceptions of the
Campus Environment. The Journal of Higher Education, 91(5), pp.781-804.
Fujii, D.E., 2018. Developing a cultural context for conducting a neuropsychological evaluation
with a culturally diverse client: The ECLECTIC framework. The Clinical
Neuropsychologist, 32(8), pp.1356-1392.
Héroux, S. and Fortin, A., 2018. The moderating role of IT-business alignment in the
relationship between IT governance, IT competence, and innovation. Information Systems
Management, 35(2), pp.98-123.
Litvin, S.W., 2019. Hofstede, cultural differences, and TripAdvisor hotel reviews. International
Journal of Tourism Research, 21(5), pp.712-717.
Meny, L.M., Seiferlein, M.R. and Chen, A.M., 2021. Faculty perceptions of a town hall model
for engagement in continuous quality improvement. Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and
Learning, 13(8), pp.968-974.
Rehman, A.U., 2021. Consumers' perceived value of luxury goods through the lens of Hofstede
cultural dimensions: A cross‐cultural study. Journal of Public Affairs, p.e2660.
Rot, S.C., 2018. Stepping in: My experience of embodied power through the relational-cultural
framework. American Journal of Dance Therapy, 40(1), pp.44-67.
Santos, S.D.D., 2019. Systems, Applications and Products Competence of Business
Administration Students in the University of Luzon. Ascendens Asia Journal of
Multidisciplinary Research Abstracts, 3(7).
Venkateswaran, R.T. and Ojha, A.K., 2019. Abandon Hofstede-based research? Not yet! A
perspective from the philosophy of the social sciences. Asia Pacific Business Review, 25(3),
pp.413-434.
Online
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Hofstede Insights Romania, 2022. [Online] Available Through < https://www.hofstede-
insights.com/country/romania/#:~:text=Romania%2C%20with%20a%20score%20of,other
%20societal%20rules%20and%20regulations.>
Hofstede Insights Germany, 2022. [Online] Available Through https://www.hofstede-
insights.com/country-comparison/germany,italy,romania,the-uk/
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