MAR015-2 Intercultural Management in Business Assignment Sample 2024
Introduction
Globalisation is the most emerging area for today’s businessmen. Domestic companies are looking for growth opportunities in the international market thus, the count of multinational companies and the scope of international businesses are continuously increasing. However, conducting business outside the home country is not simple as there are multiple factors which need to be considered. The present report highlights some of those factors where cultural difference is one of the major elements (Bolten, 2020).
The report is based on the case study of Bob Mitchell, who is from the US and represents Gulf countries to discuss the prospects of joint ventures between their companies. Bob faces cultural issues and not getting success to crack the deal. The discussion of cultural difference will be based on some relevant theories and models.
Cultural issues with Bob
As per the given case study, Bob Mitchell is the retired military attache with significant experience in the Middle East, was recruited by a large computer software company in the US in order to address a number of Persian Gulf countries (Guridham, 2021). However, Bob has many years of experience working in the Middle East region but still he is not able to understand Gulf countries’ culture.
He expected to meet with Mr. Saade to discuss the prospects of joint ventures between their companies. Since, Bob has experience and he thinks to engage in informal small talks before they start formal communication. In between their communication, Mr. Saade asks Bob about his father’s health and Bob said that he saw his father at the nursing home several months ago and he has lost little weight. After this conversation Mr. Saade behaviour was completely changed and aloof or he never invited Bob for further discussion on their business deal.
Bob was not able to understand that in Gulf countries, parents are used to living with their children and nursing home culture is not acceptable for the people of the Middle East (Pikhart, 2018). There are three types of social categorisation which highlights how all humans process information about others. These three categories are:
- Categorisation: To manage and simplify the stimuli
- Ethnocentrism: To believe that others thoughts the same way
- Stereotyping: To simplify the characteristics of categories
Bob falls into the ethnocentrism category where he evaluates a foreigner’s behaviour by their own standards and makes attributes which may not be correct. Further, he assumes that my behaviour is normal and therefore correct (Wang et. al. 2020). However, Bob has good experience working in the Middle East countries but he has only work experience as he has no cultural intelligence.
Other than that, he was not showing respect for his father which suddenly changed Saade’s demeanour abruptly. At this moment, Bob has to understand the reason behind the changed behaviour and forwardly asks the reason. As per the analyses of case study it can say that Bob has go wrong at many points like:
He has no cultural intelligence and thus he was not able to understand that in Gulf countries, he needs to talk differently because of the cultural difference. In the Middle East countries, people do not treat their parents like Bob does. However, it is just a small conversation but Mr. Saade takes it very seriously and believes that a person’s behaviour with their parents also impacts the professional behaviour (Malyuga et. al. 2018). Hence, he never invited Bob again.
Bob is from the ethnocentrism category where he was not able to understand other countries’ cultures and rituals and believe that my culture is normal. At this point, he thinks that he should understand other cultures as well especially, in business purposes. Nursing home culture is normal in the US but it assumes a bad sin in the Middle East and thus Bob lost the business deal.
Therefore, it can be said that misunderstanding about cultural changes, underestimating others’ culture, and believing that my culture is normal and acceptable in every country are the biggest mistakes of Bob (Verluyten, 2020). Hence, it negatively impacts their business objectives.
Help Bob to understand cross-cultural problem
Dealing with people with cross-culture is the most challenging task because it includes several elements and barriers. For example, language barrier, different working style, rituals, legal compliance differences, different decision-making style, attitude towards conflict resolution, and diversity. Bob faces the same barriers while talking with people from different backgrounds and cultures.
As people from the Gulf countries have taken different approaches in decision-making for example, Mr. Saeed makes decisions about Bob’s character when he inform about his father’s condition and his attitude towards him. A few conversations direct Mr. Saeed to such a big decision (Mautner and Rainer, 2017). In order to deal with international clients, it is very important to get knowledge about their culture and customs.
Bob needs to use good communication and negotiation skills along with deep knowledge of the culture in which he is going to work. Moreover, Bob needs to view international companies from different perspective for example:
Best fit- Bob needs to take a contingency approach to present his perspective in joint ventures and use the best system which is appropriate to the prevailing local contingencies.
Polycentricity– Under this, Bob is required to accept and use cultural diversity (Malyuga and Orlova, 2017). He needs to understand the Gulf companies’ way of working and local customs or rituals and it to his own circumstances.
