Cross-cultural management case study example

Culture can be expressed best in the complex interactions of values, attitudes and behavioural assumptions of the society. Culture therefore, is the characteristics of particular groups of people defined by everything from knowledge, religion, social habits, art, law, morals and any other capabilities and character acquired by a person as a member of a given society. For a given culture to be an important concept in the management studies, we should be able to understand the culture concept and familiarise our self with it. (Francesco and Gold 1969). Therefore in this paper, I have discussed various dimensions of managing culture in order to fit in any new work environmentavoiding unnecessary disturbance. The various cultural dimensions which are of great importance are: the power distance , individualism versus collectivism, masculinity versus femininity, uncertainty avoidance, long term versus short term orientation and indulgence versus restraint.
The power distance dimension expresses the extent to which the less powerful groups in the society admit and explains the fact that power in unevenly distributed. The basic issue under this dimension is to understand how organizations handle inequalities among people. Managers in the organizations occupying large degree of power accepts a hierarchical order in which everybody in the organization has a say and does not need any additional justification on their place in the organization. In contrast to organizations with minimum and low power distance, people especially workers and other members of the organization attempt to equalise the power distribution and require the explanation over the unevenly distributed power this is evident when Mr Kim who was the hiring committee become annoyed when Mr Arum become so inquisitive over the job description and specification simply because he possessed much powers and doesn’t want any member of the society to be treated fairly and equally.
The second dimension of culture management explicitly explained in this argument is the individualism versus collectivism. Individualism is a value of a social framework whereby individuals are expected to cater for themselves and even for the immediate families and relatives only. (Francesco & Gold 2005). For example in the case study provided to Mr lee and Mr Kim, Arun seemed to show an overly individualistic character evidenced bythe arriving at the company without an invitation and expectation . Secondly Mr Lee and Mr kin did not expect Mr Arum to work his ways and demands for higher job positions yet he still in the interview process up to the higher ranks just the same way other workers have always done. Again Mr Lee and Mr Kin strongly believed that the person seeking for any job opportunity should be humble and manifest high level of respect, but this was not in the case of Mr Arun who addresses them in the manner suggesting that they were of the same level. Collectivism on the other hand is the preference for a tightly framework in a particular organization in which individuals can expect their work mates or other members of the organization to cater for them in exchange of unevenly loyalty. Therefore Mr Arun did not show collectivism personality in him since thought he is the most qualified and experienced worker in the organization without considering other workers who have been in the organization for some period of time.
Masculinity versus femininity is another key cultural dimension in the Management of culture. Masculinity is the notion the organization has for achievement, heroism; assertiveness and even material reward for success. This is elaborative shown when one of the hiring committee of the organization ascertained that the post being offered to Arun was appropriate to him since his skills and knowledge matches the work. This shows that the organization has a notion of achievement and requires professionals who have sound knowledge and skills of enhancing the success of the organization. They also put emphasis on the experiences which has been accumulated over years. On the other hand femininity refers to the like for cooperation, modesty, caring for the weak and quality of life. The organization had to involve almost all its members in the interview so as instil good cooperation and collective decision making especially in crucial matters which affect or improve the company’s operations in general.
Uncertainty avoidance shows the extent to which the members of the organization feel uncomfortable which uncertainty and ambiguity. The crucial point here is to understand how the organization perceive and organize them due the fact that the future is uncertain. I t also focusses and even answer the question on whether the organization should prepares for these uncertainties or let it just happen. Organization showing uncertainty avoidance preserve rigid codes of belief and behaviour and do not allow uncouthbehaviours and ideas while those organizations with weak uncertainty avoidance shows and maintains relaxed attitude where their practices are more important than their principles. When the hiring committee and other organization members who were conducting the interview realised that the interviewee who was Mr Aron did not show the respect to the authority, they had to be vigilant on their stand in order to instil good behaviours and even supress the unrecommeneded behaviours among the workers. Mr Aron seemed to be too much inquisitive without considering the fact he was being interviewed.
Another important dimension in the culture which has been explicitly explained in this text is the long term versus short term orientation. Long term orientation focusses on the organizations search for virtue. Those organizations with short term orientation have strong desire in developing the absolute truth. They show great respect for the traditions, smaller chances of saving in the future and stresses on realising quick result. Most people believe that the absolute truth relay on the prevailing situations conditions and time. They exhibit ability to the traditions to changed conditions, bigger chances of saving, Investment and even higher perseverance in achieving the result. in the text the organization has a set a culture that young people should not hold higher positions regardless of their experience, skills and knowledge. The organization has a tradition that old managers are the best and young people should only hold higher positions when they have become of age. Mr Aron though qualified and experienced could not get a higher position in the organization because the organization is conservatives of culture.
The last dimension explained by the culture with reference to the text is the indulgence versus restraint. Indulgence stands for those organizations and even societies which accept the free gratification of basic and natural human motives and drives connected to enjoying life and making fun. On the other hand, restraint refers to that organization and societies that rejects the free gratification of human needs and controls them by using social norms. Despite Mr Arons qualifications and experience, the could not seek for a job though his motives and internal drives were gratificated due to the strong admiral of the Korean culture, he decided to accepts the job irrespective of numerous duties to be performed.
Therefore culture in most cases dictates the type of employees to be absorbed in any organization, the age limits required for any position in the organization and even the means of communication within a given organization. Thereforethe organization and the individuals should clearly study and understands the culture of each and every organization before seeking for job opportunity in these organizations and even environment. The organizations and the societies should also market their cultures all over the world so that workers with varied knowledge and experience from all parts of the world can seek employment from hence increasing their performance and productivity.

