Cultural Differences In Telecommunication

In this report I am going to explore the elements and models of differences in cultural values with regards to a telecommunications company expanding internationally. In the first part of the report I will explain the relation of cultural value differences to cross-cultural working, then proceeding to make recommendations on how the telecommunications company can overcome these issues in order for an effective process of internationalisation that will minimise any cultural difficulties that may occur. It is a common occurrence for businesses to consider expanding internationally, the telecommunications industry being a prime example. Therefore if these cultural issues can be addressed and overcome then it will make any further expansion considerably

In terms of working internationally cross-cultural management is defined as “development and application of knowledge about cultures in the practice of international management, where the people involved have different cultural identities” (Mead and Andrews; 2009). In order to systematically understand the differences in cultures, theorists have categorised and measure different cultures to create various models.

Firstly, the context approach focuses on a single dimension of context. Hall first introduced this model in 1976 (Figure 1). This approach takes into account high context; Arab and Asian nations and low context nations; German, North American nations in terms how communication is perceived through the context of the conversation. High context cultures depend on the experiences and the surrounding cultural environment in order to interpret communication. Whereas low context, environment has less influence and communication is more direct leading to less focus on any non-verbal behaviour. With regards to cross-cultural management, a manager cannot expect workers of another nation to fit into the culture of their own and therefore managers need to learn on how to communicate with diverse groups, recognising what the context norm is of the culture in question

O’Connell (1998) defined international management as “planning, staffing and control of international business activities”. These cross-cultural management skills are necessary, as managers cannot expect people of another culture to shadow their own cultural norms and equally in a mixed diverse cultured group, expect each member to have the same or similar approaches to work. Equally, the hierarchy of management may be different between nations, as some cultures have a higher power distance as well as a difference in the span of control of the business and between superiors and their subordinates. A deep understanding of another individual’s identity and culture is of the highest significance in today’s globalised business climate. Both management and the workforce need to appreciate this. Showing this understanding is respectful and will help ease the smooth running of the organisation and through any futher business expansions it