Cross-Cultural Management Report: BF Company's Ukraine Challenges

This report provides a detailed analysis of the cross-cultural management challenges encountered by the Bright Future (BF) Company during its expansion into Ukraine. The report begins with an executive summary and table of contents, followed by an introduction outlining the company's background and the purpose and scope of the analysis. The core of the report identifies and analyzes key issues, including communication errors, dysfunctional leadership, and unfamiliarity with the company's mission, all of which are explored through the lens of cultural differences using models such as Kluckhohn & Strodtbeck and Hofstede. The analysis delves into specific cultural dimensions, such as collectivism vs. individualism and the approach to the environment, to explain the root causes of the problems. The report then proposes solutions and recommendations, including improving cross-cultural competency, developing horizontal communication systems, and providing training to address skill gaps. The report concludes with a discussion of implementation and implications, along with appendices containing supporting information and references to relevant literature.

Running head: CROSS-CULTURAL MANAGEMENT
Cross-Cultural Management
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Executive Summary
Cross-cultural management is one of the important aspects that modern organizations have to
focus on. They have to make sure that all the employees are putting forward a joint collaborative
effort so that they can move forward properly. They will have to understand the importance of
cooperation and unity. It is the duty of the leaders or the management of the organization to
make sure that they are using all the possible resources in order to help the employees overcome
their skill gaps. The organizational culture must be open, flexible and like a family. All the
employees' might have proper access to each other and to their immediate departmental head.
This will make sure that the employees are getting all the possible support.

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Table of Contents
1. Introduction..................................................................................................................................4
Scope................................................................................................................................................4
Discussion........................................................................................................................................4
2.1 Overall Identification.................................................................................................................4
2.1.1 Issue Analysis.........................................................................................................................5
2.1.1.1 Issue A -Analysis.............................................................................................................5
Communication error...................................................................................................................5
2.1.1.2 Issue A solution...................................................................................................................6
2.1.1.3 Issue A -Recommendations.................................................................................................7
2.1.2.1 Issue B Analysis..................................................................................................................7
Dysfunctional Leadership............................................................................................................7
2.1.2.2 Issue B Solution...................................................................................................................8
2.1.2.3 Issue B Recommendations...................................................................................................8
2.1.3.1 Issue C Analysis..................................................................................................................9
Unfamiliarity with Your Mission................................................................................................9
2.1.3.2 Issue C Solutions.................................................................................................................9
2.1.3.3 Problem C Recommendations.............................................................................................9
3. Recommendations......................................................................................................................10

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4. Implementation and Implications..............................................................................................11
5. Conclusion.................................................................................................................................12
6. Appendices................................................................................................................................13
6.1 Appendix 1...........................................................................................................................13
6.2 Appendix 2...........................................................................................................................13
6.2 Appendix 2...........................................................................................................................14
6.3 Appendix 3...........................................................................................................................15
6.4 Appendix 4...........................................................................................................................16
7. References..................................................................................................................................17

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1. Introduction
Cross-cultural management is one of the most crucial aspects that must be considered in each and
every organization. In order to move on in the International or the Global areas from their local setups,
the organizations have to undertake many important steps that will help them to induce a sound cross-
cultural management system (Belias et al. 2015). BF or the Bright Future company is a Canadian based
set up dealing in the manufacture and sale of precious metals like stones, gems, gold, and others.
However, there have been several problems in its path of market expansion in Ukraine. As per the
international aid agency operating in Ukraine that the BF company manners pressurized the villagers
and asked them to sell their properties for the constructing of mines. The villagers are uneducated and
they do not know anything about the market expansion growth.
Purpose of the Report
The purpose of this report is to undertake a cross-cultural analysis between the two countries that is
Ukraine and Canada which will help in paying attention to all the internal management issues and also
give recommendation for the future use so that the issues can be minimized and BF can carry on their
global expansion properly.
Scope
Thus the aim of BF company now is to hire a new cross-cultural consultant for looking after the
intercultural issues and provide the proper solution. The values of the company are
 Honesty
 Integrity
 Boldness
 Trust

