Culture and Cross-Cultural Management

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nIntroduction

nCulture entails the values, beliefs, attitudes and notions held by a group of people. It is transmitted from generation to generation. Culture is important in the discipline of international human resource management because the managers must understand the culture of the diverse people. Cross-culture, on the other hand, refers to the initiative of the organization to diversify its understanding of different groupings of people to strengthen on their interaction, expand its scope, and reach (Marchnington and Grugulis 2013). Cross culture inside the scopes of an organization incorporates the various divides of culture represented by the diverse number of employees it is holding. It is very critical to the success of the organization and the free interactions amongst the different employees who do not share a culture. In the chapter and the power point slides, the paper will analyze the three concepts on culture. These include power distance, uncertainty avoidance, and assertiveness. These concepts are related to the positivist view of culture (Hannan 2014).

n Power distance includes the involvement of the employees of an organization in the hierarchical structure; uncertainty avoidance entails the tolerance for breaking regulations, reliance on informal rather than the formal norms in the organization, and the procedures for establishing legal procedures and communication in writing (Fallon and O’keefe 2012). Assertiveness and culture entail assigning of challenging targets, the performance on competition, and solidarity and stress equality in the organization. In the international journal of human resource management, power distance has been over an extended period perceived as a highly negative aspect and a hindrance for organizational development, empowerment of the human resource personnel and general participation in various activities. In the article, the author aims at establishing the compatibility of the different organizations and companies with established power distance cultural situations. The article contained in the journal titled “Consequences of Power Distance in Organizations makes an attempt to explain whether in collectivist cultures can realize low power distance. It also tries to identify whether high power distance is functional and desirable (Derery and Shaw 2011). The methodology used by the journal in explaining the cultural phenomenon is descriptive and physical visit to the different organization’s settings.

n The findings in the journal are that power distance has great behavioral implications towards the different aspects of the organization (Marchnington and Grugulis 2013). It is evident that the employees in a company where high power distance exists are not ready and not willing to take part in the decision-making process and are completely content with receiving orders from the top-ranking managers. The employees in such organizations are left with little discretion as the jobs are narrowly specified. In such organizations, there is a significant deficit in communication and passing of information. The communication between the subordinates and the superiors is highly constrained as is evident in the article (Allain 2011). The employees have a significant tendency of recklessness and lack of inquiring on important issues as they are left only to be submissive to the bosses. In the organizational setting, the older employees get much respect from the junior employees not because they are more experienced but because they have served for a long period in the organization. The article emphasizes that the decisions in high power distance are made fast and implemented quickly due to the tendency to avoid consultation from the subordinates. It is also very clear from the article that in high power distance, the top management managers are highly prone to unethical behavior because they do not have to justify themselves (Kersiene and Al-Lamaki 2013). The article identifies that the employees compete to reach the high-rank management position and exercise the undisputed freedom.

n Uncertainty avoidance in the cross-cultural context is the employees ability to cope with instances of anxiety. Mostly this is done by minimizing uncertainty. Sclmago (2015) explores the scopes of the concept in the organizational setup. It explicitly acknowledges the existence of two types of uncertainty avoidance. It has high and low uncertainty avoidance. The primary objective of the article was to find out the effects of uncertainty avoidance on the performance of the employees in the organization (Sclmago 2015). The study used an approach of collecting multi-source data from the different employees and supervisors. The study found out that in unstructured organizations where the chances of unknown situations happening, the employees have difficult time trying to overcome uncertainty. The article clearly identifies that employees like planning most of their time and activities find it hard to cope in an organization with a dimension of low uncertainty avoidance. It also notes that there exists great difficulty in overcoming uncertainty by employees who work in an organization that has an extended power distance context. Entirely, this was because very little is communicated to the employees hence finding it hard to overcome anxiety (Ferera 2011). The article, however, indicates that the ability of the employees in an organization to get along with anxiety and uncertainty depends heavily on the human resource managers and the entities strategy setters.

n Assertiveness about the human resource discipline means the ability of employees in the work environment to deal with the effects of being aggressive. Human resource managers should be assertive too and avoid aggressiveness (Galloni 2012). The managers should not give many directions to the employees but rather incorporate themselves into the system and be part of the workers. In the Journal of International resource management, there is an article titled “How to be Assertive and not aggressive”. The article uses the opinion of multi-sourced employees to investigate and come out with the findings. The article indicated that assertive employees are goo problem solvers. The employees can participate actively in their interactions with the customers and find it easy in communicating their opinions. It explains the reason as to why the assertive employees are given the priority by most managers (Hainmueller 2013). Assertive employees can communicate effectively; this is because they hold no bias or negativity towards any person and are free to express their views on different organizational issues. The article found out that assertive employees give the organization more output than the aggressive ones; this is because they spend most of the valuable time on activities that benefit the entity rather than rumors and non-value adding things (Gunnigle and Lavelle 2013).

n The article is clear on the better customer service is given to clients by the assertive employees. This is mainly because they realize that the general welfare and state of the organization at large depends on their output and positivity in their input. Instances of tension at the workplace are highly reduced by the assertive employees (Hamel 2015). This is because they are more problem solving oriented compared to the opposite who would persist in making more trouble. Confidence, which is an important attribute, is one that is held by the assertive employees. At any moment, they are sure of what they are supposed to do and the expectations placed on them. The article is very clear that the assertive employees are honest and hold high integrity, experience less stress, hold positive organization oriented discussions and are mindful of the plight of their workmates. This article is much expansive and explanatory on the nature of assertive employees and their input in organizations.

