QAB020N504A Cross Cultural Management: Podcast & Reflective Report

This document presents a cross-cultural management project centered on a case study involving Brett Jones, a manager in Tanzania, and the challenges he faces navigating cultural differences while working for Hydro Generation (HG). The project comprises two main components: a podcast and a reflective report. The podcast and its script delve into issues such as communication, negotiation, motivation, HRM, ethics, and CSR, highlighting the conflicts arising from Jones's adaptation to Tanzanian customs versus HG's corporate culture. The reflective report likely analyzes these issues in greater depth, providing a critical evaluation of Jones's actions, the impact on the project, and the broader implications for HG's operations. The case study explores the complexities of cross-cultural management, emphasizing the need to balance corporate values with local customs to achieve successful outcomes in international business ventures. The document examines specific instances of cultural clashes, such as the negotiation with local villagers, the use of nepotism, and the ethical considerations of Jones's decisions, providing a comprehensive analysis of the challenges and opportunities inherent in cross-cultural business environments.

Cross Cultural
Management

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
1. Podcast & Script......................................................................................................................3
2. Reflective Report....................................................................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
In the simplest terms culture is defined as a collective program where several minds are
distinguished under one category. This particular categorization of individual includes into a
whole Nation where an ethical group, a family, any other unit or an organization is based.
Cultural differentiation is a very common as well as the most compared terms while setting up
businesses in different nations. The concept of cross culture needs to be perfectly analyzed and
should be compared in five dimensions which is actually the distance, uncertainty avoidance,
individualism coma long-term orientations and masculinity. So basically address about managing
people and several things which are deeply involved in various cultures and their background
this Management studies and teachers how to perfectly handle conflicts in such conditions with
the very effective management. The aim of the study is usually to create a proper structuration
and steps to adopt different culture as well as to take up resources and potential value from them.
This file comprises of several of such issue and a comparison of cross cultural between US and
Tanzania in South Africa.
1. Podcast & Script
Issue 1- Communication
This issue is about changing the lifestyle of Jones according to the local people of Africa.
This made Steinberg worried about Jones not being within the organisational capacity and
values. Jones was earning this much amount that he could have afforded a good place to live at
with all comfort and leisure. However, he chose to who live in the neighbourhood of Tanzania
which is not that upscale. Also, hi stop going to the gatherings of all the managers who have
come from USA. The USA Expatriates conduct meetings and gatherings for all the people who
have come to Tanzania so that they can be with them in an alien neighbourhood.
Communication is the way of interacting with the people living in a particular location. It
assists in sharing of ideas and views which can be used for achieving better results. It is the best
way to get to know about the cultures and lifestyles of Tanzanian people. It is useful in making
connection with the locals as it can help Jones to convince the local people to stay out of the
construction and help in carrying the work without much hurdle (Caligiuri, P. and et. al., 2019).
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Meeting with the local people, getting them to no each other etc. To make a collaborative
effort in in building something which can help the people of Tanzania. Furthermore, it is the best
way to get the local people involved in the construction of dam by providing them the jobs. They
can earn income as well as contribute to the establishment of the dam.
Jones head quickly learn to handle the business in the way which can speed up things.
But in order to complete all the task within the time was difficult for HG as Jones had to pay for
each and everything which can help it complete the construction of dam as soon as possible
(Salin, and et. al.,2019).
Issue 2- Negotiation
An issue came in front of the Tanzanian people and HG in which 700 villagers went
against the construction of the dam. As the Mecca river considered sacred because of its history
of being pure and place of many spirits according to the local people. Their sentiments and
emotions were connected to this place for which they were feeling bad about. This raised tension
among various people throughout the world who came forward to support the contention made
by Tanzanian people about the river.
Negotiation is a strategic decision which involves resolving issues which can be accepted
by the parties involved in the issue. There may be conflicts or issues created between two parties
in order to avoid argument and reach a feasible solution. It comprises the terms and conditions
decided by both the parties. It is an amicable way for obtaining the answers for the problems by
providing time to each issue.
