International cultural differences and their effect on decision making

International Cultural Differences

Over the last several years, cultural differences have become increasingly common in a variety of organizations. This is because of globalization and improvements in technology have allowed a wide variety of corporations to establish operations in numerous regions of the world. This is a part of an effort, to be able to capitalize on opportunities in new markets and to reduce their underlying cost structure (which will help to increase their overall profit margins). However, a major issue that most companies are facing is that there will be cultural differences between executives who are from one region of the world and employees that are working at the facility. The reason why is because, many managers will often apply various cultural norms to the company's operations in a particular area and expect everyone to follow these standards. Once this occurs is when there can be some kind of conflict inside the firm's operations at different locations. Evidence of this can be seen by looking no further than comments from Hall (1990) who observed, "Culture can be linked to a giant, extraordinary complex. This process requires attention to everything people do to survive, advance in the world and gain satisfaction from life. Furthermore, cultural programs will not work if crucial steps are omitted, which happens when people subconsciously apply their own rules to another system." (Hall, 1990, pp. 3 -- 4) This is significant because it is illustrating the underlying challenges that most firms will face when they have employees and managers interacting with each other from different countries. To prevent these kinds of issues we will create a research design that will analyze the underlying problem and establish possible solutions that corporations can engage in to improve the ability of executives in working with employees in various regions of the world. Once this takes place, is when we can create strategies to deal with these issues on a regular basis.

Research Method

The research methodology that will be utilized is the qualitative approach. This is when we are examining numerous aspects of cultural differences through a host of resources. A few of the most notable include: books, research studies, web sites, journals and magazines. (Johnson, 2004, pg. 14) The basic idea is to see what specific techniques are most effective in reaching out to employees and managers in different regions of the world. This will help us to identify those tactics that are successful.

To have the most accurate results possible we will examine the findings from our research with the underlying trends that were established from previous studies. The way that this will be accomplished is through what is known as comparative analysis. This is when we are taking the various trends that were identified earlier and are corroborating them with one another. ("Comparative Analysis," 2012) Any kind of information that is going against the basic patterns will be discarded as a statistical anomaly. While the facts that are in line with the trends will confirm what techniques are most effective. In understanding, how executives and employees improve communication with each other (despite the various cultural differences that exist in numerous regions of the world). This is the point that we can offer specific insights that will help corporations to establish training programs and procedures for addressing these issues. Once this happens, is when we can provide strategies that will reduce conflict and improve productivity.

What the Proposed Design will accomplish?

The proposed design will be able to determine what specific attributes must be used by corporations to deal with the various cultural differences inside their operations around the world. This will help executives in creating policies and procedures that will allow managers / employees to improve communication. While at the same time, it will help them to address a host of cultural differences that could be relevant to a specific country or region.

For example, if a firm decided to establish operations in Russia managers will have to understand that there are certain practices that must be embraced. This is because Russians are more laid back and will do their work on a schedule that does not conflict with their personal lives. Moreover, employees are not motivated to go the extra mile based on contests or any kind of financial incentives. Instead, they will look at those who are able to receive the largest rewards with a certain amount of contempt. This is because there is not the same kind of emphasis on financial rewards to do more. As a result, managers cannot be as forceful or try to appeal to the employees' sense of greed. This is different from American society where these kinds of tools are often used to motive employees. (Ryan, 1999, pp. 1509 -- 1524) Our proposal will look at specific factors that can be applied to different regions of the world and the impact of these techniques. Once this occurs, is when corporations will have a general outline that they can utilize when establishing operations in different areas.