Cross cultural management definitions Free Essay Example

Cultural self-awareness – an understanding of their own cultural assumptions and tatters of behavior; Cross-cultural awareness -? an understanding of the others cultures’ assumptions and patterns of behavior. Roman dictum “knowledge is power”: In knowing yourself you gain power over your perceptions and reactions; you can control your own behavior and your reactions to others’ behavior. 3. Organizational Culture vs..

National Culture Many managers believe that organizational culture moderates or erases the influence of national culture; Assume that employees working for the same organization – even If they come from different countries – will behave similarly.

False opposition; employees and managers bring their cultural background and ethnicity to the workplace. Studies of Laurent and Egger Hefted (research documents a wide range of cultural differences in work related values, attitudes) who pronounced cultural differences among employees from all around the world working in multinational companies.

When working for multinational companies, German become more German, Americans more American and so on. 4. Fatalism/ Choice Fatalism is the concept that everything that happens to us is unavoidable, either because It Is all predetermined by fate or because it Is simply beyond us to control.

Free will (choice) Is the belief that human beings can make their own choices and determine their own destinies. To coexist. Murphy reminds us that we’re likely to mess up a lot of the time, but it also helps us see that we’re not in complete control of our lives.

For example, if it seems like you always get stuck in the slowest lane of traffic, Murphy’s Law can help you see that it is a combination of your own choices (choosing what time of day to drive, what road to take, which lane to enter) and forces beyond your control (the traffic itself) that cause your delay.

5. Dominance vs.. Harmony Dominance = cultural dominance (in business) – continuing to use approaches you use at home; used when managers believe that their way is the only right way, especially in situations involving ethical decisions.

Dominant over nature (as North Americans) or in harmony with it (Chinese people with fen Shush or “wind water” – there is no real separation between people and their natural environment, they leave in peace with it) Dominant cultures (America) – approach to agriculture – they use pesticides, fertilizers and genetically modified seeds to increase crop yields; other ex: astronauts’ nonusers the space, biotechnology and genetic engineering to alter the nature of life itself. Harmony – approach to agriculture – plant the “right” crops in the “right” places at the “right” time of the year in order to maintain the soil in good conditions.

When Sir Edmund Hillary reached the top of the Everest: Dominance oriented press : “Men conquers mountain” Harmony-oriented press – “Man befriends mountains” 6. Advantages and Disadvantages of Parochialism Parochialism: view the world solely through one’s own eyes and perspective; a person with parochial perspective neither recognizes other people’s different ways of vying and working, nor appreciates that such differences can offer significant opportunities or creates serious consequences.

Advantages: As example, America has a large domestic market, so that the global business expertise is unnecessary; English will continue to be a language of international business; Disadvantages: No understanding on how to manage in an international environment; As an example, Americans think about themselves that they do not need to learn other language or to go to other country to succeed in business; No efficiency in working with other cultures or in a multicultural environment; Cultural misunderstandings; . Conservatism vs.. Liberalism equality for all.

It is the duty of the government to alleviate social ills and to protect civil liberties and individual and human rights. Believe the role of the government should be to guarantee that no one is in need. Liberal policies generally emphasize the need for the government to solve problems. Conservative cultures – believe in personal responsibility, limited government, free markets, individual liberty, traditional American values and a strong national defense. Believe the role of government should be to provide people the freedom necessary to pursue their own goals.

Conservative policies generally emphasize empowerment of the individual to solve problems. 8. Substitutable Values/ Unique Values Presented in Metaphysics of Morals written by Emmanuel Kant, 9. Career Anchors According to Edgar Scheme, he has identified eight themes and has shown that people will have prioritize preferences for these. People tend to stay anchored in one area and their career will echo this in many ways. 1. Technical/functional competence – this kind of person likes being good at smith and will work to become an expert. . General Managerial competence – persons who like problem-solving and dealing with people; 3. Autonomy/luminescence – people who have a primary need to work under their own rules; avoid standards and prefer to work alone; 4. Security/ Stability – people who seek stability and security; avoid risks; 5. Entrepreneurial Creativity – people who like to invent things, to be creative and run their own businesses; they easily get bored; 6. Service/Dedication to cause – how people can help other people by using their talents; 7.

