Cross-Cultural Management Sample 1

Introduction

The report is prepared to reflect the clear concept of culture as well as the cross-cultural issues about the two selected journal articles. Thus concerning the two journal articles, the report engrosses various concepts as well as theories which will describe the effectiveness as well as issues associated with the cross-cultural concept. About those concepts and theories, this report will also be able to describe the issues that an expatriate will face while relocating to another country for international assignments. It will illustrate various multi-cultural themes are quite necessary for the expatriate to know the precise scenario of the cultural diversity of the workplace (Bochner, 2013).

For that reason, the report selected two articles that describe the different aspects of cross-cultural management. In addition to that, the report will also describe 5 key cross-cultural issues that any expatriate faces while living in any other country. In this report, there has been a discussion of the cultural issues that an expatriate faces while relocating to China. Thus the report will put forward an efficient process that will describe and compare the facts mentioned in the articles regarding cross-cultural management and its relevant issues (Epstein, Santo & Guillemin, 2015).

Journal Article by David and Peter and their discussion:

The journal by David and Peter carried out the study on cultural diversity as well as cross-cultural management by the use of the model of cultural differences as well as the international alliance performance in the organization. Acquiring the models of cultural differences will help the authors find out the influence of national cultural differences on alliance performance (Sirmon & Lane, 2004). Thus for that reason, the authors had selected the national, professional, and organizational cultures. And with the description of this model, it gets clearer that the organizational culture is seen to be more troublesome as compared to the national culture. Along with that, the author paid attention to the differences noticed in the professional culture and its relevance to the alliance value creation (Sirmon & Lane, 2004).

Journal Article by Sunidhi and Ajeya and their discussion:

This journal article specifically focuses on the workforce diversity seen in organizations across the UK. In that context, the authors selected the work diversity in such a manner that it helps the organization. Thus the facts that should be considered, namely, the cultural differences or the cross-cultural issues, the authors reflected the conflicts as well as the clashes within the organization between the local staff members and those who are expatriates (Rai, 2014). Thus the authors in this context described the issues that the expatriates face in their workplace. About that, the authors studied all the factors ranging from socio-political to cultural. About the concept, the authors carried out the study with proper planning and execution. For that reason, the authors considered 100 employees including local employees and expatriates. And lastly, the authors conclude their findings with a proper description of factors associated with cross-cultural management (Sirmon & Lane, 2004).

Comparison between the two journals:

As per the authors of the article cross-cultural management is the part that delivers its impact on the success of international business. It is because it engrosses the management process which is quite inseparable from the sphere of the patterned cultural behaviors across the organizations of the United States and the United Kingdom. Thus this paper is supposed to provide an analysis of the issues that both the authors have related to the concept of cross-cultural management and expatriates in China (Sirmon & Lane, 2004). In any organization, cross-culture arises from the process of cultural diversity which arises from the differences in race, language, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, and nationality. So both journal articles provide a comparison of the issues raised by the study by the authors.

As per Rai, cultural diversity can be said to result in the enhancement of international business.  Moreover, it brings an increase in the foreign trade fairs with effective negotiation as well as proper structuring of international business ventures. But on the other hand, there are major issues that can hinder the management process which could manage the cross-cultural processes (Rai, 2014). So with qualitative and quantitative analysis both the authors have described some issues relating to cross-cultural management and in the later condition which forms the base of the discussion.

Cross-cultural business environment

In the current business environment, various firms are operating in more than one nation due to globalization. It is vital to take into consideration cross-cultural diversity so that the firms and their employees will have to face minimum cultural differences. When a prospective expatriate has to come to China to work he will face several challenges since the culture and attitude towards work are entirely different compared to its Western counterparts (Rai, 2014).

Before joining the workforce of a different nation, the officials need to identify and understand the major issues that may come their way due to cultural differences.

Key cross-cultural issues in the Chinese Workplace

Ethnocentrism – A prospective expatriate needs to remove the ethnocentric attitude that encourages him to compare the new culture against his own. Since the individual thinks that his own culture is ideal, he is bound to find fault in the new work environment. Since China has a unique work culture, people with this attitude cannot sustain in the workplace (Greenfield & Cocking, 2014).

Power Distance – The concept of power distance focuses on the extent to which a specific organization’s culture can accept the fact that the power in an undertaking is distributed unequally.

The high power distance signifies a steep organizational hierarchy. The management system followed in China is hierarchical which means that a Chinese boss doesn’t entertain questions or suggestions from his subordinates. So the new employee must leave the casual attitude with the boss that is encouraged in the US and UK (Mach & Baruch, 2015).

