...case is about cultural management and organizational structure and control. It reveals the challenges faced by Western managers in telling Eastern managers the need to improve their performance. The Firm is a consulting firm with locations all over the world. It provides a range of business advisory services including taxation and accounting audits and recovery and management consulting. Mr. Alfonso Farquar was recruited by the Firm to conduct a review of the performance of some of the Firm’s Asian practices. After review of this case there are many problems related to cross-cultural management and organizational structure and control. Had the Firm researched these cultural differences Farquar could have approached the review with more knowledge and the project could have been supported. ANALYSIS: In reviewing this case numerous problems are revealed; cross-cultural management and organizational structure and control. Alfonso Farquar was recruited by Mr. David Mossman to travel to Taiwan and India to review their practices and find reasons for their slow market growth. He was advised to transfer a “best practice” approach to Business development to the Asian practices. After completing his evaluations of the Asian practices he was to report his findings to Mr. Honeysuckle. Although Farquar had never traveled overseas, never met any of these executives and was excited about the opportunity, he failed to understand the cross-cultural differences between both countries...
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...Cross Cultural Management of Japan & United States One concern of the merger between these two companies involves group interaction and sense of space. People in the United States take great pride in themselves on individualism and informality. The Japanese culture values groups and formality. People in the United States admire a person who excels above everyone else. If this merger takes place and it makes the price of stock to rise, the American company might want to buy more stock and the Japanese might not agree with this and be more cautious which could result in a cross-culture conflict. Cultural differences and cross culture conflicts is the biggest challenge in terms of cross-cultural management that will arise in the merger of these two companies (Chen, 2013). Due to differences in culture in terms of beliefs, priorities and lifestyles, management of cross culture operations will be difficult for both companies. It is because cultural differences affect the human thinking, feeling, acting and behavior that can result in cross culture conflicts within the organization (Adekola and Sergi, 2012). For example, in terms of language, religion, value, and attitudes, there are several cultural differences in both countries: U.S. and Japan, which can affect decisions and choices of employees or people from these countries and can cause to cross culture conflicts (Yoder, 2011). The women who are employed at Tokyo Electron worry that their jobs might be eliminated...
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...Diversity management Student’s name Lecturer’s name Institution Date Introduction One of the greatest tasks individuals face is communicating across differences resulting from different cultural diversity. There is always fear that exists that what an individual will intend to say will be understood in a way that they never meant it to be due to cultural differences in a team (Chauvet 2009, p. 221). My research team was composed of seven members that were four local students and three Chinese. Through the group activity, I have personally gained a lot from working with my research team on diversity management. The paper analyzes my self-awareness on cross-cultural issues and provides an insight into our chosen research topic ‘benefits and challenges of a cross-cultural team’. The paper further analyzes the implications of diversity management in an organization as a manager. My self-awareness on cross-cultural issues From the group activity, I was able to learn that cultural awareness is the base of communication and it entails the ability of individuals to stand back and become aware of their cultural values, beliefs, perceptions and differences. It is essential for individuals to understand the reason why they do things differently, why they react differently in a particular ways and perceive the world in different ways. Cross-cultural awareness is central when individuals interact with people from different cultures as individuals will evaluate and interpret...
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...Chapter 7 Cultural Diversity in Cross-Border Alliances Susan E . Jackson Randall S . Schuler Introduction Increasingly, firms are using cross-border alliances to strengthen and maintain their position in the market place . Although often seen as a relatively fast and efficient way to expand into new markets and incorporate new technologies, the success of cross-border alliances is by no means assured . To the contrary, such alliances often fall short of their stated goals and objectives . While some failures can be explained by financial and market factors, the failure of others can be traced to neglected human resource issues and activities associated with managing the cultural diversity present in these organizations . This chapter describes the special challenges that cultural diversity creates for effectively managing human resources within cross-border alliances . Drawing upon the extensive literature regarding the management of domestic alliances and domestic diversity, we offer suggestions for how human resource management practices might be used to improve the success of cross-border alliances . Regardless of industry, it appears that it has become all but impossible in our global environment for firms to successfully compete without growing and expanding through deals that result in cross-border alliances (CBAs) (Lucenko, 2000) . In some industries, e .g., insurance, cross-border alliances provide a means for moving into new markets . In other...
