Cross Cultural Management For USA And France

Cultural Differences Between USA and France

Discuss abou the Cross Cultural Management for USA and France.

Various countries experience different cultural backgrounds and differences. Every country has its code of conduct and practices that they identify with, the characteristics that their nationals can easily be identified with wherever they go. In this case, therefore, there exists an enormous cultural difference between the United States of America and their French counterparts. Given their geographical locations (one in Europe and another in North America), the cross- cultural management, which is a major factor in enhancing understanding between different cultures, is essential for the two countries (Adler 2008).

Firstly, regarding power distance, France is a higher power distance country as compared to the USA. The French leadership is stronger than the people under them meaning they rely so much on the orders of the top leaders for their crucial decisions as compared to the USA. France is one of the most hierarchical countries in Europe and North America combined. According to (Cebuc & Iosif 2008), the range of Power Distance scores of North American and European Union nations ranks France as the most hierarchical country while the USA is ranked down the middle among the moderate countries.

The leadership styles employed in both countries affects the operations of the national corporations to private organizations. Organizational set ups in France tend to favor a more downward approach of corporate structure, whereby the commands and instructions come from top most management and the ordinary people below the hierarchy ladder are responsible for execution and implementation of the organizational tasks. 

Secondly, France has higher uncertainty avoidance as compared to the USA.  Uncertainty avoidance refers the degree to which people within a society are threatened by unknown, risky, ambiguous and undefined circumstances (Neelankavil, Mathur & Zhang 2000). With this general feeling within the population, there develops an increased negativity and skepticism towards any new idea that does not appeal to the minds of the people.  According to (DiRienzo et al. 2007), in most societies with higher uncertainty avoidance levels, the people feel irritable under unpredictable situations, and this ultimately leads to lack of motivation in challenging the authority and these societies are characterized by high levels of corruption. This situation explains why some French quarters were so opposed to the idea of Euro Disneyland from the USA.

Another cultural difference between USA and France rests in their difference in ideologies. While most people in France believe in communism and collectivism, such thinking does not exist in the USA. The general perception of the French toward the USA and their ambitious Euro Disneyland program is all negative as they perceive it as a looting plan. The American people believe so much in individualism (Hofstede & Hofstede 2005). To them, increased individualism leads to greater output from a person. This is best explained by (Gorodnichenko & Roland 2010), that when individualism is increased, there is a subsequent increase in the percentage of the level of income.

Power Distance

And finally, Hofstede’s cultural dimension of Masculinity/ femininity clearly highlights cultural the differences between France and USA. USA’s society is mostly associated masculinity cultural dimension whereby it is much important to get recognized, having much wealth and high earnings. On the other side, the French are more familiar with the femininity cultural dimension whereby people are much interested in cooperating with one another, creating an environment which is less stressing and being friendly to one another (Hofstede 2011).

From Trompenaars’ research on cultural aspect, a lot can be derived that directly addresses the cultural difference between USA and France. While the USA has fully embraced universalism, their counterparts the French are more surrounded in particularism. Universalism involves versatile ideas and believes they are applicable everywhere in the world and can be well received without being modified, while particularism involves certain ideas that cannot be applied everywhere. According to (Lumby 2006), most Americans have a general perception that particularism decisions are corrupt and even immoral. With universalism, the USA has a general belief that it could venture anywhere believing that their ideas would be accepted by other societies. However, it is apparent that the French communist society was not ready to accommodate the ‘universalism’ ideas after they tried to oppose Euro Disneyland establishment in their country.

Another Trompenaars’ cultural dimension that highlights the cultural difference between USA and France is Individualism versus Communitarianism. The USA believes much in individualism. There is a general feeling in America that individualism encourages hard works, and improves personal income for the people within the society. The French society, on the other hand, is more into Communitarianism which means the people within the community takes care of one another’s needs. These societies are characterized by slow economic growth. But their pride rests in the fact that belonging to a particular group is more valued than having personal freedom and independence (Balan & Vreja 2013). These variations explain the French’s society reluctance in welcoming Euro Disneyland into their country.

Furthermore, another of cultural dimension highlighting the cultural difference between French society and the American society is the Specific versus Diffuse. In particular cultures, there is a clear line between work and an individual’s private life. This is more common in the USA, whereby people know what entails of their work and their privacy and people are more extroverted and outgoing. In diffuse cultures, the individuals are introverted, holistic and view various perspectives of their lives as paramount. In this cultural orientation, individuals’ personal life and professional life overlap and they believe that having a good relationship with one another is much more important (Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner 1997). The diffuse cultural orientation is standard with most of the French population; therefore the Specific Vs Diffuse cultural dimension highlights the disparity in cultural lives of USA and France.

