Cross-Cultural Management Issues - Essay Example

?Cross Cultural Management Literature Review According to Kim (2005), culture is a behavioural aspect with which an employee or a group of employees is identified. The concept is expressed and transmitted from one person to another through symbols, unique organisational features, values and beliefs that structure the internal working environment of a corporation. Culture shock and uncertainty is a product of cultural diversity. The concept of cultural diversity can be viewed as both contextual and specific. Cultural diversity is viewed as the feature that distinguishes one person or an organisation from another owing to the variation in visible and non-visible qualities (Selmer, 2007). Therefore, effective management of cross-cultural diversity will require a detailed understanding of the concept of culture that governs individual response. A company’s background determines a worker’s way of thinking, behaviour and expression of ideas (Hutchings and Ratnasari, 2006). Employee management has become a crucial strategy for any organisation aspiring to internationalise its operations. Dealing with intercultural issues is not an option for an organisation with an interest in internalisation with the main impediment being culture shock and poor adjustment. Culture shock is a descriptive term first coined by Kalervo Oberg directed to expatriate Americans who had migrated abroad. The term was meant to describe the distress that they faced. Some of the aspects that characterise culture shock include stress, loss of sense, uncertainty, denial, non-acceptance and nervousness towards the new surroundings (Pantelidou and Craig, 2006:777–781). Syed (2012:63-82), identified some prominent ways through which culture shock occurs among employees: pressure resulting from straining while adapting psychologically, feeling of a sense of loss in relation to the new cultural setup, the strange feeling that the new working environment inflicts upon employees leading to internal resistance to change, development of a feeling of adequacy due to difficulties faced in coping with the new work situation and anxiety caused by the fear of expected obligations and performance. Akinola and Thomas, (2006), agree with Syed’s idea. They portend that the prominent causes of culture shock are the experiences and interactions that an employee meets in a new environment which are normally contrary to their expectations. Contradictions occur because every culture has its own unique symbols and norms. This makes it mandatory for new employees learn them. Habituation is a crucial element of cultural adaptation. Selmer (2007) asserts that individuals that are habituated can act within their cultural setting without much straining. This implies that any deviation from the normal cultural settings will make employees enormously strain while adjusting, leading to stress and eventual cultural shock. The cognitive system of employees in a new working environment is totally distracted by the unfamiliar values and norms they experience. This makes them feel psychologically and physically uncomfortable because their adaptive system is distracted; leading to shock. The corporate culture is applied as an independent variable in explaining the differences in organisational management practices. According to Strickland (2004), it has also been used to corporate culture determines the success or failure of an internalisation strategy. Lodorfos and Boateng (2006) presented two forms of organisational cultures; subjective and objective. The subjective culture comprises the shared values and beliefs among the workforce. Objective culture includes organisational characteristics such location, physical design and decorations. The two distinct conceptualisations contribute to the enhancement of culture shock and poor adjustment that derails internalisation efforts. Laroche and Rutherford (2007) posit that the duration, intensity and the urge of adapting to cross-cultural shock is a product of various factors. The factors are characterised as internal (personal) or external (group). The internal factors are characterised by personal attributes of a person such as age, gender and personal traits. Gender determines the duration of the culture shock. Research has confirmed that the process of adaptation to new environments is more complicated in men than women. This implies that the organisation should extensively acculturate female employees compared to male counterparts. The age of employees should be considered insignificant in this case because all employees are mature enough to apply the preventive strategies proposed in enhancing acculturation. Older employees will be less vulnerable to culture shocks or challenges because they are favoured by longer working experience in diverse environments. The education qualification among employees is also eminent because the educational environment allows more interaction. Education also provides cultural content that enhances the internal resilience potential of an individual (Deardorff, 2006). The prominent external factor causing culture shock is the cultural distance. The cultural distance is perceived through many factors such as emotional, economic as well as language skills. Stone (2006) affirms that employees who possess the ability to socialise with their counterparts from other diverse cultures retain their relevance in the recent trend in globalisation and internationalisation of firms. Internationalisation