MAR013-1 Intercultural Competence in Business Assignment Sample
Here’s the best sample of MAR013-1 Intercultural Competence in Business Assignment, written by the expert.
Introduction
In the assignment, the case study of Americans and Japanese joint venture projects has been chosen for understanding the cross-cultural problem. Here, the comparison of different cultural frameworks has been done for understanding the difference between cultures among the people of different countries. Moreover, the demonstration has also been provided in the assignment to understand interpersonal interactions depending on situations of business. Intercultural communication theories have also been there to justify the issues of cross-cultural communication gaps among different people.
Comparing different cultural frameworks
The cultural framework is a term that is used for differentiating different cultures of people which actively varies due to the difference in the location. Cultural frameworks consider the traditions, myths, systems and also symbols in a society (Tombleson and Wolf, 2017). There are five different dimensions of cultural framework. The most important factor that drives the behavior of the people living in a society is the value system. The value system varies from person to person and from society to society. Therefore, it can be said that the behavior of the people varies due to the value systems they follow in their society.
American went wrong
In the case study stated, it has been noted that the members of the company that is a sports manufacturer are Americans and those of the Japanese firms are the Japanese by culture. The two parties met each other for a discussion of how to proceed with the joint venture in the future. The introductory session was going on and in the middle of the conversation one of the American representatives took their jackets off and rolled up their sleeves. Moreover, they started to interrupt the entire conversation by saying that they would be spending time with the Japanese people, so they needed to know each other well. Hence, the serious and important discussion interrupted abruptly when the Japanese people were trying to get down to the in-hand task for detailed discussion.
According to the case study, this difference in the behavior between these people has highlighted a huge mismatch in the cultural frameworks. This further indicates that the value system taught to those people right from their childhood or how the Americans have grown is quite different from that of Japanese. However, the Americans went wrong by interrupting the flow of discussion and the way they tried to get control over the discussion. This is a sign of superiority that the Americans may have wanted to show to the Japanese indicating that the private firm of Japan is much smaller than that of America’s Sports Manufacturer company. Thus, it can be said that whether or not the cultural framework of Americans is different from that of Japanese, still they need to behave according to the situation. Trying to gain control over the conversation is a sign of superiority that is being shown here by the Americans which was not expected from the representatives of such a developed country like the U.S. This case study signifies the cultural difference between the people of two different countries and how the value stream has been reflected in the behavior of the people is also noticeable. The seriousness of the discussion could have been maintained which might have led the discussion to an interesting turning point for the joint venture they planned about.
Demonstration of frameworks applicable in interpersonal interactions in business
There are five dimensions of cultural frameworks and are named as follows: –
- Power Distance
- Individualism
- Masculinity
- Uncertainty avoidance (UA)
- Long-term orientation
These cultural dimensions are on the basis of Hofstede’s cultural dimension theory (Minkov, 2018). However, these factors play a very important role in understanding the interpersonal interactions of two culturally different people in the business. As stated by Beugelsdijk and Welzel (2018), the cultural dimensions include collectivism as the opposite of individualism as a factor that helps in understanding the behavior of the people towards the community at large. According to these dimensions, it is studied that Japan has a high ethos and culture towards business in terms of masculinity in the country. The gender role in the country towards the contribution of the business in the country plays a major role. Therefore, it can be said that the culture of societies varies from the location. The practice that has been done through the years is said to be a traditional culture of that country. Moreover, it has been studied that the people of Japan have high value towards the business industries in their country. The supervisors maintain an egalitarian relationship with the employees working in the company. This kind of relationship is maintained in the organization as the company would require both parties to make important decisions on behalf of the company. The decisions could be valuable for the future of the company and in such a Japanese firm, the top management of the company is seen as the builder of the facility. Harmony within the company is maintained by the top management people so that the employees of the company work together for the welfare of the company.
The way of understanding the cross-cultural problem to Americans
The American representatives can be made to understand the cross-cultural problem by highlighting the five dimensions of culture thoroughly. These dimensions are the ones that are based on the factors that usually vary from people of one society to another society (Zhang and Liu, 2016). The thorough understanding of the five dimensions can help the American understand the way in which the mindset and behavior of the people vary depending on the location. After continuously practicing a single type of culture among a group of people is the indication of collectivism among them and then it results in the tradition of the country (Jensen, Grajeda and Haertel, 2018). This is how the cross-cultural problem can be made understood to the American by demonstrating the dimensions of the cultural frameworks.
