Organizing and managing across culture

ORGANIZING AND MANAGING ACROSS CULTURE (ESSAY)

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INTRODUCTION: This case study describes the problems related with the inter-cultural communication in Nordic subsidiary in Japan. The cultural differences are between the Nordic based HRM programs and local Japanese culture and values. The Japanese people were facing the issue of Nordic based management system which is totally a new concept for them. Thus Nordic management had a deep thinking upon this issue because it was leading to the strike which was ultimately hampering the working of a company. The modification in these HRM program in accordance to the Japanese culture is quite necessary.

This study examines the causes and consequences of linguistic and cultural barriers to inter-cultural communication in Nordic subsidiaries in Japan. Interviews were conducted with 30 Nordic (Finland, Denmark, Norway and Sweden) expatriates and 29 Japanese employees show that the main linguistic barriers to intercultural communication were lack of a shared language and low motivation to improve foreign-language proficiency. The main cultural barriers were collectivism, and status and power differences.

Combined, the consequences of these barriers were extensive reliance on language

intermediaries,

categorization,

information

receiver-centered

filtering,

communication

in-group/out-group and

in-congruent

supervisor-subordinate expectations. The interviews suggest that linguistic and

cultural

barriers

have

a

differentiated

impact

on

intercultural

communication. Thus, it can be said that inter-cultural communications may Toll Free No. +44 203 8681 670 Assignment desk provides assignment help from professional UK writers.

create confusions among the employees and this may hamper the performance of employees.

(1) What are the main language and cultural barriers to intercultural communication in foreign subsidiaries?

Hofstede Model Hofstede introduced the theory which was mainly emphasized on the fact that how values within the organization are affected by the culture.

Moreover, according to the viewpoint of Hofstede, culture can be defined as the collective programming of mind in which differentiation are done with one person from another.

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help@assignmentdesk.co.uk In this case, Nordic opened a subsidiary in the Japan and in that Japanese people were appointed along with the Nordic expatriate and there Toll Free No. +44 203 8681 670 Assignment desk provides assignment help from professional UK writers.

they are faced with the issues of cultural differences. There was a huge difference in the culture of two regions. The main actor of this story are the employees and management of Nordic expatriate and Japanese employees.

Moreover, management faces a biggest issue in handling this difference.

However, due to this reason Hofstede have propounded this theory. In his theory, he described various dimensions through which cultural variations can be analyzed. The dimensions are power status, Individualism v/s collectivism, masculinity v/s femininity, long term v/s short term orientation, indulgence v/s restraints and Uncertainty avoidance. In this current scenario, Nordic people have the culture of individualism while in Japanese culture the more preference is given to collectivism thus, people react in an individualist manner which become tough for the company to make them work in a team.

Further, the power distance is more in Japan because people are conscious about the hierarchical position in an organization. This is altogether different quality in Nordic people as they are more focused towards equal rights and being independent. Thus they, react in a negative manner and due to which conflict arises. Moreover, there is male dominance in Japanese culture whereas there is female dominance in Nordic culture. This create a greater conflicting situation in a company between male employees of Japan and female employees of Nordic expatriates. Further, Japanese are dedicated towards the avoidance of uncertainty and on the contrary, Nordic expatriates are less keen towards uncertainty avoidance. On a similar aspect, Hofstede also examined that there is a culture of long term orientation and Japanese Toll Free No. +44 203 8681 670 Assignment desk provides assignment help from professional UK writers.

culture view their life as a very short moment in a long history of humankind.

Thus, it can be said that Japanese culture and Nordic culture have totally different culture and this leads to the development of conflicts.

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Hofstede model helped a lot in identifying the cultural differences in Japanese organization with that of Nordic society. But this model have some limitations due to which clear concept cannot be viewed and due to which

management

could

not

recognize

the

exact

situation

and

management of cultural difference cannot be done in a proper manner. The limitation of Hofstede model are in term of methodological weakness because use of this model is doubtful as it lays emphasis of national culture.

