Intercultural Organizational Management - Essay Example

Intercultural Organizational Management Introduction Since few decades, there have been worthy developments in every field of the human society, and as the advancements are increasing, the world is changing into a global village where geographical borders have become invisible, and one can now observe people from different cultural backgrounds learning, working, and doing things together. Organizations are the true example of such alteration globally, where profit and loss was the only priority of employers, whereas, now, it has become imperative for business organizations to focus on employees’ desires, needs, etc to provide them an intercultural organizational environment. However, majority of organizations have been confronting issues in this regard due to a number of reasons and factors (Landis & Bhagat, pp. 23-29). For this reason, this paper is an attempt to identify some of such issues while carrying out analysis of two different scenarios that will enable a comprehensive understanding of intercultural issues in the organizational management. First Scenario Briefly, in the first scenario, an organization tried to introduce and implement a performance reward system in Ecuador after its successful outcomes in Netherlands for the past two years. The company sends one of their HR consultants to Ecuador to arrange briefings of the new system to the employees working there, as the system earlier enabled the organization to achieve five percent increment in productivity, as well as enhancement of employees’ morale. However, few things go wrong in Ecuador, and the HR consultant had to take flight back home without implementation of the new performance reward system. Brief analysis has facilitated the researcher to acknowledge existence of cultural dimension of Geert Hofstede (pp. 24-39) in this scenario due to issue of cultural differences in this scenario of international business. One of the major problems of this scenario was ‘Low PD’ status of the Ecuador Company, whereas, Sandra was considering it a High PD company that caused problems. Although on a factual basis, the system might sound very promising, however, analysis of the scenario has indicated that some problems on both sides did not allow the organization to achieve the same results of Netherlands in Ecuador. The foremost factor seems lack of awareness about the two cultures that became the biggest barrier in this process. In the past, HR managers were responsible for enhancing motivation level of employees to achieve the productivity target through bonus and reward programs (Ferraro, pp. 56-61); however, today, there is an urgent need for HR managers to acquire a comprehensive understanding of different cultures due to possibility of employees, employers, customers, and consumers from different geographical backgrounds. If one focuses primarily on the case study of first scenario, the analysis calls for an understanding of both cultures of Netherlands and Ecuador. In this regard, it is an observation that Netherlands has been a platform for international business since many years; however, this is not the case of Ecuador. Besides, scenario indicated that despite of being an HR consultant, Sandra focused all the time on the implementation of the performance reward system and issues related to it, and never put efforts to understand the cultural values, business culture, and similar aspects that could have allowed her to achieve her target of system implementation. Brief research on the Ecuadorian culture has identified that there is a huge difference between the cultures of Netherlands and Ecuador, and thus, it was very fundamental for Sandra to identify such differences; however, absence of such understanding resulted in failure. For instance, there is a time-sense difference between the two cultures. In specific, people in Netherlands are more future-oriented, whereas, on the other hand, Ecuadorian people are more present-oriented, and thus, implementation of new performance system was totally a goal-oriented or future-oriented effort that was violating the existing mindset of the people working in Ecuador (Clausen, pp. 49-57). In other words, people in Ecuador are usually more interested in completing their daily work on time in a traditional manner while people in Netherlands are more inclined towards planning everything beforehand. Understanding of such major cultural difference would surely have helped Sandra in convincing employees at the Ecuador office from their perspectives. In this regard, theorists now believe that although culture has nothing to do with the business, however, culture now has influence on almost every process of business, and thus, it has now become very imperative for organizations to intertwine their business processes in intercultural manner. Another significant factor that became the hindrance in Sandra’s task was difference in time orientation of both cultures where one follows monochronic time and the other prefers polychronic time orientation (Jacob, pp. 63-68). In