Intercultural Management

Introduction

Business has so rapidly developed internationally, management is no longer restricted to the domestic territory, but has gone beyond national borders and constantly confronts cultural diversity. Culture has gradually come to play an increasingly prominent role in the international business over the last couple of decades. Being aware of the differences that exist between cultures and knowing how to respond to when we encounter puzzling cross-cultural situations are important skills. People around the world share the same basic wants and needs, but they differ in the manner that they try to fulfill them even between individual members of the same society (Kirkman, 557). These cultural differences can and do impact on behavior and understanding. If we know more about the different cultural beliefs, values, and attitudes of our global neighbors, we could dispel the barriers to tolerance, understanding and good communications. James Lee states that "the unconscious reference to ones own cultural values is the root cause of most business problems abroad. The purpose of this paper is to discuss AIG (American International Group) as a case to explore the features of cultureal differences and the recent crisis the organization has faced in this regad.

Intercultural Management as Hot Topic of 21st Century

The "hot topics" for the 21st century would seem to be globalization, team working and diversity. It provides a background to considering issues relating to development and performance of international management teams. In a global context the management and development of people inevitably leads to considerations of diversity and related challenges. Schneider discusses the challenges facing organizations which are intending to work effectively across borders. They identify the major challenges as being able to develop practices which balance global competitiveness, multinational flexibility and the building of a worldwide learning capability. They maintain that achieving this balance will require organizations to develop the cultural sensitivity and ability to manage and leverage learning to build future capabilities.

AIG & Financial Crisis

American International Group, Inc (AIG) is a chief American insurance corporation based at the American International Building in New York. British headquarters in Fenchurch Street in London, continental Europe operations are located in La Défense, Paris, and its Asian headquarters in Hong Kong. According to the 2008 Forbes Global 2000 list, AIG was the 18 th largest public company in the world. It is on the Dow Jones Industrial Average from 8 April 2004, the to 22 September, 2008 (Schein, 635).

He suffered from liquidity crisis after its credit ratings were downgraded below "AA" levels, as well as the Federal Reserve Bank on 16 September 2008 established a $ 85 billion loan to the company to meet the collateral and other monetary obligations, the price for AIG to the issuance of warrants Stock in Federal Reserve Bank for 79.9% of the shares of AIG. In November 2008, the U.S. government revised its loan package of the company, increasing the total amount of up to $ 152 billion. AIG is trying to sell assets to repay loans (Trice, 45). Until now, the ...