Mexican American Culture and Management: An Outlook - Research Paper Example

 Introduction There are significant differences which are caused by cultural outlook when it comes to working in an organization. Values in the work place are significantly affected by culture. This research paper will look into various methods used to analyze Mexican values at the workplace and what means can be employed for their effective management. This paper will look into means to find out how managerial effectiveness is effected by parochialism and egocentrism in Mexican culture. It will also explore different means to finding out which leadership style is beneficial and Mexican culture and the extent to which Mexicans can be involved in decision making. Different stereotypes, cultural blinders, words, ideas and gestures will also have to be analyzed to find conclusions regarding the effects of Mexican culture on organizational behavior. Observation, questionnaire and interview methods will be used. Mexican culture has its own strong belief and value system. This if not understood properly can lead to ineffective management. Parochialism, egocenrism and their effects on managerial effectiveness. A questionnaire should be forwarded to Mexican workers at the workplace. It should include questions which evaluate their parochialism and egocentrism. These questions can include 1) Do they like their supervisor making risky decisions? 2) If they were given a choice between their own pay raise and profits and advancement of the company what would they choose. Answers in negative to the first question represent Parochialism and choosing their own self in the second question will represent Egocentrism. This data collected from numerous employees can be evaluated and then conclusions regarding the extent of their Parochialism and Egocentrism can be made. Parochial belief of people and implies that they have a limited thinking and a conservative outlook. As American managers are accused of being parochial in outlook and viewing the world from their own camera, their parochialism may greatly affect their effectiveness. Mexicans are very warm and gracious and very hospitable. They are also not regarded as very industrious and a Mexican saying goes that an American lives to work but a Mexican works to live (Mexico). Mexicans are collectivist by nature whereas Americans are highly individualistic. Geert Hofstede's dimensions prove this as USA is the first on the individualism scale whereas Mexico is 32nd. (Hofstede). Mexicans integrate friends, family and work and have very tightly knit families whereas Americans have very separate work and personal lives. Mexican culture has a very high uncertainty avoidance dimension of 82. (Hofstede). This implies that the society possesses a very low level of tolerance for uncertainty. Thus Mexicans are very rule oriented and risk adverse. They do not accept change readily. Americans are generally more comfortable with risk taking and they have an uncertainty avoidance dimension of 46, thus those managers are avid risk takers. These and other significant differences like a very masculine culture will make it difficult for a parochial manager to enforce his outlook on Mexicans. A parochial manager might not understand that why a Mexican employee has difficulty taking instructions from a female or might reprimand him for taking too many days off for a family reunion as these concepts are alien from his culture. He might also not learn any Mexican languages thus gathering resentment from his Mexican employees. A parochial manager might adopt risky strategies which his employees will not like because of their general liking for structure and stability. Egocentrism may also affect a manager's effectiveness in Mexican culture. Mexicans have a low Individualism value of 30 (Hofstede) which shows that loyalty matters the most in Mexican culture. This means that the society is extremely integrated and cohesive. Mexican people are generally collectivist in nature rather than being individualists. Americans are highly individualistic and thus a clash of cultures will happen if a manager just thinks about himself or expects his workers to just think about themselves when working. Mexicans lay a very high value on loyalty and everyone takes care of members of their group. Thus egocentrism may lead to numerous administrative problems in Mexican culture. Leadership styles appropriate for Mexican culture. Three groups of Mexican workers should be made, each containing at least five workers. They should be given the same type of work and under the same conditions. The leadership styles should be varied and each one should be exposed to autocratic, democratic and laissez fair style of leadership. Their performance should be evaluated in the end in the basis of the quality and speed of work and conclusions should be made. Mexico has a very high power distance dimension of 81. Thus Mexicans with both a high power distance and uncertainty avoidance dimension, view organizations as pyramids of people. (Nancy J. Adler, 2008, p. 88). Hierarchy in organizations is very important for them. They need formal lines of vertical authority and should know where the power is coming from? This kind of society needs an autocratic style of leadership. In this style work rules are laid down and there is no ambiguity in the way work is to be proceeded. The manager's word often becomes the word of law and cannot be violated. The unambiguity and stern rules that should be applied in Mexican culture are also in coherence for the High uncertainty avoidance dimension they have. Firmly laid down guidelines of the autocratic style of leadership assure that risk taking is considerably lowered. Decision making in atypical Mexican business is based upon status. But when it comes to the use of consideration and structure a manager should use consideration structure which is more employee oriented. In consideration structure of leadership leaders care about their employees human needs and provide psychological support. This works in Mexican culture because Mexicans are collectivist by nature and have strong family and friend ties. Stereotypes of this culture and their effects on behavior. A sample of 20 Mexican workers from different organizations should be randomly selected. They should be exposed to different conditions and their variables be measured. They can include behavior when working with females, attitude in large groups, decision times, time during work spent on personal activities. The data collected should look for a general trend and results can be associated with Mexican culture. An American manager after studying Mexican culture might assume that since Mexicans are low on the individualistic scale, they will be able to work collectively in teams. This assumption does not prove to be true. The traditional team structure faces obstacles in Mexican culture (C.E Nicholls, 1999, pp. 15-27)as they are very used to a hierarchal structure of organization. Thus a managers formation of teams and assumption that they will take full responsibility might result in counteractions. The stereotype that Mexicans are assertive and aggressive can be very helpful in the work place. (Leidner, 1999. Pg5-11) By these notions a manager should expect quick decision making from Mexican employees who will not be very interested in details. This is particularly true of Mexican workers who will take decisions quickly and impulsively and the manager should be