The study was done on specific sample which cannot be representative of overall population of nation. However, in the model it was considered that population is homogeneous which is not correct in reality. Furthermore, Hofstede model states that all country has their unique culture whereas it is Toll Free No. +44 203 8681 670 Assignment desk provides assignment help from professional UK writers.

not real in actual scenario because of geographical context. Also, the model do not reflect the actual behavior of individual.

Trompenaars Model Cultural differences can also be demonstrated with the help of Trompenaars that also serve as the achievement vs ascription. Here achievement culture depicts that how people are performing their function.

Here main focus is laid on status whereas ascription culture is also status based which reflect that what and who a person is. In this regard Nordic culture is known as achievement where workforce are known for their competence. Furthermore, main emphasis is laid on colleagues so that their achievement can be counted effectively. On the other hand, in Japanese culture people are valued just because of maturity and their age. Japanese tend to possess ascription culture where they remain unhappy because of their job profile. However, job profile matters a lot as employees spend their much of time at workplace. In addition to this Japanese follow the foreign HRM strategy which is different from values and of Japanese.

Here, people working in Japanese culture do not like to adjust in new situation but still they are asked to follow the Nordic based HRM program.

Similarly internal orientation is high for Japanese culture where there is low external control. It is because people do not accept the sudden changes at workplace and management cannot force them to follow the new practices.

At this juncture, management try to change their strategies in accordance Toll Free No. +44 203 8681 670 Assignment desk provides assignment help from professional UK writers.

with Japanese values only instead of adjusting as per Nordic based HRM programs. Furthermore, individualism vs communitarianism wherein communitaranistic culture like Japan like to work in group. They are not happy with working condition because of unfavourable working condition.

Here, management also do not feel themselves liable for the working conditions. In the same way Japanese want management to take care of their family's health and safety. Furthermore, by focusing on issues of Japanese corporation introduced medical aid and saving scheme. On the other hand, individualism concept is adopted by Nordic culture. Likewise, Neutral concept is adopted in Nordic culture whereas Japanese people have high emotional culture Apart from this, Nordic culture is moderate specific and diffuse culture is high in Japan. Not only this, but Nordic culture follow sequential culture where Japanese tend to focus on synchronic aspect. The limitations of Trompennars can be considered by understanding that model takes into account behaviour aspect of people rather than value. It lays more emphasis on what people mind is holding and what is in their sight. Thus, it may be unrealistic at some point of time.

Enthocentric and Polycentric Different marketing strategies such as Enthocentric, polycentric are also used to management to business in Japaneseculture. Here, the first one is ethnocentric under which staffing is done by taking competent personnel from home country. This process is done just to fill the important position of Toll Free No. +44 203 8681 670 Assignment desk provides assignment help from professional UK writers.

corporate by which manpower can show interest of the home office so as to align workforce of foreign offices and home headquarter. It facilitates to reduce the additional cost and remove cultural barriers that exist among group of people. In addition to this, Poly-centric approach is that corporation hire host country nationals for some of the important positions. However, this model is useful only in develop countries so that employees with high education and appropriate training can be located. It aids to generate position attitude among employees as local workforce generally has more capability to handle buyers. On the other hand, polycentric approach may not be profitable for broader aspect of corporation. Therefore, Nordic based culture was accepted by Japanese with procedures and planning so as to makes employees happy and comfortable with work environment.

When the whole scenario was compared than it was found that there were many issues created due to the inter-cultural communication barrier. If there is communication gap and than the employees will not be able to work cohesively in a group or team. It is because in Japan there is a culture of collectivism and those in Nordic, individualism culture is being followed. Thus, employees hired from Japan would prefer to work in a team but the managers from Nordic will not entertain this and ultimately it will lead to the segregation of employees. Moreover, the cultural differences will also not leads to the equal distribution of rights to all the employees whereas the Japanese employees will ask for the hierarchical position in the organization because of high experience. On the contrary, Nordic employees will not Toll Free No. +44 203 8681 670 Assignment desk provides assignment help from professional UK writers.

entertain this part and it will lead to the release of conflicts among the level of management. This will also result in the deterioration of the performance of employees because effectiveness cannot be created during conflicts.

