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Introduction to managing cultural diversity in the workplace
Case study about international business
Introduction to managing cultural diversity in the workplace
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Euro Disney is a one of the largest companies in Europe. It operates several business entities in the region among them the Disneyland Resort Paris. The site comprises of several components such as the discovery land, fantasyland, adventure land, frontier land and main street USA. The company also encompasses of a 27-hole golf course, Disney village, 68 restaurants, seven hotels, two convention centers and 52 boutiques. The company opened for operation in the late march 1992 for the employees. The presses were later formally invited to the company on April 11th 1992 and on April 12th 1992 for the visitors. The company enjoyed enormous profits but later incurred losses (St. James press, 2004).
Question 1: Using Hofstede’s cultural dimensions as a point of reference, what are some of the main cultural differences between the United States and France?
Since we are living in the global age, people from different cultures meet in the work place. For this reason, Hofstede developed an understanding of the workplace values globally. There are several dimensions of cultural diversity among them; building connection between people, structuring projects, motivating people, and developing strategy among others. These diversities arise due to the fact that what works in one location may or may not work somewhere else. The dimensions developed by Dr. Geert Hefstede are a globally recognized standard. He developed the standard from research from employees from different countries but working for the same organization (St. James press, 2004).
Using the Hefstede cultural dimension with reference to France and the United States, there are several cultural differences. This is in consideration to the Euro Disneyland Company. The dimension comp...
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The idealistic childhood memory every child thinks back to is their first trip to Disney World, “The Happiest Place on Earth, “according to Walt Disney. The ideal place where everything is magical and fairytales do exist. Disney World has become America’s most popular attraction since 1923. Whether it’s through one of Disney’s theme park, 227 radio stations, six motion studio pictures, three cruise lines, or its theatrical production companies, Disney Corporations culture monopoly has gone unnoticed by Americans. Americans are indulged by Disney’s childhood fantasies with the image every princess has a prince, and will live happily ever after in a magic kingdom. Although it all seems innocent Disney’s Corporation has America indulged with its theme parks, merchandise, films, and cruise lines.
The modern world has experienced tremendous changes, which have contributed to changes in people living in the global world. These changes have mainly been brought by globalization, which is a major phenomenon in the 21st Century. Leaders across various professions, businesses, and governments need to cope with globalization since it forces them to cross borders more often and communicate or conduct business with people from other cultures. This process involves developing necessary skills for working effectively in the modern complex world. Actually, the ability of these leaders to work effectively not only requires the development of essential skills but the application of leadership principles in the global work environment. In essence, leaders must develop their ability to apply leadership principles across culturally diverse workforce in today’s global work environment.
The Walt Disney plans to expand its presence in other countries too mainly the emerging market like China that offers great opportunity. Due to its highly advanced infrastructure and higher population, the Disney already made a biggest investment till date on a development and construction of Disneyland theme park in Shanghai, China. The success of Disneyland Hong Kong and the presence of 330 million people that resides within the 3 hour commute to Shanghai allows the Disney to invest $5.5 billion on this theme park. The Disney CEO states that the park will be open for the visitors in the early The company know its various revenue generating streams very well.
Based on his research, Hofstede prescribed five dimensions for understanding international differences and similarities of culture, taking into account many macro and micro-level factors affecting culture, like ”demographic, goegraphic, economic and political aspects of society (Kale and Barnes, 1992).” The five dimentstions described by Hofstede are: Individual-collectivism, Uncertainty avoidance, Power distance, Feminitiy-masculinity, and Long-term orientation.
France and America are both allies of one another, and both beautiful countries that most people want to visit and mark off their bucket list; from the Statue of Liberty, the Eiffel Tower, National Parks, and French cuisine, no wonder people want to visit, when comparing France and America, it seems as only a few select things are all they have in common; the two don’t have much alike and are vastly different. France is more individualistic while America is more influenced and pressured by society. The two also differ in fashion, food, romance, and more, but this all leads to the intriguing and differing experience it has for its people.
After Disney's golden step towards Japan, the first years in Europe weren't that good. A combination of factors contributed to a disastrous start Paris. The biggest factor contributing to the poor performance on the long run was the failing cultural adaptation. Disney build, promoted and communicated EuroDisney as a piece of marvelous America in Europe. Everything about the park was American and cultural differences between America and Europe were completely neglected. This resulted not only in negative experiences by customers itself, but also in a heavy load of criticism from the intellectual segment of France, which traditionally didn't have good relations with 'Americanism'.
