Cultural Clusters And Local Economic Development

Cultural Diversity

Discuss about the Cultural Clusters and Local Economic Development.

Cultural diversity and cross cultures plays a vital role as it defines the variety of human societies or culture of a particular region, state or country in the world or as a whole. United Kingdom is one of the most attractive countries now days and favorite place for many tourists, for foreign investors who wants to invest their money. But due to low cross cultural operations, the country fails to achieve success. There are various aspects on which the difference of culture is explained that is communication styles, language, clothing, food, rituals, myths, cultures, tradition, festivals, etc. communication is a big difference as it creates misunderstandings. The culture diversities may become an advantage but sometimes it becomes inconvenient too. So, it can be said that the behaviors of different people in the company can be the point of difference that can be a positive factors or negative factors (McDougall, and Oviatt, 2000).

In this study, the main focus is on the culture diversities of Saudi Arabia and United Kingdom. It is observed that there are significant difference between the two nations, the contrasting behavior and nature of both the countries made them totally different from each other. The discussion will be on the similarities and differences in the organizational culture and also in the managerial process of both the countries. There are various challenges and issues faced by the international managers of both the countries while working in cross culture and diverse world. They have to manage the decision making, international headship theories, etc. (Javidan, Dorfman, De Luque, and House, 2006)

The culture of Saudi Arabia is founded by Islamic religion that is very old and strict. This is the reason due to which there are many difference between the culture of Saudi Arabia and UK. The culture of Saudi Arabia is polychromic society. The people of this society and involve in many things at a time as they adopt flexible time period. They can change the plans and activities easily (Tsui, 2004).

The culture of United Kingdom is very much influenced by the history of UK. And it is developed by the country of island. The country is very much prominent in television, philosophy, science, technology, etc. there was a revolution in the industry sector of the country that affected the culture of United Kingdom. As a result of that revolution, the socio-culture of the country was changed. The influence of this country is on the entire world. The language of this country has become an international language. United Kingdom is one of the most attractive countries now days and favorite place for many tourists, for foreign investors who wants to invest their money. The culture of this country is very distinctive and different from all the nations of the world (Amabile, et.al. 2001).

Culture Affects on Different Countries

Basis of difference	Saudi Arabia	United kingdom
Orientation	·         The culture has a great impact on the orientation of the employee’s working in the company.	·         The orientation of this country is very strict.
Communication	·         The communication of the employees and managers are very formal and flow from top to bottom level.	·         The language spoken here is English. They want to promote their language to entire world. ·         The communication of this country is very effective and impressive. There is generally informal flow of communication takes place between the superior and subordinates. ·         The employees and personnel of this country are very frank and flexible in communication skills.
Decision -making	·         The process of decisions making is very important ·         The decision making of this country is takes place through mutual decision making ·         The leaders and managers of this country are very flexible and give importance to the ideas and views of the other people. They entertain the views and ethics of other cultures (Kramer, 2001).	·         The process of decision making is in the hand of top level authority. They are the whole sole decision maker of the country. As the ruler of this country is an autocratic leader. So the entire country is following the autocratic style of leadership and decision making (Yamazaki, and Kayes, 2004).

There are both similarities and differences in the two countries United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia. There is determined orientation between both the countries. There are significant ways that are used by managers   of both the countries. It is not compulsory that everyone can understand the similarity and dissimilarity between the cultures. The major similarity between both the countries is that both are kingdoms”. However Saudi Arabia is headed by king Abdullah and United Kingdom is headed by Elizabeth the second. In united kingdom there is an elected prime minister who rule the country while in Saudi Arabia the king himself is the ruling prime minister of the country. The other similarities are that the education patterns of both the countries are almost same like for the subjects, math, science, and physics (Scullion, and Collings, 2011).

The organizational culture of the countries depends on the organization and the kind of work takes place in the same.  Similarly, the managerial styles of the country depend on the organization. They are interrelated to each other. It is the fact that no country’s managerial and organizational styles are similar yet different to each other. They are purely dependant on the working  of the organization, the kind of business performed by the organization, number of employees, size of the business, etc. in this way, it is very difficult to define the managerial and organizational qualities of Saudi Arabia and united kingdom separately. Instead of this, the trend is that multinational companies are following the same organizational and managerial theories in their organizations to have competitive advantage. To cope up with the diversified cultures, the companies are trying to adopt the policies used by the other companies and the competitors present in the market. In this way, it is said that these countries and their organizations are applying the same theories and strategies in the growth and development of the companies.

