Introduction
The managers of international business such as the aviation industry often face unique challenge related to cultural diversity in the team of employees. It is clear that they often employ a huge team of employees from various cultural backgrounds to ensure that they attend to their diverse clients in the most suitable way. Maintaining cultural diversity at the international level is a significant role of the IHRM (Chew & Sharma, 2005). The business work style that is employed when working with people from the different cultural background has to adapt the new ideas and unique social practices. The international business often is faced with a challenge of language and communication. The company will employ staffs from all corners of the globe and who speak in different languages. There is the language problem barrier that may influence the corporation and employees relations. According to Trompenaars & Woolliams, (2004), the cultural differences across the globe would demand the need to have corresponding differences in the management practices of HRM of the foreign companies. The cultural differences have several implications on the selection and training processes practised by the HRM. The HRM will have to adopt and implement a screening testing that will lead to an extremely qualified selection of candidates that will ensure that the company gains competitive advantage from its diverse team. According to Chew & Sharma, (2005), the international HRM will be forced to come up with cross-cultural training programs to ensure that they get the best employees to join their workforce. The self-awareness model is vital in this instance, and it is based on the current assumption that when an individual accepts and understands himself is imperative to understand all the people who come from different culture. A group might be missing a vital component if the employees have not learned to work together as a team irrespective of their cultural differences (Gerke & Menkhoff, 2003). It has been shown that motivation and efficiency tend to improve when staffs support one another and further clearly comprehend the significance of their positions in the team.
Developing an efficient team is believed to be an ongoing process, but in the long run, it will ensure that the group becomes cohesive, cooperative and productive after adopting team principles (Sim & Pandian, 2003). There are good basics that are critical to evolving a group into a team within a culturally different workforce. Understanding the team’s dynamic has been shown to be one way towards team building. According to Chew & Sharma, (2005), creating a high performing team, the following basics should be taken into consideration. First, the organisation must come up with an agreed value and purpose. According to Trompenaars & Woolliams, (2004), the leader should explain to the group that when they work as a team, they will all benefit from enhanced motivation, productivity and satisfaction. It does not imply that everyone should think in the same way, however, in the event, there is a profound difference in core values and purposes it would follow that it might be challenging to change the group into a team (Gerke & Menkhoff, 2003). Understanding and appreciating the culture of all the employees is of critical significance since the manager would be able to know specific was to attend to the needs of every employee, ways to motivate them and prevent potential conflicts that might emerge at a workplace.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Cultural anthropology and international business
According to Trompenaars & Woolliams, (2004), in the modern day, companies, particularly in the aviation industry, do not operate independently. Businesses have closely worked with other companies and various employees to ensure that they meet the needs of their customers. Companies have employed people from different cultural background and are expected to work under a common organisational culture. According to Chew & Sharma, (2005), when more than two cultures are brought together, then there is the need to ensure that each culture gains a clear understanding of the other culture so that they can interact effectively with each other. Failure to understand and appreciate cultural difference and strength would result in increased conflicts, and the goals and mission of the organisation might not be attained. Therefore, it is the duty of the manager to come up with a strategy that would enable him or her to have an explicit knowledge of the culture of the team working in the firm (Marx, 2011).
Throughout the 20th century, questions were raised concerning the motivation and interaction of the workforce within an organisation (Sim & Pandian, 2003). As a manager in the aviation industry, it is important to clear understand the concept of cultural anthropology. It will enable the management to have a clear understanding of the workforce behaviour on individual factors such as conflict, motivation, improved productivity and the group dynamics (Gerke & Menkhoff, 2003). It is important to understand that there is a very close connection between the cultural anthropology and the business management. In the modern world, the aviation industry has experienced an increased level of competition, and this has forced the management to focus on other strategies to gain a competitive advantage in this industry by focusing on the cultural environment (Sim & Pandian, 2003). The administration has looked inward to optimise their overall internal intelligence. Developing an environment which takes into consideration diverse cultures of the workforce has become a primary area of focus. Understanding the concept of culture and its influence on the aviation company; there is the need to critically focus on the idea of cultural anthropology (Leung et al., 2005).
