MAR015-2 Assignment Sample Intercultural Management in Business 2023
1.1 Introduction
Intercultural management in business plays a crucial role for establishing a collaborative workplace by strengthening cultural awareness, practical skills and knowledge among existing workers. Strong workplace culture helps any business entity to improve employee motivation and strengthen overall organisational performance efficiently. In today’s competitive business environment, most of the managers and leaders are found to show their focus towards improving intercultural competencies to keep business competitiveness and productivity effectively across target markets.
Thus, the following adjacent segment will highly discuss the effectiveness of intercultural management at the workplace. Comparison between four cultural theories such as Trompenaars & Hampden, House et al 2004, G. Hofstede and Edward Halls will be made to interpret intercultural contributions in international business.
1.2 The cultural impact upon international business management
The following theoretical approach could be interlinked and analysed to perceive the contribution of intercultural management in international business.
1.2.1 Trompenaars& Hampden
Trompenaars Cultural Dimension Model is found to serve as beneficial for any business entity to work more efficiently within a culturally diversified workplace. Teams for international business are required to work and execute their respective duties along with people from different cultures and countries (EPM, 2021).
Trompenaars cultural model is found to be categories of different cultures based on specific seven dimensions such as Specific vs. diffuse, Universalism vs. particularism, Neutral vs. affective, external Vs. internal direction, synchronous vs sequential time and ascription Vs. achievement respectively. It is identified that international businesses operating across the country Australia, UK, U.S and Canada followed universalism followed by individualistic cultures at the workplace (EPM, 2021).
On the other hand, it is identified that the mentioned seven dimensions of culture could be directly interlinked and aligned with the intercultural concept mentioned by House et al 2004. The key reason behind this statement is underlined in the adjoining section.
1.2.2 House et al 2004
In order to operate a business in a competitive business environment, it becomes essential for understanding the impact of cultural or intercultural leadership. In this context, it is identified that in 2004, Robert House founded a research program namely GLOBE (Global Leadership and Organizational Behaviour Effectiveness).
House et al. (2002) mentioned that GLOBE can be considered as a multi-method and multi-phase program that helps to examine the interrelations between organisational leadership, culture and societal culture respectively. On the other hand, it has been identified that House et al. (2004) underlined nine specific cultural dimensions such as assertiveness, performance orientation, human orientation, future orientation, power distance, uncertainty avoidance and others.
Each of the mentioned cultural dimensions allows any international business to strengthen its workplace culture and enhance its business competitiveness at the workplace.
1.2.3 Hofstede cultural dimensions
Hofstede cultural dimensions focus upon cultural aspects such as power distance, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity, long or short term orientation, individualism or collectivism and indulgence and restraint. These are the major dimensions upon which the model focuses a pond in order to reflect upon the cultural aspects and differences present in a particular country.
The Hofstede cultural model is similar to that of Trompenaars cultural model (Vollero et al. 2020). However, Trompenaars cultural model has one more cultural dimension that exceeds the Hofstede model. Therefore, it can be stated that Trompenaars culture in the model is much more specific compared to that of Hofstede cultural dimensions.
However, Hofstede cultural dimensions help in comparing the cultural differences present between two countries based on which cultural aspects of a particular organisation operating in a particular nation can be identified.
Similarly, Edward Hall’s cultural model can also be compared with Hofstede’s cultural dimensions. In the case of Edward Hall’s cultural model, it can be identified that the cultural aspects are closely linked with organisational culture rather than the entire culture of a nation, which is in the case of Hofstede (Beugelsdijk and Welzel, 2018). Moreover, decision-making is a prime area of concern in Edward Hall’s cultural model where monochronic and polychronic actions are discussed against radius cultural factors.
1.2.4 Edward Halls
In accordance with the theoretical understanding, both the consequences of high and low context culture can be notified where the key cultural factors are discovered. According to these factors, different cultural dimensions can be noticed which includes power distance, individualism, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity, time and others (Zakaria, 2017). These cultural dimensions are reflected to analyse and interpret the behavioural attributes along with the values of an individual or organisation.
Moreover, this theory also provides a complete outline of the national culture according to which an individual or organisation is likely to operate. However, this theory can be compared with both the Trompenaar and Hampden model along with Hofstede cultural dimensions where similar sequences of cultural dimensions can be deflected with extended evaluation.
