BUSINESS CULTURE REFLECTION
Introduction
International business is becoming more and more diverse and mobility is an essential characteristic of not only business organizations, but social environment, where individuals become more exposed to different cultures in their professional and personal lives. Globalization and technology ay significant role in building this diversity in all aspects of the businesses and companies recognize that in order to be successful in their operations, they should be able to differentiate and personalise their approach to doing business, based on the diversity of the regions and countries, where they establish themselves (Davies, 2006).
With the above in mind, academic and business literature present numerous studies and frameworks, which aim at making the diversity analysis and comparison of the countries in terms of their cultures and business specificity in more universal and standardized way. The purpose of this report is to reflect on the learning about the business culture in two very distinct societies: China and the UK and compare and contrast the business operations in these two countries (Schein, 2004).
Business Culture Overview
There is a variety of ways to look at the cultures, based on the universal criteria. One of the most common and widely used frameworks is the Hofstede's (2001) dimensions of national cultures. The author suggests that all the countries can be compared and contrasted on the basis of the following 6 criteria: power distance, individualism as opposed to collectivism, masculinity as opposed to femininity, the degree of uncertainty avoidance, long versus short-term orientation and indulgence. Based on these criteria, organizations can adjust and align their internal practices and set up external relationships strategies to ensure more effective and sustainable operation in each of the countries.
During the course of the learning process, it was possible to identify several major characteristics, which affect the way of doing business in the UK internally, with employees and shareholders, and externally, when it comes to suppliers, customers, and other external parties. One of the important elements of the analysis is the masculinity and femininity degree of the national culture and the power distance. It is possible to argue that English people are generally reserved and some specific behaviors, such as greeting kiss, questioning about personal life and some gestures, such as backslapping can be seen as the intrusion and receive the extremely negative response. Hofstede gives a rank of 35 to the UK when it comes to power distance, which indicates that the society believes that inequalities between people in social and business setting should be minimized. Reflecting back to the presentation, it justifies the argument about being careful with regards distinct entities and referrals, when dealing with the UK culture. The high score of masculinity is the UK culture (66) indicates that the social and business relationships are driven by competition and achievement. This means that the UK businesses tend to build on responsive and effective communication structure, such as email use, direct and straightforward communication and demonstrate a value of time and formalities in the business. The same characteristics of time consciousness, formality and punctuality explain the low tolerance to uncertainty, where the country is ranked 35. High-rank indulgence means that the UK culture is indulgent, where people tend to realize their desires and impulses in enjoying life and having fun.
When it comes to the process of negotiation, the profile of Hofstede framework explains the emotionless way of negotiating and the certain level of detachment observed in English people. While the culture has the low rank in power distance, the masculinity index builds on the understanding and respect of the business hierarchy. This can be seen through the important role, which English businessman give to the fact what level employee participates in negotiation (Hogan, 2012).
China Business Culture
China is the very traditional culture with defined and long-existing set of rules and unspoken traditions, where religion and ethical identity play a significant role in all spheres of life, including social, business and other areas. Based on Hofstede's framework, it is possible to draw on the specificity of the country's profile. First of all, China has very high rank in power distance, outlining the strong hierarchical culture and respect to authority among the individuals and groups in the country. This power distance attitude builds on the importance of greeting, introduction, and hierarchy in business relationships. Another important characteristic of the country is the collectivism, where China scores 20, outlining that teamwork and group are extremely important for Chinese people in business and social environments. Giving gifts and building a personal bond is a common practice in China business (Millington A. & Eberhardt , 2005). Masculinity rank of 66 indicates the high competitive profile of the culture with the focus on achievement and success. Chinese culture does not accept uncertainty and transparency and clarity are the keys to the business. Euphemistic communication style along with attention to such details as "face" and appointments for the meetings outline the critical element of doing business in China. Long-term orientation, ranked as high as 87, indicates that the culture is very open to new learning and innovation to prepare for the future. Such pragmatic approach to the business is one of the important specificities of the Chinese culture. A low ranking in indulgence characterizes the Chinese culture as restraint, where people tend to hide their desires and impulses with regards to having fun and enjoying life and stay more focused on the professional side of the business.
