Background Information
The purpose of this report is to interview Mr. Vincenzo Rossi who is a real estate broker, recently moved to Singapore for work from United States. The interview sheds light on various matters like the basic cultural differences of the two countries, how the colleagues accepted him there, how was the workplace environment in the new country and the difference between the work schedules of the two countries. The report further stresses on the reaction of the person’s family members on how they adopted the new cultures in the new country. Apart from these issues, the report includes the interviewee’s lifestyle of the previous country and the country he currently resides at. In today’s world, it is a fact that cross-cultural work environment in every organization is unavoidable and a person should adapt to the changing environment (Deng, McMillen and Sing 2012).
Mr. Vincenzo Rossi is a reputed real estate broker hailing from America; he is an Italian American and recently moved to Singapore for an assignment. His company recently inaugurated a branch office in Singapore to expand the construction business there. Mr. Rossi earned a reputation in his old country as a successful real estate broker, so his company sent him to Singapore considering he would be the best person for the position of a business developer. Mr. Rossi completed his first six months in the new place and thriving, already within a short time span his name acquired a place in the headline of a reputed newspaper commenting on his achievements.
Initially Mr. Rossi was asked about his assignment and how he prepared for that. Rossi answered in a calm manner that his company is quite interested in expanding their business in Singapore considering the booming market there. He was asked to choose plot where they could build up an at least forty storied housing complex including ten towers and all the facilities like gymnasium, swimming pool, health clinic, super market and many more. He finally chose a plot, which is situated at the central area of the main city. The government owned the land so Rossi had to convince government officials and he successfully came out with a done deal. Now, the constructions have started and the primary foundations are almost done (Tran and Skitmore 2012). It is a big achievement for him as he moved into a new country and within a short time span, he managed to make a name for himself.
Interviewee and Insights
Mr. Rossi was asked about how he faced the organizational cultural differences in Singapore. Answering that, he said that life in United States and in Singapore is very different and his company recruited majority of the native people for clerical and few official posts, so he had to adapt the new organizational culture. The work schedule is also different from what he faced in his own country. In Singapore, his work schedule is more like waking up at 5 to 5.30 AM and he reaches office by 6 AM. 6 to 7 AM they have to make phone calls to United States to discuss about trading, and chalking out plans regarding how to make the next step with his superiors. After that, he takes some rest and gets back to his desk. His actual job starts from this point of time; he has to make contacts with the clients for selling the properties and to give them a basic idea of their projects and finally his duty ends around 5 to 6 pm. On the other hand, in United States office hours is flexible, nobody has to rush everyday to office as for a marketing job there is no strict office hours. People in marketing field do their research works and meetings outside and once a day report at the office (Deng, McMillen and Sing 2014). Rossi noticed that people are more serious for their job in Singapore than America, role of isms playing behind it, as USA is a socialist country and Singapore is a Capitalist country.
The next question he was asked that how many workers did he supervise and did he change his working ways or patterns while working in a new country, and quite amazingly he answered that there is an universal language of marketing so he never faced any trouble regarding language (Crowe et al. 2013). He supervised almost 150 employees and 140 people out of them were native people of Singapore. Initially Rossi thought that he with his team could be like a school of fish out of the pond, but much to his amazement, the native employees greeted them with warmth and made sure that they have no trouble in settling down (Johnston 2014). The work culture is quite different in Singapore in respect to United States, so initially some of the team members were starting to feel lethargic after the day’s work and sometimes lacked no enthusiasm for going to office next day, but with time and with the help of their colleagues, they got out of the situation real fast. Employees under Mr. Rossi’s supervision were so cooperative that he had literally faced no oddities in the workplace (Bowles and Cooper 2012).
Working Environment
In the next pat of the interview, Mr. Vincenzo Rossi was asked that whether his family faced any issues regarding moving into a new country. Rossi smiled and said that initially it was a tough decision for his wife to move along with her children, quite pragmatically Rossi decided to bring his wife along with their baby girl and their elder son stayed back to complete his college degree. It was really a tough decision for him, but to ensure his son’s high grades and happiness he had to make it happen. His baby girl is quite happy as she is too small to feel the difference, but initially his wife could not manage to adjust the life style but later on she engaged herself in various activities, took up a new job and she is fine now.
