CROSS CULTURAL THEORY

Cross Cultural Theory



Table of Contents

Executive Summary4

Introduction5

Mission6

Vision6

Team Building and Cultural Differences in various regions6

Comparison of Cultures9

Cultural Profile12

Hofstede's four dimensions of culture13

Trompenaar's perspective of cultural difference14

Universalism versus particularism15

Neutral versus effective15

Specific versus diffusive16

Achieved status versus ascribed status16

Sequential versus synchronous16

Internal control versus external control16

Cross Culture Communication17

Assertive or Direct Communication18

Communication with in DHL22

First Phase22

Second Phase22

Third Phase23

Standardization versus Localization24

Conclusion27

Recommendation29

References30

Executive Summary

In this report, we will be discussing the cross cultural issues organizations face when they have to carryout their processes and work in team. When organization faces several cultures, it has to deal with several issues. The issues include Communication, Language Leadership and Management issues. Hence, when there are so many differences, it is not an easy tasks to handle and it often create issues for the company management, who fails to solve these issues as a result the efficiency of the company reduces. There are many issues including cultural issues, communication issues and management styles that affect the performance of the team and its objectives. Cultural Awareness and proper training can help solve this issue. We will discuss the issues and their solution in reference with DHL company, in order to better assess the situation. Cross Cultural Theory

Introduction

In this report, we would determine the cross cultural issues faced by companies having operations in various countries. We will discuss these issues in reference to DHL. DHL Express is a German Logistic company and a division of Deutsche Post providing internalational mail. The company is a leader in air and sea mail. The company is renowned for its services all over the world. It has been expanding its business worldwide in 1970s. The company adopted aggressive strategy in USA and China to capture the market. The population of China is 1,343,239,923 which meant that the company had huge opportunity in this region (www.cia.gov). Hence, the company had to face cultural issues and had to deal with them. It had to develop specific strategy for each country in order to suceed in that environment.

Managing cultural diversity and cross cultural isssues in International management is a tough task and a growing concern. When a firm decides to expand business across the border, it faces many challenges including management of diversity, language barriers, diverse regulations, diverse norms and traditions, and so on. Culture and business are very much inter-linked, until and unless a firm understands the culture of a new society where it plans to expand, it is impossible to achieve targets and objectives (Obeng, 2010, pp. 18). Language barriers are one of the major issues faced by multinational firms. Cultures vary nation to the nation and continent to continent. The concept of fair business practices get even more ambiguous when one moves in to newer culture.

DHL can be termed as a Multinational. Multinational corporations are defined in various ways. A common definition is that, MNC with a dominant HQ in one country and various subsidiaries across different countries. International management goes along with international strategy of a firm. Definition of MNCs suggests that some companies will ...