Discuss about the challenges of managing cross cultural behavior in international business.
As more and more companies are entering the foreign land and expanding their businesses in the different countries, the complexities of conducting the business are also increasing. Culture is considered to be one of the major reasons that are acting as the challenge to be managed at the international country in order to conduct the business there. This is because of the differences that lie in the culture of different countries and different people. This is the report that focuses in some of the major challenges that the multinational companies are facing in order to manage the cross cultural behavior in the international business. The report argues about the challenges along with the importance of cross cultural management in the international business. This research report that formulates some of the research questions and research has been conducted in order to answer such questions.
This is the part of the research that provides the information about some of the major objectives to conduct the research:
Scope of the study is the section of the report that provides the idea about the use of the research and the importance of the information that can be extracted by conducting the research. The scope of this research involves:
The above literature review provides a clear definition of culture which suggests that culture is combination of knowledge, beliefs, art, law custom, morals and other habits and other capabilities of the human in the society (Mora, 2013). Culture is being defined as a system that has been formed by the amalgamation of different people with different cultural and value backgrounds.
As more and more companies are expanding their businesses in foreign countries thus the interaction between the people with different backgrounds is also increasing. Advancement in the technologies has made it all possible. It becomes easier for the people all over the world to communicate with each other (Martin and Nakayama, 2013). Due to this cross cultural management is the very important practice that come into existence in order to mange such complex communications and interactions. Miss-management of cross cultural communication can become the reason of the business failure.
The above literature discussed about the Greek Hofstede dimension of culture that were developed in order to understand the culture of the different countries on various dimensions (Hofstede, 2011). This is the very apt theory to be discussed in crisis cultural management as the scoring of the country on these dimension helps in comparing the cultures of those countries also provides the idea to how the culture can be managed (Hofstede, 2010).
Providing the example of Wal-Mart is again a very good approach in the literature. Wal-Mart is the company that operates in the supermarket and retail sector. The company is considered as the multinational firm as it operates in many countries and tow of which are included in the discussion that are Germany and The United States. It has been analyzed that the company has not appropriately conducted its operations in Germany or to do not have successes in Germany because of the issues in cross cultural management (Taylor, Bogdan and DeVault, 2015). Germany market is very different from the US market and thus the choices and the preferences of the customers also differ. The improper understanding of the company regarding the behavior of the German market and customer’s ahs lead to failure of the business in Germany. This suggests that culture is the very important factor that can affect the overall operation of the business in any of the country (Tung, 2008).
As per the scoring and the rating given on the Hofstede dimension, it has been analyzed that only two of the factors that are power distance and masculinity have almost similar scoring while in all other factors, Germany and US have different ratings. The major factor that has been observed to be very different is the long term orientation. It has been identified that US is the country where the people believes in short term approaches and have the values that are not influenced by the traditions values while in Germany, the people have long term approaches. This difference may affect the way in which the businesses are conducted in both the countries (Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner, 2011).
The later part of the literature also provides the information about the challenges of managing the cross cultural behavior in international business (Luthans and Doh, 2018). Some of the factors that are identified are communication, perception, social identity changes, inadequate trust etc. It has been analyzed that culture is one of the major aspect that affect the business functions as in the case of Wal-Mart in Germany (Reisinger and Turner, 2012). Thus, the mangers of the companies need to look after the communication patterns, the difference in culture and also give importance to local values at the time of managing the staff at the international subsidiary of the company (Binder, 2016). The management functions need to be designed as per the cultural values and beliefs.
The major limitation that has been identified in the literature is that the literature has not discussed the role of managers in identifying and managing the different cultural gaps and communication gaps. It has not focused on the wrong practices of managerial departments in the companies that give rise to cultural issues in the multinational organizations (Ferraro and Briody, 2013).
Primary Question (only one question)
Secondary Questions (1, 2 ….)
Qualitative:
Qualitative research is the process in which the causes and the reasons behind the objectives and the issues of the research topic need to be analysed. It helps in identifying the factors that affect the research topic (Neuman, 2013). In this report, the research is conducted in the company called Wal-Mart and Wal-Mart is chosen as the company because it is the multinational company with any branches all over the world.
