Study of World Cultures Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Study of World Cultures - Essay Example They include the involvement with cross-functional groups, coordination of order specifications with suppliers, supervision of work across cultures or countries, negotiation of terms with offshore business partners, expanding operations to new countries and forming mergers with competitors. Boundaries come with challenges, which managers need to understand. Boundaries can cause investment losses, customer service failure, and unmotivated employees who are unwilling to span boundaries. The factors contributing to the emergence of boundary problems in organizations relate to Cultural Communication Dimensions and Hofstedes Cultural Dimensions. The most important cultural communication dimensions relate to language and cultural differences. As such, various people in the entrepreneurial world have different languages of communication. Moreover, they also have their cultural alignments, which may not permit cross-cultural communications. Cultural obstacles at the micro and macro scales can deter boundary spanning. At the macro level, cultural issues occur when firms communicate across their territorial boundaries. It may include instances when international corporations work with units from other nations. For instance, the United States may outsource Indian experts to offer IT services. Micro-cultural issues refer to the corporate culture created in the various departments of an organization. The communication pattern is one cultural dimension that affects the working relationship between Westerners and Asians. While the westerners often prefer communicating through verbal signs, the Asians opt to be non-verbal. Westerners and North American cultures value clarity and directness. By contrast, Asian cultures value ambiguity, politeness, and indirectness. Asian and American business cultures also differ on the cultural dimension of action. For instance, Asians will not openly reject a proposal since they value