Advancing Cultural Mindset and Integration - Assignment Example

Today the world is competitive in nature and this call for the work environment to be more cooperative, collaborative and be more understanding when it comes to culture. Culture is what an individual believes in, acquired from generation to generation. Due to the many changes that are happening in the world, many companies have altered their way of doing business. Competition is global and the economy demands for products and services that are of high quality and a competitive price. Companies are forced by the consumers of their products to remain competitive by providing customized goods to meet the needs of the consumers, to respond quickly to the changes of the market which growing fast thus creating customer growth. To have a global mindset helps individuals to think widely and to work with people from different cultures. For example, global managers are different from the local managers due to their state of mind and the ability to work across boundaries and appreciating cross culture. Therefore, to have a difference in mindset and approach to problem-solving makes one has the ability to work internationally. In addition, individuals should not assume that their way of doing things is right. It is important to understand how people operate in this complex world. Moreover, having a global mindset entails the willingness of an individual to adjust their behavior and way of thinking. If an individual keeps on doing what they are used to, they miss opportunities to become successful. There are various ways used to integrate varied perspectives to be successful in a culturally diverse society. Firstly, one needs to understand and appreciate the acquired culture. This entails learning how people communicate, how they make decisions, and generally how they do things. This will help solve the cultural differences among the different employees and the executive team. Secondly, organizations need to put in place a cultural integration plan. This will help identify the strengths of the different employees as well as identify where the big risks are and to have plans on mitigating them (Daniels, & Radebaugh 2000). For instance, it will help identify managers who are struggling with their new teams and which teams have a difficulty in working within their limits. Thirdly, it is important for organizations to evolve culture. This entails educating people to overcome the justifiable ‘us’ and ‘them’ culture and instead embrace the ‘we’ culture. In addition, the strengths and behaviors of all employees should be leveraged by rewarding the employees who show their best behavior. The systems used for rewarding should be fair to all the employees. Fourthly, the adoption of a common language is vital as it facilitates good working relationships as well as good communication in the work place. It entails the minority cultural group to assimilate by learning and adopting the culture of the majority. This will lead to the success of the common goal of an organization. The strategies for developing global mindset entails the use of multiple and broad perspectives and the ability to balance value diversity, contradiction, teamwork and to be open. For an individual to obtain culture intelligence, they need to work in environments that have different cultures with different people who have different cultures. In addition, international transfers develop a global mindset. It entails exchanging the roles of employees and transferring them to other countries. This brings togetherness to the team members who have different perspectives thus making them learn the skills underlying the global mindset (Mobley, 2011). This skills help identify the abilities to work with people with different cultures and work through interpersonal conflict. International experiences foster development of leadership skills in handling cultural diversity like dealing with conflicts and the capability of handling complexity. In addition, individuals in different roles are exposed to various perspectives and competition. To have all the experiences helps individuals to shift from a local mindset to a global mindset. Moreover, training on cultural intelligence makes employees to overcome ethnocentrism and placing oneself in the shoe of another culture. Training is done to develop an individual’s weaknesses and to find commonalities across the team members (Hiwaki, 2011). Leaders should also use cultural assimilators like the discussion of a case study that focus on important incidents that lead to misunderstanding and poor communication. This helps to expose members from one culture to another and the concepts, beliefs and attitudes of a different culture. Globalization makes communication skills to be more important to global team effectiveness. Accordingly, communication is used to build a shared understanding on the on a company’s goals, policies and procedures to reduce ambiguity. In order to build trust; open and prompt communication should be used among members (Seelye, 2003). This will result to team success due to cooperative relationships. To understand how people communicate leads to an understanding and respect among employees. Communication is the greatest tool that an organization uses to be successful therefore, individuals should make communication work, and not to look for excuses whenever there is a breakdown. Today, technology has improved greatly how people communication. People can communicate via Skype, or video conferencing to interact with colleges in other regions. On the other hand, cultural differences and different time zones reduce the opportunity for communication therefore inhibiting the global mindset among members that eventually leads to a reduction in team effectiveness (Martin, 2010). Concisely, companies are forced to participate in a competitive environment. Therefore, organizations have a duty to produce high quality goods. At the same time, the global world necessitates that there is proper communication and for employees to understand and embrace global demands. Global mindset among leaders, employees, and managers is vital as it help in working across different languages and cultures. To have cultural intelligence, communication and interpersonal skills are the key competencies to the global team effectiveness. When managed effectively, global teams work efficiently and effectively and have great potentials in innovations thus leading to the success of an organization. Culture is dynamic and it evolves everyday it is therefore the responsibility of all persons to embrace the new changes. References Daniels, J., & Radebaugh, T. (2000). Global business: Environments and strategies : Managing for global competitive advantage. Oxford: Oxford University Press Hiwaki, K. (2011). Culture and economics in the global community: A framework for socioeconomic development. Farnham: Gower. Mobley, W., & Li, M. (2011). Advances in Global Leadership. Bradford: Emerald Group Pub. Seelye, H. (2003). Teaching culture: Strategies for intercultural communication(3rd ed.). Lincolnwood, Ill.: National Textbook. Martin, D. (2010). The efficiency of control strategies; communication and decision making organizations. Stockholm: Almquist & Wiksell. Read More