can only be effective if employees possess the ability to acclimatise and harness the new environments enhance their productivity. According to Stier (2006), proper performance within a diverse multicultural environment requires employees to be actively involved in understanding and managing the differences caused by changes in the surrounding and work processes as well as celebrate the diversity that globalisation of the employee roles brings. The motive behind developing intercultural understanding is driven by economic motives. This is because organisations target to benefit through increased per capita output and enhanced competitiveness in the internationalised environment (Freeman et al. 2009). The organisation expects employees to possess multicultural capabilities that will enable them communicate across multicultural context and enhance performance. However, Hunter, White and Godbey (2006) note that most employees are poorly prepared to enhance their productivity in new environments. This has made organisations develop various models necessary for imparting intercultural development skills that ranges from simple models involving single stakeholders to complex ones involving multiple stakeholders (Freeman et al., 2009). Establishment of the personal awareness is the most eminent factor that has been identified by Hunter et al (2006) as the prominent approach geared towards achieving global competence. Awareness can be achieved by employees through developing a keen interest in understanding the cultural context of the internationalised environment. Effective acculturation can only be achieved if employees develop an unbiased and non-judgmental approach towards the new work environment. This from of attitude allows employees to be accommodative and appreciative of the new job roles and work conditions; enhancing performance. The last stage of awareness involves acquiring knowledge on the new surroundings provided by the experiences with the designated roles and the training offered by employers. In summary, the model proposed by Hunter (2006:283) indicate that employees should be able to identify the cultural disparity distinguishing their new work environment from their previous ones and capitalise on the differences to develop adaptive traits that enhances productivity. Deardorff (2002) also developed another model that emphasises on the progress from the personal level to public level of interaction. Deardorff (2002:47) posits, “...the ability to communicate effectively and appropriately in intercultural situations based on one’s intercultural knowledge, skills and attitudes”. This model identifies the process of acculturation as the movement from the internal attitudes and attributes to external outcomes based on interactive attitudes. The model considers attitude as a critical starting point in the acculturation process. Another model defined the ability of employees to acquire intercultural effectiveness. Stone (2006:342) framed this model based on the eight essential elements that enhance employee effectiveness. These elements include knowledge, skills, emotional intelligence, motivation, resilience, openness, sensitivity and reflectiveness. Cultural adaptation defines the changes that take place in an employee in response to the experiences in the new job environment. These changes are caused by environmental demands of the new working environment (Boyd and Richerson, 2005). Cultural adaptation may occur within a short time but its implications may be long-term. However, challenges that accompany the initial stages of the acculturation process may later be reversed into positive attributes as one becomes used to the culture. The positivity of these attributes is realised when a person starts to get used to the norms, standards, lifestyles, values and beliefs. Adjustment to the new culture varies depending on the individual characteristics and the nature of the new environment they are exposed. Cultural adaptation is composed of five stages (Niedomysl, 2011). The first stage is honeymoon stage when the level of curiosity is normally high and people are direly interested in exploring the new location. The second stage involves enhanced disturbance, anxiety and frustration. Many people may succumb to depression at this stage. Humour stage makes the third stage whereby employees relax and start to establish support systems that enables them deal with the negative experiences of the new environment. The fourth stage is the Home stage that results from integration with the new culture making it an essential part of their life. The final stage makes the person feel completely acculturated and part of the new culture. Recommendations Although organisational are the prominent determinants of the success or failure of an internationalisation process, the final results are determined by the employee attitude. The essay recommends application of three strategise namely effectiveness in selection, training and application of positive personal attribute by the employee. To minimise any intercultural difficulties, the organisation should conduct an effective selection process to come up with appropriate personnel and expatriates. The chosen personnel should possess acculturation skills. These skills are capable of curtailing the development of culture shock or poor adaptability as this might derail productivity and performance. The recruiting board should realise that domestic performance of an employee is not a guarantee that