MARO 15 - Intercultural Management in Business: A Literature Review

This report provides a literature review on intercultural management within a business context. It emphasizes the importance of managing employees from diverse cultural backgrounds for organizational success. The report explores the contrasting impacts of individualism and collectivism on work styles, drawing on Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions and the views of various authors. Individualism, characterized by self-reliance and individual goal emphasis, is contrasted with collectivism, which prioritizes teamwork and group objectives. The report discusses the potential benefits and drawbacks of both approaches, including efficiency, potential conflicts, and the importance of a healthy company culture. It concludes that effective intercultural management is essential for maximizing employee productivity and achieving business objectives, highlighting the need for organizations to foster a positive and supportive environment.

INTERCULTURAL
MANAGEMENT IN
BUSINESS MARO 15- 2

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Intercultural management within the business is very necessary to be managed. This is
because of the reason that the employees come from many different cultural backgrounds and to
manage these employees is very necessary as the employees are the ones who works for the
company and its success. Thus, it is the duty of the companies to take care of the employees who
are working within the business and for the success of the business (Cohen, Wu and Miller,
2016).
The present essay is in the form of literature review within which the views and thinking
of different authors will be highlighted ion the fact that how individualism and collectivism
impacts the way of working (Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions. 2017). Also, it will discuss about
the fact that how the culture impacts the working of the organizations.
MAIN BODY
In the views of Tang, Werner and Karwowski, (2016) the business works on a large scale
and the employees working with in the business comes from different places and cultures. Thus,
they all are different from one another in their thinking, way of working, perception, attitude and
many other things. Therefore, it is very necessary for the company to manage the people coming
from different cultures so that there are not any issues among them while they work together.
But in contrast to this Arpaci, Baloğlu and Kesici, (2018) argues that people coming from
different cultures and backgrounds brings in a healthy atmosphere for the company as all the
people are of different cultures and uses different practices and this increases the knowledge of
the other employees as well. This is so because of the reason that all the employees coming from
different backgrounds work together and interacts with one another and this increases their
knowledge and they learns different ways of doing the work.
As per the thoughts of McIntyre-Mills, Romm and Corcoran-Nantes, eds., (2017)
individualism is the practice of working alone and believing in the person itself and being self-
reliant. Individualism is a concept which lays more emphasis on working individually that is
with the personal beliefs of the person itself. Here the person does feel good taking guidance and
suggestions from others rather individualist believes in himself and works according to his
thinking and requirements only. On the other hand, Santos, Varnum and Grossmann, (2017)
criticizes that the individualism type of working only stresses upon accomplishing the individual
goals of the person only and not focuses on the achievement of the group goal or the goals and

objective of the business. Here the individual is only focused on the rewards and benefits which
he will achieve if the work is done with proficiency and effectiveness.
On the flip side Strohmeier, Yanagida and Toda, (2016) articulates that collectivism is a
concept wherein the employees of the company do not work individually rather they work as a
team or a group. Here the main focus of every person is to accomplish the work of the company
as a whole and not to think for the personal or individual goals. But in contrast to this Kim,
Sherman and Updegraff, (2016) argues that when too many people work together many a times
there can be situations when two or more of the employees gets in situation of arguments. This is
mainly because of the reason that the individuals come from different cultural backgrounds and
are different in their perception and thinking. Therefore, there are some situations in which the
thoughts of different employee may clash and differences may come in between them and this
impacts the overall working of the company.
According to the thinking of Jiang, Garris and Aldamer, (2018) the individualist working
helps the person in working with full efficiency this is because of the reason that here the person
does not have to listen to the instruction of any of the other person and work in accordance to
their thinking and way of working only and independently. Also, this concept helps in
accomplishing the work on time. This is because of the reason that here the individual work
alone and does not have to consult to any other person before doing any work. Therefore, this
saves the time of the person which would have been consumed if they had to consult with the
other person.
But on the flip side, Frank, Enkawa and Schvaneveldt, (2015) criticizes that this
individual working impacts on the efficiency of the person. This is because of the reason that
here if the individual faces any of the problem or difficulty than he cannot consult to anybody as
they work individually. Also, doing work all alone may isolate the person as they cannot interact
with any other person and may feel lonely at time of working alone. Also, if there is any problem
in the work then the individual is solely responsible for that problem and is accountable for any
of the repercussion or the consequences.
In contrast to this Saad, Cleveland and Ho, (2015) articulates that working collectively is
more beneficial and impacts the working in a good way. The underlying reason behind this fact
is that in a team working all the employees work together to achieve only one goal or objective
that is the organizational goal. Here the employees do not pay attention to their personal goals.