particular, Ecuadorian culture believes in doing more than one thing at a time that is completely diverse from Netherland’s culture. In other words, in Ecuador, people have higher values than schedules, vice versa in Netherlands. In case of the first scenario, Sandra gave significant importance to her new reward performance system that involved evaluation of employees, which was against the fundamental cultural values of Ecuador, and thus, caused intercultural organizational management issues. In this regard, a brief homework by Sandra regarding cultural values of Ecuador would have made a huge difference. In brief, although Sandra acted in violation with business culture of Ecuador; however, the executives in Ecuador could have arranged a gathering of all the managers and employees with Sandra that would have been an evident indication of their teamwork, and would have been beneficial for both sides. Second Scenario In the second scenario, the case study involves visit of Mick Taylor, Assistant General Manager from New Zealand to South Korea, in order to assess the situation of sales and ensure increment in performance productivity. Scenario indicates that Mick has an extensive knowledge of logistics and marketing, and he is ambitious as well; however, same thing lacks in this scenario as well, and that is an understanding of Korean business cultural values that resulted in unexpected reduction in sales order with the South Korean company. Although Mick went to South Korea with honest intention to resolve issues of the company, and he even went further to meet one of the biggest buyers of the company, however, unfortunately, his lacking in the aspect of Korean business culture put him a step away from the success. Brief analysis has facilitated the researcher to acknowledge existence of cultural dimension of Geert Hofstede (pp. 24-39) in this scenario due to issue of cultural differences in this scenario of international business. One of the major problems of this scenario was ‘High PD’ status of the Korean Company, whereas, Mick was considering it a Low PD company that caused problems. Analysis of the second scenario inclines this paper to relate the case study with few business values of Korean culture that will provide a comprehensive understanding of the factors that enforced Korean counterparts to alter their behaviors in an adverse manner. In specific, theorists and business experts have indicated that all the business organizations are carrying out their different processes based on Confucian ethics (Deardorff, pp. 77-84) that is the basis of Korean business culture. From this aspect, one of the fundamental notions of Confucian ethics is collective group harmony that means assurance of integrity and authority of each other, and that was the first thing that Mick probably violated during his visit to the buyer. If known about this ethical value of Korean business culture, it is likely that Mick would not have gone to the buyer himself that put oil on the fire. Secondly, besides corporate relationship, personal understanding and relationships play a crucial and most important role in the Korea where family, friendship, etc enjoy significant importance as compared with materialistic gains. In other words, quality of the relationships matter more than the volume of relationships (Martin & Martin, pp. 30-41). All such values were absent in the attitude and behavior of Mick Taylor who was ambitious and visited the country with good intentions. However, once again, like Sandra, he needed some homework on the Korean business culture as well that would have been very beneficial in managing the business issues in an efficient and intercultural manner, as Koreans emphasize significantly on building relationships first. On the other hand, executives of Korean company could have put efforts to arrange a meeting involving discussion of the issues that later became the factor of anxiety and anger for Mick. Another issue identified in the behavior of Mick Taylor was observable when he declined the compulsory dinner with the Managing Director in response to his own frustration. This was an indication of cultural oppression and destruction of relationship with the South Korean company, as Koreans give valued importance to the meetings and gatherings, and consider them as a way of ‘get to know’ each other (Collard & Normore, pp. 67-71), an approach of building relationships out of the office room, which was not in practice in New Zealand. Thus, this differentiation of perspectives between the two cultures, and more importantly, ignorance of cultures became the most crucial opponent of Mick Taylor. It was likely after abovementioned decline that the South Korean company would feel offended, and might end the business relationship with this New Zealand manufacturer of honey products. Besides weaknesses, one thing is appreciable that Mick Taylor was maintaining eye contact with his South Korean counterparts that fall under good business etiquette in the Korea (Harorimana, pp. 19-21); however, his lacking in other cultural areas avoided