Cross-culture management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Cross-culture management - Essay Example Some of the major economic indicators of internationalization such as FDIs, international sales and overseas profits have been showing steady rise over the years. Enhanced multinational operations have led to increased multiculturalism in the organization. This has subsequently led to greater interaction and cohesiveness among employees and managers coming from different cultures and backgrounds. The study of cross cultural management necessarily focuses on studying behavioural aspects of individuals in the organizations located in different cultures and nations in the world. These studies essentially focus on the description and comparison of organizational behaviours across nations and cultures. More importantly it focuses on the interaction between people coming from different cultures and working in the same organization. These studies are found to be extremely useful for organizations while devising their strategies. Multinational organizations pay particular attention to the st udy of these literatures as it helps them devise international strategies. These literatures depicts past circumstances and puts forth evidence of different multi-cultural situations and their implications at the workplace which essentially contributes relevant and crucial factors based on which organizations devise international strategies and policies (Adler, 1983 p.1). The project seeks to bring forth usefulness of these academic literatures on national cultures which help MNCs devise their strategies. In this context, it brings forth the major cultural differences between the developed, underdeveloped and developing nations and also the typical differences existing between the western and eastern cultures of nations. Those aspects are essentially focused on which influences international strategies of organizations. Usefulness of the academic literature on national culture for helping a MNC devise its strategy Team working and functioning Multinational organizations are commonly characterized for conducting transnational projects. They are also conducted with the purpose of saving the cost of double parallel works in subsidiaries and making the maximum use of complementary resources. For more than 20 years, researchers have focused and shown that management practices necessarily remain embedded in national cultures and they have also regarded that the search for an effective and universal management style is meaningless. According to the views of Alderfer & Smith, (1982) individuals embedded in a particular culture tend to have and share certain common world views (Chevrier, 2003, p.142). These include particular ways of cooperating, conflict management, authority acceptance, or simple communication techniques. According to d’Iribarne, Henry, Segal, Chevrier, & Globokar, 1998; Triandis, (1994) researchers conducted on cross cultures depicts that national cultures can explain variations in attitude between 25% and 50%. However, there has not been any clear establishment of the fact that variety of world views affects team functioning positively or negatively. The conclusion derived from empirical research brings forth mixed views on the subject (Chevrier, 2003, p.142). On one hand it is advocated that the diversity of worldviews