Dimensions of Cultures in Business

Question: Discuss about theDimensions of Cultures in Business. Answer: Introduction This paper discusses several dimensions of culture in business by analysing 5 articles discussing cross cultural management. In doing so, the paper will make use of several examples of dimensions of culture by looking at different application of cross cultural theories. In doing so the paper will mainly discuss issues around cross cultural diversity and how various companies or organisations will be able to incorporate this into their organisational culture. The paper will also discuss the 7 dimensions of culture in business by looking at Trompenaars cultural dimensions and that of Hofstede theory on cultural change. At this the paper will give example of different cultural dimension from various countries and businesses with regard to the 5 magazine articles. The report thus discuses cultural challenges that managers face as they try to get in line with the internationalisation of their human resource practices as part of cross cultural management. The report will also discuss the a spects of corporate culture within the company by exploring Hofstede theory on cultural change and how it can best define cultural entry for a company. Knowledge According to Enterprise Magazine (2001), the more interconnected the world becoms, the closer our cultutres come together for empowerment.Thus it becomes important for organisations to conduct cultural assessment of the host country before entering or establishing grounds there. This will be analysed in relation to the economic environment, laws, eventual suppliers, market competitors and the culture of the area. Cultural background of the host country and its people is very vital to be analysed as in this this way the company products and services offers will be tailored in a design that will be embraced in the country so as to sell efficiently The Trompenaars 7 dimensions theory has been well utilized all around the world as a way of helping organisations understand and blend with different cultures. This makes it the perfect choice for making an entry in to the new country; if cultural is not analysed well then the organisation is bound to fail in the new market. Green, et al. (2002) adds that cross cultural dimensions are beneficial to both the employer and employee. Even through employers and stakeholders are interdependent in the workplace. Cultural dimension allow workers and employers to respect each others differences. This means that when organisation are able to understand and practice cross cultural dimensions then more lawsuits will be reduced and flexibility and creativity will be realized for these organisation. When it comes to the first dimension of relation to nature, it is found that companies which follow such culture are compared to outer-directed. In this regard, such companies will feel responsible for the greatness of the nature. However, this does not always mean that they will treat nature as being equal to God or the way that he would have desired. When discussing Trompenaars second element, relation to time, it usually looks that the past, present and the future. However, as they years pass by and the infrastructural and economic development continue to grow. The country as experienced an influx of people meaning that their cultural vision has also been affected. When an organisation decides to enter in to this market and introduced different cultures for their managers, it will be necessary to be understand and beware of ways that people manage their time and the host country and find ways of adjusting. The third dimension of universalism and particularism looks at ways that each ground is defined and how the culture in the organisation will be incorporated. For most organisations, this will be difficult to define since, if for example one takes the western people, they will view Islamic culture as being more particular to the Arabic world, however the Arabic world will find the western culture as more universal. The fourth d imension on universalism will discuss situations where organisation enters a new business areas, they will go in with a new cultural background, it is very important that as they do this, they are able to know them population of this country. This is because, by knowing the people orientation, it will enable the management to prevent issues like acting on everything in a collective population or rewarding one person in the same community, all of the two areas will have a negative result. The fourth dimension in relationship to the inner and outer environment Different countries have different internal or external locus of control, this is mainly to do with their cultural strands. On the fifth dimension, neutral vs affective relationships, Different countries exercise either the neutral or affective relationships. According to gulf news (Shehhi, 2011), the specific vs diffuse relationship will look at the difference between the two areas is in specific cultures and the boss, this dra stically affect work ethics and the way people communicate business in the different industries. One boss will treat his subordinates with a particular management style, however when they meet the boss outside working hours, he will tend to act differently and may not really show higher level over the person in the workplace. Application With regard to the above articles such actions will not be considered as being a danger to the nature. In addition, if is a culture that is inner directed also believes that people are closely related to nature. However this fact does not meant that they are more responsible to this nature, but it is due to the fact that they believe nature is the reason for their actions. This also means that such actions will not be considered as being a danger to the organisation. It is also very important for recognize they kind of materials that are used when creating managerial products. This can be done when discussing the cultural background of organisations since it says a lot about the company. For Swedish based company like IKEA, it is important to understand the UAE customers and find out whether they prefer natural elements for their furniture or they would rather have it built with other materials. By knowing this, the company will be able to fit well in the new cultural environment and sell their products more effectively. In the second dimension, For example, when a country like Dubai was being developed, people preferred