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...Managing cross cultural communication Introduction Globalization is a phenomenon that is in vogue nowadays. In this rapidly changing world to succeed it’s imperative for an organization to adopt the phenomenon of globalization. On one hand globalization cultivates scores of benefits for the organization. On the other hand, it also generates various dilemmas for management. One of these dilemmas is of effective communication management. This phenomenon of globalization presents challenges of understanding and managing cross-cultural communications. According to Stephen Roberts: “Culture is the framework in which we communicate” This suggests that various factors give rise to the problem of cross-cultural communication. These factors include: language, environment, technology, social organization, the perception of authority and non-verbal communications. Having the ability to assess these variables is vital in ensuring for managers to convey messages and conduct business across a wide range of cultures. This paper addresses communication within multicultural project teams and the significance of leadership style in managing cross-cultural communications. The aim of this paper is to reveal different ways or skills that managers need to adopt to make the process of communication effective. Furthermore, this paper sheds lights on variegated barriers that may exist in effective communication process in a cross-culture environment. Literature review Zapf...
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...A STUDY ON BARRIERS OF CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION IN ELECTRONICBASED COMPANIES 1 Bibi Noraini Bt Mohd Yusuf, 2Zurina Bt Zulkifli, 3Intan Maizura Bt Abd Rashid, 4Syahida Bt Kamil, 1,2,3,4 School of Business Innovation and Technopreneurship Universiti Malaysia Perlis 1 bibinoraini@unimap.edu.my, 2Zurina@yahoo.com, 3Intan Maizura@unimap.edu.my, 4syahida@unimap.edu.my, Abstract Rapid growths in economic development and trade globalization have necessitate the number of firms to expand and extend their businesses abroad. A sizeable number of firms have been opening new plants in other countries or hiring their employees from overseas, creating a diversity of workforce. A diversified workforce will create cross-cultural differences leading to cross-cultural communication. This research aims to analyze the barriers of cross-cultural communication in electronic-based companies. The subjects for this study, comprising company operators and middle to top management were randomly selected from electronic-based companies domiciled in Northern Peninsular Malaysia. This study adopted a quantitative approach method, where questionnaires were distributed among 200 employees. Analysis of data compiled was carried out using the SPSS version 20.0 mode. Through an in-depth analysis and application of this study, there is a bigger impact of multinational firm communication in the cross-cultural communication. In addition, the dimensions of national cultures, high and low context...
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...2012 International Conference on Technology and Management Lecture Notes in Information Technology, Vol.21 The Cross-Cultural Management of Chinese Enterprises’ Cross-Border M&A--- A Process-Based Perspective Bo Xu1, Xi Jiang2, Haiyan Yan3 1 1900, Wenxiang Road, Songjiang District, 201620 Shanghai, China brianxubo@163.com 1900, Wenxiang Road, Songjiang District, 201620 Shanghai, China jiangxi-219@163.com 1900, Wenxiang Road, Songjiang District, 201620 Shanghai, China yanhelen@163.com 2 3 Keywords: cross-border M&A; cross-cultural management; M&A process Abstract. This paper aims to investigate Chinese enterprises’ cross-culture management issues from the perspective of three stages of before, during and after the cross-border merger and acquisition. It proposed an analytical framework of cross-culture management under which the major focus was on the cultural distance measure, the choices of negotiation/information disclosure, integration mode selecting, culture conflict/ integration and culture innovation in the process of Chinese enterprises’ cross-border M&A. 1. Introduction According to the “China's Foreign Direct Investment Statistical Bulletin 2010”, China's foreign direct investment, the amount of direct investment, in the form of M&A, reached $29.7 billion in the fields of mining, manufacturing, electricity production/supply, professional technical services and financial sector in 2010. From the report of Chinese enterprises overseas mergers and acquisitions...
