Intercultural Management in Business: Understanding Cross-Cultural Problems

This report discusses intercultural management in business and how to understand cross-cultural problems. It analyzes a case study and identifies where the company went wrong in communicating with a Japanese client. The report suggests using intercultural theories such as Hofstede and Handy's cultural models to better understand clients from different cultures. It also provides advice on how to negotiate and communicate effectively with clients from different cultures.

Management in
Business

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY ..................................................................................................................................3
Case study 2 has been chosen..........................................................................................................3
Where did Hannah and the company go wrong?....................................................................3
How could you help Hannah and the company better understand this cross-cultural problem? 4
Using intercultural theories to explain it and support the discussion....................................5
What would be the advice to Hannah and the organisation...................................................6
Problems found in cross cultural............................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Intercultural management is the process which helps the individual to learn about the
backgrounds of multiple person. They need to respect their cultures and establish and effective
working environment. This report aims to analyse about understanding the cultures of multiple
people with the help of multiple models and concepts (vom Brocke, and et.al 2021). There are
multiple problems which arises in while understanding about the culture of multiple individuals.
On the other hand, the organisation needs to comply with all the work ethics in order to establish
a healthy working environment. In this the individual can achieve an effective growth and can
capitalise on multiple opportunities. Along with that, the behaviour of the management is also
been analysed and use the two individual which is form different backgrounds and cultures. For
further instance, there needs to be equal behaviour without any discrimination and the concepts
and the frameworks will help them to achieve better results in the future. There are various
advantages which can be taken with the help of cross cultural and management theories.
MAIN BODY
Case study 2 has been chosen
Where did Hannah and the company go wrong?
The major problem which has been arise while establishing an effective communication
with other clients. The clients is from japan they have other traditions in order to get into
partnership with new ventures (Terenteva, and et.al 2018). Hannah needs to analyse the situation
more properly which will help them to achieve better results in the future. This is the problem
which could be solves they can successfully entre in the joint venture. There are various
strategies which can be used in order to become successful in the deal.
The areas in which Hannah go wrong is mentioned below:
 Hannah needs to ask them about the negotiation – This is one of the major reason that
this deal is not successful. Hannah needs to analyse the situation and ask the client about
the procedure of this deal. Hannah needs to make sure that the client is comfortable while
doing this deals. The other person also misunderstand multiple things. In the Japanese
culture this was the inappropriate behaviour which is individual is facing. Marcus and
Jonas could make the situation more clear by telling about Hannah. They need to
minimise the barriers which is been affecting the new project or deal.

 Focusing on other factors – This was also the inappropriate reason this deal is facing
several problems (Witell, and et.al 2020). Hannah needs to clear which are the things
they want to discuss in the meeting and needs to organise the meeting with the right
purposes.
How could you help Hannah and the company better understand this cross-cultural
problem?
The cross cultural problem needs to be addressed properly. This will help the business to
carry out the best results in the future. There are multiple ways through which the problems of
cross-cultural could be solved it is been described below:
 Misunderstanding between the clients – There are various things which has been gone
wrong in the meeting. The major aspect which is been affecting is the problems of
multiple cultures (Stauss, and Seidel, 2019). The client is from other culture they are
from Japan. They have different traditions. Hannah needs to use various channels and
needs to establish in communication.
 Hannah needs to socialize better with the clients – This is the major reason which help
the clients and Hannah to establish and effective communication. They can focus on
carrying out the successful results. The client is seeing major differences due to the
communication gap. This is the reason which is creating the challenge between tow
parties. They need to be uniformed and Hannah needs to be more dedicated in order to
establish an effective communication with the client.
 Doing the proper research and understanding the background of the clients – There
are various advantages which is been utilised by properly. There needs to be a proper
communication which needs to be established (Oehlhorn, and et.al 2020). The English
proficiency needs to be clear an concise which helps them to achieve better results in the
future. There are new opportunities on which they can capitalise. The set of the vision
could be clear and it can help to achieve multiple goals and objectives in the market. The
individual can take better interest between the other person. Hannah can also use new
strategies and approaches in order to make the client comfortable in every manner.
Using intercultural theories to explain it and support the discussion
Intercultural learning theories helps the individual to learn various things of the people
which is from multiple backgrounds and cultures. These theories will help to understand about

them in an effective manner. The intercultural theories is described below which support the
discussion.
Hofstede Model
 Power Distance Index – This is the particular component which focuses on the
distribution of the power in the workplace (Myers, 2019). On the other hand, the
management needs to be equal with every individual. In case of Hannah they need to
build a healthy relationship with the client and through they can carry out the best results
in the given circumstances.
 Collectivism vs Individualism – The individual needs to work and provide the necessary
benefits to the societies. Marcus and Jonas needs to clear the situation about the
necessary deals. They need to create a channel between Hannah and the Japanese client
in order to carry out the deal successfully.
 Uncertainty avoidance Index – This is the component which shows how much
uncertainty can be tolerated in the organisation. Marcus and Jonas could make the
situation more better and needs to work with the client perspective.
 Feminity Vs masculinity – This is the stage in which there is the line of success. Both
the genders have different areas through which they worked and the society measure their
success in multiple ways. Hannah could establish the deal and negotiate with the client
on the telephone. Through this they can make the individual more comfortable in every
manner.
 Short Term Vs long term orientation – In this stage the time horizon of the individual
can be seen differently. There are various critical points which needs to be assessed in the
situation properly. This will help the individual to achieve success in the future.
 Restraint Vs Indulgence – This is the stage in which multiple barriers arise due to
multiple goals and barriers. The Japanese client have multiple goals which they want to
achieve (Lima, McMahon, and Costa, 2021). On the other hand, Hannah needs to set the
vision as per the client in a significant manner.
Handy's Cultural Model
 Power – This stage generally focuses on giving the power to the right individuals. They
can give the orders to multiple individuals and distribute the power between the

