Challenges of operating in a multicultural environment

| April 2010 Posted in Business | Comments

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Culture

“A system of shared knowledge, values, norms, customs and rituals acquired by social learning” (Textbook 37). The emphasis on “social learning” implies that culture is not genetic and that one person can be immersed in and a part of many cultures. As an example my parents instilled in me a culture, one that was based on their knowledge, experience and religious beliefs. I came to know this culture through communication and the example they set. Our class, mainly due to the teachers unique teaching style has a culture of its own. There seems to be a unity or bond between the students because of the level of discussion we have in class. We are open to discussing and sharing almost anything with each other because there is this relaxed no pressure atmosphere that the teacher presents in his teaching style. As in a business, there is typically some diversification of cultures primarily because each person has a different cultural background. However, in a business environment these individuals regardless of their cultures must become familiar with a “corporate culture”: that is the values, ethics, beliefs and behaviors that a corporation has and displays in its day-to-day operations.

Culture and Ethics Interrelate

Our ethical systems and decisions are based upon our individual cultures. The textbook talks about four sources of ethical values, (1) religion, (2) philosophy, (3) culture and (4) law. Each individual will make ethical decisions based on their own personal beliefs and culture. Some ethics are established based on social norms and a company will likely be judged based on their ability to operate within those social norms.

Cultures Role in Business

Culture plays a role in the type of promotion a company does, the price that a product or service is sold for, the type of product or service sold, the way that product is packaged, the type of connections made, how a product is delivered, the level of customer service offered, and its availability to the consumer. Marketers look at the values and behaviors of their target market in order to properly communicate the product brand. McDonalds sells hamburgers, but not in India!

Challenges of Operating in a Multicultural Environment

Communications 101, verbal and non-verbal language can mean different things to different people, based on their cultural backgrounds. When working in a multicultural environment challenges arise from not knowing or failing to understand some differences in cultural roles such as; power distance, masculine vs. feminine, high and low ambiguity, individualist vs. collectivist and the high and low contexts of the cultures associated (DeVito 40).

Power Distance – This is the theory that the power or authority of an individual varies based on their situation. Some cultures have greater respect for authority where others expect more equality of authority. (Identifying leaders and possible conflict issues.)

Masculine and Feminine – Masculine cultures are more assertive, ambitious and competitive and feminine cultures are more interested in the quality of life and interpersonal relationships. (Drive and motivation.)

High and Low Ambiguity – High-Ambiguity consist of people that have low stress and worry about the unknown, they take life as it comes. Low-Ambiguity culture members suffer with anxiety that is caused by uncertainty, which threatens them. (Work ethic and efficiency.)

Individualist vs. Collectivist – The theory that members of a culture are either responsible for themselves and any immediate family or they are responsible for the entire group. (Team Work! Team Player!?)

High and Low Context – The idea that some cultures place more value on establishing interpersonal relationships before doing any business and other cultures just wanting to get down to business cutting out the small talk. (Customer relations and connectivity.)

From our class case study of opening an automobile factory in Columbia we learned about the ethical challenges of operating in a multicultural environment. In a country were the culture has a high power distance like Columbia the authority figures consider themselves above the lower classes and in a country like the U.S with a low power distance we have ethical systems that require businesses to be an equal opportunity employer. Therefore, when trying to merge the two cultures we encountered problems maintaining ethics while meeting the requirements of the Columbian officials, which might be what causes unethical decisions. It does seem that it would have been easy to say yes to the offer of manufacturing 1000 military vehicles as a first order for whatever compromise it was you were bartering for. If the ethics are not important to them why should they be important to me? Well, at lest that seems to be a philosophy that could easily be applied based on our classroom experiment.