Cultural differences in the area of cross cultural management

JI+YILIANG

【Abstract】Nowadays， with the acceleration of global economic development and the stunning renovation of information technology， the trend of business operation without national borders is becoming more and more prominent and popular （Bartlett & Ghoshal， 2002）. There is a huge gap between different cultural that mainly showed in the aspects of concept of value and tradition social customs and habits. Therefore， the cultural conflicts and frictions brought by cultural diversity are bound to fall these multinational enterprises operated abroad into dilemma （Ferraro & Brody， 2015）.

【Key words】cross culture； cultural differences； cultural management

Connotation of cross cultural differences

Mirvis and Marks （2010）pointed out：the role of culture likes water， often affecting the conduct of business people in a subtle manner； culture also likes breathing， it is hard to be felt until the threat posed. Social psychologist Geert Hofstede （2001）argues that Culture is the common psychological process shared by people who hold same social background， growth experience and education level. In general， culture is “the combinations of what people think about， what people say， what people do， and how they feel” （Miller & Rollnick， 2012）.

National level cultural differences

Collective and interpersonal relationship is greatly valued intraditional perception of the Easterner and the connotation of national spirit， while the Westerner advocate individualism which emphasis on personality independence and encouraging individuality. A typical and common phenomenon occurred when Chinese and foreign parties cooperate to complete a project， the individualism under the guidance of their values showed by foreign manager should be mistaken by Chinese managers as selfish and lack of overall consciousness （Javidan， 2006）.In this case， conflicts resulted by cultural differences are prone to arise.

Enterprises level cultural differences

Eastern enterprises pay attention to the role of staff， thus the importance of emotional investment and moral education to staff regard as substantial. Take Japanese enterprises for example， who adopt lifelong employment system and Seniority Wage is a model of emotional investment （Dore， 2001）. Nonetheless， Western enterprises regard management as a sense science. In this way， western enterprises are expected to increase performance.

In the international business activities， the differences in the concept of man and nature also reflected in the attitude toward time between western culture and eastern culture. The concept of time characterized by western culture regard time as a limited resources that accompany a person from birth to death .In order to make full use of the limited time of each life， business activities should make a plan as detailed as possible and time unit is divided meticulously so as to carry out the plan in accordance with the time strictly（de Andrade， Haider& De Souza， 2003）. However， the oriental culture views time as infinite， unlimited resources.endprint

Conclusion

In conclusion， cultural difference is the key factor influencing the success or failure of Multinational Enterprises. First and foremost， the loyalty and satisfaction of multinational company consumers depends on cultural differences to a great extent. Moreover， the relationship between distributors and suppliers is influenced greatly by cultural factors. In addition to that， the systematic management to the investment in the foreign country will also be affected by cultural difference. Last but not least， some multinational corporations have developed relatively stable organizational culture.

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