describe the importance of cross-cultural training in engineering firms
Executive Summary
The aim of this report is to describe the importance of cross-cultural training in engineering firms. By engineering firms here we mean the companies which are widespread across countries in manufacturing and production and good and services. It is the duty of the company to provide cross-cultural training to the employee to maintain the standards of production quality.
It is important to maintain the standards of the firms regarding design and other aspects. In this report, we will have the opportunity to understand the various aspects of cross-cultural training and how they can benefit the employees.
Table of Contents
Introduction 3
Problem Statement 4
Research aim and research questions 4
Literature Review 5
2.1 Dimensions of National Culture 5
2.2 High-context communication and low context communication 6
Research Methodologies 6
Findings and Analysis 7
Discussion and Conclusion 8
References 9
Introduction
Engineering firms employ lakhs of employees throughout the life time of their business. They have manufacturing, testing, production and marketing departments which cater mainly to the requirement of their customers. These companies have to adopt new designs, techniques, and challenges from time to time to re-structure the products or design new products. This applies to companies dealing with technology, automobile, and other goods. This report will cover the tools and techniques used to train the employees across culture so that they can adopt the best practices of the firm.
Problem Statement
Employee training is an essential part of an organization which has to be taken care by the Human Resources department. It is their duty to monitor the employees from time and time and find the necessary training for them to improve their knowledge and perform well in the organization.
Due to globalization and rapid development of economics, multinational firms are becoming wider. Culture, as Hofstede (1997, p. 4) states, is the “software of mind” that can influence people’s patterns of thinking and behaving. It is that two countries have different types of living but head towards the same culture. It is a challenge for multi-national companies to deal with cross-cultural communication. Bennis and Nanus (1985) refer to Erez (1992) states that communication is a tool for group members to work together without any issues. It is highly important for managers in multi-national firms to adopt the styles of cross-cultural communication techniques to communicate effectively and efficiently.
Research aim and research questions
The aim of this research is to understand the techniques to provide cross-cultural communication training to employees in an organization. This has to adapt to the culture of the company and at the same time must adhere to the training standards of the company. In this case let us assume the company to be a Multi-National Corporation which is looking to increase its communication standards across countries to get maximum benefits.
Research Questions
The following research questions are developed to achieve the aim:
What methods of communication training are taken into consideration?
Who will be the target population undergoing this training?
What is the effect of these training on the performance of the employees?
Do correlations exist between communication training and performance improvement?
Literature Review
Mary, 1993; Bennett 1998; Yum, 1988; Ybema & Byun, 2009 have emphasized the importance of communication at work and in everyday life. Mary (1993) helps in putting across multiple insights to communication for managers to deal with several issues that occur during their work cycle.
Cross-cultural management helps in focusing on the problems arising due to the behavior of people from different background or cultures within the same organization across locations (Adler, 1983). This report aims at dealing with issues such as a style of leadership adopted, motivation, organizational structure (Morden, 1995; Elenkov, 1998). (Shore and Cross, 2005) Proposed various theories which are similar to Hofstede’s dimensions of cultural theory. The aim of every organization that undergoes the training is to make an effective study that will not be a barrier to communicating across region or countries. It is important to understand the style of communication and the percentage of users of the style across locations.
2.1 Dimensions of National Culture
Culture is often defined as the style or pattern which is taken for granted about how a group of people think, react or feel about their daily affairs ” (Joynt & Warner, 1996, p. 3). According to Hofstede (1997), there are two types of cultures on values and practice. The actual difference in cultures lies in the value than practices. It is up to the individual and how they respect a particular culture or have an interest in developing the same.
2.2 High-context communication and low context communication
(Richardson and Smith, 2007), High and low context communication is an important approach in cross-cultural communication. This is the correct approach that links the management style to employees. It helps the management to identify possibilities to enhance growth and productivity.
In high-context communication, there is a coordination prevailing among the groups or peers across countries. They have a clear sense of work and coordinate perfectly across locations. In low context communication structures, employees stay individually and do not interact with one another. This leads to the downfall of the organization (Richardson and Smith, 2007). High context culture is fast, easy and adapts and professional where low-context communication strategies are not so professional since it fragments the individuals.
Research Methodology
In this research, there is a clear understanding of the questions mentioned above and the techniques that can be followed which do not isolate the individuals across cultures in an organization. Bryman and Bell (2007, p. 418) says that qualitative studies provide detailed information on the investigations and how they have to be set. Here the qualitative data is used which contains both primary and secondary data.
Secondary data is used here which taken from Hofstede resources. There are several criticisms against Hostefede’s study. One of the major criticisms is that he neglects the change of time (Holden, 2002). This is a major disadvantage since certain facts changes with time. The economic development will bring a whole new look to the way in which the cross-cultural communications take place.
Findings and Analysis
To address the research questions, there is a comparison drawn between multi-national companies and its effect on cross-cultural communication standards. The primary data helps analyze the standards between companies whereas the secondary data from Hofstede national cultural dimensions helps illustrate the cultural influence across boundaries.
A matrix can be built based on the theories discussed earlier:
Power distance
Individualism
Masculinity
Long-term orientation
China ©
Sweden (S)
C(80)
S(31)
C(20)
S(71)
C(55)
S(5)
C(118)
S(33)
Management Style
Staff Behaviours
Communication System
Fig: Example matrix of culture’s influence on communication between China and Sweden
Discussion and Conclusion
Based on the above research we can infer that in a multi-national company, the parent and the subsidiary company must have the same communication structure. This structure has to be acceptable by employees which will help them in following a style which will lead to efficient working methods. Further, it is the duty of the management to find the right communication style to be applied. When there are differences between the parent and subsidiary company regarding thoughts or working style, there cannot exist a balance. This leads to issues in culture and cross-cultural communication diversions which furthermore enhances the problems. Hence it is the duty of the management to fix the communication style to avoid hassles.
The barriers of cross-cultural communication come from:
Lack of understanding between groups
Lack of emotional intelligence
Expectation set on managers not up to the mark
Dealing with different abilities and aspects of business
Language barriers
The difference of opinion.
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