Validity and reliability:
Evaluation of the quality of the research is very important if the research findings need to be implied on the practical grounds (Liamputtong, 2009). As far as the validity, reliability or the credibility of the qualitative research is considered, it has been analysed that in general terms it is difficult to measure such factors in qualitative research. This is because of the lack of analytical findings (Yin, 2009). The finding in qualitative researches is based on personal opinions and thus may leads to research bias. This suggests that credibility only on the qualitative research is not appropriate in terms of application of the findings in practical terms.
Sampling and sample size:
There are various sampling methods that can be used for conducting the research. The sample is that part of the overall population that acts as the appropriate representative of the whole population on which the research needs to be conducted (Morris, 2008). In this case the cluster sampling method has been used so that different employees from managerial as well as executive level can be selected. The sample size is 50 that are 50 employees are considered to conduct the research.
Data collection method: the data collection method is the method that is used to collect and gather the appropriate data to conduct the research (Saunders, 2011). In this case the data collection method is interviews. Variables specifications: variables in this case can be the cultural differences and the situations that are faced by the employees of the company.
Quantitative:
Quantitative research as the name suggests helps in analyzing the numerical data that is more accurate in nature (Bryman, 2015).
Validity and reliability: the quantitiave research is more reliable and credible than the qualitative research as it is based on the facts and figures and also gives accurate results and findings. Alteration of the results by personal bias is not possible (Sekaran and Bougie, 2016).
Sampling and sample size: cluster sampling is used for sampling the population and the sample size is 50.
Data collection methods data collection method that needs to be used in the research is questionnaire.
Data analysis: graphical representation method has been used to analyze the data collected by the questionnaire.
Variable specifications: in this case the variables are the answers of the sample and also the understanding of the employees or the person filling the questionnaire (Zikmund, et al. 2013).
Limitations:
The major limitation of this research is the small sample size. It has been analyzed that small sample size fails to represent the overall population. Another limitation of this research is that it has considered the data from the single company thus the findings may not be implied on another companies operating in different countries (Bowling, 2014).
Time Schedule (Research plan)
|
ACTIVITIES |
DESCRIPTION |
TIME |
|
Identification of the research objectives |
When the researcher finds out the topic of the research, it is required by him to identify some of the objectives that can be justify the research topic and the overall research revolves around those objectives. |
15 days |
|
Development of research plan |
Another most important step is development of the research plan. It is required to make the blueprint of the overall research activities so that the research can be conducted as per the plan (Thomas, Silverman and Nelson, 2015). In this plan the research methods that needs to be used needs to be decided. The research methods that are being selected by the research should be appropriate and as per the research topic so that the accurate and apt results can be identified. |
1 month |
|
Data collection |
This is the time to practice the activities on practical grounds. Now the data needs to be gathered on which the overall research is done. Several data collection methods are used that have been decided in the previous step to collect the data (Bernard and Bernard, 2012). |
2 months |
|
Sorting and analysis of data |
After the collecting and gathering the data, it is required to analyze such data so that that the meaningful information related to the research can be extracted. The data needs to be sorted and then the analysis of the data needs to be done. |
1 month |
|
Data findings and conclusion |
Identification of findings from the data analysis method should be done in this step. This leads to the development of the conclusion of the research (Bernard and Bernard, 2012). |
15 days |
|
Activities |
Time duration |
|||||||||
|
1st month |
2nd month |
3rd month |
4th month |
5th month |
||||||
|
Identification of research objectives |
||||||||||
|
Development of research plan |
||||||||||
|
Data collection |
||||||||||
|
Sorting and analysis |
||||||||||
|
Data findings and conclusion |
Conclusion:
This is the part of the research that clearly describes the findings and the conclusion of the overall research.
Qualitative data results: as per the qualitative data and its analysis by the content analysis method, it has been analyzed that most of the employees at the executive level feel that they are not treated as per their vulture while the management of the company believes in the practices that are conducted at the headquarter branch of the company in different country. It has been analyzed that the people from US in Germany finds it difficult to understand the gestures of the German employees working at the organization and the German employees have very negative attitude towards the expatriates coming from US. It is becoming very difficult for them to accept the US culture and practices.
Quantitative data results: in terms of quantitative research, it has been analyzed that the major challenges that are faced by the mangers is of communication gap between the people. The gestures or the non verbal communication is the major part that is being affected. It becomes difficult t for the people from different areas and culture to understand each other’s gestures and thus misunderstanding develops. Wal-Mart also fails to understand the preferences of the customers in Germany because the company has not involved the views of the local people but working as per the standards in US. Almost 80% of the total managers have suggested that non verbal communication gap needs to be reduced.
