Cross-Cultural Management (1)

DISCUSSION QUESTION - 1

Malaysia is a unique environment which has advanced from a basically an agrarian society into a globalized industrial society in less than 40 years. Each generation of Malaysians are exposed to a new set of values due to the change in the pace of life (Abdullah & Pedersen, 2003).

Therefore, many of those who are in a position of power and authority to lead or make decisions, tend to be older and somewhat more conservative. The values of respect for elders, group and religious orientation, loyalty, face saving, and many other family-based values are taught by parents. Youth wants to be more assertive and independent. However, in general, people in Asia, including Malaysia, believe that it is important to live in harmony with nature and co-exist with it. Malaysia scores very high on the power distance dimension (score of 104 out of 120), which means that the society accepts a hierarchical order in which everybody has a place, and it needs no further justification. A hierarchy within an organization means that subordinates expect to be told what to do, and the ideal boss is a kind autocrat. Challenges to leadership are not well-received.

i) Explain Hofstede's power distance dimension that shows the difference between Low Power Distance and High-Power Distance

ii) Explain on why you think Malaysia has the highest index in the Hofstede comparative power distance index.

DISCUSSION QUESTION - 2

International students An Indian student in a European business school were asked to keep a diary in which to give an account of their experiences when working in small multicultural groups.

An Indian student spoke euphorically about the joys of getting to know other nationalities. However, there as one issue which she and her colleagues from the Indian subcontinent and South America found a real challenge: punctuality. Arriving in time for the start of group meetings was still a problem for her, even after several months into the program. Those who regularly arrived promptly showed a certain understanding during the first few meetings as she and her fellow latecomers walked apologetically into the room, but their good will soon turned into frustration. Angry words were spoken and the latecomers promised to be more "business like" and to do everything to arrive on time. Their punctuality had improved. Ali admitted: they often arrived late, but no later than five minutes after the official start of the meeting. This margin of time now seemed to have been accepted by those who always arrived on time.

Another student form Finland, Mikael, gave an account of the positive experiences when working with other cultures, but expresses his frustration when some of his colleagues, he felt, did not always stay focused on the small group tasks they had to complete by a certain deadline. During their work he regularly saw a Lebanese and a Brazilian student in the group in reading and responding to emails and tweets which clearly had nothing to do with the task at hand. Discussions were often interrupted by phone signals and even by phone calls to the two students concerned.

Mikael expressed his concern frequently during the first group work sessions and the phone calls eventually ceased. However, as he noted in his diary, the two students continued to busy themselves now and again with other matters on their laptops during their intensive group work. There were sometimes even seen writing other reports for other assignments. He gradually realized, however, that they were still tuned into the discussions and made valuable contributions to the task set.

i) Explain from the information as above mentioned from the perspective of time focus through monochronic and polychronic terms