The article to be critically reviewed is “When Culture Doesn’t Translate” written by Erin Meyer, published in the month of October in the year of 2015, where the author addressing the global businessmen of the time, seeks to offer comprehensive solution to cross-cultural business problems in a global setting.
Answer:
Purpose:
In the article mentioned above, the author highlights the potential problems caused by organizations while conducting international trade. Cultural conflicts are very common and influence how people in a country perceive the management style or leadership style of the management authority of a foreign country. While earlier researches have addressed the problems of cross-cultural trade, this article is unique in offering comprehensive solutions to such cross-cultural problems (Nye and Welch 2016).
Literature Review:
As the article starts off, the writer rightly establishes the point that for the smooth conduction of business in a global setting, it is highly important that an organization considers the problems of cross-cultural conflicts (Meyer 2015). The author rightly puts in, that while implicit communication style can prove to be effective for a local organization a company operating its business activities in a foreign set up may end up in miscommunication and client disappointments, ultimately leading to high rate of employee turnover and organizational disintegration (Schierup et al. 2015). Hence, the author refers to the organizational styles of operation followed by reputed companies such as Google and L’Oreal, while conducting trade in international set-ups. The article is well-organized, as the first part clearly defines the potential problems of international trade in terms of cultural conflicts, while the second part seeks to chalk out solutions that can help in promoting greater harmony at workplace. Though the article does not employ the use of any management theory, and even not the obvious ones on cross-cultural management, such as the theory of Hofstede, it does now and then refer to the management situations encountered by other organizations (ADBI 2016). The author states facts, partially his opinion, and partially the knowledge he gained from secondary sources, and substantiates his view by referring to real-life situations encountered by the organizations. This makes the work far more credible to the author. Though the point made by the author in the article is a personal opinion, the evidence is relevant as it helps in offering credible solutions to the problems.
Methodology:
The research method employed in the article by the author is the Qualitative research method, whereby the author collects the secondary data from various companies in order to comprehend how other organizations conduct business in an international setting. However, the report also relies heavily on the use of personal data obtained by the author through personal interview sessions with managerial employees of eminent organizations, such as Business Objects (Baskerville and Harper 2016). The research question or the hypothesis, however, is not stated explicitly in the article. However, it is evident that the hypothesis that the author cum researcher intends to examine the extent to which cross-cultural trade can potentially harm the prospects of an organization, and then investigate the ways of solving the problems. The data of the research have been collected via the company reports of different eminent organizations, through interview sessions and the same is being analyzed for reaching the conclusion. The report actually adopts a descriptive approach, whereby the research is being carried out for discussing and evaluating a problem that already exists (Khan 2014).
Results:
The findings are clearly explained by the author. The author offers five solutions that can help an organization overcome the problems of cross-cultural trade. According to the author, it is important for the management authority of a company to be aware of the areas of cultural differences among the employees concerned, it must offer a chance to each employee to ventilate his or her opinion, and ensure diversity at workplace. The author also highlights the importance of offering training to each employee, so as to build their cultural awareness while dealing with co-workers of different ethnic backgrounds (Ferraro and Brody 2015). The author offers solutions to the problems, he has introduced in the beginning of the article, and briefly sums up the conclusion stating that unless organizations implement innovative techniques of resolving cross-cultural problems, the organizational prospects will be ruined.
Discussion:
The author states that there is a sense of mutual comprehension as long as an organization operates business within its local confines, as the gestures, body-language or even the language can explain what is expected at a particular time. However, going global could imply higher rate of profitability, while still requiring the employees encounter linguistic and cultural barriers while communicating business strategies or forming negotiations. Hence, the author states that an organization must adopt a mechanism that would help its employees to surmount these cultural challenges. As stated in other articles, the author not only reinforces the importance of provision of sufficient cultural training to the employees, but also explains the importance of developing cultural sensitivity among the managers. While the HR managers are expected to ensure a diverse workplace in each of its branches, so as to ensure that the existent employees develop a cultural understanding of other ethnic groups, the general managers must make sure that the employees belonging to the minor cultural groups also enjoy the opportunity of ventilating their opinions (Moran et al. 2014). Besides, a company that is well-aware of the areas of its cultural differences will be better able to combat with the cross-cultural challenges.
As far as the strength of the article is concerned, the article is one of the very few articles that intend to offer solutions to the problems of cross-cultural conflict in business operation. Besides, the author keeps on referring to various companies and the management problems encountered by them in global market, and that helps to substantiate his view more clearly before the reader. However, the only weakness of the essay is that it focuses overmuch on the management problems confronted in cross-cultural trade, and pays little attention to the explanation of the solutions offered for the same.
Conclusion:
Although the article offers feasible solutions to each kind of cross-cultural business problems, the very point that each employee should be given voice to opine may not be deemed suitable. Each organization has its strict organizational culture, and it is desirable that the culture does not become flexible while offering greater importance to each employee, or else disruption of order might result in organizational failure.
Reference:
ADBI. and ADB., 2016. Integrating SMEs Into Global Value Chains: Challenges and Policy Actions in Asia. Brookings Institution Press.
Baskerville, R.L. and Wood-Harper, A.T., 2016. A critical perspective on action research as a method for information systems research. In Enacting Research Methods in Information Systems: Volume 2 (pp. 169-190). Springer International Publishing.
Ferraro, G. and Brody, E.K., 2015. Cultural Dimension of Global Business. Routledge.
Khan, S.N., 2014. Qualitative research method: Grounded theory. International Journal of Business and Management, 9(11), p.224.
Mayer, E. 2017. When Culture Doesn't Translate. Harvard Business Review, p.70.
Moran, R.T., Abramson, N.R. and Moran, S.V., 2014. Managing cultural differences. Routledge.
Nye Jr, J.S. and Welch, D.A., 2016. Understanding global conflict and cooperation: an introduction to theory and history. Pearson.
Schierup, C.U., Munck, R., Likic-Brboric, B. and Neergaard, A. eds., 2015. Migration, precarity, and global governance: Challenges and opportunities for labour. OUP Oxford.