The most similar attribute of these theories highlights the aspects of national culture according to which an organisation might be able to consider their strategic approaches by relating with the current market culture.
1.3 Cultural dimensions and network
In terms of cultural dimensions based on the discussion of the above theories the cultural dimensions that can be taken into consideration majorly determine an organisation’s culture. It has been seen that organisations like Google have a highly flexible working culture where the individualism dimension is low which indicates a working culture where teamwork is preferred (Peakon, 2018).
Similar attributes can be noticed from Microsoft where a profound focus is kept on the diverse and inclusive workforce with the culture of One Microsoft (Microsoft, 2021). It highlights the organisational intention of leveraging a growth mindset among employees and thereby empowering their workplace culture. However, in many cases, it has been seen that workforce that has people belonging from different cultures, face language barriers and might not want to work with others.
These instances can be improved by improving communication networks emphasising intercultural communication. For instance, the organisation can choose to communicate in a language that has the highest number of speakers in the company. Therefore, the same company operating in different counties can have different official languages respective to the country in which they are operating. Moreover, international companies can also train their employees mostly managers or hire employees who can speak in multiple languages thereby minimising the impact of language barriers.
1.4 Impact of culture on international business
The consequences of high power distance highlights that the employees can be able to understand respective subordinate position to their employers. On the other hand, low power distance culture highlights direct insurance of the employees regarding the distribution of power in the workplace. In this regard, low power distance defines that the employees are obtaining more power in decision making.
Based on this attribute, an organisational operational flexibility can be determined with regards to ensuring proactive involvement of their potential employees with the core organisational business value and objectives. For evidence, the context of the Indian market can be considered. India has been proceeding with a high power distance culture which reflects the existence of large distance and inequality between the powerful and less powerful community (Hofstede-insights, 2021).
Cultural aspects can ensure an extended competitive edge for a global organisation. The international business management attributes of John Lewis has paid attention to outline different cultural attributes that are defending the organisational intention of complying with the current market culture. This attribute can be recognised by notifying extended customer satisfaction from the organisational perspective.
This aspect also highlights the organisational ability to comply with the UK market culture where excellent customer service has achieved the company improved sales and long term profitability (Milcetich, 2017). However, the recognition of the retailer of the year during 2011 also supports this evidence from John Lewis.
1.5 Cross-cultural competencies in international business
1.5.1 Company and workplace culture
Workplace culture plays a determinant role to measure the operational effectiveness of an organisation (Barker, 2020). Based on the case study of John Lewis, it can be stated that comparing the culture of the organisation against the Hofstede cultural model it can be seen that the power distance within the organisation is quite low which increases the flexibility of working.
In terms of masculinity and femininity, the organisation has maintained a balanced portfolio of employees in terms of gender which have again helped in improving the cultural environment of John Lewis. This is important in the present generation as gender equality has become a major issue and therefore focusing upon gender equality can effectively improve the functionality of the overall workforce (Mladenović et al. 2017).
However, the aspects of intercultural communication might get disrupted due to the linguistic barriers that might create problematic concerns for business growth. Furthermore, considering the fact that the organisation focuses upon empowering its employees and follows a relaxed management style the organisation can be found to be adopting a collectivist approach based on Hofstede’s cultural dimensions.
Apart from that, the company also focuses upon the long-term orientation of its cultural environment which can be quite beneficial in the long run (Escandon-Barbosa et al. 2021). Adding to this, it can be mentioned that taxonomies can be considered by international companies that enable businesses to utilise culture-specific knowledge to develop intercultural or cross-cultural competence.
this would fiurthrehenahcne the chance for minimise the cultural issues that international business oftenly witnesses while operating or executing their business in the host country.
1.5.2 Motivation factors
The attributes of employee encouragement including the consequences of remunerations and benefits, training and career progression opportunities and others are also noticed from the perspective of John Lewis that are playing a significant role to improve the organisational offerings according to the current market cultural preferences and industrial trends. Employee centric culture has been highly valued at John Lewis which can be recognised by notifying the organisational capability of providing an annual bonus of 15% to their potential employees during the time of recession.