The primary method used in anthropology to understand culture is the participant observation. It will entail an anthropologist spending a considerable amount of time conducting a field work with the aim of gaining a deeper understanding of the organisational culture about the culture of the employees. Using this approach, the manager will be able to clearly understand various cultures and their possible impact on the organisation (Gerke & Menkhoff, 2003). In the process of gathering information, the manager as an anthropology determined to understand the cultural behaviour of the employees should note down every observation as the employees undertake their day-to-day routines.
By observing the employees in an organisation going about their daily activities is an essential strategy of externalising tacit knowledge and the knowledge obtained from the study would be used to improve the organisation. According to Chew & Sharma, (2005), with the knowledge obtained from the field, the manager would be able to come up with an effective strategy that would help motivate the employees and at the same time, establish a suitable cultural environment that would result in increased productivity and profitability. According to Trompenaars & Woolliams, (2004), the management in the aviation industry will also be able to create an efficient system of knowledge management giving the company an upper advantage and competitive advantage over the rivals.
Communicating across cultures
The administration in the aviation industry should be able to come up with an effective communication strategy that would take into consideration all the existing cultures in the firm. It is important to note that an individual’s beliefs and values have a greater influence on the communication style of the managers. Communication is considered a core aspect for the success of every corporation (Marx, 2011). The management should be able to uphold an open and continuous communication between the workforce and the management. By use of effective communication, the employees from diverse cultures can learn what is needed for them, and additional understand the culture and mission of the company (Gerke & Menkhoff, 2003). A language is an important tool since it allows humans to communicate within an organisation. It is, therefore, important to take advantage of what we believe to be its strength while minimising on its potential weaknesses that might create conflicts among different cultures. According to Marx (2011), semantic rules are critical in communication since, without it, it might be impossible to communicate because each one of us would use symbols in a unique way without necessarily sharing meaning. On the other hand, semantic misunderstanding might emerge when an employee assigns a different meaning to same words.
When language is used appropriately, it can shape the way employees think of one another, shape the way we view ourselves and shape the way we act. According to Marx (2011), speech that focuses on diverse cultures can be used to build and demonstrate solidarity with others. A persuasive speech is culturally based; however, if it becomes too powerful then it can become intimidating. Focusing on the concept of language and gender, one can conquer that female friend often would spend most of their time discussing specific issues such as relationship problems, family and even health (Gerke & Menkhoff, 2003). The males on the other hand often discuss the cultural event, business or even sports. Both men and women often make use of language to build and even construct their social relationship.
According to Marx (2011), as a manager of the culturally diverse employees, it is important to understand that communication behaviour can be considered as high context or low context. Both high-context and low-context cultures have been established to value different types of communication greatly and further; they tend to have a different attitude towards both written and oral channels. Within high-context cultures, the information is often inferred from the message’s context, and at the same time, little is spelt out. According to Marx (2011), some of the employees would fall into this group including, the Japanese, Latin American, Chinese and even the Arabic culture.
On the other hand, within low-context cultures, the context of the message being passed is not of vital importance, and a huge part of the information tends to be explicitly spelt out. An example of the cultures that falls within this low context group includes the North Americans, German and even the Scandinavian cultures it is important for the manager to understand that the low-context cultures often tend to favour a direct approach and further. Further, they tend to perceive aspects of indirectness as a form of manipulation and dishonesty (Leung et al., 2005). In addition to this, in low-context cultures written word is considered to be much important when compared to the spoken agreement; therefore, it is evident that in all instances, contracts are strongly binding but at the same time, there are cases when promises might be broken. The manager should also understand that in low-context cultures logic, time constraints in addition to precise detail tend to matter as is the case among the North American cultures (Leung et al., 2005).
