LITERATURE REVIEW

Literature Review

Table of Contents

Chapter One: Introduction3

Introduction3

Managing Across Culture3

Notion of Multiculturalism6

Different National Styles of working in Middle East10

What is Managing Diversity?13

Problems of Multicultural Diversity14

Chapter Two: Literature Review24

Hofstede's Cultural Dimension24

Power Distance Index (PDI)24

Individualism (IDV)25

Masculinity (MAS)26

Uncertainty Avoidance Index (UAI)27

Long-Term Orientation (LTO)27

Managing a Diverse Workforce28

Benefits28

Improving Diversity Management30

Chapter Three: Methodology33

Data Collection Process33

Questionnaire Items34

Independent Variable34

Dependent Variable35

Chapter Four: Discussion and Conclusion36

References42

Appendix45

Questionnaire 1: Company's Approach towards Diversity Managemnt45

Sample Questionnaire 2: Managing Diverse Teams45

Questionnaire 3: Team Performance Evaluation Questionnaire47

Chapter One: Introduction

Introduction

Globalization, according to Nayyar (2006), is simply described as “an expansion of economic activities across national boundaries”. In this day and age, globalization has become increasingly important and common for many organizations as globalization is a way to expand an organization and targeting a more open market. Many organizations have successfully crossed the bridge of globalization and become popular brand, such as McDonald's, Nike and Toyota just to name a few. Therefore the skills to cope with globalization are essential for managers working in growing companies. In section one; this report will explore the topic of 'managing across culture', the problems and recommendation. This report will also use the renowned Hofstede's Cultural Dimension theory, using Middle East as an example of culture. Section two will focus on managing a diverse workforce, exploring the benefits of a diverse workforce and the ways to improve diversity management. Section three will explore the organizational issues related to globalization such as structure and managing change.

Managing Across Culture

Lederach (1995) defined culture as “the shared knowledge and schemes created by a set of people for perceiving, interpreting, expressing, and responding to the social realities around them”. Managing culture is one of the most important skills needed to cope with globalization. Understanding that there is a difference in culture is usually the first step to managing cultures. Managers need to know, for example, that Asian culture tends to favor relationship in business more than Western culture. For example, Dvorak, P (2006) wrote that most Western companies think nothing of switching parts suppliers to cut costs while that is a tougher sell in most Asian countries, where executives often have longstanding or personal relationships with their counterparts at suppliers.

Cullen and Parboteeah (2005) recognized the difference in culture and further categorized cultures into three: national, business and occupational and organizational culture. Cullen and Partoteeah (2005) defined “national culture as the dominant culture in a country; business culture as norms, values and beliefs that pertain to all aspects of doing business in a culture; occupational culture as distinct culture shared by occupational group and finally organizational culture as norms, values and beliefs concerning the organization shared by the member of organization”.

Yau, O (2004) believes that most international joint ventures fail because people are unable to handle the relationship. There are generally misunderstandings on both sides as to the way in which the other side works, meaning they do not understand each other's culture yet. Both parties usually need to try to understand each other's culture and each thinks, as this is crucial for the venture to ...