This flexible and supportive workplace culture has been generating a sense of trustworthiness among the organisational employees and thereby encouraging them to provide the best probable effort on behalf of the organisational core business objectives and values (Cletus et al. 2018). Similar consequences can also be reflected from the perspective of Marks and Spencer where the company management focused on empowering employee motivation by efficiently engaging them.
The employee centricity in Marks and Spencer highlighted the provision of performance recognition, employee suggestions, benefit programs and others (Kcress, 2021). These reflect the internal organisational culture that has been extensively motivating their employees.
1.6 Recommended strategies
In the context of the above discussion, it can be mentioned that empowering employees, proper employee training, enhancing employee engagement could serve as beneficial for international businesses to generate a diverse workplace culture. These strategic approaches can serve as beneficial to build a collaborative work culture that enhances the chance for international business to accomplish their organisational objectives and goals accurately.
1.7 Conclusion
The above study demonstrates a critical comparison between four different cultural models and theories. This has helped in the identification of the various cultural aspects of these models and helped organisations to adopt an appropriate cultural environment where human resources can thrive.
The study also includes a case study analysis of John Lewis and based on the findings of the case study the four different cultural models and theories have been underpinned helping to evaluate how the different cultural aspects within the organisation are measured against each other.
Moreover, the organisational culture has also been evaluated from the perspective of different cultural models helping to understand the overall organisational culture of John Lewis and other international organisations.
References
Barker, K., 2020. Creating Change and Cross-Cultural Competence While Conducting Business on the Global Stage. Organization Development Journal, pp.77-85.
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.
Cletus, H.E., Mahmood, N.A., Umar, A. and Ibrahim, A.D., 2018. Prospects and challenges of workplace diversity in modern day organizations: A critical review. HOLISTICA–Journal of Business and Public Administration, 9(2), pp.35-52.
EPM, 2021. Trompenaars Cultural Dimensions – The 7 Dimensions of Culture. [Online]. Available at: <https://expertprogrammanagement.com/2017/10/trompenaars-cultural-dimensions/>
Escandon-Barbosa, D., Salas-Paramo, J. and Rialp-Criado, J., 2021. Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions as a Moderator of the Relationship between Ambidextrous Learning and Corporate Sustainability in Born Global Firms. Sustainability, 13(13), p.7344.
Gazzola, M., Templin, T. and McEntee-Atalianis, L.J., 2020. Measuring diversity in multilingual communication. Social Indicators Research, 147(2), pp.545-566.
Hofstede-insights, 2021. WHAT ABOUT INDIA? [Online]. Available at: <https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country/india/> [Accessed 29 October 2021]
House, R., Javidan, M., Hanges, P. and Dorfman, P., 2002. Understanding cultures and implicit leadership theories across the globe: an introduction to project GLOBE. Journal of world business, 37(1), pp.3-10.
House, R.J., Hanges, P.J., Javidan, M., Dorfman, P.W. and Gupta, V. eds., 2004. Culture, leadership, and organizations: The GLOBE study of 62 societies. Sage publications.
Kcress, 2021. British retail giant takes digital approach to employee engagement. [Online]. Available at: <https://smbp.uwaterloo.ca/2015/10/british-retail-giant-takes-digital-approach-to-employee-engagement/> [Accessed 16 October 2021]
Microsoft, 2021. Our cultural attributes. [Online]. Available at: <https://careers.microsoft.com/us/en/culture> [Accessed 16 October 2021]
Milcetich, J., 2017. How to use social media to deliver excellent customer service. Journal of Digital & Social Media Marketing, 5(2), pp.139-145.
Mladenović, S.S., Mladenović, I., Milovančević, M. and Denić, N., 2017. Cross-cultural dimensions influence on business internationalization by soft computing technique. Computers in Human Behavior, 75, pp.865-869.
Peakon, 2018. Workplace Spotlight: What Google Gets Right about Company Culture. [Online]. Available at: <https://peakon.com/blog/employee-success/google-company-culture/> [Accessed on 16 October 2021]
Vollero, A., Siano, A., Palazzo, M. and Amabile, S., 2020. Hoftsede’s cultural dimensions and corporate social responsibility in online communication: Are they independent constructs?. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 27(1), pp.53-64.
Zakaria, N., 2017. Emergent patterns of switching behaviors and intercultural communication styles of global virtual teams during distributed decision making. Journal of International Management, 23(4), pp.350-366.
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