Management Consultants Fons Trompenaars and Charles Hampden-Turner had conducted research on more than 46,000 managers in 40 countries across the world to understand the values and preferences that individuals associated with the uniqueness of their cultures (Erez et al. 2013). On evaluating the results they concluded that such preferences could be categorized under seven specific dimensions, namely,
Individualism versus Communitarianism- This dimension is characterized by the importance given on decision making. In individualistic culture, it is mostly it mostly refers to a singular authority while in communitarism it refers to a collective process.
Neutral versus Emotional- Emotions are generally not disclosed in open and highly controlled in neutral culture whereas there is spontaneous exhibition of emotions in the later one.
Internal Direction versus External Direction- This particular dimension is based on how a particular culture perceives their environment and based on that how much they want to bring it under their control. If the external environment is perceived as threat then to exert control over it would be more than what it would be when one decides to live in harmony with the environment.
Achievement versus Ascription- In an achievement oriented culture, the focus is more on the development of skill and knowledge in order to be recognized. Whereas, in Achievement based culture, one’s status determines one’s worth, acceptability and recognition in the society.
Sequential Time versus Synchronous Time- The concept of sequential time can be explained as time being considered as a quantifiable parameter in a project’s completion and implementation. Synchronous time is more of an abstract idea where time is considered to be a part of nature’s rhythm with no specific value solely attached to it.
Universalism versus Particularism- In Universalist culture, ideas are not confined to specific definitions. However, there are few standards based on which the ethical distinctions are made.
Specific versus Diffuse- In specific culture there is a clear division between public and private circle of cohesiveness whereas in diffused culture, this aspect is absent.
The Onion model of Cultural Communication was proposed by Gerard Hendrik Hofstede and it is more commonly known as Cultural Onion (Bãlan and Vreja 2013). In is a diagrammatic representation of cultural communication that is explained in three layers and a core.
The Core signifies the standard values and principles in a culture that are not subjected to change. The First Layer defines the rituals like gestures and personal hygiene ascribed in a particular culture. The Second Layer describes the influential figures that drive the intents and motives of the majority in a society. The Third and the Final Layer around the core ascribe to all those valued that can be instilled in one’s character over time through practice (Guiso, Sapienza and Zingales 2015).
As per Trompenaar’s dimensions, I belong to a Communitarianism Culture which can be further explained as a Neutral, Specific, Achievement oriented, Internally directed and synchronous with time. In my culture decision making is mostly prevalent in collective form in presence of a democratic leader. As per Hofstede’s Culture Onion, our core values consist of respecting one’s private space over prioritizing formal gestures. Business practices are strictly confined with pre decided rules and regulation whose deviations are strictly forbidden. The role models are mostly recognized based on their status and power and little on their quality of knowledge and skills. Diffusion of ethics practiced in formal and informal spaces are also largely regarded as unacceptable.
International or Domestic Market, the Management depends heavily on demographic information to formulate effective marketing strategies. In order to create a demographic profile, marketers, at initial stages, studies the consumer needs. On achieving needful insights, they typically combine several factors such as age, gender, income brackets, religious affiliation and social class to construct the demographic in order to evaluate an appropriate marketing mix (Barrett 2013). ABS Population Clock or the CIA World Fact Book provides similar assistance to the Australian organizations such as Wesfarmers to generate target customer profiles and deliver their product and services as per the requirements of those segments (Maleki and Jong 2014). These population Demographic enablers help in providing appropriate recommendations to the organizations regarding advertising, promotion, branding and other aspects of marketing their products and services. Such assistance in promotional mix is also needful when the organization aims to attract global customers.
In a culturally diverse organizational setting, it is important to have a capability that goes beyond cultural sensitivity and awareness. This set of capabilities correlate with the successful accomplishment of one’s professional objectives. Individuals possessing these capabilities are effectively able to relate work with the culturally diverse notions in a workplace. Such capabilities refer to Cultural Intelligence. Research conducted on about 75,000 individuals across 98 countries in the world has provided sufficient evidence regarding four skills and competencies which, if demonstrated by the individuals, would confirm the presence of cultural intelligence in them (Ferraro and Briody 2013). These skills correspond to the attitude, value and belief system in an individual that makes him or her competent enough to comprehend, communicate, collaborate and negotiate in a needful business context.
Business interactions, especially in the context of financial negotiations can be very critical and filled with crucial sensitivities when it is being dealt in a culturally diverse context (Guldenmund 2017). It can be explained on the basis of my own personal encounter with such a situation. A manufacturing deal needed to be closed on financial terms after months of unfulfilled services. I had joined the Wesfarmers as a Contractual Business Consultant. In response to the needs of globalization, the firm had inaugurated new rules and measures to suffice the cross-cultural domain requirements. Taking cues from the previous patterns of service, the management had prepared for a cross check on the level of cultural intelligence. With the help of external consultants, such as myself, the management wanted to find a suitable new authority who could help in closing the deal with the important vendor without affecting other aspects of future relations with them. Since the organization had a global composition of employees, it was a difficult decision to arrive at. This was because even if few employees showed neat records with excellent achievements, they lacked proper knowledge regarding information to deal with a vendor belonging to a different culture. The major challenge became communication as both parties were equally confounded with stark exhibition of information asphyxia. The expectation from this new authority was that he or she could comprehend the need of closing the deal, communicate the same to the vendor with appropriate amount of awareness and cultural sensitivity, keep opportunities open for any other future collaboration with them and finally negotiate the financial terms. These four parameters were the four crucial skills needed from the needed suitable culturally intelligent employee.
The business model of Wesfarmers stands on four important corporate values of Integrity, Accountability, Boldness and Openness (Wesfarmers 2018). The organisation’s management body is composed of a diverse portfolio who looks after the daily operational performance and also pays ample attention towards the development and execution of the business goals. The organization ensures that its top management is well equipped with ethical standards of governance and possesses the required cultural intelligence and competency to excel in a global forum.
As stated by Busse et al. (2013), an employee with the right caliber and intent always wants to be an indispensable resource for the organization he or she works for such that the organization considers him to be the most valuable asset. Strategies that can aid an individual to achieve this goal include the following:
References
Bãlan, S. and Vreja, L.O., 2013. The Trompenaars’ seven-dimension cultural model and cultural orientations of Romanian students in management. In Proceedings of the 7th International Management Conference” New Management for the New Economy”, November 7th-8th, Bucharest, Romania.
Barrett, R., 2013. Liberating the corporate soul. Routledge.
Busse, S., El Khatib, V., Brandt, T., Kranz, J. and Kolbe, L., 2013. Understanding the role of culture in eco-innovation adoption–An empirical cross-country comparison.
Erez, M., Lisak, A., Harush, R., Glikson, E., Nouri, R. and Shokef, E., 2013. Going global: Developing management students’ cultural intelligence and global identity in culturally diverse virtual teams. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 12(3), pp.330-355.
Ferraro, G.P. and Briody, E.K., 2013. The cultural dimension of global business. Upper Saddle River: Pearson.
Group, D. (2018). Corporate governance. [online] Wesfarmers.com.au. Available at: https://www.wesfarmers.com.au/who-we-are/corporate-governance [Accessed 10 Sep. 2018].
Guiso, L., Sapienza, P. and Zingales, L., 2015. The value of corporate culture. Journal of Financial Economics, 117(1), pp.60-76.
Guldenmund, F., 2017. Organisational safety culture principles. In Patient Safety Culture (pp. 43-69). CRC Press.
Maleki, A. and de Jong, M., 2014. A proposal for clustering the dimensions of national culture. Cross-Cultural Research, 48(2), pp.107-143.
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