Tabular notes
Introduction
An Organization result into norms that shape the behaviors of both individuals and groups within the organization. With the increased internationalization in today’s business world, most companies are doing business across many nations. With every country having its own communication habits and styles, these companies face cultural differences amongst its diverse employees.
According to Murray (2009, para. 11), there is therefore the need to invest on cultural preparedness and trainings on the workforce. Cultural barriers affect the business’ bottom line (Campbell 2005, p. 102).
Mead and Andrews (2009, p. 4) argue that culture influences the way an organization responds to its environment, roles, structure, how members communicate, make decisions and also they respond to the organizational structure. The authors indicate that international managers need to determine the amount of weight to exert on culture in relation to other factors while predicting or explain a behavior. They should also be able to determine the amount of weight on culture that can be administered when responding to an action or a behavior.
Discussion
Cultural Miscommunications causes wastage of time in the process of trying to understand what the other person is saying, the end result is low morale on workers hence the business fails to capitalize on the benefits of having employees from diverse cultures.
Language barrier is a major cause of misunderstandings among employees. Related to this is colloquialism, dialects and accents. Cultural awareness is the cure for this barrier. Cultural awareness provides the foundation for intercultural communication sensitivity. Recent research suggests that individuals with such sensitivity tend to do well in intercultural communication settings.
Companies should therefore seek to curb this behavior by promoting acceptance of other people’s cultural differences despite the difference in identities. Culture should not define the position that an individual holds in a certain company. Adapting equal opportunities for all is therefore unavoidable for any organization.
Another cause of cultural conflicts is the differences that arise from social norms. A person may be treated differently depending on the country that she is doing business in. An example of this is female employees operating in Africa. The social norms of some countries in Africa are different from those of Western Europe. Some African countries view a woman as a person who should always be under someone authority.
They do not command authority and therefore expected not head a corporate. If an employee deployed from such a country to work in a community that accepts a woman to command power and hold a managerial position. Then there is likely to emerge cultural misunderstandings while trying to conduct business with such a company (Murray 2009, para.12)
According to Murray, (2009, para. 13), there is no single approach to a certain cultural problem. Therefore, one can apply different concepts in different situations at a given time. While extending its operations abroad, an international business must arm its staff with simple cross cultural information to reduce occurrences of cultural barriers. By so doing, the company would be informing its workforce about the common behaviors in workplace that cause misinterpretations among employees.
Managing cross-cultural differences in international businesses is not a one day thing. Managers and employees need to learn about cross-cultural skills (Mead & Andrews 2009, p. 4).
According to Murray (2009, para. 12), it may involve developing tools for cross- cultural awareness like computer developed programs that thoroughly offers information concerning different time zones and the possible ways of communication while minimizing misunderstanding. The program would also address common cultural attitudes associated with gender.
This is a common social issue that cause misunderstanding among diverse teams. Work practices and attitude differences can be disastrous in international business. This is a result of the different ethnic groups involved. It is more effective to practice the solutions in real situations other that just training individuals as formality.
Apart from just addressing cultural differences, it is important for international businesses to utilize the benefits that result from cultural differences. Managers operating in such businesses must be able to export ideas and implement the ideas in unique ways to fit their market segment and needs.
The increased competition in today’s business world demands that companies adapt to quality practices while at the same time capitalize on the competitive advantage that springs from the probability of traditional or non-traditional concerns. A study on quality management indicates that learning about the diversity of workforce cultures will enable managers acquire similar and effective management practices (Murray 2009, para. 13).
Cultural and national boundaries have major roles in Total Quality Management. This is because priorities, performances and practices vary across nations. Some of the factors that affect effective quality practice in an organization or nation may include customer focus, the level of management commitment, training, strategic planning, teamwork, employee’s involvement among others.
National culture is an entity while discussing about quality management that cannot be ignored. Research indicates that deeply rooted cultures affect quality approaches that managers take despite having similar challenges to adopt change while operating in different societies.
Certain cultures in a nation function best if specific quality programs are executed than others. The implementation of quality management majorly depends on the different issues related to the national culture. Change is the main factor that fosters Quality management. However, research shows that the culture of a nation is resistant to change.
The main argument behind the results of such a research is that although the quality practices may go through certain changes, the basic values accompanying those practices are resistant to change. In such a case, global firms must align their quality practices in such a way that the local national culture embraces them. However this does not imply giving in the veracity of the policies governing them. Instead, it is crucial to develop effective programs that match the local culture.