The cultures of the employees would significantly affect each aspect of communication within the organisation. It is critical always to show the utmost level of respect and politeness. Further, one should be aware of the quantity of information that should be given to the employees based on their cultures and further come up with unique strategies to motivate each employee in a different way. According to Chew & Sharma, (2005), other critical factors also have a greater impact on communication including, gender, social class in addition to race and ethnicity. Therefore, all these aspects should be taken into consideration when determining the communication type in a particular situation. However, there are occurrences when one type of culture might dominate another culture a critical knowledge that should also be considered by the manager. According to Marx (2011), joint support is essential for the organisation to work cordially with the team. The management and employees of airline companies should develop a close mutual support, hence a high level of confidence among the workers to reach the first order outcome.
Contrasting cultural values
Often, anthropologists tend to speak of individuals from different cultures as having a diverse set of assumption or even different value system. In such a case, a value system seems to represent what an individual expect for in the organisation not necessarily what occurs (Sim & Pandian, 2003). Therefore, it should be understood that values will deal with what might be forbidden or required, wrong and right and what is bad or good (Gerke & Menkhoff, 2003). For communication to take place efficiently among the workforce from diverse cultures, every party must be able to understand the concept of value assumption or even the cultural standing point. According to Marx (2011), the manager must understand the conceptual framework of value differences that is found within the aviation industry. Such a structure would enable him or her to clearly understand the value preferences of individual from diverse cultural setting.
Further, the management would be able to comprehend d how cultural values tend to compare with other unique cultural values on various critical dimensions. A cross-cultural awareness would only be possible when an individual; views other cultural values with their own. Since the cultural values tend to lie behind a breakdown in the cross-culture communication, the framework would effectively help the manager to diagnose and at the same time avoid possible miscommunication (Gerke & Menkhoff, 2003). Certain cultures tend to place the high value on the aspect of individualism including the US, Britain and Canada therefore; they emphasise the dignity and worth of an individual over the group, minimal social obligation and focuses on independence more than interdependence. On the other hand, there are those cultures that have been reported to significantly lay much emphasis on the larger group such as Japan, Taiwan and even Guatemala. These cultures have been established to greatly encourage individual to put the group interest above their interest while at the same time maintain stronger ties and obligation to the group members (Sim & Pandian, 2003).
Arguably, the framework should be considered as a set of continua where diverse cultures tend to fall into each other. It can help the manager in this organisation to better understand the diversity of cultural values and get a better feel for employee’s values about their own (Sim & Pandian, 2003). For instance, before one judge that a rural Columbia staff is lazy, he or she must first come to terms with the aspect that his culture puts on punctuality, schedule and even deadlines. Therefore, before the manager of a company in the aviation industry begins to understand the cultures of his or her employees critically, they must be able to clearly understand how their culture impacts their cognitive and overall behavioural assumptions. According to Chew & Sharma, (2005), the framework of value would enable the, to get a better handle on the sets of values of the employees and their own. It is important to see the dichotomies of cultural values as describing cultural norms in the most efficient way and not precise individual’s behaviours within a cultural group.
According to Marx (2011), the management and the employees should further be able to understand that the way they view themselves and their values might be different from the way other people see them. For instance, an American will take pride regarding describing themselves as highly individualistic and self-reliant, but on the other hand, individual from other cultures might view them as being egocentric or even self-absorbed (Leung et al., 2005). There are instances where we tend to see ourselves as causal, informal and even friendly but to others, we are considered as being insensitive and indiscipline to the legitimate status difference. When the manager is armed with the understanding of the diverse cultural value that is different to their own, then it would be possible for them to behave as a true biculturalism (Gerke & Menkhoff, 2003). As a global business person, the airline company manager in the modern 21st century should possess a deeper understanding of diverse cultural features and at the same time be able to change the cultural modes as required by any circumstances.
