Analyzing Cross-Cultural Differences in Management: MGMT 16

This essay delves into the complexities of cross-cultural management within multinational corporations, focusing on ethnic diversity and its implications. It begins by defining culture and its relevance to organizational management, exploring both typological and phenomenological approaches. The essay then examines the importance of communication across cultures, highlighting both verbal and non-verbal aspects, and emphasizing the need for effective intercultural communication. Key theoretical approaches, including Hofstede's five cultural dimensions and Trompenaars' seven cultural dimensions, are thoroughly analyzed. The essay then applies these theories to analyze problems and issues that arise in organizations due to cultural diversity, emphasizing the importance of managing a cross-cultural workforce. The essay concludes by discussing the challenges of cultural adaptation and the significance of conflict resolution in international business operations.

Running head: MANAGEMENT
Cross Cultural Management
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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Introduction:
The essay focuses on the concepts of cross cultural difference and ethnic diversity and
analyzes how these concepts are effectively used in the working environment of Multinational
Corporation. The expansion of the corporations along with the increase in the business activities
has moved their focus not only on the geographic region but across the world. This has led to the
emergence of the multinational corporations or the global firms. Emergence of new political
ideologies has enabled the multinational corporation to find a solid footing across the world.
Presence of cross cultural team helps in delivering advanced thinking and varied experience
along with establishing competitive position amongst the organizations. Diversity could create
certain level of interference in completing a project but it is up to manager who needs to be better
equipped for facing the challenges and preventing any kind of misunderstanding. The essay will
provide an insight into the various theories that relates to the cross-cultural management. It will
also provide motivation training for the employees dealing with related issues. Further, the essay
will try to portray how international project management succeeds through mutual respect, cross
cultural communication and culturally aware leadership.
Discussion:
Concept of Culture and Relevance of its Approaches to Organizational Management
According to Thomas and Peterson (2016), culture represents the underlying
assumptions, beliefs, values and the means of interactions which contributes towards
psychological and social environment. Organizational culture basically includes the experiences,
expectations, values and philosophy that guides the behavior of members and is often expressed
in the inner workings, self image and interactions with outside world and the future expectations.
Culture depends on the shared custom, beliefs, attitudes and the unwritten and the written rules

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that developed over time and is considered valid. Culture also takes into account the norms,
values, vision, symbols, systems, assumptions, language, habits and beliefs.
As far as the approaches of culture are concerned, there exist two key approaches for
studying the culture namely, the typological approach and the phenomenological approach. It
was Moore (2016) who developed a measurable and useful typology of culture where the culture
has been distinguished as innovative, bureaucratic and supportive. Other categorizations are
available based on domains of risk taking and feedback to the decentralization and centralization
of power. In addition to conceptualization of culture, there has been categorization based on the
different studies of cultural dimension analyzed from different perspectives which included
technological, socio psychological and socio structural aspects. Career satisfaction and success
determines the function most suitable for the personal orientation of managers within
organizational culture and this culture is often measured in terms of the multidimensional
practices and values embraced by an organizations.
According to Bãlan and Vreja (2013), Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner have found
that every individual has developed means of organizing their experience for delivering
something meaningful which represented the phenomenal approach. Here individuals perceive
the phenomena surrounding them. On the other hand, the phenomenological approach contrasted
the traditional studies based on verifiable and physical characteristics of the organization thereby
putting across a common definition. Therefore, researchers of organizational culture look out for
consistent means by which the cultures influence the perceptions of people’s experience.
According to Awadh and Alyahya (2013), organizational culture has been differently
perceived by most enterprises. There are some businesses which have realized the significance of

