Issues in Cultural Divide

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Recommended: Relevance of intercultural communication to a business environment

Analysis of 4 short videos that present a viewpoint in relation to cultural issues in organizations, in particular that which is related to bridging or mediating the cultural divide in a globalized business environment showed the following Key Cultural Issues in my opinion -

• Video 1 showed the clash of cultures, in particular the battle to mediate and negotiate a singular organizational culture in the case of corporate acquisitions. Joe McGuire, former CEO of the audio equipment chain Tweeter talked about 'cultural fit' and how it was so difficult to find the right balance to get all acquired companies into one corporate culture being that all acquisitions have settled into their own unique way of conducting business (traditions, viewpoints, philosophies, etc.) (Kotter, 2002).

• Video 2 showed Ranjini Manian, CEO of Global Adjustments talk about culture shock especially in the case of expatriates transplanted to a new geographic location foreign and different from the social and corporate culture one is used to in his home country affecting personal and professional life. She talks about preparing for the 'shock' for by doing so one can overcome it.

• Video 3 showed a clip from the comedy movie 'Outsourced' where the 'transplanted American' explains 'American Kitsch' - in this particular scene, that of burgers and the branding of cows and their meats, to a professional set of call center agents whom the US Expat was supposed to be training. The key message here is 'knowing and learning of a new culture' prior to actual encounter as the Expat struggled to explain and teach the hocked 'Hindu' group (In Hinduism, cows are sacred). Pointed out in the later part of the clip, one female trainee declared '...Maybe you shou...

... middle of paper ...

...urer and Americans in general in relation to their eating habits and 'cruelty' to the Hindi holy animal - the Cow.

I believe that furthermore, if the 'web' was used in cultural studies and very particular issues, a lot of dimensions of said issues will be addressed, preparing as Video 2 indicated, people from the negative effects of culture shock.

References:

TwitterAcquisitionExperience:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nO4VpcO2ERU&feature=rel ted

Culture Shock: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZ1XLwgKDjQ

Outsourced movie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXo1mQIEXmY

Chinese Business Etiquette Instructional Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XHioryoMes

Johnson, G. (2008), "Rethinking Incrementalism", Strategic Management Journal Vol 9 pp75 91.

Kotter, John. (2002) Corporate Culture and Performance, Free Press.

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