Cross-Cultural Management - Essay Example

? Cross-cultural management One of greatest challenges for international leaders is motivating employees from different cultures. Motivation is the willingness of employees to exert efforts towards achievement of objectives of the organization. The management practices at EZ-ABC are authoritative and do not motivate employees towards achievement of the organizational goals. The national culture of Korea is characterized by high power differences and high uncertainty avoidance. Korean culture is masculine and values collectivism unlike Canadian culture which appreciates individualism and autonomy in work. . Cross-cultural management Introduction Case study analysis The practices are not geared at fair compensation for all employees since a city tax deduction which is discriminatory and illegal is included in the employees’ salaries. The management practices aim at exploiting employees since a majority are foreigners. EZ-ABC does not allow employees to design their own lesson plans or interact with fellow employees during work. Sandy who is Australian woman with a doctorate in education leadership is authoritative and does not delegate some jobs to subordinates since she is in control of every decision in the school (Fitzsimmons & Shantz, 2010). Lee who is a retired military man in charge of the local branch of EZ-ABC in Kangman district believes that higher salaries are the only motivating factor for employees (Fitzsimmons & Shantz, 2010). The management practices encourage competition among employees since those who receive low ratings are fired. The school norm does not allow teachers to share experiences or form informal groups. Ian who is an American teacher is forced to sign a document which will lead to his ultimate dismissal even if he is late again for one minute. Sandy is interested in furthering her own objectives of designing her own curriculum in order to run an ESL school once the curriculum is popular across the EZ-ABC chain (Fitzsimmons & Shantz, 2010). EZ-ABC policy prohibits discussion of pay among co-workers and Visa and apartment lease is tied to employer. If an employee is interested leaving the job, a letter of release must be granted by the employer which many employers are reluctant to offer (Fitzsimmons & Shantz, 2010). Evaluation of management practices of EZ-ABC using motivation theories and cultural dimensions There are two broad categories of motivation theories that are the content theories and process theories. According to content theories, the unsatisfied needs of individuals will create tension. Maslow’s theory of motivation asserts that individuals are motivated by satisfying their needs in a hierarchy (Bhattacharyya, 2010). The first needs that should be satisfied are the physiological needs which include food and shelter. The second needs include safety. EZ-ABC has not provided safety needs since employees need security of tenure in their work. The third class of needs is the sense of belonging which is not available in EZ-ABC since employees need to feel loved and appreciated by forming both formal and informal groups in the workplace. The fourth category is self-esteem needs. The employees at EZ-ABC have no self-esteem since they are not happy with the current management practices. The highest hierarchy is self-actualization. For instance, Sandy has failed to attain this need since Lee has rejected the curriculum designed by Sandy. According to McClelland’s theory, employees need a sense achievement, affiliation and power in order to be motivated in their work. Some employees who need achievement may strive for personal success. For instance, Lee and Sandy are in need of power dominance and achievement which makes them take control of every decision in the organization. EZ-ABC should fulfill the employees need for affiliation and need of collective achievement in the school (Bhattacharyya, 2010). Process theories of motivation deal with the choices made by employees in their behaviors. Examples of these theories include equity theory, goal setting theory, and expectancy theory. According to equity theory, employees should perceive a balance between their inputs and outcomes in order to be motivated in their work (Deresky, 2008). Employees are equity sensitive and may reduce their inputs when they perceive inequality. For instance, majority of employees at EZ-ABC are new which suggest that there is high employee turnover due to inequality since employees are supposed to work for more hours that agreed upon during recruitment without additional pay. Employees are also supposed to pay non-existent taxes from their salaries thus leading to inequality. Korean culture accepts inequity unlike Western culture (Deresky, 2008). According to expectancy theory, motivation results from combinations of employee expectations that lead to certain outcomes in the organization. Teachers at EZ-ABC expect a pay rise and additional rewards for hard work but the management has provided negative expectations since they only work hard to maintain their jobs and avoid firing. According to goal setting theory, the management should set specific goals that are attainable and motivate the employees towards achievement of the goals. The main goal of EZ-ABC is to increase student enrollment and not to provide quality education to students. The teachers are not allowed