INTERCULTURAL MANAGEMENT IN BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT. CASES FOR ASIA PACIFIC

WHAT DO YOU ACTUALLY MEAN, LI?

YEVSTAKHIY BILETSKYY

DARIA KWIATKOWSKA

Cultural History of Asia Pacific, prof. David BlundellNational Chengchi University Taiwan, 2014

✓New Experience

Professional and personal development

New Culture

Travel

New Friends

Why we ended up abroad?

✗Cultural Shock

I don’t understand them

What’s Your problem?

Where is my fav. burger?

Culture in Business

Intercultural Management in Business. Cases of Asia Pacific

WITHIN NEXT 30 MIN…

How to understand and translate cultural cues?

Impact of the culture on the business

Case Studies

Intercultural Trainings, Acculturation and Satisfaction in the globalized workplace

Culture Ads HSBC

COMMUNICATION PROCESS

Cultural Background

Cultural Misunderstanding = Noise

2 MAIN CULTURES = MANY DIFFERENT RESPONSES

MONEY…

IDEAL INTERCULTURALCOMMUNICATION

1. Expatriate and host feel good

about the interaction

2. The task is completed successful

3. Expatriate doesn’t suffer from

psychological problems

MOTIVATION

Case: Canadian Manager wants to motivate malaysian employees with a domestic career development program

Problem: Employees are unsatisfied.

Explanation: Economic incentives are still being the most effective tools in motivating people from developing countries

AUTHORITYCase: French producer of wood in Buthan looking for third-party advisor in the intercultural management.Problem: Managers from Buthan accept only consultancy from well-known companyExplanation: legitimacy of a consultants reputation are more important, than the merits of recommendatioms.

INNOVATION

Case: UK managers suggest for their joint venture in Nepal to give more freedom to their domestic managers in order to reach higher level of productivityProblem: CEO from Nepal rejected idea due to the high cost of new monitoring mechanism (innovation)Explanation: In developing countries innovative thinking is less valued because it causes costs..

ROLE OF GOVERNMENT

Case: Swedish Mobile Company in Pakistan wants to develop it’s business independently.Problem: Local partners prefer to rely on subsides of the Government.Solution: Developing economies tend to take central planning model to coordinate economic activities.

ROLE OF WOMAN

Case: Female Manager in Sri Lanka introduces development program forfemale employees.Problem: Opposition from local Managers.Explanation: In developed economies business often leads a social movement. For developing countries it seems strange that the workplace has become a forum for social initiatives.

DO IMMIGRANTS HAVE TO IDENTIFY WITH HOST COUNTRY

CULTURAL VALUES?

RUEYLING TZENG’SRESEARCH

36 Westerners working for

25 Taiwanese companies and

29 Taiwanese employees and managers

WHY WESTENERS ARE HIRED BY ASIAN COMAPNIES?

English competency

Positive corporate and professional image

Cultural knowledge

Personal networks

Foreign customers' prefferences 

“White face”

WHY WESTENERS WANT TO WORK IN ASIA?

”Land of opportunity”

Willingness to work and interact with local residents

Desire to live in culturally distinct society

Learning Chinese

Working and living in big city

MARKETING DIFFERENCES?

Little or no knowlege about marketing

Marketing departments are undersized or underused

Product development

Negotiation process

Undercapitalized and unwilling to risk resources on

advertising

MANAGEMENT DIFFERENCES?

Poor „team players”

Passive co-workers

Difficulty of building teams

Concepts of guanxi “personal relationships”

and mian-zi “face”

WESTENERS’ EXPERIENCES

Lower salaries

Western friends

No long-term career plans

Chaos and disorganization

FOURFOLD MODEL

Assimilation

Separation

Integration

Marginalization

SOLUTIONS?

EXCELL

Program for Excellence in Cultural Experiental Learning and Leadership

strategic cross-cultural training program designed to extend immigrant key sociocultural competencies for attaining career and educational success

Xie Xie