MAR015-2 Intercultural Management: Case Study on Business Solutions

This case study examines intercultural management issues arising from a joint venture scenario involving American and Japanese representatives. It identifies the communication and behavioral missteps made by the American team, particularly their lack of cultural sensitivity regarding Japanese customs and business etiquette. Using Hofstede's cultural dimensions theory, the analysis highlights differences in power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, long-term orientation, and indulgence between the two cultures. The report suggests strategies for improving intercultural understanding, such as conducting thorough research on cultural norms, enhancing listening skills, and avoiding slang. Ultimately, it advises American representatives to adopt a more respectful and culturally aware approach to foster healthier working relationships and achieve successful business outcomes. This assignment is available on Desklib, a platform offering a variety of study tools and resources for students.

Intercultural
Management In
Business

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY ..................................................................................................................................1
Where did the American representatives go wrong?...................................................................1
How could you help the American representatives better understand this cross-cultural
problem?......................................................................................................................................1
Use intercultural theories to explain it and supporting the discussion.........................................3
What would be your advice to the American representatives?....................................................5
CONCLUSION ..............................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
Culture can defined as the organisation ethics and values which helps them to become
more effective while carrying out different operations in the workplace. In today's world the
market is very dynamic and most of the organisations has to change their working style
according to the new market trends (Lückmann, 2020). In this report there will be brief
discussion about how to understand the cross- cultural problem better. Along with that, there will
be evaluation about different intellectual theories. For further instance, in this report various
issues are being identified to them various approaches could be used in an systematic manner.
MAIN BODY
Where did the American representatives go wrong?
There are various factor which has affected the American representatives in a major way.
Joint venture is an agreement which involves two or more parties while doing the business in an
effective manner. In this agreement it states that the parties equally bear the risks and share the
profits to make the business entity systematic. There needs to be respect when the two parties
involve in the meeting. Effective communication is the vital factor which lacks while
communicating with different origins representatives (Huang, 2020). All the conditions which
are in the agreement needs to be address properly. This will help to carry out operations
smoothly and carries forward on a long term basis. In the meeting room the Americans has
created a wrong impression when rolling out their sleeves. Japanese culture carry their meetings
with the right ethics and values. Their culture has a different authenticity and the officials find it
wrong when seeing the behaviour of Americans. Cross cultural management plays the vital role
to evaluate the situations effectively. Through this the Americans can know about the Japanese
culture and the principles which they follow while working. Negative impression has become the
important which hinder the whole situation.
How could you help the American representatives better understand this cross-cultural
problem?
Better understanding of the Japanese culture can help the Americans in an effective way.
Cross cultural management ensures that the individuals can understand the cultures of different
working professionals effectively. While indulging in the meeting the individual can study
different critical areas of the cultural management. This could help them create a bear
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understanding two cultures are crossed with each other. There are various factors which could
help are described below:
 Understanding various factors effectively – The Americans had to conduct a proper
research on various factors. This will helps them to understand the Japanese culture in a
better way (Szobonya, and Roche, 2021). There are basically ethical norms and values
which needs to fulfilled in order to carry out the business operations effectively. While
preparing the joint venture there needs to be critical assessment of all the factors to carry
the business systematically over a longer period of time.
 Understanding the individuals better and establishing an effective communication –
Americans could focus on understanding the cultures in a better way. Effective
communication could help the individuals to make the business carrying out more
smoothly. In the business meeting there needs to be a brief discussion about all the
critical points and keeping it systematically. Systematic approach could help them to
understand various business details better.
 Enhanced listening skills – It is one of the most important approach which could help
the individual to understand the needs and wants of the other working professionals. With
the help of enhanced listening skills they can communicate effectively depending upon
the situations. In case of Americans the behaviour plays a significant role in making the
situation worse (Gallo, Balogova, and Mihalcova, 2021). On the other hand, they needs
to listen all the points of the Japanese working professionals to understand different
points in the business deal.
 Avoiding Slang and maintain a systematic protocol – Necessary protocol and
maintaining the good manners in front of different working professionals. This could help
them to carry out the business operations in an effective way. In these business meetings
the individuals can understand the working style of each other better. There are various
things which the Americans did wrong and the behaviour intolerable. Rolling out the
shirts plays a negative impact in front of the Japanese working professionals. According,
to this point this was not a good behaviour.
There are various important considerations which could help the Americans to understand the
true view of the Japanese culture better. Cross-cultural management help the members to
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maintain a healthy working environment with other professionals. There are various points
which are described below in order to understand the culture better.
Use intercultural theories to explain it and supporting the discussion.
Hofstede cultural dimension theory
This cultural dimension theory helps to understand the cultural differences in an
systematic way (Ferreira-Lopes, and Van Rompay-Bartels, 2020). There is a wide impact of
these theories on the organisation it also affects the working style of the company in both
positive and negative ways. This cultural dimension theory was developed by Greet hofstede in
1973 and it has refined in various points. It makes so easy to understand cultures across different
countries. This model is used to understand the cultural aspects in an systematic way. It is
important for the company to know about the culture while doing the operations in other
countries. The comparison of the Americans and Japanese working professionals are
mentioned below:
 Power Distance Index – This factor suggests that the working style of several countries
is different to each other. Japanese culture shows that the organisation in that country
takes the decisions depending upon the situation. The decision needs to be formulate at
different levels of management and various suggestions could be passed on the decisions.
For further instance, in Japan the society shows that the growth of different individual is