him to subjugate the issues existed in the company. Conclusion Convincingly, this paper included analysis of two of the issues of intercultural organizational management involving visit of an HR consultant from Amsterdam to Ecuador, and in the second scenario, from New Zealand to South Korea. Although both scenarios were different, however, analyses have pointed out that individuals in both situations were ambitious, knowledgeable, experienced, and equipped with good intentions but both of them lacked cultural awareness that has now become a fundamental requisite for carrying out business internationally. Although such was not an important need in the past, however, as the world is developing, and as the technological advancements are bringing people closer to each other, it has now become imperative that organizations and individuals working in them should take considerable steps to aware themselves about cultural values and ethics of people around them. Besides awareness of different cultural values, cultural relativism will be an efficient solution for both scenarios, and it is another significant notion that must become a part of organizations involved in international business activities, which means acceptance and respect of different cultures even when it is different from the own. In this regard, the basis of both case studies was similar, and therefore, the paper in conclusion believes that organizations should take steps to inform their employees, and especially HR managers about the significance of cultural values in the business management and success. Works Cited Clausen, Lisbeth. Intercultural Organizational Communication. Copenhagen Business School Press, 2006. Collard, John & Normore, Anthony H. Leadership and Intercultural Dynamics. IAP, 2009. Deardorff, Darla K. The SAGE Handbook of Intercultural Competence. Sage Publications, 2009. Ferraro, Gary P. The Cultural Dimension of International Business. Prentice Hall, 1998. Harorimana, Deogratias. Cultural Implications of Knowledge Sharing, Management, and Transfer. Idea Group, 2009. Hofstede, Geert. Culture’s Consequences. Sage Publications, 2001. Jacob, Nina. Intercultural Management. Kogan Page Publishers, 2003. Landis, Dan, Bhagat, Rabi S. Handbook of Intercultural Training. Sage Publications, 1996. Martin, J., Martin, F. Organizational Behavior and Management. Cengage Learning, 2010. Scenario 1 1. Problematic behavior(s) and attitude(s) 2. Relevant concept(s) 3. Explanation ( + references) Sandra tried to implement new performance evaluation system without considering different cultural values Despite being an HR consultant, Sandra focused only on the implementation of the performance reward system and issues related to it, and never put efforts to understand the cultural values, business culture, and similar aspects that could have allowed her to achieve her target of system implementation Sandra gave significant importance to her new reward performance system that involved evaluation of employees, which was against the fundamental cultural values of Ecuador, and thus, caused intercultural organizational management issues Geert Hofstede’s cultural dimension concept Cultural Ignorance Time Orientation Difference One of the major problems of this scenario was ‘Low PD’ status of the Ecuador Company, whereas, Sandra was considering it a High PD company that caused problems. The foremost factor seems lack of awareness about the two cultures that became the biggest barrier in this process. In particular, Ecuadorian culture believes in doing more than one thing at a time that is completely diverse from Netherland’s culture. In other words, in Ecuador, people have higher values than schedules, vice versa in Netherlands 4. Suggestions for preventing / resolving / improving the situation Efforts on cultural awareness, cultural relativism, and utilization of Hofstede’s cultural dimension, usage of teamwork involving all the employees of the company Scenario 2 1. Problematic behavior(s) and attitude(s) 2. Relevant concept(s) 3. Explanation ( + references) Although Mick went to South Korea with honest intention to resolve issues of the company, and he even went further to meet one of the biggest buyers of the company, however, unfortunately, his lacking in the aspect of Korean business culture put him a step away from the success Mick Taylor declined compulsory dinner with the Managing Director in response to his own frustration. Geert Hofstede’s cultural dimension concept Geert Hofstede’s cultural dimension concept One of the major problems of this scenario was ‘High PD’ status of the Korean Company, whereas, Mick was considering it a Low PD company that caused issues. This was an indication of cultural oppression and destruction of relationship with the South Korean company, as Koreans give valued importance to the meetings and gatherings 4. Suggestions for preventing / resolving / improving the situation Efforts on cultural awareness, cultural relativism, and utilization of Hofstede’s cultural dimension while acknowledging authority of the Korean company Read More