Pure Challenge – seek constant stimulation and difficult problems; change Job when get bored; 8. Lifestyle 10. Kinesics Is the interpretation of body language such as facial expressions and gestures -? r, more formally, non-verbal behavior related to movement, either of any part of the body or the body as a whole. Seaman and Ferries (1969) in their seminal work on kinesics classify kinesics into five Categories: emblems, illustrators, affect displays, regulators and adapters: a) Emblems = are non-verbal messages that have a verbal counterpart.

For example, the British sign for Victory (forefinger and middle finger erect) symbolizes the letter V, a sign for victory often seen painted onto house walls during WI. However, the same movement may symbolize the number two in the US and may be seen as insulting in Australia. B) Illustrators = are used to illustrate what is being said. In terms of business communication, the importance of illustrator’s usage is quite significant. For example, in some Asian cultures extensive use of illustrators are often interpreted as construed as a lack of interest. ) Active Displays = are body or facial movements that display a certain affective state, as example, emotions. D) Regulators = non-verbal signs that regulate, modulate and maintain the flow of speech during conversation. E) Adaptors = postural changes and other movements at a low level of awareness. 11 . Proteomics Proteomics or the use of space has a great impact on the intercultural communications. The important aspect of proteomics is that areas very close to our body is usually reserved for people we are intimate with, whereas space further away from our body is open to persons one is less intimate with.

However some differences can be seen when studying certain cultures. For example, persons from Latin cultures sit closer to each other as are people from Northern European cultures. The importance of proteomics in business communication is important for a number of reasons: through the distance that is hoses when communicating to one another, people express their degree of intimacy and trust towards that person. 12. Chronics Chronics – is the cross cultural concept of time.

Edward Hall identified two systems used to refer to time and its influence on society: polyphonic and monochromatic. Polyphonic used to describe the preference for doing several things at once (people-oriented; Italy, Brazil; flexible approach of time; no strict agenda) Monochromatic refers to an individual’s preference to do their activities one by one (U. S. Or Germany prefer promptness, careful planning and rigid commitment to Lana; task-oriented) While doing business in other countries, you should consider the different perceptions of time people might have.

Everyday global business activities such as scheduling meetings, participating in conference calls or planning a project can be affected by attitudes to time. 13. Chromatics 14. Elaborate Vs.. Succinct Verbal Styles These verbal stylistic variations describe De quantity of talk in everyday conversations in different cultures. Adjectives describing a noun, exaggerations, idiomatic expressions, proverbs and metaphors. Used in Middle East cultures such as Iran, Egypt, Saudi-Arabia, which are iterate in Hypotheses I-JAG dimension and are highlighted cultures.

Succinct Verbal Style = high context and high uncertainty avoidance cultures; explicit verbal communication does not contain all the information which is supposed to be transmitted; depends heavily on non-verbal aspect, so that verbal message is considered only a part of communication (due to high context cultures). Ex. : Japanese (have developed herbage or the “art of the belly’ for meeting the minds without clear verbal interaction. 15. Cultural Representations of Good and Evil Cultures perceive differently the good and the evil.

Americans see people as a mixture of good and evil, they believe in the possibility of improvement through change. Some other cultures see people as basically evil (Puritans orientation). Others see people as basically good (Utopian societies). Societies that consider people good tend to trust them a great deal, whereas societies that consider people evil tend to suspect and mistrust them. Ex: the study case from the book, in which a young Canadian was employed at a restaurant owned by a Bosnian.

The owner let the young employee alone in a room where the money for the wages were deposited, n the situation in which, the owner of the restaurant didn’t know any information about the new employee. 16. Advantages and Disadvantages of Team Diversity – multicultural teams have the potential to achieve higher productivity than homogeneous teams; – more and better ideas; – limited corrupting – multicultural teams have the risk of experiencing greater losses due to faulty process. – attitudinal problems – dislike and mistrust between members (Indians look down when acknowledging authority). Stereotyping – communication problems – inaccuracy, misinterpretations and inefficiency – stress the French want to discuss principles and historical precedent while Americans focus on specific details of the immediate situation) – decreased effectiveness; 17. Religion and Work-Related Values Work Related Values – the impact of national culture on the work-related attitudes was analyzed by Egger Hefted in the “Culture’s Consequences: International Differences in Work-Related Values”.

It stated that the cross-cultural values in an employment context may be highly influenced by the following 5 cultural dimensions: 18. Cultural Orientations Assumptions Those assumptions allow us to understand the cultural orientations of a society thou doing an injustice to the diversity within the society. These assumptions emphasize that cultural descriptions always refer to the norm or stereotype; they never reflect the behavior of all people in the culture.

