Business Culture and Management Style in Latin America and East - Assignment Example

Comparison and Contrast of Business Culture and Management Style in Latin America and East Europe Name Institution Date Comparison and Contrast of Business Culture and Management Style in Latin America and East Introduction Management styles business and cultures differ from one country to another. This greatly influences the outcome of the business. Multinationals are usually faced with a lot of difficulties when operating in some regions due to the cultural differences. The issue of cultural differences and management styles is thus very sensitive in the current business world. This is because most companies are always on the search for new markets for their products in different countries. In some cases, the companies are forced to learn the cultures and management styles of the local people. Failure to do this may lead to conflicts when interacting or dealing with the local people (Prince, 2008). This may end up affecting the operations of the company and hence leading to losses. It is also important for the companies to ensure that the organizational behavior puts into consideration the cultural issues. This is aimed at ensuring that the employees from different cultural background work together. It is essential for the business organization to understand the cultures of the people before setting up a business in different regions. The paper therefore, compares and contrasts the business culture and management style between East Europe and Latin America. Management Styles Differences Business cultures play an important role in determining management style of an organization. It influences how the decisions are made and how they are implemented by the management. In East Europe, the management style tends to be more of directive and centralized. The subordinates are normally not consulted during the decision making. The top managers are highly respected and considered the big boss. Once the top manager has made a decision, it is the responsibility of the subordinates to follow the orders. However, in Latin America, the situation is different, the managers are supposed to build a good relationship with the subordinates. This is because the Latin America people are friendly and would always want to maintain a good relationship. Trust is very important in the management in Latin America. As such, the management has to ensure that there is trust among the employees as well as the management. The personality of the leader in Latin America is also very important during the management of business. A manager is supposed to treat the employees with respect regardless of their position in the organization (Broome, 2009). The management style that is common in Latin America is the Task Relation Management Style. This is due to the close working relationship that the manager has to build with the employees. The relation oriented management style ensures that the leader is free with the employees at all times. In Latin America, a leader plays an important role in taking care of the employees. A good leader in Latin America has to ensure that the employees and their families are well taken care of. It is also common for the managers to protect their employees in Latin America. This enhances the formation of a formidable bond between the managers and employes. It makes the decision making process easy as the employees also have a lot of trust on the managers. However, in East Europe, the situation is different. The most common management styles are task oriented. The managers are strict with the deadlines and always ensure that the employees are strictly on time. Teams are very common when it comes to handling projects and the managers always select the team members. This management style does not focus much on the relationship with the employees. This is mainly due to the cultural influence on the management style (Hays, 2004). Trust and personality plays an important role in the management of business organizations in Latin America. Foreigners always find it quite difficult to manage the business organizations in Latin America (Montagliani, et al, 2004). This is mainly due to the perception of the employees towards the foreign managers. Most of the foreign managers will always find it difficult to handle the employees as trust and relation issues are significantly put into consideration. The decision making process is usually done by the managers. However, the foreign managers may be forced to involve a third party so as to gain the trust and support of the employees. It may therefore, take a considerable amount of time before a foreign manager fully performs in Latin America. This always happen as a result of the influence that the Latin American business culture has on the management of businesses. On the other hand, foreign managers may not find it very difficult to operate in East Europe as compared to Latin America. This is due to the attitude and he respect that the employees have on the managers. Managers are trusted to make good decisions. They are believed to be qualified enough to lead. This leaves little room for questioning the decisions of the manager. Personality also plays very little role and the employees are mainly concerned with the nature of the decisions made. Similarities in Management Style Although the management style in both regions has a lot of differences, some similarities are also evident. In both regions, there are elements of democracy in the implementation of the decisions. Although the management in East Europe is more of centralized and directive, the decisions are never imposed on the employees. This is also similar in Latin America where the decisions are made after considering the effects that it has on the employees. Democracy is very important in the operations of the business as it ensures that the employees are protected from any form of exploitation. The business cultures in both regions also empower the employees to make informed decisions when implementing directions. In both management styles, dictatorship, bureaucracy and autocracy are not present at all. This is an important measure that the business cultures in the two regions put into consideration. Both regions also acknowledge the role of gender in the management of businesses. Although the top management in the two regions is mainly composed of the men, the two regions also recognize the potential of the women in terms of managing business organizations. Some of the organizations in the two regions are led by women and the employees do not have any problem with their leadership. Business Cultures Similarities in Business Cultures Religion plays an important part in the life of an individual. It guides individuals to perform various tasks and practices at the workplace. However, in East Europe and Latin America, religion does not greatly affect aspects of the workplace. The business operations are not guided based on the religion that one belongs to in both East Europe and Latin America. Although most people in Latin America are religious, this is separated from business. Discussions about religion at the workplace are uncommon in East Europe and Latin America. According to Gannon (2004), religion plays an important part in ensuring that the individuals are ethical in their work. Business ethics are the main guiding factors for the businesses in East Europe and Latin America. The lifestyle and religion of the people are separate in both regions. The lifestyle mainly involves how an individual person conducts himself and the kind of life that they lead. Some of the people may be very religious outside their work environment in