MAR0152: Intercultural Management Case Studies & Analysis

This assignment presents two case studies focusing on intercultural management challenges in business. The first case involves Fred, a sales manager who misinterprets cultural cues in Portugal, leading to negative business interactions. The analysis identifies Fred's errors, emphasizes the importance of cultural awareness, and recommends strategies for improved intercultural communication. The second case features Sam, a manager whose reprimanding leadership style clashes with the cultural norms of Saudi Arabian employees. The analysis highlights the need for cultural sensitivity, patience, and adaptation of leadership approaches. Both cases underscore the significance of intercultural understanding in global business contexts, with suggestions for developing cultural competence and ethical business practices. Students can find similar solved assignments and study resources on Desklib.

INTERCULTURAL
MANAGEMENT IN
BUSINESS MAR0152
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
CASE 1............................................................................................................................................3
Where did Fred go wrong?..........................................................................................................3
To make Fred understood about cross cultural problem..............................................................4
Intercultural theories....................................................................................................................4
Advices and recommendations to Fred........................................................................................5
CASE 2............................................................................................................................................5
Where did Sam go wrong?...........................................................................................................5
To make Sam understand the cross cultural problem..................................................................6
Intercultural theories....................................................................................................................7
To advice and suggest Sam for developing knowledge about intercultural................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Intercultural define as communication or other things that will happen among the people
who belongs to different culture (Eguchi and Calafell, 2019). In which the communication that
happens between the individual from the distinct ethnicity, religion, and other regional
background factors. In business it is important to have understanding in this, it will assist in
better functioning of the business, absence in knowledge regarding this lead to a vulnerable
consequence. Following study will discuss the case studies that is about the two different
scenarios where both will aim to develop understanding regarding cross cultural, it also discusses
how client has gone wrong in their case and also covers the sort of recommendations for them in
order to understand intercultural concept and avoid making mistakes.
MAIN BODY
CASE 1
Where did Fred go wrong?
As per the case study it is found that Fred has decided to stop in Lisbon to call several
potential clients. He set up the two appointments within two days, initially he went on appointed
time for the first two meetings but he kept on waiting for the arrival of clients. Thus from this he
misinterpreted the things and started connecting client’s later arrival with their culture which is
completely wrong (Kecskes, 2018). Fred has not followed his business ethics which leads him to
this final conclusion where the clients were displeased with his tardiness, overall it has given the
negative impact over the business. Also he relates their behaviour with particular culture and
considered client as manana oriented where he stated that clients have no respect to time because
of the belongs to this manana oriented culture. Eventually what he need to do is to ask for the
reason why clients are late for meeting, might they have genuine reason for this. Therefore,
without knowing the whole case and started accusing them is completely wrong.
To make Fred understood about cross cultural problem
People from different cultural background takes a challenge to work together it sometimes
it leads to cultural value conflicts. Where both parties misunderstood each other and reacts in
harshly manner that affects their overall working. In case of Fred he also misunderstood the
cultural aspects of his client before meeting he must develop the knowledge regarding Portugal
business ethics which will help him to not create such situation. For an instance meeting was
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with the Portuguese client, it is popular regarding them that they always come 10 minutes late for
the meeting, therefore it is important for Fred to understand their cultural aspect making any
wrong thoughts about them (Nadeem, Mohammed and Dalib, 2019).
Learn about culture: It is very important to have the relevant knowledge about the culture
when having a business deal with other cultural people. In case of Fred he made a mistake which
also affects his business deal, it is important for him to know about the Portugal business ethics
as what they like and what things makes them offended. Thus all these understanding would help
Fred. As for the Portuguese people punctuality do not matter in their business and also in social
context, however they expect foreigners to be more punctual. Therefore, it has led the
complicated situation when he lacks in punctuality and comes around 40 minutes late on
meeting. As in Connecticut English is mainly spoken by the people and in Portugal language is
Portuguese which the people speaks. Therefore, Fred also need to know about their language and
to make sure his actions, facial expression does not offend the other party.