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...Management of Cross Cultural Teams- Problems and Effective Management of Cross- Cultural Teams VAIBHAV MISRA Management Consultant and Ex- Lecturer Bora Institute of Management Sciences Lucknow INDIA vaibhav.misra@aol.in ABSTRACT As the world economy is globalized the companies are expanding their businesses in international markets for business profitability. The teams are recruited by these companies in the international market for the business tasks to be performed. These teams belong to different cultural background and have different values. The author will discuss about the problems faced by these cross- cultural teams. The author had also focused on the strategies to cope up with these problems of cross- cultural teams. The author will act as researcher and will use exploratory research design, i.e. the study will be based on secondary data taken from magazines, journals, internet and reports. These tools will help author to conclude the objectives of the study. The author found that there are problems among the cross-cultural teams regarding their cultural background. The different ways are also suggested to cope up with the problems faced by crosscultural teams. The author had also focused on how to create effective management of multicultural teams. RESEARCH VALUE The research may be valuable for the companies who are looking for expanding the business and also for those companies who are facing the cross- cultural team issue. workplace leads to heightened tensions...
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...vice versa. There is not just distribution of goods but also doing business with people around the world. Enterprises enter foreign markets in order to expand the market or look for resources or reduce cost etc. However, Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) not only need to know the political, legal and regulatory environment in host country but also the culture difference which is very important to lessen the cultural problems and know how to solve it wisely. Companies may be abandoned by customers or spend a lot of money to recover their reputation if MNEs’ managers do not understand the cultures of the countries they deal with. The influence of international trade liberalization has presented not only substantial opportunities but also some challenges for domestic and international companies (Watchravesringkan 2011). The aim of this essay is to discuss the importance of culture difference to MNEs. In this essay, culture and society will be discussed in the first part. The following part is about the importance of cultural difference to international managers. Finally, it will discuss the methods to understand cultural difference. Dowling & Liesch (2009) state that culture is a system of values and norms those is shared among a group of human beings and form a pattern for living when brought together. Culture is gained knowledge that human beings use to explain experience and develop social behaviour and this knowledge forms values, generates attitudes, and affects behaviour (Luthans...
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...Journal of Comparative International Management 2009, Vol. 12, no.2, 73-89 ©2009 Management futures Printed in canada Cross-cultural Communication and Multicultural Team Performance: A German and American Comparison by Steven W. Congden University of Hartford, U.S.A. Alexei V. Matveev College of Staten Island – CUNY, U.S.A David E. Desplaces College of Charleston, U.S.A. This study builds on work by Matveev & Nelson (2004) which investigated the relationship between cross-cultural communication competence and multicultural team performance using American and Russian managers. This study examines the impact of national culture on German and American subjects. While a relationship between cross-cultural communication competence and multicultural team performance was found, it did not differ by overall national culture. Of the four dimensions of cross-cultural communication competence, only Cultural Empathy was found to be significantly different between Germans and Americans. No differences were found for the dimensions of Interpersonal Skills, Team Effectiveness, and Cultural Uncertainty. 1. Introduction Worldwide intercultural cooperation drives corporate growth and development across the globe resulting in a heightened demand for a qualified but diverse workforce. researchers have documented that the successful performance of multicultural teams is a vital and contributing factor to organizational success (Jackson, may, & Whitney, 1995; Snow, Snell, davison, & hambrick...
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...assignment, a conscience effort has been made to understand the concepts of “Cross Cultural Management” (CCM). Before we get into the dept, it is important for us to understand “Culture” in broad terms. The expression “culture” can be defined as the inherited values, concepts, and ways of living which are shared by people of the same social group. To simplify further, culture is divided into two kinds; the first is “generic culture” which is essentially a shared culture of all humans living on this planet. The second is “local culture” which refers to symbols and schemas shared by a particular social group. The local culture can also be understood from the simple that every country has a diverse and different culture which may be similar, but it certainly cannot be the same. Culture is different in many forms and contents that include factors that we can see like language, behavior, dressing and food; and others that we cannot see like beliefs and values. With the advent of Globalization, the world is now a global village and the technological achievements of this modern time have brought people closer together than ever. This also means that people from different parts of the world and with different cultural backgrounds are working and communicating together. While this is not only interesting, but dealing with people from different cultures requires conscience efforts in knowing the cultural diversities. This can be further be explained with examples like the way we deal...
