Intercultural Management
Answer to part A
Power distance; Turkey scores the highest in this dimension. It has a score of 66 and this means it has the following characteristics. It has hierarchical structure as observed in families where father is the sole boss. Managers relay on their bosses for rules and instruction. Workers expect to be told what to do. The leaders who are relied on are usually inaccessible. The communication flow is from the top and usually selective.
Individualism; Turkey has a score of 37 in this dimension. This implies that Turkey is a collectivistic society. People of Turkey usually belong to groups and loyalty to the group is essential. They avoid open conflict within their groups. The information flow is formal and indirect. Everyone in the group works towards achieving togetherness of the group. Nepotism is evident in Turkey. Feedback is indirect in most cases including business environment.
Masculinity; Turkey scores 45. It is on the feminine side of the scale. People of Turkey usually try to avoid conflict in all aspect of their life. When people come together to enjoy life status is usually shown.
Uncertainty avoidance; Turkey scores 85 and this imply that there is great need for laws and rules. People make use of lots of rituals to avoid anxiety.
Long term orientation; Turkey has a middle score of 45. This means that there is no dominant culture
Indulgence; in this dimension Turkey has a score of 49 and a corresponding characteristic to this dimension cannot be determined for Turkey.
In comparison to the cultural dimension of the United Nation of America this are the resultant score in the different dimensions
Power distance; Turkey has a score of 66 while the United States has a score of 40.
Individualism; Turkey has a score of 37 while the united State of America has a score of 91. Turkey practice collectivism while the united States practice individualism.
Masculinity; Turkey has a score of 45 and is on the feminine scale while the United States has a score of 62 and is on the masculine side of the scale.
Uncertainty avoidance; Turkey has a score of 85 while the United Nations has score of 46. The people of Turkey rely on laws and rules to maintain peace which is not the case of the people of the United States.
Long term orientation; Turkey scores 46 in this dimension while the United States has 26.
Indulgence; Turkey has 49 while the United States has 68. Turkey has no preference to any culture and this is not the case in the United States.
Part B answer
According to Richard Lewis’ framework of cultural type Turkey is reactive. This implies that people of Turkey are courteous, amiable, accommodating, compromiser and good listeners. Turkish is always religious and believes in Islamism. They believe in brotherhood and this help the part of collectivism come out clearly.
They practice etiquette in most of their activities and this makes them to be able to accommodate each other. They respect age and rank in most of their meetings and it is advised to first great the most elderly person in cases you are meeting more than one person. For one to prosper in business with the Turkish it is advisable that they create good relationship with them. Any stranger that starts up business within the country without any good relation is easily compromised. Business appointments should be made early. When addressing a Turk it is advisable to use their first name. In case they have titles use the title and their first name together. They titles and position should be identified and be recognized with. Turks are always good listeners and this has helped them to make some useful decisions.
Answer to Part C
In order to compare my individual position to that of the country, Erin Meyer’s eight-scale proves of much importance as it shows the culture map. This will help in answering the question regarding comparison of my own position andcountry’s position as it relates to Erin Meyer’s eight-scale culture map. The eight scale cultural map provides some eight criteria in which a countries culture can be compared to that of other countries or be evaluated. The eight significant concepts include communication, evaluating, leading, deciding, trusting, disagreeing and scheduling.
Comparing individual score to countries score
Answer to Part D
Personal Experience
On one occasion we had travelled to China with my family to visit some of our family friends living there over the holidays. On one of those days in China I went over with one of the children to a place where he was doing his academic attachment. The company was located at a strategic place just near their residence. I noticed that the employees were just working for some two or three hours then they would leave, or just lazy around. This I noted was despite the fact that there were so many laws in place that guided the employees’ action at work.
Being confrontational inquires about this, I knew quite well that it would be on the least of my interest but I decided to ask anyway. The response was that there is a strong cultural difference between the Chinese culture and the Western culture especially at work place.
The structure of the management was hierarchical and well known such that it was very rear to find people with different ranks within the company communicating with each other. The chief executive officer of the company, could hardy just greet the employees. Everyone knew there place and getting a job or promotion depended more on knowing the people with the highest rank in the office.
What surprised me most was that nobody dared to confront this, at some point I even wondered if by any chance they could even see any fault in that system. I seemed to be the only one disturbed by what was happening despite the fact that I was not even an employee.
Now after learning about cultural differences I find it easy to understand that experience in China. Sometimes I just can’t help but do the comparison based on the eight factor scale model for analyzing a countries culture