Intercultural theories
Intercultural that concerns with the communication between the different cultural background
people. It can be also understood as the communication about sharing the knowledge and
information at various levels of awareness among the people with different cultural aspects. As
per the social science approach theory it suggests that there should be more focus on observing
the behaviour of other party from distinct cultural background in order to define it and compare it
with other cultures. It also suggests that individual need to adjust their behaviour and
communication according to the situation (R’boul, 2020). Thus in regards with case of Fred he
should also need to adjust his behaviour and be on time while Portuguese people are not punctual
with their time but they expect their clients to be punctual. Based on interpretive approach it
aims to study culture from the view point of members of the culture rather than focusing on
information that is imposed by the researcher. Therefore, Fred also need to understand the
phenomena subjectively and to closely work with the cultural group in order to understand the
cultural values, thus it would help in understanding the behaviour of Portuguese people. It will
also make him understood about the different cultural aspect of Portugal, therefore he would not
be able to make any mistake, but lack of knowledge and understanding lead him to the situation
where the clients were displeased with his behaviour (Ou and Gu, 2020).

Advices and recommendations to Fred
It is important to have enough knowledge about cross cultural activities and to have good
sense of understanding intercultural communication. This concept has becoming the strategically
important in businesses because of rapid global expansion. For the Fred he also working as a
sales manager in boat building firm in Connecticut and for the business purpose he need to meet
with different country people for the betterment of his company’s business. For that it is
advisable to Fred to first develop understanding regarding Portugal culture as how business
meetings have been conducted and what business ethics usually people follows in Portugal
country (Pudikova and et.al 2019). It will make him understood about the cultural concept, not
only it limits one country as Fred’s business always demands to meet with certain client for that
it is important for him to have enough knowledge about the client and their cultural belief. All
will make him to efficiently carry out any business meeting. Fred also need to know the business
ethics and should behave in appropriate manner whatever the situation is but he made a mistake,
therefore he needs to learn about business ethics and to remain calm in the situations, it will be
better for his personal and professional growth.
CASE 2
Where did Sam go wrong?
Based on the case study it has been identified that Sam was having a good reputation of
being tough but fair minded person. he never felt hesitation to shout on employees when they do
something wrong or not according to his instruction (Bakhov and et.al 2021). When he was
working with Saudis, American and other employees he does not remain calm and started
reprimanded all employees. He believes that it would give message or lesson to others so that
they do not make the same mistakes. But instead it creates a negative environment at workplace,
as most probably American employees were used to his behaviour and also they have cultural
beliefs which do not make them offends. But in case of Saudi worker their cultural beliefs are
different thus Sam’s behaviour is not tolerable for them. Therefore, Sam has made mistake to
reprimand the workers in front of everyone which results in poor work and constant problems in
their work. his dictatorship leadership and impatient behaviour has led to create negative work
place environment where employees are seem as offended and it results in increasing several
issues for business.
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To make Sam understand the cross cultural problem
Sam really need to know about the cultural and other ethics that will help him to carry out
his work with more efficiency. Cross cultural is the biggest and becoming more important
concern for the businesses to interact with. It helps in incorporating with the good cultural values
which aims to accomplished the desired targets or objective. Before initiating working in Saudi
Arabia it will be beneficial if Sam has come across to country’s cultural aspects, it will let him
know about what behaviour is tolerable and intolerable as per the Saudi people. Thus all
knowledge and understanding would help him to easily incorporate with those Saudi workers
and helps in avoiding the miserable situations (Mitra and Lakra, 2019). As Saudi people follow
the Shari’ah or Islamic law where several things which is common in United states is prohibited
in Saudi Arabia. For an example regarding approaching to time Americans usually pissed off and
offended when they missed the deadlines but in case of Saudi Arabia there is no such concept as
they believe that time is fluid and it can be bent but man should not be in control. But Sam did
the mistake as he tries to control the workforce and often frustrated with them and started
shouting on workers in front of others. Therefore, his behaviour is not tolerable which means he
need to understand about to behave appropriately whenever working with people who belongs to
different culture.
He needs to know about the work ethics which is followed in Saudi Arabia and to work on
his communication and behaviour. He need to learn about the specific language which is
followed in Saudi Arabia and also to make sure about his body posture and facial expression
when interacting with Saudi workers.
