Cross-Cultural Management Report: Poland and Colombia Analysis

This report offers a comparative analysis of cross-cultural management, focusing on communication styles and business practices in Poland and Colombia. It begins by examining Polish communication, highlighting the importance of direct communication, formal business interactions, and the significance of language proficiency, with a focus on the use of multiple languages like Polish, German, Russian, and English. The report then shifts its focus to Colombia, detailing the significance of physical gestures such as handshakes, maintaining direct eye contact, and the use of the 'abrazo'. The report also touches on the cultural aspects such as punctuality and the importance of personal well-being in communication. The analysis provides insights into how cultural norms affect business communication, including decision-making processes and the importance of emotional intelligence in business interactions. The report concludes by emphasizing the need for understanding these differences to effectively manage cross-cultural interactions. References are provided to support the findings.

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

1CROSS CULTURAL MANAGEMENT
Communication of Poland
Communication is one of the most important tools in every country and Poland is no
exception. This has a huge impact in making the business and inventing new ways to
communicate with the people in the country (Yama and Zakaria 2012) The people in Poland
sometimes ignore the facts when dealing and communicating with the people of their own people
because they are communicating in their own language within their own culture (French 2015).
The business people in Poland are most of the times formal and quiet. The business issues
which are considered to be important are discussed over phone calls and the business dealings
are taken down in the form of written assignments. The Polish people communicate with direct
eye contact within themselves and they need about an arm’s length for the comfort. They are
very much self-confident and decisive in every matter (Hwang and Lee 2012).
The Polish people are very highly skilled and very competent in technical aspects. Polish
is the official language and most of the Polish people speak in more than one language. The
foreign languages that are being followed there are German, Russian and English. The employers
think that the more number of languages the candidates can speak, the better it will be for them.
Communication of Colombia
Communication is also a very grave issue in Colombia as well. The common
communication method in the country is the one of handshake during the time of welcome and
departure (Beebe and Masterson 2014). It is considered to be a good manner of keeping a close
eye contact while conversing with each other. It has been noted that among the people who are
close friends, women are seen to clasping each other’s forearms or kiss each others’ cheeks and

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men are seen to embrace and slap at each others’ back. This factor is known to be ‘abrazo’
(Yama and Zakaria 2012).
Colombians are not known to be very punctual. It has been seen that the people arrive in
the minutes by being 15 or 20 minutes late. This is considered to be a normal thing. The
Colombians are very cautious about others’ well-being. They ask questions about one another’s
health, business trips, well-being of families and friends and so on (Beebe and Masterson 2014).
The Colombians do not like top engage in many gestures or animated expressions. Their
expressions are extended to their mannerisms. They ask many polite questions about each other
and are less formal in communication. The Colombians tend to take the important decisions on
the basis of their feelings. These are the few ways in which communication is being made in
Colombia.

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References
Beebe, S.A. and Masterson, J.T., 2014. Communicating in small groups: Principles and
practices. Pearson Higher Ed.
French, R., 2015. Cross-cultural management in work organisations. Kogan Page Publishers.
Hwang, Y. and Lee, K.C., 2012. Investigating the moderating role of uncertainty avoidance
cultural values on multidimensional online trust. Information & management, 49(3), pp.171-176.
Yama, H. and Zakaria, N., 2012, January. Inference and culture: The distinction between low
context culture and high context culture as a possible explanation for cultural differences in
cognition. In Proceedings of the Cognitive Science Society (Vol. 34, No. 34).