This is because of the reason that if organizational or group goals will achieved then
automatically the personal goals of the individual working will also be accomplished. Also,
another positive impact of the collective working is that as many people works together therefore
this increases the efficiency of the work as so many different ideas are being provided by the
different team members.
Arevalo, So and McNaughton-Cassill, (2016) argues that collective working can also
have some problems like if too many people work together then there may be situation at time
when there may be argument because of differences in the thought and cultures of different
people coming from different cultural backgrounds. Also, there can be some situation arising
where there may be some ego clashes between the employees as they work in team where every
employee provides different suggestion and if some suggestions of some employees are rejected
then they might feel demotivated.
Also, Zarzycka, Tychmanowicz and Goździewicz-Rostankowska, (2016) states that
individual working is better because of the reason that there is absolute freedom of everything
whether what way does the person chooses to work, how they work, in what time frame do they
complete the work, the decision relating to the work and related things. But it is argued by
Bullough, Renko and Abdelzaher, (2017) that collectivism is better and has good impact on the
business and its working. This is because of the reason that here teams working is promoted and
this covers all the weaknesses of the people working in the team. This is because of the reason
that if any employee has some problem then the other team member covers up for the other team
member who is not able to work in proper way.
Price-Robertson, Obradovic and Morgan, (2017) proposes that with this individual and
collective working the companies must also pay attention to the culture prevalent in the
company. This is because of the reason that if the culture of the company will not be good then
both the individualism and collectivism both will have the negative impact in the business
working and its performance. Thus, it is very essential for the companies to manage and promote
a healthy and safe environment within the business. This is so because of the reason that if the
environment will be good and soothing then the employees will work comfortably and this will
increase their efficiency and productivity of their work irrespective of the fact that whether they
are individual worker or collective worker.

CONCLUSION
With the completion of the essay it can be inferred and concluded that managing the
culture is very necessary within the business. This is because of the reason that if the culture will
not be good then the employees will not work with their maximum efficiency and effectiveness.
Therefore, it is necessary for different companies to maintain good and healthy and comfortable
environment so that employees provide with maximum output and accomplishes the objectives
of the business. The present essay discussed the individualism working and its impact in the
person working and also the collective working and the impact of that on the employees and the
overall business growth and development. Also, in the end, the essay outlined the impact if
maintaining culture within the company and its productivity and profitability.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Arevalo, I., So, D. and McNaughton-Cassill, M., 2016. The role of collectivism among Latino
American college students. Journal of Latinos and Education. 15(1). pp.3-11.
Arpaci, I., Baloğlu, M. and Kesici, Ş., 2018. The relationship among individual differences in
individualism-collectivism, extraversion, and self-presentation. Personality and
Individual Differences. 121. pp.89-92.
Bullough, A., Renko, M. and Abdelzaher, D., 2017. Women’s business ownership: Operating
within the context of institutional and in-group collectivism. Journal of
Management. 43(7). pp.2037-2064.
Cohen, A.B., Wu, M.S. and Miller, J., 2016. Religion and culture: Individualism and
collectivism in the East and West. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology. 47(9). pp.1236-
1249.
Frank, B., Enkawa, T. and Schvaneveldt, S.J., 2015. The role of individualism vs. collectivism in
the formation of repurchase intent: A cross-industry comparison of the effects of cultural
and personal values. Journal of Economic Psychology. 51. pp.261-278.
Jiang, G., Garris, C.P. and Aldamer, S., 2018. Individualism behind collectivism: A reflection
from Saudi volunteers. VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit
Organizations. 29(1). pp.144-159.
Kim, H.S., Sherman, D.K. and Updegraff, J.A., 2016. Fear of Ebola: The influence of
collectivism on xenophobic threat responses. Psychological Science. 27(7). pp.935-944.
McIntyre-Mills, J., Romm, N. and Corcoran-Nantes, Y. eds., 2017. Balancing individualism and
collectivism: Social and environmental justice. Springer.
Price-Robertson, R., Obradovic, A. and Morgan, B., 2017. Relational recovery: beyond
individualism in the recovery approach. Advances in Mental Health. 15(2). pp.108-120.
Saad, G., Cleveland, M. and Ho, L., 2015. Individualism–collectivism and the quantity versus
quality dimensions of individual and group creative performance. Journal of business
research. 68(3). pp.578-586.
Santos, H.C., Varnum, M.E. and Grossmann, I., 2017. Global increases in
individualism. Psychological science. 28(9). pp.1228-1239.
Strohmeier, D., Yanagida, T. and Toda, Y., 2016. Individualism/collectivism as predictors of
relational and physical victimization in Japan and Austria. Reducing bullying and
cyberbullying in schools-Eastern and western perspectives, pp.259-279.
Tang, M., Werner, C. and Karwowski, M., 2016. Differences in creative mindset between
Germany and Poland: The mediating effect of individualism and collectivism. Thinking
Skills and Creativity. 21. pp.31-40.
Zarzycka, B., Tychmanowicz, A. and Goździewicz-Rostankowska, A., 2016. The interplay
between religiosity and horizontal and vertical individualism-collectivism among Polish
Catholic students. Polish Psychological Bulletin. 47(3). pp.383-393.
Online
Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions. 2017. [Online]. Available through: < https://www.business-to-
you.com/hofstedes-cultural-dimensions/>