Cultural Quotient in the Corporate Environment - Essay Example

? Cultural Quotient College Teacher Essay, Journalism, mass media and communication Introduction For building up a strong team, a successful manager plays a vital role. They must possess the elements that are essential for any effective manager and focuses on several aspects of leadership and management within his organization. The behaviors that the successful managers possess are infinite, but to name a few include; how the manager makes effort to empower his employees, his integrity and loyalty towards his team, and motivating employees who belong to various cultural backgrounds to learn and grow through adequate training and education. Moreover, the ultimate behavior that defines a fine line between the successful managers and the other managers is the Cultural Quotient also known as Cultural Intelligence Quotient. Like IQ and EQ, Cultural Quotient (CQ) is a set of expertise that has been proved to give the organizations a superior authority to survive in this competitive world. CQ could be defined as an individual’s capability to understand and function in an effective manner through the national and the organizational cultures (Livermore, 2010). Changes that occurred in the global business environment over last 20 years Everything in this world is changing, except for change itself. The rate at which the world has witnessed change over the past few decades is dramatic and amazing, both at the same time. The world has transformed into a global village in which everything is interrelated. Every walk of life has been influenced by these changes. The business world is mostly affected by change, in both positive and negative way. Factors that served as a catalyst for change are uncountable. They are numerous. However, two of the most important factors that initiated changes are globalization and technology. As Sultan and Chan (2000) have mentioned, over the last 20 years many of the changes in organization have been predominantly driven by two factors: globalization and technology. These two factors changed the entire course on how businesses operated. Globalization is somehow linked with demographic changes. These changes did affect the business world. Globalization and technology have made the customer more educated, more informed and more aware than ever before. Rapidly increasing urban societies are not only changing the whole coarse of societies, but the business within them as a whole. The increased interaction and interdependent relationship between the public sector and the private sector is also changing the whole nature of the businesses today. Technology means, innovation, new things, new designs, creativity - all these terms are synonyms for change. Businesses no longer rely on the trademark and classic products they started off with. They are continuously looking for new things that will help them to achieve competitive advantage. No longer experienced is preferred over youth. Now businesses seek fresh blood and fresh ideas. Hodgkinson (2007) holds the belief that all these changes have also altered the paradigm which businesses used to operate in. Advanced technology has brought information at the finger tips of everyone. May it be an employee or a consumer, everyone has access to information all the time. This information has served as a blessing as well as a curse for the businesses. More information means more variety and more choices. This has certainly brought a great threat to businesses who need to revise all their existing products, policies, practices according the non stopping trends of the world. The shifts of local workforce to the global workforce have also brought many challenges. The management practices have been altered. They are much more in consideration with the global culture than one particular culture. The world has now become a huge market where there are customers and stakeholders stretching from one corner of the world to the other. The cutthroat competition has pressured the business immensely. Business struggle is all the time to get a competitive advantage that can enable them to excel from their competitors. This again calls for strenuous efforts and nonstop changing practices. Cultural values and norms are different across the globe Different countries have different cultures, norms and values. It is imperative for the HR personnel to understand and respect these values while working with multicultural people within the organization or in any other company practicing the culture which does not belong to them (Schuler et al., 2009). For instance, in the US it does not matter if business or visiting card is accepted with one hand, but in Japan one needs to make sure that the business card is accepted using both hands. Similarly, in Netherlands it is quite insulting for the employees if they receive the award for employee of the year position in firm. In UK, for example, if the candidate is polite during the negotiation, it does not mean that they are selected for the said position. Because of some many advance technologies, it is not a big deal to understand the culture of other countries. HR people are very much aware of dos and don’ts with respect to norms and values, because if they want to survive in the competitive market they need to make themselves knowledgeable, up-to-date with current environment or trend and strong enough to accept or adopt the change positively. While selecting the candidate for the company, the selection criteria are different in various countries. For instance, in America and Australia while screening the resume, an employer makes sure that the individual is from the same technical background and has same experience. They also give importance to the people following the same culture. On the other hand, in China, Indonesia and Korea the selection criteria mainly focus on employment test. In Japan and Taiwan employer focuses on person’s ability to get along easily with the existing employees of the organization. Another important cultural challenge is training, which is different in all countries across the globe. For instance, Asia spends very little on training and development of its