Personal Cultural Reflection - Essay Example

Managing Across Cultures-Personal Cultural Reflection Paper Name Professor Institution Course Date Managing Across Cultures-Personal Cultural Reflection Paper In this era of globalization, the global reality which people have to contend with are the continual change, multiculturalism, interconnectedness (Steers, Nardon, & Sanchez-Runde 2013, p.13). These global realities have been brought by the increasing globalization process. In the recent years, I have witnessed a great change in my interaction with students and people at workplace. In my locality, Melbourne, I have come across people from different parts of the world that have come to learn, work or stay. An interaction at professional or personal front with these people shows a great difference in terms of cultural values and belief, and behavior. Steers, Nardon & Sanchez-Runde (2013, p.13) stated that the cultural difference is obvious in the way they communicate, personal interest and opinion about issues. My interaction with a Chinese international student during a football match at AAMI Park proved these differences beyond reasonable doubt. Globalization has also brought a reality of continual change (Steers, Nardon & Sanchez-Runde 2013, p.13). The recent change has seen more advancement of technology, product development and change in customer needs. The scholars argued that intensification of globalization and advancement of technology are process which entwined, and their change or happening are closely related. Steers, Nardon & Sanchez-Runde (2013, p.14) held that global executives cannot manage globally or understand globalization without the knowledge about the impact of technology on development of business. Apparently, technology is now used in conducting market research about consumer needs and also used to develop new and existing products. As change take place and multiculturalism is entrenched, we realize several differences amongst us which we need to consider in our interactions not to offend others. A research into world markets holds that managers in global business environment face a lot of challenges. Griffith and Hoppner (2013, p.23) argued that globalization has presented managers with both opportunities and challenges which needs different approach to respond to such situations. Even though traditional management theories are still relevant in all organizational across the globe, the approach to management can be different in organization based on the fact the cultural factors influences management (Griffith & Hoppner 2013, p.22). The differences that came out during my interaction the Chinese student prove this point. While most management theorists who wrote about classical and scientific management have the different definition of the word “management” but similar mantra, people from different regions cannot be the same due to underlying cultural differences. For example, Chinese management is highly affected by their Confucius culture whereby power is vested in an individual. This is so different with Australia where power is vested in the office. Griffith & Hoppner (2013, p.27) opined that the differences also manifest in personal interaction with people from different cultural background. Chinese for instance wants asks personal questions that depict concern and the consideration. On the other hand, Australian wants to maintain formal communication and considers personal question as being disrespectful. Globalization and interaction has increased my awareness on different cultures. Whenever I not much aware of other person’s culture, I try to maintain my interaction and communication at a formal level. The learning of people’s culture through personal and professional interaction has made a global citizen with global perspective rather than local. In the same way, manages are expected not just to be local managers as they have been in the past but to adjust and become global managers. Griffith and Hoppner (2013, p.31) posited that managers need to learn cross-cultural global communication, have more collaboration and cooperation with other managers from different cultures to become a global manager. In that way, they will have the self-awareness required on global managers to unite employees while also appreciating the differences (Griffith & Hoppner 2013, p. 39). Self-awareness about the world cultures has enabled me to switch to new roles so as to enable efficient interaction and communication with people. Contemporary managers must be able to come out of usual roles and switch to more roles which enable them to become ideal managers even in other cultures. The cultural environment today is characterized with multiple cultures as companies cross borders to target new markets and people seek to work, learn and stay in foreign countries. The change in Cultural environments has shaped the manner in which I have developed personality and professionally and further influenced my ideologies. According to Hofstede (1994, p.2), Cultural environment is often typified by the height of several different factors of culture which impacts influence individual behaviors and choices. Even though, globalization has influenced cultural environment, cultures and subcultures of different people are still present with them and may take time to evolve to make global culture. In other words, national cultures still manifest themselves through values, symbols, rituals and heroes (Hofstede, G 1994). The differences are rooted in us since they have been influenced by religion, family, social life, race and even gender. As a result we have always found ourselves in cultural complexities in terms of taste, preferences, language, greetings and negotiations among others. When we go against these cultural differences we face risk of cross cultural conflict and hatred between “us” and “them”. People who are