Management Competencies in a Multicultural Environment - Essay Example

INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT COMPETENCIES By Date : Introduction Globalisation has necessitated businesses to decentralise their operations globally in order to reach international markets (Steers, 2010). Therefore, because of this employees and managers graduating from business schools are being trained and equipped with new additional skills to enable them work in multicultural environments where they interact with people from diverse backgrounds from around the world. International management competencies is not a new line of study in business schools and other institutions of higher learning even though it is an emerging trend in the world of business, which demands that employees joining the labour market have to be fashioned with relevant and current globalisation trends (Werner and Desimone, 2009). For instance, business firms especially multinationals have opened up businesses virtually in many parts of the world; thus, demanding that employee work with such corporations especially at a managerial capacity possess global management skills and competencies to enable them perform their roles efficiently (Sloman, 2009). Management Competencies in a Multicultural Environment Culture is the way of life of people and what they believe that is dependent upon the environment in which an individual was brought up. Thus, in a multicultural environment there will be a mix of different cultures, which means different employees will be holding varied views on work related tasks depending on their cultural environment diversities. Thus, as a manager in such a setting, I will need to use my global managerial skills and multicultural competencies such as tolerance of ambiguity and uncertainty and cultural empathy that have I have learnt from my course to discern the varied cultures of my employees to help me develop an inclusive methodology such as the Lewis model to categorise employees based on their country of origin to be able to know how they react to issues based on their culture (Lewis, 2012). For instance using the model I will able to understand that Chinese employees e are reactive but good listeners; Americans and Britons are linear reactive and factual among many others as depicted in below diagram. (Ebermann, 2012) In addition, as a manager in a multicultural environment I believe my skill of frame shifting will be critical to help me change my leadership style to accommodate the different employees’ culture in different international environments (Vilet, 2013). Moreover, my interpersonal skills and inquisitiveness nature will be critical to helping explore different experiences on how to engage new employees with diverse backgrounds (Vilet, 2013). That notwithstanding, my ability to adapt to new environments and add value can also be imperative in enabling me to understand diverse employees before starting engaging them. For instance, I will employ the Lewis model to categorise employees Therefore, I believe with this global management skills and use of Lewis model, I will be able to integrate the employees and deal with them because I understand their culture; thus, accomplish my tasks and achieve organisational objectives easily (Oss and Mackie, 2008). Learning Learning is a lifetime activity that every potential leader undergoes. Nobody is born a genius or with all the knowledge he/she requires in life (Clegg, 2009). Thus, to fit in the international management role I will embrace learning at all levels to ensure I acquire all the prerequisite knowledge and skills from both formal learning and learning from others to help me make informed decisions (Mendenhall, Punnett and Ricks, 2005). Personally, I prefer the deep learning approach as I get to understand the underlying principles and theories concerning an individual subject. For instance, based on the reinforcement theory of learning through positive reinforcement such as commending an employee for a job well done or promotion, I can be able to foster and stimulate productivity of employees. Moreover, based on my interpersonal skills I can an enabling environment for employees to work as was articulated by Lard through the facilitation theory of learning by encouraging them to consider new ideas since they are protected from external threatening factors such as job dismissal (Lard, 1985). Kolb’s experimental learning theory can be put in practice in this context since the ideologies that he advanced are ideal for implementation to enhance the learning process. The theory advanced by Kolb is basically concerned with the learner’s cognitive process. The learning process should be initiated from within the person for successful learning to take place. It involves a series of steps that occurs in a cycle string from a person experiencing a new situation then he/she has a reflection of what had earlier been experienced. After reflecting of the situation he creates an abstract concept and finally experiments it in a real life situation (MendenhalL and Maznevsky, 2003). Nature of Culture Culture is that definite way that someone or a group of people conducts themselves or respond to situations. Culture is not definite to all individuals but tends to vary among people, however, culture is also common to a group of people that subscribe to conventional norms and way of viewing life and its situations. Personally I got my cultural perspective there is that particular way that I do my stuff and also respond to situations surrounding me; thus, the way I view something may not be exactly the same way that the next employee in the organisation will view the same thing; thus, there is need for cultural tolerance and the need to embrace diversity amongst ourselves (Gooderham, Grøogaard and Nordhaug, 2013). Culture has different levels, in which it is depicted