ranked equal. The individual search for opportunities and capitalise on them in an
effective manner.
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 Individualism – This dimension considers that there is interdependence while
performing the activities in the groups or individually. The image of the employees
impact the organisation working structure (Chan, and Du-Babcock, 2019). In collectivist
society people work in groups to helps them and carry forward their work in an effective
manner. In America everybody ranks as equal and have better growth opportunities. The
management treats the employees and help them in various difficult situations. This
factor motivates the workers and they can maximize their efforts. On the other hand, the
culture of the US plays a major role in making the employees loyal towards the
organisation.
 Masculinity – This cultural dimension suggests that there needs to be essence of
competition between the individuals to achieve an overall growth. With the new market
trends the competition is set high and the organisation needs to perform perform better to
become stable in the market. The low score in feminine shows that there are certain
values which values in the society. In Japan the business condition is uncertain and the
companies is experiencing good competition in the market. The make the business
successful various individuals needs to work effectively and study the market trends in an
effective way (Usunier, 2018). The people had to look for different opportunities and
capitalise on various factors. In US the working professional works towards the right path
to attain the desirable goals in the current market. There is no discrimination and there are
extensive career opportunities for both the genders.
 Uncertainty avoidance – This cultural dimension deals with the all the future
uncertainties which could be depend on various situations (Bolten, 2020). It clearly
shows that the business needs to prepare for the future according to the dynamic trends.
In US if the individuals is not getting results from one business factors. They move
forward and look for better opportunities which are present in the market. The workers
maximize their efforts and improve productivity towards the organisation. The
management also give a path to the talented individuals and help them to grow at an
efficient rate. In japan the uncertainty avoidance index is really high. The country is not
prone to the disasters and natural calamities. The future of the business in the country
remains uncertain. To counter this factor the organisation is keeping evolving and
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becoming better according to the new market trends. The management also help the
employees and motivate them to achieve more productivity in the workplace.
 Long term orientation – The business has to become better in the upcoming future to
achieve and overall growth in the market. Attaining sustainable performance in the
society can speed up this process. The society maintains the links with the past and
become better in the future (Blazevski, 2018). In accordance to Japan the individuals is
following all the old traditions to run the business. They are ready to take new challenges
in the upcoming future. Japan is one of the most technologically developed country and
with the changing market trends the working style of business is also changing. In the US
the people also work with the old traditions they believe that exposing to technology will
create differences in the workplace.
 Indulgence – This cultural dimension suggests that there needs to be indulgence and
restraint in order to fulfil the basic needs of the society. In japan the mindset of the
working professional is to attain their goals and objectives for the right career
opportunities (Vargas-Hernández, 2018). It is important to give several benefits to the
society. On the other hand, in US there is dynamic structure and the individuals gives
benefits to the society with the ir effective working.
What would be your advice to the American representatives?
The Americans must understand the concept of cultures and the new values and belief
system will help them to attain a overall growth in the future. In the meeting there are various
things which could be better to show respect to the Japanese culture. Aggression is the main
factor which emerges in the meeting. Rolling up the sleeves is the wrong behaviour which is
intolerable in the other cultures. This is the most common mistake which is done by the
Americans and they needs to take strict measures. If the attitude remains the same then this
mistake could be happen in future and they could face serious consequences. Identifying
different cultures effectively could help the Americans to solve their mistakes. They must crack
the deal with the right ethics and values. This will help to build the healthy relationship with
other working professionals (Barmeyer, and Mayer, 2020). The cultural understanding could
help the Americans to carry forward the business operations for over a longer period of time.
Understanding the culture better could impact the business in a better way. There are various
benefits which could help the organisation to achieve an overall success in the market. American
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representatives has faced various consequences due to their behaviour. The joint venture could
benefit their business for a longer period of time.
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it has concluded that understand the culture of different countries
could help the individual to maintain a healthy working relationship with other professionals.
The cultural differences depends on various factors which arises in the future. On the other hand,
in this report there will be brief discussion about understanding and respecting the cultures of
others could help the business professionals to achieve an effective growth in the future. Along
with that there, will be evaluation of different theories which the help to know about the cultures
better. For further instance, there will be brief assessments about what the Americans did wrong
in the meetings.
REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Barmeyer, C. and Mayer, C.H., 2020. Positive intercultural management in the fourth industrial
revolution: managing cultural otherness through a paradigm shift. International Review of
Psychiatry, 32(7-8), pp.638-650.
Blazevski, I., 2018. THE RELEVANCE OF INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE FOR
INTERCULTURAL MANAGEMENT. KNOWLEDGE-International Journal, 26(6),
pp.1681-1686.
Bolten, J., 2020. Intercultural business communication: An interactive approach. In Exploring
the rhetoric of international professional communication (pp. 139-155). Routledge.
Chan, A.C. and Du-Babcock, B., 2019. Leadership in action: an analysis of leadership behaviour
in intercultural business meetings. Language and Intercultural Communication, 19(2),
pp.201-216.
Ferreira-Lopes, L. and Van Rompay-Bartels, I., 2020. Preparing future business professionals for
a globalized workplace through intercultural virtual collaboration. Development and
Learning in Organizations: An International Journal.
Gallo, P., Balogova, B. and Mihalcova, B., 2021. The Influence of Intercultural Management
Factors as Elements of Management Innovation.
Huang, J., 2020. Intercultural Management as a Powerful Business Tool. In Sino-German
Intercultural Management (pp. 9-26). Springer, Cham.
Lückmann, P., 2020. Intercultural Project Customer Engagement: Conclusions. In Engagement
of Intercultural Project Customers (pp. 227-232). Springer, Cham.
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Szobonya, P. and Roche, C., 2021. Intercultural youth: the global generation and virtual
exchange. Virtual exchange: towards digital equity in internationalisation, pp.17-28.
Usunier, J.C., 2018. Intercultural Business Negotiations: Deal-making Or Relationship
Building?. Routledge.
Vargas-Hernández, J.G., 2018. Intercultural business management development and education
programs in business schools. European Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, 3(1),
pp.105-121.
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