Uncertainty Avoidance

Finally, Trompenaars’ Achievement versus Ascription cultural dimensions also explains the cultural differences between USA and France. Most Americans would associate with Achievement cultural orientation just because it entails awarding of persons based on the performance at the workplace. In this orientation, the individuals’ value is determined by how they perform and by their actions. On the other hand, the Ascription Orientation is most familiar with the French, whereby status doesn’t depend on performance or achievement, but it depends on who you are within the society.

For the people in achievement cultural orientation, titles, credentials, and honors matter the most because the whole efforts at the workplace are motivated by the potential success a person would earn. Culture is dynamic; it can change, and it can evolve. But it takes a significant amount of time for any culture to transform (Wycoff 2004). Therefore, it is much better to acknowledge and appreciate the different cultural dimensions in the global context.

The management of Euro Disneyland committed high profile mistakes in their operations of their French theme set up in France. They, first of all, undermined the idea of understanding cultural differences between the USA and France. Understanding the differences would have enabled the management to set up the theme in a more appealing manner to the French rather than trying to duplicate the universal American approach directly into France (Tompkins, Galbraith & Tompkins n.d.). From the theme’s set up to the Euro Disneyland management culture, there was a total omission of the French, and only US superiority shone at every level.

Secondly, the administration’s decision to not give the French people priority when it came to employment, further increased the negative perception of the French people towards the company. The management allowed employment of other foreign nationals which meant the French citizens were not given priority while the business was set up in their country. The top management itself consisted of majority Americans and much worse, Disney decided to place its first bids in English in a country completely dominated by French-speaking people. This left most nationals looking like foreigners in their country. There was a lack of cultural awareness; which is important when venturing into a new society (Fowers & Davidov 2006).

Finally, the Disney management further subjected the French national companies to the external competition from other foreign nations. They believed that the French companies did not just have direct access to the bids; they had to compete not just with themselves but with other foreign companies as well. This was more than less impressive gesture to the French, a situation which explains Disney’s insensitivity towards the code of conduct in a new society and lack of exercising cultural intelligence skills (Peterson 2004); (Chaney & Martin 2011).

Difference in Ideologies

Euro Disneyland’s most undoing part was not trying to understand the French population from a cultural point of view. What is best practiced in the USA is not necessarily best practiced somewhere else; therefore, they should have learned three key factors in dealing with diversity:

Every society differs from another in one way or another. The company should have realized that there is no guarantee what works best in the USA will always work best everywhere else. Appreciating societal differences and accepting them means embracing diversity; therefore Euro Disneyland Company should have completely given the French people the priority from the theme set up, to the language, job consideration, and bids for their companies.

Every society differs in many ways and to understand this means having social intelligence. Cultural Intelligence refers to the ability to exhibit certain traits and qualities which culturally conform to the values of others (Peterson 2004).  For one to live successfully in a certain culture, they have to adhere to the differences of that culture (Kawar 2012).

For successful operations within a new society with new cultural dimensions, adapting to their practices and beliefs is the first step towards integrating with them hence facilitating favorable mutual coexistence. Euro Disneyland company was too reluctant to adjust to the full French culture which was a seemingly unwise move. 

References

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Cebuc, G & Iosif, L-C 2008, ‘Cultural Diversity In The European Business Environment EU-US Comparison’, Romanian Economic and Business Review , vol III, no. 1, pp. 18-33.

Chaney, LH & Martin, JS 2011, Intercultural business communication, 5th edn, Prentice Hall.

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Lumby, J 2006, ‘International perspectives on leadership and management’, Management in Education, vol 20, no. 4, pp. 7-10.

Neelankavil, JP, Mathur, A & Zhang, Y 2000, ‘Determinants of Managerial Performance: A Cross-Cultural Comparison of the Perceptions of Middle-Level Managers in Four Countries’, Journal of International Business Studies, vol I, no. 31, pp. 121-140.

Peterson, B 2004, Cultural intelligence: A guide to working with people from other cultures, Intercultural Press, Yarmouth, ME.

Tompkins, D, Galbraith, D & Tompkins, P, ‘Universalism, Particularism and cultural self-awareness: a comparison of American and Turkish university students ‘, Journal of International Business and Cultural Studies , pp. 1-8.

Trompenaars, F & Hampden-Turner, C 1997, Riding the Waves of Culture: Understanding Cultural Diversity in Business, 2nd edn, Nicholas Brealey Publishing Limited, London and Santa Rosa.

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