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VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITYVNU UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS & BUSINESSFaculty of International Business & EconomicsINTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT:MANAGING ACROSS CULTURESCourse code: INE - 3223E*FINAL ASSIGNMENTFull name: Phạm Thị Thanh HuyềnStudent ID: 18050483D.O: 05/09/Class: QH 2018E KTQT CLCLectur...

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VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY VNU UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS & BUSINESS Faculty of International Business & Economics

INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT: MANAGING ACROSS CULTURES Course code: INE - 3223E*

FINAL ASSIGNMENT Full name:

Phạm Thị Thanh Huyền

Student ID:

18050483

D.O.B:

05/09/2000

Class:

QH 2018E KTQT CLC1

Lecturers:

MA. Nguyen Thi Phuong Linh MA. Dinh Van Hoang

Hanoi (05/2021)

PART 1: ESSAY Analyze and provide examples of how difference in culture between countries can affect international management? In the context of a globally integrated economy, multiculturalism in an organization is becoming more and more common. The different characteristics of cultures between countries lead to diversity of thinking, understanding and communication. This leads to cultural conflicts and can affect international management. Therefore, it can be affirmed that cultural differences between countries really become an important factor, having a great influence on the management strategies and human resource development of enterprises. The first is the influence of cultural differences on communication. Cross-cultural communication has become extremely important for companies due to the growth of global business, technology and the Internet. Understanding cross-cultural communication is important for any company that has a diverse workforce or plans to conduct business globally (Jack, B.M, 2008). The biggest problem in cross-cultural communication is the language barrier. For example, an American flew to Japan to discuss a potential partnership with a Japanese company. But Japan is a country with a relatively low percentage of people knowing English, which means that the American guy has to learn how to communicate effectively with the Japanese. Communication is not only expressed through words. Gestures and eye contact are two areas of nonverbal communication that are heavily used across cultures. Companies must train employees correctly to handle nonverbal communication so as not to offend other cultures (Theodor, R.L, 2006). For example, Americans tend to wave and use fingers to point in communication to illustrate their words. But in contrast, in some other cultures, especially Eastern cultures, pointing is considered an extreme and extremely rude gesture. Besides, eye contact is also a form of non-verbal communication. In the US, eye contact is a good thing and is considered a reflection of honesty and straightforwardness. However, in some African, Asian, and Middle Eastern cultures, prolonged eye contact can be seen as rude or aggressive in many situations. The second is the effect of cultural differences on motivation. The types of motivations and incentives considered vary across cultures. For example, most Japanese managers expect their employees not to be paid extra to stay at work late, and overtime has become a requirement of the job. There is recent evidence that Japanese workers can do more work in a working day than the normal amount of work. Or in recent years, the number of annual hours worked by German workers has decreased, while the number of Americans is increasing. Germans place a high value on lifestyle and often prefer leisure to work, while 2

their American counterparts are quite the opposite. Thus, we can clearly see that a wide range of wages (large wage disparities) in American companies compared to German companies create incentives for American employees to work harder. The third is the influence of cultural differences on competitiveness. There are cultures where managers encourage competition among employees to promote accountability and creativity. But there are cultures, where managers encourage cooperation and focus on creating a harmonious and favorable working environment for employees. With a highly competitive environment, work will be done quickly, planning will focus on the results of the plan implementation. With a cooperative environment, the implementation of the plan will be sociable, everyone will discuss with each other during the implementation of the plan, will add and amend in time, the quality of work will be improved. For example, in the work environment and Western countries, they emphasize individual independence, always encourage competition and focus on developing personal achievement. On the contrary, Eastern cultures, typically Japan, place great importance on and are always oriented towards the collective, that is, they consider the goal of the collective as the highest development goal. The fourth is the effect of cultural differences on leadership. As for the hierarchy, the leader behaves in a way that reflects their important role in the organization, and the employees are familiar and comfortable with their immediate supervisor. The biggest negative point here is that when there is regular and continuous supervision in parallel with the employee's working process, it will initially make employees feel afraid, work pressure, even have problems. disagree with superiors. However, with such supervision employees will work seriously. In many other societies, managers have an open mind, they actively exchange ideas with their subordinates, making the relationship between the two sides always harmonious, reducing feelings of apprehension and becoming more confident when expressing their views and opinions. Depending on the country and culture, the role of leaders in the workplace can vary. The role of a leader and its importance can greatly influence work motivation, interaction, and expectations in a team. For example, the importance placed on the hierarchy and the hierarchy of a company is very common in Latin American and Asian cultures. In these cultures, leaders play a more dominant and defined role. Subordinates address them in a very specific way and often don't challenge what they say. This dynamic greatly influences how a leader and/or boss interacts with their team, ultimately affecting all other aspects of management. Culture can be defined as a way of life of people that is influenced by their values, beliefs, attitudes, arts and sciences, modes of perception, thinking and functioning. Cultural difference can be understood as the fact that between two or more cultures have different or even contradictory values, creating unique features that make it possible to distinguish 3

