Section 1

Imagine walking onto a plane and travelling 3,000 miles across the ocean to spend the
first semester of your college career in a completely different place than you’ve lived
your entire life. That was one of the things that change me, that make me stronger and
make me think differently about the world. You never realize how important is to
travel and meet new people until you get to that situation, in order to achieve your
dream. Working, thinking and dreaming was what I was thinking before I started my
way to university. Its not always the easiest decision and you have to be enough
independent and strong in order to achieve to deal with that.

Excitement and happiness were some of the words that really characterized me in that
period. My journey has been long though with many twists and turns on the way but I
learn a lot of things not only in terms of education but as well in terms of the world
and cultures. Culture is not just language, food, appearance, and personal habits. It
can represent deep attitudes, convictions, and ideals that affect one's way of life and
the way one sees the world. Understanding and learning from different people with
different cultures and mindsets made me imbibing the opportunity to learn about a
single topic from various angles and experiences of the world and, made me want to
develop myself and work on me even more. When I firstly returned home for a
Christmas break, I was a different person with ambition, new thoughts and views and
as well new ideas and expectations.

Becoming aware of our cultural dynamics is a difficult task because culture is not
conscious to us. It is a daunting challenge to become conscious of our cultural
complexities when the society is not aware of us. The attitudes, ideas and actions of
individual people represent their own cultures as 'the definition of culture is much
difficult for us to alter, in particular the levels related to institutions, ideals and beliefs'
(Satul romanesc si maghiar, 2011 in Constantin, 2013:93). "We have learned to see
and do things on an unconscious level because of our birth" (Quappe and Cantatore,
para. 5). It is of vital significance to be mindful that, work to diverse societies, the
meaning that individuals deliver to certain exercises might be distinctive from your
possesses, even when we speak about behavior, or dress code. Unless you've got all
the essential components to understand the real meaning of communication
knowledge (Boboc, 2009:10). “Cultural pluralism implies the acceptance of the other,
tolerance, plural

coexistence, but with the possibility to sustain your own opinion” (Cucoș, 2000, as
cited in Constantin, 2013:93).

University encouraged me to learn all this philosophy and appreciate the magic of
cultures and our interactions with the world. Not just in the modules I took part in, but
in all of our meetings and activities, which we all have to collaborate and address
multiple topics. However, it took me a while to fully grasp the diverse perspectives. I
always thought that mine was always the true and the more accurate, regarding my
principles and how I have been raised. In a group assignment that we had to complete
the first semester of my first year, I was collaborating with four different people with
different cultures. Some of them were really shy and some others really intensive, as a
result, they were many struggles and misunderstandings until we complete the
assignment. I was so concerned that I talked to one of my tutors explaining to him all
of the situation and ask him to help manage it. What he answered to me was “Try to
be yourself and try to customize yourself in their minds”. A sentence that helped me
understand, that we are different and I have to accept their difference because our
difference may be a subject of a big success.

However, cross cultural management helped me understand all the process that I
followed until I realize, what really culture is and how this has contributed to my life.
Despite the complexity and richness of the notion of culture, Hofstede (1980: 25)
defines culture as “the collective programming of the mind which distinguish the
members of one human group from another.” And through Cultural competence, I
furtherly understand all the steps that I overcome until I understand the true definition
of culture which is not a “definition” but it is just our mind. Being culturally
knowledgeable doesn't mean you are a force in another culture's ideals and beliefs. It
means that you are profoundly aware of cultural nuances and able to understand and
agree that multiple ways of understanding the world. Palmer and Carter (2014) point
out that cultural skill is an on-going process and not a state of a long-lasting devotion
to self-criticism and thinking.

Section 2
Business and management are a module that cultural awareness is a vital skill that you
need to have in order to be productive and work efficiently. It is important to equate
companies with ethnic mosaics.’’ Despite the complexity and richness of the notion of
culture, Hofstede (1980: 25) defines culture as “the collective programming of the
mind which distinguish the members of one human group from another.” If we
believe that others are like us, we must be mindful of the possibility that they will not
be. This is why, at least before correlations are confirmed, it would be easier to
believe that there are variations. There is a cultural connotation in any action. Subtle
variations may have a far-reaching effect, experts point out. Consciousness of the
disparities in society decreases the possibility of misbehavior.

