Cross Cultural Management - Globalisation and Developments

INTRODUCTION

Globalisation and developments have resulted in diversity in the labour market and cross-cultural management has become a significant factor of organisational life and has transformed organisations all over the world. The successful management of this cultural diversity lays on how well organisations understand the manifestation of this diversity and its effects in the organisational and international business contexts. This paper aims to examine how the culture variations like the people, nation, religion and social class in the United States affects the various associated management and organizational patterns in a global context.

Like individuals, organizations have their own identity - a way of being and behaving which differentiates them from other organizations. The culture defines as, what people think, feel and believe which makes the output of any change process and not the input. It can be defined as the result of change that happens when you socialise and interact with people.

Following this, there are two ways in which corporate cultures are playing an important role in enhancing the result of multinational companies becoming carriers of convergent practises across national boundaries. First is the mutual agreement between the employer and the employees at certain levels of beliefs and ideals becomes the product and the facilitator of communication between both parties. Second is, firms are needing to integrate an increasingly diverse number of activities and units. Many management theorists portray culture as the glue that's binds those diverse units into cohesive and coordinated "families" (Handy, 1984; Barham and Rassam, 1989; Rhinesmith, 1991)

We will cross examine the business culture using the example of ServiceMaster, a Christian-oriented organisation that is based in the United States and a franchise that is located in Singapore. The organisation mainly deals with housing maintenance, from pest control to home service.

To approach this, we have decided to use Geert Hofstede's theory on Cultural Dimensions.Geert Hofstede's theory was based on the studies of individuals of IBM. There are five areas of dimensions: power distance, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity, individualism and long term orientation.

CULTURE OF UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (UNITED STATES)

Culture of USA has been a blend of varied influences of the different tribes and races who have inhabited the place from historical times. America has been the witness and home to different European settlers. Due to its size and the fact that nearly all citizens are descended from immigrants it is in general not possible to identify a single "American" culture. However, the country, a multi cultural one, has grown a culture of its own.

The Culture of USA is primarily British. It was because of British influence that English language, legal system were introduced to the country. At present, English language is the official language of the country. There were noted influences from other parts of Europe too as there were a large number of immigrants from different parts of Ireland, Germany, Poland, and Italy.

Society and economic attitudes

There is a close relationship between America's political and economic traditions: that the individual pursuit of self-interest leads to the best result both for the individual and for society as a whole, is believed to be a successful formula for both economic success and optimal political function. The precise amount of individual economic freedom that Americans should have is often debated, with the (usually slight) differences in opinion marking the major differences between political parties. The end result, however, is that the U.S. economy has become the largest on earth, with most of its citizens enjoying comparatively high living standards.

The fact that the United States is the largest English-speaking marketplace allows firms to compete across the country and to enjoy economies of scale (cost reductions that arise from the huge scale of manufacturing) that reduce prices and benefit consumers. The relatively uniform commercial culture--with many large stores or "chains" operating nationwide--produces a commercial atmosphere that is relatively homogeneous throughout the country.

The population of the United States tends to be centered in large cities, in marked contrast to the demographics of a century ago, when the country was quite agrarian.

The United States is generally skeptical or hostile toward socialist and communist ideologies, but some of the related movements, such as the labor movement, became a defining part of America's heritage after the New Deal. The country was less affected by socialist ideas in the 20th century than was Europe, and the McCarthy Era and the Cold War as a whole demonstrated a deeply felt hostility to communism, which, especially at that time, was perceived as anti-individualist, undemocratic, and essentially anti-American. They are also evidenced in aspects of social policy (for example, the absence of a national health care system and the constant controversy about the size and role of the government, especially the federal government, in individuals' lives and in states' laws).

The American tradition of free-market capitalism has led the populace (and their leaders) to generally accept the vicissitudes of the free market and the continuous alterations to society that a changing economy implies, although social and economic displacement is common. The result is a flexible, profit-oriented socioeconomic system.

Business culture in the US

The world's third largest country both in size and population, the United States is a nation

Moving forward rapidly and successfully with its unique cultural diversity. Throughout the

Years, America has experienced waves of immigration from virtually every corner of the world

moulding the country into what it is today. After establishing its independence in 1776, the

United States has endured civil war, the Great Depression, and two World Wars to become the

richest and most powerful nation state in the world. Today, the US is considered to have the

strongest and most technologically powerful economy. For those wishing to conduct business in

the US, gaining a professional insight into the cultural design of this