keeping the Islamic culture and were more interested on ways that they will be able to pass this culture to the coming generations. With regard to the third dimension, an Arabic culture will find the Islamic culture more universal when practiced in their country, however, for an organisation moving to invest in the Arabic country, they will try to introduce the universal culture of their organisation in the host country. It is important thus for managers assigned in the new areas to consider ways that they can adjust to the people who have a particular or universal culture. With regard to the fourth dimension, for a country like the UAE as general, the population is supposed to be more collective oriented due to its Islamic background. It is also important to note that there are times in the UAE where organisations can people in different countries with different backgrounds of culture. With regard to the fifth dimension. For example, in Islamic countries, Allah is the one who decides on their fate in business. At this when thing happen positively it is due to the good deed of the individual however of one does awfully bad, it is considered to be a punishment from Allah. However, it western countries, this can be considered as an external force; this is because for an individual with an internal locus of control cannot believe that it is Gods punishment but that there could have been something he did wrong (Enterprise, 2001). Even with this mix of cultures, people everywhere believe that fate lies in their own efforts. According to gulf magazine, (Shehhi, 2011) the Islamic culture is very emotional and is usually expressed as compared to other western cultures. When one looks at the European culture for example, they are usually emotional at a very high degree. However this does not usually mean that they emotions they express will be in the same way. Even when particular culture are stated as being emotional, when going northwards or southwards, there is a different way that organisation express their emotions. With regard to this fact, when looking at the emotional culture for example, it may not show everything as there are feelings that people hide, however, at the same time they can be open minded and friendly. In addition, it is in a diffuse culture that the boss may stay the boss regardless of where his subordinates happen to meet him or her. It is however important to note that from the difference coming from all these cultures, in a different country it could be met with people from diffuse and specific cultures at the same time. It is therefore important to note that the American, European or Chinese managers for example, will have to specify with the kind of people they expect to deal with in their business environment and be wary of it. Also according to Hofstede theories on cultural change, issues such as power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism and collectivism, masculinity and feminity will affect the cultural practice of the business. Evaluation While looking at the article from gulf news (Shehhi, 2011), it is realized that there are a lot of challenges in organisations when entering new markets. For example, the issues of power distance as expressed by Hofstede, will express the type of inequality that is found in making up and management of organisations. It calls for people from foreign organisations to be agree and considered ways that power can be equally shared in the organisation. According to Hofstede, power distance is meant to show the evidence of inequality, it however looks at this from the bottom and not from the top. It will also describe ways that inequality in the society is going to be transferred by managers as well as the workers. This dimension of culture enlightens all members of the society as being unequal, however, others are more equal than the rest. Under situations of high power distances, managers are put at the top level in the organisation. The issues raised on (Enterprise, 2001) shows that employees tend to abide with the policies, rules, and corporate laws especially in situations that they try to avoid uncertainty. This will look at issue such as the future methods of managements as a way of encouraging or enhancing the society. This dimension is also important in telling people that there is mutual approval of authority or regulation by accepting the risks so as to make the most important decisions in the organisation. Employees and members in the organisation with a low uncertainty avoidance will also experience fearless feeling with regard to the future. In an environment that has high uncertainty avoidance, managers will come up with a high planning as a way of forming protective barriers and reduce the risk that is related to the events of the future (court, 2013). For example, a country like Singapore and Jamaica, there is a low case of uncertainty avoidance as compared to a country like Guatemala and Japan tha t has high uncertainly avoidance. Also court, (2013) discusses individualsim in way that people would prefer to work in one cultural region as compared to another. At this, ambitions and abilities of the person are the ones that determine how well they will be in line with other employees. This means that individuals will rather go with their own opinions and regards. Individuals with this kind of trait are a bit opposite as compared to the individualistic culture. For countries like the United Kingdom or the United states, there are many case of individualism ratings. This will be different for countries like India, Brazil or Islamic countries where there is low individualism ratings. For example, employees who are above eighteen years are regard as mature people and care able to make independent decisions in some countries, however, this will be different for other countries where it is believed that they will still need some supervision in organisation management. Team work thus becomes essential to cultural manag ement of this group. According to gulf news (Shehhi, 2011), it was also openly expressed that the issue of Masculinity is a great determinant to employment differences. It also looks at issues that employees values like wealth, self-achievements, honesty, trust, dignity and maintaining a pleasant environment of the society will affect the organisation culture. People always have different views on this dimension with regard to the sexes in the society. The culture thus specifies that there are different roles for both the woman and the man in