well prepared for it. Cultural blinders in dealing with this culture. The same method as that above should be employed with different cultural blinders. They should include reactions of Mexican workers to eye contact, their gestures when meeting strangers, their gestures when meeting friends, their specific words which they use and specific words which they avoid. A study of around 20 employees should give an in-depth insight into cultural blinders in Mexican culture. In American cultures eye contact is a symbol of confidence and a very powerful communication gesture. In Mexico, an American manager may find out that his employees particularly females do not maintain eye contact. This is a part of their culture and a long eye contact is viewed suspiciously. (Women making eye contact abroad). Thus if an American is surprised by the absence of eye contact, he should not take it as rudeness or shyness but simply a cultural norm. Specific words and ideas notorious in this culture. The same group of employees can be given a questionnaire which shall ask them to list five words and five ideas which they consider a taboo in their culture. The top five words and topics should provide us with the words and topics which should not be discussed. Mexicans are quite religious people and do not consider it appropriate for God's name to be used in every day conversations. Therefore phrases like "O my God" should not be used. It is also quite normal to use phrases such as "psst" to attract attention which is considered rude in American culture. First names of people should not be taken until and unless invited to. Mexicans also greatly value their traditions and speak slowly. Thus an outsiders tone should be soft and style slow. There are a few things which should not be discussed with Mexicans. Top on this list are Montezuma’s revenge and the Mexican-American war. Pollution, illegal immigration and comparison of the US with Mexico should also not be done. Non-verbal messages (gestures, facial expressions. and other body language) which are important in Mexican culture The same group of workers should also be asked to list five gestures which are very strong viewed either positively or negatively in their culture. A proper list should be formed which would give an insight into the Mexican mindset. Mexican people stand very close to each other when conversing. This should not be taken as a warning and one should not move away as it is a sign of rudeness. If a Mexican person does not make eye contact the American should not be offended as it is a part of their culture. Mexicans are not offended by physical contact and a hug represents the development of contact whereas in the United States it is a sign of too much affection. (Nancy J. Adler, 2008. Pg 57) Attributes of American culture that can help foster synergy. Mexican employees working under US management should be asked to evaluate their supervisor. They should be asked to list what they like the most about their supervisor and other parts from his attitude and work habits which they dislike. The answers which will be generated can lead to results determining the positive and the negative influences of American culture. The management styles in the US will be very different from those in Mexico. As the work dimensions are very different US manager will have to adapt to Mexican style of organizational working. This means that they expect that Mexican employees will not work in a very timely fashion and therefore should give them deadlines which are earlier than the actual deadline. It should also be noticed that loyalty is a key element of Mexican culture. (Kras, Comparing management differences in Mexico with Canada and the US , 1997) This will ensure very effective delegation of tasks from the employers to the employees. The sense of responsibility towards superiors will enable Mexican employees to follow instructions more Techniques for motivating the employees in this culture Different motivational techniques should be applied to different Mexican workers. Out of a group of around 30 workers, one third should be given a pay raise, one third a promotion in status and the rest, better working environment. Their performance and the resulting attitude should be rated on a scale of one to ten and results should be drawn on the basis of which motivational technique causes the greatest motivation. The typical American way of giving a raise or increasing the wage of a worker might not work in Mexican cultures. This is so because Mexicans value family and the quality of life above money. This is derived from their highly collectivist nature. In Mexican culture title or position represents status, thus giving a person a higher position and authority would motivate him (Kras, 2006). This stands true because unlike Americans who are more concerned about financial compensation, Mexicans are more concerned about how the society views them. Motivation can also be increased by giving reward such as more holidays when needed or inquiring about family and friends Including the employees in decision making Three different groups of randomly chosen Mexican employees should be made. One of them should completely involved in decision making, the second, moderately involved and the third not involved at all. Their respective performances on the basis of time taken to perform and the quality of work should provide a result so as to how much employees should be involved in decision making. Mexicans are known to have a very high power distance. (Hofstede) thus it is not very important to include employees in decision making. Managers are generally autocratic and employees are delegated tasks and not authority. They can be involved in decision making to some extent but their decisions should be expected to be less rational according to their personalities. Thus involvement of employees in decision making should be limited to their own concerns and not the overall organizations. For example employees can decide which projects to choose but the manager should clearly dictate how objectives are to be achieved. Mexicans are also reported to have a theoretical way of thinking with limited practical applications (Kras, 2006) therefore it will be better for foreign managers to make their own decisions. References C.E Nicholls, H. l. (1999). Taking self managed teams to Mexico. Academy of management executive , 15-27. Hofstede, G. (n.d.). Mexico:Mexican Geert Hofstede cultural dimensions explained. Retrieved Nov 9, 2010, from www.geert-hofstede.com: http://www.geert-hofstede.com/hofstede_mexico.shtml Kras, E. (1997). Comparing management differences in Mexico with Canada and the US . Retrieved November 10, 2010, from mexconnext: http://www.mexconnect.com/articles/3195-comparing-management-differences-mexico-with-canada-the-united-states Kras, E. (2006). Management in Two Cultures - Bridging the gap between US and Mexico. Intercultural publications. Leidner, D. E. (1999). Mexican and Swedish managers' perceptions of the impact of EIS on organizational intelligence, decision making, and structure. Decision Sciences , 5-11. Mexico. (n.d.). Retrieved November 10, 2010, from www.cyborlink.com: http://www.cyborlink.com/besite/mexico.htm Nancy J. Adler, A. G. (2008). International dimensions of organizational behavior. South Western. Women making eye contact abroad. (n.d.). Retrieved November 10, 2010, from female traveller: http://www.femaletraveller.co.uk/women-making-eye-contact-abroad.html Read More