Managing and maintaining organisational culture
Employee training and education on the concept of diversity is core to the accomplishment of any corporation mission and to ensure that every staff is motivated to gain their loyalty. It is important for all employees to be trained on ways to improve their performance, solve conflicts and work together as a team irrespective of their cultural differences (Gerke & Menkhoff, 2003). Research has established shows that the HR of airline companies should come up with a tradition of training its employees, which will enable the business to perform competitively globally. Organisation culture is important in the process of developing a group into a team. It is clear that each organisation has its unique organisational culture (Sim & Pandian, 2003). Therefore, corporate culture will influence how employees will behave and the process of transforming the group into a team.
The culture will define and determine how the group will interact at the workplace as they are evolved into a team. According to Chew & Sharma, (2005), the culture will also promote healthy competition among the team members at the workplace to earn recognition and appreciation. According to Marx (2011), the organisational culture will represent a predefined policy that will guide the group and give them a sense of direction as they work as a team. Lastly, the work culture helps in uniting the group members to work as a team because each member comes from different backgrounds. Therefore, this culture will give the group a sense of unity as they work as a team (Tsui-Auch & Lee, 2003).
It is important to consider that no particular culture is omnipotent, therefore, what work today might not necessarily work in the future. Cultural integration into the business environment is a vital step towards the success of the firm (Leung et al., 2005). For instance, organisational work culture is significant and has led towards establishing the companies in the aviation industry as one of the most lucrative business in the world. By introducing culture into the business environment, the company will thus develop a multicultural workforce that will work together and appreciates one another (Gerke & Menkhoff, 2003). Diversity in the workplace is import because it leads to more competent employees who will work together towards achieving a given goal and mission. Cultural integration in the organisation will further help in reducing conflicts and misunderstanding by bringing people from different cultural background together. It will further lead to increase a level of innovation and creativity because a multiethnic team of the employee will be able to reason together towards achieving a given end (Sim & Pandian, 2003).
The management should emphasise on the need for the cultural integration into business to improve the firm’s competitiveness globally and further show potential investors how productive and profitable the company is which is worth to invest into (Leung et al., 2005). Employees are encouraged to adapt to the multi-ethnic business environment and the culture of their partner and when they realise that one of the partners comes from a different culture, they should not take offence when an individual commits a social faux pas. According to Trompenaars & Woolliams, (2004), the general advice given to such a person who is of the different culture is to do what the Romans are doing when you are in Rome. It is important that one should try as much to avoid the certain topic of discussions such as politics, religion, and even certain racial issues within an organisation. According to Chew & Sharma, (2005), the organisational culture should entail a mix of cultures that will help in creating a great working environment with diversity. Studies have shown that the multinational companies tend to have a western culture of operation while the local enterprises and businesses have a tradition Asian style of transactions in Singapore. It will thus create much disciplined and very strict multiethnic working environment. The business attire throughout the working days should be official but long trouser, and short sleeves are acceptable particularly during the hotter months (Tsui-Auch & Lee, 2003).
Focusing on the corporate culture employees are expected to be time conscious and punctual for the business meeting. You should call particularly when you know that you will not make it to the meeting of time since tardiness is often considered one of the signs of disrespect (Marx, 2011). The cultural adaptation of the firms will entail, developing friendships with all the employees, improving their language proficiency, learning the culture and the customs of the country. It might also be important to disregard its old assumptions and diverse expectations, learn to be accommodative of different cultures, appreciate a multicultural environment and employ people from diverse cultural backgrounds (Sim & Pandian, 2003).
Recommendation
Competition amongst airline service providers works to customers' advantage as every company wants to achieve customer satisfaction through the services it offers to the customers. These will lead to customer loyalty, increased sales volume and retention of the client (Marx, 2011). The management should be able to come up with a strategy that would bring various cultures together to work as one which will be seen as a source of competitive advantage. When formulating a functional group, there is the need to take into consideration that group dynamic because it can impact success or failure of the team. It is also critical to understand the determining factors in business and how the organisation functions as a group or as a team. Groups and team management are essential to the success of the organisation (Gerke & Menkhoff, 2003).
