Question

the importance of cultural differences for the global multi-national corporation (MNC). Do cultural differences really matter in an increasingly globalised world? In the essay,students must address the following key themes including: 1. explanations and examples of each of the determinants of culture 2. cross cultural literacy and the dimensions of culture 3. values, norms, ethics, social mobility 4. the advantages and disadvantages of cultural diversity for the MNC and its level of importance. The following unit learning outcomes are relevant to this assessment: 1. critically evaluate the impact of globalization, organisations and their management; 2. utilise different perspectives to interpret and analyse business, social and cultural problems in an international setting. 3. demonstrate an understanding of the social, political, economic, technological and cultural forces that influence decision-making in international business.

Answer 1

Due to the current wave of globalisation, liberalisation and privatisation every firm has gone or aspiring to become a truly global company. The time of the old flat structured organisation has almost gone; it is the era of network-based and matrix form of organisations where space and nationalities do not limit the scope of business transactions. Every frim is dealing with foreign clients even if they are not their primary consumer base. Every firm particularly
Multinational Corporations not only hires their employees from their home country but also from the host countries due to legal and strategic obligations. So, the challenge to cope up with different cultural nuances has tremendously increased.

Before going into the nitty-gritty of the cross-cultural barriers, it will be wise to know what exactly is the cross-cultural barriers? It can be defined as any kind of hindrance in the way of organisational objective or potential factors which may lead to the failure of the organisation which have come into the existence because of employees of the different cultures and nationalities works together in an organisation. In other words, cross-cultural barriers may be defined as any kind of misunderstanding, stress, and anxiety faced by the employees of an organisation because employees have the different cultural background and come from different social, racial and religious backgrounds.
It is very crucial to strategically overcome the cross-cultural differences in workplaces. As it not only has a negative impact on the growth of the firm but also on the productivity and effectiveness of the employees. Before analysing the ways to tackle this challenge, it will be prudent to know the various factors which cause cross-cultural differences at workplaces. Some of those important factors include semantic barriers, beliefs and values, stereotyping, ethnocentrism, sense of proximity and many more. Now, it will be good to discuss each factor specifically.

Among the other cross-cultural barriers semantic i.e., linguistic barriers can be considered as the prominent one. As due to this barrier misunderstanding among employees can occur and this can lead to huge losses for the company. Semantic barriers do not mean two employees cannot understand each other totally, but if they come from two different background where the word is being used in totally different contexts with different meanings. Then, this can lead to chaos in the organisation. This barrier can be overcome through proper language training and encouraging employees to use easy and simple to understand language as it will limit the scope to misunderstanding among the employees.

The second factor which can cause cross-cultural barrier at the organisational level is beliefs and values. There are things which people hold sacred. Mistreating or not respecting those barriers may lead to a backlash in the organisation. The best example could from the first war of Indian independence. As there were rumours that in the bullets, British authorities had mixed the bone marrow of pigs and cows to destroy the native Indian belief and faith. This rumour to not respect the local cultural values and norms had led to the large repercussion for
the Britishers in the form Revolt of 1857. So, the best way to tackle this kind of barrier is to respect them and refrain from such controversial things as MacDonald is doing they don’t serve beef products in India and they do serve halal food in the Middle-eastern countries. This is the best way to deal with such kind of barriers.

The third factor which could lead to the cross-cultural barrier is the ethnocentrisms. It basically refers to the phenomenon when a person thinks his culture as a yardstick to judge the action/culture of others. It usually happens because of the superiority complex as it was the case when the mass genocide of the Jews community happened in Nazi Germany. Employees should be properly trained to refrain from such kind of mind-set.

The fourth factor may be stereotyping. It happens when we generalise things for a particular race, community, or gender like women are less intelligent or black people are violent etc. So proper training should be imparted in the employees to refrain from such kind of misconception through assimilation and discussion among different social groups.

The fifth factor which may lead to cross-cultural barrier includes a sense of proximity, different meaning of non-verbal gestures, choice of colours etc. Sense of proximity differs from culture to culture as a sense of non-verbal gestures and holy colours differs. For example, saffron colour is considered holy in India likewise green and white is considered holy in the middle eastern countries while anything wrapped in white colour is considered bad in Japan.
So, these are just glimpses of small differences which do exist among different cultures. These differences need to be effectively addressed and overcome through proper training and education. As if we overlooked these factors in the initial stage, it may become a big issue for the organisation in the future.

These are the major cross-cultural factors which may not only hinder the growth of any firm in today’s era but also can severely negatively impact the morale and effectiveness of the employees. Hence, the solution to all these barriers could be to train the employees, increase assimilation among them, encourage healthy discussion among them, train them to inculcate the sense of tolerance and respect for diversity at the organisational level for other’s culture and promote the culture of learning from everyone.

Hence, the best possible solution for overcoming these cross-cultural challenges, which has been practiced by the big MNCs and fortune 500 companies, could be to train the employees to not only respect their own culture and values but also of others. This will not only enhance the understanding among the employees but also significantly will help to achieve the organizational objectives in this era of great sensitivities.