There are 6 assumptions: Each society must decide how to clothe, feed, house, decide on systems of Justice, communication, education, health, government. There are a limited number of alternatives for dealing with problems. All alternatives are present at all societies at all times, but some are preferred over others. Each society has a dominant profile. For example, people may cure disease through many was but Chinese prefer acupuncture, British prefer chemotherapy, Christian Scientist prefer prayer. There is a rank of preference for alternatives.

In societies undergoing change, the ordering of preferences will not be clearest. 19. Affective Vs.. Instrumental Verbal Styles These dimensions refer to how and to which extent language is used in verbal exchange in order to persuade the interlocutor. Instrumental Verbal Style = is goal-oriented in verbal exchange and employs a sender-oriented language. Speaker and listener are clearly differentiated. The speaker tries to persuade his or her listener in a confrontational setting with arguments in the step-by-step process; is dominant in individualistic, low-context cultures.

Affective Verbal Style = is process-oriented in verbal exchange and uses a receiver- oriented language; the speaker is not only expected to transmit his or her message, but at the same time to be “considerate about other’s feelings”; be aware of the listener’s reactions, to interpret them and finally to adjust himself or herself to his or her listener; the affective style is dominant in collectivist, high-context cultures. 20. Cross-cultural Perceptions and Misconceptions Perception = the process by which individuals select, organize and evaluate tumuli from external environment to provide meaningful experiences for themselves.

Perceptual patterns are selective, learned, culturally determined, consistent and inaccurate. (ex: Mexican and American children – see simultaneous bullfight/baseball game pictures) Misconception = altered perception of things, due to stereotypes or due to the fact that once we see a phenomenon in a particular way, we usually continue to see that in the same way. To succeed, corporations must develop global strategies. Focusing on global strategies and management approaches from the perspective of people and culture allows us to understand the influence of national and ethnic cultures on organizational functioning. 2. Trust across Cultures The ability to build trust across cultures is an important interpersonal skill. Trust is understood by researchers to be a psychological state in which vulnerability is accepted based upon the positive expectations of the intentions or behavior of another. Research on trust indicates that it is important in improving the quality of work performance, problem solving, and communication, and can positively affect employee citizenship behavior and commitment.

Trust also can improve work legislations and the organization’s ability to adapt to complexity and change. Trust also plays an important role in all forms of alliances, in customer-organization relationships, and in mergers and acquisitions. Trust is rooted in personal relationships among individuals and is based on perceived competence, benevolence, and integrity. The World Values Survey and other research indicate that trust varies across cultures, in that individuals from different cultures may have different propensities to trust.

Members of cross-cultural teams find that building trust is challenging. Team members with differing orientations toward trust and there values may form cultural subgroups whose interactions reinforce cultural stereotypes. 23. Low Context Cultures Edward Hall – “Beyond culture” Logical, linear, individualistic, and action-oriented Value logic, facts, and directness Societies where people tend to have many connections but of shorter duration or for some specific reason.

Solving a problem means lining up the facts and evaluating one after another Decisions are based on fact rather than intuition Communicators are expected to be straightforward, concise, and efficient in telling what action is expected Rule oriented, people play by external rules Language precision and legal documents Use precise words and intend them to be taken literally Knowledge is more often transferable Task-centered. Decisions and activities focus around what needs to be done, division of responsibilities Ex: Germany, North America, I-J, Western Europe; 24.

High Context Cultures Societies or groups where people have close connections over a long period of time Emphasize interpersonal relationships Developing trust is an important first step to any business transaction Less verbally explicit communication, less written/formal information These cultures are electives, preferring group harmony and consensus to individual achievement Less governed by reason than by intuition or feelings Tends to be more indirect and more formal Words are not so important as context, which might include the speaker’s tone of voice, facial expression, gestures, posture Strong boundaries- who is accepted as belonging vs. who is considered an “outsider” Decisions and activities focus around personal face-to-face relationships Flowery language, humility, and elaborate apologies are typical. Ex: India, Italy, Latin Americans, Chinese, Japanese,Spanish. 25. Universally Accepted Leadership Traits As organizations disperse globally, they have come to realize that leadership is a skill that most people need, not Just a requirement of a few people at the top. Globally, a company’s success is clearly linked to the emotional intelligence of its leaders. Emotional intelligence is a set of five individual and social competencies including self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy and social skills. Each competency is critical to effective leadership.

