Managing Across Borders and Cultures
Critically evaluate the relevance of cross cultural management issues within international business and discuss why companies fail to underline the need for cross cultural understanding.
Introduction
In today’s world, culture is hard to ignore. It affects the way people dress, what they eat, what religion they follow and also the places they go. Culture is essentially a set of shared beliefs, social norms, organizational roles and inherited values (Lee, 2005) that affects everyday life in informal and formal settings. When two different cultures mix, the understanding of the others culture can arguably be seen as respectful and advantageous in a business sense whereas its negligence can be viewed as discourteous, rude and thus lead to a culture shock. With thanks to technological advancements, the world is becoming a ‘global village’ (Kawar, 2012) where people from different cultural backgrounds are socialising and communicating with one another. Therefore dealing with people from different cultures would necessitate the awareness of cultural diversities which is where cross cultural management plays a part.
Cross cultural management aims to assist in the dealing with differences that stem from difference backgrounds of each culture (Jackson, 2002). According to Nancy Adler (Kawar, 2012)
Cross-cultural management explains the behaviour of people in organizations around the world and shows people how to work in organizations with employees and client populations from many different cultures.
Globalisation has been the catalyst which created the need for greater awareness in managers to be sensitive to the cultural aspects of decision making” (Mattock, 2003). Cross cultural management places great importance of four aspects; the need for open and constant communication (verbal and non-verbal), the need for sensitivity to be respectful of another culture, the importance of flexibility in being patient with understanding another cultures and the reduction
Introduction
In today’s world, culture is hard to ignore. It affects the way people dress, what they eat, what religion they follow and also the places they go. Culture is essentially a set of shared beliefs, social norms, organizational roles and inherited values (Lee, 2005) that affects everyday life in informal and formal settings. When two different cultures mix, the understanding of the others culture can arguably be seen as respectful and advantageous in a business sense whereas its negligence can be viewed as discourteous, rude and thus lead to a culture shock. With thanks to technological advancements, the world is becoming a ‘global village’ (Kawar, 2012) where people from different cultural backgrounds are socialising and communicating with one another. Therefore dealing with people from different cultures would necessitate the awareness of cultural diversities which is where cross cultural management plays a part.
Cross cultural management aims to assist in the dealing with differences that stem from difference backgrounds of each culture (Jackson, 2002). According to Nancy Adler (Kawar, 2012)
Cross-cultural management explains the behaviour of people in organizations around the world and shows people how to work in organizations with employees and client populations from many different cultures.
Globalisation has been the catalyst which created the need for greater awareness in managers to be sensitive to the cultural aspects of decision making” (Mattock, 2003). Cross cultural management places great importance of four aspects; the need for open and constant communication (verbal and non-verbal), the need for sensitivity to be respectful of another culture, the importance of flexibility in being patient with understanding another cultures and the reduction
Bibliography: Lee, H.W. (2005). The Resolution of Cross-Cultural Issues. The Cambridge Business Review. 4 (1) Kawar, T.I Dowling, P., Festing, M. & Allen, D.E Sr (2013). International Human Resource Management. 6th ed. Andover: Cengage Learning. French, R (2007). Cross-Cultural Management. London: CIPD Jackson, T (2004) Leopold, J. & Harris, L. (2009). The Strategic Managing of Human Resources. 2nd ed. Essex: Pearson Education Limited Mattock, J (2003) Mead, R (1994). International Management. Cambridge: Blackwell Publisher.