Cultural Differences and People Management - Essay Example

INTRODUCTION This report highlights important things and outcomes that I have learnt regarding cultural difference and people management. Along with the information regarding cultural differences and people management, I have elaborated the concepts and ideas that have been shared during the teaching sessions. In simpler words, this report is a self-reflection which would be aimed to connect with my personal experience and observation. CULTURAL DIFFERENCE AND PEOPLE MANAGEMENT The concepts that I learnt over the time period during teaching sessions are separately elaborated below; Culture Culture is defined as the set of values and beliefs that a group of people have regarding things in daily life (Terpstra, and David, 1991). During the training session I was able to learn that culture is not just a characteristic of individual but it is a characteristic of individuals that share the same ideas in the group. As culture is learned, I was able to figure out that during time with my friends, colleagues, family and other groups that individual becomes a member of; the individual learns the culture from them in order to have share common ideas and values. I have also learnt that culture plays a dominant role in affecting the motivation level of an individual along with personality and attitude of individual. Since culture helps an individual to change his/her behaviour regarding things, it is considered as an important factor for success in daily life. After understanding the concept of culture, I was able to understand the importance of culture in daily life. The first and the foremost important thing about culture is that it creates bond between people and group. This bond helps in bringing the people together. It is not just a bond but it provides the individual with the identity and helps in building a personality which helps the individual to distinguish himself from others in the community. I have also been able to understand that how culture shapes the standards and behaviour of an individual. For an individual, culture acts as a system of social control. As the life of an individual revolves around the culture learnt from older generation in the form of language, art and religion it helps the individual to make crucial decisions in one’s life. Importance of appreciating cultural difference Cultural difference occurs when there is a difference in culture, race or any other factor that might lead to different perception regarding others in the workplace (Gellner, 1983). I have learnt that individual belong from different cultures which help the individual to create his/her unique identity in the group, it is quite important to accept and appreciate others culture. By doing so, an individual can create a bond between one another. This bond helps an individual to learn many things in life. I have also been able to learn that by appreciating cultural differences in daily life, an individual can learn to respect other individual’s perspective. This allows the individual to work with others with different cultural background in daily life and can enhance the chances that an individual might learn new things in the time being (Triandis, 1995). During the teaching sessions, I have been able to grasp that culture can help an individual to broaden his mind regarding things that a person might not consider suitable or acceptable. By appreciating culture, an individual learns to understand such things and tends to mold his behaviour and attitude towards others in the workplace. By accepting other cultures in the workplace, the performance and productivity of an individual might increase which will eventually lead to the enhance performance of the organisation. By doing so, the organisation can accomplish the desired goals and objectives accurately without any delays. As I said earlier, that by accepting cultural differences and appreciating them, an organisation can encourage diversity within workforce. It has been found that an organisation that encourages and embraces diversity within workforce is more likely to succeed in the marketplace and in the accomplishment of goals and objectives in coming years (Schein, 1985). I have figured out that the core reason why companies and multinational organisations look for diverse workforce and according to my observation; every individual coming from different background has his own way to do things along with totally different way to look at things. If an organisation encourages diversity within workforce, the organisation would be provided with an opportunity to become more competitive in the industry (Ng, and Tung, 1998). Along with such factors, innovation and creativity are other major reasons that encourage organisations to hire employees from diverse cultural background. Since each individual has a unique mind and a different way to look at things, by listening and understanding to what individual has to say provides an organisation with several creative ideas that can eventually help the organisation to be successful in the long run by following those ideas. I have also learnt that by accepting cultural differences, an individual may be able to reduce the differences created by the perception that one group has regarding another based on culture. This allows an individual to learn the differences among culture and how to overcome this. Diversity in organisation has become common nowadays and this could be said as one of the major reasons that people should accept and appreciate others even though they belong to different group or sex. This would allow the individual to work together in the organisation which will eventually help the individual in eliminating cultural differences. Influence of culture on values, beliefs and behaviours It is commonly known that culture is transferred from older generation to younger generation and based on that culture, an individual sets values, beliefs and behaviour. Even though an individual might not accept it, but it is inherited. This is the major reason that when an individual with specific culture looks around and finds variety of people belonging from different cultures, the individual tends to resists. This culture helps the individual to set his behaviour accordingly. During the training sessions, I have learnt that culture is a combination of values and beliefs which ultimately shape the behaviour of an individual. This implies that culture can directly influence the way an individual behaves in a society. Since culture is learnt, it means that values and beliefs an individual has is inherited. Family, community and other