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Cultural challenges of international business
Cultural challenges of international business
Cultural challenges of international business
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Culture and Its Six Dimensions In today’s globalized world, we are connected with each other than ever before, whether it be through social media, phones, or globalized businesses. Therefore in this globalized world, it has also become of vital importance for leaders to know the contrasts among cultures, to avoid future and current business blunders. Therefore, this paper will discuss the Hofstede’s six cultural dimensions and their relationship to leadership and the two dimensions that make the most effective leader. Hofstede’s Six Cultural Dimensions and their Relationship to Leadership
According to Professor Hofstede (2010), culture is the “collective programming of the mind distinguishing the members of one group or category or people
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These national six dimensions of culture can be immensely helpful in managing and leading in different cultures because they are values shared by majority on a national level and are relatively stable over time, with changes only over generations; meanwhile cultural dimensions at organizational level are practices that are relatively superficial and can be easily changed and learned (“Culture: What is Culture?,” n.d.). But, those national core cultural values stay with the people on a unconscious level, therefore, it could be deterimental to an …show more content…
collectivism) and Masculinity (vs. Feminity). I think these two dimensions effect how a leader and how employees in different countries behave most accurately. I think any leader that does business in a foreign country should be aware of where their host country is on the totem pole of these two dimensions. Because in individualistic cultures, as I stated above, people could be outspoken, and have strong opinions meanwhile in collective cultures, it is more shared objectives and it is more about achieving things as a team, rather than on individualistic basis. Furthermore, In collective cultures, the individuals tend to follow the cultural norms and are even criticized for going out of the norm at times, for example, work culture in east nations such as Japan, Korea, China etc. would be representative of collective culture; meanwhile, the western countries such US would be the representative of an individualistic culture. So for any leader going from one type of dimension to another has to be aware of where that particular country is in regards to this dimension to better understand and work with that country’s employees and organizations. Other dimension that would help one become an effective leader is the knowledge of Masculine cultures and feminine cultures; because in one, there is focus on achievements, material success and competitiveness and therefore in comparison to
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.
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
As a defining aspect of what it means to be human, culture is a central concept in anthropology, encompassing the range of phenomena that are transmitted through social learning in human societies. It is also used to denote the complex networks of practices and accumulated knowledge and ideas that are transmitted through social interaction and exist in specific human groups or cultures.
Culture can be defined as “A pattern of basic assumptions invented, discovered or developed by a given group as it learns to cope with its problems of external adaptation and internal integration that has worked well enough to be considered valid, and therefore to be taught to the new members as the correct way to perceive, think and feel in relation to those problems”. Schein (1988)
Simply speaking, a company’s structure and design can be viewed as its body, and its culture as its soul. Because industries and situations vary significantly, it would be difficult and risky to propose there is a “one size fits all” culture template that meets the needs of all organizations” (Nov 30, 2012). Those organizations who have shared beliefs and values and have organized methods on chain of command going to have positive outcomes. This will help shaping their employees views and performances. The growth and profit of the business relays on their employees and their performances. Culture is the core which will help and encourage all different level workers. If the core itself is weak, it will weaken the atmosphere of the business. Many companies announce that they have great culture but fail to implement to the lower level of workers. The basic issue is when organization has one set of culture and thinks one culture will meet the needs of all the workers. Each business is different and each individual is unique and have different beliefs and behaviors. The culture that is right for one individual might not work the same for the others. The ideal approach in this case would be, looking at the bigger picture of diverse working environment and give importance and respect to what are the ranges of business firms to achieve the perfect culture for organization. Sometimes one size fits all will not going to fit anybody, so the organization have to keep their ideas open and value everyone’s presence respecting all of their culture for the betterment and
Critics of Hofstede’s work argue that Hofstede’s study is flawed and outdated; for example, Hofstede’s analysis has a static and polarized vision of culture and is believed to be stable over time, whereas now with globalization, internationalization and convergence of cultures, cultures are rapidly changing (Fang 2009). Despite Hofstede’s work being nothing short of controversial, his work on culture, which Hofstede (1980, 1981) defines, as “the collective programming of the mind distinguishing the members of one group or category of people from others,” is still the most cited in the field of cross-cultural management in existence (Bond 2002). Furthermore, Hofstede’s groundbreaking research has successfully allowed for other cross-cultural scholars to comprehend and grasp the challenging concept of national cultural stereotypes in measurable and concrete terms (Fang
Strong leaders are those who take the time to learn about cultural differences between themselves, their staff and even their customers. For those looking to hone their skill set, reading Hofstede’s six dimensions of culture is an excellent place to start. The six dimensions present the similarities and dissimilarities in an easy to read format. Of course, simply reading the text will not make an expert. Two interesting countries on the index are Angola and Belgium. Angola is a South African country that was first colonized in 1575 by the Portuguese monarchy. Slowly, the monarchy crumbled and Angola began developing their hierarchy (Sajtova, 2011). Belgium was also ruled by other countries before the revolution that ended in 1839 (about Belgium,
It is said that people are the greatest assets to an organization and it is their beliefs, customs, perspectives, attitudes, and values that constitute to the culture that prevails in an organization. Culture, a very common word in today’s world, plays a very vital role in organizations and it not only affects an employee’s professional development but also their personal harmony. Culture gives a sense of belonging to people, a sense of who they are and how productive they are at their work place. It helps in interacting with each other at a work place.
The Hofstede model of national culture differences, based on research carried out in the early seventies, is the first major study to receive worldwide attention. This influential model of cultural traits identifies five dimensions of culture that help to explain how and why people from various cultures behave as they do. According to Hofstede (1997) culture is Ù[ collective programming of the mind? This referring to a set of assumptions, beliefs, values and practices that a group of people has condoned as a result of the history of their engagements with one another and their environment over time. In this study, culture refers to a set of core values and behavioural patterns people have due to socialisation to a certain culture. The author̼ theoretical framework will be applied to compare differing management practices in China and the West. The five measurements of culture identified by the author are:
Culture refers to the cumulative deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, religion, notions of time, roles, spatial relations, concepts of the universe, and material objects and possessions acquired by a group of people in the course of generations through individual and group striving. Culture is the systems of knowledge shared by a relatively large group of people…Culture in its broadest sense of cultivated behavior; a totality of a person’s learned, accumulated experience which is socially transmitted, or more briefly, behavior through social learning (http://www.tamu.edu/faculty/choudhury/culture.html).
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.
One East Asian country and North African country are compared using Hofstede’s six dimensions of cultures to find similar results in four of six behaviors but an extreme difference in how each society keeps a link with the past while maintaining the present and future. The cultural difference between South Korea and Morocco are most obvious in the dimension of Long Term Orientation, and each approach business in the most opposite way. Analyzing the comparison of these two countries gives a further look into their particular culture and the impact it has on business choices. Understanding how culture is an important aspect of an entity leads to successful business and leaders.
What is culture? Culture refers to the cumulative deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, religion, notions of time, roles, spatial relations, concepts of the universe, and material objects and possessions acquired by a group of people in the course of generations through individual and group striving
The term “culture” refers to the complex accumulation of knowledge, folklore, language, rules, rituals, habits, lifestyles, attitudes, beliefs, and customs that link and provide a general identity to a group of people. Cultures take a long time to develop. There are many things that establish identity give meaning to life, define what one becomes, and how one should behave.
Shaping a culture is a difficult task, because many of the valuable qualities a leader might have are never taught in a classroom. These qualities can be learned through out a life of experiences. Emotional development, genuineness, and a strong character are all essential qualities if leadership in a culture-driven company is to be effective. This analysis will discuss the relationship between a successful leader and the organization cultural change in today’s business.