Cross-Cultural Management Challenges for Qantas Airways in England

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the cross-cultural and Human Resource Management (HRM) issues that Qantas Airways will likely encounter when expanding its business from Australia to England. The report begins with an executive summary and table of contents, followed by a brief overview of Qantas Airways. It then delves into the key macro-environmental factors (political, economic, social, technological, and legal) and micro-environmental factors (competitors, customers, employees, suppliers, shareholders, and media) impacting England's business landscape. The core of the report identifies critical cross-cultural and HRM challenges, including differences in sense of time, approaches to task completion, decision-making styles, verbal and non-verbal communication, uncertainty avoidance, and long-term orientation, drawing upon the frameworks of Hall and Hofstede. The report concludes with recommendations for cross-cultural managers to mitigate potential conflicts and foster effective business operations. The report emphasizes the importance of understanding cultural nuances to ensure successful international business ventures.

Running head: CROSS-CULTURAL MANAGEMENT
CROSS-CULTURAL MANAGEMENT
Name of the student:
Name of University:
Author Note:

1CROSS-CULTURAL MANAGEMENT
Executive Summary
The report discusses the key cross-cultural and HRM issues that may arise between
the home country Australia and the host country England where the Airline company
Qantas Airways will be entering and doing business effectively. Proper identification
of key macro and micro environmental factors discloses the fact that there are
various components which greatly affect the market of the hoist country England.
Political, economic social and technological factors are the chief among the macro
environment and customers, competitors, shareholders and employees are the chief
micro environmental factors which regulate the market of England and consequently
affect the business of the new entrants. There are various issues which will affect the
relationships between the employees and the managers as they have different style
of understanding and values along with expectations. Therefore, the report
concludes with some important recommendations which the cross cultural managers
can follow to avoid such conflicts.

2CROSS-CULTURAL MANAGEMENT
Table of Contents
Brief overview of the company:....................................................................................3
Key macro environmental factors and issues impacting England:...............................3
Key micro environmental factors and issues impacting England:................................4
Identification of key cross-cultural and HRM issues:....................................................6
Sense of time:...........................................................................................................6
Approaches to complete tasks..................................................................................6
Decision making styles.............................................................................................7
Verbal and non-verbal communications...................................................................7
Uncertainty avoidance..............................................................................................7
Long term orientation................................................................................................8
Recommendations:.......................................................................................................8
References:..................................................................................................................9

3CROSS-CULTURAL MANAGEMENT
Brief overview of the company:
Qantas Airways is the largest airline in Australia by its fleet size, international
destination as well as its international flight. It is one of the oldest airlines of the
world. The name if the company describes its location "Queensland and Northern
Territory Aerial Services". This airline does business from Sydney Airport and as of
2017, the company has more than 71% share in the Australian domestic market. On
the same track route in which this company operates, many subsidiary airlines work
in Australia under the same banner of QantasLink banner (Qantas.com 2018). The
company has important subsidiary like Jet connect which provides services between
New Zealand and Australia. Qantas Airways also owns a low cost airline namely
Jetstar Airways which operates both domestic as well as international services within
New Zealand and Australia.
The company was founded in the Queensland outback in the year 1920 and
since then it has grown to the country’s largest domestic as well as international
airlines. This organisation has earned reputation for excellence in operational
reliability, safety and engineering along with maintenance and remarkable customer
service. This airline company has employed over 30,000 people in the business
among which 93 per cent are based within Australia. The management structure of
the company is quite fat exactly fitting themes of the time. There is majority of Non-
Executive Directors. They have extensive commercial experiences hence along with
the executive director bring independence, judgement and accountability so that
maximum benefit to the stakeholders, employees, customers, shareholders
government regulators and the members of communities can be ensured. This
company has been operating in this industry for long 98 years and in spite of having
faced many controversies has maintained its top position in Australia. The
experience of the company in the business is the most attractive part for which it can
be chosen for discussion.
Key macro environmental factors and issues impacting England:
England is small yet powerful country in Europe hence there are numerous
external factors which affect the business aiming to enter the market of this country.

4CROSS-CULTURAL MANAGEMENT
Political:
The government of this country is highly stable and proactive in supporting
business. The administration has divisions among local and national. Despite there
are issues with Brexit, the country has overcome it negative aspects. There is some
well-hidden corruption present in the system which may affect the policies.
Economic:
The country has a large population which is also diverse. Hence the small
market will be profitable. There is a highly diversified economy in the country as the
private as well as public sector work simultaneously (Wang et al. 2016). The market
is free in England and the situation is getting improved for increasing FDI.
Social:
As mentioned before, the country has a dense population for which any type
of business can easily flourish. The national government provides support to the
citizens through various free public services. The people of this country has a high
standard of living.
Technological:
England is highly advanced country from the aspect of technology. It has high
quality innovation abilities and expertise in IT. The regulations regarding intellectual
properties has strong support on the technological development of the country.
There is a huge internal competition that stimulates technological growth in the
country.
Legal:
The legal system is very strong in this country. The labour issues and market
regulation are strictly monitored by the government. The charity operations and
criminal regulations occupy important place in this country.
Key micro environmental factors and issues impacting England:
While entering the market of a country, the business always judges the micro
environment factors as these greatly affect the decision making process as well as
overall strategies (O’Toole and Meier 2014).