The overall conclusion suggests that culture affects and develops biasness amongst the leaders as well and thus they fail to manage the people, equally. That is what happened in Wal-Mart. It is required by the management of the company to hire more German people at the managerial positions so that they can include their local culture and beliefs in the company’s practices and the German staff of the company does not feel left out. It is important to respect each and every culture and thus the employees need to be educated regarding the fact that every culture has its own importance. Effective expatriates needs to be sent to the branch so that the home culture of the company can communicate to the local staff of Germany.
References:
Bernard, H.R. and Bernard, H.R., 2012. Social research methods: Qualitative and quantitative approaches. Sage.
Binder, J., 2016. Global project management: communication, collaboration and management across borders. Routledge.
Bowling, A., 2014. Research methods in health: investigating health and health services. McGraw-Hill Education (UK).
Bryman, A., 2015. Social research methods. Oxford university press.
Ferraro, G.P. and Briody, E.K., 2013. The cultural dimension of global business. Upper Saddle River: Pearson.
Fowler Jr, F.J., 2013. Survey research methods. Sage publications.
Hofstede, G., 2010. Geert hofstede. National cultural dimensions.
Hofstede, G., 2011. Dimensionalizing cultures: The Hofstede model in context. Online readings in psychology and culture, 2(1), p.8.
Liamputtong, P., 2009. Qualitative research methods.
Luthans, F. and Doh, J.P., 2018. International management: Culture, strategy, and behavior. McGraw-Hill.
Martin, J.N. and Nakayama, T.K., 2013. Intercultural communication in contexts. New York: NY: McGraw-Hill.
Mora, C., 2013. Cultures and organizations: Software of the mind intercultural cooperation and its importance for survival. Journal of Media Research, 6(1), p.65.
Morris, S.B., 2008. Book Review: Hunter, JE, & Schmidt, FL (2004). Methods of Meta-Analysis: Correcting Error and Bias in Research Findings . Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Organizational Research Methods, 11(1), pp.184-187.
Neuman, W.L., 2013. Social research methods: Qualitative and quantitative approaches. Pearson education.
Reisinger, Y. and Turner, L., 2012. Cross-cultural behaviour in tourism. Routledge.
Saunders, M.N., 2011. Research methods for business students, 5/e. Pearson Education India.
Sekaran, U. and Bougie, R., 2016. Research methods for business: A skill building approach. John Wiley & Sons.
Taylor, S.J., Bogdan, R. and DeVault, M., 2015. Introduction to qualitative research methods: A guidebook and resource. John Wiley & Sons.
Thomas, J.R., Silverman, S. and Nelson, J., 2015. Research methods in physical activity, 7E. Human kinetics.
Trompenaars, F. and Hampden-Turner, C., 2011. Riding the waves of culture: Understanding diversity in global business. Nicholas Brealey Publishing.
Tung, R.L., 2008. The cross-cultural research imperative: The need to balance cross-national and intra-national diversity. Journal of International Business Studies, 39(1), pp.41-46.
Yin, R.K., 2009. Case study research: Design and methods (applied social research methods). London and Singapore: Sage.
Zikmund, W.G., Babin, B.J., Carr, J.C. and Griffin, M., 2013. Business research methods. Cengage Learning.
Essay Writing Service Features
Our Experience
No matter how complex your assignment is, we can find the right professional for your specific task. Contact Essay is an essay writing company that hires only the smartest minds to help you with your projects. Our expertise allows us to provide students with high-quality academic writing, editing & proofreading services.
Free Features
Free revision policy
$10Free bibliography & reference
$8Free title page
$8Free formatting
$8How Our Essay Writing Service Works
First, you will need to complete an order form. It's not difficult but, in case there is anything you find not to be clear, you may always call us so that we can guide you through it. On the order form, you will need to include some basic information concerning your order: subject, topic, number of pages, etc. We also encourage our clients to upload any relevant information or sources that will help.
Complete the order form
Once we have all the information and instructions that we need, we select the most suitable writer for your assignment. While everything seems to be clear, the writer, who has complete knowledge of the subject, may need clarification from you. It is at that point that you would receive a call or email from us.
Writer’s assignment
As soon as the writer has finished, it will be delivered both to the website and to your email address so that you will not miss it. If your deadline is close at hand, we will place a call to you to make sure that you receive the paper on time.
Completing the order and download