Cultural Intelligence and Management

This assignment provides a comprehensive overview of cultural intelligence and management in international business. It covers various sources, including academic articles, books, and online resources, that discuss the impact of cultural differences on business interactions and outcomes. The assignment highlights the need for cross-cultural understanding and management skills to ensure successful business operations globally.

International Intercultural
Management

Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................3
Theoretical analysis of France and China.................................................................................................4
Masculinity: High score (masculine) specify that society is driven by success, achievement and
competition. Whereas low score (feminine) implies that dominant values are working for quality of
life as well as for others. It signifies the success as well as they stands out from crowd. Within
China, 66 implies masculine society which is success driven and oriented. Employees of Carrefour
focus on attaining goals rather than having leisure time. In France feminine culture exists with score
43. In this case the upper class is feminine and working class is masculine. This kind of culture does
not exist in any other country..............................................................................................................6
Uncertainty avoidance: This indicates that future is not known, this leads to anxiety. It is defined as
an extent to which employees of Carrefour feels threatened by unknown situations and have build
certain beliefs to avoid those. Uncertainty avoidance within China is 30. It becomes difficult for
people from other countries to understand Chinese due to its ambiguous meanings. Within
Carrefour Chinese employees are more adaptable and entrepreneurial. With respect to France
score is high i.e., 86. Employees are highly structured and have planned guidelines for projects they
are working on within Carrefour. They can develop critical technologies as well as systems within
stable working environment................................................................................................................6
Long term orientation: This dimension signifies ways in which organization deal with their present
as well as future while considering their past experiences. China has score 87 which indicates that
there exists pragmatic culture. In this, employees of Carrefour have ability to adapt to altering
situations and invest their perseverance to attain desired goals. France has 63 score which specifies
that here also employees are pragmatic. In this case employees of Carrefour believe that truth
depends on situation which is prevailing in specific time and situation..............................................6
Cross cultural issues & adaptations.........................................................................................................8
Appropriate Framework........................................................................................................................10
Implications for future expansion..........................................................................................................11
CONCLUSION.............................................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................................13

Introduction
Culture refers to norms and social behavior which is found within human society. It is the
knowledge and characteristics which are possessed by specific group of people, comprises of
language, social habits, religion and art (Arasaratnam-Smith, 2017). Intercultural management
refers to managing team works in such a way that that differences in culture, preferences and
practices of consumers in domestic and international business context. It assists to comprehend
and accept cultural differences to prevail over intercultural problems for creation of win win
mode.
Coordinating and managing people who are from different cultures within organization is
one of the greatest challenge for corporate world. It is mandatory to acknowledge subtleties as
well as complexities associated with management of others within multicultural environment.
Intercultural communication will assist management to share information across various cultures,
social groups which comprises of various religious, ethnic, social and educational backgrounds.

It will help to recognize the differences in ways people of wide range of act, culture,
communicate and perceive world surrounding them. Lack of cultural sensitivity within business
will offend current as well as prospective clients, employees who work in some other place. This
will have downbeat company’s bottom line (Brooks and Pitts, 2016). Therefore it is essential for
companies who are working cross cultural to take into account culture of different countries in
which they are rendering their services.
In this assignment, Carrefour S.A. is taken into consideration. It is a French
multinational retailer and it is one of the largest hypermarket chains. It is headquartered in
Boulogne Billancourt, France. They operate their services in around 30 countries. This
assignment is based on different frameworks which are used for analyzing differences as well as
similarities. Carrefour has expanded them from France to China and to meet intercultural
differences, they are making use of Hoffstede and Trompenaars with respect to these two
countries. These frameworks are applied to overcome the certain barriers associated with
operating intercultural. Furthermore, cross cultural issues and adaptations are analyzed by use of
essential framework. Apart from this, implications of the analysis are examined with respect to
future expansion.
Theoretical analysis of France and China
Intercultural management refers to study of behavior of people within organization which
is present within different cultures as well as nations in the world (Oommen, 2014). With
expansion in international trade and continuous immigration flow has lead to work place which
comprises of people from diverse culture. Carrefour has opted to make use of Hoffstede and
Trompenaars in France and China. These models assist them to operate their services effectively
in different cultures.
Hoffstede Cultural dimensions
It is a framework for cross cultural communication which describes the effects of culture
on society with respect to their values and way in which these values are associated with
behavior. It is adopted by Carrefour to carry out their functionalities smoothly. It is described
below with respect to China and France.