to prepare their own lesson plans. The management should provide specific goals that are acceptable by all employees and motivate the employees towards attaining those specific goals (Deresky, 2008). However, employees’ motivation depends on their cultural background. For instance, most Japanese employees are motivated by money unlike American employees who are mainly motivated by non-monetary factors. The job design should consider the culture of the employees. Depending on the culture of the employee, employees will rate some components of jobs such as interpersonal relations, task variety, job security, convenient working hours and promotion opportunities differently (Bhattacharyya, 2010). According to job characteristics model of the United States, employee motivation is influenced by five characteristics of the job which include skills variety, task identity, autonomy, and job performance feedback and task significance. EZ-ABC management should allow employees the freedom and discretion in their work and provide feedback on job performance. In job design, employees with more career growth needs experience more psychological states. For instance employees from Netherlands prefer more job autonomy and independence than those from other countries like Britain (Velo, 2012). The leadership style of Lee is authoritative. There are various Western leadership approaches which are trait theories, behavioral theories, contingency theories and implicit theories. Trait theories assert that effective leaders posses some traits, but it ignores the subordinates (Velo, 2012). Behavioral theories believe that effective leaders are developed and exhibit certain behaviors such as respect for subordinates, support to subordinates ideas and friendliness to subordinates (Velo, 2012). For instance, Lee’s leadership style is not supportive of Sandy’s ideas on new curriculum development. Cross-cultural studies confirm that building close working relationships with subordinates will improve their work satisfaction. EZ-ABC leadership style is task-oriented since employees are expected to only complete their work and not discuss matters pertaining to work. However, cross-cultural management requires leaders to adapt their leadership behavior depending on the culture of the subordinates. Lee and Sandy should allow American teachers the opportunity to engage in matters concerning their work and ensure close relationships with the management (Velo, 2012). Another group of leadership theories is the contingency theories which moderate the differences experienced by behavioral theories (Deresky, 2008). According to Fiedler’s theory, effective leadership is influenced by the personality of subordinates. Chinese managers are more relationship oriented unlike Filipino managers who are more task-oriented. According to path-goal theory, culture is one of the situations that can enhance or substitute some of the leadership behaviors (Thomas, 2008). According to implicit theories of leadership, subordinates will develop mental representations of the leader through interactions with others. For instance, American teachers have developed negative perception of Lee and Sandy leadership through interactions with others. However, cross-cultural leadership require an effective leader to posses some attributes and behaviors such as charisma (Deresky, 2008). Transformational leaders can manage across all cultures due to some attributes such as respect, commitment, loyalty and trust from the subordinates (Thomas, 2008). Charismatic or transformational leadership entails self-confidence, respect and commitment to the goals of the organization rather than promotion of self-interests. For instance, Sandy is interested in self-interests of developing a curriculum while Lee is interested in increasing revenues of the EZ-ABC branch. Managing across cultures requires the leaders to build teams and allow subordinates to participate in the decision making process. For instance, autonomous leadership is high in Eastern Europe but low in Latin American countries. Participative leadership is high in Germany but low in the Middle East countries. Some non-Western theories of leadership include performance-maintenance theory that is popular in Japan (Chung, Yi & Jung, 1997). This theory assumes two dimensions of leadership which are performance and maintenance (Chung, Yi & Jung, 1997). Performance describes the behaviors which aim at achieving group goals through pressure and planning behaviors. Pressure behaviors entail following strict rules and regulations while planning-type behaviors are directed at group preservation (Tjosvold, 2003). Leadership practices in Arab nations are strongly influenced by religion and traditions as well as Western culture. Tribe traditions require leaders and managers to behave as fathers just like the rigid bureaucracy of Ottoman Empire (Chung, Yi & Jung, 1997). These tribe traditions and bureaucratic practices have led to less interpersonal connections in organizations, strict adherence to rules and authoritarian managers just as evidenced in EZ-ABC. Prophetic-caliphal model of leadership in Arab World creates dual relationships that lead to individualism and conflicts in the workplace. A prophetic leader will attract praise and unity of purpose from subordinates but a caliphal leader will lead to fear of authority and stress since the