among the people there, are a number of cultures including; organisational culture, corporate culture, professional culture and national culture. All these levels of culture are not presumed but come as a result of a group of people agreeing on subscribing to some set of ways of responding to situations to ensure that they enjoy a standard norm or way of living. That notwithstanding, as a manager in an international organisation I do understand there are different national cultures within the employees working for the organisation, however, I will want to put our differences aside embrace a new level of culture that will unite us in the course of duty (Schneider and Barsoux, 2003). As professionals, we all subscribe to the professional and corporate cultures that govern how we conduct ourselves in doing our jobs at the corporate level. For instance, using the Lewis model above, I will be able to understand that Russians, Chinese, Brazilians are reactive but value interpersonal relationships given they come from large power distance states (Ebermann, 2012). Dimensions of culture in business The environments in which organizations are based have their own cultures that govern the manner in which they behave. Business is directly influenced by culture since it affects the manner in which potential clients view the organization and its products thus making an influence of whether the clients are going to consume the organization’s products or services. In this context the national aspect of culture will tend to be more influential and it supersedes organizational culture since its effects are much felt from outside the organization than the organization’s culture influences from within. The cultural dimensions theory that was advanced by Hofstede is an important tool that needs to be applied in this content since it is a management paradigm that is implemented as a mechanism for enhancing cross cultural communication among the members of the organization that come from different cultural backgrounds. It is ideal since it fuses various cultures together and thus enhancing successful communication which will result to better management in the organization. This will ensure that despite the varied cultures that may be exhibited in the global stage in which the organization is operating the similarities that strike through the different cultures will act as elements that will bring together the various groups and hence ensure the organization leverages from them to maximize its performance (Gooderham, Grøogaard and Nordhaug, 2013). Cross-Cultural Management Styles The roles of manager are universal, however, they tend to vary slightly depending on the needs and objectives of individual organisations. International management competencies play a vital role in determining management styles to be deployed to ensure an organisation with a global mix of cultures is governed effectively to realise organisation objectives (Aswathappa, 2006). The style of management should be first aimed at bringing on board all the employees irrespective of their background, race or religious affiliations. I will not design the style of management in a manner that seems to be inclined to one particular cultural affiliation, however, I will liberalise the entire process to ensure all the people feel comfortable in the organisation (Branine, 2011). For instance, using the model culture I will be to categorize cultures into high power and context cultures or collectivist cultures such as those of Brazil and China to be able to determine my management style, which in this case is consultative style because employees from these cultures value teamwork and consultation when making decisions. Thus, it is evident that some of the policies of the organisation may not be consistent with some culture but for the benefit of the organisation my management style will be flexible to the employees to ensure all the people working in the firm are comfortable and no single rule or policy infringes on what they believe and hold dearly as their culture. That notwithstanding, I will bring on board all representatives from each cultural affiliation during the process of policy formulation to ensure the interests of all the parties are catered for and thus, the policies of the organisation are as a result of inclusive participation by all stakeholder hence ensuring a smooth running of organisational activities (Taylor, 2009). Communication The communication theory focus on the aspects of human process and technical information. Effective communication is essential for successful management of an organisation. Thus, I will invest in effective communication techniques to ensure first I develop a good rapport with my employees so that I can execute my duties with ease. Communication in an organisation comes in several forms, however, with two major lines from an organisation perspective (Drejer, 2002). Communication can be horizontal this mainly occurs between employees who are in the same job designation or work mates in an office or vertical, which entails giving of orders and direction from senior management to subordinates. Given my competency as a manager, I will assume a modest style of management that is not based on giving orders and directives to employees to avoid an autocratic style of management especially, when working in the UAE, China, Brazil or Russia because these are collectivist culture countries that value consultations in decision making Gesteland, 2006). Thus, I will engage such employees in communication through meetings and other open forums to collect their views regarding any decision I am making to ensure their views are incorporated in decision making implying that vertical communication will be an effective communication style in such cultures. On the other hand, Western countries are individualistic and low power distance culture