Cultural differences between the countries United States and Singapore is a matter of fact. Both the countries have a mixed culture as in both countries people from different races, nationality dominate the nation. When Mr. Rossi was asked whether he faced any cultural problems in Singapore, he said he was not. In this case, I think that it is highly possible because in Singapore there are three major communities – such as Community of Indians, Chinese people and of Eurasians (Vasu 2014). They both celebrate their occasions together so in Singapore people celebrate many occasions all together peacefully. Already Rossi and his family witnessed a Christmas celebration in Singapore and they enjoyed to the fullest with the local Christian community and did not really miss hometown that bad (Moran, Abramson and Moran 2014).
When Mr. Vincenzo Rossi and his wife was asked about the day to day living experiences in Singapore, they both said that before they did not have that kind of opinion t make. In last six months, they have explored a part of the city-state and they wish to explore more. According to them in some cases living in Singapore in a bit less expensive, but housing is very expensive there as Singapore is infamous for its inflated housing rents. In a short time they saw one thing is common between majority of the population in Singapore is that people has two top hobbies, to shop and to eat good food. There are many shopping malls in Singapore with many places to eat varying from roadside to medium to luxury eateries (Hanusch 2014). The weather conditions are very different in Singapore with respect to United States. The weather Rossi family has to deal with in Singapore is pretty hot and humid. One simply cannot take a tour of the city in daylight as ten minutes walk can wear a man out with heavy sweating and heat.
Family
With respect to United States, Mr. Rossi asserts that Singapore is a much better place to live in because there are almost no traces of violent criminal activities and petty crimes like theft, or burglary is also very limited. Individuals can leave their luggage in a public place for some time if needed, with no fear of losing them. These kinds of things are not at all expected in United States, as it can be said quite sarcastically that, United States is the land of the brave and home of the world’s largest prison. Singapore Government has some weirdly strict laws in there, as execution is not a big deal for this nation. People are caned, chained and even executed for some crimes committed which can be looked into as not as grave in Country like United States. Arguing that, Singapore government states that they do this, to maintain the living standard high, and to provide healthy environment.
Mr. Rossi completed over six months working in a foreign country like Singapore hailing from United States. He stated that the journey has been quite interesting and he is looking forward for more exciting days to come (McNulty 2016). He has taken up a huge responsibility of moving into another nation helping his company to expand their real estate business. He had to deal with the government officials to snatch a deal as there were plenty of real estate sharks eying the crucial land in the centre part of the city owned by government. They actually marked him as he took away the deal and the land what other native builders have always coveted. He is now more than satisfied with the progress report of his assignment (Sturman, Shao and Katz 2012). He took a few employees from United States and divided them into parts telling them to train the native employees of Singapore their ways of business. His family life is great, spending time with his wife and baby girl in the busy Singapore malls, theatres and other places, as there are plenty of places for entertainment in Singapore. However, they miss their elder son but life there is not as bad as it initially seemed, as Singapore airlines works as a savior for them and with little money they can go and meet their boy or he can come down to Singapore with ease (Heracleous and Wirtz 2012). Mr. Rossi with his futuristic business strategy already earned his name as huge real estate personnel in Singapore and that is a real big achievement. Rossi with his wife settled down quite happily in there so to build a bright future for him and his family Rossi would not consider leaving the place.
Culture
When Mr. Rossi was asked whether he would recommend a friend about taking up a job and to move in to Singapore he nodded his head assertively and said that he would definitely. He said that though housing rents are a bit higher but any individual can maintain a big city life in Singapore without spending a whole lot of money each day (Culbertson and Chen 2013). Moving in to Singapore could be best for business if a man wants to stay there for a couple of years or more and save up some money, and then return to the old country and start something on their own.
