LO5

Cross Cultural Process

Another approach to understanding international and cross-cultural organizational behavior is
to examine similarities and differences in important processes.

Cross-Cultural Motivation

To effectively lead and influence workers from other culture, managers must use
motivational approach that fits in their culture and must have relevant information about two
key factors. The manager must also know the needs the people want and the rewards which
can satisfy those needs. Yet, various cultures may have different responses towards rewards.
Some may respond well to individual recognition, but some responds better when recognition
is shared with its group.

Cross-cultural Ethics

Coping with cross-cultural ethical codes challenges many international managers. Facing
an ethical dilemma will be hard for them for they are torn between if to abide ethical codes of
their own country or those of the country they are visiting. An example of this is that, in many
countries like Pakistan and Mexico, government officials demand payments to expedite such
transactions. But when this happens to United States, direct payments to government officials
to win contracts are illegal and unethical. One way which managers use to cope with cross-
cultural differences in ethics is to outsource work to another country that would be unethical,
or illegal, in their own countries.

Cross-cultural Negotiations

Negotiation is one of the most important skills for the international manager must have.  A
major challenge in this skill is that the negotiation style varies from different groups. So
manager should always negotiate the value of the exchange and the relationship as well.

1. Use a team approach

Having team negotiating may convey more seriousness of purpose and commitment,
rather than the manager alone.

2. Be patient

There a lot of negotiating styles from different cultures. So when we negotiate with
others, especially to those countries who really values culture, we must be patient and
provide their wants.
 3. Learn to tolerate less than full disclosure of information

American managers must learn to tolerate less than full disclosure of information rather
than laying one's card, that looks like forcing someone, on the table because not all willing
to negotiate full detailed information.

4. Accept silence as part of negotiating

Some Americans, unlike Asian negotiators, easily gets uncomfortable when there are
more than 10 seconds elapses without someone talking about task related comment. But
for some, it is better to keep silent and wait for the other side to make an offer.

5. Take no for an answer sometimes

We must learn to take no sometimes and avoid letting our lose affects our personal
behavior, which can pretty sure affect our business behavior. Always choose where your
firm can benefit the most, so choose to strengthen its relationships with everyone.

6. Learn about the other culture’s negotiating style in advance

As a negotiator, it is your job to have enough knowledge about other's culture in order for
you to have awareness about their different negotiating styles.

7. A starting point in cross-cultural negotiations is whether members of the culture

tend to seek integrative or distributed outcomes.

Integrative outcomes in negotiation focus on both sides, walking away from a negotiation
with something of value. On the other hand, the distributed outcome looks for one side to
win as much as possible.

8. Vary your negotiation approach according to whether you trust or distrust the other side

Trust is a very often issue cross cultural faces. One might feel afraid that the other side
might steal from their company’s technology.

Conflict Resolution Models across Cultures

There is a lot of quantitative evidence from researches showing that national culture
can influence a manager’s choice in methods of resolving conflicts. According to Catherine
Tinsley, there are three types of conflict resolution models, namely: resolving conflict by (a)
deferring to status power, (b) applying regulations, and (c) integrating interests. She
conducted a study about the influence of culture in choosing a conflict resolution model. The
result indicated that managers from Japan, Germany, and America have different preferences
in models, which could be explained by their cultural group membership. Japanese managers
prefer to use an authority in managing conflicts, Germans appeal to rules and regulations,
while Americans favor a win-win model of conflict resolution. These differences can be a
problem if an expatriate manager will try to resolve a conflict in a foreign cultural system.

Empowerment and Continuous Improvement across Cultures

A study on how well the management practices of empowerment and continuous

improvement fit different cultures in different countries finds that:

 Continuous improvement will result in a high level of satisfaction with co-workers and
the work itself. There are no drawbacks associated with constant improvement in any
country, which implies that it is a good fit in all cultures studied.
 The outcomes of empowerment vary from different countries and cultures. Employees
in the US, Mexico, and Poland are in favor of high degree empowerment from their
supervisors, while Indian workers wanted the opposite.
 In US and Mexico, empowerment is unrelated to co-worker satisfaction, but in Poland,
it has a positive relationship with co-worker satisfaction. An empowerment negative
impact on co-worker satisfaction was shown in India.
 A total of 105 studies conducted in 30 countries found that empowering leadership
practices had a more beneficial impact on the performance of routine tasks in Eastern
rather than in Western cultures.

In conclusion, the result of studies suggests that managers should consider the cultural
context of the management practices they implement as it may backfire when used in high
power-distance culture.

High-Performing Work Systems and National Culture

High-performance work systems (HPWSs) tend to be effective across different cultures.

