International Management Globalization - Cultural Integration

Question: Discuss about the International Management for Globalization, Cultural Integration. Answer: Introduction: In this modern world of globalization, cultural integration has become a part of our everyday life. Now, we cannot ignore the existence of a culture that is very different from that of ours in every sector of life. However, sometimes it becomes tough for us to overcome the cultural barriers and acclimatize ourselves with a complete new culture or atleast let them the part of our lives. In last summer, I had a visit to our office (branch) in China. It was my first time visit, and even being a close neighbor, I had not much knowledge of the culture and languages of the country, which led me to face a cultural dissonance. Discussion: As opined by Daenekindt and Roose (2014) Cultural dissonance can be identified as an uncomfortable or uneasy sense of conflict, disharmony, misunderstanding, or discord experienced by the individuals in the midst of change in theirculturalenvironment. A cultural dissonance can create a sense of aloofness and devastation of the moral values of an individual. The human being is a creature who loves to accommodate. However, as mentioned by Grimes (2012) the cultural clashes mainly disrupt our ability of accommodating with the situation, which becomes more critical with time. Such dissonance often occur due the language barriers, pre-set prejudices and lack of understating of the values that is the fundamental stem of that particular culture. One can face such dissonances in any sector of his/her social life. As we are working in a global world, such dissonances often disrupt our capacity of socialization in our office set up. As mentioned by Samnani et al. (2012) in the work places the language barrier and the lack of cultural knowledge decreases peoples motivation and competency. While I reached China, the first issue I faced the language barrier. In the office I had no idea what are others talking. It made me think that they are always talking about me and I stated to suffer an inferiority complex. Moreover, I find it hard to communicate with my colleagues regarding the professional issues; it gradually made my managerial skills down (Chan and Tong 2014). Moreover, as, I was almost unaware of the culture, my colleagues started to believe that I am showing disrespect to them. Chinese believe in collectivism, while my own philosophy of life is individualism (Kokkoris and Khnen 2013). It created a huge clash of interests. They do not like flowers as a gift, which is the most common in my culture. Moreover, they have a very good sense of humor, of which I often took an offence. They have a typical respect for the elderly persons and you cannot harshly reproach an aged person there. It gave me a huge trouble when I rebuked one of my sub-ordinates for his irrespon sible behaviours regarding a project. I was in sheer confusion and dilemma, as I have no idea of what exactly was going wrong. My failure of sending a meeting agenda, understanding the rank accuracy issues, lack of patience to close a deal even the use of my limbs were creating issues with my integration to the countries culture (Jiang 2013). It gradually made me demotivated and I was gradually losing my expertise of dealing with the people. I started to look at me as a minority and grown a sense of anger and abhor within me (Butcher 2016). It affected my emotional health and my career as well. My behaviour started to become disrespectful and I got a warning mail from the head office. Then, I stated to look for the issues, which were leading me in such an unbearable situation and affecting my professional life. To overcome, this situation I have tried a number of methods. As it was an official tour, I had to follow the schedules. I did not have any option of early leaving. It made me motivated to overcome this situation. Overcoming the language barrier: I tried to keep an interpreter with me who helped me by translating my opinions (Grimes 2012). He was a fellow employee and he was a native. In the course of time, we started to share a comfort zone with each other. Conversations with him helped me to understand the Indian values as well as the native language. Moreover, I tried to use the native terms while talking to hotel stuffs and other colleagues. It made them believe that I am trying to be a part of them and they started to communicate with me more frequently. Learning of the culture: With the passing time, I came to understand that, for acclimatizing with this new environment and reducing the cultural dissonance, I need to understand the culture and values of the country. Then I started to read books to guide myself for adjust in China. As mentioned by (Butcher 2016), by doing your own research about the country, you will be able to detect the potential threat and take the prior measures. It helped me to know about the greeting style, the importance of showing respect to the elders and the conservative ideologies of the country. It helped me a lot in gaining the confidence of my colleagues. Travelling: I do not know, whether one believe me or not, travelling to the corners of the city helped me a lot to make myself aware of the food, language, people and their mentality. In this country or other, travelling always helps us to be aware of the culture (Fang 2014). On the other hand, in doing so, I started to enjoy my time in China. Have a friend: As mentioned by Butcher (2016) to be adjusted in a situation, friendship is the best pathway. However, it was tough for me, but I managed to make friend with my interpreter. He made understand the wrongs of my behaviour and I started to imitate him in any social gathering. Thus, I gradually managed to overcome the cultural issues those were affecting my career. Conclusion: Hence, in conclusion, it can be said that, in the modern multi cultural world, cultural clash is normal. However, we need to take initiatives before it crosses the psychological boundary and start challenging our psychological limitations. On the other hand, in the official setup, eliminating the occurrences of cultural dissonance is a prerequisite for successful management as well as attaining the strategic goals. To overcome the cultural dissonance, we need to understand the cultural values and know the etiquettes of that particular culture. Some research and a leaning bent can easily make us accustomed with the boundaries and help us to acclimatize. References: Butcher, M., 2016.Managing cultural change: Reclaiming synchronicity in a mobile world. Routledge. Chan, K.B. and Tong, C.K., 2014. Singaporean Chinese doing business in China. InChinese Business(pp. 119-129). Springer Singapore. Daenekindt, S. and Roose, H., 2014. Social mobility and cultural dissonance.Poetics,42, pp.82-97. Fang, T., 2014. Understanding Chinese culture and communication: The Yin Yang approach.Global Leadership Practices, pp.171-187. Grimes, L.G., 2012.Teaching Evolution: A Heuristic Study of Personal and Cultural Dissonance. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway, PO Box 1346, Ann Arbor, MI 48106. Jiang, Y., 2013. Business Negotiation Culture in China A Game Theoretic Approach.International Business Research,6(3), p.109. Kokkoris, M.D. and Khnen, U., 2013. Choice and dissonance in a European cultural context: The case of Western and Eastern Europeans.International Journal of Psychology,48(6), pp.1260-1266. Samnani, A.K., Boekhorst, J.A. and Harrison, J.A., 2012. Acculturation strategy and individual outcomes: Cultural diversity implications for human resource management.Human Resource Management Review,22(4), pp.323-335.