Introduction
Cultural difference is a fact that multinational companies have to deal with in their day to day operations given the fact that they operate in different countries. The countries not only have different social orientation but also varying religious backgrounds (Tehranian and Jeannie 2006).
Diversity is an inherent characteristic that is found in virtually every aspect of human life. Culture being a unique aspect of human life differs from one region to the other (Moran, Harris & Sarah 2010).
It is, therefore, very difficult for any company to venture into international markets without taking into consideration the cultural differences that exist, how the differences will affect performance and how the same can be managed (Sylvie 2003).
In order to manage cultural diversity properly, it is important to understand the causes of existing cultural differences, their effects and strategies that can be used to manage the differences.
Importance of Managing Cultural Diversity
If not well managed, cultural diversity can be detrimental to an organization or even the society as a whole. Culture can be defined as the collection of common believes, values and norms among a group of people which influences the behaviors, reactions and day-to-day activities of these people (Nelson and James 2012).
Moreover, culture determines what is generally accepted as proper conduct within a community. It should be noted that culture is not a trait that can be acquired by birth because it is not determined by hormones, but it is rather imparted into a person through the process of socialization as one interacts with other people.
In addition, it is important to note that culture is not very dynamic and the differences that exist have therefore remained relatively similar over a long period of time (Lewer and Hedrick 2007).
Given the cultural differences that have been depicted to be present in the world, it is important for people to be aware of the effects they may have on their firms. Culture determines how people conduct themselves and these includes the attitudes that people will have towards work and how they will manage time.
Furthermore, culture influences national issues such as the socio-economical factors, political aspects and international relations (Kwok and Solomon 2006). For example, it is a common belief in Saudi Arabia that personal relationships come first before business and this highly affects the outcomes of various business dealings.
It is also important to note that since culture involves internalization of norms, it ends up influencing the social life of people thus determining the materialistic and individualistic aspects of life, as well as the willingness of people to change.
This highly influences the probability that people will adapt to certain ways of life which are beneficial to an organization (Adler and Allison 2008). For example, the Islamic law requires that men and women cannot work together.
As a result, firms are compelled to separate working stations if both men and women have to be employed. It should be noted that this not only increases expenses, but also prompts the change of rules of employment (Light 2003).
On the other hand, strict Muslim teachings discourage accident insurance and thus require businesses to operate by faith in God. Though governments have repealed this requirement, it is still practiced in some other places and highly affects organizations incase of accident where they might not have enough capital to start again.
By properly managing cultural diversity, an organization attracts employees with different talents to its workforce. This is because people feel free to show and use their talents. As a result, employees can highly contribute to organizational growth by using their skills to increase efficiency in production.
On the same note, employees feel more comfortable when their diversity is accommodated (Deresky 2008). Moreover, employees will easily leave a firm where their diversity is not well managed because of the conflicts that are likely to prevail.
Therefore, managing cultural diversity ensures that a firm is able to retain employees thus reducing the cost of recruiting and training new employees time and again.
In addition, acknowledging cultural diversity helps in eliminating unnecessary tension between employees and management, as well as among employees (Ball & Walter 1999). Resistance especially from employees is eliminated and this ensures that time is not wasted on solving petty issues.
In a different cultural setting, it is important for an organization to adapt to the local culture if it has to win the market. People will want to purchase products from a firm that understands their culture (Abdallah 2001).
In this regard, accommodating cultural diversity translates into positive attitude of employees towards work thus increasing output (Long 2005). To thrive in a foreign country, managers have to study the ways of the people there and ensure that they understand them.
It is therefore paramount that managers should avoid ethnocentrism and parochialism but be rather ready to adapt to the local culture. Trying to bring a total overhaul of affairs will not only meet resistance from the locals, but will also make it difficult for the company in a place like Saudi Arabia (Inglehart and Wayne 2000).
In Saudi Arabia, religion comes first before work which is contrary to other cultures where work is given priority to religion. It is, therefore, vital that any organization gives this a serious thought.
Strategies of Managing Cultural Diversity
In every aspect of life, the juniors usually follow what the seniors do. Therefore, organizations aiming at managing cultural diversity should start by implementing a plan where the managers and leaders will be required to incorporate diversity policies in every department of the organization (Bowen 2008).
Arguably, success of cultural diversity management plan is highly dependent on the cooperation and participation of the management. Most importantly, an organization needs to assess the cultural diversity and evaluate it through a survey acceptable by all employees.
