Challenges of Cross Cultural Management in International Business
Question:
Discuss the impacts of cross cultural management on business.
Cross cultural management can be referred to the management of business teams while considering the diverse cultures, preferences, practices of consumers in the context of global or international business context. Thus, while developing the business, the leaders should have to consider the conflicts that could be raised while working in the cross cultural context and the leaders should such management skills to handle these kinds of skills (Ting-Toomey and Chung 2012). Many organizations thus need to adapt and modify their business approaches and processes fir competing on a level in diverse field where no geographical boundaries remains.
The international business has been started hundreds years back, however, the importance of intercultural interaction has enhanced as more people started to access wider markets through the help of new technologies. Different professions require the inclusion of cross cultural management as the part of their training or program curriculum. Communication is a major part in the cross cultural management. The leaders of businesses should have training to achieve appropriate cross cultural communicational skills for dealing with people from different culture in global context. In this context, the organization needs to understand what are the requirements for managing a business in cross cultural context (Yu and Ko 2012). The cross cultural management needs to understand the ways by which national culture affects the management practices. It also seeks to characterize the differences and similarities through the cultures in different management practices as well as the organizational context. The cross cultural management also seems to enhance the effectiveness of global management. Most of the large organizations consist some business relations with different stakeholders in some other countries belonging from other cultural context and the organizational members have to deal with them regularly.
The cross cultural management assists those members of the organization to understand other cultures better while working together with people from other culture. The use of effective cross cultural management through the business team can enhance the ability of innovative and critical thinking skills and experience of the team members and thereby making them capable of contributing in the enhancement of organization’s competitive position in the global market. A number of social and cross cultural theories can help to gain an insight of the effect of cross cultural management in the business. Acquiring the cross cultural skills help to make employees more self-sufficient which enhance their performance efficiency and thereby enhancing the entire business performance and sustainability (Thomas and Peterson 2014).
A Paleolithic culture was the first known habitat of Japanese archipelago around 30,000 BC. The class followed by Mesolithic towards Neolithic semi-sedentary hunter-gatherer culture including the ancestors of both Ainu people and yamato people. It happened during 14000 BC. Around 300 BC, Yayoi people entered in the Japanese island. The nation appeared in the written history of Chinese Book of Han first.
Japan is a constitutional monarchy and the power of Emperor is limited here. He has depicted that “the symbol of State and of the unity of the people”. The prime Minister has the power along with other elected people of the Diet, whereas the sovereignty is vested in Japanese people. The current Emperor of Japan is Akihito. The legislative organ of Japan is the national Diet, seated in Chiyoda, Tokyo. The current population of Japan in recent days has been estimated to be 127 million, within which 80% people lives on Honshu. The society is culturally homogeneous and linguistically composed of 98.5% ethnic Japanese (Caligiuri and Tarique 2012). The dominant and native ethnic population of Japan is Yamato people and the indigenous Ainu and Ryukyan peoples are the minority groups. The country has second longest overall life expectancy at birth in the world with 83.5 years for the people born in 2010-2015. However, change in demographic structure has raised a number of social issues in the community.
Understanding National Culture and Management Practices
The economic growth of the country started in the period known as the Edo period. Japan expanded economically during the Meiji period since 1868. Growth slowed during 1990s which has been followed by global slowdown in 2000. Three quarters of gross domestic product is provided by the service sector (Kawar 2012).
84 to 96% Japanese population are the followers of Buddhism or Shinto. Japanese beliefs have also been influenced by Taoism and Confucianism from China. In Japan, 99% people talks in Japanese, being their first language. In addition, Ryukyuan languages are also used. While analyzing educational system, there are two top-ranked universities. 75.9% high school graduates attend university, trade school, junior college or other higher educational institute (Lin et al. 2012).
