The impact of culture on organizations
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The impact of culture on organizations
Culture is a set of shared social behaviors, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, beliefs, and habits that are accepted by members of a certain community. Cultural norms act as behavioral guidelines to members of a given society. As organizations continue to expand across global market places, they can acquire more opportunities to work globally. Cultural sensitivity is vital in the international market place. Recognition and understanding of the impact of culture in the organization assist management in their decision-making process. Multicultural and cross-cultural teams are becoming common as an organization grows and extends to the global market place. It is increasingly becoming crucial for businesses to understand cultures in foreign countries if they want to succeed.
Culture in a business setting relates to the common and professionally accepted behavior in one country compared to another country. Things that are accepted in business practice in a country can be considerably different from what is allowed in a foreign country. Understanding the effect of culture on international businesses is essential in avoiding probable differences between employees and customers. Also, it ensures that the company operates in the best manner in the new markets. International business should treat cultural differences as an opportunity to acquire success instead as a weakness (Day Translations, 2018). Cultural differences impact businesses in three main areas, which are communication, organizational hierarchy, and etiquette.
Communication
Effective verbal and non-verbal communication is a prerequisite for the success of every business regardless of its size. In the United States, there is a common belief that English is the common business language, but you may not find foreign colleagues by speaking English. Cross-cultural verbal and non-verbal communication can create cultural misperception, misinterpretation, and misevaluation.
In the global market place language acts as a mechanism for linking cultural differences. Global business has to understand the target market language and how to use it when communicating. For instance, in India, business communication conveys messages in an indirect and nuanced manner. However, this is dissimilar to in Finns, where a brief, as well as direct communication, is used. It is not only verbal communication that is important in international business but also non-verbal communication (Teagarden, 2015). Understanding of basic non-verbal cues is vital in global companies. What is common in your cultures like direct eye contact, firm handshake, and a kiss on the check might be offensive in a foreign culture (Burgoon et al., 2016).
Workplace etiquette
There are several cultural differences in multinational business which necessities studying the global business etiquette. One of the workplace differences is the different professional communication approaches around the globe.
A business has to emphasize on the importance of the protocol of address when dealing with foreign partners. Some cultures address a newly met person by his or her first name, whereas in others, they use either surname or title. For example, both Americans and Canadians commonly use address people using their first name. This is different in Asian countries like China, South Korea, and Singapore, where people are formally addressed using titles like Mr, Ms, or surname.
Punctuality is another concept that may be dissimilar between different cultural environments. Misunderstandings can be created by diverse ideas as well as negative cultural perceptions about the meaning of being on time. For example, American business partners can arrive a couple of minutes earlier while an Italian arrives a few minutes after the start time. Generally, clients from the United States, Japan, Russia, and South Kora are time conscious, and everything is carried out on time. In Brazil, people tend to be late for a meeting for a few minutes (Nagamatsu & Thirasirikul, 2016).
Organizational hierarchy
Organizational attitudes, as well as hierarchy towards business management, can vary across cultures. Cultural norms dictate if the middle and junior levels employees will be comfortable expressing their ideas during meetings with the senior employees. Generally, these attitudes are a representation of country values and equality. For example, Japan values respect for seniority, social hierarchy, and relative status traditionally. Organizational hierarchy facilitates the outlining of employee’s roles and responsibilities within an organization. The senior management employees expect respect and a formality from the junior management workers.
On the other hand, Scandinavian counties have a preference for societal equality and use a flat organization hierarchy approach. It implies that organizations have a fairly informal communication which promotes cooperation and teamwork. Organizational hierarchy differences cause problems when defining the roles of employees.
Cross-cultural challenges
The difference in culture can be categorized into low context culture and high context cultures. Communication is clear, brief, and unambiguous in low context culture countries as United States, United Kingdom, and Canada. However, communication is implicit, more detailed, and nuanced in countries with high context cultures such as Russia. Low context cultures are more direct when giving negative feedback, while high context culture countries are indirect. Moreover, the building of business trust is problematic due to cultural differences (John & Kenneth, 2019). There are dissimilarities when creating a business relationship in the United States and China. It is common for United States businesses to build a relationship by sharing drinks with prospective business partners. However, in China, potential partners spend time drinking or eating in a dining table, which they refer to as guanxi relationships. It forms a foundation for developing a strong network that allows the elimination of cultural differences.
Trust building is also affected by the aspect of the comfort of silence. A conversation can be made uncomfortable by a few silence seconds in countries where the comfort of silence is low. The countries with low comfort of silence include the United States, Italy, and France. However, in Asian countries with high comfort of silence such as Japan and Korea, the silence makes them not able to speak during meetings with western countries. They do not feel uncomfortable when a conversation stops for about thirty seconds (Obioma Ejimabo, 2015).