5CROSS-CULTURAL MANAGEMENT
Competitors:
The market of England is full of potential competitors which creates the
situation difficult for the new entrants. Despite the fact there are no barriers from the
government’s part to enter the market of the country but for the new entrants it is
quite difficult to survive in this highly competitive market (Bartsch, Riefler and
Diamantopoulos 2016).
Customers:
As mentioned before, the population of this country is quite high as well as
diverse. Therefore, the number of customers are quite high in this market. The
standard of living of the people of England is quite high therefore, the buying
capacity of the customers is also high (Luca, Kleinberg and Mullainathan 2016).
Based on thus factor, the organisations need to adopt a marketing strategy for
attracting potential customers as well as retain the existing customers.
Employees:
The high population of the country has created scope for the new entrants to
get highly skilled labours (Li et al. 2014). Skilled labours help the country to attract
new companies. The country has a high cultural diversity which is a contributing
factor in the high skilled labour force. In the aspect of aviation industry, the highly
skilled yet cheap labours are required which will be effectively used by the company.
Suppliers:
For introducing in a new country the new entrants need to have proper chain
of suppliers without whom, the company will not be able to do business in the
country (Konstantinides et al. 2014). The combines from other markets always check
the cost of the supplier because is they increase the prices of raw materials; it will
influence the marketing mix strategies of the organization.
Shareholders:
The companies of the global market always try to enter the market of a
country when there are high competitive advantage and scope for earning high

6CROSS-CULTURAL MANAGEMENT
revenue. As the country has a perfect balance in the private public partnership, the
company will have no issue in getting shareholders and working with them freely.
Media
The media in England has a strong hold in manipulating the people of the
countries. These media have also a good relationship with the global companies who
work in England (Jopp et al. 2014). By using traditional media along with online or
social media the company will be able to maintain a good relation with the public
relation department and reach more effectively to the potential customers.
Identification of key cross-cultural and HRM issues:
In maintain the human force of ta global company the HR managers face
diverse issues. There are variety of problems which create difference in the opinion
and expectations of the employees in a global organisation mainly originate from the
cultural practices (Igbaekemen 2014). In this aspect the theories of Hall and
Hofstede can be analysed so that these differences in the organisational cultures
host country and home country can be identified.
Sense of time:
It is one of the most important factors which generally the managers of this
company will face while doing business cross-culturally. Patience is a virtue which
the employees of both the cultures must understand. People of Australia are much
relaxed with their tasks and take more time than the British people normally take.
This may annoy the management (Huarng and Ribeiro-Soriano 2014). Moreover, the
Australians have a more liberal view of time in reaching agreement and negotiating
deal which may create issue when the company will be working in the English
market.
Approaches to complete tasks
People from various cultures have different set of understanding hence they
have different approaches to complex a task. Some cultures tend to value the task
oriented approach some prefer relationship oriented approach (Nolan and Bott
2018). The western organisations put more emphasis on the completion of tasks
rather than building relation. In the company operating in aviation industry building

7CROSS-CULTURAL MANAGEMENT
relationship among the employees is very much important hence they must balance
these factors effectively.
Decision making styles
Decision making roles differ from culture to culture that often leads to conflict
in the organisation operation in the international market. One culture delegates
whereas other places more value on holding decision making responsibilities by the
group (Claessens and Van Horen 2015). Therefore, in the organisational decision
making process, the elder executives dominate their subordinates which leads to
conflict. However, the company executives may face issues if their subordinates
claim authority due to their seniority.
Verbal and non-verbal communications
The English business communication style is not very implicit but the business
partners from different cultures need to understand the actual intension of the words
by reading between lines. This may create issues at the business dealings as the
Australians are very to the point in their communication (Crane, Kawashima and
Kawasaki 2016). In Australian business culture, profanity is a norm as well as
natural part of vocabulary. The British maintain complete seriousness in
communication. They are proud of their dry wit and intellectual humour. Facial
expression, sitting arrangements, gestures of the English people are at some point
different from those of the Australians.
Uncertainty avoidance
In this dimension the cultures disclose their relaxing nature with uncertainties.
They can frequently change their plans to face new situations. On the other hand,
some culture cannot bear the tension of uncertainty therefore, they make decisions
taking more time and thoughts (Crane and Matten 2016). Therefore, negotiation
process may be delayed due to tendency to avoid uncertainty.
Competition acceptance
Different cultures have different perception regarding competition in the
organisations. The wester employees are believer of achievements rather than
caring others and follow an all-inclusive growth. The team formation in this context
becomes very difficult as all the employees take care of their individual interests.

