National Cultural Differences Which Exist between Australia and China - Case Study Example

The growth in international business has forced representatives from different countries to prepare and undergo the required dimensional cultural changes so that business process can be facilitated. This calls for an urgent need to understand the difference in culture and understand culture of different countries where business is carried out so that overall productivity multiplies. Analyzing the cultural dimensions of different economies can help to understand the different incompatibilities which need to be worked on so that better process to achieve the required business dimensions can be ensured. This paper looks towards evaluating the national cultural differences which exist between Australia and China and the manner in which it has an impact on international trade. This would thereby look towards gathering information and working on the smaller areas which business needs to focus on so that cultural differences are reduced and the business is able to develop better fundamentals through which better operational activities can be carried out. Before moving ahead it is important to understand culture which has been defined by many as a set of beliefs and values which distinguishes one member of the group from others with regard to values, beliefs, assumptions, expectations, perception and behaviour (Burns & Stalker, 2009). This helps people to get associated with their country and distinguishes one from the other thereby fostering the cultural differences which people have to deal with. Dealing with the cultural differences creates the required opportunity where people find easy to mix with one another and thereby creates an opportunity to improve their business. Understanding and dealing with the cultural differences helps to ensure better understanding which thereby dwells into positive relationship. There exist widespread differences in the in the national culture of Australia and China which needs to be understood properly so that ways which helps to deal with those cultural differences can be identified. One of the most important cultural differences which is witnessed among the Australian and Chinese counterpart is that the Chinese people look towards gathering a lot of detailed information about any product or services. They give a lot of importance to the product characteristics whereas the Australian culture gives less relevance to product characteristics which thereby results in cultural clashes and has an impact on decision making. People need to understand the cultural differences and ensure a better face off so that proper strategies which aims towards reducing the cultural gap can be garnered and positive results can be gathered from it. In addition to it the Chinese counterpart which comes for negotiation in business decisions has little authority to take decisions and have to look forward to their higher authorities for decision making. Australian counterpart on the other hand has more authority and power to take different decisions which thereby helps to bring the best out of decision making. The overall importance and impetus thereby results in cultural gap as Chinese due to it look to delay the process of decision making and avoid giving direct answers. Australians on the other hand prefer direct answers and like decision to be taken fast so that they can move ahead and look towards increasing business. This cultural gaps creates differences among people which needs to be examined and looked at so that the overall process shapes the mechanism of decision making and ensures better international business. Dealing with the cultural gap and garnering a process which reduces the gap will create a win-win situation for both and would thereby help to ensure business development in the future. It is also seen that Chinese culture looks to attend meetings and other activities in large groups whereas Australian counterpart looks towards working in smaller groups. Having large groups delays the process of decision making and also creates difficulties in decision making (Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner. 2013). Further, convincing all the members becomes difficult which thereby makes it difficult to carry on business on positive grounds. This thereby creates gaps among the members and coming together by removing the gaps becomes difficult. This is one of the important cultural differences which is witnessed and needs to be attended so that a policy is developed which looks at reducing the gaps. Working on the gaps and creating a platform where all are able to witness the different things in a positive manner will reflect on the manner in which proper decisions are made. This will help to multiply the process of decision making and would lead towards creating better relations through which better international relation can be developed. The Chinese counterpart further looks to prefer old and experienced people in their group while dealing with business decisions as they believe that old and experienced people will ensure that business dealings are better achieved. Australians on the other hand prefer young and dynamic people who are able to undergo the required changes in their style of working quickly so that they can adopt to the changing business environment (Hickson, Hinings, McMillan & Schwitter, 2004). The difference thereby results in difficulties while negotiating and entering into business transactions with one another. This will thereby require that both the counterpart understands the cultural differences and look towards working on a mechanism which will help them to understand the culture of each other. This would thereby result in positive relationship and would develop the required parameters through which business will be positioned to take better decisions so that international business gains. Chinese counterpart are also seen to deal with people at top position from Australia or other economies because they believe that the people have reached top position by having good relations with people all around the globe. This will ensure that they are able to deal with the cultural differences and are able to create the required dimensions through which the chances of entering into a positive relation increases (House & Aditya, 2007). Australian on the other hand are indifferent to it and look towards engaging into conversations with all type of people with the belief that the negotiation process will fetch positive results. The differences in the culture results in differences in the manner decisions are taken. International business requires that these differences are understood and dealt with so that the overall framework of carrying out business is positive. This will ensure that the overall business prospect increases and the chances of entering into positive business relation in the future will improve. This will ensure that the chances of doing business in the future is high as understanding the cultural needs and wants and dealing with the cultural differences will ensure that business prospects will improve. It has also been witnessed that the Chinese national identity is more rigid as compared to Australian counterpart because of the fact that Chinese gives more relevance to race whereas Australia promotes a culture of egalitarianism. This thereby creates widespread differences in the national culture as the manner of working and carrying out work is entirely different. Dealing with those differences helps to generate a mood of being same which thereby results in improving productivity