The purpose of this essay to demonstrate the cultural differences between the UK manager going to work as an expatriate manager in Colombia. By taking into consideration Hofstede, Bond, Trompenaars and other cross cultural management researchers to advise the UK manager about the Colombian culture, taking into consideration the differences between leadership styles, decision making, recruitment and selection, motivation, planning and team versus individual working.The reason for selecting Colombia was that according to the results by Geert Hofstede, these two countries are very opposite to one another. Therefore it will be good to compare the differences and the similarities between the countries’ culture.
According to Adler (1983) Cross
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Colombian’s societies are strongly from birth onwards integrated into strong groups, this is often extended family. (Hofstede and Bond, 1988)
Colombian people would openly express emotions even in business circumstances, whereas the British would consider such display unprofessional. (Helen Deresky, 2003)
UK managers separates work, relationships and personal issues, they compartmentalise their private lives and work, they are more direct and open, whereas in an diffused oriented cultures, such as Colombia, there is spill over from work into personal relationships. (Helen Deresky, 2003)
According to Edward Hall Britain is a monochronic time society. To British citizens time is precious and limited resource, it is to be scheduled, saved, and also spent with precision, for the British time is money, and the clock is at all times running. Therefore, schedules and deadlines must to be met, and when others are not on time for meetings, British may feel insulted, when meetings digress from their purpose, British tend to become impatient. (Mcfarlin et al, 2011)
However in Colombia attitude toward time is “manana” meaning tomorrow. From Edward Hall research, Colombian is a polychonic time society.
Maria Garcia-Rada, now 20, was born May 13th, 1995 in Lima, Peru. Maria moved to the United States in 2001 because her father got a job offer in Maryland. It was a sacrifice that her father was willing to make because it was an opportunity for a better life for their family. Even though Maria moved to the United States she still follows many of the traditions and practices from her old culture and incorporates them into her everyday life while also following traditions of American culture. When she moved to America, Maria only knew how to speak Spanish. Throughout this interview the interviewer will discuss Maria’s traditions, customs, power distance within the Peruvian culture, and how the two cultures clashed at times.
Central American Identities are very diverse thanks to the cultural production and historical context of the tradition and customs of Central American people. Central American people express diversity through their very unique culinary practices, such as: dress codes, social relationships and in the arts and humanities. Nonetheless we still can’t fully define culture in a permanent way since it’s always ever-changing for every group. As of today, Central America is made up of many different groups of people, such as: the Maya, Nahuat, Lenca, and other indigenous groups. These groups show significant variability in terms of social organization, religion and culture that form the modern
The Colombian culture is formed from the inheritance of the indigenous peoples present in the territory since ancient times, the Spanish traditions adopted during the colonial period and the African Customs incorporated by the slaves that led the conquistadors. This mixture of cultures constitutes a society with traits common to the rest of Latin American countries but, at the same time, very different also. Indeed, even within Colombia's own territory there are many differences between regions and others. Geographic diversity-can be found from tropical beaches to mountains of more than 5,000 meters in height with perpetual snows-and the natural isolation of some areas has led to this diversity. Some of the most important cultural groups according to their location are the so-called cops, located in the Altiplano Cundiboyacense; the countries, settled in Antioquia; The foresters, Settlers of the eastern plains; the Vallunos, settled in the area of Valle del Cauca; the coastal, inhabitants of the Caribbean coast, and the Santander, residents of the departments of Santander and Norte de Santander. All these groups are characterized by showing great cultural differences among themselves, which makes Colombia a fascinating country to know and enter into the day to day of its inhabitants.
Time is of the essence, yet time is always passing. Time can be taken or given, saved or spent, but is not always the same for “time only existed when a measurement was being made” (19). Stephen Kern’s The Nature of Time introduces ideas and concepts of how time is seen, represented, and spent. Two key ways of looking at time are through the perspective of Public Time, and Private Time. Public Time, is the universally understood time; the time that we experience collectively and are kept to by a clock or calendar. The calendar “expresses the rhythm of the collective activities, while at the same time its function is to assure their regularity” into what we know as the collective Public Time (20). In order to understand Public Time, however, it first had to become universal. “While the year, month, and day have a basis in nature, the week and the hour are entirely artificial;” therefore, for Public Time to become understood by all, the artificial constructs of time had to become universally joined (14). Although the world was slow to accept a universal time, which would be altered by one hour between twenty-four zones, it soon became accepted and understood. The simple measurement of time introduces issues within time itself, however. Time does not stop and is not divided into bits as it is represented by its measurement. The idea of any measurement which does not continuously flow, contradicts the very concept of Private Time.
