Cross Cultural Communications-Managers Role - Essay Example

Cross cultural communications-managers role Globalization of various business entities has created a virtual local market. Employees are exposed to unique work environments. Culture is something which is unique to a particular region and the cultural values and traditions keeps changing from region to region. An effective manager has to recognize and adapt to different work styles and cultures in the work environment. To manage things to be done through others requires a free flow of accurate information and open, productive relationships with employees. Managing techniques looks good on paper but difficult to implement in work station. A work station consists of employees from different cultures, people from different regions and with different languages. The organization is a conglomerate of different individuals and it is necessary to coordinate with these individuals to fulfill the organization mission. Cross cultural awareness help organizations and their employees to become internationally focused and fluent with the ability to understand the needs of their local markets, clients and employees. Cross cultural awareness will help to develop an in-depth understanding of the underlying attitudes, values and behaviors’ of different cultures and provide us the chance to tune up the employee attitude according to their nature. Significance of cross cultural awareness Cross cultural awareness will make the employees feel comfort with their peers and increases the intimacy between the employees. The cross cultural misunderstandings can be avoided by educating the employees about the culture aspects of the other employees working in the same work environment The understanding of the cross cultural skills will allow the organization to develop strategies to cope up the employees from varied cultural background. In this competitive world a manager has to work in conditions where he has to combine, motivate and lead his subordinates from various socio economic conditions. Very few successful businesses now work with people from only one culture and confined to a particular region. At a deeper level, the impact of globalization and the booming economies of developing countries like India mean that many companies either outsource parts of their business or are outsourcing partners for other businesses. The managers have to grasp the cultural differences and adapt quickly to the new business environment. The manager has to look after the ways and means to churn his subordinates or the employees working in that region to quickly tune up to the organizations goals and objectives and work towards their achievement. The manager has to influence his attitude in important parameters like hierarchy and status groups vs. individual orientation Time consciousness, Communication conflict resolution By failing to understand how culture impacts individual needs and preferences, managers often misinterpret behaviors.People who come from ethnic, racial, religious and national backgrounds and individuals by the standards, ideals values and experience of their teams. Managers are of two types depending upon the status they have achieved by their ability to perform and by their position they have achieved The organization culture will also have its influence. To tune up with the organization and to lead every individual towards this mission of the organization it may take time to mould different people from different backgrounds. Employees are much influenced by the organization brand value, symbols and inspirations for an organization, mission statements, logos, uniforms, and so on. For an individual, symbols include faith, race, and ethnic background. Dress, gestures and religious symbols are a few examples of the symbols that people in different cultures value. As people grow closer and begin to identify with one another, they tend to develop intimacy between them which will make them share their ideas more frequently and combine their ideas towards organizational excellence. Values are central to many individuals’ they determine the way in which things are done, and what is viewed as good or bad behavior. Managers must understand people’s values if they are to build trust and lead in a way that is result oriented for an organization. The manager has to be case sensitive to the fact that culture is something team members handle delicately, and that differences exist because of it, it will help you manage people better. The manager should be capable to read the attitude and should take into account the beliefs and customs of his subordinate before he deals with them for executing a plan or a strategy. Cross culture difference due to status Managers typically can be autocratic or democratic; he can be an individual who values his subordinates and more to be a democratic or he can be strict to implement his decision. The managers can be different types, who will ascend according to the position, age, experience and education, this type of manager may stress upon the deadlines and the amount of output given by his subordinates. These type of managers are more of production oriented and sometimes may pressurize the subordinates to achieve their targets. The second type of managers is quite informal they will achieved-status by the way an employee exhibits his performance and demand response for his prowess. Internal qualities are valued more than external ones as the employee will be monitored and as he gains knowledge about the organization culture and operations he will moved to decision making roles. As there will constant monitoring of the performance the recognition can shift to others who did well at that point of time. This method inculcates more confidence and faith in the employee and the employee feels more responsible to the organization as it has given the recognition he wanted. An organization with hierarchy roles will not allow the employees to share their ideas as every employee will be defined about their roles. An employee performs their roles and does not interface with others as the work flows from person to person once it is completed. The internal employee biased firms will not give significance for status but every employee will have the freedom to express their thoughts and are allowed to be a part of decision making process. The above specified culture allows addressing each others with their names which brings them closer and eliminates the hierarchy barrier between the employees and individuals will usually feel of equal worth. So, a manager has the responsibility to ensure that he adapt employee biased culture to win the accolades and to lead his subordinates towards organization goal. The managers should be proactive in making their subordinates to coordinate with other departments and has to make sure that they get the necessary inputs regarding any concern; this method will eliminate the status barriers where the superiors of two departments has to meet to address an issue and not the subordinates. Creating communication objectives A manger has to mould himself to varied systems and environments .In an organization the basic feature of a manager should be that he has to set himself what he would like to communicate prior to address his subordinates .The manager has to decide the approach he has to adapt to convey his message about the concern depending upon the culture of the individuals with whom he is working for the organization. The manager has to lookout whether his objective suits to the current environment in the organization, does the employees abide the objectives set by him, like people may think deadlines may work out wonders at one region but it may result in bad response in the other, it depends upon the perceptions and inbuilt culture of the employees in that region. A manager has to make sure that, does the individuals are capable of meeting the time schedules designed by the organization or the employees prefer to take their time to perceive their jobs. The manager has to set the objectives according to the “nature” and “time sense” of the business environment in that region. A manager can assert on choosing an appropriate communication style depending upon the situation in demand whether you want to inform, to covey an idea, you want to consult on an issue, creating supportive and incentive measures to enhance the credibility towards the organisation, Selecting and motivating the employees to whom the manager would be addressing on a concern of the organisation. Setting a message strategy. Recognizing the Role of Culture So what can a manager do? First, know the cultural differences of your subordinates. Identify your preferences and try to correlates with employee perceptions. Try to analyze the employee behavior with the cultural background from which he came in order to avoid misconceptions by relating to your inherent culture. However, to get the information and effective communication you need, you have to find alternative approaches that are more in line with the employees culture. Here are some suggestions: * Ask your subordinate in what way he could accommodate your thoughts, take his opinion to know how he would like to implement the concepts. *Monitor the way he is responding to your instructions and try to lead him to your desired results.. * Try to communicate in the language in which the employee feel comfort and instruct him according to the situation * Give employees enough time to think and develop their thoughts necessary to get started with the work * Try to make your subordinates to work in groups and to share the ideas in between them which results in getting close among themselves. Reference Sources: http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3495/is_3_46/ai_71969378 http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/cultural-services/articles/status.html http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/management/Gr-Int/International-Cultural-Differences.html http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/cultural-services/articles/intercultural-awareness.html http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/cross-cultural/business-culture.html http://www.schulersolutions.com/cross_cultural_communication.html http://3121.info/2492.php Read More