the same will be reflected in international assignments. The company management should employ an integrated screening of individual analysis before deciding on the favourable candidates for international assignments. The selection system should be able to decipher the candidates with a limited degree of validity. According to Abbott et al., (2006:295-31), an effective selection process should establish the skills and knowledge profile of the candidate through matching the candidate’s qualifications with the responsibility requirements, the expected cultural challenges and the environment of the host organisation. The company should ensure that the recruiting panel constitutes qualified individuals capable of undertaking professional and effective execution of recruitment procedures. This enables the company explore all the avenues required to ensure that the right candidates are mandated to spearhead company performance in the new competitive environment. Some of the instruments applied in the selection process include biographical data questionnaires, interviews, personality test and behavioural assessment techniques. Some of the factors that can be used to predict the qualification profile of a candidate include technical ability, adaptability, cultural empathy, managerial skills, positive attitude, adaptability of the family, diplomacy, maturity and emotional stability and linguist ability (Akinola and Thomas, 2006). A culture shock inventory model was developed by Redden that act as the basis for evaluating the candidate aptitude through dividing the skills and competencies into eight dimensions (Bozionelos, 2009:111-34). Focus on ethnocentrism is related to the fact that adjustment to the new culture can be hampered by the rejection of the host due to a strong attachment to the host organisational culture. The dimension related to intercultural experience is based on the fact that the candidates that have an experience on culture shock perform better in a new cultural environment. The favourite candidates should have cognitive flex i.e. open-mindedness in relation to the foreign beliefs, values and norms that guides business operations and processes (Bozionelos, 2009:119). Possession of interpersonal skills implies that the candidates chosen have the ability to handle both verbal and non-verbal communication and have the ability react accordingly in support of efficient adaptation. The candidates should be assessed for any signs of adequate behaviour that can enable them conform appropriately to the cultural set-up of new business regions. Candidates that may possess specific information on the cultural set-up of the targeted international market are more preferable in enhancing the company operations. General awareness on international business environments is an add-on to performance in the international business environments. The candidates should be characterised by cognitive flex that defines the ease of change of behaviour in relation to the change in the business environment. Training and development is another crucial strategy that enhances the effectiveness of a selection process. Although the primary factors that enhance cross-cultural performance are personal, there are other traits that can be improved through intercultural training. Training eliminates cultural shock and poor adaptation among employees. This is attained through sensitising employees on diverse cultural issues, presenting them with the proper mechanism necessary for adjusting to new working environments, imparting skills that will guarantee improved performance and preparing them to develop a global mindset (Abbott et al. 2006:295-31). Employees should be trained on culture and language and be assisted with the practical daily issues associated with the targeted culture. Training on culture and language should be conducted prior to posting to prepare the candidate psychologically i.e. on the expected cultural orientation of the new posting. Practical assistance should be conducted once the employee has been posted in the new working environment. This orients and familiarises them with the new environment. According to Landy and Conte (2009), most companies that complain of ineffectiveness in training strategies in minimising cross-cultural shocks offer incomprehensive cross-cultural skills. Instead, they deliver briefings and shallow language acquisition lectures. Although the briefings are crucial during internalisation process, they can only be effective if incorporated in the training program. According to Landis, Bennett and Bennett (2004), the intercultural training methods can be classified into four main categories depending on the content of the training process and the approaches used. Didactic cultural-general training involves offering theoretical lectures on the influence of culture on behaviour and the strategies suitable for dealing with the culture shock and challenges. Experiential cultural general training is more practical and involves strategies such as experiments, workshops and self assessment. Didactic culture-specific training equips the employees with the required information on the details of the cultural settings that are supposed to be assigned through processes such as orientation and analysis of the case studies. Experiential culture-specific training should involve preliminary field trips in the concerned country, role plays, simulation and workshops. Exploring the virtues of diversity through training will enable the