and helps to ensure better international relations (Gagliardi, 2006). Further, difference in the national culture acts as a hindrance in the process of business activities and results in having a negative impact on managing the different resources. The ability of both the counterparts to deal with the cultural differences helps to ensure better relations which transforms into productivity and using the different resources in the most effective manner. Further, the Chinese culture gives importance to maintaining relations and gives a lot of importance to maintaining individual relations whereas Australians on the other hand also looks at maintaining relations but gives less importance to individual relations (Leung & Bond, 2009). These results in differences in opinions as Chinese look to give importance and relevance to maintaining individual relations whereas Australians fosters towards group relations. This is an important consideration which needs to be understood while taking decisions so that the value of maintaining relations improves. This can be achieved to a large degree by understanding the culture of other country and given relevance to the cultural differences. Understanding the same from the light of the other parties helps to ensure positivity in relations and fosters a culture where people find it easy to come together and work as one. Another difference which is widely prevalent is the difference in family relations. Since, Australians are more or less isolated families so they don’t have a long bonding of family relationship and gives importance to smaller family bonding. China on the other hand have a long bonding with families because of the fact that have extended families which have resulted in creating positive relationship among them. This thereby creates differences in values and beliefs as Australians don’t look at long term family bonding and care for their individual families whereas China look to maintain relation with extended families (Hofstede, 2016). The difference which exist in the cultural beliefs creates differences in the manner different work is done and requires each culture to reflect on the manner through which better bonding can be developed among them so that the overall results which are achieved is positive and helps to create a culture which promotes harmony. The differences in the national culture require understating the culture of other economies so that they are able to develop a framework through which better relations can be fostered. Business relations can be improved if both the economies look to remove the cultural differences and work as a unit which looks to improve trade relations. Having patience and giving respect to the culture of each economy can help to a large degree to reduce the differences as it will help to bring the economies together and work in a manner through which overall relations are improved (Dorfman, 2006). Economies can also look at undergoing the required training and sending expatriates to different economies so that the cultural differences can be reduced. Understanding the difference in culture and creating a situation which is a win-win situation for both will help to generate positive energy and will shape the manner in which the working of the economy is determined. This will help to bring both the economies at a common platform and ensure improved productivity through better business development. It is important to consider that cultural differences are bound to remain and running from them is not a solution to international business relations. Instead dealing with those differences and finding out strategies which will ensure better relations needs to be found out. It is seen that differences in cultural opinions among economies have resulted in a loss for both economies which Australia and China needs to be aware of. Looking to reduce those differences and coming to a common platform where the work is carried out to ensure better results will ensure minimal wastage (Bass, 2007). This will also help each economy to work on their strength and find out a business partner through which the development of the economy and people residing in the economy can be ensured. This will help to develop the required framework through which better results will be achieved and the overall mechanism of working will be positively shaped. The difference in culture provides the different opportunities and risk which the economy might face and being able to use it in a positive manner will shape the overall working dimensions. This will thereby improve the industrial relations and will help both the economies to gain a comparative advantage on their core strengths. This would transform into one where China will be able to use its labour resources and Australia its mineral resources to develop the economies of both the economy. The overall result would thereby be positive and would shape the working dimension by creating a culture which promotes long term growth and harmony in relation for both the economies. The overall process would thereby shape positive results as dealing with the cultural gap and taking a stance which looks to fulfil the cultural gaps will create a positive energy through which the long term success of the business will be determined. The paper thereby presents the national cultural differences which exist between Australia and China and the manner in which it has an impact on international trade. This would thereby look towards gathering information and working on the smaller areas which business needs to focus on so that cultural differences are reduced and the business is able to develop better fundamentals through which better operational activities can be carried out. This would help to generate the positive energy through which cultural gap will be reduced and both the economies will be able to gain through the process. The overall bearing of understanding the difference in culture and dealing with the cultural gap which is present will ensure better productivity as the entire focus will be towards garnering positive results and at the same time understanding the culture of one another. References Bass, B. M. (2007). Does the transactional-transformational leadership paradigm transcend organizational and national boundaries? American Psychologist, 52(2), 130-139 Burns, T., & Stalker, G. M. (2009). The management of innovation. London: Tavistock Publications, Tavistock Centre Dorfman, P. W. (2006). International and cross-cultural leadership research. In B. J. Punnett & O. Shenkar (Eds.), Handbook for international management research (pp. 267-349). Oxford, UK: Blackwell Gagliardi, P. (2006). The creation and change of organizational cultures: A conceptual framework. Organization Studies, 7(2), 117-134 Hofstede, G. (2016). Hofstede’s Cultural Dimension. Retrieved on January 22, 2016 from http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_66.htm Hickson, D. J., Hinings, C. R., McMillan, J., & Schwitter. (2004). The culture-free context of organization structure: A tri-national comparison. Sociology 8, 59-80. House, R. J., & Aditya, R. N. (2007). The social scientific study of leadership: Quo vadis? Journal of Management, 23(3), 409-473 Leung, K., & Bond, M. H. (2009). On the empirical identification of dimensions for cross-cultural comparisons. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 20, 133-151. Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner. (2013). The Seven Dimensions of Culture. Retrieved on January 23, 2016 from http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/seven-dimensions.htm Read More