Inter-cultural Management Class Unit VIII Assessment

1. Describe positive and negative outcomes that can result from societal, political, and cultural differences when managing a corporation in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia.

On a positive note, you can learn a few lessons from overseas that can improve your overall outlook on the issues of family relations and even improve the relationship you have with your peers. For example, you can learn from managing the relations in Saudi Arabia that the Arabs value family relations. Each family member is encouraged to offer support and encouragement to one another to ensure that they succeed in their endeavor.

In Saudi Arabia culture, the importance of trust and respect that one has for other people is fully encouraged (Deresky, 2017). Once you manage a global company, there is a possibility that you can learn new languages and generally improve your overall outlook on life. There is a possibility of improving the profitability of your firm because of the diversification of the market (Dynamic Language, 2014).

The negative outcomes that may arise from such an endeavor are conflicts if you fail to get assimilated into one culture. Sometimes, an individual can learn retrogressive cultural practices like ones which promote female genital mutilation and other culture that does not respect women. From a social angle, the cost of living in that country may be too high, and also one can encounter people that are hostile to foreigners. This makes your visit to the country untenable. On a less favorable note, political strife in some of the nations may prove costly to the company that needs peace and stability to thrive.

References

Deresky, H. (2017). International management: managing across borders and cultures; text and cases. Pearson.

Dynamic Language. (2014, December 19). What Are The 7 Benefits of Going Global? Dynamic

Language. https://www.dynamiclanguage.com/what-are-the-7-benefits-of-going-global/

2. What does effective global leadership achieve? What are the different roles that managers on international assignments often assume to enhance leadership effectiveness? Choose one country in South America and one country in Europe to describe some of the differences.

Global effective leadership achieves inspiration and encourages teamwork across the people who are working on projects in different parts of the world. It promotes motivation and influences the business to take advantage of its global appeal and capital to be successful. Global effective leadership also creates unity as it enables people from different parts of the world to work together.

In Brazil, for instance, a manager takes on a paternalistic role to be effective. Many employees in a Brazilian company look up to the manager so that he can offer them guidance and leadership. The paternalistic role is also to help the employees achieve their goals (Expat Management Guide Brazil, n.d.). Due to the Intercultural sensitivities, a manager in Brazil will not implement any changes to leadership overnight; he will have to ensure that all people are well informed of the new changes he wants to introduce to the company.

In Russia, for a leader to be more effective, communication is key (Kashubskaya & Storozhenko, 2010). A leader can be more effective if he greets employees in the morning and even asks them how they are faring. In Russia, the frequency of communications that one has with their subordinates will help the organization's low-level employees get motivated and work even harder. Democracy is not required for all leadership that is based in Russia, sometimes the individual has to combine a high personal control while keeping in touch with employees (Kashubskaya & Storozhenko, 2010).

References

Expat Management Guide Brazil. (n.d.). Www.commisceo-Global.com.

https://www.commisceo-global.com/resources/management-guides/brazil-managementguide

Kashubskaya, E., & Storozhenko, A. (2010, December 6). How Expatriates in Russia Are Managing. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2010/12/how-expatriates-in-russiaare?registration=success

3. Technology is one of the methods used in business overseas. Describe the impact of ebusiness on leadership. What differences would a manager have to be aware of if doing business in Africa, Australia, or South America? Your response must be at least 200 words in length.

E-business enables the leaders to communicate effectively with the employees. Using technologies like Skype, Zoom, etc., and a leader can effectively communicate with his employees located in many places across the globe. Technology empowers leaders to introduce a more collaborative work situation in the companies (Patel, 2019). There are tools that the companies may use to ensure that the businesses collaborate and also team members work together. By enhancing teamwork, the efficiency of work in the organization is enhanced. Leaders may also use technology to give the employees more flexible work situations hence motivating them to even become better workers. For instance, with digital tools, a company may introduce a work-from-home situation (Patel, 2019).

While doing business in Africa, with matters of technology and e-commerce, a manager ought to be aware of the level of literacy in that nation as it will impact how fast people located in the region can adopt the technology. In Africa, electricity penetration can also affect the impact of ebusiness. In both South America and Australia, the penetration of e-commerce is on the high side. The leader can choose several platforms amongst many, for example, social media, ecommerce, social media advertising, etc. to ensure that the firm moves forward and becomes even more successful.

Reference

Patel, A. (2019, March 14). How Technology Can Be Used to Empower Leadership. About

Leaders. https://aboutleaders.com/technology-empower-leadership/#gs.ybh9rb

4. Different cultures value personal, face-to-face contact and relationships with different levels of reverence. What are some cultures around the world where you might want to utilize more one-on-one contact rather than sole use of technology to motivate employees?

Whereas face-to-face communication has bridged the distance and enabled people to communicate more effortlessly with one another, the level of engagement that comes with faceto-face communication remains the most effective one. When you speak directly to someone, there is more impact, speaking directly to someone also creates a better impression and is more respectful than when one would send an email to another person.

There are some cultures that prefer face-to-face communication than other means. In India for instance, a firm and friendly handshake will set the right one for the businesses. Within the Indian culture, you build a better relationship with the people if you like discussing with them topics that they find interesting (Business culture.org, 2018). The people are more verbal and they may prefer to speak to you about many issues concerning the politics of the day or other issues that are important. Face-to-face communication is also important in India because people would love to maintain eye contact. Eye contact creates the right rapport among the people.

To motivate employees even further, there are some catchphrases that you might use

while in India, these include words like: "Namaste." It is also possible to use verbal communication to express respect and recognize the people in authority in India (Business culture.org, 2018).

References

Business culture.org. (2018, August 30). Indian Business Communication. Business Culture.

https://businessculture.org/indian-business-culture/business-communication/