Cross Culture Management - Essay Example

The proposition under discussion states that 'national culture' is of no significance in the communication skills needed by him. Communication between individuals is carried out through the medium of speech and/or writing, and both are once the inherent constituents and the inevitable outcomes of the culture of a people. An effective managerial quality that we would expect of our 'international manager' is great communication skills. In the light of these facts, we examine the extent of the validity of the statement under discussion.

In a discussion of national culture, it is both useful and relevant to consider Hofstede's concept of national culture in the context of the milieu in which the present-day global manager functions. However, before a discussion of the constituent elements in Hofstede's concept of national culture, the qualities expected of an international manager, and his communication skills, it is necessary to clarify the nature of the environment in which he functions and how he has come to be where he is at present.

The simple answer to this question is that he has come to be where he is at present because of globalisation. Globalisation'Globalisation' has been a 'buzz-word' for quite some years now. Many scholars have used the term to describe the changing economic, political, cultural, and environmental scenarios that have occurred in the world during the last couple of decades or so. Different scholars have analysed globalisation through application of the tools and insights of various disciplines. In economics and business, globalisation has to do with the 'opening up of the frontiers', and the practice of "deregulation", in the Western world between 1980 and 1988 and the domination of the 'free market economy model'.

Globalisation of the economy has implied free international trade, free international capital flows, and more rapid and widespread diffusion of technology, and greater integration of financial markets. It has heralded greater interdependence of national economies, and been instrumental in bringing about the hegemony of the US in the world economy. International cultural movement that has followed globalisation, according to Hoodasthian, is 'westernisation'.1 Hoodasthian asserts that "westernization is responsible for the domination of English language in the world"2.

This is an important statement in the context of the topic of our discussion. For, if in a 'globalised' world, the vehicle of communication is the English language, and when that language is part of the 'global culture', would it not follow that a 'local' or 'native' 'national culture' is indeed "of virtually no significance in relation to the communication skills needed by the modern" global manager, when that manager may happen to be an American or a British This aspect of the argument will be considered in a subsequent paragraph.

In the next section, the discussion is about the concept of national culture in the context of