Moreover, he needs to explore conceptual issues which include the nature of cultures and cross-cultural interactions. The consequences of language and cultural difference. He needs to get knowledge about how competence in intercultural conversation can be measured and developed. Other than that, the way of conversation is equally important in intercultural communication.
For example, maintain etiquette because different cultures have particular etiquette around the way they communicate. Like the people in the Gulf first convey ‘Salam’ and at the end of conversation they used to say ‘Allah-hafiz’ while in the US culture people tend to say ‘Hi or hello’. Such small etiquette makes a significant impact on the entire conversation (Barry, 2017).
Further, avoid slang, speak slowly, avoid closed questions, practice active listening, and more. When Mr. Saeed asks Bob about his father’s health, without missing a beat, Bob responds. Such a way of talking also shows that Bob has communication issues. Therefore, he needs to learn about such nuances of intercultural communication.
However, Bob has experience working in the Middle East but he may not get opportunities to deal with people through formal or informal communications. Hence, it is a new task for him and he cannot rely on his prior experiences (Kislitsin, 2021). As he should learn about the communication styles of the Gulf people and should prepare for it.
Other than that, Bob should compare the US culture and Persian Gulf culture in both professional and personal manner. It provides him insight about how to interact with people and what is needed to inform. By addressing such tiny things about cultural differences may provide him a big opportunity to expand their businesses. Also, he should take care about the fact that poor intercultural communication has adverse and significant impact on business profitability and expansion goals.
Intercultural theories
In order to facilitate businesses in the global market, it is most important to understand cross-cultural communication, values, customs, and rituals (Beugelsdijk and Welzel, 2018). In order to understand potential aspects of intercultural communication there are various theories and models. Below are Schwartz theory of values and Hofstede six -dimension theory which is best suited to understand the given case study.
Schwartz’s theory of values
Schwartz theory of basic values attempts to measure universal values that are considered across all major cultures. The theory suggests 10 personal values that are important and robust across cultures as well as enables us to understand diversity and conflicts in different culture values (Schwartz, 2012).
These values are universal as it enables humans to cope with one or more of three universal requirements of existence and these are: needs of individuals as biological organisms, requisites to coordinate social communication, and needs of welfare within a group. In order to address these three requirement then broad values are:
Self-direction, Stimulation, Hedonism, Achievement, Power, Security, Conformity, Tradition, Benevolence, and Universalism.
These 10 suggested values are dynamic and vary as per the cultural requirements and dimension. One value can have consequences that conflict with some other values but are suitable for others (Huang and Crotts, 2019). As per the given case study, Bob needs to pursue these values while interacting with Mr. Saeed because he is from another culture where his way of taking things is different.
For instance, Bob should take care about Conformity where impulsiveness is likely to harm others or violate social norms or expectations. Bob’s response about his father’s health may harm Mr. Saeed’s traditional values.
Hofstede six -dimension theory
Other than that, Hofstede’s cultural dimensions are also one of the best theories in intercultural businesses and communication. Hofstede suggested six dimensions which categorised cultural differences. These are:
Power distance index (High/Low)- It refers to the level of inequality that is accepted between people with or without power (Lowry, 2021).
Individualism vs. Collectivism– It describes the strength of the bonding or relationship that people carry to others within their society.
Masculinity vs. Femininity– It refers to the distribution of roles and responsibility between male and females.
Uncertainty avoidance index (High vs. Low)- It explains how people manage their anxiety and patience level.
Long-term vs. Short-term orientation– It indicates the time horizon of people in a community display.
Indulgence vs. Restraint- It refers to people’s behaviour and way to address responsibilities.
These six dimensions provide the pattern of behaviour of people as per the different cultures (Kristjánsdóttir et. al. 2017). For example, in the US females are free to work in offices and with their male colleagues but on the other hand, in Saudi Arabia, women have to face some restrictions. Moreover, high indulgence people are optimistic, and focus on personal development while restrained people are pessimistic and rigid behaviour.
As per the given case study, Bob character is indulgence hence, he freely explains his father’s conditions, about his New York flights, and Golf games. At the same time, Mr. Saeed has a reserved nature and he is rigid which is evident from the case study (Minkov and Kaasa, 2020). As he declines to deal with Bob because of his behaviour with father, free nature, and indulgence characteristics. Due to cultural differences, they cannot carry out their joint venture deal. Therefore, getting knowledge about these theories is important to understand cultural differences.
