When developing a particular strategy, great attention should be paid to various aspects of management. However, some areas need to be especially considered when designing and implementing a project. One of the essential elements of the market in any country in the world is the region’s ethnic characteristics, which sometimes impose specific requirements. This essay considers the importance of cultural considerations in strategy development and their impact on the management process.
First of all, it is necessary to determine which particular cultural factors can influence the formulation of the strategy. At the moment, there is a whole science called cross-cultural management that studies this issue. The discipline covers the intersection of many sciences, such as international business and communications, cross-cultural psychology, and anthropology (Mahadevan, 2020). The combination of so many disciplines and diverse approaches, such as genealogical, allows analyzing the relationship between business and culture from all possible angles. Cross-cultural management’s main idea is to find a unique approach to other people, even if the concept of “others” is continually changing (Mahadevan, 2020). It is necessary to estimate the totality of cultural factors to achieve this goal, the list of which begins with the language. When introducing a project into another culture, it is crucial to take into account the linguistic features that can distort the perception of information. For example, a word that sounds completely innocent in one language may turn out to be close to abusive in another. Secondly, each culture has a range of values, both economic and social, and family. The project, whose strategy is centered around promoting equality, is unlikely to find support in Islamic countries, where religious norms strictly fix the role of women in the family.
In addition to the above, there are many more elements that must be considered when implementing a strategy. For example, a manager will have to pay some attention to intercultural management between employees, since differences in culture will also affect the organization (Thomas & Peterson, 2016). Even if a team is located in only one country, the likelihood of including members from different cultures is quite high. Thus, the presence of such factors undeniably complicates the manager’s work, entangles the implementation of the strategy, and negatively affects the entire process. The higher the number of possible cultural contradictions, the more work will have to be done.
For some companies, these negative factors may become a reason for rethinking and redesigning the entire strategy as a whole, since the emerging costs of solving intercultural problems do not correspond to the expected income. Naturally, there is a second approach, which is to ignore cultural contradictions, but it is fraught with a possible drop in demand. Attempts to take into account the characteristics of the target audience, on the contrary, can raise customer confidence and increase the final profit. Therefore, while cultural factors significantly complicate the current work, in the long term, adherence to such considerations can bring additional benefits.
In this regard, my approach to the issue will change towards cultural characteristics and intercultural interaction when implementing a project. Firstly, neglecting that topic can lead to disastrous consequences, as in the example of the doll given in the text. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct at least basic cultural research before implementing a strategy. Secondly, while complicating the work at the current time, adherence to such principles can bring benefits in the future. Finally, adhering to another nation’s cultural norms is an ethically correct decision that engenders mutual respect and support.
Thus, the problem of cross-cultural management is extremely relevant in modern society. There are many elements to consider, from linguistic differences to various perceptions of the same concepts. Developing a strategy because of such contradictions is very difficult. However, adhering to these principles is ethically correct and helps to avoid conflict, but it can also bring significant benefits over the long term.
References
Mahadevan, J. (2020). The concept of culture in cross-cultural management: Genealogical Considerations. In Szkudlarek, B., Romani, L., Caprar, D., & Osland, J. (Eds.), The SAGE Handbook of Contemporary Cross-Cultural Management. SAGE.
Thomas, D. C., & Peterson, M. F. (2016). Cross-cultural management: Essential concepts. Sage Publications.