Culture Affects the Performance

Question : 1. How Culture Affects the Performance of International Managers ? Answer : Introduction Key research questions The topic of this research proposal is to find out the impact of culture on the performance of international managers. Major research questions for this research work are given below: What are the dimensions of organizational culture that affect the business performance? How performance of international managers can be analyzed? What is the linkage between culture and performance of international managers? How cultural dimensions of an organization can be improved so that international managers can enhance their performance? Specific research objectives The aim of this research work is assess the impact of cultures on the performance of international managers. Objectives for this research work are given below: To analyze the dimensions of organizational culture that can affect the business performance. To evaluate the performance of international managers. To examine the between culture and performance of international managers To provide some recommendations to improve cultural dimensions of an organization so that international managers can enhance their performance Rationale of the research Performance of international managers plays a significant role to improve sustainability of a business in international market on the basis of effectiveness. Biddle and Swee (2012) stated that, it is the role of international managers to improve productivity of an organization and enhance commitment level of employees. International managers help to clarify the norms, values and objectives of the organization depending on the organizational culture (Banks 2015). Development of a strong organizational culture can help to enhance the performance level of employees and their productivity as well. Blowers (2014) stated that employee performance is considered as the backbone of a company. It is the major responsibility of international managers to improve their performance. However, in international market, managers have to deal with employees, who have different thoughts, cultures values and beliefs. Hence, most of the cases conflict arises in the workplace. Bain et al. (2012) mentioned that, it is the responsibility of international managers, to deal with all these conflicts effectively and efficiently. Dealing with all these cultural issues and influencing employees to work as a team can improve productivity and vice versa. Hence, in this research work, the impact of culture on the performance of international mangers has been discussed. The concept of culture in organizational perspectives According to Banks (2015), culture can be distinct as the mixture of belief, set of values, communications and the behavioral explanation that offers guidance to people. Atchley et al. (2014) mentioned that, culture is the cognitive system that can help to improve decision making and thinking of people within a company. In case of organization, these values and beliefs have significant impact on the sustainability of performance. It can also help to improve sustainability of an organization. Different types of culture have been mentioned below: Subculture According to Brown (2012), sub cultures can be defined as the segment of organizations that have different set of values, beliefs and norms based on department goals, job requirements and geographical areas. It has been found that employee commitment towards an organization depends upon employee participation. Blowers (2014) stated that, sub culture of employees have impact on their participation level. Strong culture Blowers (2014) stated that, the types of beliefs and values that workers hold in a culture is considered as strong. In the context of an organization, a culture is considered strong, when the staffs hold grater part of culture. It is the responsibility of international managers to develop procedures, policies and objectives that can influence employee behaviour and help to gain competitive advantage. Weak culture Brown (2012) argued that loosely knit organizational culture, can push the thoughts, beliefs and attitudes of employees and help them to become more innovative. For this reason, managing the increasing needs to cultural management has become an important and valuable asset for a company. Dimension of organizational culture Professor Greet Hofstede had developed a study to analyze how the values and beliefs in a workplace is affected by the culture. Doris et al. (2015) stated that, culture can be considered as the collective programming that can distinguish a set or group of people from others. There are six major dimensions of culture can be found from Greet Hofstede model. They are such as Power Distance Index (PDI), individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, long term orientation and indulgence. PDI indicates the degree of equality of power distribution among people. On the other hand, individualism indicates the preference of people for a loosely knit framework of the society. In this type of social framework people only take care of themselves and their close family members. On the contrary, Ferraro and Brody (2015) stated that masculinity is considered as the preference of people for achievement, success, rewards and heroism. Femininity is the opposite of masculinity. Quality of life, coop eration, caring and modesty is considered as femininity. Bain et al. (2012) mentioned that uncertainty avoidance is the dimension of culture that helps to determine the comfort level of people with ambiguity and uncertainty. In order to discuss about the cultural dimension named long term orientation, Greet Hofstede stated that every society had to keep a link with its past, while dealing with the challenges of present and thinking about future. Ferraro and Brody (2015) stated that, culture that scores low in this dimension like to have time-honored tradition. According to Bain et al. (2012), indulgence is considered as the cultural dimension related with having fun in work and enjoying life. Greet Hofstedes cultural dimension has been described below: Figure 1: Greet Hofstedes model of cultural dimension (Source: Geert-hofstede 2016) Roles and responsibilities of international managers Li et al. (2016) stated that due to global competition, companies are forced to change their management strategy at home and abroad. There are various factors like high speed communication, shorter product cycle, rate of change and technical advancements have contribution towards the change. Koopmann-Holm and Tsai (2014) mentioned that, organizational structure has to be flexible so that an organization can adopt the changing market condition. Bain et al. (2012) argued that, although international managers have to perform the same functions like domestic managers, they have to adjust to more variables and different environment. There are four major roles and responsibilities of international mangers can be found. They are such as: Planning Li et al. (2016) mentioned that, the first step of international planning is to decide how to conduct business in the global market. It is the major role of international managers to set aims and objectives for international activities. They have to observe the environment very closely. It includes factors such as cultural barriers, political instability, currency rate fluctuations and trademark protection. Organizing It is the major responsibility of international managers is to make sure that the planning of the company fits with the culture of the host country. Li et al. (2016) stated that, they have to organize international business in such a way that that can adopt environmental and cultural barriers. They have to change the structure of the organization in three major stages (Liu et al. 2013). They are such as pre-international stage, international division stage and global structure stage. Staffing According to Marsh et al. (2015), hiring a good employee is crucial to the success of any organization. For this reason, hiring qualified employees and development of employees have to be done carefully. The international managers have to be familiar with the labor laws of the host country. Depending on the cultural difference with the host country, the international managers have to decide whether to hire employees from local workforce or to transfer home-base personnel. Directing Atchley et al. (2014) stated that, cultural differences between the origin country and the host country, makes the directing role more challenging for the international managers. They have to understand that attitude of employees towards job and their problem solving skills differ from country to country. In addition, language barriers in the host countries can make the communication more difficult. In to minimize the cultural barriers, international mangers have to take training related with cross-cultural management. Atchley et al. (2014) mentioned that, cross-cultural management can help managers to develop effective interaction with people coming from different cultures and respect diversity. Controlling Marsh et al. (2015) stated that, language barriers, geographic dispersion and distance and legal constraints in the host country can affect the controlling functions of international managers. For instance, in many countries, holidays, pensions are legally mandated by legal bodies of a country. Bernard (2012) stated that, in many countries all the aspects are considered as the legal rights of employees. In many part of the world, there many powerful employee unions exist. According to Atchley et al. (2014), demands of these labor unions restrict the controlling ability of international managers. It has affected their overall performance severely. Conceptual framework Figure 2: Conceptual framework (Source: created by author) Research methodology Outline of this research work consists of descriptive research purpose, deductive approach along with post positivism research philosophy. In order to conduct this research work, both primary data and secondary will be collected. In order gather primary data, an interview will be conducted with 5 international mangers working in the country Jordon (qualitative data). On the contrary, secondary data can be collected from a range of updated journals, websites, books and various research articles. Bernard (2012) mentioned that, research philosophy provides the required knowledge and dimension required for a specific research study. It provides the fundamental facts, concepts and models required to conduct a study in appropriate manner. There are various catagories of research philosophies can be utilized to conduct a research work. They are like positivism, realism and post- positivism philosophy. In order to conduct this research work, post-positivism philosophy will be used. Bryman and Bell (2012) mentioned that, post positivism philosophy helps to examine the validity of the particular data gathered from a specific research work depending on previous research works. This philosophy will help to complete this research work with the help of cross checked and real data and fact. There are primarily two categories of research approaches can be utilized to conduct a research work in appropriate manner. They are like deductive approach and inductive approach. Bernard (2012) mentioned that, deductive approach can help to inspect the previous models and theories associate with a specific research topic. On the contrary, Bryman and Bell (2012) mentioned that inductive research approach helps to develop new theories and models related with a specific research topic. In order to develop this specific research study, deductive research approach has been chosen. It will help to develop this research work with the help of existing theories and models related with this topic. As there is not ample time to develop new models or theories related with this research topic, inductive research approach is not suitable for this research work. According to Bryman and Bell (2012), there are mostly three categories of research purposes can be utilized to conduct a research study. They are like descriptive research purpose, exploratory research purpose and explanatory research purpose. In order to develop this research study in appropriate manner, descriptive research purpose has been chosen as it will help to develop this research work with detail information related with the research topic. Cooper and Schindler (2012) mentioned that, there are primarily two categories of data can be collected in order to conduct a research study. They are like primary and secondary data. It has been fund that primary data can be gathered with the help of surveys and interviews. Burns et al. (2013) mentioned that, there are two kinds of primary data can be gathered. They are like quantitative data and qualitative data. It has been found that, quantitative data can be gathered with the help of survey. On the other hand, qualitative data can be gathered with the help of interviews. Secondary data can be collected from various updated journals, articles and books. 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