Managing cross cultural

After the A levels, Abdulla was sent to the UK for undergraduate and graduate school studies courtesy of his mother who insisted that the children travel the world to understand other cultures so they will value them and accord everyone the respect and honour they deserve irrespective of their culture, religion or race. Mr. Abdullah and myself met at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi boarding a flight to Dubai. The man is a staunch Muslim and a soft-spoken individual who carries great pride of Pakistan heritage and the Muslim religion at large. While at the airport, Mr Abdulla noticed that I openly detested the way the staff handled him with a certain level of prejudice, unlike the other travellers.

Abdulla pointed out that the people of Pakistan have a high preference for avoiding risk. As such, their business practices are conservative compared to cultures such as the Americans. On the other hand, the perception for space is not as significant seeing that most extended families live together, the common greetings involve hugging and pecking. The communication pattern involves simple, precise, explicit and concise messages and as such a low context trait. Communication is mostly taken on face value, clarification is achieved by repetition, and formal communication is preferred in writing. Further, given globalisation, diversity is an inevitable attribute of most organisations, and therefore, the skills to handle diversity are workplace success oriented. The initial view of cross-cultural and cross border environments as problematic has changed to possibilities and opportunities.

As such, today the view such that the situation is a competitive advantage, a strategic opportunity for the company to be innovative, serve local communities more suitably and the prowess to handle authorities. In addition to offering the company competitiveness, understanding cultural dynamic helps in the event one is required to handle a team of cross-cultural individuals as a manager. The course was helpful not to entrench stereotype but rather help appreciate the wealth that comes with cross-cultural teams. As such, the course has been instrumental in navigating this delicate aspect of cultural and diversity dimension. Moreover, the unit provides and approach of the principles of analysing each situation that is potential adversarial in the along gender matters. In the future, the course content will provide guidance on ways keep opinions and contributions of matters genders to the lowest possible levels at the office.

Additionally, the learner intends to contextualize the place of women in particular according to the various cultures. It is evident that while there have been significant strides towards gender parity and equality in the workplace, cultural issues still play a large role in realising such objectives. On the other hand, the American managers provide the technical knowhow in biotechnology, marketing and information technology. Challenges and Responsibilities for Global Managers The formation of the joint ventures by the resulted in AmKor Technologies is driven by several international opportunities as seen in the case. After the formation, AmKor enjoyed increased market size that typically meant access to additional Korean customers by BMI while HBG got an opportunity to access the international market. As such, the two companies have established a stronger position outside their domestic market.

Secondly, the joint venture led to economies of scale and learning. S. , Shuffler, M. L. , Salas, E. , & Gelfand, M. The Chairman’s authority is seen is the overt control of the HBG group despite exiting and leaving the company management to President Lee Sanghoon, whose title again points to inherent inequality, submissive subordinates, and the ideal boss. On the other hand, the American counterparts have low perception of power distance as seen in their plain names with no fancy titles. Therefore, the perception of power distance leads to a management problem for the Koreans and Americans when managing each. For instance, the Americans may not be comfortable addressing President Lee as such. On the other hand, the Koreans would feel uneasy addressing the American bosses in plain names without the lousy titles that come with the position and influence they are holding.

For instance, Mathew Davenport was appointed to the position due to considerable experience in international execution, technical expertise and turnaround track record. Uncertainty Avoidance South Korea exhibits high intolerance to uncertainty while the US exhibits affinity to risk and tolerance to uncertainty. As such, the Americans have a considerable acceptance for new ideas, products, and willingness to try something new whereas, the Koreans are maintaining rigid codes and behaviors, and are intolerant to new ideas and ways of doing things. As such, this presents a problem for the managers since decision making at the upper ranks of the company will mostly be slow and riddled by back and forth each team convincing the other according the informing of their perspective to risk (Maznevski, M.

L. In this regard, there is a likely rift between President Lee and the American colleagues for instance on staff entertainment budget, marketing budget and so forth. Managing Global Assignments Molinsky Theory The theory posits that global leaders should adapt and conform to the cultural contexts while also maintaining their beliefs and principles. Molinsky describes the concept as global dexterity. For instance, Mathew Davenport should learn as much Korea language, practices and beliefs in order to blend and become acceptable like Alan Bird. The idea is that as a global leader handling an assignment of cross-cultural parties, it is important to fit in while with having to give in your culture (Molinsky, A. M. , Sanchez-Runde, C. J. and Nardon, L. Over the past decades or two, global business leaders have been faced with many challenges associated with the fast pacing issues around the world such as leveraging technological as seen in the AmKor case, launching global product platforms, outsourcing, sustainable supply chains, and the profitability of the various organisations (Kim, S.