institutions contribute a lot in shaping the values and beliefs. When discussing the values, I mean to indicate the principles and qualities that an individual cares about the most. For an individual the standards and principles mean a lot as these values help an individual to become what he/she wants to be in a unique way. Culture directly influences the values of an individual. An individual may see others judgments as unacceptable because of the values he or she holds are quite different from others. But for the person that made the judgment, it would be acceptable and according to his culture. Taking an example of clothes, a person may consider going to office in complete suit but on the other hand, others might not feel comfortable to wear suit at their office. The judgments and decisions made by the individual are based on value and value on the other hand, is directly influenced by culture. Culture can also influence the beliefs on an individual. In an individual’s life, beliefs are the real experience that an individual might have come across with. I have understood that a person may experience what he believes. If I belief that drinking alcohol is unacceptable, then I would follow my belief and not drink alcohol. This indicates that the success and failure of an individual lies in what an individual beliefs regarding things in daily life. As beliefs shape the life of an individual, it is considered very important due to many reasons. One such reason is the identity crisis. Without beliefs an individual may not have any identity of his own as beliefs help an individual to reflect who he or she is and the way he or she lives his or her life. Culture also plays a critical role in shaping such beliefs. As the whole life of an individual revolves around the culture, it is difficult for an individual to cut loose from the culture. Everything an individual does in daily life is considered acceptable or unacceptable based on the culture. This is the major reason why people tend to avoid certain things as their culture forbids them (Ansari, and Jackson, 1996) Behaviour of an individual is also dependent on culture. Behaviour is shaped with the help of attitude and attitude of an individual highly depends on cultural norms, values and beliefs. This reflects that culture plays a dominant role in shaping the behaviour of an individual. From what I have understood, an individual might change his behaviour regarding things if the culture of the individual supports that particular thing. I have also figured out that an organisation in order to support their workforce set organisational culture so that the employees working for the organisation can work in a healthy environment. Along with this, organisational culture also helps an individual to be motivated and satisfied with the job (Meek, 1998). This indicates that culture dominates all the factors such as values, beliefs and behaviour. If an organisation wants to enhance its performance and job satisfaction level, it must introduce organisational culture. This would help the diverse workforce to understand the aim of the organisation and would lead to increased performance and productivity of workforce. Organisational and Management models Regarding cultural differences and people management, I have been able to learn that organisation in order to manage its diversified workforce focuses on organisational culture and different management models. One of such organisational and management model is of Geert Hofstede. According to Geert Hofstede, people gradually accept their culture as it is developed in the earlier years of individual’s life by people that can radically influence the individual such as parents and people living with the individual (Hofstede, 1980a). Furthermore, the culture is reinforced in later years of individual’s life in schools and other institution where an individual might find someone of his own culture and would create a bonding with such group that shares the same cultural values, beliefs and norms (Hofstede, 2003). The management model proposed by Geert Hofstede highlights the important dimensions of culture. As it is known that culture differs from person to person and from organisation to organisation, Hofstede has proposed 6 dimensions around which the culture revolves. The dimensions proposed by Geert Hofstede are as follows; a) Power distance From what I have learnt, this dimension focuses on the unequal distribution of power. This dimension aims to identify the extent to which the power is distributed and also focuses on understanding the way a community handles inequalities among the individuals. It has been observed that people that have a great extent of power in societies and communities, they tend to believe that each individual within the community and society has a specific role and duty that needs to be fulfilled along with specific place that requires no further justification (Hofstede, 1980a). b) Individualism vs. collectivism The second dimension is regarding the relationship that an individual may have with others in the society. From what I have understood, this dimension focuses on two sub-dimensions i.e. individualism and collectivism. In individualism, people tend to take care of themselves and their families regardless of others in societies and communities. This aspect indicates that such people only care about their immediate families and they try to keep themselves apart from others in the community. Collectivism is the complete opposite of it. Collectivism focuses on creating relations with others and to take care of others in need. This helps an individual to create a bonding with others. Loyalty is the major thing that individuals look for when they help others in community (Hofstede, 1980a). c) Masculinity vs. Femininity From what I have understood, this dimension analyses impact of gender on the culture. In this dimension, masculinity focuses on gaining something greater in society. This aspects indicates that individuals look for achievement and rewards for their success in communities and societies. On the other hand, Femininity is totally opposite of it. This aspect focuses on cooperation and collaboration with others in the society so that the community could grow and expand exponentially. In femininity, individuals care for the weak so that they can help to enhance the quality of life in society which would eventually lead to prosperity and success of society and community (Hofstede, 1980a). d) Uncertainty avoidance It has been noted that individuals dislike being kept in the dark due to which the members of the society feel uncomfortable and nervous regarding