8CROSS-CULTURAL MANAGEMENT
Australian culture of the other hand is more collaborative who prefer to work in the
groups. In this aspect the Australian executives may expect collaboration from the
British employees and thus lead to conflict regarding tasks.
Long term orientation
This is another dimension from Hofstede which points out the sharp variation
between the cultures of Australia and England. In this dimension, the cultures are
greatly distinguished in terms of normative and pragmatic. The normative cultures
show great respect for tradition and aim to establish the absolute truth though their
decisions as well as their actions (Cleveland et al. 2016). On the contrary, the
pragmatic culture can adapt themselves with changing situation. The Australians
score high in this dimension which means the company will be facing issues in the
business long term business dealings with the English stakeholders or the suppliers.
Recommendations:
The global companies have a wide range of customers and employees with
different cultural background and managing them is quite impossible if the managers
do not have proper knowledge about the cultural differences of these stakeholders.
In order to maintain diversity in the organisation, the managers need to take some
very necessary steps.
First, the managers need to embrace diversity present the organisation. Despite the
fact that the diverse workforce can defy one another in terms of customs,
communication and region, the managers can be successful if they not only accept
the diversity rather embrace and encourage them across the business.
Secondly, the managers on their organisations need to promote open
communication so that the employees do not face any issues like misunderstanding
or miscommunicating among themselves especially when the language barriers
exist.
finally, the global managers must foster a strong relationship among the diverse
workers. The current trend of business organisations focuses on the flat structure
where most of the employees form teams to accomplish tasks. Through encouraging
these employees to engage in the team building events, the managers can solve the
issues of cross-cultural management.

9CROSS-CULTURAL MANAGEMENT
By promoting diversity and integration in different cultures, the company can
see a big picture which leads to success.
References:
Bartsch, F., Riefler, P. and Diamantopoulos, A., 2016. A taxonomy and review of
positive consumer dispositions toward foreign countries and globalization. Journal of
International Marketing, 24(1), pp.82-110.
Claessens, S. and Van Horen, N., 2015. The impact of the global financial crisis on
banking globalization. IMF Economic Review, 63(4), pp.868-918.
Cleveland, M., Rojas-Méndez, J.I., Laroche, M. and Papadopoulos, N., 2016.
Identity, culture, dispositions and behavior: A cross-national examination of
globalization and culture change. Journal of Business Research, 69(3), pp.1090-
1102.
Crane, A. and Matten, D., 2016. Business ethics: Managing corporate citizenship
and sustainability in the age of globalization. Oxford University Press.
Crane, D., Kawashima, N. and Kawasaki, K.I., 2016. Culture and globalization
theoretical models and emerging trends. In Global culture (pp. 11-36). Routledge.
Huarng, K.H. and Ribeiro-Soriano, D.E., 2014. Developmental management:
Theories, methods, and applications in entrepreneurship, innovation, and
sensemaking. Journal of Business Research, 67(5), pp.657-662.
Igbaekemen, G.O., 2014. Impact of leadership style on organisation performance: A
strategic literature review. Public Policy and Administrafion Research, 4(9), pp.126-
135.
Jopp, D.S., Wozniak, D., Damarin, A.K., De Feo, M., Jung, S. and Jeswani, S., 2014.
How could lay perspectives on successful aging complement scientific theory?
Findings from a US and a German life-span sample. The Gerontologist, 55(1), pp.91-
106.
Konstantinides, S., Torbicki, A., Agnelli, G., Danchin, N., Fitzmaurice, D., Galiè, N.,
Gibbs, J.S.R., Huisman, M., Humbert, M., Kucher, N. and Lang, I., 2014. 2014 ESC

10CROSS-CULTURAL MANAGEMENT
guidelines on the diagnosis and management of acute pulmonary
embolism. Kardiologia Polska (Polish Heart Journal), 72(11), pp.997-1053.
Leigh, N.G. and Blakely, E.J., 2016. Planning local economic development: Theory
and practice. Sage Publications.
Li, W.D., Fay, D., Frese, M., Harms, P.D. and Gao, X.Y., 2014. Reciprocal
relationship between proactive personality and work characteristics: A latent change
score approach. Journal of Applied Psychology, 99(5), p.948.
Luca, M., Kleinberg, J. and Mullainathan, S., 2016. Algorithms need managers,
too. Harvard business review, 94(1), p.20.
Nolan, J. and Bott, G., 2018. Global supply chains and human rights: spotlight on
forced labour and modern slavery practices. Australian Journal of Human Rights,
pp.1-26.
O’Toole Jr, L.J. and Meier, K.J., 2014. Public management, context, and
performance: In quest of a more general theory. Journal of Public Administration
Research and Theory, 25(1), pp.237-256.
Qantas.com (2018). Fly with one of the world’s most experienced airlines | Qantas
IN. [online] Qantas.com. Available at: https://www.qantas.com/in/en.html [Accessed
17 May 2018].
Wang, X.Y., Hattaf, K., Huo, H.F. and Xiang, H., 2016. Stability analysis of a delayed
social epidemics model with general contact rate and its optimal control. Journal of
Industrial & Management Optimization, 12(4), pp.1267-1285.