Cross-Cultural Management - Davinci Apps - Essay Example

Cross-Cultural Management - Davinci Apps Table of Contents Section A 2 Introduction 2 Macro-level facts of Italy and Rome 2 Value description of Italy based on Hofstede’s work (Benchmark – United Kingdom) 4 Section B 4 Analysis of business and management culture in Italy in comparison to the United Kingdom 4 Challenges 7 Section C 7 Conclusion 7 Works Cited 9 Cross-Cultural Management - Davinci Apps Section A Introduction Cross-cultural management has become an important issue in all multinational companies worldwide. In the current competitive world, multinationals have realized that expansion of business territory brings in monetary and operational benefits. So, multinationals have given emphasis on sending managers to international boundaries in order to extend the scope of business. In this report, cross-cultural management with other countries is explained by a manager of an international company situated in the United Kingdom, DaVinci Apps. The manager is sent to Italy to impart cross-cultural training so that DaVinci Apps can expand its network to these two countries. The manager is not provided with any formal training and it is her first international assignment. In order to assist the manager, a report is prepared on behalf of DaVinci so as to make her aware of cultural and managerial differences between Italy and United Kingdom. The report highlights the main cultural difference between Italy and United Kingdom by employing Geert Hofstede’s framework (Porter 23). Recommendations are also provided in the report so as to help managers cope up with the cultural difference between the two countries. The business culture is also different in both countries. The values followed by the countries are unique and cannot be described over one platform. The cultural intelligence and decision making in the countries are also elaborated here. Thus, the report is an appropriate presentation of all facts and facets related to international cultural difference and ways to manage the same (Prasad 234). Macro-level facts of Italy and Rome Macro-level facts of Italy pertain to growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP), currency fluctuation and change in climate. The following facts are brief explained, which will assist the manager in interpreting the microenvironment of Italy and Rome. Italy Italy is a parliamentary republic in Southern Europe, which covers an area of 301338 kilometers (“Italy”, The World Factbook). The climate of Italy is basically diverse, housing around 60 million residents and is regarded as fifth most populous European country (“Italy”, The World Factbook.). Italy has confronted grave environmental challenges, especially that of air pollution in northern regions of the country due to industrialization. In central and northern regions of the country, the climate is humid subtropical or humid continental. So, it can be inferred that the climate is moderate (Malcolm 179). The global financial and economic crisis had affected economic growth of Italy to a great extent. The average growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) since 2011 is noticed to be 1.4% (European Commission, “Macroeconomic imbalances – Italy”). This small growth in GDP has occurred due to falling in export and import after 2011. The Euro-crisis also played an important role in slowing down economic growth of the country (European Commission, “Macroeconomic imbalances – Italy”). Figure 1: Growth in GDP (Source: European Commission, “Macroeconomic imbalances – Italy”) From the above figure, one can identify growth in GDP of Italy along with other factors such as capital and current account balance. The currency of Italy is Euro and fluctuation in its exchange value are mainly because of political turmoil. The shutdown of the government in Italy has greatly affected the financial market as most of the investors lost huge amounts in dollar value, which showed drastic depreciation (“Euro fluctuates amid Italy political turmoil, dollar extends losses”). Rome is the capital city of Italy. The manager is sent to Rome in order to provide cultural training pertaining to the launch of DaVinci Apps as the company is interested to spread its network globally (Chevrier 143; Thomas 106). Value description of Italy based on Hofstede’s work (Benchmark – United Kingdom) Geert Hofstede framework can be implemented in order to find out cultural dimensions of Italy as well as the United Kingdom. It will help the manager to gather the greater understanding of the cultural difference between the countries as well as understand ways to manage the cross-cultural environment. The following figure elaborates the value of Italy with respect to United Kingdom (UK): Figure 2: Hofstede Framework: Italy and United Kingdom (Source: "Italy", The Hofstede Centre) The figure provided above elaborates on various factors of Hofstede framework with respect to both the countries. The score of UK is taken as the benchmark. With respect to the cultural performance of UK, that of Italy is evaluated. Italy's performance appears to be considered fair compared to the UK. The scores of Italy for factors such as individualism, pragmatism, uncertainty avoidance and power distance, are observed to be higher than that of UK. Section B Analysis of business and management culture in Italy in comparison to the United Kingdom The business and management culture of Italy can be presented by incorporating cross-cultural difference using the Hofstede framework. The business and management culture of Italy is compared with that of UK in order to highlight cultural performance of Italy. This will assist the manager to comprehend cultural differences present between the two countries (“United Kingdom”). The following points explain the management culture of Italy considering the UK as the benchmark and also incorporate the cultural difference: 1) Power distance: This particular dimension foregrounds the fact that individuals in the society are all equal. It depicts attitude of culture towards inequalities prevailing among the citizens. On comparing the power distance factor of both countries, it is observed that Italy prefers to treat every individual equally with a Power Distance Index (PDI) of 50 (“Italy”, The Hofstede Centre); whereas the UK believes in inequalities. As a result, the manager, who would be staying in Italy for 2 years, will be comfortable and be able to share the good relation with locals. Nonetheless, as she is from the UK, the manager might need to regulate her individualistic nature appropriately. It is highly recommended that the manager cooperates with the officials in Italy so that cultural training is successfully imparted and DaVinci Apps succeeds in establishing its network in Italy (“United Kingdom”; Luo 671). 