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culture and have made proportionate spending for either improving or sustaining the positive
culture. Although difficult to portray statistically it has been found that employees belonging to
organizations with stronger culture experiences possesses sense of engagement, commitment and
belonging towards the organization which is critical for the success.
Communication across Cultures
According to Bowe, Martin and Manns (2014) communication and culture is an
inseparable entity since the aspects of culture can be communicated through language. He further
conceptualized the aspect of intercultural communication as a means for individuals belonging
from varied cultural orientation to agree on common terms. Martin and Nakayama (2015)
stressed on the significance of the intercultural communication for delivering positive outcome
of diversity within workplace. It is to be noted that people of varied cultures are believed to
possess various perceptions and assumptions on the ways they look at things and handle others
that often leaves room for misunderstandings and conflicts (Liu, Volcic and Gallois 2014). This
is due to the lesser urge of the employees to socialize with other cultures that have hindered their
effective communication. Therefore, it is vital for the managers to recognize essence of effective
communication with the people belonging to the diverse cultures that would contribute towards
the enhancement of cross cultural communication. On the other hand, Cloutier et al. (2015) put
forward an argument where intercultural communication needed coupling with the international
communication which implied communication between the nations and the government held
similar level of importance as communication with the individuals. Hence, combination of
intercultural communication with the international business communication has been a critical
ingredient for individuals to not only compete but also gain excellence on a global scale.

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The different types of communication across cultures is mostly non-verbal and is divided
into categories like head movements, facial expressions, arm and hand gestures, touch and eye
contact. Head movement is usually a gesture of saying ‘yes’ in Bulgaria and Middle East. Facial
expressions are mostly expressed through smile which is one of the common facial expressions
for different cultures. Americans are found to freely smile to the strangers while in Russia it is
considered as impolite and strange. Arm and hand gestures are means of saying ‘yes’ non
verbally with the help of a thumbs up sign. Touch in the form of handshakes is acceptable across
cultures. Eye contact is another means of non verbal communication where the differences seem
striking. For instance, in Latin America lack of eye contact is considered an offence. Hence, the
types of communication undertaken by culturally diverse workplace also determine its
effectiveness.
Main Theoretical Approaches of Cross Cultural Management
The theoretical approaches of cross-cultural management are defined by Hofstede’s five
cultural dimensions and Trompenaars’s seven cultural dimensions. According to Dartey-Baah
(2013), Hofstede identified the cross cultural dimensions by assigning mathematical scores
against the belief of a particular country against each dimensions. The cultural dimensions of
Hoftstede are mentioned in the following paragraphs.
Power Distance represents the extent to which less powerful members of organizations
expect and accept that power remains unequally distributed. Cultures which endorse lower power
distance expect as well as accept a more democratic or consultative power relations.
Individualism versus Collectivism is represented by the degree to which the individuals’
remains integrated into the groups. Societies that remain individualistic are more stressed

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towards the achievement of individual and personal rights. In such cases people stands for
themselves and makes a choice for own affiliations. On the other hand in the collectivist society,
people seem to be more loyal to a group they belong and the group is found to guard their
interest.
Uncertainty Avoidance Index refers to the tolerance of the society towards ambiguity
and uncertainty. People belonging to societies with a higher level of uncertainty avoidance tend
to be highly emotional while cultures with a lower level of uncertainty avoidance are seen to be
increasingly comfortable in changeable and unstructured situations.
Masculinity versus Femininity portrays distribution of the emotional roles between
genders. The values of the masculine culture include assertiveness, ambition and power,
competitiveness, power and ambition. Feminine cultures on the other hand are more inclined
towards the quality and relationships of life. Gender differences are increasingly dramatic in the
masculine cultures while feminine cultures are more modest and caring.
Long term versus short term orientation represents the time horizon of the society.
Societies have long term orientation that highlights pragmatic values including saving,
persistence and the capacity for the adaptation. On the other hand, societies that are short term
orientation have values promoted towards the past as well as present.
Indulgence versus Restraint refers to the level in which the members of the society tries
and controls their impulses and desires. Indulgent societies possesses tendencies in freely
allowing gratification of the natural and the basic human desires that mostly relates to having
fun and enjoying life. Restrained societies possess a conviction where gratification is curbed and
mostly regulated by the stricter norms.