between cultures. In this way, culture explains how an individual lives and behaves in an environment and how their thoughts and perceptions are construed to influence the mutual relationship between the individual and the environment in which they live. So cultural differences between countries really have a profound effect on international management. PART 2: CASE STUDY ANALYSIS 1. Analyze the advantages and problems associated with managing a diverse and multicultural workforce. Corporate culture is the catalyst for business success. Owning a diverse and multicultural workforce greatly affects the development of the business. First, diverse cultural perspectives can inspire creativity and spur innovation. Culture affects the way people see the world. In other words, people from different cultures will see the world in different ways. They are raised to have different views, different beliefs, and they use different methods to get their jobs done. Diversity of thought has been shown to spark creativity and drive innovation, helping to solve problems and meet customer needs in new and exciting ways. Multiple voices, perspectives, and personalities arising from many people can create out-of-the-box thinking. And cultural diversity will contribute to fostering innovation in the business. This innovation stems from the ability to approach problems and find solutions from different perspectives. When you have a team of employees with different skills, life experiences and cultural backgrounds, businesses will reap a lot of new and creative ideas. By providing a platform for the open exchange of ideas, businesses can leverage the strengths of each individual, thereby bringing them together towards a common goal, creating new the greatest benefit of diversity in the workplace. There's been a lot of research demonstrating this positive side of workplace cultural diversity. A recent study from Forbes concluded that "The best way to ensure the development of new ideas is through a diverse and inclusive workforce.”1. In addition, the Harvard Business Review conducted an experiment to determine how six different groups responded to new, uncertain, and complex situations. As a result, the groups that scored the highest had more cognitive diversity than those that took longer or didn't complete the challenge, and the researchers concluded that higher cognitive diversity could lead to performance higher and learn faster. These factors spark creativity and innovation. Second, having in-depth knowledge and understanding of a locality as well as its people, environment and market will make a business more competitive and profitable. A multicultural workforce can give an organization an important advantage when expanding

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Forbes Insights. (2011). Global Diversity and Inclusion: Fostering Innovation Through a Diverse Workforce.

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into new markets. Often, a product or service needs to be researched and adapted to succeed in a foreign market. Thanks to a team of multicultural, knowledgeable and local staff, you will spend less time and effort on market research and target market identification Having a workforce that understands local laws, regulations and customs, as well as the competitive landscape, can help a business save resources, thereby focusing on product research, making suitable strategy for foreign markets. This has been corroborated by McKinsey research, which shows that companies in the top 25% for racial and ethnic diversity are 35% more likely to achieve above-average financial returns. For gender diversity, that number is 15%. And companies in the bottom 25% in terms of diversity were less likely to achieve above-average results2. Furthermore, connecting with local people, knowing the local language and understanding their customs and culture can exponentially boost international business development. Third, an organization with a diverse and multicultural workforce will result in higher productivity and better performance. Because people have different experiences, different expertise and different working methods, an organization can have many perspectives from different sides of the problem. On that basis, they find the fastest and most effective solution. As a result, the organization's problem-solving capacity is enhanced, leading to higher productivity and work performance. In fact, many studies have shown that organizations with diverse and multicultural workforces are better able to solve complex problems, while also exhibiting greater creativity and broader innovation range of thinking3. On the other hand, diversity in the workplace can create healthy competition, excellent individuals can motivate and pull the whole team to work effectively and actively to achieve common goals. This healthy competitive atmosphere can help improve the ability of individuals to learn, work and experience, thereby improving the morale and performance of the whole team. On that basis, projecting cultural diversity in the workplace will lead to the optimization of company processes for greater efficiency. Ultimately, cultural diversity in the workplace offers greater opportunities for personal growth. Working in an environment of diverse cultures, being exposed to people from different countries will be an extremely interesting and enriching experience. This opportunity allows everyone to actively reach out and learn about perspectives, cultures and traditions from around the world. Having a lot of knowledge about different cultures, learning a lot of different experiences and working methods as well as making many connections not only helps people open up new and broader approaches, different, more efficient. From there, they can be more favorable in their work together and also open up 2 3

Vivian & Prince, S. (2015). Why diversity matters. McKinsey & Company Organization. Justin Grey. (2013). Study finds diverse, inclusive workplaces more productive. My Business