Self-awareness – is the “ability’ to recognize and understand your moods, emotions as well as their effects on other people. Self-regulation – is the “ability’ to control or redirect disruptive impulses and moods along with the propensity to suspend Judgment – to think before acting. Motivation – a passion to work for reasons that go beyond money or status and a propensity to pursue goals with energy and persistence. Empathy – the “ability’ to understand the emotional makeup of other people and it is skill in treating people according to their emotional reactions. Social skill – a proficiency in managing relationships and building networks along with the “ability’ to find common ground and to build rapport. 26.

Culturally Bound Leadership Traits In USA, many leaders assume that people’s basic physiological needs for safety and security have been met and that therefore only opportunities to satisfy higher-order needs will motivate most people. Most leaders in USA believe that the majority of the people who work for them want to develop interpersonal relationships characterized by trust and open communication. In China, there are 2 types of managers. The first type, experts who possessed extensive technical expertise, tended to use a more controlling approach to get things done. The second type, leaders who possessed ore political and ideological expertise and who were more skilled in managing people, tended to use a more inclusive approach. 27. Contextual Vs.. Personal Verbal Styles Cultures have different assumptions about values.

This fact is also reflected in their style of speaking. Members of individualistic, low-context cultures tend to see every example prefer a first-name basis and direct address. Using titles, honorifics etc is avoided. They are conscious about equalizing their language and their interpersonal relations. Differences of age, status and sex are no reasons to use different language styles. Therefore they use in their speech the personal style which reflects an egalitarian social order where both, speaker and listener, have the same rights and both use the same language patterns. A person-oriented language stresses informality and symmetrical power relationships.

In contrast, members of collectivist, high-context cultures find themselves during a conversation in certain roles which can depend on the status of the interlocutors. The contextual style is heavily based on a hierarchical social order and is a rather role-centered language. According to Kabob, the Japanese language can be seen as a status-oriented engage which stresses formality and asymmetrical power relationships. 28. “Here Be Dragons” “Here Be Dragons” is a sentence used in the Middle Age by locals. They used to place a board with this sentence in areas where they thought there were dragons. In others words, for them those areas were very dangerous and you should not go there because you could get heart. Nowadays, this sentence is found in the perception of Americans upon the world.

The world according to America is very interesting; they place themselves as the best (parochialism) and see themselves as the land of the free and the land of the brave. They see Mexicans as smelly people wearing big hats and Cubans, Chinese, Russians as communists. However, the Americans see South America and Africa as “Here be dragons” areas, where in their perception, there is no civilization and people eat each other there. 29. Cultural Perceptions of Time Past oriented cultures believe that plans should be evaluated in terms of their fit with the customs, traditions and the historic wisdom of society and that innovation and change are Justified only to the extent that they fit with past experience.

Many Europeans believe that preserving history and conserving past traditions remain important. Future oriented cultures Justify innovation and change mostly in terms of future economic benefits; they have less regard for the past. North Americans do not give tradition importance. They focus on the present and near future. 30. Cultural Intelligence Cultural intelligence refers to a person’s capabilities to adapt effectively to new cultural contexts. The three aspects of cultural intelligence – cognitive, motivational and behavioral – help to explain motivation as well as other managerial behaviors. Cognitive aspects include thinking, learning and straightening. They explain how we learn to think.

CLC helps us to understand how our perceptions can aid our cross- cultural understanding when faced with new situations. Motivational aspects include effectiveness, confidence, persistence, value congruence and the level of affinity or attraction toward a new culture. It explains how strongly we hold our particular cultural values and norms toward a new culture. Behavioral aspects include a person’s range of possible actions and responses that can be used in intercultural Were To Start Anew, I Would Start From Culture” dean Monnet) These words are doted more and more often to suggest that the fathers and founders admitted to themselves late in life that they had taken the wrong road.

They are invoked as a denunciation of a materialist Europe, a Europe without soul, without flesh and without savor. This is the Europe of merchants, the Europe of grocers. The words of]. Monnet have led me to two conclusions. The first is that we should congratulate ourselves that the construction of Europe has started from culture: it is good we have started from economy in the construction of Europe, and it would have been presumptuous of us to have started with culture. It would have been presumptuous, for Europe and culture are not things merely to be invented. We had to wait until after the Second World War to lay the foundations of a single European culture. That culture exist as long as there are intellectuals, novelists, and artists.