In countries like Canada, Belgium and also Israel, different national and ethnic cultures co-exist (Vecchi & Brennan 2009, p.149- 164). With the globalization and human mobility, the result would be intensified national and ethnic co- existences. However, the differences in sub cultures may be heightened due to the differences in religion and language (Trompenaars & Woolliams 2003, p. 38). In such a case, cultural homogeneity may be impossible to achieve in a certain nation.
On the basis of the foregoing arguments, it is important to ensure that an organization adopts an effective mode of communication. Therefore I intend to adopt strategic commitment in handling any cultural differences that I encounter within my work place. I also need to accept that an organization is composed of different people from different origins, culture, language, and attitudes. It is important to manage al situations at workplace effectively with the common goal of attaining success and transforming the company into a global business.
Culture conflicts may lead to superior, aggressive and hostile attitudes and actions among co- workers. It is therefore imperative for all individuals within an organization to learn about other groups within the company. This is the easiest way to discover that everybody, despite their culture and experiences, has the same high and low points in life as everyone.
People should be open to learning experiences through foreign books and newspapers that offer such insights. Managers should encourage programs that foster friendship relationships like team building and cultural clubs. Friendship cuts through many misconceptions because it allows people to see others as individuals rather than a collection of traits.
Conclusion
With the rapid growth of business world, any organization that wishes to establish a competitive edge in the market needs to adapt a globalization strategy that aims at overcoming cross cultural barriers. Globalization entails total integration of languages, economies, nations, cultures and technologies. Research has shown that customers greatly prefer to buy in their own language.
While studies show that there exist a relationship between cultural dimensions and quality management, there is need to reconcile some other limitations. This is because there are possibilities of having different corporate, industrial and sectors coexisting within the same firm yet may conflict and imbalance the national culture.
Reference List
Campbell, J., 2005, Business Ethics. (1st Ed). Oxon: Routledge Mead, R. & Andrews, T., 2009, International management culture. 4 ed. England: John Wiley & Sons.
Murray, S., 2009. Cross-cultural training. London: Financial Times. [On-line].
Trompenaars, F. & Woolliams, P., 2003. Business across cultures. (1st Ed). England: Capston.
Vecchi, A. & Brennan, L., 2009 Quality management: a cross-cultural perspective. International Journal, Vol.16, No. 2, pp. 149-164.
Self Evaluation
From the experience of doing the above task, I have polished my research skills by utilizing an electronic library. To compile a comprehensive analysis on how organizations should manage the diverse cultures of employees to work for the good of the company, then there was need to research on the subject thoroughly so as get an insight of how different successful global companies manage their employees. These cases would only be found through a wide research.
I have also learnt that reading and note taking is a fundamental step when writing about an academic essay. In order to compile an academic essay, a writer should keenly read through the provided or available reading material in library or electronic sources and note down major points from which arguments in the body will be generated.
The choice of language determines whether or not I will be able to explain clearly the points generated from the reading materials. I have learnt that to effectively communicate I have to choose the right words and tenses when constructing sentences. This is because an academic essay requires the use of correct grammar.
The tutorials helped me ensure to structure the academic essay in a way that ideas progressively follow each other. This is an essential step which I have learnt when writing an academic essay.
Construction of arguments is another essential thing that I have learned. I have known that in an argument, you have to show your agreement as well as your disagreement on the topic of discussion. There after, you can give your stand or general opinion concerning the topic in question.
I have as well learned that structuring my written work is important since it helps the reader to quickly capture my point of argument. In addition, it gives my work a beautiful look and thus is attractive to the eye making the reader want to read more.
I have leaned that organizing my time and especially by using a time schedule helps improves on time management. Similarly, it helps me to spend quality time on my studies as well as leisure. Organizing time also helps avoid last minute rush when it comes to revising for examination as well as handing over assignment.
Tutorials play a big role when it comes to handling of topics under different perspectives. Every one approaches issues in different view point depending on what motivates them. Tutorials therefore become an avenue for such disclosures. I have learned that for as long as you are keen on other people’s arguments, you learn to approach issues at a broad perspective.
Next time when given an assignment, I will try as much as possible to have different approaches to it. I will also ensure that I organize and structure my work in more presentable way.
I feel confident about myself. I feel I can be able to achieve the set goals. However I need to improve on the way I look at things. I need to adopt a broader way of solving and judging certain issues.