PART TWO OF THE QUESTION

Conflicts are part of human consciences in all situation of life . An individual therefore cannot do away with conflicts be it at home, place of work, or whether watching movies and many more. Conflict therefore is the interaction of interdependent people who perceive the opposition of goals, objectives and values, and who also perceive other party as significantly distorting the achievement of these objectives, aims and values. Communication is the root cause of conflict since it allow the formulation of opposing issues, frames the perception of the felt disagreement, translates the feelings and perceptions into a conflicting behaviours hence the beginning of future conflicts. Therefore before elaborating on conflict, it is prudent to highlight the main origins of conflicts within the business set up. in any business organization, conflict is being precipitated by the rebuffs which is the failure of the organization to respond to request for appropriate action. Conflicts also arise due to illegitimate demands by the employees and the employer; it is alsofacilitated by cumulative annoyance of the members of any business organization. Therefore for Mr Aron to save his job opportunity, he must clearly and critically solve the conflict which has risen due to the above mentioned factors, as discussed below. (Francesco and Gold 1969).
The first crucial strategy which can propel Mr Aron towards saving his job opportunity is the effective and appropriate communication with both Mr Lee and Mr Kin and even the whole management body of the Busmen Company. He should not merely depend on the verbal communication but rather seek for other means of communication in order to get clarification of an issue he is not sure of. Instead of going to the company uninvited and unexpected, he should make an appointment or wait until he is contacted and given official invitation for the interview . therefore he should contact the company once more and seek for an apology for having intruded into the organization without invitation. Once that is done, he should then wait till he is communicated to officially and given an official invitation either through call or any means of communication. Therefore Mr Aron should ensure clear, concise, accurate and timely communication of information so as to avoid the conflicts which has risen due to lack of information, poor information given to him by the organization, absence of information and even misinformation by the organization. (Roberts 2005).
Another important strategy Mr Aron can employ to salvage his job opportunity and solving the conflict between him and the Busmen organization managers is by remaining calm and avoid rising voices when dealing with the issue of job position and the roles . It is important for him to have a neutral party who can intervene to the case since they he has already created a conflict with Mr lee and Mr Kim . When discussing an issue, Mr Aron should try to maintain his cool and keep his voice at normal volume. He should also avoid excessive hand movement such as pointing at the managers and others places. Therefore in a nutshell, Mr Aron should control his emotions and feelings especially in an interview room.
Mr Aron should not assume things on his way and overreact on small issues. Every person has a right to express his or her own views and one must first listen to what the person has to say without making unnecessary conclusions . Mr aron should accept the fact that even though he has experience and skills required for this particular job, the people interviewing him was once in that position and they are not of the same level.
Mr Aron can also define an acceptable behaviour so as to resolve the conflict which has risen between him and the busmen organization in order to rescue his job opportunity. mr aron should create a framework of decisioning; using the already published delegation of authority statement of the organization he has visited. He should also instil the teambuilding teamspirit, leadership development, encourage sound business practice and even practice talent management in order to solve this already created conflict. He should appreciate the fact that the job description has precisely been done and he should know what is expected of him; therefore he should follow a well-articulated chain of command in the organization for effective communication and clarification of some misunderstanding which arose during the interview. He should also clearly understand clearly what should be said to any organization especially when you are a new employee.
Another important strategy which can greatly assist Mr Aron in his pursuit to salvage his job opportunity is to view conflict as an opportunity for further improvement especially in the modification and shaping of the character. He should appreciate the fact that whenever there is a disagreement, there is an inherent potential for growth and even further development. The various oppositions which have been levied on him should be sound basis of his creative innovation and learning in ways in which the other people who have never experienced such an intense interview can imagine. (Robbins 2003).
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He should also appreciate the wider perspectives. He should realise that the mangers especially Mr kinm and Mr Lee have a larger and wider perspectives than him and so go and humble himself and try to have mental picture of his actions and apologise over the matter . he should also realise that every boss is always in sensitive to maintaining his authority and therefore if he has any good idea plan of skills than the present workers , he should put them on writing and avoid verbal augments with the boss to ensure the confidentiality of the information and the integrity of the boss is maintained. He should also evaluate the effect of wrong decision on the workers, which might be made by the organization boss on his favour therefore Mr arun should appreciate the fact even a long distance journey usually states with a mile.
Another crucial approach which can be used by Mr is the accommodation. He should put more emphasis on cooperation instead of assertiveness. He should place his interest aside and accepts the job being offered irrespective of the meagre salary and much workload present in the organization. The others approaches which are very important in conflict resolution are, avoiding, collaborating, compromise, confrontation and many more. (Javidan, Dorfman, Luque & House 2010)
In a nutshell conflict resolutions can only be possible where there is sincerity in attempting to do to but where there is no sincerity in solving the conflict, there process is compromised. Therefore forgiveness, empathy, finding a common ground, being an active listener ad many more approaches take the fore front in any conflict resolution. Therefore, Mr Aron should critically use these strategies and approaches to save his almost gone job opportunity. He should also learn that no matter hard the situation might be, emotion control and good communication are very prudent in any good social relationship and should therefore be given much consideration

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