Global Cultural Awareness and Integration

Global Cultural Awareness and Integration

A diverse workforce benefits organizations that operate globally. Such organizations must pay close attention to cultural awareness and integration issues to manage human resources drawn from different cultural backgrounds to work effectively towards organizational goals. Research indicates that inclusive workplaces that recognize cultural diversity are more efficient and productive, exhibit broader thought processes, and are better positioned to solve complex problems (Gray & Kish-Gephart, 2013). Notably, this report presents a global cultural awareness and integration plan for a company that intends to open a subsidiary in China. This report identifies three cultural issues the company expects to encounter in China, the action plan to address the issues and the solutions that the company should take to overcome obstacles to cultural integration before concluding.

Global Cultural Issues in China

While opening a subsidiary in China, there are three global cultural issues that the company should take into consideration. First, the company must consider the Chinese’s religious-cultural aspects. According to Johnson et al. (2022), China is a multi-religious country with many religious affiliations. The main religion practised in China is Buddhism. However, other religions like Confucianism, Taoism, and Muslim are practised. Notably, all of these religious affiliations greatly shape Chinese culture. Thus, for the company to open a subsidiary in China, there should be alignment and integration with the Chinese people’s religion. Therefore, the policies adopted in the organization have to ensure they do not limit the hired workers from practising their religious beliefs. The workplace environment should be diverse enough to accommodate all of them. Second, the company will have to consider the social structure issue. In China, there is a formal and hierarchical social structure that requires people to be aware of exactly where they fit, and they have no option to stick to that position, unlike in the US, where it is common to find people of different social levels interacting with each other. Essentially, the company will have to pay attention to this aspect in organizing workgroups to ensure they share common social structures to enhance teamwork.

Third, the company will have to consider the communication culture of the Chinese people. Attention should be paid to direct and indirect communication processes because different words and symbols have different meanings in China. The Chinese people are oriented toward maintaining harmonious relations. In order to achieve this, they greatly rely on indirect communication and pay more attention to the tone of voice, expression and posture than words to draw meaning. Research has associated speech in china with ambiguity, whereby they understate their point to maintain harmony (Ergashev & Farxodjonova, 2020). Other significant communication issues in China include eye contact, physical distance, personal space, refusals, laughter, and voice. For instance, it is considered discourteous when women speak louder than men. Thus, while opening the Chinese subsidiary, the company will be required to accommodate these communication aspects in its work to enhance harmony towards achieving organizational objectives.

Action Plan in Addressing the Cultural Issues

The company will undertake an action plan of six steps to address the identified cultural issues. The steps are as follows:

Advocacy and Engagement

The company will initiate the process of addressing the cultural issues within the China subsidiary. Essentially, this initial stage will entail obtaining leadership engagement to address the cultural issues. Further, it will include advocating for a better cultural workplace.

Education and Training

The company will train and educate the subsidiary’s leadership on the importance of holding culture as an essential factor in the organization. In this step, the three identified cultural issues will be explained fully, and the leaders will be educated on the best approaches to maintaining and accommodating various worker views regarding religion, communication and social structures. Further, training will help the workforce understand the opportunity presented by cultural diversity.

Communication and Messaging

The third step will entail ensuring everyone within the workplace is aware of the cultural standards required in the organization. The communication will include written memos and commitments to a culturally diverse work environment on the company website. Notably, such communications will ensure that every member of the organization will be reminded of what is required of them from time to time.

Employee resources

Employees will be offered the necessary resources to address the identified cultural issues. For instance, regarding the communication aspect of culture, the company should avail multiple communication channels for a worker to use, as this will allow employees to select channels that do not interfere with the beliefs of their counterparts.

Accountability and performance

The company will monitor the adoption of cultural diversity strategies in this stage. Employees should be held accountable for their behaviours that seem to trespass the cultural standards of their counterparts.

