Managing in a country which has great cultural diversities from your native country is not an easy task. This is because it requires a comprehensive understanding of the cultural values of both the native country and also that of the foreign country in which you are supposed to carry out your business activities.
Here we going to identify Japan as our country of interest and see how we can successfully negotiate for a contract in one of its organisations. We will also look at various cultural aspects of both countries and also how they differ with one another (Douglas, 2001, p. 12). Last but not the least; we will look at some assumptions that exist towards this country.
The Japanese people have various distinct cultural aspects. One of them is that their success is based on communism. Here the individual’s efforts are not highly regarded than that of the community efforts, thus decisions are arrived at group level and responsibilities are also assumed by the community as a whole. Secondly, the culture of Japanese people can be termed as neutral. This is because they does not express their feelings openly.
For example it is taken offensive when people of opposite sex touch in public. Thirdly, it should be noted that it is a cultural practice for the Japanese people not to say “no”, thus they prefer to say “yes” even when it is very evident they mean no. This is a very critical fact to keep in mind especially when negotiating for a contract or any sort of business with Japanese people.
Finally, the Japanese are not very receptive to peoples from other countries (Burke, 2009, p. 11). This implies that, establishing good relationships with them and also being loyal to them is of paramount importance for one to do business with them successfully.
There are some common assumptions which at least everybody has in mind about Japanese. One of them is that, they are perceived to be homogenous. This is because they are assumed to have same race and culture and also use a common language as a means of communication.
Secondly, it is also assumed that some simple business etiquettes such as going into a negation with Japanese without a credit card means no business will take place. Also it is a common assumption that investing in Japan is a difficult task which is likened to water flowing uphill. The sources of information proofing the above assumptions are from comparative business literature and also the mere fact that Japanese consumers cannot buy American cars since they have their own locally made cars (McCarthy, 2009, p. 7).
The Japanese culture differs from my countries culture in a number of aspects. Firstly, the Japanese embrace communism while my country supports individualism which emphasises on personal responsibilities and decision making. Here one will bring some cultural values such as use of credit cards during negotiation commonly known as “meishi” in Japanese language.
Also other cultural values such as dress code for business which is supposed to be dark, conservative attire for men are very important. One will approach the negotiation by first ensuring that the contracts involve products which are not there in the local market. This is because it is very hard to sell what is available in the local market. The approach will vary because of diversity in culture and also the nature of market structures.
Here some factors such as persuasive communication will have to be done differently with a lot of precautions because, Japanese do not talk a lot and they prefer sometimes to be silent. There are some figures which you are not supposed to mention such as fourteen because it is associated with death in Japan thus a bad luck (Kamp, 2004, p. 17).
It is clearly seen that cultural values can cost one a big fortune. This emphasises the paramount importance of comprehensive understanding of cultural values for those undertaking management in multicultural context.
Bibliography
Burke, M. (2009). Performing in a multicultural context. International Journal of Intercultural Relations.
Douglas, M. (2001). Multicultural Management. U.K. McMillan Publishers.
Kamp, A. (2004). Diversity Management in a Danish Context. Journal of Management.
McCarthy, S. (2009). Managing cultural issues in HR strategy. Available from https://www.slideshare.net/hrtalksblog/managing-multi-cultural-issues-in-hr-strategy