Negotiation process in China always involves personal and professional hierarchy and several rules and unspoken elements apply, which should be considered by all parties. Discussion and judgment are critical for the process and it is expected that individuals are able to manage own and superior's expectations as well as develop specific negotiation strategy. Taking into account the role of tradition in China's business environment the concept of team and patience are critical for the process of negotiation (Hendon et al, 1996).
Business Culture Comparison
The comparison of the two countries demonstrates that there are several major differences, while yet the countries have a number of similarities in conducting business. First of all, it is evident that both, China and the UK are very competitive cultures, where achievement and success play the critical role in reaching the desired goals. Both nations have relatively low uncertainty avoidance index, outlining the readiness of the business to plan short and medium term and work under the conditions when the outcome is not known. This makes the cooperation between the businesses from both environments easier, as such index demonstrates readiness to be patient and extend the process of negotiation further to achieve a mutually beneficial outcome. By accepting and focusing on such a mutual bargaining process, business from China and the UK can achieve good results in distributing negotiation technique (Thomson et al. 1996). Additional similarities, identified through reflection process include the critical role of time-keeping, punctuality and formal etiquette in both cultures. Moreover, it is notable that both, the UK and China have a number of unspoken taboos in business relationships, such as the use of phones during the meeting, the respect to the organizational hierarchy and other elements (Hromy and Skovajka, 2005).
Based on the above observations it is possible to argue that y understanding the specificity of the culture and building on similarities in the way of doing business, there is a great potential for development long-term and successful business partnerships between the organizations from the UK and China. Taking into account the synergies between the countries, such as the favorable public sector and legislation in the UK for all business segments and low tax and flexibility of the labor market and the large employment opportunities and low production costs in China, there are numerous benefits in building on cooperation between the countries on business arena.
Conclusion
Cross-cultural business practices are the reality of the modern environment and companies more and more realize the need to learn how to deal with cultural diversities in all spheres. China is one of the major international players in business and companies find a number of opportunities in this market. At the same time, it is evident that cultural identity and differences between the Western and Asian often create barriers to effective communication and distributive bargaining process. It is critically important that the organization, willing to build international supply chain and grow in emerging economies implement more coherent and multifaceted approach to diversity management. Understanding people, cultures and national specificity can benefit not only on the consumer market, but can help developing strong and sustainable Human Resource Management (HRM) policies, where internal skills and expertise are enhanced through diversity and individuality of people, working for these organizations.
References
Hofstede G. 2001. Culture Consequences. Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions and Organizations Across Nations. London: Sage Publications. Print
Hogan M. 2012. The Four Skills of Cultural Diversity Competence. 4th Edition.Belmont: Brooks Cengage Publishing. Print.
Thomson, L., Peterson E., and Brodt S. 1996. Team negotiation: An examination of integrative and distributive bargaining. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol 70(1). 66-78.
Davies A. 2006. Best Practice in Corporate Governance: Building Reputation and Sustainable Success.. 2nd Edn. London: Gower Publishing.
Schein E. 2004. Organizational Culture and Leadership. 3rd Edn. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishing.
Hendon R., Hendon R.A. & Herbig P. 1996. Cross-Cultural Business Negotiations. London: Quorum Books.
Home B. & Skovajka J. 2005. Contemporary East Asia Studies. The university of Economics in Bratislava. Faculty of International Relations. Available at http://fmv.euba.sk/files/Contemporary_East_Asia_studies.pdf#page=95 [Accessed 23 June 2016].
Millington A. & Eberhardt M. 2005. Gift Giving. Guanxi and Illicit Payments in Buyer-supplier Relationships in China: Analyzing the Experience of UK companies. Journal of Business Ethics. (2005)57. 255-268.