Further, this will limit the growth of company as the profitability will get lower down due to the ineffective performance by the employees. All these conflicts have been aroused due to the miscommunication among the employees and management. Further, there will be stagnant growth of employees because employees would not be able to adopt the new culture in a less span of time. All these aspect have occurred due to the inter-cultural communications. If these barriers are removed than only Nordic subsidiary can survive in the markets of Japan. Furthermore, these issues will not allow the firm to create a competitive edge in the dynamic market because employees of the firm will not become effective and sue to which satisfactory product cannot be made. Thus, customers cannot be made satisfied if there is organizational conflicts based on the languages and linguistic culture.

Further, it has been explained that there are several barriers to intercultural communication such as languages and their meaning are different in Nordic and Japanese culture. Further, the beliefs and values in Nordic differs from that of Japan and this create a major barrier for the the Nordic subsidiary to get establish in Japan culture in an effective manner. Thus, other kind of barriers such as misinterpretation of languages create barriers for the inter-cultural communication.

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(2) What are the consequences of language and cultural barriers in foreign subsidiaries?

Intense research have been made on this matter and for that purpose, exploratory research have been conducted because the type of research is qualitative in nature. Further, the research was aimed towards the Nordic countries that is Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Norway because these countries have similar culture and its comparison has been made with the Japan which has altogether different culture. For this purpose, three zone theory have been applied in which zone one had the people who have basic language skills, in zone two people has intermediate language skills and lastly in zone three people had fluent language skills. At the time of performing the job, expatriate were able to interact directly with the employees or intermediaries were involved while interacting with people.

Employees who were working in zone one were able to communicate only a simple messages with their respective team members. Major barrier in this category was that inter-cultural communication in absence of any kind of shared language. This made the entire process very frustrating and complicated.

On the contrary, zone two expatriate were able to communicate with local people without the help of intermediaries. Most of the expatriate were able to interact with the localites in Japanese language. Lastly, the zone three expatriate used a proper strategy during inter-cultural communication.

The strategy was that at the time of interaction, they used the mixture of Toll Free No. +44 203 8681 670 Assignment desk provides assignment help from professional UK writers.

English and Japanese language. Further, this strategy separated these employees from local people and other expatriate who were having low level of Japanese proficiency. Zone three expatriate have different kind of benefit.

Moreover, the cost of compensation was also low because only few employees were required to provide training for the English Proficiency.

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help@assignmentdesk.co.uk After analyzing the whole scenario, it was found that the main issue was related inter-cultural communication barrier. Moreover, the cultural values of the employees of Nordic were undermining. It has also been found that there are several communication barriers which consists of language barriers, cultural differences and presentation styles. The most common issue is related to language is that all people who belong to different country and region tend to speak other type of language. It is the reason that employees cannot accomplish their objectives on right time. However, English as common language is needed to be set in order to reduce the Toll Free No. +44 203 8681 670 Assignment desk provides assignment help from professional UK writers.

impact of such kind of barriers. In this regard, several practices are used by corporation expanding at global level so as to integrate workforce. On the other hand, every culture has its own business ethics, accepted behavior, decorum and set of values. In fact, facial expressions and gestures are also different for all religion owing to this people face communication barriers. For example, to shake hand it quite common in Nordic culture but the same may not be accepted in every culture. However, it might consider wrong in some situations. Apart from this, presentation style is also the fact which creates communication barriers among respondents. Here, separate group or country has different way of presentation and asking questions. For example, American like to have brisk pace whereas Latin American like speech with high emotional appeal. In this way, different communication barriers are associated with cross culture.

