With the process of globalization, people from different places have been brought together today. There have been culture communications and influences through this phenomenon. Some people think that management style in organizations should be varied to fit different cultures. Cross-cultural adjustment has to be made because of the different working styles and ways of thinking in different cultures.
People with different cultural backgrounds may have significantly different working styles. Due to the development of each country's history and economy, people work differently. For instance, when westerners sign a contract, they see it as rules and obey them strictly. While Japanese would change the norms in the contract based on the circumstances and situation of their customers (Nisbett, 2005). This is regarded as culture differences in workplace, which lead to disparate situation and results. Therefore, management style should be adjusted in different places, or it may cause confusion and conflicts.
Various ways of thinking and perception are shown in people from several nations. If a group of people comes from different countries, the way they look at things may differ. Hamilton and Webster (2009) indicated that Easterners and westerners see the world around them differently. When looking at a picture of a tiger in a forest, westerners tended to focus on the tiger. However, Chinese students concentrated more on the forest. This reveals the logic differences between cultures. If companies do not vary their management methods, there might be some problems in understanding.
It is true that some successful international companies use a single system to organize people from several countries. However, there might not be a universal management style for people over the world. 'Just as standardized products do not suit all markets, organizations cannot be standardized, but must adapt to local social and cultural profiles.' (Morrison, 2006)
People from numerous places have their own style of working, and the way they think may also differs. As a result, if a company want to survive in another country, it has to adjust its management style in order to fit the local culture and run successful business.
written by Candice Li (Candice Hyland)
11th Jan , 2019
scored and corrected by Nicholas Falkinder, University of Sydney
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