Cross-Cultural Management
Cross-cultural management is the field of study that has to drown interest to researchers, and its basis is on the theories and research from disciplines like cross-cultural psychology, international business, human resource, organizational behavior and management. The goal of this field is to seek and find an understanding of how the national cultures affect management practices in the modern business world. The other goal could be to identify the similarities and differences across cultures in various management practices and organizational contexts. The primary objective of cross-cultural management is that it seeks to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of global management. Everything discipline especially the marketing and all management aspects have gone global. Thus, it is critical for managers to accept cross-cultural diversity brought about by globalization in the workplaces.
Most companies have their businesses relating with their customers, other businesses, their workforce and various stakeholders in different corners of the globe. In the Christian faith, these different people have their way of doing things that are they have organization culture. Therefore, relating to all these parties forms global corporations. On a constant basis, the employees and managers of any company deal with people with different cultures from theirs (Kundu, 2009). Culture may also refer to the acquired knowledge that people use to interpret the experience they have and generate a given social behavior. Christianity as culture has values and create attitudes that influence our day-to-day actions. Understanding the concept of cross-cultural management will help management and all the organization members to gain a clear understanding of other people’s cultures, their culture and the consequences that may arise because of interacting with people from different cultures (Kundu, 2009). People get culture through learning, adapting, sharing or through the patterns, which they pass through in their daily endeavors.
The definition of culture is dependent on the setting one is dealing with. Therefore, the definition of management is that culture dimension as the relationship that exists between people and time. In all human societies, culture is seen as an integral part and Christianity believe is that love is the greatest commandment; it is because of love for one another that peaceful interaction among different people exists. With the new society because of globalization, culture takes a broader meaning to include all global stakeholders doing business together to form a community. This has made a religion become an essential element to all organizations. As defined by Fleury, Cullen, and Parboteeah (2002) society is a group of individuals who are organized to share functional relations.
Religious beliefs are critical on how people view their environment and the world as a whole. The statement does not necessarily mean we need to believe. It simply means that the shaping of the environment we live in is through the direct or indirect intervention of our religion. According to Adler (2007), cross-cultural management is the study that gives an explanation for the behavior of people within organizations in the world and shows the management or leadership of an organization the how they should work with their employees and clients from many different cultures. Cross-cultural management describes how organizational behavior within their national boundaries and cultures that is it compares an organizational behavior across various countries and cultures. Therefore, cross-cultural management seeks an understanding to improve the interactions of managers, executives, co-workers, suppliers, clients and all alliance parties from different countries and cultures around the world. The take to this as per the Christian faith is that all people can interact as all people belong to one God according to the Holy Scripture.
Cross-cultural management is paramount as in the modern world we are faced with all kinds of cooperation between companies and businesses increasing. According to Fleury, Cullen, and Parboteeah (2002), globalization has led to the development of mergers, partnerships, business alliances and takeovers on which their success depends on the culture integration. Culture dimension in this scenario would determine if the new form of business will gain profit and analyses the challenges that may arise a when the companies are working together. Cross-cultural knowledge and skills assist managers to connect with their foreign partners and counterparts. Christianity supports this belief because it allows people to go all over the world and make new friendships in faith. Any manager whose company has gone globally appreciates the good work or performance because of knowing culture and language used in international business (Kundu, 2009).
Through having an open mind in business, never concluding on behaviors of others managers achieve effective cross-cultural interaction. The experienced managers will collect facts and knowledge about others so that they make decisions based on facts and avoid offensive behavior when interaction with other cultures in the business world. Due to globalizations, managers need to invest in training and attending conferences so that they learn cultural practices that give emphasis on human techniques and observable skills (Adler, 2007). Through such acquired skills and knowledge, the companies are in a better position of transferring them to the rest of the world. Managers can get skills about cross-culture through video tapes and consultancy firms that have full information about different cultures. Learning institutions like training institutes and universities can be a source of knowledge about cross-culture.
It is very critical to understand cultural diversity so that the kind of decision as a manager remain geared towards achieving the objective of the organization. Efficient handling of cross-cultural encounters is very significant in forming the competitive business advantage among other firms (Peterson and Søndergaard, 2011). Managers do not need empathy and tolerance towards the differences in cultures, but they also need a substantive factual knowledge about the values and beliefs of foreign counterparts. The command of cross-cultural concept in management is that it shows how we communicate and interact with international business partners. It is paramount when discussing and negotiating international business ventures. The interaction of international customers involves cross-culture knowledge. The advertisement that is needed to make a product attractive requires the management to know the culture of the target customers.
There exist cross-cultural differences in the workplace and different business endeavors (Peterson and Søndergaard, 2011). For instance, teamwork to achieve a set goal is critical to the success of the firm, which is possible when all the team players are sensitized about their differences and the manner, in which they can appreciate them. The best way to make different team players achieve the objective of the organization is through rallying them around a common goal or giving rewards explicitly to joint performance. Companies are going global, and thus, they bring people from different cultures to work with one another. This has led to the emergence of multiculturalism, and it calls for the management to blend their cultures together for increased productivity.
Every company wants to succeed in business, and thus, hence some key things are paramount in succeeding in managing firms that have gone international, the first thing that managers need to know is that they should acquire knowledge and facts about the other culture. As explained Spencer and Franklin (2009), trying to speak their language helps you to get to know the values, lifestyles, and attitudes of the cultures with which they interact. The political and economic background of a potential target nation for business is critical as it helps in knowing the mindset and objectives of them hence integration becomes a very easy task. The other important thing that managers need to note about cross culture for the success of their business ventures is avoiding cultural biases. The mentality of executives being ethnocentric tends to cause many cultures related conflicts that cause business failure and poor strategic decisions in both planning and duty execution. The ethnocentric assumptions make managers especially those who are new in international business to distort communication and see the behavior of their partners as odd. Communication is the essential tool to know exactly what the partners want thus it should never be broken.
Developing cultural skills is healthy for the business to succeed effectively with other counterparts who have different cultures from ours. This is achievable if companies invest in professional development. Different organizations have different cultures, and thus, they carry their businesses in a unique manner (Spencer and Franklin, 2009). They have negotiation skills and the manner in which to solve conflicts in their way. Cross-culture competence in management has personality traits that characterize it. The first feature is the tolerance for ambiguity where one tolerates the apparent absence of clarity in thoughts and actions of other people. The other characteristic is perceptiveness where one carefully observes and appreciates the information in the speech of others. Valuing personal relationships help in improving interpersonal contacts. Hence, there are fewer arguments while making decisions. Being flexible and adaptive leads to innovations and an open-mindedness on outcomes of a project.
References
Adler, N. J. (2007). Cross-Cultural Management: Issues to be Faced. International Studies of Management & Organization, 13(1/2), 7-45.
Fleury, J., Cullen, J.B. and Parboteeah K.P. (2002). Multinational Management: A Strategic Approach (South Western Publisher, USA, 2008)
Kundu, S C, (2009) Managing Cross-cultural Diversity a Challenge for Present and Future Organizations, The Journal of Delhi Business Review Vol. 2, No. 2, July - December 2011.
Peterson, M. F., & Søndergaard, M. (2011). Traditions and Transitions in Quantitative Societal Culture Research in Organization Studies. Organization Studies, 32(11), 1539-1558.
Spencer H., & Franklin, P. (2009). A Multidisciplinary Approach to Intercultural Communication: Introduction (pp. 1-10). Palgrave Macmillan UK.
