Challenges for Todays International Managers in Cross-Cultural Management - Coursework Example

Challenges for today’s International Managers in Cross-Cultural Management Name: Professor: Institution: Course: Date: Employees in foreign-owned companies have risen significantly in the last two decades due to expansion of activities in multinationals (Charlesworth, 2007). This has brought about multicultural workforce in these companies which makes it vital for multinationals to learn on how to handle them. The issue of handling the employees is left to the management. This brings about a major difficulty for today’s managers. Different cultures have different beliefs, values and tastes which are the case with multicultural workforce (Baum, et al, 2007). This paper will look into multinational management, the problems they face and how they deal with them. Culture refers to the beliefs, rules and techniques which collectively defines a human population and their mindset. Research on culture is one aspect that multinationals have to look into and the impacts foreseen so as to avoid failure in their expansion. The main aspect of cross cultural management is implementation of global business in the multicultural environment. The managers of multinational business must be able to communicate, provide leadership, organize and motivate their employees across all cultures (Chaney et al, 2007). This is why the leadership must be culturally aware to be able to lead successfully. Good communication skills and cultural awareness serves as the most important aspect of a manager who is operating in the international industry. This can be compared to our professional lives where we have chances to meet and exchange ideas with people from different cultures to our own (Gudykunst & Kim, 2003). The act of communication between individuals from different cultures serves as drive for a success in international business world. An issue in cross cultural management arises in various forms. For example, the managers from foreign multinationals need to realize that employees from the host nation may need a completely different organization structure and human resource management from that of parent company (Forster, 2000). The management also needs to know that in some instances, it has to culturally adapt its services and products so as to make sales successfully. Looking at Ford in its multicultural management, a lot can be taken into account. The company is a multinational with branches in many parts of the world. The company in its operation made some mistakes due to lack of enough cultural information in its management. The launching the ford low cost truck in Spain and Ford Comet in Mexico were not successful in market. The low cost truck was sold in Spain as Feira which in Spanish language meant “ugly old woman”. On the other hand, the high end car (Comet) was sold as Caliente which in the local slang meant “prostitute”. These models did poorly in the market due to branding without looking at the local languages. If the company had looked into the cultural aspect in terms of language, the loss could have been avoided (Harzing, 2001). Nestle presents a success in the multicultural management due to good communication strategies across its management. The company is a multinational with employees drawn from different cultures. Nestle encourages employees to exchange ideas and develop intercultural relationship. This is achieved by the company having Nestle Training and Conference Centre that helps in gathering its managers from different parts of world for training (Gabriela et al, 2010). The training focuses on encouraging the managers to form friendship with people from different cultural backgrounds through communication. This is because forging a good relationship with a person from a different culture helps the managers relate to their culture. The organization ensures that same communication is disseminated to all managers so that managers from different cultural backgrounds can have a sense of belonging to the company. This also helps them to be well versed and in line with the organization goals. English being the international language for business, Nestle managers are also expected to be conversant with the language so as to fit in other cultures. Intercultural communication ensures that same message is communicated to different countries though the process of communication may vary depending on culture. The main challenge that nestle faces is its vast number of employees who comes from different cultural backgrounds. The company addresses this issue by communicating with its managers on regular basis and training them on multicultural management. Another case that has shown intercultural management is the BMW corporate strategy which was practiced in Thailand. The Bavarian luxury car company’s CEO in Thailand had good intercultural management skills having been trained at the company’s International Management Centre. To be able to gain a position as top management team in a foreign culture, a manager has to demonstrate competence in intercultural management. This helps the managers to be able to cope with new culture with shortest time possible. BMW has an objective to gain acceptance in new location without having any disruption or being regarded as an enemy by other companies existing there (Vuskane, 2010). The companies succeed in Thailand by being able to enter the market and form a friendly coexistence with its new location and adapting to the new culture without any disturbance. This is achieved by reviewing the cultural trend as culture is dynamic so as to gain acceptance locally. The main challenge that the company face is monitoring cultural changes in its branches which are located in many countries. Many organizations management have a challenge when it comes to changes in management due to shifting environmental factors. The economic and social demand leads to a situation where change in organization internally is required. The change in modern market environment means that the organization has to be in competition and make changes in the organization setup. According to French (2007) the main challenge of managing change in a dynamic environment is implementation of the same. At the moment, the changing environments have been accompanied by new technologies as the digital revolution takes place. Technology has been the key driver of globalization where coordination across borders has taken place. Before these technological changes, managers had to travel across the countries to be able to coordinate. Technology has made the exchange of information possible within the shortest time possible making the world a global village (French, 2007). This in turn has effected easy multicultural communication in business. Businesses have to be able to accept change in technology in doing their transactions. Multinationals have to take advantage of technology changes by adopting them. Managers in different organization must be able to adapt to changes in technology as they move to different environments so as to stay in business. This may not be easy as some technology requires training as well as time to be fully implemented. Despite being a challenge, the manager has to take the challenge so as to remain competitive. According to Trotter (2012) business environment change comes with different demands which companies planning to expand to new environment must face and be able to cope with them. Technology changes is one of the problems that new environment brings about. Cultural conflicts are another problem that is faced by business in new environment according to Fealy (2003). Managers overseas are sometimes faced with anxiety and stress due to the unfamiliar territory. This is solved over time as they learn how to adapt to the new environment. At present managers are expected to be multicultural due to different environments that they are involved in during their careers. Multinational managers have to be ready to cope with changing environments. Management in cross cultural environment is a process that needs multinationals to be fully prepared. Research has shown that only managers that are well prepared for future occurrences can succeed in today dynamic business world. For global managers, communication is a tool that helps in organizing business which is located in diverse culture (Ledwith & Seymour, 2001). This is because lacks of communication in inter cultural business will lead to eventual failure. Communication in a company brings a situation in which all managers in different countries feel a sense of belonging to the company. Training is another area that a multinational manager needs to go through. This training helps them as they carry on their duties in different cultures. A trained manager is capable of handling problems brought about by environmental change (Richard et al, 2010). The success of companies such as Nestle in their multicultural market is due to training their managers to have international background. It’s also important to note that despite problems being faced in multicultural environment, mechanisms which are used in solving matters a lot. Multinational companies must be able to engage their managers into communication with each other from different parts of the world. For example, companies such as Nestle can hold managers conferences on a rotational basis once in a while. This can be done through video conferencing or meetings where they will be able to share ideas. The top management must also ensure that all local branches understand and accepts the strategy that headquarters has come up with. This can be implemented through seminars. Sometimes it is advisable that multinational companies should have a collaborative agreement with local company so that it may learn more about the new local culture. This arrangement can be made for a short time until the global company has learnt the new environment. The companies must also be able to gain feedback on how their managers are performing and whether they are working according to the company principles. This can be achieved by using questionnaires on regular basis. Last, training should be carried out on the employees from the new environment to speed up the adaptation to new environment by multinational. 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