Achieving Quality Management Across Cultures: A Detailed Report

This report examines the impact of culture on working styles and explores various management styles in cross-cultural environments. It emphasizes the importance of training managers to attain competency in handling diverse teams, understanding cultural norms, and fostering motivation and satisfaction. The report discusses autocratic, consultative, persuasive, democratic, chaotic, and laissez-faire management styles, highlighting how a trained manager can leverage cultural strengths to achieve high-quality standards and resolve conflicts. Ultimately, the report concludes that effective cross-cultural management, driven by well-trained managers, is crucial for achieving quality management and organizational success.

Managing Across Cultures 0
Title: Managing Across Cultures
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Managing Across Cultures 1
Executive Summary
In the present times, almost every organization, whether small or big has a cross cultural working
environment has everyone knows the advantages of this type of working environment. The cross
cultural working environment requires a leader who knows the other cultures inside and out. The
manager should know when to implicate the strengths of their employees, which is due to the
strong cultural impact on their working style and how this trait helps in quality management in
an organization. In this assignment, attaining quality management under a cross cultural working
environment will be examined and the need for a trained manager for leading all the activities
smoothly in a cross cultural working environment in an organization.

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Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
The Impact of Culture on the Working Styles.................................................................................3
Various Management Styles............................................................................................................4
The Significance of Managers Training in Attaining High Competency to Manage Cross-
Cultural Working Environment.......................................................................................................7
Discussion........................................................................................................................................8
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
References........................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
Globalization has taken over the various different aspects of human lives. The growing
globalization has also helped in unifying different cultures through the new diverse working
environment which has become very popular in the last decade. The organization has broken the
boundaries of being confined to a single culture. This diversity has been included due to the
benefits that are gained by the organization by employing people with excellent skills and belong
to different cultures. The managers nowadays, have an added responsibility to ensure that this,
diversity of working environment functions smoothly and for this, the managers are entitled to
get a proper training for handling different cultures and to also acquire knowledge about different
cultures for better functioning of the organization. In this report, the impact of culture in the
working styles and the different working management styles are also explored, to under the
importance of training for attaining better competency in handling the cross-cultural working
environment.
The Impact of Culture on the Working Styles
Culture is a very big part of a person’s life. The presence of culture is there in a person’s
thinking, talking, values, the way they conduct themselves in front of everyone and also in their
working styles. This influence of the culture on the working styles of an employee can have an
impact on the business processes of an organization, the profits of the organization and the
satisfaction which an employee seeks from his work (Arar and Shapira, 2016). The managers
working styles are also impacted by the culture they belong to, but being a manager, the
individualism has to be kept aside and the manager has to select the different strengths from
various cultures and have to incorporate it in an organization. These strengths are also to be
utilized in the management of different conflicts that emerge in the cross-cultural working place

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(Azar, 2014). The impact of culture on working styles can be determined by the huge difference
that lies between the western working culture and the eastern working culture. Both of these
cultures have different approaches and priorities of handling the work (Bunchapattanasakda and
Wong, 2010).
The western culture pays more attention to the individual traits of the employees. The
working style in this type of culture builds a trait in employees that makes them focus more on
their individual performance and their individual success. This individualism is due to the
hierarchal culture that lacks in the western culture. The eastern culture is the opposite of the
western culture and the main focus of this culture is on the group performance and the success of
the organization or the group as a whole. The employee’s main attention is drawn towards
collectivism. The employee main role and responsibilities all have a main driving force that is
the achievement of success for the group. A manager has to incorporate the best traits of various
cultures in an organization to excel in the management goals and the fulfillment of the objectives
of the organization.
Various Management Styles
The organizational management has to be different under the various changing business
environment. The management style that a manager selects for its subordinates have to be
finalized after knowing the cultural attributes of the team members and then selecting the
appropriate method for carrying out the organizational activities (Burke et al., 2009). The
management style that has opted for should encourage a smooth co-working environment, strong
bond between teammates and a dignified respect that each member should have for the
teammates and their culture. The manager’s style of handling the employee will be different

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according to the culture they belong to. But there are some universally accepted management
styles that can be incorporated during different circumstances in an organization. They are-
 Autocratic Management Style
In this management style, the manager informs the employees about each and
every task that the employees have to do. The main motivation or the driving force of the
employees in this type of working environment is the fear of the seniors or their boss.
The organization has a specific set of guidelines that are drawn for the employees and
which are compulsory to follow for all the employees. The drawback of this working
environment is the lack of motivation or freedom that employees require to exhibit their
best potential. The employees have no right to make any decision and are completely
dependent on the senior officials (El Mansour and Wood, 2010).
 Consultative Management style
This type of management style is different from the autocratic working
environment as the employees are given the freedom to make suggestions and opinions
on any aspect of the organization. Employees have the right to go and speak directly to
the manager about the various processes and activities of the organization that are
working or will be causing any failure to the organization. Though, the employees are
given with the opportunity to express themselves the employees still do not have the
power in decision making. The managers and the seniors only hear the opinions, but to
take the employee opinion into consideration is in the hands of the managers.
 Persuasive Management Style
In this type of management style, the managers still have all the power of decision
making. And the main work of the managers is to make the employees realize that the