Furthermore, it has also been identified that cultural values and language have direct impact on intercultural communication in multinational organization. This is because Japanese tends to focus on flexible culture whereas Nordic culture wants to strong organizational culture. However, Nordic culture believes that management must have rules and regulation with regards to culture by which employees do not face problems when they come across global. For this purpose, cross culture is maintained effectively to enhance the level of satisfaction among employees and motivate them to work with integrity. However, cultural differences are invited in every organization where conflict easily takes place. The reason behind the same is Toll Free No. +44 203 8681 670 Assignment desk provides assignment help from professional UK writers.

that employees do not find favorable working condition and work satisfaction.

Owing to this, companies suffer from issues like low productivity, high employee turnover and customer dissatisfaction. Thus, it is very important for corporation to assess the barriers related to values and languages of employees and accordingly diversity is needed to be maintained. This in turn issues faced by firm can be minimized to a great extent.

This barrier has a intense negative impact on the organization's working because the employees of the organization will not understand the exact meaning of the languages and thus management style will also be not fitted in the Japanese culture. This will be highly difficult for the Nordic expatriate to manage the Japanese people in an organization. Moreover, effective performance cannot be obtained from the local Japanese people.

This will impact the profitability of the company and competitive edge could not be created in a Japanese region as well.

The collected information depicts that corporation expanding at global level should put efforts to reduce barriers related to communication. At this juncture, language translator could be used at the initial stage. This aids to support Japanese even after adopting Nordic culture. English as common language needs to be adopted at workplace which in turn employees can work with integrity. Further, regular meeting and effective mode of communication like telephone and mail should be used on the regular basis.

It will support employees to adjust with situation and cope up with changing scenario effectively. In addition to this, awareness needs to be developed Toll Free No. +44 203 8681 670 Assignment desk provides assignment help from professional UK writers.

among employees and understanding must be developed with regards to cultural diversity. In short, emphasis is laid effective communication so as to enhance the level of motivation and satisfaction among the existing workforce.

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help@assignmentdesk.co.uk Moreover, the company can encourage the strategy being adopted by the zone three expatriate so that they does not face the issue of being neglected and also the communication issue. Moreover, the company has to adopt the culture of Japan in order to make the employees feel satisfied and to retain them in the organization. This will help in creating competitive edge in the context of effective and efficient employees. If the employees are highly effective and they are satisfied at the same time, than they can make the customer satisfied and also the business can be grown or developed.

Zone one people should be trained and also the English language should be Toll Free No. +44 203 8681 670 Assignment desk provides assignment help from professional UK writers.

made the most widely used language in the organization so that communication barriers can be removed. This will help the company to earn maximum profits in the market of Japan and also competitive edge can be created in the industry.

The entire study being carried out has supported in knowing that cultural difference has direct influence on the communication. Further, it is well known fact that culture and religion of individual plays a significant role especially at the time when any individual interacts with other. Moreover, it acts as a hurdle as sometime individual may not able to speak the language which is understandable by all. This directly leads to rise in situation such as communication barrier where individual may not prefer to interact with each other. Apart from this, companies which are operating at global level hire individuals who are from different background and areas. Due to this reason, their way of interacting and other things are considered. In every business enterprise, it is one of the main issues such as how to deal with multicultural workforce for the betterment of company as adoption of one single language is beneficial but it is quite difficult to manage. On the basis of culture and religion, individual may speak different language and working style may also be different. Therefore, in this cultural difference acts as a barrier due to which individual may not prefer to be a crucial part of the communication process. Apart from this, different theories along with models applied such as Hofstede model is effective enough to understand about the cultural dimensions. This model relies on six dimensions which are associated with Toll Free No. +44 203 8681 670 Assignment desk provides assignment help from professional UK writers.

national culture such as power distance, uncertainty avoidance index, long term vs short term orientation, masculinity vs femininity etc. These dimensions support in knowing the overall behavior of people living in the society and how they interact with one another. In short, this model has enhanced the efficiency of the entire study and has supported to accomplish the aim of study. Through this, concept regarding cultural differences has been better understood.

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