Cultures influence people’s behaviors, communication, and thinking, which are replicated in negotiation styles. Organizations need to recognize cultural differences in transaction and device mechanisms to deal with them. Communication during negotiations is supposed to be considered carefully (Salacuse, 2019). It is easy to know if Americans approve a transaction because they have direct communication. However, you have to interpret Japanese signs to determine if they have approved or rejected due to their indirect communication. Some cultures, such as Latin Americans, are very emotional, while others, like Asians, keep things formal by suppressing emotions.
Spanish view negotiations as a pathway for making a contract while some Asian county’s negotiations are viewed as a method of developing firmer and stronger relationships. Spanish feel that negotiation is a process of either winning or losing, whereas the Japanese view it as a win-win process. Countries with dissimilar cultures handle contracts in a variety of ways. Americans predict potential eventualities and circumstances, which make them want every detail included in contractual agreements. Every detail that was approved during negotiations has to be specified in contracts. Chinese have a preference for contracts having only the general principles because to them signing a contract is a mechanism for developing a relationship with the partner.
Strategies to promote cross-cultural communication
For a business to be successful in the international marketplace, they have to understand investors, customers, employees, and other stake holder’s communication patterns. Some strategies for cross-cultural promotion communication are, embracing agility, listen and be open-minded, facilitating meaningful conversation, respect differences, and being aware.
Closed mindedness is an obstacle to cross-cultural communication and can hinder business success. Being closed-minded makes people think things can only be done in one way. Being open-minded and listening enables the learning of different ways of approaching issues. Decision making is affected by the availability of diverse viewpoints. Communication barriers are overcome by active listening. Questions are asked to make a clarification and understand what the speaker is conveying. To respect cultural differences, you have to create a flexible team that can appreciate cultural differences. Cross-cultural communication is obstructed by the inability and unwillingness to embrace change. Organizations have to be flexible for continuous improvements. Developing cultural awareness at an individual level can improve cross-cultural communication within the workplace. Lack of meaningful conversation in organizations creates cultural differences among employees. People tend no to share ideas in a workplace that do not promote open communication. Encouragement of meaningful conversation creates a comfortable environment where people are free to share ideas.
Advantages of managing across different cultures
A business that operates in different cultures benefits in a variety of ways. Workplace diversity inspires innovation and creativity, attraction and retention of best talents, and opportunities for professional and personal growth. Cultural diversity in an organization affects how workers view the business. Diverse ideas and professional experiences from a global team may offer a new perspective on the corporate world. Thought diversity promotes innovation and creativity, which enables problem-solving and meeting customer expectations from a different perspective.
Workplace diversity is one criterion that job seekers use to evaluate businesses. Cultural diversity in the international market is an indicator that a business creates an all-inclusive multicultural environment. An organization gains an advantage in the recruitment process to widen the worker’s talent. Moreover, a favorable environment improves employee retention rates. It is vital to make employees in a diverse team feel respected and valued (Fernandes, 2018). An all-inclusive cross-cultural team promotes long term relationships between teams in an organization.
The cross-cultural team provides an opportunity for growth both personally and professionally. A cross-culturally, a diverse organization attracts ambitious and talented global professionals. It is enriching to work in different cultures and allows employees to familiarize themselves with different cultures and perspectives across the globe.
Disadvantages of managing business across different cultures
Regardless of the benefits of workforce cross-cultural diversity, implementation of workplace diversity is problematic. Integration across a cross-cultural team can be difficult because of prejudice and negative cultural stereotypes. It is difficult to overcome the situation when there are underlying cultural prejudices since employees are not willing to relate with each other. An organization, long term productivity, is negatively affected by cultural differences. Moreover, professional etiquette can be understood differently among employees. Conflict can arise in the organization due to dissimilar expectations about organizational hierarchy, working hours, and formality. Finally, workers from some cultures may not be willing to present their ideas, especially those from deferential and polite cultures.
Strategies to transcend the national boundary
Businesses have to use certain strategies to transcend national boundaries. These strategies are the evaluation of the customer base and finances needed, finding suitable partners, proper infrastructural structuring, and considering new ideas (Brooks, 2019). Right partners and teams are required for a business to effectively operate globally. These partners need to know the new market. Right and adequate infrastructures are vital for the organization to operate smoothly. Also, resources such as a proper managerial team are required to deliver the strategy. It is beneficial to consider the impact of new ideas in terms of how customers in both domestic and foreign countries will perceive your ideas. Finally, the last strategy is a willingness to change direction because the expansion means the emergence of new challenges. The business can consider altering how it operates.
In conclusion, cross-cultural differences are a sensitive issue in international organizations as a business grows and expand their boundaries in the global market places they experience different cross-cultural related issues. Cross-cultural differences affect organizations in several ways, both positively and negatively. An organization that effectively address cultural issues are likely to be successful in the international marketplace. Organizations entering the international market has to learn how cultural differences can affect their operations. Their success will hinge on understanding cultural diversity as well as a set of preferences, expectations, and priorities in the new markets.
References
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Fernandes, L. (2018, April 12). Workplace Diversity: Benefits and Challenges – cFIRST Corp. CFIRST Corp. https://www.cfirstcorp.com/workplace-diversity-benefits-and-challenges/
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