organisation apply its integrative to harness the multiethnic and multicultural capabilities required in the international business environments. A company’s culture is a product of the business principles that the management imparts on employees (Thompson and Strickland, 2003). Such principles and values are reflected in: the ethical guidelines and official policies, relationships with stakeholders such as vendors and stakeholders, traditions of supervisory practices and in the traditions that characterise the organisation. The management has an obligation of identifying these principles and enacting efficient strategies targeting social forces that define a corporate culture. Mo and Mei (2004) propose certain assumptions that an organisation should follow in enhancing successful cultural integration and transformation. Employees should be assured that international business practices relate to the internal values and beliefs that they are familiar with. Additionally, the designated roles should not deviate from the specialised roles they were earlier performing inn the organisation. The corporate management should facilitate the culture of teamwork and interpersonal relationships. This will enable the employees assist each other in the challenging times and ensure collaboration and knowledge sharing in tackling unfamiliar roles. Although the most crucial aspect of acculturation is best conducted by the organisation, employees also have a crucial role to play in minimising the adverse negative impacts of the new working conditions. The organisation has a role to play in ensuring that employees are provided with the freedom and the resources required in enhancing the efforts geared towards personal acculturation. Being transferred to a new working destination can be distressing and challenging, albeit seemingly exciting. This is because the cultural set-up of the new place is always different from what the employee is normally used to. Curbing culture shock will require enhanced personal efforts. The employee should familiarise themselves with the cultural disposition of the new surroundings to evade any surprises prior to posting. This will involve extensive reading of any literature detailing the business culture of the new destination, especially the one related to telecommunications. According to Akinola and Thomas (2006), employees should seek information related to acceptable and non-acceptable behaviours in the new posting to avoid any cultural conflicts. Upon arrival to the new destination, the employee should understand that the obligation they have been granted will be encouraging as well as challenging at times. Miscommunications and misunderstandings are also common features of any new job posting. The subjects should be prepared to overcome all challenges and treat every person with respect in a bid to increase the chances being accepted by the residents. The employee should embrace patience when interacting and learning a new culture. They should understand that it will take time to be acculturated with the new business as well as social surroundings. An employee should take the posting as an opportunity to benefit from a wealth of new experience and self growth. This can only be possible if a person engages in strategies that promote cross-cultural growth and affiliations. The employee should feel free to make any inquiries related to their jurisdictions or welfare. Talking to other people enhances communication, team work and friendship. Talking about the diversity of cultures encourages employees to learn more about their colleagues and feel as a family. Creation of personal bonds with other people hastens the cultural adaptation and negates any form of work place conflicts (Hutchings and Ratnasari, 2006:114-131). The employee should participate fully in all the cultural practices of the host nation. This equips them with the necessary information of the new practises they will have to include in their line of duty. This negates the conflict of duties. Conclusion Culture is a behavioural aspect that an employee or a group of employees are identified. The concept is expressed and transmitted from one person to another through symbols, unique organisational features, values and beliefs that structure the internal working environment of a corporation. The success of any internalisation strategy is determined by the ability of employees to adapt and overcome any intercultural challenges. Eliminating or minimising any cross-cultural difficulties caused by internationalisation should be based on conducting of effective selection process and training. Selection should be based on a thorough assessment of employee personal characteristics suitable for acculturation and performance while training should improve adaptation to cultural diversity. References Abbott, G., Stening, B., Atkins, P. & Grant, A. (2006) ‘Coaching expatriate managers for success:Adding value beyond training and mentoring’ Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, vol. 44, no. 3, pp. 295-317. Akinola, M. & Thomas D. A., (2006) ‘Defining the attributes and processes that enhance the effectiveness of workforce diversity initiatives in knowledge intensive firms’ Harvard Business School Working Paper, no. 07-019. Bozionelos, N. (2009) ‘Expatriation outside the boundaries of the multinational corporation: a study with expatriate nurses in Saudi Arabia’ Human Resource Management, vol. 48, no. 1, pp. 111-34. 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