Efficient leadership style will play a vital role in the development of a group into a team taking into consideration the organisational culture. It is recommended that the first step towards achieving a conducive working environment that takes into account cultural diversity is to establish agreed task that is informed by core values and purpose of the group which will ensure that they work towards a set objective. It will be attained through developing goals as a group such as accomplishing a project before deadline and enhancing communication among them (Leung et al., 2005). Further, the group should be given authority to perform their duties in an organisation with a leader who is adequately supported from above and below and further given some level of freedom to lead. Further, there should be clear and agreed roles in addition to leadership. According to Chew & Sharma, (2005), in the situation where there are significant confusion and disagreement on what who should do what then it might be challenging to transforms the group into a team, there should be the right roles assigned to the group to ensure that they work as a team. The precise boundary of responsibility is vital in this process to eliminate potential confusion. It will thus ensure that the team works as a team since each member will be in a better position to understand his or her role in the team.
Consultative leadership style is considered the preferred and most suitable leadership model than other forms especially in a culturally diverse team (Leung et al., 2005). Consultative leadership style can be used to manage a dynamic environment. Effective Leadership Styles should strictly rely on the capability of the manager to understand the differences between the team and the environment. Using consultative leadership approach, the leader firmly acknowledges the efforts of the members, but at the end, he or she makes the ultimate decision after intensive consultation with the members of the team (Tsui-Auch & Lee, 2003).
Conclusion
In the contemporary society, the level of competition has increased significantly forcing the management in the aviation industry to employ diverse workforce who are to work as a team towards meeting the goals and mission of the company. Businesses have hired people from different cultural background and are expected to work under a common organisational culture. It is often challenging to bring the team from different cultures to work together to attain competitive advantage. Therefore, the management should adopt the anthropology strategy to understand employee’s cultures, ways to motivate them and create a suitable organisational culture that would take into consideration different cultures of the employees. It is clear that each member has his or her strength, therefore; allowing each member to contribute ideas and suggestion is vital. In this leadership strategy, there is a complete communication between all the team members and the leader, and further, the manager is highly supportive and developmental to the entire team. A team evidently is made up of numerous individuals from various cultural backgrounds.
Each members exercises and practices a unique culture but are brought together to work as the team. Therefore, it is important to allow the members from various cultures to express themselves and be involved in decision-making. Consultative leadership style is thus effective, especially when dealing with a multicultural team. Additionally, it helps in empowering the team members, but the leader will retain the accountability of the team’s outcome. Team agreement matters a great deal to ensure that they worked towards a specific goal and objective. From the above discussion, the leader must establish an efficient process to transform the diverse group into a team to ensure that they work towards the goal of the organisation. However, in the procedure of evolving the group into a team, there is the need to take into consideration the organisational culture. It has been established that consultative leadership style is the most suitable when dealing with a team since it gives each member an opportunity to consult and participate in decision making.
References
Chew, I. K., & Sharma, B. (2005). The effects of culture and HRM practices on firm performance: Empirical evidence from Singapore. International Journal of Manpower , 26 (6), 560-581.
Gerke, S., & Menkhoff, T. (Eds.). (2003). Chinese entrepreneurship and Asian business networks . Routledge.
Leung, K., Bhagat, R. S., Buchan, N. R., Erez, M., & Gibson, C. B. (2005). Culture and international business: Recent advances and their implications for future research. Journal of International Business Studies , 357-378.
Marx, E. (2011). Breaking through culture shock: What you need to succeed in international business . Nicholas Brealey Publishing.
Sim, A. B., & Pandian, J. R. (2003). Emerging Asian MNEs and their internationalization strategies—Case study evidence on Taiwanese and Singaporean firms. Asia Pacific Journal of Management , 20 (1), 27-50.
Trompenaars, F., & Woolliams, P. (2004). Business across cultures . John Wiley & Sons.
Tsui-Auch, L. S., & Lee, Y. J. (2003). The state matters: Management models of Singaporean Chinese and Korean business groups. Organization Studies , 24 (4), 507-534.
