Экономические науки / 16.
Макроэкономика
Jatuporn Thongaim1
Irina V. Onyusheva1
1Graduate School, Faculty of Business and Technology,
Stamford International University, Thailand, Bangkok
Current Issues of Cross-Cultural Management in International Business
Field
Key Words: Globalization, international business management,
cross-cultural differences.
Theoretical Background. Culture is a set of shared values,
understandings, assumptions and goals that are learned from earlier
generations, imposed by present members of a society and passed on to
succeeding generations.
Societal culture
defines the norms, expectations, and shared values of a society or a group of
people living in a particular place governing them.
Organizational culture
refers to norms, shared values and expectations that determine the governing of
a certain organization. It actually describes the
manner in which people interacts as well as approach the work. Organizational culture is a dynamic system of shared values, beliefs,
philosophies, experiences, habits, expectations, norms, and behaviors that give
an organization its distinctive character. The culture helps guide the activities of the company, helps provide an
unwritten code of behavior, and helps provide a shared sense of identity.
It
is presumed that the culture contributes to the effectiveness of the
organization. If it does not, it may
signal the need for change. Influences for change can
be either internal or external to the organization. Some typical internal sources may be a change in managers, employees or
technology. Some external sources may be
political, technological or economic.
The Relationship between the organizational Culture
and Societal Culture. For any given organization to run well, there organizational culture, societal
culture and the leadership style must be in harmony. There are seven leadership styles used that can be used in the running
of an organization and each of them depends on the organizational culture and
the societal culture of where the organization is set.
To
understand the impact of organizational culture on organizational behavior (individual and collective) means to understand how
knowledge (formal/informal), which is a result of the interaction (formal
and informal, past and present) among staff members and
between staff members and their external environment, influences individuals’ behavior, effectiveness and efficiency at work.
Cross-cultural management is the process of developing strategies, designing and operating
systems and working with the people around the world to ensure sustained
competitive advantage.
Cross-cultural management explains the behavior of people in organizations
around the world and shows people how to work in organizations with employees
and client populations from many different cultures. (Adler, 2008)
Cross-cultural management has mainly deals with concepts such as values,
attitudes, assumptions, behavior and organizational outcomes such as motivation. The importance of cross-cultural management lies
in the on-growing co-operation
between companies in different countries where difficulties may arise because
of the different cultural backgrounds. Therefore,
the culture is about something that human beings learn and as a result,
learning requires communication which is a way of coding and decoding language
that similarly with symbols.
Importance of Culture in
Global Business. In
a global environment, the ability to communicate effectively can be a challenge. Even when
both parties speak the same language there can still be misunderstandings due
to ethic and cultural differences. Understanding the impact of globalization on
cross-culture
communication is imperative for organizations seeking to create a competitive
advantage in the global market. As society becomes more globally connected the
ability to communicate across cultural boundaries has gained increasing
prominence. Global
businesses must understand how to communicate with employees and customers from
different cultures in order to fulfill the organization’s mission and
build value for stakeholders. The use of technology has had a profound impact
on how businesses communicate globally and market their products and services.
A new idea
gaining momentum among global business leaders is looking at constraints as
opportunities, capitalize on them. Achieving
this is just three steps away; think global, think cultural and be a global and cultural thinker at
the same time.
Globally expanding businesses require a wide range of expertise and
knowledge that operates under a variety of managers coming from different
cultures. These
brains come up with strategies and policies that can find applications
acceptable “glocally” (globally and
locally). In
order to benefit from the ideas of global thinking and cultural understanding,
firms need to develop three types of assets: intellectual,
social, psychological.
Summary of
Key Research Findings: A Framework for Understanding. It is not
feasible to be an expert on all the world’s cultures. It is
possible, however, to incorporate a cross-cultural
framework that improves cross-cultural understanding and interactions. Framework for
understanding using the following six “comprehension lenses” to examine
enterprise-wide
cross cultural challenges such as cultural themes, communication, group
dynamics, glocalization, process engineering, and
time orientation.
Cultural Theme. In society,
Culture theme has a substantial impact on how the culture does the business. Thailand’s culture is
strongly group-oriented. Asserting
individual preferences may be seen as less important than having a sense of
belonging to a group, conforming to its norms, and maintaining harmony among
its members. Building
lasting and trusting personal relationships is therefore very important to most
Thai people, who often expect to establish strong bonds prior to closing any
deals. Thai
people prefer to do business with those they know and respect. Consequently,
proceed with serious business discussions only after your counterparts have
become somewhat comfortable with you.
Communication. Communication is vital for businesses to effectively explain how their
products and services differ from their competitors. Companies that are successfully able to communicate cross culturally
have a competitive advantage because they can devote more time and resources to
conducting business and less time on internal and external communication issues. Communication is necessary for individuals to express themselves and to
fulfill basic needs. The same holds true for businesses,
governments, and countries. Without the ability to
communicate and understand each other, there would be chaos. Communication that is based on cultural understanding is more apt to
prevent misunderstandings caused by personal biases and prejudices. Communication is the life-blood of organizations
and must be allowed to flow throughout the entire organization. However, when information flows are random and there is no apparent
directive of how to apply the outside knowledge the organization will not
benefit.
Group Dynamics. This
is involved the understanding of how the individuals from certain cultures
interact in the groups. The group dynamics is significantly to impacts in
the large scale process.
Glocalization.The term of ‘glocalization’
is a combination of the words "globalization" and "localization" is
the adaptation of international products around the particularities of a
local culture in
which they are sold. The process allows integration of local markets into
world markets.
It used to
describe a product or service that is developed and distributed globally, but
is also fashioned to accommodate the user or consumer in a local market.
Although
there are many challenges to globalization when done right it has many
benefits, allowing companies to reach a larger target market is just one of
them. Society
also benefits when globalization occurs as an increase in market competition
generally pushes the price of products down which means the consumers benefit
by gaining a lower price point. This decreases the inequality gap as people who
couldn't previously afford products when the market was controlled by local
monopolies are able to purchase the product for cheaper.
Process Engineering. There
is a significant difference between a company that is multinational, and a
company that is truly global. The difference is that a multinational company
simply operates in multiple nations, a global company has embarked upon the
journey of systematically updating its policies, procedures, and systems across
multiple cultures. Some of the most significant challenges are often IT-related. Even given
the incredible advances in modern-day technology, global companies still suffer
from program and platform inconsistencies.
Time Orientation. The
concept of time orientation refers to the way in which a society values,
executes and utilizes time.
In
conclusion, successful business leaders must be able to balance organizational
objectives with external global challenges. As organizations become more interconnected the role of leaders in
managing global teams is becoming increasingly important. Being able to navigate through different cultural nuances is a key skill
for global leaders.
References:
1.
Adler, N. (2008). International dimensions of organizational behavior. Journal of Applied Behavioral
Science.
2.
Brett, J., Behfar, K., & Kern, M. C. (2006, December). Managing Multicultural Teams. Harvard Business Review, pp. 84-91. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/6666162_Managing_Multicultural_Teams
3.
Brett, J., Behfar, K., & Kern, M. C. (2016). Managing Multicultural
Teams. Harvard Businness
Review, 1-8.
- Dibyendu P.S., Tamizihselvam, K.Rajan, Chitra P.R. (2004) Cross
Cultural Business Management.
5.
DuPraw, M. E., & Axner, M. (n.d.). Working on Common Cross-cultural Communication
Challenges. Retrieved from PBS: http://www.pbs.org/ampu/crosscult.html