In my opinion, Mr. Vincenzo Rossi has done a brilliant job after moving in to a foreign country along with a few team members. He started the business for his company in a new country from a scratch and within a few months he established the banner of his company in the real estate market of Singapore and made it sure that they are going to be the king of the real estate field in Singapore (Duan 2016). According to Hofstede’s 6D model, there are many differences in executing a job in Singapore and United States. Mr. Rossi hails from United States and currently resides at Singapore. The environments in both the places are different and it is a fact that Rossi with brilliant business skills dodged he oddities and made a name for him (Bravo-Bhasin 2017). According to Hofstede’s 6D model it is clear that in United States it is a fact that they believe in justice and liberty for all. In corporate institutions in United States hierarchy is established for easing the operations. Managers and employees talk to each other freely when there is need, the communication is direct and employees are allowed to participate in a debate with the manager regarding work issues (Culbertson and Chen 2013). Americans are used to doing business with people whom they do not even know and they do not shy away from an unknown person to obtain any necessary information. On the other hand, in Singapore the picture is a bit different. In Singapore, social relations are formal. Communication in working sector is quite indirect and the harmony in the groups must be maintained Daniel, Cieslewicz, and Pourjalali 2012). After getting knows the details from Mr Rossi, I think he along with his team from United States had to undergo a lot of change in the workplace and finally they successfully carried out their initial task. After taking the interview for me Mr. Rossi along with his team has done a heroic job as they faced differences in every aspect there, be it cultural or in work environment they had to face many odd situations and they handled things quite well.
Life in Singapore
Conclusion
Thus to conclude, it can be said that it was very generous of Mr. Vincenzo Rossi allotted some time for this interview from his very busy work schedule and I am and will be highly obliged for that. He gave a complete idea of what he had to gone through and how his journey was so far. He shared many personal details regarding his family life and team management at work. Rossi in a calm manner explained how he landed on an unknown land a only through working hard he earned a reputation for him as well as his company. Rossi and his family shared how they adapted the lifestyle of the Singapore and how eventually they mixed with native people and started to enjoy the big city life. The colleagues and the native employees helped them a lot to adjust in the new place, they even find them a great place to live and arranged the domestic help. In short, it can be said that Rossi with his family settled down quite well in a new country like Singapore and Rossi did quite well in his field of work.
References
Bowles, D. and Cooper, C., 2012. The high engagement work culture: Balancing me and we. Springer.
Bravo-Bhasin, M., 2017. Culture shock! A survival guide to customs and etiquette, Singapore.
Crowe, C., Dell’Ariccia, G., Igan, D. and Rabanal, P., 2013. How to deal with real estate booms: Lessons from country experiences. Journal of Financial Stability, 9(3), pp.300-319.
Culbertson, H.M. and Chen, N., 2013. International public relations: A comparative analysis. Routledge.
Daniel, S.J., Cieslewicz, J.K. and Pourjalali, H., 2012. The impact of national economic culture and country-level institutional environment on corporate governance practices. Management International Review, 52(3), pp.365-394.
Deng, Y., McMillen, D.P. and Sing, T.F., 2012. Private residential price indices in Singapore: a matching approach. Regional Science and Urban Economics, 42(3), pp.485-494.
Deng, Y., McMillen, D.P. and Sing, T.F., 2014. Matching indices for thinly-traded commercial real estate in Singapore. Regional Science and Urban Economics, 47, pp.86-98.
Duan, M., 2016. Assessing a successful global business culture: European expatriates in the US and the impact of their cultural training for international organizations (Doctoral dissertation).
Hanusch, F. ed., 2014. Lifestyle Journalism. Routledge.
Heracleous, L. and Wirtz, J., 2012. Strategy and organisation at Singapore Airlines: achieving sustainable advantage through dual strategy. In Energy, Transport, & the Environment (pp. 479-493). Springer London.
Johnston, B., 2014. Making and unmaking difference: a study of expatriate women’s relationship with domestic workers in Singapore (Doctoral dissertation, University of Sussex).
McNulty, Y., 2016. ” Don’t hate me because I’m a foreigner”: Historical and narrative analyses of Western expatriates’ experiences in Singapore. International Journal of Multinational Corporation Strategy, 1(3-4), pp.217-246.
Moran, R.T., Abramson, N.R. and Moran, S.V., 2014. Managing cultural differences. Routledge.
Sturman, M.C., Shao, L. and Katz, J.H., 2012. The effect of culture on the curvilinear relationship between performance and turnover. Journal of Applied Psychology, 97(1), p.46.
Tran, D. and Skitmore, M., 2012. The impact of culture on international management: a survey of project communications in Singapore. Construction Economics and Building, 2(2), pp.36-47.
Vasu, N., 2014. Singapore in 2013: The Times They are a-Changin’. Southeast Asian Affairs, 2014(1), pp.275-289.
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