subordinates need to maintain the status of the manager. Another recent approach to leadership in Arab countries is the Paternalism which entails a lot of hierarchy whereby the leader controls the private affairs of the subordinates in each of defense. This approach is based in traditional values, feudalism and loyalty from subordinates (Mead & Andrews, 2009). An integrated cross-cultural model of leadership asserts that the ability of a leader to motivate subordinates should be consistent with the image of the leader and expectations of the subordinates (Mead & Andrews, 2009). Paternalism leadership style is more favorable in cultures with high power distance. In collectivism cultures, an individual negative performance that hinders group cohesiveness might be evaluated negatively by the co-workers (Bhattacharyya, 2010). Numerous research studies have concluded that leadership approaches and behaviors are consistent with the dominating cultural values and traditions of the country. For instance, Korea has a high power distance thus leaders rely on strict rules and regulations to manage their employees as evidenced by Lee at EZ-ABC school (Chung, Yi & Jung, 1997). However, being considerate to subordinates needs and expectations enhances the quality of leadership across all cultures. Culture influences the management and leadership styles in different economies. One of the cultural models that can be used to explain these variations is the Hofstede’s model that considers four dimensions (Behrens, 2009). The first dimension of culture in management is the degree of individualism and collectivism. Individualism culture values self-identity while collectivism culture is dominated by group interests. The second dimension is the degree of power distance; the degree of appreciation of power differences and social status in the society (Behrens, 2009). The third dimension is the degree of uncertainty avoidance; the extend society tries to avoid uncertainty. The fourth dimension is Masculinity-femininity which is the degree traditional male roles and orientations are emphasized over female orientations of interpersonal harmony and nurturance (Behrens, 2009). For instance, Sandy who is from Australia has a high degree of individualism and fairly lower degree of power distance. The masculinity degree in Australia is high since Sandy is not interested in hiring female employees while the uncertainty avoidance degree is medium which is why Sandy has tried to develop a more westernized curriculum. South Korean culture has a high degree of power distance thus the management values the organizational hierarchy and rules in their activities. Lee expects every employee to follow all rules and not discuss pay issues with co-workers. South Korean culture also values collectivism since individual achievement is not appreciated. Every worker is expected to conform to the rules and group norms. Korean culture is also masculine since women are not expected to occupy key positions in management which is the reason why Lee the owner of the school is not interested in employing female teachers (Gannon & Newman, 2002). The culture of South Korea has a high uncertainty avoidance which is the reason why Mr. Lee has rejected the curriculum developed by Sandy. According to United States culture, Shawn and Ian have experienced a cultural shock in the management since American culture has a low power distance since informal communications and hierarchy in organizational authority is less appreciated. United States culture also appreciates each individual employee contribution in the organization since every employee desires career growth and self-achievement (Gannon & Newman, 2002). United States culture also appreciates equality of both men and women and has a low degree of uncertainty avoidance which is the reason why Bert confronts Lee on the city tax deductions and Ian is late for work for few minutes. Generally, Arabian countries have a high degree of power distance and appreciate the social status of the leader and hierarchy in authority. Arab countries have high uncertainty avoidance in decision making and men are allocated high positions in authority (Thomas, 2008). Another cultural model that can be used to explain the management practices at EZ-ABC is the Confucian dynamism model which takes in to account four cultural dimensions. According to this study, the culture of a country can be understood from the degree of integration which includes harmony, trustworthiness and tolerance among members of the organization. Another dimension is the human-heartedness which includes the patience, courtesy, sense of shame and kindles of the people (Gannon & Newman, 2002). The third dimension is Confucian work dynamism which entails the persistence and order in the society while the fourth dimension is the moral discipline which entails the desires of the people (Adekola & Sergi, 2007). For instance, South Korean culture has a high degree of moral shame and Confucian work dynamism since the management tends to follow some social order in the society and tribal traditions. Schwartz value survey study identified various human requirements that shape their interactions with the rest of the world. According to the research findings, collectivism values in Hofstede’s model are similar to tradition, security and conformity in the Schwartz value survey while individualism