regard to bigger as being essential. The feminine culture for example, will look at the simple and short as wonderful and views the nature of relations and life as being more vital that material things. For countries like Korea, Japan and United States, it will show high masculinity rate as compared to counties like Belgium and Denmark. This is why one will find muscle jobs allocated for men and simple office secretarial jobs allocated for women. How Organisations can Benefit from Understanding Cultural Issues While cultural dimension shape up organisations, being able to understand their issues will help in the making of the organisation structures and choosing strategic directions for the organisation. Cultural dimension thus are important as they clarifies that individuals in organisation should have a flexible and futuristic approach to employees. They should not usually rely on the ordinary ways of doing thingsy. It also proves that dealing with the moral righteous irrespective truth is more important that the past. The effect of high organisation performance rating in the long term cultural dimension is the main area, and will discuss relationship with regard to this order. On the other hand, it calls for recurrent training to build employee firmness and stability. Some of the Asian countries for example, are said to have a high rating with regard to long term orientation list. However, for most European countries, they seem to be under the short term orientation index. Values that a re concerned with the long term orientation will also be reluctant as compared to those in the short term orientation with belief of saving self-image in the society. Challenges in Managing Cultural Dimensions According to Bing (2003), organisation cultural management is said to qualify to be a science as it involves the process of making individuals to be more effective. This posse a challenge for many organisations as it requires application of difference scientific principles At this, the practice of management can on be around organisation, directing and monitoring. The value of any manager in any business thus is screened through the increase in output from the time they were employed. The value will be seen from the increase of production and performance the organisation exhibit due to a certain change of management or culture in this sense. At this, the people who will be involved have the challenge of accomplishing the desired product in the organisation. Here all the stakeholders are also consulted to ensure everything runs according to the way it is expected to run. Also People who will be involved in doing the job must be prepared to make sure that they can perform all their duties and responsibilities. At this time, a manager is bound to face some challenges, this is because, and unlike in the management of machine, managing people will require the implementation of various expertise. This is because human beings are social beings and have different and unique orientation to life and different cultural background. It is also inevitable for the management in the organisation to ensure that three dimensions of man management organisation structure is enhanced for their importance in the management of organisation culture. These will include the overall relationship among employees and their relationship with the organisation, the vertical or horizontal authority system which defines the subordinates and the main supervisors and lastly, the general outlook of the organisation staff with regard to the organisations destiny, purposes and goals in addition to their places in the workplace. It is important that the management needs to have a deal with the organisations cross cultural issues with regard to the fact that people in their workplaces do come from different cultural upbringing. Cross cultural dimensions thus looks at the various forms of interaction that is present among people who come from different cultural groups. It is the main discourse that is closely concerned with interactivity of culture. For example, with the increase of immigrants of employees will call for a cross cultural approach to the organisations management. There is also a basic need for organisations to exercise social cohesion in their workplace as international and national cultural diversities are respected in the organisation (Bing, 2003). The companys management needs to also provide employees with a multicultural environment that all the employees will be presented with an equal opportunity to be able to related and work effectively within cultural diversity without having to be sub ject to other dominant cultures. Conclusion In conclusion thus, with regard to the above cultural dimensions of Hofstede. It can be concluded that his dimension on individualism and collectivism can be associated with cultural dimensions of universalism and particularism. This is because the dimension discusses ways that organisations are able to relate to the new cultural environment. For a company like IKEA, universalism will relate to the way employees in a new cultural environment will work together to meet organisation objectives. Individualism will also define the way that employee work to increase productivity in the organisation. For example, people may prefer to go with the taking care of people in their individual group under one team. Organisation should ensure that people behave in a manner that they will be able to meet organisation objectives and also serve the needs of the society. References Bing, J. W. (2003). Hofstede's consequences: The impact of his work on consulting and business practices . Retrieved November 11, 2016, from https://www.itapintl.com/about-us/articles/hofstedes-consequences court, R. (2013). Tackling workplace cultural issues. Retrieved November 11, 2016, from https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3objectid=10881394 Enterprise, B. (2001). Managing a Multicultural Workforce. Retrieved November 14, 2016, from https://black-enterprise.vlex.com/vid/managing-multicultural-workforce-52853963 Green, K., Lpez, M., Wysocki, A., Kepner, K., Farnsworth, D., Clark, J. (2002). Diversity in the Workplace: Benefits, Challenges, and the Required Managerial Tools. Retrieved November 14, 2016, from https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/hr022 Shehhi, J. A. (2011). UAE's identity crisis is a growing concern. Retrieved November 11, 2016, from https://gulfnews.com/opinion/thinkers/uae-s-identity-crisis-is-a-growing-concern-1.806970