Recommendations
As per the above discussion, some recommendations can give to Bob:
- Bob lost his joint venture deal because he was not able to convince Mr. Saeed. His way of communication and not considering the cultural differences are some reasons. Thus, it can suggest that Bob should understand the Gulf culture, organisational behaviour, workplace methods and environment, and communication style. He should refer to the above-mentioned, intercultural theories to improve his understanding about cross-culture (Schwadel al. 2021).
Moreover, he should understand structural functionalism which refers to society as the system of independent parts and entities that all should meet social expectations while interacting with each other. Bob should study about such facts and improve their way of communication.
- Bob’s father lives in a nursinghome and his weight also loses or as per his way of communication and his irresponsible behaviour may affect everyone. Especially in the Gulf countries culture where such nursing home arrangements are not acceptable. The behaviour of Bob put negative impression on Mr. Saeed and he refuse to work with that kind of person who does not care about his father.
Thus, Bob should understand this fact and taken care to not share their personal matters with other especially from different culture people (Dens al. 2017). Bob should get knowledge about the Gulf countries and companies’ culture and modify their behaviour accordingly.
Conclusion
The present report concluded that intercultural communication is very important in international business. There are multiple aspects which need to be considered while dealing with international clients and expanding businesses among other countries. The present discussion is based on the case study of Bob who deals with the client from the Gulf city.
Due to poor communication and less understanding of their culture, Bob does not get success to crack the deal. At last, some recommendations are given to Bob in order to improve their intercultural communication skills.
References
Books and Journals
Barry, T., (2017). Communicative strategies and tactics of speech manipulation in intercultural business discourse. Training, language and culture, 1(1).
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.
Bolten, J., (2020). Intercultural business communication: An interactive approach (pp. 139-155). Routledge.
Dens, N., De Pelsmacker, P. and De Meulenaer, S., (2017). Who Do We Help? How Schwartz Values Influence Responses to Different Frames in Charity Appeals. Journal of Marketing Development & Competitiveness, 11(4).
Huang, S.S. and Crotts, J., (2019). Relationships between Hofstede’s cultural dimensions and tourist satisfaction: A cross-country cross-sample examination. Tourism management, 72, pp.232-241.
Kislitsin, Y.V., (2021). CORPORATE AND NATIONAL CULTURE: STRUGGLE FOR PRIMACY IN INTERCULTURAL BUSINESS COMMUNICATION. In Aspire to Science (pp. 228-235).
Kristjánsdóttir, H., Guðlaugsson, Þ.Ö., Guðmundsdóttir, S. and Aðalsteinsson, G.D., (2017). Hofstede national culture and international trade. Applied Economics, 49(57), pp.5792-5801.
Malyuga, E., Krouglov, A.V. and Tomalin, B., (2018). Linguo-cultural competence as a cornerstone of translators’ performance in the domain of intercultural business communication. XLinguae, 11(2), pp.566-582.
Malyuga, E.N. and Orlova, S.N., (2017). Linguistic pragmatics of intercultural professional and business communication. Springer.
Mautner, G. and Rainer, F. eds., (2017). Handbook of business communication: Linguistic approaches (Vol. 13). Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG.
Minkov, M. and Kaasa, A., (2020). A test of Hofstede’s model of culture following his own approach. Cross Cultural & Strategic Management.
Pikhart, M., (2018), August. Technology enhanced learning experience in intercultural business communication course: a case study. In International Symposium on Emerging Technologies for Education (pp. 41-45). Springer, Cham.
Schwadel, P., Hardy, S.A., Van Tongeren, D.R. and DeWall, C.N., (2021). The values of religious nones, dones, and sacralized Americans: Links between changes in religious affiliation and Schwartz values. Journal of Personality.
Verluyten, S.P., (2020). Cultural biases in intercultural business communication courses and how to avoid them. In Exploring the Rhetoric of International Professional Communication (pp. 191-209). Routledge.
Wang, Q., Clegg, J., Gajewska-De Mattos, H. and Buckley, P., (2020). The role of emotions in intercultural business communication: Language standardization in the context of international knowledge transfer. Journal of World Business, 55(6), p.100973.
Online
Schwartz, S., (2012). An Overview of the Schwartz Theory of Basic Values. [Online] [Available Through]: <https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/orpc/vol2/iss1/11/>
Guridham, M., (2021). Intercultural Communication Theories. [Online] [Available Through]: <https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-349-27462-8_7>
Lowry, P., (2021). Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions Theory. [Online] [Available Through]: <https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Hofstedes-Cultural-Dimension-Model-Hofstede-1991-p28_tbl1_220500429>
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