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Discussion
2.1 Overall Identification
It was beset with many challenges that BF Company is best with many challenges they are trying to
expand into new market ventures. They have faced many internal problems like distaste of employees,
employee attrition, communication problem, Dysfunctional leadership, overlooking of the
company mission, Overscheduling, harassment of employees’ and other such internal human
resource problems (Szabo and Csepregi 2015). Thus the company has decided to appoint a cross-
cultural management expert who will be able to focus over these issues and make sure that these issues
are being solved in the future days. I want to work for this company as this is one of the most well-
known companies listed in the company is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. This is also
recognized as one of the leads in the production and the manufacture of precious gems and gold in the
world market. However, I know that in order to get appointed as the cross-cultural consultant I will
have to undertake an in-depth and detailed description of the existing issues that were prevalent in
Ukraine previously. As per my understanding, the two different models that can be used for dealing
with these issues are the Hofstede model, Trompennar's model and also the Kluckhohn and
Strodtbeck model.

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2.1.1 Issue Analysis
2.1.1.1 Issue A -Analysis
Communication error
As per the opinion of Helmreich and Merritt (2017), the communication taking place in any
organization is of utmost importance. It helps in fixing then intern and also the external issues of the
organization. However often the issue of communication is taken for granted and the company officials
do not really pay much heed to the issues that might appear because of the problems in communication.
As far as the case of BF Company is concerned, a communication error is one of the vital issues. This is
because initially, they started expanding their domain by operating in the rural and remote local regions
of Ukraine. In order to do this, they were about to set up mines in Ukraine. Hey started this venture by
setting the mines in the interior regions.
Mastery
The employees and managers of Canada are feel that they can take the decisions on their own
and look after their self interest. However in Ukraine, the employees are concerned about collective and
united decision. As the company did not involve the villagers of Ukraine in the first attempt there was a
problem. Thus, in order to open a new branch in Ukraine they have to develop a horizontal
communication system and a group decision making method. They will have to involve all the
employees or the villagers in their decision making process
Collectivism- Canadian culture is individualistic in nature and the employees believe in taking
decisions as per their own choice. They feel that the subordinate employees will abide by the decision
taken by the managers. However Ukrainian people feel that collective collaborated decision making
strategy is the ultimate goal or business success. Thus the BF Company will have to take the initiate of
develop group based activities in order to open their branch in Ukraine.

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Hierarchy- Canadian people have the habit of following a hierarchical structure. Thus all the
business units are structured in a hierarchical manner where the decisions are taken by the managers
and the subordinates are made to follow the same. However this approach failed in their path of
opening branch in Ukraine. Thus they have to take different approach in order to successfully open
their branch in Ukraine. They have to develop the strategy of horizontal communication and a weekly
feedback session. It is the duty of the BF company officials to conduct personal level and also group
discussion based methods. The villagers or local people of Ukraine must give their opinions. There
must be no compulsion or forcing done on the employees.
Thinking
The thinking pattern of Canada is hierarchical in nature. They believe that the decision taken by
their superiors is final and all of the employees must abide by the same. On the other hand the people of
Ukraine always move forward by following the joint and collective efforts. Thus the company has to
take some approaches for opening a new branch in Ukraine successfully. They have to develop some
new and alternative job opportunities for the villagers. Apart from thus they will also have to take up
the approach of develop a board of decision makers by including the villagers and also some other
Ukrainian officials for generating proper ideas.
However, the officials of the BF Company did not take up any initiative in communicating
openly with the villagers or the natives of the place. This is because they wanted to somehow build the
mines for starting their work without investing any time in talking with the villagers or taking their
consent. As per the model of Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck, in case of cross-boundary expansion, people
the employees usually face these issues -
1 - Relationship to the Environment