In order to negotiate with the Tanzanian localities, Jones appointed a specialist having the
knowledge of African religions and culture together with history. So in order to resume the
construction, a fee of $7,500 was paid to the people in the form of sacrificing the sheep, two
cows, fours goats and slew of chickens. It was not according to the organisational values and
policies. But African culture approved of this way to accept the negotiation as they found this is
the only way to appeased the gods and spirit. However, Tanzanian people felt that gods have not
been appeased properly.
Therefore, it was an absolute contradiction of the organisation policies and practices
which do not go well with the orthodox mentality of the African people. Hence, it is a major
issue to handle the people in a co-ordinated manner in order to carry the work efficiently.
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Issue 3- Motivation
This case study includes an issue which is about Jones appointing local people for
carrying out the activities associated with construction of Dam. He started hiring the individuals
living in that country, especially the candidates from that particular area. This practice was meant
to provide employment who have better understanding of the locations where the construction
was being carried. Furthermore, he also opted for nepotism according to which an individual was
also appointed as referred by the already hired personality.
Apart from this, bribe was also given to some of the people for fast completion of the
activities related to the construction of the Dam. This was an unethical task and function but
legal and ethical according to the customs of the African culture (Bouranta and et. al.,2019).
Motivation refers to fulfilment of desires and wants of the people in a society. It is for
creating positive results so that desired outcomes can be achieved. It also assist in providing
higher satisfaction and recognition. An underlying element which is contributed to this is the
teamwork which is beneficial for executing the tasks and activities without any hurdles.
In this issue, the jobs offered by the Jones to individuals living in the area has helped
Jones getting into the society for completion of the project. Furthermore, bribe was also given
which is a major issue and does not according to the values of the HG headquarters in USA. This
is what made the vice president to think that it can tarnish the image of HG around the world.
There was a great problem which affected the working policies of the company but was
according to the customs of Africa. However, the nepotism was wrong but it motivated the
people to give their contribution and help with the proceedings of the work.
Issue 4- HRM
There has been noticed that Jones participated in tribal rituals with the local people to get
involved with them in all the activities which are carried in their customs. This is to know them
well and their culture in a close way.
With use of leadership skills, Jones did great by convincing the locals living in the village
as they had belief that this construction is going to damage their environment and hamper the life
they are living. Furthermore, this has helped in accelerating all the work such as receiving
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materials from ports and delivering them to location of dam, clearance in the obstacles caused by
formalities etc.
Since, it involves cross culture of Africa and America, there is high chance that conflicts
can arise. It can be reduced by combining nepotism and favouritism and using these for the
benefit of HG. Many nations consider nepotism as an unethical or unfair practice but from the
perspective of African social structure as well as cultural values in the organisation provides that
nepotism is a good thing. It helps in keeping the employees Royal towards their employees and
the job which ultimately enhance job satisfaction at the workplace. It is also useful in dividing
the power so that each employee can have sufficient amount of authority for running the
business.
Jones went against the organisational culture for the management of people. However,
there is no hard and fast rules for the lifestyle of individuals working in the organisation but it
was up to them to be within the limits.
The cost work get increased with the time and the demand of the local people also
increasing which caused a problem with the companies name in the market. It was the matter of
the Goodwill which it has created in USA (Feldman, 2019).
Issue 5- Ethics
The issue has been identified in this case is about nepotism. In this, Jones has made some
hiring based on the concept of nepotism. There were few employees who were working at higher
level in this project and Jones appointed few of the individuals who were relatives of the higher
authorities. It is a common practice in Africa in order to make things easier for foreign
companies as well as locals. Unemployment in the country present in high rate therefore, the
locals prefer to forget their family members into the same job as they are.
Nepotism is a concept which may create negativity among other employees who are
working really hard to achieve goals and objectives. Jones was too comfortable in the African
culture which made him appoint individuals and relatives referred by them in the same job in
order to accelerate the completion of whole project. It is a part of national culture which
comprises of customs and traditions made by the local people living in that particular area or
country. But it is clearly unethical in the context of an organisation (Jackson and Primecz, 2019).