Intercultural theories
On the basis of the dialectical approach of intercultural theory it stated that it is important
to analyse the intercultural communication factors in the six dichotomies form that are cultural vs
individual self vs circumstantial differences vs similarities constant vs variable, advantages vs
disadvantages (Cutler, 2018). This concept helps in understanding the culture and intercultural
communication in a different or complex manner, that assists in avoiding classifying anything in
either dichotomy by accepting greater ways and analysing the stress which needs to be
negotiated. Therefore, by having this in communication will help the Sam to avoid the
Dichotomies.

Critical theory of intercultural communication it views the reality as an subjective
manner where the concentration of over the importance of studying on the basis of
communication occurs. It concerns with the structures and power context which have impact
over the lives and experiences. This process is complicated and multifaceted which helps in
developing in depth understanding in intercultural communication. Hence for the same it would
be better if he known and familiar with such concept, it would help him to not created such
negative situation.
To advice and suggest Sam for developing knowledge about intercultural
It is advisable to Sam to practice patience and to do meditation and other exercise which
makes him calm and cool, thus it also helps him to make better decision even in critical
situations without getting offended. Sam also need to understand the business ethics and other
things, it is not tolerable for everyone to experience harsh behaviour of their employers, as for
the American employees they were familiar with their employer’s behaviour, but for the Saudi
workers it was difficult for them to understand his attitude (Poór and et.al 2018). Therefore, it is
suggested to Sam to have calmness and patience in his behaviour which will be beneficial for
him to carry out any task. He also need to understand the cultural beliefs and other things before
working in any region where the culture is different, hence knowledge about things assists in
having command over the behaviour which helps in making negotiation with the parties. It is
also recommended to him to know about the languages and other things like in America it is
normal to be informal in meetings while in Saudi Arabia it is not tolerable. As well as Saudi
Arabian workers do not believe in working when their boss is controllable. Thus it is important
for him to have prior knowledge about culture when working with other cultural background
people.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it has been concluded that intercultural concept is important to
understand it helps in avoiding any miserable situations which can turns into negative outcome.
Following have illustrated the detailed discussion over the cases which were related to
intercultural concept. It has discussed how absence of cross cultural knowledge has lead clients
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to face the miserable situations. Following have also included the information regarding
intercultural theories and also included the suggestions for the clients to understand the cross
culture concept and do not make same mistakes again. It lastly concluded with the discussion
over the ways in which to make client understand about such intercultural activities.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Bakhov, I. and et.al 2021. Enhancing cross-cultural competence of students under conditions of
limited social communication. Ad Alta: Journal of interdisciplinary research. (11 (1)).
pp.51-56.
Cutler, J., 2018. The cross-cultural communication trainer's manual: Volume Two: Activities for
Cross-Cultural Training. Routledge.
Eguchi, S. and Calafell, B. eds., 2019. Queer intercultural communication: The intersectional
politics of belonging in and across differences. Rowman & Littlefield.
Kecskes, I., 2018. How does intercultural communication differ from intracultural
communication?. In Intercultural communication in Asia: Education, language and
values (pp. 115-135). Springer, Cham.
Mitra, R.S. and Lakra, M.A., 2019. Importance of Standardization in Overcoming Cross-cultural
Communication Difficulties.
Nadeem, M.U., Mohammed, R. and Dalib, S., 2019. An association between international
students' attitude and intercultural communication competence. Paradigms. 13(1). pp.47-
51.
Ou, W.A. and Gu, M.M., 2020. Negotiating language use and norms in intercultural
communication: Multilingual university students’ scaling practices in translocal
space. Linguistics and Education. 57. p.100818.
Poór, J. and et.al 2018. central and eastern european experience of the X-culture project in
teaching international management and cross-cultural communication. Journal of
Intercultural Management. 10(1). pp.5-41.
Pudikova, G. and et.al 2019. Emerging technologies for developing cross-cultural
competency. International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning (iJET). 14(21).
pp.46-60.
R’boul, H., 2020. Re-imagining intercultural communication dynamics in TESOL:
Culture/interculturality. Journal for Multicultural Education. 14(2). pp.177-188.
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