The report gives an overview of cross-cultural management from the perspective of an expatriate. Cross-cultural management involves the management of the work teams in a manner that consider differences in the preferences, culture and practices of the consumers in the global or the international business context (Thomas & Peterson, 2017). Here, the report put forward the description of an interview of an expatriate along with a brief description of the interview in terms of sex, age, country and the educational background. An expatriate represents an individual living in the country other than his or her native country either temporarily or for work related reasons. In other words, expatriate represents an individual who surrenders the citizenship of the home country for becoming a citizen of another country. The report also puts across a personal reactions and feelings formed after the interview. The report also portrays a discussion about the learning from the course of the interview and the aspects that relates to the studies.
The person interviewed for this report was Andiev Michael. The interviewee was a male and was thirty-four years old. The interviewee was an IT expert who was responsible for looking after the IT department in one of the subsidiaries of Singtel, known an Optus, located in Australia (optus.com.au, 2018). Presently he has been working as an expatriate in Singtel Singapore (singtel.com, 2018). The company also known as Singapore Telecommunications Limited represents one of the largest operators of mobile network in Singapore with close to 4.1 million subscribers (singtel.com, 2018). The company has a massive overseas network that helped the interviewee in gaining a global exposure that proved invaluable in turning the person into a better human being. He has been working as an expatriate in Singtel for the last one year and the ride has not been quite smooth. However, he continues to stay on since he wants to be part of the wave of the exciting challenges that the company has to offer. Singtel helps in maximizing the career development in shortest possible time as it put forward necessary support to the people for their career growth. Further, the company also offered a talent exchange program (singtel.com, 2018).
“After working for Optus for about a year, I shifted to Singtel Singapore as an expatriate where as an IT expert I was given the sole responsibility of heading the IT department. The biggest challenge for me as an expat has been the differences in the cultures. Since different cultures have own beliefs, norms, values and practice.”
“When I was told about the shift I prepared myself to face challenges in terms of language, security and safety, depression and loneliness and the various local adjustments”.
“The initial few days were really challenging since I was in an emotional disoriented state due to the unfamiliar new environment. The culture shock resulted in an abrupt loss of familiarity, loss of identity and a feeling of isolation (Tait, De Cieri & McNulty, 2014). The new culture somehow gave me a feeling of the loss of the familiar cues that I have lived with all my life”
“In Australia hierarchy exists for convenience and the superiors and the managers have remained accessible relying on the teams and the individual employees for expertise. However, in Singapore I have seen more centralization of power where the managers rely on the rules and the instructions of the bosses (Zhang, 2013). Employees also wait for instructions. Here communication is indirect and there is selective flow of information.”
“The best thing about the Singapore is the mix of talent and the work ethic. I am very new to the culture so I am yet to understand and experience it yet. The harder work ethics leads to the creation of an exciting dynamic (Warner, 2014)”
“The first six months has been like a stance since I still had many things to learn and adapt. This I was explaining to a friend lately that even after six months I was unable to have a feeling like a home. It however takes a long time in settling down and changing your mindset”.
“Yes, I was introduced to the local culture by one of my ex colleagues who has been residing in the country for some time. I came to know from him that the local are not only open but also friendly towards the diverse culture. Singapore also has a culture that allows making friends. This helped me in getting an overview of the culture and make quicker adjustments.”
“Initially the people were quite apprehensive about me although they perceived me with a friendly gesture. In fact, I found quite an easy acceptance amongst your co-workers and received all the necessary support”.
“I share very positive relationship with my coworkers and try to make the job more productive and enjoyable.”
“As Singapore is a clean, safe and well ordered country so the reaction of my family has always extended a supporting hand towards my stay in Singapore. However, the climate bothered them since the country has always been uncomfortably hot”.
“Although I am not very social but whenever I do, I like spending time with both my local expat colleagues.”
“I am responsible for managing a team of thirty members so on a particular day I need to interact with at least eight to ten coworkers in order to guide and instruct them”
“Supervision in the host country has been has been unique due to the centralization of the power (Zhou, 2014). Here employees need to be directed and attitude towards the managers remained formal which is quite unlike my home country”.
“I have changed as a person since I have learnt to become more sensitive towards different culture and customs and at the same time build rapport with clients and colleagues. I have also learnt to value personal relationships”
“I would advice a friend to choose a central place for living so that it is easier for him to view interesting places. I would also ask him to find group for socializing and plan on using excellent trains, buses and taxis for getting around (Leggett, 2013). Lastly, besides this I will ask him to visit other countries from Singapore and eat, as food is safe, delicious and reasonable.”
On the personal level as an expatriate, I would have thought and felt similar to the experiences of the interviewee since one of the key challenges for an expat remains in adapting to the cultural differences. Each culture has its own values, beliefs, norms and practice. In addition, I would also have faced challenges in missing my own support network and adapting to the different business environment and culture. I would have trouble in making new friends and would not have a professional network. There would also be hurdles like language barrier and trouble related to settling down. Settling down in a new culture will also involve substantial effort. In other words, moving abroad will have an impact on the mental and the psychological health.