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Ethics is the study of right and wrong of a particular action. A person should be aware
about the consequences of the decision. Difference between rightness and wrongness of the
outcome can help people choose that alternative which can provide greater benefit to the society
and is correct morally. In the first instance, it can be treated as a negative or an healthy element
within the corporate world. But, ultimately the entities operating in African environment
considered nepotism as a base for having stability in the activities. It helps in carrying the
operation without any difficulties or hurdles.
Thus, in order to work in Africa, the practice of nepotism followed by Jones is
appropriate according to the organisational culture of the above-mentioned country. However,
USA does not follow any such concept or practice in the entities operating in that country.
Issue 6- CSR
There were some conflicts among the individuals living in Tanzania who were against the
construction of the dam. It was a major issue which affected the activity and delayed the process.
There has been number of other issues such as their environment in the local area was affected
which ultimately impacted the daily routine activities.
It is related to the ethics and CSR practice of an organisation. (Koch, and et. al., 2019).
CSR is a part of ethics which put a compulsion on the entities earning huge profit to contribute a
certain percentage for the benefit of the society. Corporate social responsibility helps in
improving the conditions of a society by contributing in infrastructure, education, etc. This is a
way by which organisation written the favour of operating in the society and using the resources
available to them (Zhu and et. al., 2019).
In order to overcome this Jones promised to build schools and education institution and
other facilities in order to return their favour. This costed HG a hefty amount which increased the
budget above the expected and provided limit. This made the vice president upset as HG has
limited funds which was going beyond the permissible limit. This also increased the overall
expenses due to which other operations at the headquarter and other branches of the company
were affected. Furthermore, this is a major issue which also made HG cut down other costs and
expenses to finance this project.
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Jones was supposed to work within the budget limit so provided by the company but he
went all the way to fulfil every demands of the people and with the time there demands
increased. This is absolutely wrong from the angle of organisation.
CONCLUSION
From the report mentioned above one can perfectly analyze all the difference of cross
culture between Tanzania and US. The differences which were created or were faced by the
organization due to the variance and difference in the culture, believes and all other social factors
which bifurcated and became a task for setting up proper organization and working in such place.
the report precisely focus on the fact that to accept or to provide some new change in a different
culture one has to accept them before trying to change things as per personal requirement. One
can actually realize the importance of understanding the roots of any organizational or Nation to
discover it more properly.
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REFERENCES
Books & Journals:
Jackson, T. and Primecz, H., 2019. Cross-cultural management studies and the Englishization of
scholarly communication: A paradox.
Bouranta, N and et. al.,2019. The key factors of total quality management in the service sector: a
cross-cultural study. Benchmarking: An International Journal. 26(3). pp.893-921.
Caligiuri, P., Mencin, A., Jayne, B. and Traylor, A., 2019. Developing cross-cultural
competencies through international corporate volunteerism. Journal of World Business. 54(1).
pp.14-23.
Salin, D., and et. al.,2019. Workplace bullying across the globe: A cross-cultural
comparison. Personnel Review. 48(1). pp.204-219.
Zhu, W and et. al., 2019. Ethical leadership with both “moral person” and “moral manager”
aspects: Scale development and cross-cultural validation. Journal of Business Ethics. 158(2).
pp.547-565.
Feldman, S., 2019. CROSS-CULTURAL LEADERSHIP AND ORGANIZATIONAL
CULTURE: A SOUTH AFRICAN PERSPECTIVE. International Journal of Social Sciences
Management and Entrepreneurship (IJSSME). 3(2).
Koch, A.D., Dlouhy, K., Koch-Bayram, I. and Biemann, T., 2019, July. Close but Overlooked:
The Role of Geographical Distance in Cross-Cultural Leadership Research. In Academy of
Management Proceedings (Vol. 2019, No. 1, p. 12849). Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510: Academy
of Management.
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