The first chapter of the text explores many trends in business that we experience on a global level. No more are the days of writing our friends letters or walking to take out cash from the bank. We, as a country and as smaller organizations, have embraced our rise in technology and been able to achieve communication through means of non face-to-face interactions. A concept I found to be extremely interesting in this chapter is multicultural management. This term is defined as "the ability to adapt to one's leadership style to both respond to and make the most of pervasive cultural differences in values and practices among a diverse employee population" (Eisenberg 12). This term seems simple on paper, but much harder to achieve in behavior. It is easy to embrace our own cultural values and beliefs and neglect another cultures'. We now have the benefit of communicating easily with other countries, and I think it is extremely important to be aware that we are all different and have different sets of norms and customs. It would be easy for a company to manufacture a type of Barbie doll that wears sleeveless clothing, but many Middle Eastern countries (where women are not permitted to leave home without clothing covering their entire body and most of their face) would have a problem with that. Other countries even have different nonverbal expressions that differ from our own.
This summer I went to Scotland and pursued a publishing internship and was surprised to see my peers taking casual lunches and arriving/leaving at various and random times during the day. I had to take a step back and remember that in America, especially in the Silicon Valley, our idea of work is very different.
Hope everyone is having a great start to winter session! :)
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I agree with you that our cultural values and norms are very different than those of a different country. Even within our own country, traveling state to state, there are so many different cultural values and norms. Especially related to the job. For example, I go to Maui every year as many times as I can fit it in because one of my very best friends lives there. I go to work with her often (Sheraton Maui Resort) and their work ethic is so very different than ours. It’s a very slow-paced, get it done when you can, type of environment even though they’re in the service industry. And most of the guests are okay with that. There is something about being in a culture outside of your own that really makes you take a step back and look very carefully at yourself and what you value.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great concept, I almost wrote about it. I worked in the UK (Wales and London) for a technology company and boy was the culture quite different. There was not a huge language barrier, just different vocabulary used so that was ok, but they are like robots! Everyone wore a suit and tie, the engineers wore slacks and nice collared shirts (you really don't see that in Silicon Valley). To top it off, the sales people rarely even saw clients and never the public, so they were dressed up to sit at their desk and conduct cold calls. In the US we may work long hours and not take vacations but we are much more ambitious and productive then what I observed for 4 months in the UK!
ReplyDeleteComm Girl – I enjoyed reading about your experiences with multicultural management. Your trip to Scotland sounds wonderful and it must have been a great experience for you. Like you, I have seen firsthand how different cultures interact in the workplace. I worked for a large company in the Manufacturing department for eight years. I was the assistant to the executive VP of manufacturing. Part of my job was bringing in visitors from our facilities in Malaysia and Singapore. I had the opportunity to meet and work with a great variety of people. However, the different cultures created some obstacles that I quickly had to overcome. I had to help people with certain dietary restrictions (because of their religion) find places where they could eat, I set up a special prayer area for those who needed to pray several times a day, and I made sure the people who couldn’t drive were taken places on the weekends by a local transportation service. I’ll admit that it was hard to help people from so many different cultures without getting a little stressed out. In the end, it was worth it. I made so many friends along the way and my hard work didn’t go unappreciated.
ReplyDeleteGood insight on how companies are moving to meet the changes of the worlds businesses. Large American businesses like McDonald’s, Starbucks, Wall Mart and Disney are popping up all around the world in many diverse cultures. The challenge is accommodating to their norms and not just American methods. “American Style hotels built around Disneyland Paris with rooms that cost $300 a night were not practical for the typical French family, which takes a three- to six week vacation” (Eisenberg13). The misunderstanding of the French Culture in Disney is a great example of global expansion and its difficult challenges. People were at first disappointed that the park served French food when they wanted American food to go along with the theme. As well the no alcohol in the park upset many because Europeans are accustomed to drinking wine at lunch. After the first year and learning more about the cultural differences, changes were made to keep people coming to the theme park. Working with other cultures is a challenge but learning how to use the diversity as a benefit instead of a conflict is the key to a successful business.
ReplyDeleteCOMM Girl, you make a good point about exporting American products and services to other countries, as with your example of the Barbie doll. Andreas Costas points out the problems Disney encountered in France. When I travel outside the U.S., I enjoy going places I can't go to at home. Why go to an American restaurant in Italy? I'd rather eat at a local Italian place--where the people from that city or town go. As organizations operate on a more global scale, organization members encounter varying cultural beliefs and practices. Learning about other cultures and engaging in experiences outside your everyday comfort zone will go a long way toward improving your effectiveness in organizations.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your blog and the following comments. I am looking into working or interning abroad this upcoming summer and was excited to hear about your experiences. The differences just between the UK and Silicon Valley seem to be much more disparate than I would have anticipated. I agree that it is important to realize how different and unique each culture is, and I am glad you shared your experiences to help us all learn a little more about those cultures.
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