CROSS-CULTURAL MANAGEMENT

 CROSS-CULTURAL MANAGEMENT

Cross-cultural management is the practice of management skills in different cultures of the world. Culture is the manifestation of different human ideas, concepts in everyday life (Adler, N, J 1983). Cultural ideas vary from one community to another. Mainly culture beliefs of individuals develop because of the geographical locations of members of the society. The beliefs people form affect the way they interact with others, in their homes and the places of work (Chevrier, S. 2003). When managers employ good cultural interrelationships skills, cross-cultural problems in organizations reduce.

Besides geographical location, other aspects of the society such as religion affect the perception of the life of employees in an organization. Thus managers need to adapt to managerial practices that show sensitivity to people of different religious beliefs (Adler et al.1986). Good Interrelations of people in organizations promote productivity within organizations. In an environment where there are good interrelationships, companies gravitate towards high productivity. Companies experience high productivity because of reduced friction among employees.

Community cultures where an organization is located affect the management operations of managers. Part of the areas of management which is greatly influenced by society cultures includes the selection of new employees. (Omar et al 2001). Managers in selecting new employees tend to focus on the communication skills of a person. Managers focus on communication skills because when employees are well endowed with proper communication skills then they can increase the smoothness cross-cultural relations in a company. There are various factors that managers consider in the communication skills of an employee (Adler, N, J, 1983). The factors managers consider include the ability of an employee to give instructions. When employees are good at the skill of giving instructions, there is a reduced conflict of communication especially if the employee is at the management level of a company. Managers in organizations where there are cross-cultural interactions promote good communication as a tool to bridge gaps in the cultures. Good communication reduces conflict in the organizations because when members of a community are in agreeable communication terms, the cohesiveness of interactions in a company grows (Nagandhi, A, R 1983). Communication in the community is a process with stages which managers in the cross-cultural communities often observe closely.

The stages of communication in the cross-cultural organization include dissemination of information from the sources, Encoding of the message by the source, transmission of the message through a channel, Receipt of the message, Decoding of the message by the recipient and transmission of feedback from the recipient (Kellery et al.1981). When all the parties in a communication channel are effective and sensitive about the content of the communication, the flow of messages in the societies happens without difficulties.

Additionally, a manager in organizations where there is the potential of cross-cultural disagreement prefers to hire employees who have good negotiation skills. Managers opt for employees with good negotiation skills because in daily life interactions of a business there are many negotiations (Thomas,d,c 2015). Negotiations could be in business dealings or personal interrelations. When staff in the organizations are well endowed with efficient negotiation skills they can deal and interact with each without friction. Lack of friction in the relations of employees in an organization helps in prolonging employee’s tenure in the company.

Mostly cross-cultural conflict happens in organizations because of perceptual filters each employee has, perceptual filters are ways individuals look at things based on their expectations and experiences in life. The problem arises when there are employees who are adamant about their perceptual filters (Pheng et al.2000). When there are employees in the organization who are unwilling to look at circumstances from other employee’s points of view a problem of resistance emerges. Resistance from employees slows down operations and causes organizations to fail in achieving goals and missions. Perceptual patterns of individuals or groups of people are neither right nor wrong they are only different, and so in organizations, everyone should take the perceptual opinion of colleagues with consideration.

However, managers in organizations with cross-cultural organizations need to appreciate some realities about perception. Understanding of underlying realities of perception helps managers to be more effective in their leadership roles in the organizations. One of the truths about perception managers need to appreciate is that individuals employees are often adamant about their perception realities when such employees see something in a certain way, they continue to see it the same for a long time (Gerhart, B, 2008). The unwillingness to change perception even in the face of reality slows down an organization. Secondly, managers in cross-cultural organizations need to appreciate the fact that some employees will be seeing thing which does not exist, this a perception where some employees tend to see and believe in this which are not a reality in an organization. Lastly, managers need to know that genuinely some employees will not see things that exist in a company, even when such factors are obvious to everyone else.