The education system of United Kingdom is divided among the two education system that is schooling and home education. Home education is for the students who belong to rich and king’s family. For other students the education system is similar. This kind of home education system does not applied in Saudi Arabia. There are schools for all types of students (Kirkman, and Shapiro, 2001).

In UK, males and females het the education together but in Saudi Arabia, the males and females attended completely seprated schools and colleagues. The employement rate for the females in Saudi Arabia is very less as compared to UK. In Saudi Arabia, the women want to stay at home and take care of children and household. While in UK, almost every women is well educated and working. Even the non- working women, join the market of labor. The religion of not the countries is also different a sin UK the religion is Christianity and in Saudi Arabia, the religion is Islamic (Tsui, Nifadkar, and Ou, 2007).

Similarities between the Both Countries Organizational and Managerial Cultures

Global leadership and international business management-

The managers of both the countries who are working in cross culture have to manage between the diverse environments. There are various aspects like handling meetings, intercultural communication, intercultural challenges, problem solving, decision making, etc. (Kirkman, Chen, Farh, Chen, and Lowe, 2009)

Working virtually across the different cultures

There is a requirement of managing and making strategies and policies to manage the international teams, emails, audio, video conferencing, etc. (Bhagat, Kedia, Harveston, and Triandis, 2002)

Preparing for overseas assignments-

An international manager has to prepare himself for the international assignments that he has to do in future. There are several workshops, related to minimize the “culture shock”. They have to face different societies and their rituals. They have to prepare assignments and projects for different cultures and for that they need to study the cultures (Irani, Beskese, and Love, 2004).

Marketing and negotiation on international level-

To achieve and international outcomes, the managers have to tackle with various types of marketing and negotiating techniques. They learn how to manage in international markets of various countries. Like in Saudi Arabia, there is a trend to wish the other party by bending infront of them whether they are younger or older than you (David, and Fahey, 2000).

There are some key skills that are must in international managers’ that will be mentioned in this study. He must have the skills regarding Recruitment, performance appraisal, mentoring, motivation and counseling of team and employees. In order to build more effective teams, the managers must be eligible in resolving of internal and external tension and issues. He should conduct meeting timely so that he is able to draw positive results o cultural diversity. He has the skills to achieve creativity from the team members by encouraging them to participate and has the capability to resolve the inter-department problem. He must design coaching and training schemes and also metrics of the training impact. He must have good control on all the policies and strategies framed out by the same (Cooke, and Lazzeretti, 2008).

Style	Best use	Strengths	Weaknesses
Autocratic	It is best used in the situations where the crises are raised and there is need of quick decisions without any dissent	The efficiency is incredible Decision takes place in very less time The work get easily done	Sometimes, the employees and team manners are feel neglected Poor behavior of leaders Leads to high turnover and absenteeism
Delegated	It is most usable in the working teams and groups as it is the essential part. It helps in productivity and efficiency of the individuals (Nazroo, 2003).	It provides highly job satisfaction They are also productive The members are involved in decision so they feel valued Staff members remained engaged Creativity is also engaged (Kozulin, 2003).	The process of decision making is slow Hinders the situation where fast decision and efficiency is required The team members may work without any expertise to provide high-quality input

The difference between leadership style in united kingdom and Saudi Arabia is that in this country the types of leadership is autocratic while in united kingdom the type of leadership style is democratic or delegated style. It is the fact that delegated styles is better than democratic (Fiske, 2005).

The relationship of superiors and subordinates is very delicate and sensitive as there are many conflicts and negotiation takes place between both f them. The superiors-subordinate relations of all the countries are almost similar. It depends on the bond and relation between the two parties. The meaning of superiors-subordinate relation refers to the way of communications and interactions takes place between the two parties like leaders or managers and their subordinates like team memes or groups (Boyd, and Crawford, 2012).

Dissimilarities between the Both Countries Organizational and Managerial Cultures

In both the countries, the flow of communication stakes place from top to lower lever. There are two types of communication that is satisfactory upward and downward. The international managers of the company are very smart is performing their roles and how to manage the combination system in the organization. The main motive of communication is to promote openness and to build bond between the superior and subordinates. It helps in maintaining relationship between them (Veletsianos, and Kimmons, 2012).

