Cultural Differences between Mrs Myers and the Organization - Essay Example

? MGT 501 case assignment April 22. MGT 501 case assignment Introduction and case overview An organization’s environment is one of the fundamental factors to its management because it affects organizational behaviour, at both individual level and collective levels. Culture is one of the environmental factors, both internal and external, especially in the globalized environment and is significant to effective management. I, in this paper, review a case study to evaluate effect of culture and environment on organizations and their managements. The case involves Linda Myers, an American national who takes a job as a human resource manager with SK Telcom, a multinational firm in South Korea. Myers had been involved in human resource development in the global set up, before her contract with SK, and perceived the SK opportunity as a career development opportunity that she had always desired. The environment at SK was however challenging because she was the only American among her peer and therefore had a different cultural approach. She was never oriented into the job or the organization’s culture and realized existence of conflicting opinion with her superiors regarding her work’s scope. Her two years with the organization was strenuous before she eventually left the company. She also noted that the organization had, through its recruiting agent, assumed her to be a male and even though she had experience in the global environment and had since her childhood been motivated by the international set up, she found it hard to adjust to the organization’s culture and expectations (Green, 2011). Problem definition The case identifies a problem of cultural barrier between Myers and the organization. Inability to break this barrier and establish a common ground upon which Myers could relate with other member of the organization was another problem as both Ms. Myers and the organization failed accommodate each other. Analysis of the cause of the problem The cause of the problem, cultural differences between Mrs. Myers and the organization and its members, is identifiable from explicit factors of the case and implied factors from the parties’ native backgrounds. The demographic factor that identifies lack of significant involvement of American women in executive positions in South Korea identifies one of the manifestations of cultural differences that hindered her ability to integrate into the organization. The American women’s absence in the environment is indicative of the South Korean male chauvinistic perspective or a negative perspective towards American women and their ability to perform at executive positions. Myers’ perception of a different culture that she hoped to change in the organization also identifies cultural differences. She identified the organization’s culturally fixed perspective and wished to break this culture and expose the organization to a global culture that would be open to diversified opinions, but faced a high level of resistance. Even the scope of her job identified a conflict between her opinions and those of her immediate seniors. The organization’s poor management approach is another identifiable cause of the problem because it failed to orient Myers into its culture, a factor that facilitated impact of the differences between the two cultures (Green, 2011). Hofstede’s dimensions of culture also offer a basis for explaining cultural difference between American based culture that Myers represented and the Korean culture that SK Telcom and its management represented. Power distance is one of the cultural dimensions that explain the cause of the problem in the case. The dimension refers to society’s ability to accept inequality among its members. Those who are lowly place along the power ladders accept the status and do not fight for better positions and some of the dimension’s aspects are acknowledgement and appreciation of inequality, recognition of dependence on few leaders, privileges for the powerful member of the society and expression of the might of the powerful (Aswathappa, 2010). Hofstede’s model identifies more power distance in the South Korean culture than in the American culture and this explains the conflict between Myers and her superiors and others of the organization. While the organization’s culture identifies with high level of power distance in which people are restricted to their positions in the organization’s structure, Myers seems to have come with the intention to establish more equality and this generated resentment from her seniors to her frustration (Geert Hofstede 2003). Uncertainty avoidance is another Hofstede dimension that explains the source of the problem that is based on cultural difference. The dimension defines the degree to which people are not comfortable with unclear circumstances. Societies with high uncertainty avoidance index believes that conflicts “should be avoided,” dynamic and controversial people should not exist in the society, people should be obedient to authorities, established rules should be honored and consensus should always be upheld (Aswathappa, 2010, p. 208). Hofstede’s model identifies high uncertainty index among Koreans than among Americans and this means that Myers may have tried to contradict established authorities in the organization, disobeyed some orders or even sustained some conflict and the organization’s management did not appreciate these traits. Such could have strained her relationship with the management and led to her frustration that could have been intentionally instigated by some of her superiors. Individualism, a dimension that explains people’s tendency to consider their self-interest and those of their immediate family members as opposed to the society’s interest, is another dimension that explains the cause of the problem in the case. High individualism index identifies features such as self-reliance, value for personal achievements, emotional independence, and mutual benefits from group associations and is more prevalent in the American culture than in South Korea. Ms. Myers’s goal of transforming SK Telcom could have therefore tried to influence members of the organization towards individualism, a concept that would be considerably unethical in the Korean culture. The difference could cause the problem into her frustration (Geert Hofstede 2003). Masculinity also explains causes of the problem in the case. It defines values through “success, money, and other material things” and is manifested through established gender roles, male dominance in the society, and males assume most decision-making roles (Aswathappa, 2010, p. 209). The dimension is more significant in American culture than in South Korean and its major feature of success could have made Myers over ambitious in the culture that holds alternative values. Myers’ American orientation that does not value long-term relations in interactions could have also been strange to the organization, especially because of her managerial position that involved interaction with other employees. The management could have identified this as a weakness and lost faith in her potentials to manage her subordinates (Geert Hofstede 2003). Recommendations The problem in the case is therefore a result of cultural barriers in Myers work environment. While she is an American with the western oriented culture, she faced a different culture in North Korea and had neither people to help her bridge the cross-cultural gap nor cross-cultural management skills for overcoming the barriers. The organization’s management also failed to identify the problem and help Ms. Myers through orientating her into the new culture and accommodating her differences. Ms. Myers could have therefore identified local personnel to help her learn the organization’s cultural values and adjust to those values. She could have alternatively studied the South Korean culture for cultural awareness that could help her to align her behaviour for conformity with the host culture. Cultural sensitivity, the ability to identify with a culture and respond appropriately, is another solution that could have helped Ms. Myers to integrate into the organization’s environment. Conclusion The case identifies cultural barrier as a factor to Ms. Myers’s frustration at SK Telcom. Facts of the case and Hofstede’s model that identify cultural differences between the United States and South Korea explain this. Ms. Myers could have managed the difference through ensuring help for orientation into the culture, through personally developed cultural awareness potential and through cultural intelligence. References Aswathappa, K. (2010). International business. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill Education. Green, S. (2011). The would-be pioneer. Harvard Business Review. 89(4), 124-126. Hofstede, G. (2003). Geert Hofstede cultural dimensions. Retrieved April 12, 2013, http://geert-hofstede.com/countries.html. Read More