International Management: Analyzing Lee's Company Case Study Issues

This assignment analyzes a case study involving cultural differences in an international company. The student uses Hofstede's five cultural dimensions to explain the challenges faced by an Australian employee, Lee, working in a Korean company. The analysis highlights discrepancies in power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, and long-term orientation between Australian and Korean workplace cultures. The assignment explores potential solutions for Lee to adapt while remaining at the company and suggests strategies for the Korean manager to effectively manage individualistic employees without losing the benefits of a talented workforce. It emphasizes the importance of adaptation, communication, and understanding cultural nuances in international management, offering practical insights for both employees and managers in similar cross-cultural scenarios. The student provides recommendations on how Lee can adjust his behavior and how the manager can foster a more inclusive and productive work environment.

Running head: INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT
International Management –Individual Report Case study
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

1INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT
Table of Contents
Question 1: Describe how Hofstede’s five cultural dimensions could be used to explain the
situation at Lee’s company.........................................................................................................2
Answer:..................................................................................................................................2
Question 2: Discuss what, if anything, Lee could do to remain at the company but continue to
work in a manner with which he felt comfortable. Explain your reasons..................................4
Answer:..................................................................................................................................4
Question 3: How can the Korean Manager deal with more individualistic employees without
losing the competitive advantage of the talented workforce?....................................................5
Answer:..................................................................................................................................5
References..................................................................................................................................7

2INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT
Question 1: Describe how Hofstede’s five cultural dimensions could be used to explain
the situation at Lee’s company.
Answer:
The cultural differences in very much evident in the Lee’s company. The cultural
differences are bound to exist as Hofstede has supported a varying nature of workplace
culture at different places across the globe (Obeidat et al. 2012). According to Hofstede, there
are huge differences in the cultures of Australian and Korean workplace. This has probably
created problem for Lee at his Korean Company from the very first day of his inception.
Figure 1: Hofstede’s Cultural Dimension of South Korea
(Source: Ting and Ying 2013)

3INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT
Figure 2: Hofstede’s Cultural Dimension of Australia
(Source: Wiewiora et al. 2013)
The Hofstede’s Cultural Dimension for both the countries Australia and Korea do
transparently reveal a huge difference, which is why Lee has his life difficult at his office in
Korea. According to Hofstede, power distance in Korea is comparatively bigger than it is in
Australia. This is why Lee has found himself loosely connected with the company’s leaders.
The manger of the company has enormous reasons with him to support his disconnection
with Lee. Surprisingly, Koreans are fewer individualists, which according to Hofstede mean
that they believe more in teamwork. However, something has prevented Lee’s colleagues for
being disconnected from him. It is surprising again, that Koreans are more feminine, which
means that companies would have high cares for its employees. However, Lee has been
treated differently that it should be. The uncertainty avoidance according to Hofstede is
higher in Korea than it is in Australia. This indicates that Koreans are straight to the matter.
Precisely, it means that management are very open and straight with their thoughts and

4INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT
desires. This is indeed evident in the case study, as the manager of the Lee’s company has
explained all the issues, which the manager has with Lee. This only had ended a long
uncertainty of two months for Lee. According to Hofstede, long-term orientation is a key
point that has detached the manager from Lee. Moreover, it has probably detached other
colleagues from Lee as well. Koreans respect such employees who eyes for long participation
with organisation by respecting the short-term values such as respecting the tradition &
culture at the workplace. According to Hofstede, Lee has disrespected his manager, as this is
evident in the case study where his manager explains Lee the reason for his detachment from
him. The manager has explained that leaving office before the supervisors is nothing but
disrespecting the supervisors. According to Hofstede, Australians have relatively high
indulgence, which means they have less control on their desire and willingness. This is
widely evident in the Lee’s character, as Lee cannot keep himself separated from his desire to
wear the Australia attire and designing the hair accordingly. This has eventually started to
cause problem for Lee from his very first day in his Korean Company (Dartey-Baah 2013).
Question 2: Discuss what, if anything, Lee could do to remain at the company but
continue to work in a manner with which he felt comfortable. Explain your reasons.
Answer:
Lee can stay at his company in Korea; however, it needs some sacrifices from Lee as
well. This might be very difficult but according to Hofstede, there does not look any better
option than to accept some considerations for change. This is indeed illogical for the
mentioned Korean Company to change their culture just for one employee. This is why it is
better that Lee considers a change for himself if he wishes to stay at this company (Giacalone
and Jurkiewicz 2015). The first change would be the removal of hair dying habit, which has
kept other employees detached from Lee from very first day of him in the office. It is

5INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT
practically easier to make hair black; however, it is indeed difficult to be separated from a
culture, which has remained in the blood for approximately 15 years. The second change
would be to wear formal attires at the workplace. Lee has been in Australia for approximately
15 years, which is why it is unpractical for Lee to keep himself away from casual wears. Lee
has already mentioned that he does not want to consider any change with his lifestyle;
however, the existing situation is demanding the unexpected from Lee. This is perhaps the
most difficult task for Lee to change his wearing style. However, it is indeed very much
required for Lee to be into the company. The third change would be to be in the office as
long as there are supervisors. Lee should never leave the office before his supervisors do as
his manager has already mentioned that this is according to him is disrespectful. However,
Lee has some different thoughts, which is evident in the case study. Lee on the other hand
wants to finish off the task within a very short span of time so that he could impress his
supervisors. Since, after finishing off the task Lee is not left with any task, he thinks it wiser
to leave the office. Nonetheless, Lee should be in the office even if he is done with his task.
This would help him win the attention of his supervisors, which Lee is presently not enjoying
(Alvesson and Sveningsson 2015).
This is indeed challenging for Lee according to the Hofstede’s Cultural Dimension, as
there are huge cultural differences in between the workplace of Australia and Korea
(Chhokar, Brodbeck and House 2013).
Question 3: How can the Korean Manager deal with more individualistic employees
without losing the competitive advantage of the talented workforce?
Answer:
Lee according to the case study and the Hofstede’s Cultural Dimension is more
individualist. This is because Lee has spent 15 years of his career in Australia. Nevertheless,

6INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT
Australians are highly individualist. They care more for their skill development. On contrary
to this, Koreans have high passion for teamwork. They love to work in collaboration. It is
indeed a challenge for the manager to overcome the individualist in him (Ogihara and Uchida
2014).
However, mangers in the Lee’s company can act smartly to take benefits of him. Lee
is highly skilled and has very high dedication to his work. The manager should encourage
Lee on his work. This would encourage an attachment with the manager, which is highly
missing ever since Lee’s tenure in the company. The manager should also motivate Lee for
sharing his skills with his other team members. It is indeed difficult as Lee is more
individualist. However, it can happen if the manager explains to Lee the importance of
participation in the recommended work. Managers can explain the importance of knowledge
sharing in the productivity of the company (Wang and Wang 2012). This might certainly
work and change the mind of Lee, which is very necessary for Lee to be in the company.
Additionally, managers should also adopt few changes in their mindset as well. They
should ignore the few cultural differences such as dressing attires and fashioning. This is
something, which Lee has maintained for 15 long years in Australia. Managers should also
encourage its other employees to be connected to Lee despite the differences, which Lee has
in its culture. Managers should arrange an introductory session where every employee would
be required to participate. In the session, every employee would get equal chance to interact
with Lee. It should be a free to talk like session. This would help remove the cultural related
issues, which the other employees have with Lee. Managers need to present their views as
well. This would communicate the feeling of equines among the employees (Kissi, Dainty
and Tuuli 2013).

7INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT
References
Alvesson, M. and Sveningsson, S., 2015. Changing organizational culture: Cultural change
work in progress. Routledge.
Chhokar, J.S., Brodbeck, F.C. and House, R.J. eds., 2013. Culture and leadership across the
world: The GLOBE book of in-depth studies of 25 societies. Routledge.
Dartey-Baah, K., 2013. The cultural approach to the management of the international human
resource: An analysis of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions. International Journal of Business
Administration, 4(2), p.39.
Giacalone, R.A. and Jurkiewicz, C.L., 2015. Handbook of workplace spirituality. ME Sharpe.
Kissi, J., Dainty, A. and Tuuli, M., 2013. Examining the role of transformational leadership
of portfolio managers in project performance. International Journal of project
management, 31(4), pp.485-497.
Obeidat, B., Shannak, R., Masa’deh, R.E.M.D.T. and Al-Jarrah, I., 2012. Toward better
understanding for Arabian culture: Implications based on Hofstede’s cultural
model. European Journal of Social Sciences, 28(4), pp.512-522.
Ogihara, Y. and Uchida, Y., 2014. Does individualism bring happiness? Negative effects of
individualism on interpersonal relationships and happiness. Frontiers in psychology, 5.
Ting, S.K.T. and Ying, C.Y., 2013. Culture dimensions comparison: A study of Malaysia and
South Korea. Review of Integrative Business and Economics Research, 2(1), p.535.
Wang, Z. and Wang, N., 2012. Knowledge sharing, innovation and firm performance. Expert
systems with applications, 39(10), pp.8899-8908.

8INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT
Wiewiora, A., Trigunarsyah, B., Murphy, G. and Coffey, V., 2013. Organizational culture
and willingness to share knowledge: A competing values perspective in Australian
context. International Journal of Project Management, 31(8), pp.1163-1174.