Uncertainty avoidance – It refers to the degree to which the society and its people feel uneasy about the risk and uncertainty factors in the business. There are a few nations like Japan, France, etc. that are inflexible as compared to the nations that focus on low uncertainty elusion. The Chinese people are pretty conservative in risky decisions as compared to the companies in the West. So a new official’s creative thoughts might not be appreciated in China.

Individualism – The work culture that arises due to the individualism factor shows the extent to which the people are willing to focus on themselves and can be independent of others existing in society. In China, the workers have a collective approach while performing a specific operation and they do not believe in taking ownership of what they are doing. They rarely think of personal needs or welfare but they believe in group results.

Masculinity – The masculinity culture in business refers to the emphasis on competition, achievement, and money. It is highly success-oriented. China is a country where business has masculine features since it gives high regard to success and positive outcomes (Singh, 2012).

A new employee needs to consider the aforementioned scenarios that are likely to arise in the Chinese workplace so that he doesn’t have a cultural shock while working in China (Rai, 2014). Cultural shock in the form of insecurity and confusion can affect the work performance of an individual and finally reduce the productivity of the business firm. He must join the new work environment with the right and positive attitude (Thomas & Peterson, 2014).

Conclusion:

The ability of the organization to attract, motivate, and retain people belonging to diverse cultural backgrounds may result in gaining a competitive advantage regarding cost structures and maintaining the highest quality of human resources. The barriers to the cultural adaptations included individualism, ethnocentrism, parochialism, cultural shock, and cultural distance.

Organizations that incorporate the switching of their managers and employees have to adopt a cross-cultural bent of considerations to maintain and increase productivity as well as maintain coordination among the employees effectively. The issues that arise when cross cultures are adopted in the workplace also include uncertainty avoidance, masculinity, and power distance.  The report includes the significance of the cross-cultural impacts on an organization in China. The report also includes a discussion of the relevance of cultural diversity in the workplace and its impacts on the work culture, productivity, and work environment.  The dimensions of intercultural communication are been briefed to obtain an adequate comprehension of the subject. The role of cultural diversity in communication and cognition in the workplace is also critically analyzed.

Recommendations:

Differences in culture and identities are not self-producing, however, they are dependent on the support in the regular practices of cultural and communication work.  It is recommended that the management should take more interest in the development of the local employees along with monitoring their work and development. The management should also provide equal opportunities at work to all the employees irrespective of the fact whether they belong to the local area or belong to some other place.

The management needs to ensure that any kind of biased decision does not take place in the organization and keenly observe to prevent any sort of favoritism from being practiced in the workplace. The management of the organization must also plan regarding the socialization of the employees both formally and informally. The management must make efforts to sort out or resolve the perpetual differences among the local and nonlocal employees by conducting activities that are team-based based would consist of both local and non-local employees in equal numbers. The management can also conduct training sessions for the non-local employees regarding the local Cultural issues through a professional trainer who would be well versed with both the non-local and local culture. This would help the non-local employees to gain knowledge and adapt to the local environment. The management can efforts to make the non-local employees understand their collaboration in making the organization successful.  The management can also organize activities to prevent social re-categorization and cognitive interventions that would weaken the stereotypes. The management should understand that communalism is subjective as well as objective. Organizations in China should also provide training in Ethnic Sensitivity to their employees. The management of the organizations in China must ensure that designation does not interfere with the culture.

References

Bochner, S. ed., (2013). Cultures in contact: Studies in cross-cultural interaction (Vol. 1). Elsevier.

Epstein, J., Santo, R.M. and Guillemin, F., (2015). A review of guidelines for cross-cultural adaptation of questionnaires could not bring out a consensus. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 68(4), pp.435-441.

Greenfield, P.M. and Cocking, R.R., (2014). Cross-cultural roots of minority child development. Psychology Press.

Luo, Y., (2016). adaptation view in cross-cultural management. Management, 23(1).

Mach, M. and Baruch, Y., (2015). Team performance in cross-cultural project teams: The moderated mediation role of consensus, heterogeneity, faultlines, and trust. Cross Cultural Management, 22(3), pp.464-486.

Rai, M.S., (2014). A Study on Cross-Cultural Issues of Pharmaceutical Companies Located in Mountainous Region. communications, 2(4).

Singh, D., (2012). Managing Cross-cultural Diversity: Issues and Challenges in Global Organizations. Journal of Mechanical and Civil Engineering, str, pp.43-50.

Sirmon, D.G. and Lane, P.J., (2004). A model of cultural differences and international alliance performance. Journal of International Business Studies, 35(4), pp.306-319.

Thomas, D.C. and Peterson, M.F., (2014). Cross-cultural management: Essential concepts. Sage Publications.

Vertamo, H., (2014). Cross-Cultural Management.