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Why culture matters in international business
National culture impact on business
The importance of culture and its effect in international business
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In any firm, having an effective management culture is critical to a firm’s success. But once you look at this topic on an international scale, culture can change based on what is right and wrong in a different country. To demonstrate this theory, I have interviewed two different people who have either came to work in the United States from another country, or born domestically and have experience working abroad. One of them is my father, James Lai (Exhibit A); he is an immigrant from Hong Kong, China and have worked extensively in the graphics design industry for many large companies. Some of these companies that he has worked for includes the following: Toymax (now currently a subsidiary of Jakk Pacific Inc.), TecnoZone, The Zone & ENE Group …show more content…
According to Jeanne Brett, Kristin Behfar, and Mary Kern of Harvard Business Review, the four major challenges of managing a multicultural team in a way all relate to conflicting cultural views. In the two interviews that I have done, there is some sort of cultural barrier in both. For my father, it was the language barrier that made it challenging for him in the workforce, which is noted in this article as “trouble with accents and fluency” (Brett). Erin McKean, a former editor in chief of American Dictionaries of Oxford University Press, claims that a definition of a word is “highly stylized, overly compressed and often a tentative stab at capturing the consensus on what a particular word “means” naturally” based on their etymology (McKean). This can be linked back to the scenario that my father was facing; due to the change in geography of where he was working, from Hong Kong to New York, the meaning behind words could also change as well, which in a way causes a language barrier for him in the workforce. The reason for why this is happening is really due to what McKean states in her argument about words having different meanings in different regions; because of the change in environment, the style of the language use can also change as well. As for Shapland, the main problem that he faced when working abroad with others in China was really the …show more content…
In terms of strategies that were used to work around these cultural barriers, my dad’s supervisor utilized a structural intervention method to fit in, as based on the Harvard Business Review (Brett). Due to the fact that he was working in the toy industry, a lot of cooperation with factories in China is necessary and my dad is usually the only one that has real work experience in the Asian continent. Also, he also understands the general culture in that part of the world. Therefore, he was considered as the specialist in that specific area in his company. On Shapland’s end, however, he had to use more of an adaptation method because of the fact that his schedule was structured based on another country’s cultural difference. Otherwise, he would never be on the same page as the individuals that have different beliefs and cultural practices than his
In this article, Byars-Winston and Fouad, seeks to assess the importance of cultural factors and their impact on multicultural value of career counseling from the perspective of a counselor. The authors further examine the Culturally Appropriate Career Counseling Model and offer an expansion of the model through incorporating metacognitive processes. Culture is believed to play a significant role in one’s career decision making but the extent to which it does remains unknown. It is therefore imperative that career counselors try to understand
Caren, Siehl. Leading across cultures: China, 2004. Thunderbird, The Garvin School of International Management, 2004. (accessed January 14, 2014) (Caren, 2004)
This paper will address different areas that can be associated with our professional competence. We will explore some of the best practices in defining and measuring competence, while exploring multicultural competencies, spiritual and religious competencies and boundary issues. Implementing a competency-based approach to education and training will allow current and future professionals to understand the borders of their competence. Ethical boundaries are necessary and can be deemed critically important for building healthy relationships with clients. Boundaries are meant to be beneficial in the professional relationship. Setting boundaries play a key role in achieving successful outcomes. As a psychologist, staying competent is required to demonstrate and understand the appropriate and effective manner that is consistent with the expectations as an educated professional within your field. Competence connotes motivation and action to achieve a level of qualifications or capabilities within a chosen
Ethical issues are problems that may arise between the counselor and client; especially in multicultural counseling. Ethical issues can range from personal bias to confidentiality Counselors may face ethical issues when working with clients from a different background or culture. According to Miller (2015), “Although it 's not always possible, a family therapist should always try to maintain professional boundaries when dealing with clients. Sometimes, issues regarding a therapist 's personal values and beliefs may present an ethical, albeit subconscious, dilemma, according to Margolin. This can be especially difficult if a therapist has strong ideas about issues that commonly affect families, such as divorce, separation and
