Cross Cultural Management N - Essay Example

The presence of cross cultural teams in organizations provides a source of expertise and innovative techniques that will enhance competitive positioning of an organization (Smith and Thomas, 2008). To enhance this, a flexible leader is needed to promote creativity and motivation. As portrayed in the cross cultural management theories, the relations between people, orientation towards risk, attitudes to time, motivation orientation, attitudes towards the environment and definition of self and others is considered closely.

The motivation and training of multicultural teams should be the focus of the organization as this will determine the implications of the project management (Bird and Fang, 2009). The significance of cultural differences defines the success and failure of multicultural international projects. Thus to be successful and competitive in today environment and even days to come, initiatives should be grounded on delivering culturally-aware leadership, mutual respect and cross cultural communication (French, 2007).

To be able to understand the concept of cultural differences it relevant to understand the meaning of culture. Culture is the major quality that defines a society in respect to its norms, beliefs, symbols, heroes and rituals as reflected in their social life. It is man’s way of life as it defines the way we live on daily basis and what we bring in our workplaces especially within a certain social group. Kutscher and Schmid defines culture as “the set of basic assumptions, attitudes and convictions of a social unit that manifest themselves in a multitude of behavior and artifacts, and which developed over time as a response to the varied demands placed on this social unit (2004. p.7.).”As an international business manager, one has to be acquainted with proper knowledge concerning the cultural differences and its impact on the business at large.

In a multinational company, people working together will be coming from different