values in Hofstede’s model are similar to achievement and self-direction. The study yielded seven value types which include the harmony, affective autonomy, intellectual autonomy, mastery, embeddedness and egalitarianism which is the recognition of people as equal (Tjosvold, 2003). Trompenaars’s cultural dimensions concluded that relationships between people from different countries can be grouped as either individualism or collectivism. Another cultural dimension is universalism-particularism where universalism believes that the truth can be applied universally while particularism asserts that each unique situation desires a different action (Tjosvold, 2003). Some cultures are also neutral-affective whereby self-control is emphasized while others are affective whereby emotions are openly expressed. Another dimension is specific-diffuse whereby specific cultures do not allow other co-workers to access the inner selves of other employees unlike in diffuse cultures where open communications on personal matters are encouraged (Adekola & Sergi, 2007). For instance, EZ-ABC culture is specific, neutral and universal since no open communications among the employees on personal matters and all employees are expected to follow written rules. The fifth aspect is the achievement-ascription dimension whereby in achievement culture the status of the employee is accorded on the basis of his work unlike I ascription culture of Korea where the status is accorded on the basis of positions and authority in the society. According to global studies on leadership and organizational behavior effectiveness program studies, some variations in country culture include the power distance which is the degree to which power is equally distributed in organizations (Adekola & Sergi, 2007). Another global cultural dimension is gender egalitarianism which is degree which the society has tried to minimize the gender inequalities. Uncertainty avoidance which is high in Korea can be evidenced by the many rules, procedures and social norms that are followed at EZ-ABC since the management tends to eliminate unpredictable losses from uncertain future events like new curriculum. The humane orientation at EZ-ABC is also low since the management does not encourage fair and equitable rewards to all employees while the future-orientation is low since the management does not actively participate in training employees and planning for the future. The employees are not assertive and in-group collectivism is absent since teachers do not express joy about their work. Recommendations for Bert Bert should respect the Korean culture and obey the country laws. Bert should also uphold her own cultural values. The Canadian embassy has clearly indicated that Bert could not successfully sue EZ-ABC since the legal precedents are not in her favor and legal costs are unaffordable. I believe that Bert should learn and understand the Korean cultural values, social roles and belief systems. This can be done by comparing her Canadian culture with Korean culture and trying to understand the differences. Bert should understand that the management practices at EZ-ABC are highly influenced by the religion, customs, values and beliefs of Korean people. Bert should not leave her job without a letter of release and should be comfortable paying the city tax deduction since it seems like an informal law in Korea. Bert should develop problem-solving skills in order to accept Korean culture positively and reduce any negative reactions. Conclusion The management practices at EZ-ABC are influenced by Korean culture that values collectivism rather than individual achievements. There is a high power distance and Bert is expected to obey all the rules and procedures in the organization. The uncertainty avoidance degree is high since MR Lee has rejected the curriculum developed by Sandy. The employees are not motivated due to poor leadership styles of MR Lee since the authoritative leadership conflicts with American and Canadian culture that values more cordial relationships and less hierarchy in power differences. However, Bert should appreciate and respect Korean laws and cultural values and try to integrate in to Korean culture while upholding her cultural values. References: Adekola, A & Sergi, B. (2007). Global business management: a cross-cultural perspective. Burlington, VT. Ashgate. Behrens, A. (2009). Culture and management in the Americans. Stanford. Stanford business books. . Bhattacharyya, D. (2010). Cross-cultural management: texts and cases. New Delhi. PHI Learning. Chung, K., Yi, H & Jung, K. (1997). Korean management: global strategy and cultural transformation. Berlin. Gruyter. Deresky, H. (2008). International management: managing across borders and cultures. New Jersey. Pearson. Fitzsimmons, S & Shantz, P. (2010). An English teacher in South Korea. Ontario. The University of Western Ontario. Gannon, M & Newman, K. (2002). The Blackwell handbook of cross-cultural management. Oxford. Blackwell publishers. Mead, R & Andrews, T. (2009). International management: culture and beyond. New Jersey. John Wiley. Thomas, D. (2008). Cross-cultural management: essential concepts. Los Angeles. Sage Publications. Tjosvold, D. (2003). Cross-cultural management: foundations and future. Aldershot. Ashgate. Velo, V. (2012). Cross-cultural management. New York. Business Expert Press. Read More