The decision making process in slow in Japanese management. Thus, the length of decision making process is a very common issue of a person who works in a Japanese company. The root of the decision-making process in the Japanese firm is in the feudal period. At that period wide range of Japanese people lived in rice farming villages and they realized that it is much better to take decision together, collectively. The senior people in the community led the decision making process. The Japanese company’s decision making pattern is much similar to the rice farming villagers. In the classic Japanese decision making process a long process is done. The purpose of the things are addressed, then data related to those deliverables are gathered and analyzed, then a consensus requirement is set which needs to be met and then the senior most people in the organization is being convinced for gaining the final guidance (Peltokorpi and Froese 2012). Finally, after gaining approval from the senior people, the decision making session is completed. As a result, the decision making process in the company takes longer period than the other national culture. However, from the viewpoint of the Japanese community, this slow procedure can lead to the best possible decision for the business. The feudalism culture has gone from the Japanese culture long time ago, but the behavioral pattern is rooted in the society till date and it influences the decision making processes in the Japanese organizations.
In contrast, the decision making process in American company is quite faster. The workers in Japanese company have mixed feelings about their native decision making process. The employees will admire that the decision making process takes longer time and which is quite frustrating as it is not subjected to change. However, the decision making process has advantages if executed properly. It proves that all the departments in the firm are participating in the decision making and are agreed to implement the decision in the workplace. As the process allow many people to take part in the decision making process, it makes the group to feel valued. In addition, the thorough data collection process help to make well thought out decision. Besides the positive part of the decision making process, the challenge is the quickening rate of the technological progress (Hartley 2012).
Importance of Effective Communication in Cross Cultural Management
In this situation, the employees who are working in the Japanese company, feels as handcuffed, if they try to respond to the request of a customer quickly. Thus, the Japanese companies are at the risk of remaining behind in the global competition.
From the review of the Japanese management culture, it has been seen that the decision making processes of the organizations in Japan is quite slow than the other countries. Thus, while working in a Japanese company from a cross cultural background, the employee has to consist the cross cultural communication skills to interact with the employees in a cross cultural context. A cross cultural training for the employee can be suggested which can help the employee to adjust in the new environment. The training would help the employee to understand their business processes, pros and cons, cultural background and language related knowledge. The key differences in business culture including communication style, leadership style and human resource practices would be discussed (Peltokorpi and Froese 2012). In the Japanese companies, most of the employees stay in a company throughout their carrier, thus they are less worried about employee retention. Thus, for the employee working in the Japanese company, it would not be a concern. However, language is a major concern, as 99% people speak in Japanese. The Hofstede’s cultural dimensions theory established by Geert Hofstede discusses about the effects of culture in a society on the member’s values as well as how these values link to behavior. According to this theory, while working in a different cultural background, people have to adapt the norms and values of the new environment in order to sustain in the new environment.
Therefore, the employee has to understand the importance of the culture-difference awareness. The training session would include some basic myths which would help the employee to engage himself in the new environment. These myths are, Don’t Worry Be Happy, All Apologies, Down with the sickness, Hard Day’s night and taking care of Business. Long working hour is common in Japanese company, thus the employee would have to adapt working in longer period. Another important fact in Japanese company is that, people cannot take sick leaves; they believe that it is better to die rather than taking a sick leave. Therefore, the person has to take good care of him in spite of getting sick. Here, employees always needed to apologize, in spite of the situation (Mathews and White 2012). Therefore, the manager or the employee needs to adapt to apologize in this situation for reducing organizational conflict. In addition, the employee also needs to build patience in taking organizational decision making, as this process is slow in the Japanese companies (Froese et al. 2012).
Conclusion
In conclusion, it can be said that this report highlights the management and trends of Japanese cross cultural management. Here, the concept of cross cultural management has been discussed along with the impacts of cross cultural management upon business. In this context, the management and decision making procedures in Japan has been discussed here. In this context, the suggestion for a manager from a different cultural background working in a Japanese company has been discussed. It has been identified that the Japanese decision making process is slower than other nations which is a common issue regarding the cross cultural management. This assignment highlighted how to manage in such situation.
Reference List
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