Business and Cultural Differences between the UK and China - Essay Example

?Business and cultural differences between UK and China Table of Contents Introduction 3 2 Cultural differences between United Kingdom and China 3 2.1 Power Distance Index 4 2.2 Individualism 4 2.3 Masculinity 5 2.4 Uncertainty Avoidance 6 3 Issues which might arise as a consequence of cultural differences for the managers of Marketing and Human Resources department 7 4 Recommendations on how to successfully deal with any potential issues 10 5 Reference: 11 6 Bibliography: 11 1 Introduction Culture may be defined as the behaviours and beliefs of the people which are passed from one generation to the next generation. With the integration of business across the world the managers faces several problems with the difference in society due to different cultural backgrounds. The practice of globalization helps organizations to expand in different parts of the world by acquiring other organization in the target market of another country. But this expansion also needs to recognize the culture of the people. The way the people dress, different ways for analyzing problems and how they interact are very important to understand in order to find the communication gap between the nations. Without proper communication several problems may arise due to difference in the cultural practices. In this study we will find the differences between the cultural backgrounds of UK and that of the acquisition company at China. Several issues which could arise within the organization due to cross cultural activities have been discussed in this study in order to successfully deal with any potential issues (Burton, 2009, p.8). 2 Cultural differences between United Kingdom and China The culture of the nation is often defined from the collective programming of the different minded people. The cultural differences are basically formed from four dimensions of the culture of a nation. These are basically power distance, individualism, masculinity and uncertainty avoidance. Based on these factors the culture of the nation varies to a great extent from country to country. 2.1 Power Distance Index The power distance index is the indicative of the distance between the top management and the subordinates. In high power distance culture they have inequality of power and wealth in the society. This is not forced on the population but comes from the cultural heritage of the country. China has a highly power distance culture which is ranked 80 compared to the world average of 55, while in UK it’s around 30. Therefore in China the people maintain a great distance in different levels of the organization which sometimes leads to an unfriendly workspace with professional relation being the priority in business. Every employee is not free to express their feelings and they are not allowed to take any business decision. The top management are only responsible to take critical decisions in the business. In UK business strategy, the supervisors are well mixed with the subordinates thus creating a very friendly and healthy workspace since the power is well distributed and dew to very small distance between the levels everyone is invited to share their own thoughts on the business plans. The business plans are taken after discussion with all the levels of the organization. Every individual are encouraged to share their ideas and before taking final decision by top management the suggestions from subordinates are kept in mind. 2.2 Individualism Individualism is working with single responsibility and without interacting with peers in the organization. On the other hand collectivism is working in groups and taking decision collectively without questioning loyalty. Individualist business organisation has very little ties between individual employees. Due to the ancient cultural heritage of China the family or relation are between peoples in the society are very strong and the people are very loyal towards each other. Collectivism is the practice in China society who have a close and committed members in the group be it a family or a business. Everyone takes the responsibility of others in the society. United Kingdom on the other side has a strong individualist character. People believe in individual work space without relying on others. This is a common practice in the UK society where people are separated at a very early age from their family and they lead individual life which reflects in their way of living in future and also in their workspace. They don’t want to work collectively rather want to have their own space of work and flexibility to perform. In UK the employees have their separate own cabins at workspace while at China most of the employee of certain level sits together at their workspace and interact with each other face to face. 2.3 Masculinity Masculinity mainly refers to the distribution of different roles amongst the genders i.e. against its opposite feminity is another issues for the cultural diversity in different countries. Women’s value differs much less than that of the men’s values. Men’s values from one country are much different than that of other countries. Men’s values are much more assertive, competitive and differ a lot from that of women’s values in different parts of the world. Women’s values are more caring, modest and similar to that of other countries. This assertive pole of the country is known as masculine and the caring, modest pole are referred as the feminine. The women’s value in masculine society though differs but not as much as that of the men’s values in a masculine society. China is a country with a moderate range of masculinity while in United Kingdom the masculinity is also moderate but little more than that of China. People at China put more emphasis on relationships and compassion while at UK the people are more competitive, assertive and ambitious than that of China. Therefore, the gap between men’s value and women’s value are more prominent at UK. 2.4 Uncertainty Avoidance This dimension is concerned with the level of ambiguity and uncertainty that the members of a society can tolerate and are comfortable with in case emergency. Countries like China have a high uncertainty avoidance rate than that of UK. China prefers a more structures rule and controlled environment. Cultures that are comfortable with uncertainty are less emotionally expressive. Cultures like that of China try to avoid those uncertain situations by rules and laws in order to minimize the chance of uncertainty. Peoples of China are more emotional and are more motivated by their inner nervous energy while that of UK are more strong to accept critical situation and are less emotional with rules and laws as less as possible which helps to cope with different situations and make them ready to work with alternatives in their life rather than sticking to their own thinking and belief. Every culture in different parts of the world possesses a unique mixture of social expectations, values and attitudes. While business across the countries are carried out it is very important for the organization and its employees to understand the cultural differences and act according to that for a fruitful outcome for their moves in business otherwise it might often happen that a decision for one country doesn’t work for another country with another cultural values and beliefs (Forrester, n.d., p.3) 3 Issues which might arise as a consequence of cultural differences for the managers of Marketing and Human Resources department Acquiring a company also needs to adapt the working style and culture of the company. Employees facing any problem in workspace will affect the performance of production in different departments. While acquiring a new company with a difference in cultural aspect the Marketing and Human Resource departments face many problems