The multifarious culture in the world is requiring the business people to understand more and more of other cultures beside their own cultures. Despite the fact, it will not be easy to know deeply other cultures in a brief time. By understand other cultures; it can make people more tolerance and show some respects in doing some businesses with people from different cultures. What’s more, the counterparts with different cultures will feel more comfortable because we can show them some esteem to their cultures. There are several basic cultures that can be learned by business people to understand the cross-culture. Language can be the first culture to learn in doing cross-culture business. Language will make the communication easier. In addition, …show more content…
Relationship-Focus. Gesteland said, “Deal-Focused (DF) people are fundamentally task-oriented, while relationship-focused (RF) folks are more people oriented”. In the deal-focus culture, people tend to concentrate with the work. On the other hand, relationship-culture people will build some connections with the partners before move to the work part. Therefore, RF people are usually more flexible and calm in doing business. DF people like to do business with stranger. As Park Myung-seok said in the Korea Times, “Most Americans are open to discussing business possibilities with people they don’t know”. American people get used to greet and smile to everyone they meet. Thus, they will not worry while doing business with stranger. Furthermore, DF people can be assumed as assertive, bad-mannered and aggressive. Australia, New Zealand, Northern Europe and North America are the example of countries with deal-focus culture. At the side of relationship-focus, Korea and Japan are the precise examples. Korean and Japanese like to have negotiation and discussion before deal with the business. While doing business with relationship-focus people, gain confidence is one important thing. After catch sight of deal-focus and relationship focus criteria, relationship-focus can be the finest one. In a business world, business people will face a great deal of risk. For this reason, know deeply the partners can be one answer to trim down …show more content…
Formal Culture. On the basis of Gesteland book, informal vs. formal culture linked with egalitarian vs. hierarchical culture. People are attempting to diminish social status in the informal culture. On the contrary, formal culture become accustomed to act toward people accords their status. As a result formalities, power and hierarchies are important for formal people. Informal people make hierarchy in organization only to distinguish the job. Informal people valued others beyond their ability and performance. Formal people are pay attention in calling someone name. Formal people are using formal such as using the last name. Conversely, informal people tend to call someone with friendly word. The examples of countries with formal cultures are most European countries, Asian, and Arab. Canada, USA, New Zealand, Iceland, and Norway are the example of countries with informal culture. In some societies, distinguish people based on the status is needless. They prefer to treat people informally and comfortably. After interpret several differences between informal and formal culture, informal culture seems like easier and
Constant technological and global changes create challenges that forces leaders to manage different cultures in different countries. People, goods, services, and ideas are moving today at greater speeds which mean our labor force is becoming more diverse and multicultural by the day. Effective leaders need to understand such global dynamics in order to successfully manage organizational cultures. The cultures of leaders and their core assumptions might be different from the values and assumptions of employees in a different country. Two managers working for the same global company might see things differently due to their backgrounds and cultural values. The different countries, in which the organization operates, will have different cultures depending on the social, economic, and political history of the country. Managing and understanding these differences need an effective cross-cultural thinking leader (Yukl, 2013). Some research questions that Yukl, 2013 suggests are: 1) how behavior differs across cultural values and for different countries? 2) How values and behaviors are influenced by personality across company and country? 3) What types of traits, skills, and experience are most useful to prepare a leader being assigned to a new country? 4) How does the fast-changing culture in developing countries affect and relate to
Our world is made up of many diverse cultures. These cultures have influenced many aspects of this world that we live in today. Understanding and developing knowledge about these cultures is vitally important. Having the ability to understand other cultures will allow you to look deeper into your own cultural values.
The authors identify that there are three main factors that effect how people act, think, and make decisions. The first is religion, in some countries faith plays an important role in all areas of life in the culture of the country and can influence many of their customs and behavior. The second factor is that of fact. In many countries their greatest desire is to find the best deal and the best product or services. The final factor is feeling, if a culture is based on feelings the people will conduct business accordingly. For example it would be essential to make a personal connection with this type of individual.
It is important to come to the mindset of learning of the different cultures, and hold onto the humanity of treating others how one would want to be
Culture is a concept that we hear frequently. Nowadays everything is culture problem, for example water usage, citizen’s behavior, and of course at the organizations.
Steve Kafka, an American of Czech origin and a franchisor for Chicago Style Pizza, has decided to expand his business into the Czech Republic. He knows it is a risky decision; when he became a franchisor, he had to overcome a lot of difficulties. Steve anticipates he will face some of these difficulties again at the new location in Prague, Czech Republic. Although he was born in the United States, he has family and friends in the Czech Republic, speaks Czech fluently, and has visited the country of his origin several times. He knows the people and the culture. In this paper, I will analyze the cross-cultural differences between the United States and Czech Republic, determine comparative advantages in this country, and recommend ways to minimize the risks of establishing a franchise overseas.
