Discuss about the Cross Cultural Management for Indian and Eurasian Communities.
Corporate culture refers to the beliefs and behaviour that determines how the superior-subordinates and management interact and handle the external business transactions. Singapore is considered the multi-ethnic society comprised of Chinese, Malay, Indian, and Eurasian communities. In Singapore, the majority of the people are from other countries and have their own culture and values (Polevikova, 2018). To manage and cope up with the different culture in the business is considered the difficult task that the managers have to perform to have a healthy relationship with their clients. The Singapore business style is famous worldwide due to the ways followed theirs in businesses. Singaporean is found generally open and cosmopolitan in their outlook. The business etiquettes I find to be different in Singapore. The businesses that are working in Singapore needs to understand the behavior followed during the business meetings, negotiations, business lunches and other important business procedures (Awan and Kraslawski, 2017).
In terms of population, Singapore is considered the second densest sovereign state in the world with a population over 5.69 million in 2016. The country is found to have the vast culture and demographic diversity with various ethnic backgrounds including 74% of Chinese, 13 percent indigenous Malays and over 6 percent Indians. National language in Singapore is Malay; English is considered the primary working language and is used within the educational institutions (Doris Fullgrabe, 2017).
In addition to a varied ethnic population, religious diversity has helped to create an even richer culture in Singapore with Buddhism, Islam, Taoism, Hinduism, and multiple other religions building the spiritual foundation of the growing country. Concerning the culture, the formal for men and women are most preferable in the meetings and offices. Singapore has made the possible policies and rules which helps to support and enhance the role of women in all areas of society. This freedom is given in both personal and business contexts. Many official policies are also created for women are created to help women against the discrimination (Gentina, Shrum and Lowrey, 2015).
Corporate culture in Singapore is given due importance due to the punctuality followed in the business. In other countries, being punctual is not an issue but in Singapore, punctuality is taken at the first priority by the corporates. Meeting should be held on time and delay in meeting is not expected in Singapore. Business meeting should be done at the time without any delay with the aim to include a direct discussion when handling the issues related to money and funding. In the meeting, they are supposed to have a light shake hand with their partners and clients (Grewal 2018). If the women find crossing their hand in front of their chest then it will be considered as a protocol, which means they are not interested in shaking hands with them. In such cases, to give respect to other person, women used to do a slight shake their head for acknowledging the other person.
It is the habit of the Singaporeans to address the chines people with their surname whereas a Malay or Indian introduce themselves by their first name only and then following with their professional title. Discussing the religion or politics is considered as an offense in Singapore. Raising voice or losing the temper in consideration to the topic related to the politics or religion is harmful, as the laws in the country are very harsh (Walker and Dimmock, 2012).
The political environment in Singapore is found to be stable in nature. This is the reason many companies are trying to open their business in Singapore. Nowadays, the country has a parliamentary democracy. While the legal law system in the country is written under the English common law. In Singapore, mostly private limited companies are there due to the low tax payable system in the country. On the other hand, fines are very high and foreign people have to be very careful and have to study the rules regulation of law in advance (Today, 2018).
The economic stability is there in Singapore while maintaining the wealth of the business and individuals. The economic situation of Singapore is found to have the welfare of the people and In terms of technology, Singapore has not found to be updated and modernized. The culture of Singapore is not that much updated as other countries are.
One of the studies by the Greet Hofstede is Singapore. He has given the five dimensions, which are related to the power distance, uncertainty avoidance, and individualism versus collectivism, long-term versus short-term orientation and masculinity versus feminity.
The power distance in Singapore corporate culture is found in the levels of management as the top-level management have higher authority as compared to lower level employees and this will create the relationship status among the boss and subordinates. In Singapore, the subordinates are seeing their managers as well-meaning autocrats (Guang-yu and Hua-jun, 2010).
