Effects of Cultural Differences in Modern Management

Introduction to Modern Management

            It is possible define management in several ways and one of these ways is about reaching organizational goals by using the resources of the organization through working with people. When this definition of management is taken into consideration, it is seen that people is an important element during the process of reaching the organizational goals of the company such as making profit, reaching a distinct level of sales and etc. At this point, when the element of people is included in the organization, cultural differences plays a key role during handling the management of the organization. Today, we can see giant organizations in all around the world and those organizations have been hiring people from different countries and nations, which result in cultural differences between the employees working for that organization. Modern management concepts and skills may be used during creating the balance and dealing with the cultural differences in the workplace of international organizations.

Cultural Differences in Modern Management

            (Hofstede, 1984) analyzes the cultural differences between the employees in the workplace and he underlines that the management skills are specific to different cultures. In that sense, if a management skill or a technique is applied in an organization that works in a specific nation and works well, it does not mean that the same skills or techniques will work in another organization which has different cultural values within the employees in the organization. In this paper, (Hofstede, 1984) will be analyzed in terms of several criteria such as method, findings, analysis and conclusion.

            In summary, (Hofstede, 1984) is about the description of effects of cultural differences in the work place and it relates these effects with the management skills of the managers working for the organization. The research for the article is done using data from more than 50 countries from all around the world and the conclusion of the research is drawn according to that data.

            (Hofstede, 1984) analyzes the cultural differences in the work place under several subheadings such as individualism versus collectivism, large versus small power distance, strong versus weak uncertainty avoidance, masculinity versus femininity, the meaning of status differences, respect for old age and differences along the dimension of uncertainty avoidance. In that sense, it can be said that (Hofstede, 1984) deals with every aspect of cultural differences and how they can be related with the management skills that should be used in the organization.

            (Pearson Education, 2016) takes management process in the organization under 4 different so-called integrally-related management functions which are planning, organizing, influencing and controlling. It is stated in the book that regardless of any influencers, all the organizations perform these management functions. In that sense, it can be stated that the cultural differences may be taken into consideration under the subheading of controlling and organizing. Because, it is a fact that cultural differences in the organization within the employees may influence how they get organized and how they can be controlled by the top management. According to that statement taken from (Pearson Education, 2016), it can be stated that (Hofstede, 1984) is in line with (Pearson Education, 2016) and there is a correlation between them.

            In addition to (Pearson Education, 2016), it can be said that (Hofstede, 1984) is in line also with (Tim O. Peterson, 2004) as well. While (Tim O. Peterson, 2004) is defining management skills, it is stated that management skills are not only about the technical skills of the managers but also about the human skills as well. The writer defines human skills as managing how the employees work with each other in cooperation, how they communicate and how the conflicts within the organization is resolved. Thus, it can be said that human skills are concerned with people, thus, according to (Tim O. Peterson, 2004), it may be stated that the cultural differences may be considered within the human skills of the managers and thus within modern management skills.

            Besides all these, (Hofstede, 1984) is also supported by (Commisceo Global, 2016). It is stated in (Commisceo Global, 2016) that main role of the managers that work for international organizations is evolving and with the occurrence of the effects of globalization, the managers need to find solutions to some modern problems such as problems that arise because of the cultural differences between the employees in the organization. In summary, it is stated that today’s managers should have intercultural skills and these skills are of great importance in modern management skills. Thus, it is seen that (Commisceo Global, 2016) also takes the cultural differences within the scope of modern management skills just like (Hofstede, 1984). In addition to that, (Richards, 1997) also takes culture as a very important aspect in modern management skills and supports that the training for management skills should not be culture-general but it should be culture-specific. Lastly, (Baruch, 2015) also states that it is an urgent phenomenon in management skills to deeply understand cross-cultural communication and also cultural diversity. (Baruch, 2015) underlines that managers today in international organizations should have the management skills to communicate with the individuals from other nations and thus other cultures. As a result, (Baruch, 2015) and (Richards, 1997) are also in line with (Hofstede, 1984) and they support that cultural differences should be a part of management skills.

            After all the other research and articles about cultural differences and modern management skills, the conclusions of (Hofstede, 1984) should be taken into consideration as well. The aspects such as individualism versus collectivism and etc. are said to be constrained culturally and the effectiveness of management may be increased by the aid of taking the values of different culture seriously. In addition to all these, It is stated by (Hofstede, 1984) that some anthropological concepts should be applied in the management field in order to develop the ways of management and planning.

Interview On Modern Management

Me: Hello. As you know, today we are here in order to make an interview about modern management skills and concepts and to gain a better understanding by the aid of receiving your answers and experiences about modern management concepts and skill. The first question I want to ask you is about the cultural differences in the company, on which I wrote a report.

Manager: Hello. That was a nice question because as I am working as a manager in an international company, I should be very careful about all the people from different cultures that work for our organization. Today, we hire employees from more than 10 nations and all these nations have different cultures, values and etc. If something is not important in one culture, it may be very important in another culture. For instance, as a very small and detailed example, even the time that you should go to the meeting differs within different cultures. As Turkish people, we usually prefer to be at the meeting room 5-10 minutes before the meeting starts but our Chinese partners and employees prefer to be in the meeting room just on time. That is a very small detail and the reason that I am telling it to you is that the cultural differences may be very important even with very small details and that shows how crucial cultural differences are.

Me: So, I guess you think that cultural differences is a part of the skills that managers in the modern world should have. Am I right?

Manager: Exactly. Every manager that works for international organizations should be aware of the fact that they need to deal with every single potential problem that may arise because of the cultural differences between the employees.

Me: Apart from the cultural differences, what do you think about the most important aspect of modern management skills?

Manager: To be honest, I don’t know if I can say one aspect of modern management skills is more important than the other because the absence of even only one of them may lead your business to trouble. But to me, the first thing about modern management skills is goal setting. Because if the members of the organization do not know for what goal they are working, this may affect their motivation badly and thus the success of the organization will eventually go down. Thus, as a result, the organization should have a very clear goal and the employees should work to reach it.

Me: And apart from goal settting, is there anything else?

Manager: In my opinion no. As I said before, I think that all the aspects are of similar importance but I mentioned about goal setting especially because it is kind of the starter and all the other skills are used in order to reach that goal and so it may be a little higher importance.

Me: Okay, thank you for accepting my interview request. See you.

Manager: Thank you too, you are welcome.

Resources for Modern Management

Baruch, B. (2015). Cross-Culture Communication. mindtools.com: https://www.mindtools.com/CommSkll/Cross-Cultural-communication.htm

Commisceo Global. (2016, 04 19). Management Skills for Today. commisceo-global.com: http://www.commisceo-global.com/blog/management-skills-for-today adresinden alındı

Hofstede, G. (1984). Cultural dimensions in management and planning. Asia Pacific J Manage.

Pearson Education. (2016). Introducing Modern Management: Concepts and skills. T. C. Samuel Certo içinde, Modern Management: Concepts and Skills (14th Edition) 14th Edition.

Richards, D. (1997). Developing Cross-Cultural Management Skills. Management Learning, 387-407.

Tim O. Peterson, D. D. (2004). The ongoing legacy of R.L. Katz: An updated typology of management skills. D. D. Tim O. Peterson içinde, Management Decision (s. 1297-1308).