In order to have effective cross cultural management in the organization, the managers have to manage an effective system. There are various approaches in which the managers have to manage the cross cultures of the countries like Saudi Arabia and United Kingdom (Garcia-Ramon, 2003).

The theories of cross cultural management help the companies to cope up with the challenges and issues faced by the companies while doing transactions in the international markets. They are purely dependant on the working  of the organization, the kind of business performed by the organization, number of employees, size of the business, etc. in this way, it is very difficult to define the managerial and organizational qualities of Saudi Arabia and United kingdom separately. Instead of this, the trend is that multinational companies are following the same organizational and managerial theories in their organizations to have competitive advantage. To cope up with the diversified cultures, the companies are trying to adopt the policies used by the other companies and the competitors present in the market.

There are two categories of culture that is high context culture and low context culture. A high context culture is a culture in which is highly established and developed like Saudi Arabia. These cultures have very rigid cultures, strong beliefs, attitudes. The low context cultures are like United Kingdom that are not much rigid but respect their own cultures (Sidani, 2005).

The other theory of cultural is Greet Hofstede theory of cross cultural (Hofstede, 1980). According to this theory, the culture of a country is identified through the various dimensions at a level of a country. These dimensions are individual collectivism, large versus small power distance, masculinity-feminist, long-term versus short-term orientation and also the uncertainity avoidance (Vogel, 2000).

Large versus small power distance- In large power distance the power and authority is distributed very unequally and unfairly but in small power distribution, the power is distributed fairly among all.

Strong versus weak uncertainty avoidance- The strong uncertainty avoidance is situations in which the employees feel very uncomfortable, with uncertainty and ambiguity. In such situation there is a need to support the employee, provide them surety and stability so that they will feel comfortable. While the weak certainty avoidance in a situation in which there is a need of autonomy, lower structure and employees are tolerant of uncertainty (Goursand, et.al. 2008).

Cross-culture skills for International Managers

Individualism versus collectivism-  In individualism, organisation work with loosely knitted social model in the company as well as in the society but in weak uncertainly avoidance they prefer a tightly knit social model (Hamdan, 2005).

Masculinity versus femininity- If the companies are adopting the masculinity than they refers to prefer the fulfilment of the fierceness, heroism, material source and forcefulness in feminity there referred to prefer relationships, modesty, caring and nurturing for the quality o work and quality of better life (Chan, and Goldthorpe, 2007).

The next theory of cultural management is established by Fons Trompenaars. There are seven dimensions of this theory that are related to the relations of the employees or the other personnel working in the organization (Krenawi, Graham, Dean, and Eltaiba, 2004). The seven dimensions are

• Individualism vs. Collectivism (communitarians),
• Universalism vs. Particularism,
• Specific vs. Diffuse,
• Neutral vs. Emotional,
• Linear vs. Circular,
• Internal vs. external control,
• Achievement vs. Ascription

These all are the ways through which a company can manage the cross culture diversity in their country.

Conclusion

From this study, a conclusion is made that the difference in the countries and its people is the culture of that country. It can be either the traditions, customers, etc that every country ha with it whether it is east or west. The culture of the country is based on its community f people, pattern of social behavior like customers, literatures, history, believes, heritage, dress, language, and many thing related to the same. There is a combination of cultural and society in this study. There are both similarities and differences in the two countries United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia. There is determined orientation between both the countries. There are significant ways that are used by managers of both the countries. It is not compulsory that everyone can understand the similarity and dissimilarity between the cultures.

Throughout the time, countries and companies realize the value of cross culture diversity. It can be identified through the benefits companies are earning while working with different countries. The world has now become a global village. It is clear that the cross cultural studies are very relevant for the managers and leaders of today’s world as they have to manage the business operations and functions in the international markets. In order t have efficiency in the company, the need is to have critical analysis of the culture of other country in which the business operations are taking place. In this context, the countries are started liking and respecting the cultures of other nations. In this study, we have learnt various types of management theories for the cross culture. The countries are taking interest in establishing business sin other countries. In this study, the main focus is on the two country’s culture that is Saudi Arabia and United Kingdom.

References

Al-Krenawi, A., Graham, J.R., Dean, Y.Z. and Eltaiba, N., 2004. Cross-national study of attitudes towards seeking professional help: Jordan, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Arabs in Israel. International journal of social psychiatry, 50(2), pp.102-114.

