University Cross-Cultural Management Report: IBS220, Semester 2

This report, prepared for the IBS220 course, examines the influence of cultural facets and levels on cross-cultural management within the international business environment. It highlights the challenges faced by international companies due to cultural differences at national, regional, organizational, team, and individual levels. The report references research by Kunasegaran et al. (2016) and Hassan (2015) to illustrate how cultural conflicts can affect workforce adaptation, team dynamics, and organizational structures, particularly in scenarios where companies operate globally and employees experience relocation. The report emphasizes the need for organizations to understand and adapt to these cultural nuances to foster growth and stability. The student draws from the provided articles to explain the complexities of managing diverse cultural contexts and offers a concise overview of the key challenges involved.

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

1CROSS-CULTURAL MANAGEMENT
Question 1: Explain how the facets and levels of culture could impact on cross-cultural
management in the International business environment?
According to Kunasegaran et al. (2016), international businesses face several
problems due to the different levels and facets of culture. The levels of culture that affects an
international business are, national, regional, organizational, team and individual. The nature
of their business is such that it implores them to go beyond the national boundaries. Most of
the international companies have centers all over the world. Their workforce, in many cases,
travel across those places. The individuals that work in these kinds of job often feel out of
place in new environment. It has also been observed that people returning to their home
country after serving long in another place face much greater difficulty in adapting. In spite
of being born into the culture they feel that they do not belong. The teams are likely to take
much greater time to adapt them in a new environment. The organizational cultural conflict
with the place that they work has much greater impact. For example, people in Japan believe
in maintaining the senior/junior relationship whereas, in America this hierarchy is not
followed much. The regional and national cultural conflict may arise due to different cultures
living in close proximity which will create challenges for the organization (Hassan 2015).
This conflict will create cultural and political unrest that is detrimental to the organization’s
growth. The workers might resign for their safety. The organizations need time as well as a
proper framework so that the people as well as the organization can adapt themselves in a
new environment.

2CROSS-CULTURAL MANAGEMENT
References
Hassan, H., 2015. Social semiotics: Realizing destination image by means of cultural
representations. International Journal of Social Science and Humanity, 5(1), p.149.
Kunasegaran, M., Ismail, M., Rasdi, R.M. and Ismail, I.A., 2016. Intercultural and Workplace
Adaptation: A Case Study of Malaysian Professional Returnees. Procedia-Social and
Behavioral Sciences, 219, pp.448-454.