Another factor relates to the uncertainty avoidance, which means the extent to feel the uncomfortable or comfortable in the structured situations. In a country like Singapore, almost all the situations are finding to be structured in nature as it is the habit of Singaporeans to talk straightforwardly in dealing with the resources or funds with another party. The Singapore’s companies try to avoid the uncertainty in their work environment so to concentrate and make solutions for the present problems. Another factor in this theory is focused on Individualism and collectivism. In Singapore, the culture depicts that the employer is concerned about their employees and give them security to have good standards and healthy living. From this, it can be said that the companies are running on the concept of ‘we’ and are focusing on the overall staff in the organization. Singapore is said to be a collectivistic society (Polevikova, 2018).
The dimension of masculinity and feminity illustrates the sharing of emotional roles between the genders, which is another major problem for any society. In Singapore, the index of men is found to be more as compared to the women after giving the equal opportunity to every person in the business. Men still find to have the more powerful than the female in Singapore. The last dimension relates to the long-term and short-term orientation, which is related to the company culture, is focused on the future or planning to have for the short term in the business. In Singapore, the individuals are finding to have the cultural values in order to support the long-term investments. People in Singapore have the sense of disgrace and employees do not hasten with their decisions (Guide Me Singapore, 2018).
The company in Singapore prefers to have the planning before doing any meeting. This planning is useful to them as they decided to advances what topics to be discussed, in which manner they have to behave, and other related business things. This planning makes the proper management of the company while communicating with the other parties (Inter Nations, 2018).
The relation between the employer and employee is found to be paternalistic from the employer’s side. The top-level management is treated with the same respect as one show to their parents. The employers are to concern about the families, living standard health and another practical life issue of their employees. Singapore is considered a hierarchical culture, the boss is considered to be at the superior level. The staff members are not required to ask any questions, as it would indicate that the boss has not explained what was necessary in performing their role (Kingdom of Netherlands, 2018).
Setting up of business in Singapore is an easy task as compared to hiring the employees. The decision making involved in hiring the employees include many legal protocols, which are adhered to both employees and employers. In a culture of Singapore adhering to the employment act, is mandatory and all the employers and employees are aware of this fact. This gives the clear idea of their rights and responsibilities that will be there under the various legislations. There will be a proper contract made of the employment in Singapore so that the employees and employers both are binding to each other with their committed (Laine, 2013).
The employees are promoted according to their performance in the company. No partial culture is adopted in Singapore, as they believe in giving equal chance to everyone irrespective of the age, sex, caste, and religion.
To get the promotion in the country like Singapore, it takes around 4 years. This was analyzed by the report (Today, 2018). This made the employees morale down in the company. However, all the companies in Singapore are following the same trend in promoting their employees. The employers have found the solution for the same by giving add-on advantage and incentive to their employees if they are performing more than an average employee (Money Smart, 2018).
To get the motivation in the workforce, the Singapore culture focuses on providing the transparency in the work and in the decision-making process. The working culture in Singapore is usually fair and allows the staff to follow a career path that let them grow. Employees in Singapore are motivated because the local companies are further along with the training growth curve. The training and motivational sessions are given to the employees so that they remain productive and can perform to their best ability (Siakas and Siakas, 2015).
Firstly, the skills required by the expatriates should have the knowledge of the common language to communicate. Another ability that a person should have while dealing in a country like Singapore is that having the broad-based social ability. This will give them the big scope and connection in dealing in other countries and Singapore. In Singapore, there is the special custom in exchanging the business cards. They present the card with them both hands and the name in the card should be facing the business partner. If the business is done with the Chinese people then one side of the card should be written in Mandarin. Singaporean thinks that the respect given to the card is equivalent to the respect given to their business. That is the reason they do not write anything on these cards or crumple them carelessly in the pocket (Inter Nations, 2018).
One more skill expatriate should have in them while dealing with Singapore corporates business is the negotiation style used. Like in the culture of Singapore peoples are prefer to deal straightforward rather than molding the statements (Singapore Business, 2018).
