Cross Cultural Management Meaningful Strategies

Question: Describe about the Cross Cultural Management for Meaningful Strategies. Answer: Introduction Culture is considered to be a collective programming of mind that distinguishes the members in a group from one another and category of people from one another. One of the most important features of culture is that it is learnt and it is not inherited. It lies between the human nature and individual personality (Velo, 2011). It is unique for all the individuals because of these two traits. We all know that every organization has different culture and it is the responsibility of the manager to understand the organizational culture to design some meaningful strategies. Organizations that delivers due consideration to culture can enhance their competitive position and efficiency at work. Impact of culture on international business It is obvious that no business can conduct its activities on the basis of its current method when it wants to make expansion of its business overseas. Every country has its own set of variables which is new for many offshore companies, such as, taxation, rules and regulations, different holidays periods and different currency, etc (Muller, 2009). The most important concern is the difference in culture. Business expansion in an international platform can be through mergers and acquisitions or through internal growth. And in this context, there must be some cultural mismatch. A merger or acquisition, in the case of an established company is considered to be of more beneficial in case of growth internationally and due to this the parent company can develop knowledge about the norms and beliefs concerned in this regard. Whereas in case of internal growth the decisions will be to set a base in a country where the business has to be established as it takes a lot of time to adopt the new culture and learn its traits. There can be similarities in different cultures and differences too. The level of similarities in culture may vary from one country o another. Multinational organizations make their expansion to a country where they have limited differences and more similarities to avoid cultural mismatch. Challenges of doing business in another culture Legal issues: It may involve payment of additional taxes in the process of import and export. Language issues: It is a biggest barrier as the managers have to rely on translators in the business meetings and it is time consuming. Supervisory oversight: Distance generally reduces oversight. It becomes difficult to know what is the major issue and problems taking place in other country. Integration of culture The process involved in the integration of culture is discussed below: Leadership structure: It is essential to define the new structure of an organization and should be presented according to the cogent fashion and in a clear manner. Cultural differences, prescriptions and diagnosis: a research should be conducted to determine the strength and weaknesses of the companies concerned in this process. Establish a communication council: all the key functional leaders should come together and navigate the requirements for communication (Steinmetz, 2016). Define the new culture: With the help of collaborative software and social media, the new culture should be properly defined. Vision, mission and values: Make elaboration of new culture by stating the mission, vision of the company. Cultural communication plans: The responsibility of proper communication must be taken by the top authorities. Measurement and benchmarking: For the demonstration of success and progress, it is important to conduct benchmark for research and make access to understand progress over time. The experienced acquirers have introduced a set of tools for cultural integration. It is somewhat related to the CRM tools in case of sales and marketing (Stafford Miles, 2013). The cultural integration tool allows the companies to use rigorous data and information collection and KPIS to sales and tries to close all the loopholes in different behaviours and antecedents. Integration tools for new culture provide the company with same opportunities to avoid the difficulties and loops for merging various cultures. Conclusion We can conclude by saying that an organization makes its move into a different region with various cultures and it becomes difficult to face hurdles, such as, norms and beliefs, tastes and preferences, language barriers, etc. We can observe that cross cultural communication is possible only when regional language is understood properly. References Muller, D. (2009). The impact of cultural difference in international business communication. GRIN Verlag. Stafford, D Miles, L. (2013). Integrating cultures after a merger. Viewed 28th November 2016 from https://www.bain.com/publications/articles/integrating-cultures-after-a-merger.aspx Steinmetz, A. (2016). A Merger or Acquisition. Viewed 28th November 2016 from https://www.inwardconsulting.com/how-we-think/blog/seven-steps-for-cultural-integration-during-a-merger-or-acquisition Velo, V. (2011). Cross-Cultural Management. Business Expert Press.