Cultural Issues in Management - Essay Example

(Ghauri, P., & Fang, T. 2001). There are many management issues that are affecting both the Japanese employees and the American employees due to the differences in cultural practices. These differences should be integrated so that the company’s activities can be done effectively and efficiently. A chief issue affecting the company is differences in context cultures of both Americans and Japanese. Japanese employees are high context cultures while Americans’ have low context cultures. Japans people value personal relation and good will while Americans value expertise and performance.

Japanese make agreements on the basis of general trust while Americans make agreements based on specified legal contract. In cross cultural communication between the Americans and the Japanese, there will be conflict of understanding and extremely long time is required to have consensus in any aspect. This has always forced the company to make late decisions. To solve the problem arising from context culture, the company should come up with guidelines for how things are done so that there are no conflicts of interests due to cultural differences.

Secondly, there are vast difference in the attitudes of sale force between the Japanese and the Americans. Japanese have particularism and high universalism as illustrated by Trompenaars cultural perspectives. Americans have the attitude of take or leave in sales while the Japanese have room for modification and customization to accommodate the opinions of the customers. The company should adopt the Japanese attitude of sales and train the Americans on some of the techniques since it gives more customers satisfaction and less harassment.

The company should also come up with sales commissions to encourage more sales. This will encourage the Americans to adopt the Japanese attitude of sales that they can achieve higher sales. (Ghauri, P., & Fang, T. 2001). The management of Chiba international has challenges because it comprises of both Americans and Japanese. American managers are individualistic in nature while the Japanese are collective. Americans are concerned with their issues and their reporting authority while the Japanese are concerned with the overall objectives of the company.

The individualistic nature of the Americans has led to power conflicts amongst themselves, and this has derailed many activities in trying to solve the problem. In the recruitment process, the Japanese are concerned with performance, ability, and the attitude of a person measured in an interview. The Americans lay most of the emphasis on the person who has high education credentials. This has lead to poor communication between the two workforces. Chiba communication should come up with clear separation of duties so that there is no conflict in any decision making process.

In the recruitment process, the company can use external employment bureaus and set the standards for qualification. (Kedia., & Mukherji, 1999). In the management of financial activities, there is a wide variation between the Japanese and the Americans. The management of the Japanese follows all the financial activities throughout the company. All the expenses and revenues are accounted for when they are incurred or earned. Chiba international follows the theory of noodle peddler which considers expenditure of all resources for any objective achieved