n The three articles describing and analyzing the cultural and the cross-cultural concepts have more similarities than differences (Cranet 2011). The similarities come out clear in that the three aim at providing solutions to the vast human resource discipline on the nature of the different aspects of culture. The approach used by the articles in arriving at the desired results and findings are close and shared. They all use multi-sourced data from employees and supervisors. The data is then analyzed to come to the findings outlined. The most common feature is that they all criticize the subject thereby achieving more solid conclusions. In the three articles, it is very clear that interpersonal and intercultural relationships highly influence the quality and the quantity of output at the workplace. They indicate that different aspects of culture should not be taken for granted. The human resource managers should be keen enough to identify any of the three and other hindrances that may be there to alter the success and development of the human resource (Vian and McCoy 2015). Another similarity is that when employees step into a new culture, the environment changes and they have to cope with new ways of doing different things. Human resource managers are in charge of ensuring that there is a good culture transition program established. Through this doing, adapting to the new changes and picking up towards organizational success becomes easier (Anon 2014).

n There are slight differences in the articles on the different aspects and how they are handled. It is clear that there exists a significant difference between power distance, uncertainty avoidance as well as assertiveness. In as much as they are all cultural aspects, they relate in different ways. The assertiveness of the employees and ability to overcome anxiety leads to organizational growth and development. On the other hand, the more the power distances in the organizational structure, the more the lift between the employees and the top managers and the lower the output per head (Turba 2011). This is because minimal communication takes place; regarding boosting the morale or communicating on crucial organizational matters. The three articles use different audiences or respondents. Regarding the number and the type of tasks done by the various supervisors and employees, there existed a vast shift. In as much as the articles re similar or not similar in approach content and medium of delivery, the subject matter is important to an organization. The cultural aspects are of great importance because they determine the nature of relations between employees and superiors and between the employees and customers (Caligiuri 2012). A well-managed cultural environment translates positively in the general wellbeing of an entity. It is clear that more cultural concepts are important too and determine the plight of the entity. These include collectivism, masculinity and feminism and indulgence versus restraint aspect (Cardarilli and Shabana 2011).

nConclusion

n Organizational development and success is a multi-disciplinary aspect. Various aspects must be combined and considered as the prime movers. One of these is culture and the intercultural dimensions. The interplay between culture and other aspects contribute to the general wellness. In this assignment, the paper has analyzed three of such aspects. The analysis have been able to identify, relate them to existing literature and compare them to the current organizational scope. The paper has also dug deep into the scholarly articles containing these cultural concepts. The researcher noted that an organization can be considered to be operating by its mandate in it can internalize culture and the stakeholders. The stakeholders include the employees, customers, suppliers, business partners and financial institutions. Based on these ideas there is a significant difference between the human resource managers working as bosses as compared to those who incorporate themselves with the employees in the grassroots. From the analysis, it is clear that the managers who consult the employees on different aspects for example when formulating strategies are able to achieve organizational goal with much ease. Such kind of managers also helps the employees in dealing with uncertainty and in being positive in their activities. Finally, it is evident that the employees of an organization hold diverse characteristics in regards to culture. It is, therefore, the responsibility of the human resource managers to ensure that they devise ways of incorporating all of these cultures. As professionals in the field of management, managers should ensure that there is adequate cross-cultural management and control.

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nReferences

nAllain, 2011. Human capital and organizational performance. Journal of culture management, 13(2), pp. 13-23.

nAnon, 2014. Human resource management and the institutional perspective, s.l. Brookes.

nCaligiuri, 2012. Developing global leaders. Journal of human resource planning, 24(3), pp. 27-35.

nCardarilli and Shabana, 2011. The business case for corporate social responsibility. International journal of management, 12(1), pp. 85-105.

nCranet, 2011. Comparative human resource management. Internatioinal executive review, 3(2), pp. 23-28.

nFallon and O’keefe, 2012. Consideration of culture. Journal of positive behavior interventions, pp. 209-219.

nFerera 2011. The boundaries of welfare. Journal of social protection, 6(2), pp. 23-45.

nGalloni 2012. The Nona Street. Wall Street Journal, 5(2), pp. 23-28.

nGunnigle and Lavelle, 2013. Weathering the Storm. Journal of Human Resource Management, 34(4), pp. 214-231.

nHainmueller, 2013. International labour management. Journal of human resource diversity, 5(3), pp. 23-37.

nHamel, 2015. International Business times. International Journal of manpower, 5(3), pp. 24-45.

nHannan, 2014. Culture and performance. Journal of change management, 3(2), pp. 12-16.

n Derery and Shaw, 2011. The strategic management of people in workplaces. Research in Personnel and Human Resources, 4(3), pp. 23-29.

n Kersiene, and Al-Lamaki, 2013. The formation and management of organizational competence based on a cross-cultural perspective. Journal of international human resource management and culture, 5(3), pp. 56-66.

nMarchnington and Grugulis, 2013. Perfect opportunity or dangerous illusion? International Journal of human resource management, 11(4), pp. 905-925.

nSclmago, 2015. Cross-cultural management. International Journal of cross-cultural management, 5(3), pp. 34-37.

nTurbo and 2011. Culture and Organizational performance. Journal of cultural diversity, 40(3), pp. 658-672.

nVian and McCoy, 2015. Human resource planning. Journal of effective cross-cultural management, 30(1), pp. 30-35.