Managing across cultures and country borders

Meyer developed the Culture Map tool intended to aid business leaders in negotiating the complexities of cross-cultural and country borders. Business leaders are encouraged not to study and approach each cultural setting uniquely in spite of the company’s cultural practices. The people management techniques that work in Germany will not work in Kenya because of the differences in cultural orientation of the people. Meyer identified eight major aspects that vary across cultures and significantly impact decision making and a manager’s authority; communicating, evaluating, persuading, leading, deciding, trusting, disagreeing, and scheduling. For business leaders to be effective in a cross-cultural environment, it is imperative that they recognize and do not underestimate the challenge. For instance, in the US more businesses are embracing the egalitarian approach, but still, decisions are not consensual.

In practice, the two aspects are not related (Meyer 2017, 73). The decision making attitude dimension in Meyers (2014) model incorporates Hofstede’s theory dimensions of individualism versus collectivism and attitudes towards risk (Müller, Spang, & Özcan 2008). Managers working in a multicultural environment must carefully study the business practices of the local community without making assumptions. Secondly, it is essential to align the decision-making strategies of the overseas operations to the culture of the community rather than impose the corporate headquarter practices that may not work in the context (Oertig & Thomas 2006, 25). Risk-takers focus on the best case scenario of the outcomes of the choices they take and therefore making it relatively easier to make up their minds. On the other hand, when focusing on the adverse consequences of a decision, the process becomes more entailing and therefore takes longer to make decisions.

As a manager, when leading a team of risk-takers, it is relatively easier to navigate change and resistance to change during significant transitions unlike when working with risk-neutral and risk-averse members of a team. Therefore, when handling a cross-cultural team and cross-border operation, managers must be aware of the cultural differences in decision-making styles; speed, decision changes, commitment to the decision, the decision process; transparency aspects, formal or informal, individual versus team decision, and involvement in decision making (Laurent 1986, 100). To iron out any differences that may lead to poor choices or conflict, managers are encouraged to create systems that allow open discussions of the cultural differences, promote respect for mutual cultures, and create ground rules that reconcile significant cultural differences, build awareness of the impact of culture and promote a system of consequence-orientation (Müller, Spang, & Özcan 2008).

Besides, the team prefers a boss who gives direct instructions rather than egalitarian. As such, successful management techniques in the west will work for their Chinese counterparts and vice versa. The quadrant of culture and leadership Meyer (2017 80) developed the quadrant of culture and leadership. The quadrant combines aspects of decision making and attitude towards authority and maps country depending on their cultural values. The cultures so identified are consensual and egalitarian, consensual and hierarchical, top-down and hierarchical and top-down and egalitarian. Secondly, it is imperative to be patient and thorough during the decision-making process to take into consideration the opinions of the stakeholders while also paying particular attention to the dissents. Since the nature of the decisions is more of commitment, the leaders must also be keen on the quality and completeness of the information that sways their decision (Barosa‐Pereira 2014, 100) For business leaders operating in the top-down hierarchical cultures as common in countries such as Russia, Tanzania, and China.

The staff in these areas expect the managers to be decisive and make imposing decisions. Managers operating in this environment are therefore likely to lead by giving clear instructions to the team, accept reverence by the junior members and also offer clear expectations when assigning roles (Wilson 2013). The fourth cultural style is the top-down egalitarian approach common among the Britons and the Americans. At the heart of diversity and cross-cultural operations is people management that is more delicate since it involves the relations of the organization with its employees, customers and business partners. In order to succeed in the different cultural backgrounds, managers must be aware of what defines powers, and how different cultures perceive leadership. Most notably, managing cross-cultural aspects has become commonplace in the dawn of globalization where not only are businesses entering new regions but also the enhanced movement of labor.

Understanding the culture quadrant is important in devising the decision making process and as well as attitude to authority. The understanding of these dynamics not only helps in managing own organization but also in strategically approaching other organizations to do business with as either clients or business partners. ” Policy and Practice in European Human Resource Management, 22–35. https://doi. org/10. Hofstede, Geert. “Cultural Constraints in Management Theories. ” Communications of the ACM 47 (4): 62–66. https://doi. org/10. Laurent, André. “The Cross-Cultural Puzzle of International Human Resource Management. Müller, Ralf, Konrad Spang, and Sinan Ozcan. “Cultural Differences in Decision Making in Project Teams. ” International Journal of Managing Projects in Business 2 (1): 70–93. https://doi. org/10. ” International Journal of Evidence Based Coaching & Mentoring , 11, , no. Woodard, Melissa S. , Jane K.