Questions and Answers of Understanding Cross Cultural Management

Cadbury is looking to build on its dominant position in India’s chocolate market by making the country a regional centre for cocoa production.The UK-based producer of brands such as Cadbury’s
Although advertising has been around for a long time, techniques have certainly evolved and the channels used have multiplied, with websites now playing an important role alongside television and
A few months after an Argentinian food manufacturing company had launched a number of product categories in Uruguay, it decided that the next launch would be cake and dessert mixes. The sale of these
All happy families are the same, to paraphrase Leo Tolstoy. But even unhappy ones are not bad for business. A ‘family index’ produced by Credit Suisse shows that companies in which the founding
Many researchers in the area of cross-cultural management refer to authors whose disciplines are in the field of social sciences. These researchers appear to rely more on cultural theory than
What is your default pattern when faced with conflict?
Name a time a disagreement almost ruined a relationship.a. What could you have done differently?b. How will you handle similar disagreements in the future?
How do the invisible structures of behavior, power, or language affect your workplace?
How do your structures of knowing serve you?
When have your structures of knowing contributed to conflict?
How do the physical structures in your workplace affect the following?a. Employeesb. Leadersc. Clients
What is a resistant pattern you see in another person?
How do you resist?
What must you be willing to do to change the pattern?
Which of the SAND patterns do you see most often?
How does good intention setting create emotional safety?
What is the preparation you need before initiating your nextconversation?
Who do you need to have a conversation with? How will you usethis blueprint?
What resistance do you think you’ll see in your next conversation?Is it within yourself or the other person?
When have you heard or said “I have no other choice”?
How does choice expand power and freedom?
What individual in your life do you need to see differently?
In what ways do you see people buying into excuses orpowerlessness?
What kind of support could we offer our leaders to expand their conflict capacity?a. How would that shape our culture?b. What resources do we need to offer this support?
What internal factors shape our culture when it comes to leadership effectiveness?
What external forces have we experienced that led to increased conflict?
What is the definition for leadership in your organization?
If there isn’t a definition, what steps do you need to take to create one?
What actions do you see from leaders that indicate they identify withtheir role?
What behaviors do you see the most from new leaders? Hands off, hero,or best friend?
When have you tried to problem-solve before thoroughly understanding the situation?
What are the current obstacles and distractions you see leaders facing?
Discuss the leadership clarity formula and how you will use it in the future.
Discuss the concept: think of blame as a shortcut for avoiding responsibility. How is accountability different from blame?
Where do you see examples of leaders overcompensating instead of coaching?
What would improve the way disagreements or complaints are handled?
What policies need to be updated to align with the expectations?
What would make the work environment more conducive to collaboration?
Discuss decision-making as a structure using the Aldi versus Walmart example.a. What kind of decisions need to be made to change behaviors with clients?b. What kind of decisions need to be made to
What type of conflicts continue to be unresolved due to a lack ofwillingness?
Discuss the three types of resistance:a. Your resistanceb. Their resistancec. Your resistance to their resistance
How much time or productivity is lost due to resistance?
Discuss the examples of good intention setting versus poor intentionsetting.
Pick one of the tools in the blueprint and talk about how you plan on using it.
Name a past conflict and how this conflict affected the business.
What red flags indicate a belief that there are “no choices”?
Talk about the difference between giving advice and coaching.a. How often do leaders blurt out the answer instead of asking questions?b. When is it difficult to just listen?c. How do you redirect
Where is the biggest obstacle: clarity, skills, priorities, resources, or willingness?
What can you do when working with someone who is not selfregulated?
What do you need to do to self-regulate?
Describe an unresolved conflict.
Describe an outcome you would like to achieve.
What obstacle seems to be in your way?
What have you tried to do to address the conflict?
What tools in this chapter can help you address conflict differently?
Describe how your future self is different from your current self.
What triggers conflict in you?
How does your organization’s culture support you as a leader?
What skill do you need to become more conflict capable?
What is your leadership identity?
What has leadership taught you so far?
How do you describe yourself?