Our economic development will forever be defined as our ability to succeed internationally. PwC forecasts India’s real annual GDP growth until 2050 at 8.9 percent, Vietnam’s at 8.8 percent, and China’s at 5.9 percent. The list of fast-growing emerging markets goes on and on. The U.S. forecast is a meager 2.4 percent, comparable with most Western economies. The domestic companies that are likely to see incremental growth in the coming decades are those that are not only doing business internationally, but that are developing the strategic skill set to master doing business across cultures. Cross-cultural core competence is at the crux of today’s sustainable competitive advantage. For example, political environment will tell us, as to how and why political leaders control, whether and how of international business. Legal environment, both national and international will tell us about many kinds of laws by which business firms must work. The cultural environment will tell us about attitudes, beliefs and opinions important to business people. Economic environment will tell us about the economic system being followed by the host country, which may or may not be different from home country. It will also explain the variables such as level of development, human resources, Gross Domestic Per Capita and consumption patterns that determine a firm’s ability to do business. Geography will tell us about location, quantity, and quality of the world’s resources.
During a meeting with a Mexican supplier Ted offended the visiting businessman by refusing to go on a tour of the city offered by Manuel. In past oriented countries such as mexico sharing cultural history is a very important factor, and is usually shared by the business host. This also shows the differences between the monochronic ways of the United States and the polychronic thinking that MExico use. Monochronic cultures want to get to business right away, time management is a number one priority and deadlines are taken very seriously. Ted displays this by not wanting to waste time getting a deal done with the other business man. This is also shown when he is upset with Manuel over the plant 's failure to get running in time. Manuel displays his polychronic methods by socializing during the business meetings, and by failing to get the plant up and running in time by missing the deadline by five weeks. Had Ted been aware of the polychronic culture of mexico he could have been more hands on in getting the plant up and running in time, just another case where the intervention of a business anthropologist would have been
In international management, culture is acquired knowledge that peoples use to interpret experiences and generate social behavior. This knowledge forms values, creates attitudes and influences behavior. Because different cultures exist in the world an understanding of the impact of culture on behavior is critical in the international management. There are many way of examining culture differences and their impact on international management. Culture can affect technology transfer, managerial attitude, managerial ideology and even business-government relations. Cultural affects a host of business-related activities, even the including the common handshake. For example, in the United States, the standard greeting is a smile, often accompanied by a nod, wave and it may sometimes include verbal greeting. In business situations, a firm handshake is used. Feeble handshakes are viewed as negatively as weakness. Men usually wait for women to offer their hand before shaking. As in the Czech Republic, shake hands, firmly but briefly, with everyone (including children) when introduced. It is also customary to shake hands once again upon departure. Men should wait to see if women extend their hands in inter-gender meetings. Also, avoid keeping the left hand in one's pocket while shaking hands with the right. In the Czech Republic, politics and other complicated ...
Culture varies from one organization to another as it is shaped by the values and beliefs of the people working there. As it progresses over the years, it takes form in such a way that it works or performs in a manner to regulate behavior, action and decision making processes within the organization. It not just includes written rules and regulations, but also the behavioral aspects faced by each one on a day to day basis.
The article talks about a female executive who had visited a conservative Muslim country. She had trouble interacting with male business partners as they come from cultures where women do not often engage in high-level trades. The men refused to shake her hand, which made her, feel disrespected and confused. The author suggests that female businesspeople from liberal countries such as those in the West need to learn that every country has its norm pertaining the roles of men and women. Age is also important in cross-cultural businesses where older people are considered wise. Body language and communication style are also different depending on the culture where in some place direct speaking may be regarded as disrespectful or even rude while in others steady eye contact is considered as a means to build trust. The female business person also has to recognize the signals that she is sending to her corporate partners. She should be wary of offending her business partners of all sexes as the female may judge their fellow women more harshly than how a man would. The woman also has to determine if the signals that she is receiving are cultural norms or sexism. Therefore, the important factors in intercultural businesses are learning the culture of the other person in advance to know how to
Can the effects of cultural misunderstandings can be painful for the individuals, but also for the organization as a whole. Embarrassing situations and inadvertently insults, offenses and failure to achieve individual and organizational goals are among the consequences of the joint. Experience of many managers and researchers in the field of strategy, organization, and the development of the theory of the organization suggests all this ", the study of cultural issues at the organizational level is absolutely essential to a basic understanding of what goes on in organizations, and how it works, and how to improve" (Shin 1990).
The differences in other cultures vary from beliefs to ways of life, or norms, of the different societies. The importance of understanding and sensitivity to other countries’ differences is crucial to a business’ success. “Lack of familiarity with the business practices, social customs, and etiquette of a country can weaken a co...
Abstract: Globalization has made intercultural communication inevitable. Communicating with other cultures characterizes today’s business, classroom, and community. Technology, especially the internet, has increased the probability that whatever is documented online will be read by someone from another culture. Intercultural communication is of importance in any career field, thus the art of knowing how to communicate with other cultures should be a workplace skill that is emphasized. This is a conceptual paper whose purpose is twofold.
Sonderberg, A-M & N Holden. (2002), Rethinking cross cultural management in a globalizing business world' International Journal of Cross Culture Management 2(1): 103-121