INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Communication in Business
“Managing cross-cultural staff.”
ABSTRACT
Cross-cultural communication in business is a feature of study that looks at how people from dissimilar backgrounds converse, in comparable and different ways among themselves, and how they handle to communicate crosswise with cultures. In this investigation we will try to find which are the problems and what ways can we find in order to manage better employees from around the world. The plan of the essay is to expand a better understanding of the key points that control cross-cultural communication and international staff managing .
1. INTRODUCTION
Anthropology includes all aspects of human behaviors and ideas. Anthropologists study diverse cultures to be more compliant and accommodating, more appreciative and to improve our own culture. Culture influences the business setting and management practices of a country and helps appreciate the differences between countries, it is difficult to determine and shows significant dissimilarity inside a country .A cultural approach does not accommodate transform and tends towards stereotypes. Besides every country has its own position of competitive improvement in its politico-economic ,industrial relations ,training and other requirements for firms and workers in their dealings with the state and culture. The resultant ‘varieties of capitalism in different countries mediate the influences of global economy and multinational practices (Armit and Shoemaker ,1993).There is a challenge of integrating the diversity of labor force ,industrial and legal requirements. Cross cultural communication tries to bring jointly such comparatively unconnected areas like cultural anthropology.
1.1 Managing cross cultural staff
The needs for cross-cultural training are necessary, as companies operations particularly those in Europe , extent across a rising number of nations. Without awareness of cultural distinctions ,misunderstandings can arise as a result of ,for example ,different approaches to negotiation,for which a business can pay heavily.Clearly cultural and racial characteristics can themselves become sources of conflict ,provoking differences that often lie outside of the awareness of both parties.Studies of cultural and racial attitudes have resulted in very interesting insights that are of possible relevance to mediators dealing with dispuntants from mixed races.A culture is a collective product ,consisting of processes and artefacts ,produced over long period of time by large number of individuals ,which enable the past to be carried into the present and the future.(Parker et al.,2003).Culture also constrains and enables social action ,and it conditions social structure or relatively stable patterns of social behaviour.Cultural values pervade all areas of human life and have a strong influence on the management of people in different societies.
All cultures differ from many things such as social class,ethnicity and gender.Changing cultural values have an impact on the activities that a manager has to follow.Changes in traditional gender roles and new lifestyles,for example change participation rates in the labor market and the way in which workers are motivated and managed in the workplace.
1.2 Benefits of managing cross cultural staff
2. The benefits of managing international staff
Research demonstrates that there are real benefits to groups of people from different cultural backgrounds working together. The specific nature of those benefits varies from one individual to the next, depending on personal circumstances and the organisation someone works .We can underline some basic positive key points.
Increased knowledge – Working with people from different backgrounds exposes you to a wider variety of experiences and knowledge than you may have the opportunity to access in your home environment. It also helps you to keep up to date with healthcare issues and progress at an international level.
Broader skills – Being part of an international team can greatly enhance your interpersonal skills and give you a broader perspective.
Valuable experience – As more and more work teams cross national boundaries, having experience of working within an international context is becoming increasingly important. Experience of working as part of an international team within The Cochrane Collaboration may be very useful to you in future roles.
Problems in managing international teams
Stereotypes are generalisations that help us to simplify, classify and make sense of the world. They occur when we infer qualities about a person based on evidence of a single characteristic. For example, we may assume that because someone has red hair they are very temperamental. This assumption is likely to be based on our previous experience of people with red hair or from information we have gathered from the media or other people about individuals with red hair.
The problem is of course that stereotypes do not always apply. It is certainly not the case that all people with red hair have bad tempers. We are most likely to hold stereotypes about groups of people who we do not perceive to be like us and of whom we have limited experience.
Difficulties start to occur when we use stereotypes to prejudge in the absence of evidence. If we always have our stereotypes in mind then our tendency is only to attend to information we receive that supports our view and to disregard information that goes against our stereotype.
If we use stereotypes when we are communicating with people these can operate like self-fulfilling prophecies in that they lead us to act towards people in a way that brings out the trait we expect them to have.
It is easy to see that referring to stereotypes or letting them influence our behaviour can significantly impact upon our relationships with others, usually in a negative way.