Human beings have been encountering collaboration and participation to defend the
coherence of their presence ever since they existed. In this way, teamwork and
cooperation can be seen as worthwhile and useful not just for survival, but also for
productivity and happiness. This concept can also be attributed to the emergence and
formation of teams (Halverson and Tirmizi, 2008).

“[…] we do not act as isolated individuals but as social beings who

derive an important part of our identity from the human groups and
social categories we belong to; and we act in accordance with this
awareness.” (Tajfel, Fraser, & Jaspars, 1984, p. 5)

However, it is quite likely that team members will have varying means of contact
when they come from different cultural backgrounds. Different ways of
communication with members of the group will likely create disagreement on some of
the issues, including deadlines for assignments and project dates. Thus, one of the
challenges facing administrators is a discrepancy between team members over the
deadline of a job or mission. Therefore, communicating is more complicated and
misunderstandings are very easy. The style of speaking and saying is important
because some of the members of the party demand overt focus, while others expect it
implicitly to happen. In other words, some countries respect directness, while others
see it as disrespectful. University for students it is like working on a company with
different people and different views.
Managing the team is a task in itself. Team leaders and supervisors must be aware of
particular issues in order to avoid any potential problems (Cascio 2000). In building
the corporations the managers must be able to understand the diversity in international
cultures so that understanding the trait is a success (O’Hara 2001). If there is trust on
a team, communication becomes simpler (Lipnack and Stamps, 1997, Jarvenpaa 1998,
Dash 2001, Alexander 2000). Managers must ensure that all in the virtual team can
participate and benefit from the interaction. Some individuals need guidance and
direction while others are more independent

Section 3

Cultural diversity, described in six cultural dimensions by Geert Hofstede (2011),

plays a major role in defining both an individual's management style and the way
employees respond to that management style. It is the ability of business managers to
better analyze the cultural context of their workers, and adapt their management
approach to react appropriately to that setting, that would improve their employees'
productivity. In addition to improving team performance, corporate divisions or
businesses usually have better economic returns. Managers who recognize the cultural
context of their workers are more likely to adapt their style of management to improve
employee efficiency and company economic performance.

Culture and traditions tend to vary from one country to another. The concept of
culture was defined by Newman and Nollen (1996) as “the values, beliefs and
assumptions learned in early childhood that distinguish one group of people from
another” (p. 754).

Individualism–collectivism

The emphasis on individual goals vs group goals is one of the significant indicators of
I/C. In contrast to collectivists, individualists put more emphasis on self-interest,
personal ambitions and personal accomplishment. Concurrence can be considered an
individualist's main behavioral attribute in achieving his objectives. Collectivists
consider the submission of their personal interests for the benefit of the broader group
to which they belong. Each group meet differently the work ethic and the team.

In individualistic societies, the relationship between an employee and the

organization is considered to be contractual or agency in nature. On the contrary, in
collectivist societies, the relationship between an employee and the employer
transcends such agency perspective and extends to mutual moral commitments on the
part of the contracting parties such as the employees and their employer

Trust has been generally acknowledged in organizational research as a key result and
history. Trust, though, is a very dynamic construct that involves a wide array of
cognitions, feelings, behaviors and behavior in different ways (Kramer 1999). In its
significance and its consequences, the psychological contract is strong, especially
when employees come from different countries. When a manager, help someone to
adopt to the work environment and guide him, it makes the employee feel more
secure and happy in his workplace. Productiveness, is an essential part in an
organization future, and managers are the only people that can inspire you. The
perception of conformity with psychological agreements, as well as mission
statements and declaration of business value, definitions of individual principles,
organizations or management styles and simple follow-up to articulated commitments
are thus included. It is generally thought of as the understanding of workers regarding
the pattern of word deed coordination of their superiors in an organization, but
applications can be readily conceived in other ways. Therefore, if one may not respect
his principles, a colleague who openly promotes self-interest, rather than the greater
good, as a justification for personal conduct, can be criticized. But, if one can see a
strong alignment between word and deed, such a colleague may be viewed as having
high moral integrity. The acts of a colleague may not be supported or vulnerable, but
at least one assumes that he believes what he says.