"Social Time: The Heartbeat of Culture", is an article for Robert Levine and Ellen Wolff, it extend readers with the authors’ viewpoints and research about ‘time-sense’ in different cultures. Robbert and Wolff emphasize that there is difference of ‘time-sense’ in two levels, which are inter cultural and cross cultural. When we move into a new culture, understanding the differences of ‘time sense’ might help us to set ourselves to new people and also new places. The author also describe how ‘time sense’ vary in different cultures is more explained by the author’s experience and research. Having lived in Brazil meaning "tomorrow" referring to that Brazilians usually defer whatever they need to do. To find out if "the ‘manha’ pattern
With the unstoppable trend of globalisation, it becomes extremely significant for international businesses to have a thorough understanding of different cultures. Hofstede (1980, pp. 21-23) defines culture as ‘the collective programming of the mind distinguishing the members of one group or category of people from another’. This essay examines Hofstede’s cultural framework and suggests that Hofstede’s cultural framework is an outstanding and authoritative tool to analyze culture differences. In this essay, cultural frameworks will be discussed firstly, following by a discussion of my cultural scores and background. Finally, recommendations on cross-cultural management between China and Australia will be provided.
Some cultures orient themselves in the past, where traditions, long term commitments and ancestry play a major role within these cultures. Learning from history and continuing traditions is its motto. Older countries such as India and China tend to be past-oriented, they are more laid back and do not put an emphasis on time. The trains in India are often late, which seems to be the norm for pretty much everything, and the people do not worry about it. Other cultures are future oriented meaning they emphasis what is to come. This orientation believes in planning ahead, getting ready for the future and sacrificing for a better future. America is a perfect example of future orientation because it tends to focus on the future, lives often run by the clock and it values busyness. The busier the better and often want instant gratification. We are often judged on how busy we are vs. how much time we spend doing nothing. This reminds me of a quote "time means money," which to me equates to make every minute count. It is a culture that likes everything fast such as fast-food, instant coffee and speed-dating. And finally some cultures orient themselves towards a present orientation, where they focus on the here and now because the past is the past and the future may never come. This culture tends to prefer short-term benefits and immediate results especially within the Latin American countries. "Carpe diem" means seize the day and is associated with a present
This paper is a report on cross-cultural management, with the issues related to cross-cultural management being discussed in the paper. Additionally, the report has produced the future way of cross-cultural management, including how it can be improved in offices relying much on this strategic approach.
As a woman, Angela Vicario is the epitome of a traditional Colombian woman. A traditional Colombian woman is expected to be virgins when they get married; but Vicario defys this social custom causing Vicario to get “softly pushed his wife into [her house] without speaking,” (46). These details emphasize the idea that women are given different standards than men. The details help highlight Marquez’s criticism of how the traditional Colombian woman is treated as and thought of as. From a very young age Vicario and her sisters were taught “how to do screen embroidery, sew by machine, weave bone lace, wash and iron, make artificial flowers and fancy candy, and write engagement announcements,” (31). These skills were taught to better prepare the girls for marriage; displaying the difference in gender roles. Marquez uses parallel structure to emphasize the amount of skills one has to learn before they can be considered as good and pure. Many years after Bayardo San Román returns Vicario she still does “machine embroidery with her friends just as before she had made cloth tulips and paper birds, but when her mother went to bed she would stay in her room until dawn writing letters with no future,” (93). The diction of the words “no future” and “still” suggest that Vicario’s life is stuck in
In this era of Globalisation, cross cultural management is the biggest challenge that is faced by the organisations. Within the business context, cross culture refers to interaction between different cultures. Cross cultural management refers to managing the employees from different cultural background in one environment (Adler, 2008). Cross culture management is a significant issue within the organisations as the success of an organisation depends upon the smooth interaction of the employees. This paper is aimed at providing insight on the cross cultural management and the main issues and challenges relating to cross cultural management. For the purpose of this paper, two articles, “Cross-cultural Differences in Management”, by Amman & Jordan
I was intrigued by her emphasis placed on the word family and explored with her some subjective differences amongst the sub-cultures of Peruvian society. In this exploration, it was evident that family played an important role in Dulce’s cultural identification as Peruvian. This is an important distinction because she has some apprehension towards being labeled Latina and/or Hispanic. Her identification is strongly grounded in both her Peruvian customs and family traditions.
What are the seven cultural variables in the communication process? Explain 1)Attitudes, 2) Social organization, 3) Thought patterns, 4) Roles, 5), Language, 6) Nonverbal communication, 7) time.
Mr Duss has to read between lines and has to decode each manager behaviour. He needs to read hidden signals. A kind of feedback form can be set up to see what has been understood and what misunderstood after analyze.
According to the works of Chaney & Martin (2011) and Harris & Moran (2000), they agree that international management skills are in need for the increasing scope of international trades and investments. A large number of multinational companies have expanded their businesses through both developed and developing countries. Some of the business invest directly and others are partnership arrangements and strategic alliances with domestic operations. Their studies show that independent entrepreneurs and small businesses have started investing and competing in the world marketplace. Thus, to acquire corporations’ objectives, there is exceedingly a necessity for the development of strategic framework for cross-cultural management and communication in the current competitive global market. Chaney & Martin (2011) also noted that, cultural awareness and cultural differences are strongly important to the multinational corporations’ success. A good understanding of the culture where business is implemented can make international managers productive and effective.
Traditional expectations hold that, when one is young, it is impossible to be knowledgeable and have the necessary experience and competence to manage successfully.