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According to Mittal (2015), Trompenaar however puts across seven dimensions of cross
cultural management which are described in the following paragraphs.
Universalism versus Particularism refers to two different cultural ideas where the
Universalist culture can be applied anywhere and there is always a definition that distinguishes
the right and the wrong. On the other hand in particularistic culture members holds the belief that
it is the circumstances that determines how the ideas can be applied in reality.
Individualism versus Communitarianism refers to a cross cultural dimension where an
individualistic culture is mostly linked to ideas of western world while the communitarian
culture is mostly linked to the non western countries.
Neutral versus Emotional refers to the cross cultural dimension where the neutral culture
remains controlled whereas the emotional culture is expressed more spontaneously and openly.
When a person belonging to neutral culture does business with the people from emotional culture
then there are higher chances of getting deterred by the behavior of other person.
Specific versus Diffuse refers to the dimension where specific culture comprised of
individuals having larger space for public which they are able to easily share with the associates
and colleagues. On the other hand, in diffuse culture the private and the public space remains
intertwined and hence people belonging to diffuse culture possess a tendency to protect the
private space and add higher value to formality.
Achievement versus Ascription represents a cross cultural dimension where achievement
oriented culture determines the worth of a person based on the performance and the ways in
which they perform the task. On the other hand, in ascribed culture, status of the person is

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determined based on the person under question whose position is derived from gender, age,
origin, position or career.
Sequential versus Synchronous time puts across the notion that time is understood and
measured in different manner. Concrete time measurement falls under the sequential time while
synchronous time represents an abstract that focuses on the ability to work on the various
projects at a particular time. It is not concerned with the time zones.
Internal versus the outer direction represents cultural dimension that focuses on how the
people experiences the environment. People’s experience with the environment varies across
cultures. People belonging to the western culture are out directed whereas the non western
culture believes in harmonious living with the environment.
Applying Theory of Cross-cultural Management in Analyzing Problems and Issues of
Organization in Context of Cultural Diversity
Bird and Mendenhall (2016) defined the cross cultural management as the behavior of the
people across the world that reflected how the individuals or the employees from different
cultures worked within organization thereby extending their service to clients. There lies a
pressing concern for managing the employees belonging to varied cultural orientation since it is a
crucial ingredient for determining the achievement of organizational success. Accordingly,
managing cross-cultural workforce is vital and hence companies across globe should consider it
since it is known fact that the cultural conflicts mostly rise due to failure of companies in
addressing the various issues contributing to the conflict. Besides, cooperation between countries

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has been crucial particularly for establishment of conflict resolution in areas where conflict
arises.
According to Eisenberg et al. (2013), the global managers have faced varied issues in
managing the global workforce. This is because employees across the borders possess a culture
that affects the performance and the business operation. Some of the barriers of culture and
issues that hinders the cultural adaptation have been mentioned in the following paragraphs.
In explaining the issues of Parochialism, Okoro (2013) said that the international
business operation have wider responsibilities, scope and social system compared to domestic
operations. The employees in most cases have been found to be narrow minded since they fail in
realizing the differences that exist between both the cultures and hence continue to behave in the
same manner without remaining unaffected by internationalization. Individualism is an issue
where the workers remains more concerned on satisfying their welfare and needs over the
organizational welfare (Garcia-Gavilanes, Quercia and Jaimes 2013). In fact, they tend to
become increasingly individualistic than collective. Attaining teamwork becomes difficult with
this issue since the employees do not seek to be team builder. Global managers are also faced
with the issue of Ethnocentrism where the employees have the tendency of applying their
culture to international workplace and environment (Reichard, Dollwet and Louw-Potgieter,
2014). They also consider their culture, conditions and work environment to be in a better
position in comparison to the new environment. They also face the issue of cultural distance
which refers to the extent to which the employees are able to adapt in moving from the homeland
to a different country. This issue is found to have an impact on the responses and feedback of the
employees within the business. Last but not the least, the global manager also need to deal with
the issue of culture shock that is described as the condition experienced by the employees where

