According to (Adams, Goldbard & Ybarra-Frausto, 2002), the culture of a society can be defined as a set of determinants prevailing in it and acquired from customs, traditions, and religion; these determinants are binding in some respects and are considered reference for activities among members of this community.
In this paper, I will discuss the importance of community culture for business, its cultural implications, how it affects the business environment positively and negatively, and finally, how successful managers can reduce its negative effects.
The importance for international managers:
Due to the growth and intertwining of businesses globally, working between different cultures has become inevitable; therefore, understanding the cultural differences between employees in the workplace is extremely important (Caprar et al., 2015); this understanding causes managers to reveal the reasons behind the diverse behaviors of their employees, find out the correct ways to deal with these behaviors, helping these employees feel respect for their culture, integrate and benefit from their diversity in the work teams around them.
The Cultural Implications:
According to Au (1999), many factors cause and affect cultural Implications in the workplace, the most important of which are different countries, ethnicities, religions, education levels, and generations.
Selected MNC Organization:
I will choose (Bechtel) a construction and engineering company; the company employs 55,000 employees in nearly 50 countries (CISION, 2021); according to the ENR list, this company is the largest in this field in the United States in business volume (ENR, 2020), in addition to the revenue of $17.6 billion for the year 2020, according to Forbes magazine (Forbes, 2022).
Impact on the work environment:
In Bechtel, they all work in a very diverse work environment; on one project, we find many different cultures, for example, by dropping (M. Libraries, n.d.) on the case of my company:
We find that Eastern cultures (China - the Middle East region) tend to respect the employer and the manager and not criticize him.
Western cultures (USA - Europe) do not find embarrassment in dealing with the business owner as they treat the rest of the work team and call him by his abstract name.
Some ethnicities from South America and Mexico touch others while talking and do not maintain enough personal space.
Some religions have specific costumes they believe are necessary, such as the headscarf "Hijab" for Muslim women and the turban Sik"s.
Level of education and experience play a vital role in understanding the roles and responsibilities within the business and the ability to get it done smoothly; engineers are different from workers.
For different ages, younger supervisors and workers tend to work harder to keep the job than the older generation, who seek recognition and incentives.
Minimizing the adverse effects of Cultural Implications:
Adverse effects can be reduced by learning about the employee’s culture, understanding team members, researching their cultural norms, and being willing to accommodate them (International Business, n.d.); of course, this is not the same as knowing the operating manual for a robot, but the successful leader and manager must have initial knowledge of cultural differences and then implement strategies to accommodate these employees in their business environment, honoring in their holidays and celebrations and respecting their beliefs and cultural backgrounds is essential and vital to the employee's continuity and ability to contiemployee'sg efficiently.
Conclusion
Diversity has many benefits for organizations that managers must take advantage of. The most important of which is access to more talents and a diversity of ideas, which leads to faster growth, increased creativity and productivity, and the ability to attract more customers by understanding their needs (Green et al., 2002), but on the other hand, problems in effective communication come as a result of the difference in the mother tongue and the inability to understand gestures and signs, in addition to conflicting opinions sometimes due to a lack of trust in different people.
References
Adams, D., Goldbard, A., & Ybarra-Frausto, T. (2002). Community, culture, and globalization (p. 7). New York: Rockefeller Foundation.
Au, K. Y. (1999). Intra-cultural variation: Evidence and implications for international business. Journal of International Business Studies, 30(4), 799-812.
Caprar, D. V., Devinney, T. M., Kirkman, B. L., & Caligiuri, P. (2015). Conceptualizing and measuring culture in international business and management: From challenges to potential solutions.Journal of International Business Studies, 46(9), 1011-1027. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/jibs.2015.33. Retrieved from ProQuest One Academic Database.
CISION. (2021). Bechtel Annual Report shows resilience in 2020, https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bechtel-annual-report-shows-resilience-in-2020-301259945.html
ENR. (2020). ENR 2020 Top 400 Contractors, https://www.enr.com/toplists/2015_Top_400_Contractors1
Forbes. (2022). America's Best Large Employers 2022, httpsAmerica'srbes.com/companies/Bechtel/?sh=5605b38e6b1d
Green, K. A., López, M., Wysocki, A., Kepner, K., Farnsworth, D., & Clark, J. L. (2002). Diversity in the workplace: Benefits, challenges, and the required managerial tools. University of Florida, 1(4), 1-3.
International Business. (n.d.).Understanding How Culture Impacts Local Business Practices. Retrieved from https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_international-business/s07-03-understanding-how-culture-impa.html
M. Libraries (n.d.). The Global Business Environment. Retrieved from https://open.lib.umn.edu/exploringbusiness/chapter/3-3-the-global-business-environment/