Application of intercultural communication theories
Cultural Dimension Theory of Hofstede is the theory of culture and it helps in understanding the cultural difference of people in the country. The theory was mainly developed to understand the different cultural divisions among people across various countries (Block and Walter, 2017). This theory has helped people to understand the difference in variation of the tradition, culture, and practice of different behavior among them. Hofstede’s cultural dimension theory has five different dimensions each of which has a different meaning with respect to the culture.
- Power Distance (PD) is either small or large and in this type of dimension, it is understood how a society handles the equality factor within it and how much the less powerful members of the society accept the practice of inequality. Power is equally or unequally distributed among the members of the organization or a society or a family defines the power distance of the society.
- Individualism vs Collectivism is the behavior of the people towards society. The degree of self-actualization among individuals is integrated and is divided on the basis of individualism and collectivism.
- Masculinity vs femininity is the study of masculine cultures among the people that value competitiveness, assertiveness, and the accumulation of wealth as a factor. However, as per the values of femininity, the values are the quality of relationships and the quality of life. As per Kunst and Haugestad (2018), masculine characters are worth for ambitious people and it indicates that the countries or the societies who are ambitious have high masculine values.
- Strong vs Weak Uncertainty Avoidance (UA) is the measure of the need for structure. This dimension indicates that the society or the culture that has low uncertainty avoidance index tends to accept more risk and prefer to change the situation by preferring flexible guidelines and rules for them.
- Long vs short term orientation is another dimension that helps in understanding the culture of a society on the basis of orientation. The cultures that have long term orientation tend to give more importance to culture, family, and discipline.
Explanation and Recommendation
It can be understood from Hofstede’s theory that the culture of people and countries vary from place to place and therefore, their behavior and their habits also. This further indicates that the cultural theory has explained the dimensions of culture in such a way that it can be clearly understood why the Americans behaved so unexpectedly in the middle of the conversation.
The Americans can be advised to understand the cultural difference and respect the Japanese. The culture of the Japanese and the way of handling a discussion is a very crucial part of the business. Thus, it can be said that both the parties need to understand each other’s culture in such a way that either of the parties feels respected and easy to have a business with each other by understanding the comfort zone of the people that varied due to difference in culture and society.
Conclusion
The discussion of cultural differences has been highlighted in the entire assignment. Hofstede’s cultural dimension theory has been used for a better understanding of cultural difference and it has shown the way in which the priorities vary among individuals and then society at large.
References
Beugelsdijk, S. and Welzel, C., 2018. Dimensions and dynamics of national culture: Synthesizing Hofstede with Inglehart. Journal of cross-cultural psychology, 49(10), pp.1469-1505. Available at: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0022022118798505 [Accessed on: 15.04.2020]
Block, J.H. and Walter, S.G., 2017. Hofstede’s cultural dimensions and modes of entry into entrepreneurship. In Exploring the Entrepreneurial Society. Edward Elgar Publishing. Available at: https://bit.ly/2XDuIo1 [Accessed on: 15.04.2020]
Jensen, B., Grajeda, S. and Haertel, E., 2018. Measuring cultural dimensions of classroom interactions. Educational Assessment, 23(4), pp.250-276. Available at: https://bit.ly/2XCEHdc [Accessed on: 15.04.2020]
Kunst, J.R. and Haugestad, C.A.P., 2018. The effects of dissociation on willingness to eat meat are moderated by exposure to unprocessed meat: A cross-cultural demonstration. Appetite, 120, pp.356-366. Available at: https://www.duo.uio.no/bitstream/handle/10852/61745/1/pre_pub_appetite.pdf [Accessed on: 15.04.2020]
Minkov, M., 2018. A revision of Hofstede’s model of national culture: old evidence and new data from 56 countries. Cross Cultural & Strategic Management. Available at: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/a643/672ba1189b07c6ae649119aec574fc00a582.pdf [Accessed on: 15.04.2020]
Tombleson, B. and Wolf, K., 2017. Rethinking the circuit of culture: How participatory culture has transformed cross-cultural communication. Public Relations Review, 43(1), pp.14-25. Available at: https://espace.curtin.edu.au/bitstream/handle/20.500.11937/41835/41835.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y [Accessed on: 15.04.2020]
Zhang, W. and Liu, Y.L., 2016. Demonstration of caring by males in clinical practice: A literature review. International Journal of Nursing Sciences, 3(3), pp.323-327. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352013215300351 [Accessed on: 15.04.2020]
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