Power distance: It addresses that fact that all individuals are not similar and it articulate
attitude of culture towards these inequalities. It is defined as an extent to which less powerful
members of organization as well as institutions within country accept and expect the power
which is shared and is equivalent. With respect to China the highest ranking of PDI is 80. This
implies that inequality among people is acceptable. Relationship between superior and
subordinates tends to be polarized. People should not expect beyond their position within
Carrefour. France has 68 score which implies that here organization have hierarchical levels
with respect to UK and Germany. In this case within Carrefour superiors possess privileges and
are not easily accessible.
Individualism: It denotes degree of interdependence which is maintained by society
towards their members. It addresses that either self respect of individuals is defined by ‘I’ or
‘We’. In individualism people only look after their need and in collectivism people belongs to
groups & are responsible for each other. In China there exists high collectivist culture which is
relevant by score 20, they act as a group. In this case commitment of employee towards
Carrefour is low but toward employees is cooperative. Importance is given to relationship rather
than organization and tasks. France has scored 71 which depict individualist society. In this
people make their children independent with respect to group they belong to. In this case,
individuals know to distinguish between professional as well as private life. Employees of
Carrefour are more for focused towards their role within organization and do not give much
importance to relationship.

Masculinity: High score (masculine) specify that society is driven by success,
achievement and competition (Knight, 2015). Whereas low score (feminine) implies that
dominant values are working for quality of life as well as for others. It signifies the success as
well as they stands out from crowd. Within China, 66 implies masculine society which is success
driven and oriented. Employees of Carrefour focus on attaining goals rather than having leisure
time. In France feminine culture exists with score 43. In this case the upper class is feminine and
working class is masculine. This kind of culture does not exist in any other country.
Uncertainty avoidance: This indicates that future is not known, this leads to anxiety. It is
defined as an extent to which employees of Carrefour feels threatened by unknown situations and
have build certain beliefs to avoid those. Uncertainty avoidance within China is 30. It becomes
difficult for people from other countries to understand Chinese due to its ambiguous meanings.
Within Carrefour Chinese employees are more adaptable and entrepreneurial. With respect to
France score is high i.e., 86. Employees are highly structured and have planned guidelines for
projects they are working on within Carrefour. They can develop critical technologies as well as
systems within stable working environment.

Long term orientation: This dimension signifies ways in which organization deal with
their present as well as future while considering their past experiences. China has score 87 which
indicates that there exists pragmatic culture. In this, employees of Carrefour have ability to adapt
to altering situations and invest their perseverance to attain desired goals. France has 63 score
which specifies that here also employees are pragmatic. In this case employees of Carrefour
believe that truth depends on situation which is prevailing in specific time and situation.
Indulgence: It indicates the extent to which people tends to control their impulses as well
as desires depending upon ways in which they are raised. Weak control signifies indulgence
whereas strong control indicates restraint. China has score 24 which indicates that it is a
restrained society, employees of Carrefour has tendency to pessimism and cynicism. They have
perception that their actions are restrained by rules and norms defined by society. France has 48
score which indicates that it comes in between indulgence and restraint. This indicates that
people are more focused towards their organizational goals within Carrefour.
Trompenaars cultural dimension
It is a 7 dimension culture model which differentiates between cultures depending on
preferences. With respect to Carrefour, it has been presented below:
Universalism vs. particularism: Cultures with respect to universalism tends to be same in
every case. In this focus is on rules and not on relationship. This culture is followed in Australia
and U.S. In particularism importance is given to relationship and not on rules (Yemini and Fulop,
2015). In this each situation is examined, and this culture is adopted by China, France and Korea.
Individualism vs. communitarianism: In individualistic believe is that outcomes of
working within Carrefour are results of individuals on choice rather than others. They are the one
who makes their own decisions and they do not need any guidelines. This culture is followed by
France as it leads to quick decision making. Communitarianism believes that quality of life is
better than anything else. They work in team and surround themselves around people. This
culture is followed in China.

