International Business and Culture - Assignment Example

International business and culture + Introduction Globalization is the process of intercontinental incorporation arising from the exchange of worldviews, merchandises, philosophies and other characteristics of culture. Businesses have presented an opportunity for the people to share various resources regarding business mostly. The international community, therefore, shares various resources through business. The goods and services may move through countries in imports and exports. The business has therefore contributed significantly to globalization. Globalization in terms of international business is called the movement of resources across countries and continents. The movement of goods and services is usually carried across different countries. Most of the businesses engaging in the trade are multinationals and to some extent, the smaller established companies. In addition, globalization entails the movement of human resources that includes labor across various countries. Labor is an important part of an organization since a business needs the right workforce to make it in any business environment. Some of the organization may move their compatriots in major positions before they offer them to those of the host country. As such, the companies to prevent conflicts with the government follow various laws that affect such activities. The movement of labor usually brings people of different languages and backgrounds together. The culture of the people is thus different, and, therefore, there is need to make sure communication is improved between the workers. For there to be an understanding, there should be an improvement in the communication. Therefore, the common ground is that the language is an issue and therefore bringing the people together and using various communication channels to help in bringing unity among the workers. Globalization, for example, can be evidenced by various multinationals like Coca Cola since they set up their business in developing countries and end up imposing the western culture on the people especially those that work in the companies. The people thus have to learn the various cultures of the foreign businesses. Macro and micro level structures Macro level deals with what is required of the organization in adhering to various regulations in the host country. The micro level deals with the interests of the employees, mainly expatriates. The interests of the expatriates in terms of security and other issues that may affect them in the host country are looked into by the organization. The expatriate is taken to be working 24 hours for the company and therefore if anything happens to him or her the company is liable to compensate such a person. Some of the incidences that may occur at such a level include injury, robbery, and where the employees are affected by the riots as in the case of Egypt where employees were held for ten days before being released by the rioters. It is thus important to ensure that the organization meets the required guidelines set down in the country at the macro level, and they ensure that the safety and health of the workers are maintained. The organization should thus consider security and health of the workers differently since most of the locals are usually safe and are conversant with the country’s environment. The macro level deals with the international employees whose origin is mostly from the host country. The organization, therefore, handles all its employees to an individual threshold. Therefore, it has to take into consideration the various levels of the employees in the organization to prevent a violation of the obligations it has on the employees. International business and culture In the international context, culture involves the way the company carries out its activities and how the employees perform their daily activities especially how they interact and thus communicate (Middleton, 2002). Various countries have different cultures, and not one country may have the same culture as the others. Survival involves coping with various workplaces though they are different. The languages are usually the first barrier in the culture of many countries, which often affects the culture of the people in the organization. A company, therefore, does not have to impose its culture on the people but may slowly bring them to the culture of the organization without causing conflict with the local employees (Stanford, 2010). As a result, a company has its culture that is usually part of the home country of the host country a different culture. Therefore, there has to be an understanding of the various cultures by the organization to ensure that the operations at the workplace go on smoothly. The climate is an important factor because some people may be affected by the climate negatively especially where they may get tropical diseases. The climate factor affects people to a certain extent especially where it is very cold or hot. in that it is used in communication, which is necessary for the efficient running of any company. Since the workforce needs to communicate while carrying out their activities, it is important that the people who work together understand each other. The organization can choose the local managers to work for the time being to enable effective communication to take place. The organizations may have bicultural identities, especially where the expatriates get to speak the language of the host countries. The expatriates can service in the host country since they understand the language and, therefore, do not have a hard time in dealing with the company’s workforce. Netherlands and South Africa The South Africans were colonized by the Dutch and, therefore, speak Afrikaans together with other dialects. The Afrikaans language has its root from the Dutch and, therefore, the South Afrikaans working in Netherlands do not have a significant problem in communicating with the locals in the country. South Africans have a high ranking in most categories of the Hofstede model (Hofstede et al., 2010). South Africa had high scores on individualism and masculinity meaning that it is a male dominated country. Punctuality is also stressed in various offices and meetings. Thus, many organizations can fit easily into the culture of South Africa comfortably. As a result, the people who are in Netherlands do not have a significant problem in communicating with their South African counterparts. The language may have slight variations due to the effect of the local language, but the South Africans can understand the Dutch well. The culture differences create many misunderstandings in different business ventures. South Africa, for example, has many resources, but the management is not at par with that of the Netherlands. The Netherlands is more developed and so is most of South Africa (Hofstede, 2005). The various values are more magnified in Netherlands as compared to South Africa where, though they were colonized by the Dutch, don’t are not so identical in most of the cultural values. Most of the Dutch segregated much of South Africa and therefore not all cultural values were imposed on the South Africans. The language is the only commonality that the South Africans have with the Dutch. South Africa thus shows the Dutch colonized a lot of similarity with the Netherlands since it for a long time. Cultural distance Cultural distance entails how the mind is programmed especially in differentiating various members of different groups, especially where they are from different groups or areas. The cultural difference, therefore, shows to what extent people are similar or different in their cultures (Schein, 2010). The cultures are usually different and, therefore, the extent to which the cultures are dissimilar determines the amount of cultural shift that the company will have to undergo. Various people can fit in the different culture while some take a long time to fit in an individual culture. Therefore, the culture distance between the various countries helps the particular organization to fit either as soon as possible or not. The research of the different cultures has various limitations, especially where the organization does not have people who understand the local market well. The company usually can research on the companies in place especially those that are similar but in the case where the language is not understand the business has a hard time deciphering the language. Language barrier is a limitation on the part of the enterprise and therefore if the language in use is not undetectable it becomes difficult for the organization to carry out any meaningful research. Another limitation is the lack of understanding of the culture of the people. Another limitation is the lack of cultural knowledge. The executives may not know the geographical nature of the country and, therefore, may need to increase their costs to ensure that they use interpreters. Therefore, the additional cost is another disadvantage to the company. Marketing is thus an important part of the business, which occurs after the research, which enables the promotion of the products of the company. Conclusion Countries are different in many ways especially when one considers culture and the language commonly used in a country. The management in organizations, therefore, has to be careful not to bypass the culture of an individual country but to ensure that they study the country’s culture to understand it more to understand the local workforce. Understanding other people’s cultures will help the organization to relate to them in a manner they can understand and that will encourage them to carry out their tasks efficiently and appreciate their different nationalities and cultures. References HOFSTEDE, G. (2005). Cultures consequences: international differences in work-related values. Newbury Park [u.a.], Sage. HOFSTEDE, G. H., HOFSTEDE, G. J., & MINKOV, M. (2010). Cultures and organizations: software of the mind : intercultural cooperation and its importance for survival. New York, McGraw-Hill. MIDDLETON, J. (2002). Culture. Oxford, U.K., Capstone Pub. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=67141. NAKATA, C. (2009). Beyond Hofstede: culture frameworks for global marketing and management. Basingstoke [England], Palgrave Macmillan. SCHEIN, E. H. (2010). Organizational culture and leadership. San Francisco, Jossey-Bass. STANFORD, N. (2010). Organisation culture: getting it right. London, Profile. Read More