Cultural Diversity In International Business

Introduction

In this globalized world, a huge number of people from diverse backgrounds, beliefs and certainly cultures should work interactively and this global working culture can be defined with only two words as change and diversity. Many organizations are developing their businesses by expanding their borders in other countries because the world where we are currently living is becoming a small village and the distance between the countries are diminishing year by year. Many people tend to be the part of worldwide economy and they want to be eligible to compete with everyone. In this case, various kinds of organizations need diversity in order to be more creative and overcome the obstacles and challenges. Indeed, foreign companies in Uzbekistan

Many various definitions can be given to the organizational culture and it is an abstract concept (Barney, 1986, p. 657). He (Barney) said, it is often explained as a complex set of values, beliefs, symbols and assumptions which define the way in which organizations conducts its business. However, this concept was explained in another way as the software of the mind which differentiates the workers of one organization from another (Hofstede, 1991, p. 180). These both explanations can be considered as true, while the first description is proper and straightforward. Indeed, different organizations have their various goals, symbols, core values and assumptions. It clearly illustrates that culture has similarities with organizational culture and it shows that an organization`s culture has effects on the company in different ways… (Dhakshayene and Anneli,

125). Understanding other cultures can give tremendous advantages to the organizations when conducting the businesses with multicultural groups in international areas. It is believed that diversity usually helps to create ideal teams for accomplishing organizational goals. When the diversified work culture is promoted in the organization, it often receives appreciation form external world and attracts more people as well as it reduces employee turnover, motivates employees and encourages employees’ engagement within the company (Sunanda, Bagade and Prabha, 2013). However, they (Sunand, Bagade and Prabha) also mentioned that the dominance of one culture decreases the value of whole teams contribution. In business situations people from various cultures work differently due to owning different values, behaviors and customs (Dhakshayene and Anneli, 2013). It can be observed in different ways like, conflicts(Hofstede, 1991, p. 92), punctuality(Lewis, 1997, p. 47), different views to the authority and structure(Hofstede, 1991, p. 35 and p. 120-121). There are some merits and demerits of combing culturally different people in a group. According to the researches done on the strengths and weaknesses of culturally heterogeneous and culturally homogeneous groups, the second type of groups showed higher performance in five various tested situations