Introduction
In the era of globalization, cross cultural management and internationally mobile workforce are important parts of any organization. Organizations cannot exist in isolation from the business environment influenced by its changes and demands. The role of a leader is to recognize these changes and cultural variations and respond effectively. Culture can provide the foundation or the background for many different kinds of understanding. The result is that culture belongs to a whole group, not to its individuals, and we cannot avoid it. It determines behavior, at the same time as it gives an anchoring point, an identity, a social place and a world view (Bartlett and Ghoshal 1999). Today, Asian countries attract many international companies which bring their unique cultural values and traditions to this world. The aim of the case study is to evaluate and analyze the role and importance of cross cultural management in relations between states, the government bodies and private companies.
Case Study Analysis
The case study, “China links with foreign firms”, is selected for analysis because it vividly portrays international cultural relations between companies and cultural perception of Chinese businesses. The case study shows that the central issue of organizational culture is its connection with leadership style and techniques used by Chinese leaders. The framework is based on the idea that members of a culture, American or Chinese, share common experiences and a heritage that establishes and reinforce common values, attitudes, and beliefs. Japan’s is the only collective culture among the world’s major, fully industrialized nations, a characteristic associated by some with economic backwardness. The case study takes into account this dimension creating unique corporate culture based on Japanese values and traditions. “Human rights activists believe such factors should prevent governments and companies from doing business with China” (Rozhnov 2009). Strong uncertainty avoidance can cause people to question whether a problem should be accepted as is rather than solved, in effect denying the need for a decision.
The cultural diversity has been defined as the miscellany of human societies or cultures in a precise region, or in the world as an entire. In view of the fact that, they have spread right through the world, effectively adapting to extensively contradictory environments and to interrupted disastrous changes in local and global atmosphere. This led to many separate societies that emerged around the globe differed noticeably from each other, and many of these differences persevere to this day. The cultural policies with consideration to multiculturalism introduce equivalent mapping with consideration to relations along with culture in diverse states and societies that progressively more access each other throughout cultural products and trade of cultural goods. The example of the festival, called Celebration China, portrays unique cultural relations supported by the state and government officials on the national level. “Its official aim is “to highlight to the world the growing business opportunities offered by China and the city of Qingdao via a multi-platform entertainment event” (Rozhnov, 2009). On the other side, the evaluation of cultural diversity “within” needs analysis of the national crack of associations among cultures, state public policies analysis and their distribution scope, diverse instruments that are being applied as well as the level of respect of basic standards agreed at international level (Bartlett and Ghoshal 1999). “If you want to do business overseas, understanding foreign culture, cultural and business relations, is very important,” said Mr Prescott” (Rozhnov 2009). The issue of cultural differences in multicultural communities is a really serious and crucial issue for many government officials. They are supposed to be tolerant and display positive attitudes towards all representatives of different communities in order not to cause violence and distrust (Rozhnov 2009). The goal of this paper is not only to contemplate what is being done to improve the situation within multicultural communities and their relations with the state but also to consider what government officials do in a wrong way, what their possible failures are. Furthermore, it is important to think over possible variants of fixing the problematic situations (Boehnke and Bontis 2003).
Cross-cultural relations are supposed to be accepted as a prescription and thus dealt with in a proper way. But what is more important, the changes in the attitude must occur from top to bottom (Deresky and Christopher 2008). The existing attitudes have to be studied and considered in order to find out the ways of dealing with them. Each bias and each prejudice has to be examined and inspected in order to find the way of dealing with it. The correct attitude is supposed to become a way of thinking in order to be effective and to influence the state officers’ behavior (Oden, 1997).
The case study shows that for entrepreneurs, the host culture may also define the social class and ethnic origins of employees joining the organization as well as clients and customers it serves. In addition, the host culture represents the character of the political climate of an organization, the degree to which it is friendly or hostile. Leadership sensitivity to the nuances of host culture assures the continued openness of the organization as part of a larger social system. Coming to know the identity of organizations evokes the personal meaning, experience, and perception of organizational life in the minds of individual members (Dowling et al 1999). Gaining access to members’ organizational experience helps us better understand individual and collective motives that govern their behavior and enables us to distinguish otherwise similar organizations from one another. This includes the network of repeated interpersonal strategies for coping with (defending against) interpersonal and organizational events that are stressful and perceived as threatening (Gesteland, 1999). Organizational identity may be found in the difficult to observe interactions within organizations. Discovering it involves finding out how people experience one another and observing how they handle themselves and others under stressful circumstances. It does not assume that people in organizations share the same organizational image. Nor does it assume a collective identity for organizational members. However, it does imply that organizational culture and strategies for managing internal and external affairs are the result of members’ individual personalities and experiences that shape organizational meanings and experiences (Bartlett and Ghoshal 1999). Study shows that culture is a framework for successful innovations and unique vision of reality typical for many entrepreneurs (Hofstede, 1996).
Conclusion
The case study vividly portrays that each nation has its own characteristics and features, which combine to contribute to the strength of the organization. The degree to which a business personality influences organizational culture is to some extent based upon the organizational structure and procedures. In multicultural environment, organizational identity defines who we all are in a group and who (or what) we can be as members of groups.
References
Bartlett, C. and Ghoshal, S. 1999. Managing Across Borders: The Transnational Solution. 2nd edition, London: Ramsden House.
Boehnke, K., Bontis, N. 2003. Transformational leadership: An examination of cross-national differences and similarities. Leadership & Organization Development Journal. 24 (1/2), p. 5.
Deresky, H. Christopher, E. 2008. International Management: Managing across Borders and Cultures (Pearson Education Australia).
Dowling, P. J., Welch, D. E. and Schuler, R.S. 1999. International Human Resource Management, 3d edn, South West Publishing.
Gesteland, R. 1999. Cross-Cultural Business and Behavior 2nd edn. Copenhagen Copenhagen Business School Press.
Hofstede, G. 1999. Cultures and Organizations, Software of the Mind: Intercultural Cooperation and its Importance for Survival. McGraw-Hill.
Oden, H. W. 1997. Managing Corporate Culture, Innovation, and Intrapreneurship. Quorum Books.
Rozhnov, K. 2009. China links with foreign firms. BBC News.