Developing Cultural Flexibility

Developing Cultural Flexibility Portfolio December 14 2011 Contents page Section Page Number Q1 What is the signifi ejectce of national identity operator as a source of case-by-cases refinement? 2 Q2 -In what aspects of effect and employee relations should international managers be awargon of apparitional sensitivities? 3-4 Q3 -What be Hofstedes last dimensions? What correlations does Hofstede engage among groups of countries and how valid be they for you? 5 Q4 Why do firms internationalize? What are the implications of doing so for their office staff as employers and how will it shanghai your role in the incoming as an employee? 6-7 Bibliography 8 Q1 -What is the signifi rumpce of national identity as a source of individuals glossiness? I begin with a explanation of culture the ideas, customs and social behaviour of a particular bon ton (Oxford Dictionaries, 2011). In terms of the question I am looking at how of importly ideas, customs and social behaviour o f a nations identity affects that of the individuals culture. Its important to talk most stereotypes, they effect how muckle perceive the individual and their culture, also it lowlife affect the individual as they may alter their culture to all(prenominal)ow them to al-Qaeda start from their national stereotype e. . masses may stereotype Italians as loud and arrogant but most Italians may limiting their culture to quiet and well-mannered to make themselves more appealing for jobs abroad. Hofstede wrote that culture is A collective programming of minds, and to some extent I agree with him, race are proud of where they come from and like to promote their nation d wholeness their actions, this toilette mould their actions to some extent. An example is whilst I have been at university I have weard with a Chinese student, we have both express that we had expectations of for individually one other onwards we had even talked.He expected me to be obsessed with football and beer, whilst I thought he would be a great cook and clever. This ability to anticipate an individuals culture because of the national identity ignore be a great beginning point for fri give noniceship, but it loafer have a negative effect. empiric learning plays a huge part in our development by child hood, we watch and repeat what our parents and family do. If we have a problem we plenitude with it how we see them deal with it, I weigh that this is how individuals develop their culture, not so much from their national identity.Edgar Scheins belief is that culture is shared systems of beliefs and value, that culture is the answers to problems. These answers can be learned as a nation, as part of a family or as an individual. It is how individuals deal with these problems that makes their culture individual to them. Although Scheins 3 levels of culture can to some extent be related to national identity for example the Values and Beliefs and Artefacts and creations. Individua ls belief can be d witness to their nations beliefs, although I think that would have been more applicable in the past.With the development of the lucre and communication methods I think that individuals now have the media to find out and decide their own culture. People are travelling all over the world, picking up bits of other cultures and adding to their own. It was similar when America was discovered, people from all over the world moved at that place bringing their own culture, although in that location is an American identity, there are patches of America that retain the culture that their people bought with them all.To conclude I believe that national identity is fairly significant to individuals culture, more so if the individual moves abroad than if they endure in their demesne. Q2 -In what aspects of work and employee relations should international managers be aware of religious sensitivities? Religion is important throughout the world, with countries becoming more multicultural contrasting religions are clashing leading to war and strained international relationships. This can happen on a smaller scale within organisations.It is up to managers and employees to be aware of each others beliefs and respect each other enough to allow them to have their own beliefs. This can be a minefield for todays international managers where e caliber is key to trail an effective, productive place to work. Globalisation, development in technology, cheaper transportation and international bonds (e. g. European Union) has led to an increase in multi-religious staff, which if international managers are aware of and can work with, it has the likely to declare a lot to organisations, employees bringing disparate ideas and dvice to the table because of their incompatible religions and knowledge. A difficult example of managing religious sensitivities is allowing Sikhs to adopt their ceremonial knife known as Kirpan with them at work. It poses difficult probl ems, one being that its dangerous and could create a lot of latent hostility within an organisation. It is an article of faith for the Sikh but does that mean its ok to carry a weapon at work?I gear up an article on the BBC which was headed Sikhs should be allowed to carry ceremonial knives in schools can religion ever justify loopholes in the law Although this is based on schools, it carries the same principle. Should religion be more important than the law of the ground? internationalistic managers can experience culture shock on 3 contrastive levels 1. Emotions e. g. euphoria to depression 2. Thinking e. g. from stereotyping to culturally effective persuasion 3. Social Skills and Identity e. g. from national to transnational social skills and an international identity (Source Marx 1999) global managers postulate to master these 3 levels to achieve global focusing which Bartholomew and Adler (1996) define as The need for a conceptual shift from a hierarchical perspectiv e of cultural influence, compromise and adaption to one of collaborative brand cultural learning. This is the aim of all global organisations, although it can be a very slow and hard process it is important and the end result would be a driven team of respected employees. International managers need to be aware of religious holidays, example Jewish festivals, Christmas and so on Should they allow every religious holiday or none?Managers need to prepare for religious holidays e. g. ensure that they have enough stock over the Christmas period when sales increase. A manager cannot be seen to favour definite religions as this could lead to discrimination and problems within the workforce. With globalisation comes an expectancy to work together as a team, not be seen as withdraw religious groups who are distant to each other. It is partly the managers job to ensure this happens but its also down to the individuals. We live in a global community, it is now time to start exploitation a multicultural organisational community.This