authorities. The person can formulate multiple strategies and use new methods to carry
out the best results in the market.
 Task Culture – This factor helps the employees to provide the right training through this
the workforce can become more skilled in every manner and carry out the best results for
the organisation. Marcus and Jonas needs to make a positive impact on the client.
Through this they are able to get the necessary and the completion of the new venture
could be carried out in a systematic manner. They needs to be more skilled in order to
carry out the desired deal.
 Person Culture – The employees are the most valuable aspects for the organisation.
They need to establish the right connection with the employees through this they are able
to work for the growth of the company (Klimecka-Tatar, and Ingaldi, 2020). Hannah
needs to be clam and composed in order to achieve great results in the deal. The situation
can be analysed properly in order to carry out the deal successfully.
 Role Culture – The employees get the right roles on the basis of their performance and
the skills which they have acquired over a period of time. There are certain things which
has been gone wrong and the deal could be a success if Hannah could establish and
effective communication channel between the clients and the others.
What would be the advice to Hannah and the organisation
There are various suggestions which could be given in order to carry out the deal in a
systematic manner, Due to the inappropriate behaviour and the lack of communication plays a
major role in enhancing the circumstances for this deals. The suggestions to Hannah is been
described below:
 It has been advised that Hannah could use multiple strategies and methods in order to
carry out the deal properly (Easterby-Smith, and et.al 2021). They need to respect the
culture of the client and focus on different factors to achieve new heights.
 There is a major problems of communication and misunderstanding the client and
Hannah needs to asses the situation properly, On the other hand, Marcus and Jonas could
establish the right communication between two individuals and minimise the differences
which is affecting the growth of this particular deal.

 Hannah could also negotiate with the client on the telephone. They need to take the
strategic measures in order to make every aspect of this deal successful. There are various
goals and objectives which could be achieved in an effective manner.
 The Japanese negotiators could be clear and concise about every detail. Hannah also
needs to make the client more comfortable. They also need to work according to the
client and achieve better results for this particular deal.
Problems found in cross cultural
There are three major problems which is gone wrong in the deals and it needs to sorted in
an effective manner.
 Different approaches to complete the tasks – This is the major source of m problems.
The approach of Hannah in order to carry put the deals is not that great. It has created
certain differences in the mind of the Japanese negotiators. The situation is also not
cleared properly. They need to respect every culture and work according them in order to
attain the best results.
 Different communication styles – This is also the vital factors Hannah needs to establish
a secure connection with the clients without any hindrances of other individual. This will
help them to understand about the mindset of the clients and what they want from this
particular deal (Duarte, Cabrita, and Cruz-Machado, 2019). They can use the strategic
measures in order to make this new venture successful in every manner.
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it has been concluded that intercultural competencies needs to be
fulfilled in an effective manner. There are various peoples which is different backgrounds and
cultures. In this report the main use of multiple models which includes Hofstede and Handy's in
order to minimise the effect of multiple barriers. There are different stages which is been
described in this particular models. On the other hand, there are new variations which could help
the individual in order to perform better in multiple visitations. Along with that, the main focus
of the report is to understand the importance of the cross-cultural aspects. There are various
advantages which can be taken by the individual in an effective manner. The use of multiple
theories will generally solve the differences which is been establishing in the two clients and

carry out the best results. There are new objective ans goals which can be achieved in an
strategic manner between the clients regardless of their backgrounds.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Duarte, S., Cabrita, M.D.R. and Cruz-Machado, V., 2019, August. Business model, lean and
green management and industry 4.0: A conceptual relationship. In International
Conference on Management Science and Engineering Management (pp. 359-372).
Springer, Cham.
Easterby-Smith, and et.al 2021. Management and business research. Sage.
Klimecka-Tatar, D. and Ingaldi, M., 2020. How to indicate the areas for improvement in service
process-the Knowledge Management and Value Stream Mapping as the crucial elements
of the business approach. Revista Gestão & Tecnologia, 20(2), pp.52-74.
Lima, E.S., McMahon, P. and Costa, A.P.C.S., 2021. Establishing the relationship between asset
management and business performance. International Journal of Production
Economics, 232, p.107937.
Myers, M.D., 2019. Qualitative research in business and management. Sage.
Oehlhorn, and et.al2020. Human resource management and its impact on strategic business-IT
alignment: A literature review and avenues for future research. The Journal of Strategic
Information Systems, 29(4), p.101641.
Stauss, B. and Seidel, W., 2019. Effective complaint management: The business case for
customer satisfaction. Springer.
Terenteva, and et.al 2018. Economic added value as a tool of cost-oriented management by
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культури i мистецтв, (2), p.167.
vom Brocke, and et.al 2021. Context-aware business process management. Business &
Information Systems Engineering, 63(5), pp.533-550.
Witell, and et.al 2020. Characterizing customer experience management in business
markets. Journal of Business Research, 116, pp.420-430.