uncertain things. From this dimension, I have been able to understand the extent which individuals are ready to pass to avoid uncertain and ambiguous situations (Hofstede, 1980a). e) Long-term orientation As the name suggest, this dimension focuses on dealing with the society’s search for virtue. In this dimension people look for the greater good that can be achieved in the present which would eventually help in the future as well. This dimension could be said the same as organisation’s long-term aims and objectives that organisation aims to achieve in forthcoming years. On the other hand, short-term orientation focuses on establishing absolute truth. By doing so, the individual shows respect for the traditions and customs. In short-term orientation, individual looks for the achievement of goals and ignore the outcomes that could rise in future due to which individuals have low propensity to save for the future (Hofstede, 1980a). By such management model, I have learnt the different dimensions that a culture has. This indicates that each organisation also has different culture and dimensions. Through research I was able to find some of the dimensions of organisational culture proposed by Geert Hofstede. The dimensions proposed by Geert regarding organisational culture are as follows; a) Mean oriented vs. goal oriented b) Internally driven vs. externally driven c) Easy vs. strict work discipline d) Local vs. professional e) Open system vs. close system f) Employee oriented vs. work oriented g) Leadership style (Hofstede, 1980b) Implications for cultural difference for managing organisation Some of the implications for cultural differences for managing organisation are as follows; a) Managing multicultural teams One of the implications to manage cultural difference in organisation is to create multicultural teams. This would allow the members of the team to coordinate and cooperate with each other and would allow individuals having different culture to learn about different cultures. Diversity in teams allows the members to share their opinions and ideas which eventually help the team members to be innovative and creative. By doing so, the performance of the team radically increases which eventually leads the team to be successful. b) Helping with cultural shocks Cultural shocks occur when an individual is provided with an unfamiliar cultural environment. For an organisation to be successful, managing cultural shocks are essential. By providing the employee with complete understanding of the environment and by providing the employee with importance of appreciating others’ culture can reduce the cultural shock. By providing the employee with a sense of belonging can reduce cultural shock to a great extent. This is the particular reason why employees are provided with orientation sessions so that they can familiarise themselves with the environment along with others in the organisation (Adler, 1987). c) Leadership Leadership plays a critical role in managing cultural differences in organisation. Since leaders are the ones that show each and every employee with the right direction and guidance, they can help an employee to reduce cultural differences. Leaders can also help an individual to mold their behaviour by providing the individuals with incentives and rewards which ultimately helps the employee to be motivated. This motivation helps in changing the behaviour of employee in organisation (Ferraro, 1994). d) Diversity management Diversity plays a crucial role in the success of an organisation. By managing diversity in an organisation, the employees are provided with such working environment that influences the individuals to work accordingly (Ely, and Thomas, 2001). Diversity management not only helps an employee to familiarise him or herself but it also reduces all the factors that lead to discrimination. By eliminating such factors, an employee tends to work accordingly which eventually helps the organisation to enhance its performance to meet the desired objectives and goals (Ansari, and Jackson, 1996). CONCLUSION To conclude, it could be said that with these training sessions, I have been able to understand the importance of culture in an organisation. Not only this, I have also learnt the importance of appreciating cultural difference in an organisation and the influence of appreciation on the organisational performance. In addition, I have been able to distinguish the different organisational and management models that aim to highlight the dimension of culture. Furthermore, I have become aware of the implication to manage cultural difference in an organisation. These sessions have provided with an exposure regarding culture and its exposure and have helped me a lot to clearly understand the concepts and models regarding culture. List of references Adler, N.J. (2001). International Dimensions of Organisational Behaviour. 4th edition. Cincinnati, South-Western College Publishing. Adler, P. S. (1987). Culture shock and the cross-cultural experience. London: Cambridge University Press. Ansari, K.H., and Jackson, J., (1996). Managing Cultural Diversity at Work. London, Kogan Page. Ely, R.J., and Thomas, D.A., (2001). ‘Cultural diversity at work: the effects of diversity perspectives on work group processes and outcomes’. Administrative Science Quarterly, vol. 46, no. 2, pp. 229–273. Ferraro, G.P. (1994). The Cultural Dimension of International Business, 2nd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ, Prentice Hall. Gellner, E. (1983). Nations and Nationalism. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. Hofstede, G. (1980a). Cultures Consequences: International Differences in Work- elated Values. Gulf: Houston. Hofstede, G. (1980b). ‘Motivation, leadership and organisation: Do American theories apply?’. Organisational Dynamics, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 42-63. Hofstede, G. (2003). ‘What is culture? A reply to Baskerville’. Accounting, Organisations and Society, vol. 28, no. 7/8, pp. 811-813 Meek, V.L., (1998). ‘Organisational culture: origins and weaknesses’. Organisation Studies, vol. 9, no. 4, pp. 453–473. Ng, E.S.W., and Tung, R.L., (1998). ‘Ethno-cultural diversity and organisational effectiveness: a field study’. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, vol. 9, no. 6, pp. 980–995. Schein, E., (1985). Organisational Culture and Leadership: A Dynamic View. San Francisco, CA, Jossey-Bass. Terpstra, V. and David, K. H. (1991). The cultural environment of international business. Cincinnati, OH: South-Western Publishing Company. Triandis, H. C. (1995). Culture and social behaviour. New York: McGraw Hill. Read More