Hofstede, G. (1980). Culture's Consequences: International Differences in Work-Related Values. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications.
Constant technological and global changes create challenges that forces leaders to manage different cultures in different countries. People, goods, services, and ideas are moving today at greater speeds which mean our labor force is becoming more diverse and multicultural by the day. Effective leaders need to understand such global dynamics in order to successfully manage organizational cultures. The cultures of leaders and their core assumptions might be different from the values and assumptions of employees in a different country. Two managers working for the same global company might see things differently due to their backgrounds and cultural values. The different countries, in which the organization operates, will have different cultures depending on the social, economic, and political history of the country. Managing and understanding these differences need an effective cross-cultural thinking leader (Yukl, 2013). Some research questions that Yukl, 2013 suggests are: 1) how behavior differs across cultural values and for different countries? 2) How values and behaviors are influenced by personality across company and country? 3) What types of traits, skills, and experience are most useful to prepare a leader being assigned to a new country? 4) How does the fast-changing culture in developing countries affect and relate to
For example, French people dine with wine at every meal; Disney outlawed alcohol at their park, a blatant disrespect of French culture. Disney had to build kennels for park goers pets, and relax their restrictions on personal grooming, such as red finger nail polish for women. Disney continued to design and build EuroDisney to their liking and profit hopes. For instance, Disney was told that Europeans did not eat breakfast so they designed their restaurants to reflect this belief; when the people started showing up for a bacon and eggs breakfast Disney was unprepared (Cateora & Graham, 2007).
Euro Disney’s major strength is its well-known and established tradition and brand name. Further, Euro Disney is a conglomerate company comprised of many businesses. The existence of their own television programme is in fact a strength, thus transformed into opportunity to advertise its products and parks. Indeed, its strengths or distinctive competences may have been turned into opportunities to experience a competitive advantage over its competitors. Obviously, Euro Disney did not used effectively its strength in the European market, thus has overlooked to transform its strengths into opportunities.
Although from an outside perspective many cases of globalisation may simply seem to increase cultural homogeneity, one culture can alter different parts of a global culture and incorporate them into their own and create cultural heterogeneity. In simpler terms, homogenisation and heterogenisation are both features of modern globalisation. Evidence for the contended statements above will be provided through the evaluation of case studies regarding global companies such as Starbucks and Disneyland Parks adapting to the local cultures of the areas to which they have spread to within the Asia-Pacific region. Not only global brands highlight the interconnectedness of homogenised and heterogenised cultures, but the glocalisation of traditional rites
Cultural Differences in Hofstede’s Six Dimensions According to Professor Geert Hofstede, dimensionalizing a culture requires a complex analysis of a multitude of categories including differing nations, regions, ethnic groups, religions, organizations, and genders. Hofstede defines culture as "the collective programming of the mind distinguishing the members of one group or category of people from another". Throughout his many years of contribution as a social scientist, he has conducted arguably the most comprehensive study of how values in the workplace are influenced by culture, leading to the establishment of the Six Dimensions of National Culture. From this research model, the dimensions of Power Distance, Individualism, Masculinity, Uncertainty Avoidance, Long Term Orientation, and Indulgence are defined according to their implication on individual countries, which when comparatively examined provide a broad understanding of cultural diversity as it relates to the workplace. Identification and Definition of the Six Dimensions In initially defining each of Hofstede's dimensions, a foundational understanding of the six categories is established, from which a greater understanding of different cultures can be built off of.
In the article, Cultural constraints in management theories, Geert Hofstede examines business management around the globe from a cultural perspective. He explains how he believes there are no universal practices when it comes to management and offers examples from the US, Germany, France, Japan, Holland, China and Russia. He demonstrates how business management theories and practices are very much subject to cultural norms and values and by understanding these differences, it can give managers an advantage in global business practices.
my family there for the first time when I was about three. To this day I still
According to Robbins, DeCenzo, and Coulter (2011) “motivation is the process by which a person’s efforts are energized, directed, and sustained toward attaining a goal” (p. 267). Organizations are always looking for new ways to motivate employees. In a global economy it is important to understand that cultural differences can impact how an organization can motivate its employees. Geert Hofstede (as cited in Sledge, Miles, & Coppage, 2008) believed there are five dimensions of culture. These five dimensions are power distance, individualism versus collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity versus femininity, and Confucian dynamism (p. 1670). This paper will discuss each dimension of culture and how they could effect employee motivation.