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they face the difficulty of adapting to the new culture due the disorientations and the insecurities
they face from different culture (Rajasekar and Renand 2013). Employees in most cases does not
know the ways of responding or reacting to such conditions that results in loosing self
confidence and making them emotionally upset. These issues needs to be dealt with and resolved
in order to ensure effectiveness in work ambience.
Theory of cross-cultural management can be applied in dealing with issues of cross
cultural differences across Multinational Enterprise by drawing in example of the case study of
IBM (ibm.com 2019). In this context, it can be said that one of the famous researcher Geert
Hofstede undertook a survey of 160,000 managers of IBM across close to forty countries and
found a key difference between the attitudes and behaviors of employees and managers across
the borders. This has been attributed to the nationalized culture that governed dissimilarity in the
work attitudes and behaviors against the other variables that includes organizational position,
age, gender and profession. This further forced him to categorize the differences into four basic
cultural dimensions.
Individualism/ Collectivism represent the dimension where the organization perceived
culture by providing more emphasis on the individuals over any group. In other words, this
focuses on the idea where individual culture is considered more important compared to the
organizational culture. The researcher also drew the focus towards the dimension of power
distance thereby emphasizing on the unequal allocation of the organizational power which led to
the conclusion that there exist no such concept of equal power. While defining the dimension of
the uncertainty avoidance, Hofstede found conflicting viewpoints in handling uncertainty since
there are certain cultures that view culture as challenge while others do not. However, as far as

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the masculity or feminity is concerned the concept was given lesser attention by organizations
since there has been increased level of emphasis on assertiveness and achievement.
In analyzing the problems and issues of an organization in context of cultural diversity by
adopting the model of Hofstede Cultural Dimension it must be understood that Hofstede stressed
on the significant impacts of culture within workplace and their contribution on the management
plan without considering origin, nationality and race. Li and Lee (2015) stated that managers
should have the realization that culture represents the part of the business existence that takes
into account external environmental factors that directly or indirectly influence the business
operations. In fact it also impacts the way in which the managers performs their assigned task.
Flynn and Saladin (2016) put across that there can be a higher or lower power distance
depending on the leadership and the management style. Uncertainty avoidance on the other hand
is influenced through uneven distribution of power amongst companies and organizations that
lacks the required strength and power of influence. It has been found that organizations having
managers with a higher incidence towards uncertainty rejection are found to struggle on not only
adjusting but making necessary changes thereby resulting in uncertainty avoidance. This exists in
highly structured organization having autocratic leadership style along with a higher level of
power distance. According to Scotti (2016), studies conducted portrays that France scores 23 in
the dimension of uncertainty index while Hong Kong secured a score of 93 indicating that Hong
Kong has higher level of uncertainty occurrence and difficulty in resolving issues.
On the other hand, Smith et al. (2013) stated that the dimension of individualism
represented by multi-cultural settings or environment implied that organizations are independent
with their culture and does not require much integration. Maleki and de Jong (2014) stressed on
the fact that such a culture does not require opinion from the others. Such culture also

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encourages members and managers of the organization to undertake their own decisions without
much consultation which might give rise to problems with supervisors. Nevertheless, managers
should also pay attention to the dimension of masculinity for the effective working of an
organization. As put forward by Beugelsdijk, Maseland, and Van Hoorn (2015) masculine
culture is widely accepted in the countries of the Middle East where the men usually find a job
for supporting the family thereby leaving aside any compulsion for women to earn their living.
The picture is a little different in the Asian countries like Indonesia, Malaysia and Philippines
where women are empowered to earn a living. Thus, the Hofstede Model of cross-cultural
difference helps managers in resolving the cultural differences and determining the
organizational effectiveness.
Cross cultural Management as Solution to Handling Potential Conflicts Created by Ethnic
Differences
According to Zabel et al. (2017), ethical difference exists across cultures. The period
between 1980s and the 1990s is marked by realization of global economy. MNCs have
encountered higher level of ethical differences in comparison to other companies due to its
diverse workforce. The differences led to the initiation of potential conflict. The trend
highlighted the need for managing such potential conflict before it became a problem.
Cross – cultural management goes a long way in resolving the potential conflicts created
by the ethnic differences amongst employees. Another vital role of the cross cultural
management refers to the precautionary work in the multicultural corporations that evaded the
configuration of conflicts. The multinational corporations can encounter the cross cultural