Conclusion
From the above discussion, it can be concluded that the Singapore culture is found to be different from other countries. Every company differs from each other in any one of the ways. However, the Singapore corporate culture finds to be unique in nature. There are various other dimensions taken into consideration, which include the cultural dimensions, religion, and beliefs, language used in Singapore. The people in Singapore are finding to be religious and ethical in nature and do not try to cheat the other party. In dealing with the other business, companies are focused on the matter related things rather than focusing on defrauding the other party. From the Hofstede theory, it can be concluded that the Singapore culture is found to be extensive and different in nature. Understanding the cultural part and norms are taking the huge part in the organizational structure of the Singapore company-working environment. Singaporean society is not found to be homogenous in nature. The companies can easily set up their business in Singapore due to the low tax rate and have the political stability in the country. In the last, it can be said that the Singapore is a collectivist in nature, which support their employees and other members.
References
Awan, U. and Kraslawski, A. (2017) Investigating the mediating role of cultural intelligence on the relationship between relational governance and firm social performance. International Journal of Research Studies in Management, 6(2), pp.23-38.
Doris Fullgrabe. (2017) Six characteristics of a successful expatriate [Online] Available on: https://www.buildingthelifeyouwant.com/blog/20091114six-successful-expatriate-characteristics [Accessed on: 28th July 2018]
Gentina, E., Shrum, L.J. and Lowrey, T.M. (2015) the role of assimilation and individuation in teen attitudes toward luxury fashion brands: a cross-cultural study. In 2015 Global Fashion Management Conference at Florence (pp. 172-177).
Grewal K. (2018) Raising Employee Motivation At The Workplace [Online] Available on: https://m360.sim.edu.sg/article/pages/Raising-Employee-Motivation-at-the-Workplace.aspx [Accessed on: 28th July 2018]
Guang-yu, Z. and Hua-jun, L. (2010) Human Resource Risk Analysis for Multinational Companies under Expatriate Mode [J]. Industrial Engineering Journal, 5, p.011.
Guide Me Singapore. (2018) Guide to Hiring Employees in Singapore [Online] Available on: https://www.guidemesingapore.com/business-guides/managing-business/hr-management/guide-to-hiring-employees-in-singapore [Accessed on: 28th July 2018]
Inter Nations. (2018) Business Culture in Singapore [Online] Available on: https://www.internations.org/singapore-expats/guide/29456-jobs-business/doing-business-in-singapore-16065/business-culture-in-singapore-2 [Accessed on: 28th July 2018]
Kingdom of Netherlands. (2018) Cultural differences in Singapore [Online] Available on: https://www.netherlandsworldwide.nl/doing-business/cultural-differences-in-international-business/singapore [Accessed on: 28th July 2018]
Laine R. (2013) Important Factors For Expatriate Success [Online] Available on: https://www.theseus.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/56864/TUAS_Thesis_Laine_R.pdf [Accessed on: 28th July 2018]
Money Smart. (2018) Why Do Singapore Employers Take So Long to Promote Their Employees? [Online] Available on: https://blog.moneysmart.sg/career/singapore-employers-take-long-promote-employees-can-speed-promotion/ [Accessed on: 28th July 2018]
Polevikova M. (2018) Business Environment in Singapore [Online] Available on: https://www.theseus.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/57443/Polevikova_Maria.pdf [Accessed on: 28th July 2018]
Siakas, K. and Siakas, D. (2015) Cultural and Organisational Diversity Evaluation (CODE) A tool for improving global transactions. Strategic Outsourcing: An International Journal, 8(2/3), pp.206-228.
Singapore Business. (2018) 4 tips on how Singapore managers can motivate their staff [Online] Available on: https://sbr.com.sg/hr-education/commentary/4-tips-how-singapore-managers-can-motivate-their-staff [Accessed on: 28th July 2018]
Today. (2018) Singapore firms take nearly 4 years to promote workers: Survey [Online] Available on: https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/singapore-firms-take-nearly-4-years-promote-workers-survey [Accessed on: 28th July 2018]
Walker, A. and Dimmock, C. (2012) School leadership and administration: The cultural context. Oxon: Routledge.
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