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decision that the managers take is best for the employees. The manager’s influence the
employees that change their opinion and finally the employee get into an agreement that
the decision, taken by the organization is best. For influencing the employees the
organization also calls an expert who informs about the various positives and negatives of
the decision taken by the managers.
 Democratic Management Style
This type of management style is considered as the best working style for an
organization. The democratic style provides the employees the power to make a decision.
The employees have equal consent in the decision making process like the managers.
This style also helps in making a good bond between the management and the employees.
There is an open forum that is created for the employee to express their opinion on
different aspects of the organization which are further analyzed and examined. The
organization that adapts this type of management style works in collaboration with the
employees and the employee’s main driving force is the respect which they receive
through the recognition which the organization gives to its employees (Jackson, 2015).
 Chaotic Management Style
In this management style, the manager transfers all the control of decision making
to the employees, where there is a lack of proper structure. This type of management
style is related to flat organizations. The main drawbacks of this style are the inefficiency
in the business process and decision and also there is a lot of confusion that arises as no
one is leading the organization.
 Laissez-faire

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In this type of management style, the managers act as a mentor rather than a
leader. The employees are given the power to make decisions, but they are mentored by
the managers in making decisions. The managers inform the employees the critical
aspects of each situation and provide proper guidance to the employees for making a
decision that will help the organization in achieving success. This type of working style is
most beneficial in a creative working environment, as creative work requires freedom of
thoughts and opinions (Vickers, 2013).
The Significance of Managers Training in Attaining High Competency to
Manage Cross-Cultural Working Environment
Cross-cultural management requires training that is crucial for all the managers to attain as it
will help them in understanding the different conflicts that may arise in a team, it will enable
them with skills that will help in extracting the best out of the employees but motivation and
encouragement through their cultural values and also for many other purposes (Jackson, 2014).
The significance of training is essential because-
 To understand the norms of behavior that are acceptable in different cultures.
Understanding the other culture’s norms is important and to know the core values
is also important, as not to offend any employee. This knowledge can be attained through
proper training.
 To elaborate cultural awareness & cultural sensitivity
Managers can have their opinion on a different culture. But this should not
influence their behavior to people from various cultures. This control can be attained only
through a training (MacNab and Worthley, 2012).

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 To understand the various aspects of a multicultural working environment and how
each factor requires different attention
Every culture has different strengths and weaknesses. To incorporate these
strengths in an organization and to avoid the weakness requires practice and training
(Misra, 2012).
 To create an atmosphere of motivation, satisfaction, and comfort in the workplace
Managers have to be trained for the mere reason that they have to learn the art of
motivating the employees under various circumstances. This motivation has to be given,
through different methods depending on the culture (Pillay and Dorasamy, 2010).
Discussion
Thus, with all the various knowledge and understanding of the different management
styles, the cultural impact on the working styles and the importance of training the managers in
attaining high competency in cross-cultural management clearly defines that cross-cultural
working environment supports and encourages high quality standards that an organization attain
by involving the different cultural strengths and the perfect management that is conducted by a
trained manager (Vecchi, 2009).
Conclusion
Managers have a very crucial role in handling the cross-cultural working environment.
This is due to achieving high standards of competency that will ultimately help in the attaining
high quality work from the team. The understanding and the knowledge of different culture can
only be effectively applied if the managers know when to use, which value and belief of a culture
that will pump the employee to deliver their best potential and also when to utilize the cultural

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attribute to end a conflict. All these practices will help in quality management in an organization
in which the managers are the main driving person.
References
Arar, K. and Shapira, T. (2016). Veiling and management. International Journal of Cross
Cultural Management, 16(3), pp.367-384.
Azar, G. (2014). How congruent are managers’ perceptions of cultural distance with objective
reality? Cross Cultural Management: An International Journal, 21(4), pp.400-421.
Bunchapattanasakda, C. and Wong, P. (2010). Management practices of Chinese managers in
Chinese MNCs operating in Bangkok. Cross Cultural Management: An International Journal,
17(3), pp.268-282.
Burke, R., Koyuncu, M., Fiksenbaum, L. and Demirer, H. (2009). Time affluence, material
affluence and well‐being among Turkish managers. Cross Cultural Management: An
International Journal, 16(4), pp.386-397.
El Mansour, B. and Wood, E. (2010). Cross‐cultural training of European and American
managers in Morocco. Journal of European Industrial Training, 34(4), pp.381-392.
Jackson, T. (2014). Is cross-cultural management studies morally mute? Cross-cultural
management and ethics. International Journal of Cross Cultural Management, 14(3), pp.267-
269.
Jackson, T. (2015). Modernization theory in international management studies and the role of
cross-cultural management scholarship. International Journal of Cross Cultural Management,
15(2), pp.131-133.
MacNab, B. and Worthley, R. (2012). Stereotype awareness development and effective cross-
cultural management. International Journal of Cross Cultural Management, 13(1), pp.65-87.

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Misra, V. (2012). Management of Cross Cultural Teams: Problems and Effective Management of
Cross- Cultural Teams. SSRN Electronic Journal, 1(1), pp.45-65.
Pillay, S. and Dorasamy, N. (2010). Linking cultural dimensions with the nature of corruption:
An institutional theory perspective. International Journal of Cross Cultural Management, 10(3),
pp.363-378.
Vecchi, A. (2009). Quality management: a cross‐cultural perspective. Cross Cultural
Management: An International Journal, [online] 16(2), pp.149-164. Available at:
https://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/13527600910953900 [Accessed 11 Oct. 2018].
Vickers, D. (2013). A comparative study of UK and Taiwanese chemical plant managers. Cross
Cultural Management: An International Journal, 20(3), pp.386-401.