both regions. However, this is different when it comes to the workplace. Most organizational cultures do not put any emphasis on religion in both regions. This is mainly for the purpose of ensuring that the employees are able to work together for the common good of their organizations (Konrad, 1999). The rate of uncertainty avoidance is also high in both regions. Uncertainty avoidance is mainly the feeling that members of a certain culture have concerning the unknown. It is common for people from different cultures to have a mixed feeling towards the unknown (Hampden-Turner et al, 2002). In the current global economy, the fear for the unknown is very common. In both regions the fluctuations in the economy can occur at any time and it may have negative consequences on the individuals and their organizations. The business culture in both regions is highly anxious about what will happen next. The high level of anxiety leads the business culture to have strong uncertainty avoidance rate. The individuals in both regions are therefore very expressive. At the workplace, it is common for the individuals to express themselves fully concerning their situations. Portraying emotions at the workplace and meeting is also common for both business cultures. Due to the high uncertainty avoidance ratio, it is not acceptable for rules to be imposed on the employees. In both regions, the employees are allowed to protest against any business decision they feel is being imposed on them. The attitudes towards the young people in both regions are always positive. In both regions the young people are usually given opportunities to make business contributions so that they feel as part of the business system Differences in Business Cultures In Latin America, the work attitude of the people is quite different from that of East Europe. The work attitude is an important aspect of business culture and it directly affects the performance of the employee and the organization. In Latin America, it is common for the business people to work for long hours in order to accomplish their tasks. However, in East Europe, the situation is quite different as the business people have an unperturbed attitude towards their work. Most businesses in East Europe are usually closed during the weekends (Chaney et al, 2004). During the holidays, most businesses are also closed in East Europe. The businesses are also closed in August during the vacation to allow the employees to go for holidays. Because of disparities in the way of operation, people from East Europe will always find difficulties when operating businesses in Latin America. The same is also applicable for the people from Latin America setting up businesses in East Europe. During meetings, the punctuality in East Europe is quite different from that of Latin America. The arrival time during the meeting has certain implications on how the meeting is valued. Late arrivals are very common during meetings in Latin America. The business people are not strict with time and it is usually common for the people to arrive late, even after hours after the meeting has begun. However, in East Europe, punctuality during business meetings is very essential. It is usually expected that the people should arrive on time for the meeting. It is also unacceptable for one to cancel an appointment. The meetings will always start at the scheduled time and it usually common for all the members to be present and ready for the meeting. Failure to do so may result into negative consequences for the concerned persons. Punctuality is an important concept of time in East Europe and it determines how long the meeting may take (Beamer et al, 2001). The workplace atmosphere in East Europe is quite different from the Latin America. The Latin America workplace atmosphere is very friendly. This is because the people are very social with each other. The Latin America workplace is usually very social and the people usually engage in a lot of talks. The strangers are usually welcomed and the Latin Americans do not treat them with suspicions. The personality of the strangers is what the Latin America people are more interested as compared to the roles one plays in their companies according to Deresky, (2002). The workplace in East Europe is however, quite different as the people do not like engaging in talks. This is considered as a waste of productive time. The people are not social at the workplace and everyone will always mind their own business. Strangers at the workplace are usually viewed apprehensively. The business people in East Europe are more concerned with the roles of the strangers in the business as opposed to their personality. It is very rare for the business people in East Europe to ask strangers about their personalities. The compliments by the strangers are usually not received well and they are usually viewed with suspicions. Power distance plays an important role in defining the business culture. The power distance is mainly concerned on the rate of acceptance by the people to inequality (Francesco, 2005). The inequality is manly in terms of others being leaders and others being their subjects. Respect for authority is therefore an important consideration when dealing with power distance. The rate of power distance in Latin America is much higher as compared to East Europe. The employees in Latin America recognize the importance of authority and hence the high rate of respect. The decisions made by the managers are usually obeyed by he employees without much doubt or questioning. Incase the decision are not popular with the employees, they are usually discussed privately. However, in East Europe the power distance is much lower that Latin America. The respect for Authority is lower as compared to Latin America. Nevertheless, this does not mean that the employees do not respect the authority. Some decisions made by the mangers may be questioned publicly incase the employees do not like them. The business cultures in the two regions are thus different in terms of the power distance which plays an important role in defining the business cultures. Conclusion In conclusion, the business cultures in Latin America and East Europe have similarities and differences. However, it is evident that more differences exist in terms of the business culture as compared to the similarities. The work attitude differs in the two regions as one is more reluctant than the other. The differences may be quite challenging to any new person venturing into business in the two regions. The management styles in the two regions are also different and it has different implications on the employees. Nonetheless, it is important to note that both management styles do not have any forms of dictatorship and beaurocracy which are present in some regions. The management styles are mainly aimed at achieving democracy and fairness at the workplace in the two regions. References Gannon, M. (2004). Understanding global cultures. Metaphorical journeys through 28 nations, clusters of nations and continents. New York: Sage. Prince, R. et al, (2008). Understanding cross-cultural management. Essex: Pearson. Chaney, L. et al. (2004). Intercultural business communication (3rd ed). Pearson Prentice Hall. Beamer, L. et al. (2001). Intercultural communication in the global workforce (2nd ed). Chicago: McGraw Hill Irwin. Deresky, H. (2002). International management: Managing across borders and cultures. International Edition (4th ed). NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. Francesco, A. et al. (2005). International organisational behavior (2nd ed). Pearson Prentice Hall. Hampden-Turner, C. et al. 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