Intercultural competence for managers
As the size of the world markets increase, there is a need for standardization in an organizations system, its design and its procedures etc. There is a need to effectively communicate and deal with the people from different cultures properly, and that’s what intercultural competence is. A global manager needs to keep different cultures in mind before making decisions and dealing with his employees successfully. When working across cultures you have to understand the interests and desires of different stakeholders of a firm, to have the knowledge required, and come up with effective strategies. Intercultural competence helps a person to forget their own logic and idioms so that
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I like to think collectively and as a team. I’m also very cooperative and I usually like to work in teams. Also I would say I’m highly adaptable. I have the required experience to adapt to the diverse cultures.
Stereotyping:
This is something that can be very harmful to other workers working in that organization. They can lead to low morale as they don’t think of a team as a whole and basically think of their own. If in a team people are from different cultures and there is stereotyping present then the team wont be that successful, people will start to act selfishly and this can harm the company’s profit as well as lead to loss of employees and a bad reputation, further it will hurt the sales of the firm and lower its productivity. To avoid such behavior it is important to know about the different culture whereabouts and apart from that you can try to come up different approaches and style to avoid them, also you would have to change the attitude towards them which can further help in reducing stereotyping.
Past experience:
2 months ago after a few weeks when the university started, the teacher in of the modules made random groups in the class. There was one student from Bulgaria who was in my group. During the activity, that we were given, we had to do a thing collectively, but instead of working together she just her part and sent it to us and refused working together because she said that’s how they usually do. The rest of us were
Lastly, another aspect about me is my flexibility not physically but emotionally I am willing to learn from the other Staff Members and respect new ideas and opinions on things in other words I am "open". Additionally, I am very active in-game and offline if I am not Online I am usually on MineChat or the Forums.
Interpersonal cross-cultural competencies and capabilities are critical to the US Army’s strategic objective in the future operating environment. The operational environment requires a holistic view of political, military, economic, social, information, and infrastructure systems. A country’s culture can be defined as a programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of a region or nation from another. South Africa has a rich and complex culture and history of its own since its independence from Britain nearly a century ago. This essay will go on to discuss in depth the culture and history, as well as geography and military history and concluding with an understanding of how the people of South Africa live.
Since workers have unique experiences and perceptions, it can be a challenge to form teams to increase productivity. Some cultures are good team players, but others are more individualists who value individual accomplishments. Another weakness that diversity can be disadvantageous for the business is that within the group it form xenophobic barriers and cause cultural clashes between co-workers. Also, a diverse workforce can have tremendous misunderstandings when communication is not effective. A language barrier can affect productivity because workers may not be able to follow orders. Moreover, communication barriers can impede a positive relationship with customers and suppliers. Finally, diverse groups can have more challenge to socially interact with each other since they have different values and behave differently. Workers sharing cultural and language similarities might start forming exclusive groups, this can hinder teamwork productivity and share of
When it comes to global management, a manager must be educated on the country in which he or she is doing business with. Global managers are expected to effectively interact with employees, supplier’s customers or partners from foreign countries in order to reach their organization’s goals. In addition they must be well cultured and adaptable, lack of these skills can be detrimental to a business’ success and can lessen opportunities for that company. For example, my Kinicki and Williams (2013) talk about three different style of management, which are geocentric, ethnocentric, and polycentric. The textbook confirmed that being a geocentric is most effective, out of the three. A geocentric manager acknowledges that there are similarities and differences between their native culture and the one which they are in now. Furthermore, instead of using the method which is familiar to them, a geocentric creates a balance between how things are done in that particular country and how it is done at their homeland. Overall the key to dealing with cultural differences is being well-informed of the various customs and the culture, being able to adapt to the environment, and also learning the differences and similarities between another country and home. (Kinicki & Adams, 2013, p.105)
international relations, today organizations face a need to equip the majority of their leaders and
Cross culture is the interaction of people from different backgrounds in the business world. Cross culture is a vital issue in international business, as the success of international trade depends upon the smooth interaction of employees from different cultures and regions. A growing number of companies are consequently devoting substantial resources toward training their employees to interact effectively with those of companies in other cultures in an effort to foment a positive cross-cultural experience. Cross culture can be experienced by an employee who is transferred to a location in another country. The employee must learn the language and culture of those around him, and vice-versa. This can be more difficult if this person is acting in a managerial capacity; someone in this position who cannot effectively communicate with or
What are the seven cultural variables in the communication process? Explain 1)Attitudes, 2) Social organization, 3) Thought patterns, 4) Roles, 5), Language, 6) Nonverbal communication, 7) time.
Emerald Article: Managing Relationship Marketing: A cross-cultural perspective of a Chinese Market Len Tiu Wright
Managers were concerned about knowing and understanding each and every perspective of their employee’s cultures. As they know that without studying or knowing the culture, coordination cannot be built between the employees. It is the existing perspective of managers dealing with cross-cultural management (Sultana, 2013).
Cultural diversity within an international team could be a source of strength. Researchers indicate that a multinational team might have a big advantage over a homogenous team. Group diversity enhances decision-making and creativity through bringing different worldviews, experiences, and perspectives together. Cultural diversity makes a team have enhanced innovative capacity because the members generate multiple viewpoints towards a common problem. Therefore, cultural diversity within a multicultural team is a source of different solutions for a problem. The acquisition of a second language is associated with cognitive complexity, which improves the ability to solve problems. This is so because the group members will have a much better ability to speak more than one language (Deresky, 2011).
As a manager of a multi-cultural and international team of people your understanding of their culture, their clients and the way of doing business in their part of the world is your key to success.
The importance of international manager is very important specially in the case of business contexts within the firm. For example, managers from a foreign parent company need to understand that local employees from the host country may require different organization structure and HRM procedures and this become easily for firms to sell their product and marketing their product successfully to their foreign customers.
A global manager has to consult with the legal services in order to comply with the host countries legal parameters. This is imperative for long-term relationship between such corporations and the host country's government. This enables managers of international corporations to find legal recourse incase a problem arises. Such problems can only be addressed through local interpretation and enforcement. There are a few exceptions in countries like China where financial and legal systems are not responsive to the demands of the international business community. In fact, it is in China where the government does not stand behind the commitments of its state owned enterprises. China has a reputation for protecting its powerful companies. The zeal with which China pursues foreign trade is not commensurate to its resolve to embrace global legal norms (Deresky, 2011).
When dealing with intercultural business a person should be well aware of the characteristics of the culture he is to be in contact with. He should be well prepared to face attitudes not common in his home country.