living within their closet and are not expose or aware of other people culture find it hard to cope. In the process, they use ethnocentric orientation to reason and even judge. Since most of us have grown up within a single culture, we normally pose the tendency of viewing largely from individual viewpoint. Therefore, in our ethnocentric tendencies which are also a feature of other societies, we tend to think that our own culture i.e. race, religion, social class, artifacts and ethnicity is to a large extent superior to those of people from other regions. However, taking our time to learn other people’s culture narrows our differences and create self-awareness which can help us in future interaction. In addition, Hofstede (1994, p.7) argued that respecting other people’s opinion regardless of the difference makes them respect and be appreciative of your culture. For managers crossing international boundaries to target new markets, it is vital to understand new cultural environment, cultures and subcultures not offend other people. The practice should extend to production of product which reflects other people’s culture. Business environment are increasing becoming competitive and managers must take note of the organizational environment. The forces within and outside the organization are very strong and cannot affect business positively or negatively. Culture, organizational structure, customers, competition, employees behavior and government regulation are some of such forces which influence the organization and its performance. Even though we are born in different cultures, our interaction within an organization requires us to have organizational culture which ensure smooth running of daily activities. Hofstede (1994) points out that organizational culture is normally different form the national culture as the former is voluntary while the latter is must since we do not choose where we are born. Organization forms a small community which have its own norm, values and behavior which guides their interaction and decision making (Najla 2011, p.39). An organization promotes unity among the member of an organization and eventually influencing success. While doing my internship some of the organization culture in that company used to be dress code, participation, ethics and respect for the authority. Najla (2011, p.42) claimed that within the organization, employees were allowed to participate in some of the decision making exercise especially those that directly or indirectly affects their lives. However, in some organizational cultures, decision making is only left to the top and middle level managers. Sokro (2012, p.108) pointed out that in national cultures where participation is allowed in decision making yet companies do not allow them an involvement, they will feel not value hence lowering their morale. Therefore, managers must also be aware that national culture partly influence organizational culture hence must not overlook about the issue (Najla 2011, p.40). International company’s managers now face various situations each time they have a duty in the field (DiMaggio 1997, p.263). It is therefore true that managers have a situation environment which influences their decision and even organizational performance. Since the field of work or market which managers operate in wide, cultural different is one of the factors present and influences their operations (DiMaggio 1997, p.267). I have also had the same situation where you find yourself interacting with people from different backgrounds who have different personality, taste and preference. It was manifested when I met the Chinese at a football match through his restrained cultural nature. In this situation, just like me, the success of international managers in situational environment lies on their capability to hand cultural diversity. However, DiMaggio (1997, p.268) asserted that with no understanding on how to steer varied cultural beliefs, traditions and values, managers are often find themselves taking chances in the ever-changing high-stakes environment. The reality is that majority of cultures has several subcultures, and the situation intensifies the challenge. From the managerial perspective, changing into one direction which compliments thoughts and views of the market or a customer can result into a major success, whereas changing to the other and overlooking people and their behavior through ethnocentric views can result to a big failure. The challenge therefore is usually in the endeavor to analyze and understand certain situations and the way they differ from others which have been there before so as to realize which are either personal or professional. In his contribution to the topic, DiMaggio (1997, p.285) held that managers who evaluate and understand situation environment will be better equipped to create proper strategies including culture specific learning so as to gain competitive advantage “winner takes all” business environment. References DiMaggio, P 1997, Culture and Cognition, Annual Review of Sociology, Vol.23, No.1, pp.263- 287. Griffith, DA & Hoppner, JJ 2013, Global marketing managers: Improving global marketing strategy through soft skill development, International Marketing Review, Vol.30, No.1, pp. 21-41. Hofstede, G 1994, The business of international business is culture, International business review Vol.3, No.1, pp. 1-14. Najla, P 2011, Influence of National Culture on Decision-Making Style, South East European Journal of Economics and Business, Vol.6, No.1, pp.37-44. Sokro, E 2012, Analysis of the relationship that exists between organizational culture, motivation and performance, Problems of Management in the 21st Century, Vol.3, pp.106-119. Steers, R.M, Nardon, L & Sanchez-Runde, C.J 2013, Management Across Cultures. Developing global competencies, 2nd ed., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. Read More