2) Individualism: The main issue of this particular dimension is “the degree of interdependence a society maintains among its members” (“Italy”, The Hofstede Centre). This indicates ways that individuals adopt in order to portray their self-image, referring to “I” or “we”. In an individualist society, people take care of themselves and their families only. However, in a collectivist society, individuals take care of other groups of people, apart from their families, in exchange for loyalty (Schaffer and Riordan 172; Silverthorne 23). In Italy, individualism is high, which indicates that even in a crowded place, one can feel alone. Besides family, people in such a society take responsibility for friends too. Here, the latter refers to professional friends, who help in improving the scope of business by way of increased networking and sources. It is observed that the Italians are motivated by their own feelings and consider one’s own idea to be of the best kind (“Italy”, The Hofstede Centre). On comparing individualism of Italy and UK, it is observed that it is higher for both the countries. There prevails an Individualistic ‘me’ culture, which is especially seen in rich and higher classes of society. So, the manager from the UK will not face too many problems in Italy while functioning with her individualistic nature (“United Kingdom”). 3) Masculinity: This dimension evaluates upon whether or not the masculine or feminine factor is given importance in the society. A higher score on this dimension indicates high competition existing in the society. Emphasize is put upon achievement, success, and development among residents of the society while exhibiting a winning nature at every stage of life. However, a low score in this dimension implies that there is no urge for competition and success in the society (“United Kingdom”). Italy is a masculine society that is highly success oriented and competitive. The society believes in winner attitude and children are taught to compete in the world right from school. So, competition among employees of companies is also high, which facilitates organizational development to a great extent (“Italy”, The Hofstede Centre). On comparing masculinity factor of Italy and UK, it is observed that the society of UK is less masculine compared to that of Italy. This signifies that there are higher competition and stress upon success within the Italians, which help them to achieve greater success. The manager needs to become more goal-oriented and be confident of successfully providing cultural training in Italy. Her motivation will be able to direct her toward the success of the training program and DaVinci Apps, as a whole ("The United Kingdom"; Krishna, Sahay and Walsham 63). 4) Uncertainty avoidance: This particular dimension relates to the way in which society deals with uncertain situations in future. This dimension measures whether or not one should control occurrences of the future. It is noticed that different cultures have the capability to deal with uncertain situations in own unique ways. Hence, this indicates the degree to which members of a particular society is threatened by unknown situations (“Italy”, The Hofstede Centre; “United Kingdom”). Italy scores high in avoiding uncertainty, which implies that the Italians are not at all comfortable in encountering uncertain situations. It is noted that formality is quite necessary. The civil and penal code of Italy is very complicated with a number of clauses and codicil. On comparing this dimension with the UK, UK appears to be capable of avoiding uncertainty in future. The society is not threatened by any particular situation and reflects courage for encountering uncertain conditions (Thorne and Saunders 10). Thus, the manager from the UK will be able to deal with an uncertain situation in Italy, thereby maintaining her motivation towards work (“Italy”, The Hofstede Centre). 5) Pragmatism: This particular dimension indicates ways in which people relate to certain incidents that have occurred in the past or will in future. In a pragmatic society, individuals have a tendency to greatly depend upon the situation. Italy is highly pragmatic. As a result, the Italians believe that truth depends on situation, time and context. The manager will not encounter difficulty in Italy as Italian citizens are inclined towards attaining success while acting upon their strong urge to save time and money (“Italy”, The Hofstede Centre). 6) Indulgence: This dimension marks the extent to which people are able to control their desire. Italy is not a country of indulgence. This can be a negative factor for the manager in Italy. Her ideas and opinions during the cultural training can be rejected such grounds. Hence, it is recommended that the manager conducts a thorough research pertaining to questions that can be asked by the Italians during the program session (“Italy”, The Hofstede Centre). Challenges The challenges to be encountered by the manager in Italy are as follows: 1) She might face difficulty in adapting to a new culture as cultures in UK and Italy vary to a great extent. 2) Her decision making can get affected by individualistic nature of the Italians. It will be a challenge for her to convince locals of the worth of DaVinci Apps. 3) Being a female, it might be inconvenient for the manager to cope up in a highly pragmatic society. Females believe that there is a reason for every uncertain situation. So, the pragmatic outlook of the society in Italy will not support the tendency to know the reason behind a problem before formulating a solution (“Italy”, The Hofstede Centre). Section C Conclusion The key suggestions for the manager, before shifting to Italy, are that she must conduct adequate research pertaining to the culture of Italy as well as to the training programs in case she has to face uncertain questions or situations. As Italy is an individualistic society, residents choose to make their own decisions, so higher efforts are required in order to convince them about the value of DaVinci Apps. Therefore, the manager should aim to upkeep motivation and clarify queries appropriately. 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