The interview is analyzed based on cross-cultural comparison between countries put forward by Hoftstede based on five dimensions like power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, long-term orientation and indulgence.
In terms of power distance, Singapore stands a score of 74 with a centralization of power in comparison to Australia that a score of 36 representing the distribution of the power as per the convenience (Hofstede, 2013). This fact visible in the excerpts of the interview mentioned above.
In terms of individualism, Singapore has a lower score of 20 thereby representing a moral basis that possesses priority over the fulfillment of the task (Triandis, 2018). Australia on the other hand has a score of 90 which implies that in the business world the employees not only display initiative but are also self reliant. Through the interview one can also visualize the aspect.
In terms of masculinity, Singapore stands at a score of 48 compared to Australia whose score is 61. Here people are more modest and humble and avoid conflicts in the workplace compared to Australia where people remain proud of their achievements and success (Cheng, Yeoh & Zhang, 2015). This aspect is however not clearly put forward by the interview.
In terms of uncertainty avoidance, Singapore has a score of 8 representing the fact that the people abide by various rules and is unable to take instant action in comparison to Australia that has an intermediate score of 51(de Bellis et al., 2015). This aspect has been visible in the interview mentioned in the report
In the aspect of long term orientation, Singapore stands at a higher score of 72 thereby representing the fact that cultural qualities provides motivation for long term investment in comparison to Australia having a score of 21 representing the strive for the quick results (Arli & Tjiptono, 2014). This dimension is also portrayed in the interview mentioned.
In terms of indulgence, Singapore has an intermediate score of 46 compared to Australia is an indulgent country and has a score close to 71 thereby representing optimism and the positive attitude of the people. The Australians also prefers in socializing. The interview also talks about the extent of socialization in Singapore.
Figure 1: Graphical Representation of Hofstede Country Comparison
Source: (Helmreich & Merritt, 2017)
Conclusion:
The report ends by providing an analytical overview of the interview in the context of the Hoftstede model. The report also has a section portraying the self reflection of the interviewer whether he/she thinks on similar lines. The report also put forward the interview process of an Australian expatriate to Singapore. There is also a brief description of the interview in the context of the various aspects.
References:
Arli, D., & Tjiptono, F. (2014). The end of religion? Examining the role of religiousness, materialism, and long-term orientation on consumer ethics in Indonesia. Journal of Business Ethics, 123(3), 385-400.
Cheng, Y. E., Yeoh, B. S., & Zhang, J. (2015). Still ‘breadwinners’ and ‘providers’: Singaporean husbands, money and masculinity in transnational marriages. Gender, Place & Culture, 22(6), 867-883.
de Bellis, E., Hildebrand, C., Ito, K., & Herrmann, A. (2015). Cross-national differences in uncertainty avoidance predict the effectiveness of mass customization across East Asia: a large-scale field investigation. Marketing Letters, 26(3), 309-320.
Helmreich, R. L., & Merritt, A. C. (2017). Culture at work in aviation and medicine: National, organizational and professional influences. Routledge.
Hofstede, G. (2013). Hierarchical power distance in forty countries. Organizations Alike and Unlike, ed. CJ Lammers and DJ Hickson (L Hoobler, JM, & Brass, DJ (2006). Abusive supervision and family undermining as displaced aggression. Journal of Applied Psychology, 91 (5), 1125. ondon: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1979), 97-119.
Leggett, C. (2013). Workforce development and skills formation in Singapore: developing and augmenting talent(Vol. 118, pp. 89-114). Routledge.
optus.com.au (2018). [online] Available at: https://www.optus.com.au/ [Accessed 22 Jun. 2018].
singtel.com (2018). [online] Available at: https://www.singtel.com/ [Accessed 22 Jun. 2018].
singtel.com (2018). [online] Available at: https://www.singtel.com/about-us [Accessed 22 Jun. 2018].
singtel.com (2018). [online] Available at: https://www.singtel.com/about-us/careers/professionals [Accessed 22 Jun. 2018].
Tait, E., De Cieri, H., & McNulty, Y. (2014). The opportunity cost of saving money: An exploratory study of permanent transfers and localization of expatriates in Singapore. International Studies of Management & Organization, 44(3), 80-95.
Thomas, D. C., & Peterson, M. F. (2017). Cross-cultural management: Essential concepts. Sage Publications.
Triandis, H. C. (2018). Individualism and collectivism. Routledge.
Warner, M., 2014. Culture and management in Asia. Routledge.
Zhang, Y. (2013). Expatriate development for cross-cultural adjustment: Effects of cultural distance and cultural intelligence. Human Resource Development Review, 12(2), 177-199.
Zhou, Y. M. (2014). Supervising across borders: The case of multinational hierarchies. Organization Science, 26(1), 277-29
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