countries and therefore, using the horizontal communication style will be an effective communication style to bring motivation and integrate employees to work together. Therefore, by using this strategy I will be able to bring together all the different cultures in one forum; thus enabling me to choose the best communication style for each group of employees (Puffer, 2006). Cultural negotiations Negotiations are the true way of solving conflicts that may arise among the employees or between the employees and management. It is prudent to note that in any setting that involves people interacting with each other at some point a conflict is bound to occur since people have different ways in which they view situations and the varied perspectives which exist among the people will result into conflicts as the different ideas, will at some point collide. International management requires vital skills as far as the process of conflict management is concerned (Steers, Sánchez-Runde and Nardon, 2010: 2013). Different people or cultures have their ways in which they view conflict should be solved. As a good manager I will listen to each group’s demands and then apply the conflict resolution techniques that I have learned together with the problem solving competencies that I possess to bring all the warring groups into a negotiation table whereby we will be able to iron out the inherent differences existing amongst them. For instance, high context and collectivist cultures do not like negotiating a lot but value interpersonal relationships before negotiations begin unlike individualistic and low context cultures such as those of western countries like negotiating a lot because they are low power distance cultures, which value equitability. Therefore, as a manager, I have to consider this factors when engaging employees in negotiations especially when conflict arise by allowing or giving each group an equal opportunity to air out their views and grievances to avoid instances of antagonism among the warring groups (Thakur, Burton and Srivastava, 2007). Different cultures dictate differently on how negotiations should be conducted and it from this point that I will allow for suggestions from all the concerned parties on how they feel the situation should be solved. That having been done all the proposals will be analysed and I will be able come up with a comprehensive technique of conducting the negotiations for the benefit of both the concerned parties and the objectives of the organisation at large (Bhagat and Mcdevitt, 2012). Multicultural teams For any organisation to effectively achieve its goals teamwork among the employees is very essential. Since I will be managing a multicultural, international organisation it, is evident that there are people from different backgrounds with different levels of skills and knowledge. It will be ideal to integrate the different skills and knowledge that is manifested by the employees by enabling them to interact and thus, are bound with a common purpose (Earley and Ang, 2003). The sole intention of forming multicultural groups will be to ensure the members interact and share objectives. The groups will be very powerful as it will be a combination of a rich variety of skills which I will utilise my managerial skills to bring them together to achieve the sole goal of working to attain the objectives of the organisation (Earley and Ang, 2003). Conversely, the team roles theory by Belbin will work in handy with other management policies as it aids in analyzing employees and come up with the strengths and weaknesses associated to each individual in the organization. Later on the information will be utilized to come up with productive working relations within the organization, raise personal job effectiveness of team members, and build a trust relationship among the members of each team as well as be a vital element that will be relied upon to aid in the recruitment of new members into the organization. Leadership and motivation As the leader of the multicultural organisation, I will utilise team building skills that I possess to bring together the employees despite their varied backgrounds to ensure they work together towards a common course. The manager has the obligation to ensure cohesiveness among the employees in the workplace and thus, I will take it as a personal initiative to bring the entire workforce together by initiating collective and teamwork strategies that are aimed at integrating the whole group (Espinoza, Ukleja and Rusch, 2010). Further after the process of integrating has been achieved again it will be my sole duty to motivate the employees to work hard to ensure the goals are achieved as earlier planned. I will conduct this process through appraisals for best performing employees and also awarding the best teamwork projects to ensure employees do not solely rely on themselves on achieving goals but also collaborating with other through collective work. This will not only help in achieving goals but also it will ensure integration among the team members (Syed and Özbilgin, 2010). Therefore, as a manager I will use the situational theory of leadership to help me make decisions depending on the prevailing circumstances at any given time. Conclusion Managing a multicultural organisation is not an easy task as it requires the person who has been entitled with the task to have varied management skills to be able to tackle the job effectively. However, multicultural teamwork, learning and leadership styles can be of imperative in integrating employees with different cultures to achieve organisation goals. Moreover, having the best negotiation strategies, management competencies and the right communication strategy as a manager I believe I can be able to accomplish my tasks in the most effient and effective manner. 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