which are needed to be sought out by the departments. One of the major problems for the HR department is the cross cultural communication. HR covers a vast range of business areas which needs a cross cultural analysis. HR is concerned with the recruitment, staff retention, and relocation and training program. If the HR manager is not able to understand the cultural background of the people at China the employees will face problems while adopting the culture of UK firm. Communication gap is one of the major regions which the HR faces problem with. The working style of people at different parts of the world differs a lot. At China the power distance is maintained with a hierarchy in the organization. The employees are more familiar with working under the supervision of some top management. If they are recruited at UK they might face some problem working individually without any supervisors to look after him. In UK culture the employees’ works with more individualism than that of China which will be a big problem if they don’t get the flexibility to work in their own way. The employees at China are more used to work in teams rather than working individually like that of UK employees. The peoples of UK can adopt with critical situations and can handle the pressure of uncertainty while the people at China are not so adoptable with uncertainties. This is another problem faced by the employees at China when they are forced to work at other countries (Selmer, 1998, p.1). In order to solve these problems the HR department need to play a strong role to analyze the employees while acquiring a new company with a different culture. The nature of each and every employee should be analyzed and then they should be recruited for an appropriate position understanding their way of work. If relocation is necessary then the employees of both the countries are needed to be trained for the cross cultural activities otherwise miscommunication can lead to huge loss for the firm. As for example in IT industry the coding techniques of different people differs thus making it very difficult to understand for other employees in other countries. The employees from the UK office should be trained to work in teams instead of individual working. The employees of both the nation are required to make aware of the cultural, social and religion backgrounds of the other country so that there is minimal problem arises between the two due misconception. The HR need to educate the employees with the laws and working style and rules of the other country and then relocate them. If the employees are not educated by the HR it will affect the performance and the environment of the company as they will never be comfortable to work in new environment with a complete different culture thus output from them are less than expected. HR manager should give language training to the employees for proper communication. Without proper communication the strategies, styles, closure and planning cannot be implemented in a right manner (Bhattacharyya, 2010, p.244). Along with the HR manager the Marketing manager also face several issues when moving out of a nation for the marketing process. With difference in culture the perception of people also changes towards a product or services. While marketing the manager should keep in mind the cultural factors of the target customer as sometimes it may happen that a product or service is placed with a promotional advertisement which may not fit with the culture of the country. Advertising with certain images or text may sometimes harm the society or any religion of a nation which might not be a problem for the native nation. Before marketing process the cultural background should be properly evaluated for avoiding these instances. The marketing department need to be interactive with other departments and plan strategies according to that. UK culture is comfortable with interacting with others and then decided strategies. But on the other hand China culture maintains hierarchy in the organization thus while interacting with the other departments by the Marketing managers of UK, they might face some problems and their might be conflict between the ideas and values of the two cultures. The marketing process, channel, distribution process are different in different countries which must be well understood by the marketing manager through proper communication with the distributors and suppliers of China (Browaeys & Price, 2008, p.175).   There are many instances in which due to improper marketing in the target market many products failed to capture the market in spite of being successful with the same strategy in other country. For example, in 2002, American sports manufacturer Umbro withdraws its sneakers known as Zyklon as they received many complaints from the nation as it is the name of the gas which were used by Nazi’s to murder millions of Jews. 4 Recommendations on how to successfully deal with any potential issues For today’s business style the consultant for cross cultural communication need to be an expert to understand the need and nature of the employees. The main aim of cross cultural consultant is integration. Integration between clients, customers and also colleagues are very crucial for business expansions. With proper knowledge and experience the cross cultural consultant creates the bridge between people and also opens up lines of communication. The HR professionals need to carry out several roles to cope with different problems from cross cultural integrity. They need to give proper training so that they can work in teams along with their flexibility. Communication problems are needed to be very seriously dealt with so that one could understand clients need and the work demands from the colleagues. Proper language and attitude training should be provided by the company HR to minimize the barrier of communication. The employees of China should be motivated to be leaders and should improve their self confidence so that they can work at UK individually. The UK peoples are needed to work in teams when they are relocated to China, thus team handling capabilities are needed to be improved amongst the UK employee. The marketing department will have to do extensive research before entering into a new market. The cultural background of China should be properly evaluated to understand where the existing strategy of UK will work for China or not. Anything which might affect the religion or belief of the society or values should be avoided while marketing the product. Proper understanding, simple ways of communication are the keys for successful business expansion in countries with different cultural practices. 5 Reference: Bhattacharyya, D., (2010), Cross-Cultural Management: Text and Cases, PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd. Browaeys, M. & Price, R., (2008), Understanding Cross-cultural Management. Pearson Education India. Burton, D., (2009), Cross-cultural marketing: theory, practice and relevance. Taylor & Francis. Forrester, L., (No Date), Social and Cultural Considerations for International Operations. [Pdf]. Available at: http://www.iamot.org/paperarchive/122B.PDF. [Accessed on April 11, 2011]. Selmer, J., (1998), International management in China: cross-cultural issues, Routledge. 6 Bibliography: Charles Hill (2009). International Business - Competing in the Global Marketplace. 7th Edition. McGraw Hill. Daniels, J. D., L.H. Radebaugh and D. P. Sullivan (2007). International Business: Environments and Operations. 11th edition. Pearson Prentice Hall. Daniels, J.D. & Radebaugh, L.H. (2001) International Business: Environments and Operations. 9th Edition. Prentice Hall. Morrison, J. (2002). The International Business Environment. Palgrave. Schneider, S.C. & Barsoux, J.L. (2002) Managing Across Cultures. Financial Times, Prentice Hall. Read More