In its simplest definitions, the concept of multiculturalism having its roots in theories of cultural pluralism and diversity, can be defined as a normative response to manage the challenges arising from the ever growing multicultural make up of urban population caused by immigration or de facto plurality of cultures in both plural and mono cultural societies. The challenges of multicultural urban societies have been attributed to the politics of cultural differences characterized by the difference in value system of dominant mono cultural groups and specific communities containing multiple ethnicities and, also finding possible ways to co-exist among such differences. The politics of difference is largely reflected in sharing and constitution
I must admit that before I began taking this class I took for granted how much racism still exists in this country. I have started to put more thought in to the way the world really is, the topics discussed in class have started to catch my interest. When I first started reading the Tatum book I was mad when I read her version of the word “racism”. I thought to my self “I personally have never held down the black race, what does she mean?” As I progressed in the book I was starting to understand what she meant about the system of advantages that white people are given. I also understood this better when I read Elizabeth Munich’s list of examples of how there are advantages to being white. I couldn’t help agreeing with her argument based on what I have seen in my life so far. I have seen blacks harassed in stores and denied housing. At the time I simply felt it was too bad and forgot about it. According to Tatum I was practicing “passive racism” and I agree with her on that. I have never done anything to try and change the system and I do reap the advantages of being white whether or not I like it. I believe that reading this book has opened my eyes to how much racism still exists in this country that claims to uphold equal rights. Another argument that Tatum discusses is how everybody is prejudiced in one way or another. I also believe this is true, almost everyone I know has made a racist joke or laughed at one at least. I believe that this is because of th...
While exploring the multinational workplace, which consisted of immigrants from a variety of countries, I was able to distinguish three distinctive themes. The first is immigrants’ self-consciousness of having an accent. The second is mixing two languages in speech. The third is the problem of building an effective multicultural team.
The cross cultural differences could be one of the difficult tasks to deal with. Managers need to operate with a vast variety of employees who posses distinguished beliefs, values and attitudes, Most of the times, seeing things different than us. For a successful manager, it is essential to have positive thinking and keeping in mind that there is a solution to every issue (The Wisest, 2011).
In the article, Cultural constraints in management theories, Geert Hofstede examines business management around the globe from a cultural perspective. He explains how he believes there are no universal practices when it comes to management and offers examples from the US, Germany, France, Japan, Holland, China and Russia. He demonstrates how business management theories and practices are very much subject to cultural norms and values and by understanding these differences, it can give managers an advantage in global business practices.
Another problem which multicultural team faces is that the people have contrasting mentalities towards the chain of command and power. A test characteristic in multicultural collaboration is that by configuration, groups have a fairly level structure. When diverse team member works together there is also problem in decision making. Generally the people from western culture are used to take decision rapidly without doing a profound examination. They also do a very little investigation on assigned project contrasting to other people in groups so the team cannot be able to reach the
Ahlstrom, D., & Bruton, G. D. (2010). International Management: Strategy and Culture in the Emerging
The Hofstede model of national culture differences, based on research carried out in the early seventies, is the first major study to receive worldwide attention. This influential model of cultural traits identifies five dimensions of culture that help to explain how and why people from various cultures behave as they do. According to Hofstede (1997) culture is Ù[ collective programming of the mind? This referring to a set of assumptions, beliefs, values and practices that a group of people has condoned as a result of the history of their engagements with one another and their environment over time. In this study, culture refers to a set of core values and behavioural patterns people have due to socialisation to a certain culture. The author̼ theoretical framework will be applied to compare differing management practices in China and the West. The five measurements of culture identified by the author are:
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).
Culture can be defined as the beliefs, values and the pattern of behavior of an individual within designated areas. The culture of organizations defines shared values and behavioral expectations. Cultural issues are especially basic issues all around the globe. These issues can happen in various routes relying upon the size, area and the custom culture of that institution. Social issues happen even because of the states of mind and how each individual comprehend in diverse business environment. Today, the corporate administrations and rising business firms have chosen to give the essential attention on trainings and classes at the multicultural working environment that will help them to understand and create
Miroshnik, V. (2002). Culture and international management: a review' The Journal of Management Development 21(7): 521-544