Additionally, surveys and interviews will provide first hand information of what is actually happening on the ground, besides presenting the opportunity of participating and thus fully understanding the effect of cultural differences (Cercik 1992).
Furthermore, the two will enable collection of recent data as well as paving way for understanding how recent social-cultural changes are affecting organizations. This enables the management to know the challenges and obstacles that result from cultural diversity and the policies that can be applicable (Christopher 2006).
On the same note, cultural frameworks have been used by many scholars in the past to study the cultural differences (Sirmon and peter 2004). Though they are not as objective as may be required, they will provide a good platform to understand national cultural differences (McSweeney 2002).
It is important to note that hospitality department deals with people from different backgrounds. Therefore, any firm in the industry needs to train its employees on diversity accommodation and prepare them to be for culture shock at any time.
Notably, continuous training about cultural diversity should be made part and parcel of the company’s daily programs (McSweeney 2002). Diversity training is a strategy that is vital in shaping a firm’s diversity policy.
On the same note, an all inclusive strategy goes a long way in ensuring that there is no culture discrimination in an organization. As a result, it is vital that an organization embraces culture diversity by including in its management people from different cultural backgrounds (Maddox 1993).
Therefore, it should be noted that international firms can also include the locals in their management team to ensure that cultural issues can be addressed accordingly.
Additionally, continuous training on matters appertaining cross-cultural issues is really important in improving capabilities and flexibility among the employees (Mead and Tim 2009).
Similarly, ensuring that all employees are included in the process of coming up with policies dealing with cultural diversity will enhance employee satisfactory. In addition, freedom of expression should be encouraged so as to foster a sense of equality among employees in the organization.
In addition, culture affects other functions of an organization including the responsibilities of employees and not only how they relate to each other both in and out of the work place, but also how they relate to the organization in general.
In the Saudi culture for example, a woman comes second to a man and thus men believe that they should always be the ones to lead (Kogan 2003).
It will be therefore difficult if not impossible for the companies having departments headed by women to thrive because the morale of men working under women will be affected thus affecting output (Pagell, Jeffrey & Chwen 2005).
In this regard, a firm will need to conform to the culture of where it is situated because people view their culture as being superior compared to other cultures (Triandis 2004).
While each employee should stand an equal chance of promotion or recruitment and people from different cultural background should be employed in the organization, integration should be encouraged (Schnelder & Barsoux 2003).
Ways of bonding employees who will usually have various differences should be formulated and implemented to ensure that employees are made to work as a team. Coming up with organizational culture has proofed to be very effective in enhancing togetherness among the employees, hence making them forget their differences (Russell 2007).
Challenges of Managing Cultural Diversity
Though managing cultural diversity is a crucial aspect in any organization, it does not come without challenges. To begin with, there is communication barrier between different cultural backgrounds.
Diversity management programs depend on the possibility of overcoming cultural and language barriers for their success (Ramady 2010). In this regard, all employees in an organization need to cooperate and enhance their morale; if the programs have to see the light of the day.
Unfortunately, this is not the case and often the programs meet cultural and language obstacles which reduce their degree of success (Hodgetts, Luthans & Jonathan 2005). On the same note, there is a tendency of employees, especially those from the dominant culture, resisting the changes that are implemented.
It is not usual that all employees will be happy with the fact that the social and cultural composition of the firm is changing (Sun 2009). People who are always comfortable doing things the way they are used to will be less likely to embrace changes.
The whole idea of implementing diversity policies is in itself a challenge. A firm needs to implement policies that are all inclusive and which will be acceptable by every stakeholder.
The process of carrying out assessment and coming up with quality and accurate results is tricky, since the possibility of people pretending and giving false answers is high (Sirmon & Peter 2004). On the same note, prejudices and stereotyping also impairs the success of diversity policies.
There is a probability that some employees, including the managers themselves, will be having bad experiences with people from a particular cultural background. As a result, accepting the inclusion or even suggestions given by these people becomes a problem thus, making implementation of diversity policies highly ineffective (Ahlstrom & Garry 2009).
Conclusion
It is a big fallacy for anybody to start imagining that a firm can operate without taking into consideration cultural diversity. Organizations are focusing on international markets for expansion of their customer base.
It is important to note that foreign subsidiaries are compelled to work in different cultural settings from what they are used to (Javidan & Robert). People are socialized and trained in different ways.
Consequently, there will always be diversity in the way people behave and how they approach various issues. Therefore, managing cultural diversity is a necessity for any organization. Consequently, firms are left with no choice but to endeavor and ensure that cultural diversity are formulated and implemented.
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