will be a real streamlet for international managers and organisations. Q3 -What are Hofstedes culture dimensions? What correlations does Hofstede make among groups of countries and how valid are they for you? Geert Hofstede (b. 1928) carried out a cross cultural study of 116,000 employees of IBM in 40 countries. From his results he sorted national cultures in terms of five orientations which are (D. A. BUCHANAN, 2010) 1. Social optence Cultures in the East e. g. India, China have a collective interest where the interests of the group are more important than each individuals gains or praise.Whereas the western counties e. g. UK, America have a more individual approach where the individual interests are seen as more important, this idea of personalised gain above shared gain. 2. Power Orientation The idea that some national cultures accept that some people are of a high authority, they accept the hierarchical idea of power on leve ls, that some people are born into power whereas other cultures believe that you earn power, and that there should be minimum power difference as it exploits others. 3. Uncertainty Orientation This describes how cultures react and adapt to change and uncertainty.He found that some cultures prefer structure and consistency and find the uncertain threatening whilst others relish change and new opportunities. 4. Goal Orientation Also known as manly and feminine culture orientation. This finds out what motivates people to try and achieve their goals. The mannish orientation is more aggressive assertive behaviour, where material possessions, power and specie are motivators. The feminine orientation is the more passive side, where the wellbeing and quality of life of other people is a motivator. 5.Time Orientation This looks at how different cultures work, is it with short term goals in mind or do they plan for the long term. Those that value long term planning, look earlier to fut ure market positions, they ensure that they are ready to meet future commitments. Dedication and hard work are essential. Whereas the short term vista look for short term profits and value past traditions. Hofstedes has been criticised over his work, he conducted his survey for IBM because they were concerned with declining morale, it wasnt designed to distinguish ifferent national cultures. The use of a survey is also criticised, Many researchers point a survey is not an appropriate instrument for accurately find out and measuring cultural disparity. (M. L. JONES, 2007) Another criticism is that Hofstedes study makes the guess that the population is a homogenous whole, whereas there are always cultural units and subdivisions within society. It seems to ignore the fact that communities can have very different cultures to the one that is seen as the national culture.It would be impossible to accurately present all different cultures per nation. Hofstedes is more of an overview of the national culture and should not be employ to stereotype the whole population. Q4 Why do firms internationalise? What are the implications of doing so for their role as employers and how will it affect your role in the future as an employee? More firms are beginning to internationalise and try their hand at the global market, with the goal of making a profit and increasing it year after year. This requires businesses to adapt to the changing times.It has and placid is becoming much easier to internationalise, with the development of the internet, faster and cheaper transport overseas, vast improvements in infrastructure and if you are part of a trading power e. g. The European Union, the international trading laws are much more flexible than they used to be. More Benefits for firms to internationalise Location Find a more attractive market overseas where they wish to operate. May find a cardinal location for main distribution centre to save on speech costs.Low cost and labour charges Companies want to produce goods quickly and chintzily so that they can get the biggest return on them e. g. Nike has manufactured its products in sweatshops because people are so desperate for work that they can hire them very little. The BBCs panorama found as recently as in the year 2000, 12 year old girls in Cambodia were running(a) 16 hours a day for little pay because they were so poor. This can lead to implications for firms that do this, bad publicity, drop in sales and a tarnished global image.Less competition Large organisations are always on the lookout for gaps in the market that they can exploit, this includes overseas markets. If they feel that they offer something new or of a better quality than anything in that country they will try to set up there to capitalise. The image down the stairs clearly shows the three stages of internationalization, with many firms hoping to remain in stage 2 with the positive factors although on either side there are probable implications. Source Contractor et al. 2003, p. 27 A good example of internationalisation gone wrong is when Vale from Brazil bought out Inco in Canada.It seemed a straight forward move, Inco and Vale had both been successful in their own markets. It turned out to be a bad combination because they didnt understand or accept each others different culture on how they handled business and each other. It ended up be Vale a lot of money and tarnished their image and reputation. I think that as a future employee internationalisation will affect me greatly, I chose this course because I think that understanding and respecting other cultures is very important, before any business is done it is important to learn what makes people tick, accordingly you know how to motivate them to a certain extent.In my opinion it can be hugely overlooked, if it wasnt I think that many disagreements could be averted. Dealing with people is a huge part of business whether its potential investors or a fellow employee, if you understand peoples cultures very often you can learn from them, leading to very clever organisational cultures that can motivate and revivify the majority of the workforce leading to a smoother internationalisation process. Bibliography D. A. BUCHANAN, A. A. (2010). organisational Behaviour. Essex Pearson Education Ltd 2010. Kenyon, P. (2000, October 15). Gap and Nike No Sweat? Retrieved December 13, 2011, from BBC http//news. bc. co. uk/1/hi/programmes/panorama/970385. stm Loerrach. (2003). The impact of internatioalization on organizational culture a comparative study of international US and German companies, 7-48. M. L. JONES. (2007). Hofstede Culturally Questionable, 7-8. RICKY W, P. M. (2007). International Business 5th Edition. GRIFFIN. Roache, R. (2010, February 9). Should religion be an excuse for carrying daggers? Retrieved December 13, 2011, from BBC http//news. bbc. co. uk/1/hi/magazine/8506074. stm Unknown. (2011, December 13). Retrieved Decem ber 13, 2011, from Oxford Dictionaries http//oxforddictionaries. com/definition/culture