4. Overcoming the difficulties of working in an international team
Some general principles
Avoid making assumptions – Don’t assume things about an individual or a group: take time to get to know people and find out the correct information. We all hold preconceptions and we all hold stereotypes; the important thing is to not allow them to influence our behaviour. Stay aware of your preconceptions and treat them as hypotheses, not as facts. Your instinct may have been right on the previous nine occasions – it does not mean it’s going to be right this time. Even if you know you have a lot in common with an individual you cannot infer that you will share other interests or opinions.
If you are unsure, check it out – If you are not sure of a particular custom within a country, how to pronounce someone’s name, or whether the written document you have put together is going to be understood, then ask someone for help. All too often we struggle along because we’re embarrassed to ask or we’re concerned about taking up other people’s time. Generally people welcome the opportunity to share their culture. Asking questions early on can save awkwardness later; it would be embarrassing to discover six months into a project that you had been pronouncing a team member’s name incorrectly.
Equal treatment – It’s not enough to treat everyone the same, you should aim to treat people as individuals and as they would want to be treated (not necessarily the same as the way you would want to be treated).
Don’t worry if you make a mistake – It’s impossible to remember all of the differences in customs and cultures; the important point is that you make the effort to build better relationships with your international colleagues. If you make a mistake, apologise and learn from it, but don’t let it stop you from gaining international experience or working with people from different backgrounds.
Build on people’s strengths – We all have strengths and we all have weaknesses. The benefit of any team is that everyone will have different strengths and experiences; the diversity of these experiences is likely to be even greater in an international team. Take time to get to know all team members’ strengths and make the most of them.
Share information – Building relationships is a two-way process. If you are working with colleagues from different cultural backgrounds then try to be open about sharing information about your own culture so that they can get a better understanding of your background. For example, let people know if there are certain customs that should be obeyed within your culture and inform people of important holidays or religious days. Try to be open to questions people may ask of you – but also let people know if you are uncomfortable with the questions they are putting to you (even if you have to do this through a third party).
Avoid making instant judgements – We tend to make immediate evaluations based on our own culture, rather than trying to comprehend thoughts and feelings from the other person’s point of view; we assume our own culture or way of life is the most natural. For example, it is easy to make judgements about an individual’s level of commitment to a project based on the communications they send, their contributions to team meetings and the amount of time they are dedicating to the project. Measures of commitment vary from one culture to the next and from one individual to the next. Try to see the project from the other person’s point of view before you judge their performance or contribution.
1.2 INTERNATIONAL TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT
Within the global integration versus local responsiveness framework ,the notion of strategic alignment suggests that international training and development will vary and take one of these forms:centralized,synergistic or local(Caligrui et al.,2005).The general objective of the training interventions will be to provide managers and personell with the competencies needed to transfer the dinstictive competencies and organisational culture succesfuly from the parent headquarters to the subsidiaries.
The role of training interventions is to nurture a strong culture ,or what Barlett and Ghosal (1989, p.175) call the ‘global glue’ that counterbalances the centrifugal forces of the decentralized operations and processes.A particularly focus in this area has been the predeparture training of expatriates to be ‘interculturally competent’,which refers to the ability of the effective manager to have both ‘communicative competence’ that is to communicate both verbally and non-verbally with host country nationals-and ‘cognitive competence’,which avoids the use of basic stereotypes to judge people.
Communication
The quality of communication is a key concern inn cross cultural staff. Effective communication is critical within any work team. Within an international team it is often the area that individuals have the most difficulty with. There are a number of aspects of communication that can cause problems when working with people from different backgrounds. Two of the most common ones are discussed below.
Conclusion
Working in an international team can be challenging. However, as this document shows, there are a number of simple steps that you can take to minimise the challenges and maximise the benefits of international team working. The key to many of the points raised above is taking the time to review and reflect. Think about the people you are working with, take time to get to know their working style and consider things from their point of view. Do not make assumptions and do not dismiss ideas; just because something did not work last time does not mean it will not work this time.
Being aware of cross-cultural differences and in particular our own attitudes, behaviours and biases is essential for effective international team working. But being aware is only part of the process, we also need to have the skills and consistently use those skills to ensure that we communicate and work effectively with people from different backgrounds. An important point to remember is that cross-cultural team working is not about minimising the differences between people, rather it is about making the most of the added value that a diverse team can offer.
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