Amabile, T.M., Patterson, C., Mueller, J., Wojcik, T., Odomirok, P.W., Marsh, M. and Kramer, S.J., 2001. Academic-practitioner collaboration in management research: A case of cross-profession collaboration. Academy of Management Journal, 44(2), pp.418-431.

Bhagat, R.S., Kedia, B.L., Harveston, P.D. and Triandis, H.C., 2002. Cultural variations in the cross-border transfer of organizational knowledge: An integrative framework. Academy of management review, 27(2), pp.204-221.

Boyd, D. and Crawford, K., 2012. Critical questions for big data: Provocations for a cultural, technological, and scholarly phenomenon. Information, communication & society, 15(5), pp.662-679.

Chan, T.W. and Goldthorpe, J.H., 2007. Social stratification and cultural consumption: Music in England. European sociological review, 23(1), pp.1-19.

Cooke, P.N. and Lazzeretti, L. eds., 2008. Creative cities, cultural clusters and local economic development. Edward Elgar Publishing.

David, W. and Fahey, L., 2000. Diagnosing cultural barriers to knowledge management. The Academy of management executive, 14(4), pp.113-127.

Fiske, J. (Ed.). (2005). Cultural Studies. Routledge.

Garcia-Ramon, M.D., 2003. Globalization and international geography: the questions of languages and scholarly traditions. Progress in human geography, 27(1), pp.1-5.

Goursand, D., Paiva, S.M., Zarzar, P.M., Ramos-Jorge, M.L., Cornacchia, G.M., Pordeus, I.A. and Allison, P.J., 2008. Cross-cultural adaptation of the Child Perceptions Questionnaire 11–14 (CPQ 11–14) for the Brazilian Portuguese language. Health and quality of life outcomes, 6(1), p.2.

Hamdan, A., 2005. Women and Education in Saudi Arabia: Challenges and Achievements. International Education Journal, 6(1), pp.42-64.

Hofstede, G 1980, Culture’s Consequences: International Differences in Work-Related Values, Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.

Irani, Z., Beskese, A. and Love, P.E.D., 2004. Total quality management and corporate culture: constructs of organisational excellence. Technovation, 24(8), pp.643-650.

Javidan, M., Dorfman, P.W., De Luque, M.S. and House, R.J., 2006. In the eye of the beholder: Cross cultural lessons in leadership from project GLOBE. The academy of management perspectives, 20(1), pp.67-90.

Kirkman, B.L. and Shapiro, D.L., 2001. The impact of cultural values on job satisfaction and organizational commitment in self-managing work teams: The mediating role of employee resistance. Academy of Management journal, 44(3), pp.557-569.

Kirkman, B.L., Chen, G., Farh, J.L., Chen, Z.X. and Lowe, K.B., 2009. Individual power distance orientation and follower reactions to transformational leaders: A cross-level, cross-cultural examination. Academy of Management Journal, 52(4), pp.744-764.

Kozulin, A., 2003. Vygotsky’s educational theory in cultural context. Cambridge University Press.

McDougall, P.P. and Oviatt, B.M., 2000. International entrepreneurship: the intersection of two research paths. Academy of management Journal, 43(5), pp.902-906.

Nazroo, J.Y., 2003. The structuring of ethnic inequalities in health: economic position, racial discrimination, and racism. American journal of public health, 93(2), pp.277-284.

Scullion, H. and Collings, D., 2011. Global talent management. Routledge.

Sidani, Y., 2005. Women, work, and Islam in Arab societies. Women in Management Review, 20(7), pp.498-512.

Tsui, A.S., 2004. Contributing to global management knowledge: A case for high quality indigenous research. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 21(4), pp.491-513.

Tsui, A.S., Nifadkar, S.S. and Ou, A.Y., 2007. Cross-national, cross-cultural organizational behavior research: Advances, gaps, and recommendations. Journal of management, 33(3), pp.426-478.

Veletsianos, G. and Kimmons, R., 2012. Networked participatory scholarship: Emergent techno-cultural pressures toward open and digital scholarship in online networks. Computers & Education, 58(2), pp.766-774.

Vogel, F.E., 2000. Islamic Law and the Legal System of Saudí: Studies of Saudi Arabia (Vol. 8). Brill.

Yamazaki, Y. and Kayes, D.C., 2004. An experiential approach to cross-cultural learning: A review and integration of competencies for successful expatriate adaptation. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 3(4), pp.362-379.