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new opportunities for personal development. Besides, thanks to the diversity and multiculturalism in the organization, people can connect more together based on similarities and understand each other better from differences, which can help them become one global citizenship, abandoning prejudices or negative views about the national worldview. Thus, owning a diverse and multicultural workforce brings a lot of outstanding benefits to the organization in general and the individual in particular. And if managers can manage their multicultural team well, the business of the enterprise will develop more and more effectively. Despite its many benefits, managing a diverse and multicultural team also has a lot of problems that need to be addressed. First, integration among a diverse and multicultural group can be extremely difficult in the face of negative cultural stereotypes. This can be an insurmountable challenge, especially if there are hidden prejudices between different cultures in the group, which will make individuals less inclined to want to work together and work together. mutual support. Not only that, negative cultural stereotypes can be seriously detrimental to the entire team. This can drag down the morale of the whole company, make the working atmosphere lack harmony and cohesion, thereby reducing productivity and work performance, negatively affecting the common goal. And it's safe to say that prejudice is absolutely a serious concern, as deep-rooted and unconscious cultural biases can be a daunting challenge for managers with diverse workforces. Second, the language barrier is one of the difficulties for both employees and managers. Not to mention that each individual from different countries will speak different languages, because when working in the same group, they will have to communicate in the same language. But since people come from many parts of the world, it becomes extremely difficult to understand a wide range of accents or understand idiomatic usage by native speakers. And that of course will greatly affect the process of exchanging and working together, which can drag down productivity, making work inefficient. Besides, communication is not just words. Nonverbal communication is also a common aspect of cultural interaction. In different cultures, people have different ways of nonverbal communication. For example, in the US, when communicating, people tend to wave and use their fingers to point when they want to express their views. In Japan, however, pointing is considered extremely rude and extreme. Thus, differences in communication styles between cultures can lead to misunderstanding or even insult (though not intentionally) between team members from different countries, causing disunity and lack of harmony in the organization. 6

Finally, despite its positive connotations, different working styles among individuals in an organization can cause conflicts between groups. With different cultures, working styles and attitudes towards work can be very different, reflecting cultural values and complex differences. For example, in the work environment and in Western countries, they emphasize individual independence and focus on developing personal achievement. On the contrary, Eastern cultures, typically Japan, place great importance on and are always oriented towards the collective, that is, they consider the goal of the collective as the highest development goal. Thus, if not recognized and calculated, conflicting approaches can seriously affect the overall relationship in the organization, causing a decrease in productivity and management performance as well as the operation of the whole company. 2. What is P&G doing to develop and support a diverse workplace? The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio, founded in 1837 by BritishAmerican William Procter and American Irish - James Gamble. The group specializes in a wide range of personal health, consumer health products and personal hygiene products. In 2019, P&G was ranked 22nd on DiversityInc's Top 50 Companies, recognized as the nation's leading companies for diversity and inclusion management. The companies on this list all have solid records in areas such as recruiting, retaining and promoting women, minorities, people with disabilities, LGBT and veterans. On May 1, P&G appointed a new director of diversity and inclusion. The company was also recently ranked by Working Mother magazine as one of the 10 best companies of 2019 for multicultural women. As such, it is clear that diversity means a lot to P&G and that it has also put a lot of effort into developing and supporting diverse workplaces within its organization. P&G's global workforce is a mix of people from more than 145 nationalities. P&G places great emphasis on the importance of diversity in the workplace. That is why they are so keen on attracting, recruiting and retaining cross-cultural employees in their organization. That can help P&G better understand cultures, see the world through different perspectives, help them better understand their target markets and consumers. It can be said that upholding strong values of diversity within the organization and driving action externally allows the company to win the hearts of consumers around the world. With the goal “Everyone is valued. Everyone is integrated. Everyone is working at their best.” P&G helps all employees develop to their full potential. To this end, the company has HR systems that support personal development, and P&G regularly reviews these systems to make sure they work for everyone, including women. and their minority working groups. Ongoing support systems P&G already in place include: 7

 Career discussions, performance appraisals, assignment plans, transfer and promotion plans.  Grass roots/informal network support groups which have existed at different sites for a number of years.  Mentoring, to provide informal support and guidance, in addition to coaching and training provided by each employee’s direct manager. In addition, every year in the United States, P&G proudly celebrates the world's rich cultures during Black History Month, Hispanic Heritage Month, Gay Pride Week, and Gay Pride Week. Diversity & inclusion, etc. The purpose of their above activities is to honor employees, bring more satisfaction to more consumers, solve problems better and ultimately grow the company. P&G builds its culture on values, behaviors and norms that create an advantage from being different. P&G is becoming increasingly diversified and growing worldwide. More importantly, P&G respects and values each individual in the team. The working environment of this group always promotes and encourages cooperation, on the basis of which, honoring talents and exploiting different experiences together to create better ideas and services, superior product. PART 3. COURSE REFLECTION What did you learn from the course? How do you intend to apply this knowledge in the future? At the end of the course, I learned a lot about people in organizations around the world, with diverse influences from different cultures. Not only that, I also learned a lot of knowledge from real-life examples of cross-cultural management experience, international management, human resources in the context of international integration and the impact of cultural diversity becomes increasingly important. If I have the opportunity to work in global businesses in the future, I believe it will be a very rewarding and enjoyable experience. So I can use the knowledge and skills I have to operate and develop myself. How did your group organize group assignment? How did you divide up tasks? How did you interact with your group colleagues? Did you work cohesively? How did you rat...