Specific vs. diffuse: In this people tends to keep their work and personal life different,
they do not overlap between these two spheres. Employees of Carrefour are more focused and
have point to point interactions. This culture is followed by employees of France. In diffusive
employees within Carrefour keeps their work as well as personal relationship interconnected.
They believe that in this way objectives can be attained in required manner. China is following
this culture.
Neutral vs. affective: In this case people do not share their emotions and are controlled.
Employees of Carrefour within France are rational and observative. In China people share their
emotions within workplace also, it is considered as normal.
Achievement vs. ascription: In achievement culture status within Carrefour is gained by
skills and knowledge possessed by employees they are reflected by their job titles. Employees of
China can challenge the decision made by others if they have logical argument. Within ascription
culture status is based on who the individual is. This is depicted by status or age. Within France
this culture is opted within workplace (Kumar and Steinmann, 2015). Decision in this case can
be only challenged by person who possesses high authority.
Sequential time vs. synchronous time: In China sequential culture is adopted, people
tend to complete their work in stages, and employees of Carrefour believes that each stage must
be finished on time. In synchronous time culture, within Carrefour employees analyze the
present with respect to past and future. By this they are able to formulate plans and attain them
before deadlines. This culture is adopted in France.
Internal vs. external direction: In this case within France, employees of Carrefour
believe that they can control environment for attaining their goals. This implies that they have
aggressive personalities and are prevalent. This is followed in France. In external direction,
people believe they work to attain their goal and for this formulate strong relationships. This
culture exists in China.

Cross cultural issues & adaptations
Cross culture adaptation mainly include individuals those who belongs to one culture and
moves toward different culture in order to learn the customs, religion, art, rules, social norms and
language (Child and Lu, 2018). In this it is not necessary that only individuals travel to learn
different culture but along with these companies also travel from one country to other to learn
their rules, customs, language and norms in order to operate their functions and earn profitability.
In this regard, cross cultural differences mainly arise by religious background, racial background,
education, ethnic background and language. All these factors mainly lead towards the cause of
cultural clash within a company workforce. Multinational companies can take numerous
advantages while working with different culture in order to make their services and goods
assessable to wider range. In this regard it is essential for Carrefour to effectively examine the
changing outcome and complexity within Communications while operating their functions in
both different countries France and China as both of them have separate set of norms, believes
and cultural background. Along with this, it is required by company to put their focus on various
factors such as believes and traditions that are followed by China and France along with their
shared projection, perceptions and basic assumptions. This will help them to resolve
communication issue between France and China because both the countries workers and senior
managers communicate differently. Apart from that people from different culture think in a
different prospective manner. Thus mentioned below there are some points with the help of
which Carrefour can able to resolve cultural misunderstandings in their workplaces of France
and China:
Understand the communication style of different culture:
It is certain that individuals belong to different communities and culture will
communicate differently. France has communication style which is known as low contact culture
in which communication is in the form of free size and more emotional. While on the other hand,
China have subtler communication styles in which they are not much explicitly stated and are
known as high context culture. Thus, by understanding difference between communication styles
that has been adopted by both of the countries Carrefour can understand the difference and able
to adjust their communication styles within in their workplaces. In addition to this they can also