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...EUROPEAN COMMISSION Anne-Katrin Neyer Anne-Wil Harzing Version May 2008 Accepted for European Management Journal Copyright © 2007-2008 Anne-Katrin Neyer and Anne-Wil Harzing. All rights reserved. Prof. Anne-Wil Harzing Email: anne-wil@harzing.com University of Melbourne Web: www.harzing.com Department of Management & Marketing Faculty of Economics & Commerce Parkville Campus Melbourne, VIC 3010 Australia AN EXAMINATION OF THE IMPACT OF CULTURE ON INTERACTIONS: SIX LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION Anne-Katrin Neyer1) Anne-Wil Harzing 2) 1) University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Department of Information Systems I, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Lange Gasse 20, 90403- Nuremberg, Germany, Anne-Katrin.Neyer@wiso.uni-erlangen.de 2) University of Melbourne, Department of Management and Marketing, Faculty of Economics and Commerce, Parkville Campus, Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia, harzing@unimelb.edu.au Acknowledgements This study was supported by funds from the 'Jubiläumsfondsprojekt Nr. 11618 of the Oesterreichischen Nationalbank'. We thank Professor Gerhard Fink and Dr. Markus Pudelko for their helpful comments on earlier versions of this paper. Abstract Using data collected from 25 interviews with Austrian employees in the European Commission, we explore the conditions under which cultural differences do and do not influence interactions. Previous experience with culturally-determined behaviour and ...
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...Topic Review: General Management Effective cross-cultural management has to be grounded in a detailed knowledge of individual cultures. Discuss using examples from two multinational companies. I/ Introduction: In times of rapid globalisation and economic development growth, the environment of business has become more and more complicated as a huge number of firms want to globally expand their businesses. Subsequently, the managerial implications of cross-cultural management is the challenge of this development. As Abbe (2007) states, cross-cultural leadership has developed as a way to understand leaders who work in the global markets. Culture is the “software of mind” that can influence people’s patterns of thinking and behaving. (Hofstede, 1997). Referring to a work of He and Liu (2010), different characteristics of culture result in thinking, understanding and communication diversity. These diversities more or less make organisational development and management difficult. Therefore, multicultural managers should create cross-cultural training in their companies in order to increase effectiveness across culture. This essay will be discussing whether effective cross-cultural management has to be grounded in a detailed knowledge of individual cultures with examples of two multinational companies: Wal-Mart and Alfa Laval. II/ The Debate on Cross-Cultural Management: Globalisation has increased the awareness of consumers, and made nations more inter-dependent. In...
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...Cross-Cultural Human Resource Management BUS 357 February 20, 2012 Cross-Cultural Human Resource Management Today’s business world continues to evolve to worldly new levels due to the global market. Before globalization began taking place, business was primarily localized or regionalized within villages, townships and kingdoms. The initial changes of transportation’s or shipping’s delivery methods from the beginning of time by just human delivery to the transportation or shipping of goods and people by methods using horses, donkeys, camels, elephants and other animals began to change access to goods and services from more distant areas, lands and cultures. The innovative minds of humanity began the progression of new transportation, travel, shipping and delivery methods with the inventions of wagons, boats, trains and airplanes. These inventions changed the access to goods and peoples from every point on the globe, resulting in numerous progressions and changes to travel, business and industry around the world. Other new technologies of the telegraph, phone, radio, televisions, satellites and the computer have all changed the communication techniques and access to people and information all over the globe. Where it once took possibly hours, days, weeks and even months for communications or information to flow from different locations, the world is able to communicate or access information in seconds today. Different cultures began the progression from receiving...
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...THE EFFECTIVENESS OF CROSS-CULTURAL TRAINING FOR EXECUTIVES IN OIL & GAS COMPANIES WITHIN THE KLANG VALLEY A Master’s Project submitted in partial fulfilment Of the requirements for the degree of Master of Human Resource Management The Effectiveness of Cross-Cultural Training for Executives in Oil & Gas Companies within the Klang Valley ABSTRACT Cross-cultural interactions are rapidly increasing. Globalisation and cultural diverse communities are lending themselves to daily intercultural exchanges. With greater diversity, we require greater open-mindedness, tolerance and sensitivity. Those in direct contact with culturally different members are in greater need of such skills, and often require training to become more cross-culturally sensitive. Cross-cultural training program for individual going abroad, address such issues and prepare participants to work and live overseas. Cultural conflicts affect the efficiency of the employees’ performance at workplaces and it is believed that employees from different cultural backgrounds will have to improve their communication skills. An intercultural training programme is needed in order to prepare multicultural employees for surprises that could arise in complex cultural situations without being frustrated, stressed, and puzzled. TABLE OF CONTENTS TITLE PAGE PAGE ABSTRACT ii ABSTRAK ...
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