Monitoring and Assessment

In the final step, the company will record the progress in addressing the identified cultural issues. Assessment will be done to identify successes and failures and proper actions to correct the failures.

How to Overcome Obstacles to Cultural Integration

While opening a subsidiary in China, the company will face different challenges and obstacles to make the workplace more diverse. Thus, the company will consider certain actions to overcome barriers that hinder cultural integration. From the start, the company will embrace polite and clear communication. As identified earlier, cultural communication issues are significant in Chinese culture. To avoid collisions related to this issue, the company will avoid using slang words and phrases in its work environment, adopt a visual result communication method and embrace the use of simple words. In addition, the company will work towards creating a work environment that accommodates cultural differences. According to Roberson (2019), unconscious or implicit bias results in an individual’s brain when assessments of situations and people and quick judgments are made without their realization. In an effort to overcome this obstacle, the company will enhance training employees on the need to become sensitive to other people’s cultural differences, such as in customs and beliefs.

Also, the company should employ diversity training to overcome obstacles to cultural integration. Ideally, the training will ensure members of the organization understand why people are different and how important it is to respect them as they are. Finally, the company will overcome obstacles by encouraging its workers to learn about other cultures. Notably, this will ensure they avoid engaging in activities that may trigger cultural-related conflicts.

Conclusion

The setting of a subsidiary in China will come with a significant responsibility regarding cultural diversity. The company will have to conduct an initial inquiry into the culture of the Chinese people and use the outcomes of the study to prepare to handle cultural issues in the workplace. As identified above, major cultural issues that will be given attention include communication, social structures and religion. An action plan informed by six steps is developed to assist the company in addressing the identified cultural issues. Finally, the criteria for avoiding obstacles in the cultural integration process are discussed.

 References

Ergashev, I., & Farxodjonova, N. (2020). Integration of national culture in the process of globalization. Journal of Critical Reviews, 7(2), 477.

Gray, B., & Kish-Gephart, J. J. (2013). Encountering social class differences at work: How “class work” perpetuates inequality. Academy of Management Review, 38(4), 670-699.

Johnson, D., Nathan, A. J., & Rawski, E. S. (Eds.). (2022). Popular culture in late imperial China (Vol. 4). Univ of California Press.

Roberson, Q. M. (2019). Diversity in the Workplace: A review, synthesis, and future research agenda. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 6, 69-88.

ORDER A PLAGIARISM-FREE PAPER HERE

We’ll write everything from scratch

As you have already learned throughout this course and from the resources, organizations benefit from a global and diverse workforce. Diverse cultural perspectives inspire creativity and drive innovation (Reynolds, n.d.). In addition, research indicates that inclusive workplaces that recognize cultural diversity are more productive, better able to solve complex problems, and exhibit a broader thought process (Grey, 2013).

Global Cultural Awareness and Integration

However, a global and diverse workforce can present challenges as well. Integration among teams and diverse cultures can be difficult to achieve when underlying prejudices between cultures are present. Negative cultural stereotypes can affect company morale and productivity (Reynolds, n.d.). Professional communication among multicultural colleagues, including non-verbal communication, can lead to misunderstandings and even offence between members of different countries. Knowledge of these cultural nuances and delicate issues is vital for effective global work environments.

In this assignment, you will explore global cultural issues in a country of your choosing. Through your personal experience, additional research and use of this week’s Learning Resources, you will create an action plan to identify and address cultural issues and provide solutions that an organization can employ to overcome obstacles to cultural integration.

To complete this Assignment, review the Learning Resources for this week and other resources that you have found online. Select any country other than the U.S. and assume that your company is opening a subsidiary there. Research the global cultural issues of that country and create an action plan in which you identify the steps that you would take to address these issues.

Your report should be 3–5 pages (not including title page or references). Your report should:

**Identify the top three global cultural issues of the country.
**Create an action plan identifying the steps necessary to address these cultural issues.
**Provide solutions your organization could take to overcome obstacles to cultural integration.