When managers understand this reality about the group of employees in the organizations then they can execute their core managerial functions with effectiveness. Especially managers can carry out the function of coordinating with greater understanding when they know that employees are quite different in their perception orientation. With the understanding of perception differences among employees, managers can group and place employees in the areas of strength.

Additionally, Management in cross-cultural situations is affected by cases of stereotype. Stereotype is a view an individual has about factors in the community. The factors about which an individual could be stereotypic include the elements of a business. When there is a negative stereotype towards a business or a negative stereotype regarding a group of people operating in a given organization. It affects the performance of a business in society. A business victimized by stereotype could lose employees and customers as well.

Further management of a business in a cross-culture society is affected by prejudice tendencies in a group of people. Prejudice is ideas conceived by individuals or a group of people not out of experience or reason but innately out of biased views. Because of the prejudice orientation of the members of a given society may discriminate against a certain group of people or discriminate against a certain business in society. An effective business manager in a cultural setting marred with prejudice should strive to bring up measures in his or her business environment which would help debunk foundations of prejudice. In the exemption of measure to debunk prejudice discriminations, an organization’s performance would decline.

There are three dimensions of possible cross-cultural conflict. They include linguistic conflict; linguistic is the language of a given community e.g. French or German. An organization needs to know and understand the language pattern of the community in which it operates. Understanding of a language in a community it operates enhances the chances of an organization succeeding in its goals and missions. Managers and other employees of an organization need to learn the language of cultural settings where their businesses operate. Understanding of the language improves the chances of an organization succeeding.

Further, the second potential source of cross-cultural conflict includes misunderstanding of practicalities such as greeting. Conflict can be minimized in the management of a business through the understanding of such practicalities as this; practicalities are the etiquette practices in a community. By understanding the practicality of greetings in a community the chances of success for a business rise. Meanings of greetings in communities vary, for instance in some communities there are greetings which are specifically for the young people and others for the elders. To reduce conflict in the management of a business, employees, and management of a business should endeavor to understand the types and meanings of greetings in the society where the business operates.

Furthermore, cross-cultural management conflict is enhanced by misunderstandings of acceptable and unacceptable behaviors in a community. Different cultures have behaviors they consider either acceptable or unacceptable. For successful management of organization managers and employees need to understand the behaviors a society considers acceptable and which ones a society considers unacceptable. The behaviors are part of practicality that business organization members can learn either by training or observation. Failure to understand the behaviors in society could result in a business being segregated by a community.

Parts of the acceptable and unacceptable behaviors in society include elements such as giftings. Gifting’s involving aspects of the way people in a community give or receive gifts. In the event, an organization misunderstands an aspect like this it could cause a decline in the loyalty organizations gets from the community. A decline in loyalty could cause organizations to slow down in the attainment of the purposed goals and missions. Businesses could a slowdown in the attainment of set goals because of the loss of customers and employees as a result of compromised loyalty foundations.

Further misunderstanding which could bring about conflict in cross-culture business management is an element of timing and punctuality. Failure of a business to adapt to timing and punctuality norms in a culture could result in a sharp decline of an organization’s royalty and reputation from members of a community. Timing involves the right time for doing certain things in a culture as dictated by cultural beliefs. Punctuality involves an ability to attend to things within the right time; punctuality is about the urgency of business. When a business abides by elements of timing and punctuality in a society the organization’s prospects of success soars.

There are various mitigation measures a business could undertake to minimize the negative effects of cross-culture on a business. The measure involves the recognition of the differences in cultures. With the recognition and awareness of cultural differences within the and in the outside business environment. Recognition of cultural differences by a business enables a business to adapt accordingly to a culture.

Secondly, a business needs to respect cultural differences. The business managers need to appreciate and respect cultural differences in society. Lastly, business managers need to reconcile cultural differences with their businesses. Business managers can reconcile differences in business by growing the awareness of cultural differences among employees.

In conclusion, success in business comes from not suppressing cultural differences but by using the cultural differences to gain new insights and to solve problems in businesses. To be able to operate a business successfully in an environment of cross-cultural setup, business managers need to recognize the differences, respect the differences and reconcile the cultural differences with their internal organization’s cultures.

References

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