International Business - Cultural Issues Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

International Business - Cultural Issues - Essay Example Culture is the mix of behaviors, thoughts, beliefs, symbols, and artifacts that are conveyed to people throughout an organization over time. Culture may include a belief about desired employee conduct. Keep communication channels open. Because an organization requires the cooperation of its members for survival, managers should encourage employee communication of its members for survival, managers should encourage employee communication. Committees, conferences and networks can all lay an important role in effective communication in organizations (Yvonne, 2000, p- 119). "A socially inherited body of sanctions and directives which define (he 'proper' and 'improper' ways of behavior" could help to highlight on one hand the complex environment to which one has to adjust; on the other, being assimilated by the individual, it functions part of the super-ego and conditions his tendency to autonomy." (Yvonne, 2000, p- 87) The important global pressures impacting International business practices in MNCs have grown in number, variety and complexity in recent times- thanks to the changes in information technology, dismantling of tariffs, differentiated labor laws, cultural and language barriers, bargaining practices etc. getting the right people with requisite skills, motivating them to accept the challenges in a foreign locale and extending family support through cultural orientation, language training and education assistance have become truly demanding. Any systematic study of a new geographic market requires a combination of tough mindedness and generosity. The appreciation of another way of life cannot develop when one is defensive about one's own way of life; it is necessary to be secure in one's own convictions and traditions. In additions, generosity is required to appreciate the integrity and value of other ways of life and points of view-to overcome the prejudices that are natural result of the human tendency toward ethnocentricity. When people from other countries like Chinese are haughty, patronizing, or arrogant, home-country ethnocentricity is probably contributing to the problem. Global marketers need to develop an objective standpoint that recognizes diversity and seeks to understand its origins. There are many paths to the same end in life. The successful global marketer knows this and rejoices in life's rich diversity. 4. High and low context cultures In a low-context culture, messages are explicit; word carries most of the information. In a high context culture, less information is contained in the verbal part of the message. Much more information resides in the context of communication, including the background, associations, and basic values of the communicators. In general, high context cultures function with much less legal paperwork than is deemed essential in low context cultures. Japan, Saudi Arabia, and other high context cultures place a great deal of emphasis on a person's value and