Discuss the concept of “growing responsible employees” by helping them recognize choice.a. The importance of understanding that their viewpoint may be different from the factsb. Helping them see
A widespread inquiry into secret bank accounts and fictitious contracts across the European Commission has been launched.There is fear that the ‘vast enterprise of looting’ that fraud
As the text indicates, companies tend not to give explicit attention to cultural issues when planning and implementing organisational change. Laurent advocates a dual approach to address this
Concept 7.2 summarised a classification of the types of cultures, made by Deal and Kennedy (2000) on the basis of a study they made of various firms and their business environment.What are the
In 2001, Michelin, the world’s leading tyre manufacturer and based in France, set up a joint venture in Shanghai, China, with Shanghai Tyre and Rubber Company. The Chinese tyre market was expected
The cultural differences in the behaviour of the consumer appear to be diminishing, competition is becoming more global than national, the marketing function of an enterprise involves not only the
Hauliers in India and Europe both face a competitive environment, and buying the best lorry for the job is just half the battle. Both have to contend with a number of variables if they are to
The oil and gas industry was subject to the most prosecutions for bribery and graft in the UK of any sector over the past four years, according to a new survey.The study by Ernst & Young found that
Certain companies regard the management of cultural diversity as a way of developing new competencies that give them certain advantages. They are, for example, able to recruit and hold on to good
Managers in international companies increasingly find themselves in situations where they encounter representatives of many different cultures with which they are totally unfamiliar or of which they
Transcultural competence is considered to be an essential element when managing diversity of whatever kind.To what extent do you believe this competence can be developed, one which a number of
This case study is related to the field of cultural management and focuses on a large international telecommunications company, which has operations in Latin America. It is specifically related to
As IKEA, the world’s largest furniture retailer, pursues its global expansion, a number of events have occurred which threaten the company’s long-cherished culture. In this activity you will
A strong brand is reflected in the culture of the organisation, which is itself a reflection of the people working in it. This relationship is the focus of the study below.The authors of the original
This activity is based on a case study into how two chemical companies in South Africa addressed the strategic and cultural issues involved in a joint venture. The author was involved in setting up
When a Hong Kong-based analyst recently called computer-maker Lenovo’s Beijing office and asked for an employee by the English first name on her business card, he got a puzzling response. The
The concept examined three possibilities with regard to the use of language during a business encounter. A fourth possibility is for the manager in question to learn the target language and employ
When two people from different cultures meet in a business situation, the interaction, which is specific to each situation, does not allow the protagonists to be certain of the outcome of their
For pragmatic Chinese, adopting English names has long represented a way for them to bridge the linguistic and cultural gap. Now, as China widens its reach abroad and as the number of foreigners
When Jacques Chirac stormed out of a meeting at the European Union summit, he said it was because he had been ‘profoundly shocked’ to hear a French industrialist speaking in English. On this
While writing this article, I tried to narrow down the number of pitfalls that marketers encounter when advertising to the Hispanic market. There are many, but for the sake of brevity, I will address
Stereotypes appear in all cross-cultural situations. When you are doing business with other cultures, stereotypes particularly arise in meetings and negotiations. If you are aware of the stereotypes
You have just read about barriers to communicating with other cultures. Some of these can lead to misunderstandings, others can degenerate into conflict.Which of these barriers, in your opinion, can
For the host country Germany, next month’s football World Cup is about a lot more than its (pretty slim) chances of lifting the trophy. An image overhaul for Europe’s largest economy is the prize
I was working in the inspection department of the Central Bank of India and was given an assignment a few years ago to inspect a branch of a private commercial bank. I was assisted by a junior
To what extent do you think such prescriptive advice is useful?
What other ways of preparing for a cross-cultural negotiation do you consider to be (more) useful?
Table 15.2 below gives a brief description in note form of the typical approach by the Japanese to negotiating, using the framework given in Concept 15.1.Table 15.2 Questions1. Choose another
The aim of this activity is for you to use the five steps Weiss puts forward as a way of selecting a strategy for a particular negotiation with counterparts from another culture. For ease of
To what extent is it necessary for the leader of a multicultural team to be very familiar with the culture of each team-member?
To what extent do you think the leader of a global team can ensure its success by just resolving any communication problems within the team, such as the choice of language?
Some researchers in team dynamics argue that cultural differences have less influence on the effective functioning of a multicultural team than a good combination of team members. They maintain that
If managing diversity in the workplace is a tough task for business leaders, the challenges of keeping executives from different backgrounds working together efficiently in various parts of the world
The Indian owners of an agricultural machine company, with a growing number of subsidiaries around the world, were determined to improve the productivity of their operations in Europe. To this end,
There are several strategies and methods for managing conflicts and each culture has its own preferences in this respect. The fundamental issue, however, is how each culture perceives the notion of
The concept includes two proposed models (Figures 17.1 and 17.2) which account for different ways of handling conflict.What do you consider to be the essential similarities between the two models as
When there are incompatible goals, practices and attitudes among the parts of an organisation, conflicts can arise. There are many possible reasons for conflict.What, according to you, are the
It is considered normal for a dynamic company to have conflicts between those working in a team, and for a manager to manage these tense situations and the resulting emotions (such as aggression).

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