employees. However, in U.S. the employers value their workers as a part of their culture. They are one of the top countries who spend a hefty amount on its employee’s training and development. Japan holds the second position for training employees (Melkman and Trotman, 2005). Looking at all these differences in culture across the globe it is suggested to go for a standardized system of human resource management so that uniformity is maintained throughout. Employers need to defer to their local managers on some of the specific policies of human resource management and their issues. On the other hand, it is not necessary or suggested to go for diverse inter-country policies. The most significant objective of human resource management with mutual consent of their employer is to comprehend the need of their employees across the globe and to implement such policies which benefit all. Difference in commercial transactions between business partners in different countries Globalization has impacted business in a very positive manner. Due to it, businesses are no longer confined within their parent country boundaries. Businesses are now globally operating worldwide, increasing not only their profits, but also their recognition, their operations, their product familiarities etc. They are examples of numerous enterprises which are operating in more than one country. Globalization has enabled business to acquire other companies, to communicate internationally, to meet the demands international customer etc. This eliminated distance has also enabled businesses to operate at their fullest without any hurdle. Businesses are no longer victims of monopoly of industries and suppliers due to globalization. Raw materials, manpower, resources, everything can be acquired easily due to the blessings of globalization. There are countless examples of businesses, which function in one country, obtain resources from another country and distribute their products in the third, completely different country. The seamless production and transaction systems have made business function much easier than ever before. Now businesses focus on their strategic planning, improving their competencies and achieving their goals rather than concentrating on this minute issue to sustain their production systems. Technology has also impacted the businesses for good. Though technology has made competition much more deadly, it has also enabled firms to expand throughout the globe. Firms who were not very much fond of technology are now trying their level best to make their business as technology based as possible (Serour and Henderson-Sellers, 2013). Gone are the traditional business models. Now businesses are replaced with e-business strategies and practices. Technology is enabling and empowering business to expand without any hindrance. Business which is located in one part of the globe can easily operate across the globe with the help of modern equipment. Big shots organizations like Nestle, Ford, Proctor and Gamble are some of the successful models of how a business can transform into a multinational organization just by incorporating modern technology in their operations. Now a multinational organization can have US manager successfully managing teams across Asia due to the technology. Globalization has also minimized the grievances handled by businesses in the past. Gone are the days when businesses used to tackle the legal implications of operating business in other countries. Technology as well as globalization has impacted and enabled business to handle legal implication, operation, productions, sales, and other operation effectively. Because more and more businesses are involved in it, it is not rare the laws of the world are getting flexible day by day. According to Lan (2005), the flow of information and its dissemination is easier than ever before due to the change in the world as a result of modern technology and globalization. As change is positive in many ways, it is the willingness of an organization to be able to manage this change effectively. Conclusion Human resources management procedure and practices usually differ from place to place or country to country. It is imperative for a successful manager to comprehend the impact of the cultural background on their behavior for successful business. The manager shall focus on the level of interest in working with employees who have diverse cultural backgrounds and they should be able to understand the cultural differences. Managers who belong to the management and executive positions possess high level of CQ. It contributes in the developing the talent and potential of a manager as well as helps in treating employees with high esteem and dignity, irrespective of their cultural backgrounds. Successful managers should employ the strategy of understanding the cultural traits in order to bridge the gap of communication and alliance among employees. Bibliography Hodgkinson, A. (2007) Small Business Clustering Technologies: Applications in Marketing, Management, IT and Technology. USA: Idea Group Inc. Lan, C.Y. (2005) Global information society: operating information systems in a dynamic Business Environment. America: Ideal Group Publishing, p.44. Livermore, D.A. (2010) Leading With Cultural Intelligence: The New Secret to Success. NY, USA: Library of Congress Cataloging. VIII. Melkman, A. and Trotman, J. (2005) Training International Managers: Designing, Deploying And Delivering Effective Training for Multi-Cultural Groups. England: Gower Publishing Limited, p.17-21. Schuler, R.S. Briscoe, D.R. and Clau, L. (2009) International Human Resource Management. 3rd ed. New York, USA: Library of Congress Cataloging, p23. Serour, M. K. and Henderson-Sellers B. (2013) Organizational aspects of transformation to e-business: a case study. University of Technology, Sydney. [online] Available at: http://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/research/bitstream/handle/10453/12692/2004001692OK.pdf?sequence=1 (Accessed 19 April 2013) Sultan, F. and Chan, L. (2000) The Adoption of New Technology: The Case of Object-Oriented Computing Software Companies, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 47(1), pp.106-126. Read More