In the study conducted by a group of researchers about the relationship between HPWSs and
business performance from 35,767 firms in 29 countries, it is found that HPWSs were positively
related to business performance. An important conclusion from this giant analysis is that a
high-performing work system does not have to be adapted to a national culture, which is not
so surprising because it is base on fair procedures that people from any culture would
appreciate.
LO6

Initiatives to Enhance Cultural Diversity in Organizations

There are many initiatives that an organization can take to help foster cultural diversity,
including the type of program and the heavy reliance on a minority of group members.

Recruitment of Minority-Group Members

In creating a culturally diverse workplace, an excellent step is to recruit culturally

diverse workers. But to have successful programs for recruiting minority group members, there
must be an appropriate use of networks. An example of this is hiring several traditionally black
colleges to specialize in information technology and the placement of African Americans and
Latinos for managerial and professional positions. A minority recruiting program is more
accepted when it is not meant to go against hiring majority-group members.

Diversity Training

The purpose of diversity training is to bring harmony in the workplace by teaching

people how to get along better with diverse work associates. This program aims to minimize
the expressions of racism and sexism in the workplace. There are different sessions in this
program that could get people of different races to reflect different values, attitudes, and
cultural backgrounds. Participants will develop empathy towards others who’s different from
themselves because a representative from various groups will explain their feelings related to
workplace issues.

Over the years, pieces of evidence collected indicates that diversity training is more
successful if it is integrated into other diversity-related activities rather than being a
standalone activity. However, a key concern about diversity training is that it exaggerates
stereotypes to promote understanding. A suggestion to improve the effectiveness of it is to
focus on the development of tolerance. Tolerance can help people understand different
identities but not necessarily appreciate them. For example, a member of a diverse group in
Sweden talks about the importance of company leadership by sharing more of their rewards
with lower-ranking workers. But, one of the members might say, “I get what you are saying,
but I still prefer capitalism.”

Anti-Bias Training

All humans have associations, preferences, and biases. Even very young children
develop preferences and associations. Biases are a product of our upbringing and culture, of
the time and place we live. They might be created or reinforced by experience and exposure to
the beliefs and behaviors of trusted family, friends, or other role models. It is important to have
anti-bias training to increase understanding of differences and value to a respectful and civil
society and to actively challenge bias, stereotyping and all forms of discrimination in every
environment. Anti-bias training develops an individual’s critical thinking and skills in the
following areas: the various dimensions of personal and cultural identity; basic terms relating
to bias and discrimination; the impact of culture and differences on communication; and
recognizing, acknowledging and addressing bias and discrimination in oneself, others and
within institutions. Anti-bias training is no perfect training, every human has unconscious
biases and this does not always lead to discrimination. “You can be the most consciously
unbiased, progressive thinker and still have unconscious biases that come from our culture and
things you experienced as a child, and they don’t necessarily align with your beliefs”, says
Barsade.

Training in Cross-Cultural Relations

With culturally aware professionals having a distinct advantage over their peers, cross
cultural training is an essential part of any professional person's development.  Cross cultural
refers to any sort of interaction where more than one culture is involved.  cross-cultural
training helps to reduce  the communication gap between employees and clients within a
multinational corporation. Cross-cultural training may also occur at the management level.
Management-level cross-cultural training involves equipping members of the management
staff with the knowledge and skills required to supervise a multicultural staff. Cross cultural
differences can and do impede upon communication and interpersonal relationships.  With the
cross-cultural training, an individual would be able to learn the best way to leverage cultural
differences and similarities to get the most out of every employee and to make your business
attractive to global talent and clients. Cross cultural training promotes self-confidence in
individuals and teams through empowering them with a sense of control over previously
difficult challenges in the workplace.  All of us have certain barriers such as preconceptions,
prejudices and stereotypes that obstruct our understanding of other people. Cross cultural
training demystifies other cultures through presenting them under an objective light. Through
learning about other cultures, barriers are slowly chipped away thus allowing for more open
relationships and dialogue.

Cultural Intelligence Training

Cultural intelligence (CQ) is the collection of knowledge; skills and abilities that enable
an individual to detect assimilate reason and act on cultural cues appropriately. There are lots
of organizational risks associated with a lack of cultural intelligence skills, miscommunications,
critical business errors, lack of team cohesion and trust, demotivation, high staff turnover, loss
of clients, and an impact to the bottom-line are some of the risk. Cultural intelligence has
become the strengths in problem solving, rather than obstacles, while improved collaboration
drives the ability to respond quicker to market changes. Cultural intelligence is even more
important when working with emerging markets, as management style and expectations may
be different. Cultural understanding will develop the sense that one method doesn’t work for
everybody.

The Four Sources of Cultural Intelligence:

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