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2 - Relationships Among People
3 - Mode of Human/Normal Activity
4 - Belief About Human Nature
5 - Orientation to Time
6 - Use of Space
As per my perception, the BF Company officials were facing the issue of Relationship to the
Environment. The three components are subjugation, mastery, and harmony. As per the opinion of
Bhawuk (2017), abiding by the law of nature is of utmost importance for striking a balance between
nature and technology. Bellace (2018) has argued in the same context that this is an era of competition
and in order to survive in this era, the companies have to bend the laws of nature by making use of the
upgraded forms of technology. BF Company was trying to do focus on the construction of the mines by
using extensive technology rather than focusing on protecting and conservation of the environment thus
the company as focusing on mastery whereas the villagers wanted to abide by subjugation and
harmony. This must also be noted in the similar context that the villagers are illiterate and they do not
understand the necessity of extracting gold for meeting the demand in the International market. It was
the duty of the organization to make sure that they are giving proper training and development faculties
to their officials’ before sending them to International business locations. Staying and working in
Canada will surely make them associated with the Canadian business culture and the Canadian business
etiquette. Thus, in order to work in Ukraine and particularly, in the rural sectors of Ukraine they have to
develop proper know-how about the culture of Ukraine. Thus there was a lack of horizontal
communication system between the villagers of Ukraine and the officials of BF which was a Canadian
company.

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As per the Hofstede cultural analysis, It has been seen that the uncertainty avoidance index for the
Canadian culture is 48 whereas it is 95. Canadian are very open towards accepting any unforeseen
emergency that may arise, however, this is not the same for the people of Ukraine. The Ukrainians
always go for some background information and prefer to get some information about the exact
outcomes that might happen in the future. It must be noted in this context that the BF company officials
did not give any prior information to the Ukrainian villagers regarding their decisions. They kept on
pressurizing and forcing the villagers to sell their lands for the construction of mines without giving
them any kinds of compensation plan or any explanation regarding the construction of mines.
2.1.1.2 Issue A solution
 Developing an across cultural competency among the BF company officials
 Undertaking a proper training session where all the villagers will be invited and the entire plan of
construction of the mines will be set up
 Develop a horizontal, open and two-way communication system
 Developing some education session for the villagers
2.1.1.3 Issue A -Recommendations
 BF Company must set aside some additional funds that they would need in order to train their
officials before they are venturing on any cross boundaries market expansion. This will help the
company to connect better with the people living in a different country.

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 In order to maintain the goodwill and the reputation of the company, the management has to
help the employees overcome their skill gap.
 This can be done for hiring experts like linguists, cross-cultural consultants, language
interoperates and other such professionals who will be helping in develop the right kind of
cross-cultural competency among the officials.
2.1.2.1 Issue B Analysis
Dysfunctional Leadership
As an aspiring cross-cultural consultant, I believe that leadership is one of the most vital aspects of
any company I have undergone them past is a history of the company and the reasons behind the issues
in the path of their Ukrainian expansion. As per the opinion of Alemu (2016), the employees will be
working properly only if he manages and the supervisors are rendering full support to them. BF
Company seems to have a very weak leadership system. They have been focusing only on their
business expansion but have overlooked the skill gap development of their employees. As per the
Trompenarrs model, the seven cultural dimensions must be taken into account while a company is
undertaking its expansion into foreign countries.
Achievement Versus Ascription is significant in this aspect. This is because Canadian culture is
very performance oriented in nature. They always focus on achievement. The business etiquette that is
prevalent in Canada sets the worth of the employees as per their actions. Thus there is a pressure over
the employees to achieve their targets by some or the other possible means. N contrary to this
Ascription is the characteristic that is present within the people of Ukraine. Thus it must be noted that
the villagers of Ukraine had great respect for the culture, values and the behavior that is being displayed
towards them.

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2.1.2.2 Issue B Solution
 The best solution is to arrange for a business etiquette session for the BF company
employees.
 Competency mapping and bridging have to be conducted. It is the responsibility of the
managers to carry on reward and recognition process in their organization so that they
can always motivate employees to develop a cross-cultural competency
 The trainers must not be local trainers; The BF Company has to hire trainers from the
International locations. In this case, they will have to hire trainers from Ukraine so that
they can train the employees with then-prevalent educational and cultural set up that is
accepted by the people of Ukraine.
 Setting up alternative Job opportunities for the villagers of Ukraine
2.1.2.3 Issue B Recommendations
BF company has to focus on the planning of the budget in a proper way so that they can keep some
money aside for spending over their HR department and the R&D department. This will ensure that
they can work with remote employees. In order to do that they will have to provide proper
accommodation and salary package to the externals whom they are hiring the Global locations. As they