Cultural Issues In A Multicultural Environment

Cultural issues in a multicultural environment at work

We saw the what defines the culture and cultural differences, as the process of acculturation. It is then interesting to highlight what are at work, the cultural conflicts which could raise. In fact, many projects undertaken in a multicultural environment fail because they don’t analyse the different cultures involved to turn communication problem and diversity into a chance. It involves several issues as unrealistic plans, schedules and budgeting, with often mediocre results. Culture shapes our attitudes toward authority, interpersonal relationship, work and learning. However, some of logical aspects, perception of what is fair or unfair can be shared by all and mitigate the cultures differences.

The conception of the hierarchy within an organisation differs from each country and can shape the authority or create tension. As well, doing business in an autocratic or corrupted country could face problems accessing information. It is the case in Laos were corruption can disrupt and forbid access to information. The relation to time, deadline and urgency is also critical, some cultures could have more difficulty to forecast, to schedule, some are more short term oriented than long term oriented. Stress and tiny schedule, in a multicultural environment can raise conflicts between parties and antipathy difficult to resolve as the perception of urgency could be different. A survey amongst expatriates trying to understand why interpersonal conflicts happen (Jassawalla, Truglia and Garvey, 2004) pointed out this issue. The time spent and dedicated to work, the respect of a schedule, and the perception of urgency are variables which are able to differ from different cultures. The different perceptions of these aspects cause a stressful situation and interpersonal issues. For instance, a shorter term orientation with a more relax perception of urgency can be a factor of tensions within an organisation dealing with deadlines. This is also linked to the communication issues due to languages misunderstanding. Then, even if the majority of the people prefer stable conditions, the aptitude to take risks and be autonomous

Wondering what is the kind of management managers have to use is then justified. How to manage a team to avoid these issues? The leadership has been first defined as an intrinsic competence which provokes a reaction leader-follower. Further researches have argued this theory to concede that even if some people have a natural tendency for being leader, it has a dynamic aspect. It can be defined as a shared activity within a group which takes into account the different influences, vertically and horizontally, the legitimacy and the ability to take decisions. Actual researches advance different ways to gain leadership as staying out of the crowd refusing the social conformism in order to analyse a situation and propose different perspectives. Being confident by knowing himself and having positive thoughts, resilient having an attractive personal vision and being engaged, in the action are fundamentals (Luc, 2000). Some researches studying the behaviour of people in a game to understand the causes and reasons of a follow-lead scheme have shown four factors involving the lead. The motivation as the one who need the most something is abler to lead to reach his goal than the other, the dominance represented by the social status, the power, and the knowledge. The one with a better expertise, a better understanding of a situation is more about to lead. The last factor is the temperament,