able to formulate more effective strategies with the help of which they can operate their cross
culture operations.
Develop effective communication style:
After understanding the basic cultural differences company is required to adopt the
communication style in which they care resolve cross culture misunderstandings in their
workplace (Lockwood, 2015). This will effectively help them to interlink their emotional
intelligence that will directly help them to become more tolerant of ambiguity. In addition with
this by developing proper communication style company can become more flexible against
different culture and can build respect for different culture. This will help them to perform their
operations with more easiness and effectiveness. By appreciating different culture differences
within Chinese market Carrefour can lead towards resolving their cross culture
misunderstandings which help them to build promising relationships with people in China.
Avoid becoming frustrated:
It is natural that individuals from different countries have their separate cultural norms
and communication system which cannot be rejected. Carrefour has employees from different
type of cross culture in both of their units in France and China those who have different cultural
background and language. Thus it is important for leaders and managers do not show their
frustration towards their behaviour and culture values. In order to overcome this managers and
leaders of Carrefour are required to get more open on cultural differences and adopt learning
approach. This will help them to know the values and certain behaviour of Chinese market. It
will also help them to resolve cultural differences and misunderstandings that have been
prevailed in their workplace. This will further help them to create a more Cooperative
environment which stimulates high growth of company.
It is important for leaders and senior generals of Carrefour to understand manner in which
peoples who belongs to different culture communities in Chinese market community reacts and
behave. As this behaviour are mainly dedicated to their cultural background by understanding
this leaders can effectively able to develop more effective and positive nature towards them. This
will help leader to understand their actual problem and stimulate their job performance in a

workplace. Along with this it will also help leader to resolve cultural differences issues with their
workplace and stimulate a healthy working environment.
Appropriate Framework
In order to solve cultural understandings and differences Carrefour can take advantage of
cultural intelligence culture quotient method which is a colonized way to effectively improve and
access effectiveness within a cultural in a diverse situation. With help of this method company
can easily able to work effectively with employees and customers from China. As Chinese
market have different cultural backgrounds and have separate notion towards control sensitivity.
This method will help company to formulate and conduct their business in a strategic way by
measuring cultural differences and developing more innovative solutions. With the help of this
method company can able to predict judgement and decision making which help them in their
personal adjustment and adaptability of leadership effectiveness (Schartner, 2016). This will
further help them to formulate more profitable and cost saving methods. Cultural intelligence
acts as a one of the strongest method with the help of which Carrefour can get more
opportunities for their growth and can expand their company operations within the market of
China. Along with this it can increase their sales which were earlier lying down. Cultural
intelligence provide different types of benefits for Carrefour that includes, success in cultural
diversity market, increase company ability which further increase their speed to work across
borders. With the help of this company can also operate their business in other countries too.
Implications for future expansion
With the help of this analysis Carrefour can effectively make their Corporation aware about
the typologies that have been prevailed within the Chinese Market. Along with this they can have
in-depth understanding and effectiveness of different culture within China (Bouncken and Kraus,
2014). As company faces numerous obstacles and challenges while performing their operation in
China domestic market. It is essential for Carrefour to implement Chinese economic culture with
the help of which they can operate their functions in a partnership Alliance. This will
simultaneously help them on their different store locations. Along with this by having proper
knowledge of Chinese business cultural Carrefour can able to build effective business
relationship this will effectively help them to simulate their supplier relationship. In addition

with this by evolving and analysing overall market of China Company can make different type of
strategies in which they can target middle class people with the concept of high market format.
In addition with this price and quality elements acts as a most important factors for customers in
China market. As Chinese customers mainly visit superstore and Hypermarket 3 times in a week
and this will further increase during lunar New Year which is their spring festival. Thus by
evaluating this cultural aspects company can able to increase their sales by providing many types
of discount and schemes during this segment.
CONCLUSION
As per the above mentioned report, it has been concluded that there are different types of
cross cultural issues that creates misunderstandings and conflicts within a workplace or in a
company structure. These issues mainly arise due to differentiation in religious nationalities and
cultural practices. Thus it is essential for a company to evaluate each and every aspect in which
they operate their functions as to formulate effective strategies in order to adopt that culture. This
will help them to perform their functions and operations in a different culture with great
effectiveness and further help them to increase their sales. This report also included cultural
intelligence method with the help of which company can easily able to achieve their short term
and long term goals. Along with this company can able to increase their profitability by
understanding cultural differences within a country and can easily able to get success in diverse
market and can increase their work performance of global team with more effectiveness.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
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https://es.slideshare.net/Christophe_btz/2011-mmui-facing-diversity-carrefour-in-asia
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https://www.business-to-you.com/hofstedes-cultural-dimensions/
Online
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comparison/china,france/.