Cultural Frameworks: Useful Tools When Going International

Cultural Frameworks: Useful tools when going international

Contents page

Introduction 3

1. Introduction 3

2. Going International 3

3. What is Culture? 4

4. The Expatriate 5

5. Cultural Frameworks 7

5.1 Kluckhohn amd Strodtbeck’s Framework 7

5.2 Hofstede’s Framework (Hofstede 1994) 10

5.3 Trompenaar’s 7 Dimensions 11

5.4 Triandis’ Framework 12

5.5 GLOBE- Robert House of Wharton School 13

5.6 Summary of Common dimensions 14

6. Implementation of Cross-Cultural Training Strategies 15

6.1 A Three-Stage Development Sequence 15

6.2 The MBI Model 16

6.3 Reasons Cross-Cultural Training Fail 16

(Connerley and Pederson 2005) 17

7. Conclusion 17

8. References 18

Introduction

1. Introduction

The world is becoming smaller as we move towards a global and borderless society. Transactions involving the inflows and outflows of goods and services that previously took several months to occur, are now instantaneous at the click of a button. All organisations are affected by international competition and to survive they are adapting by looking overseas to new markets and opportunities for growth. The ability to manage organisational functions and people across borders is fundamental to a firm’s success.

“Management is getting things done through (other) people. This is true the world over. In order to achieve this, one has to know the “things” to be done, and one has to know the people who have to do them” -(Hofstede 1994 p1)

This essay will discuss culture, its influence on the businesses when going international and offer some strategies to help raise awareness to prepare for the overseas incursion. The application of a cultural framework is suggested as one tool that could be used to initiate the development of cultural knowledge as part of a broader cross-cultural training program.

2. Going International

Phatak, Bhagat & Kashlak (2009 p6) define international management:

“As a process of accomplishing the global objectives of a firm by (1) effectively coordinating