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Nowadays organizations are progressively expanding beyond their national borders because of the variety of good opportunities they are offered. National borders offer room to increase their profitability and improve efficiency and quality. The main issue of this globalization is that organizations are in contact with stakeholders, in this case employees, from diverse cultures, which means that they are confronted with the challenges of managing a culturally diverse workforce.In this case, the international company GALDERAMA is challenged with different behaviors of the French, German and British managers. Due to the different culture and way of working they meet with different perception of each other. The first point is related with communication. Today there is still the perception, that British and French people sometimes feel each other like “the traditional enemies”.They express themselves in different linguistic ways. Sometimes, the French managers find it difficult to understand the British managers. There are difficulties in communication moreover because of the language barrier, French managers must “decode the messages” coming from the British, in order to understand them. Germans share the same opinion, sometimes they need to read between the lines to understand what they were really thinking. Most French managers’ feel that British managers want to enjoy a position of power and influence, and that they have problems with dealing with female colleagues or women that have higher position than them.They also think that Germans are predominant, and they are aware of that. But due to that, they always get things done in a proper way and other employees always can count on them. When the British employees were asked, they felt not at ease, because of the strong tradition of bureaucracy in the civil administration in France. The main headquarters of the firm and laboratories are in France, and both are subject to French law. Another thing is that teamwork is essential in the British workplace, because being a good ‘team player’ is a very important characteristic that is appreciated among the British, and according to them, the French are lacking this competence. Contrary to this, Germans think that French are good at defining goals, but they don’t pay attention to how they should be reached. Also, they think that the British managers are co-operative and positive, but their promises are not always met. In order to better understand these challenging situations in this international environment, we can use the model of Hofstede, which talks about the cultural dimensions in the organization. Helped by this model we can see the differences between these European countries and their managers. British managers in this case are represented like individualists and private people, whereas German and French are more collectively oriented. Germany is on the highest level of long-term orientation, on the contrary Britain is on the lowest, which means short-term orientation. Also, Germans are more restrained, they do not put much emphasis on leisure time, they always do things on time as I mentioned previously. On the other hand, the British are more indulging, they want to be capable of doing their job and at the same time enjoy life and have fun. Observing the different societies, we can say that Germany and Britain are societies driven by competition, achievement and success (masculine culture), whereas France has more feminine culture, which means that the dominant values in society are caring for others and quality of life. As we can see, every manager has its own perspective of the workplace. In every international organization there are managers from different countries and it is normal to act and behave differently. But for the company to function properly, managers must collaborate. Overall, French, British and German managers could see mutual benefits from adopting each other’s individual strengths.


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Now and in the future multinational companies and cross-cultural teams are and will become more and more present, which means businesses can profit from a vast and various information pull and receive new knowledge, which is a wise and very helpful way to deal with business issues. However, besides the benefits, global organizations, in this case GALDERAMA, also faces potential stumbling blocks when it comes to culture and international business. In an international business context what is common and accepted for a professional from one country, could be very different for a colleague from overseas, and here is the problem that the company will most likely face.The cultural differences between the managers can sometimes harm the company in anirreversible way. The company can face problems related with the communication between the managers. Effective communication is the key to every successful company. But for example, in this case, for Germans is very common to speak loudly and be more assertive or aggressive when sharing ideas, which French don’t see as a good or a positive thing. Then, the British have advantage with their language because is most commonly spoken during the meetings and between the employees, which is making difficulties sometimes for the French and German to understand them properly, most likely because of the level of knowledge of the language that the French and German possess. They need to confront themselves with decoding their messages and even reading between the lines. It is well-established that when communicating with people from different cultures, it is more benign to speak in a neutral tone and more clearly. If implemented, this rule can foster effective business communication. The organizational hierarchy in different cultures and societies varies, and this can be another problem for the company. In GALDERAMA, British managers want to show their power and influence on other employees, but they have problems with dealing with female colleagues or even more, taking orders from women who have a higher position than them. On the other hand, French are good at giving ideas and defining goals, but don’t know how to reach them. The British, compared to them, are good at giving a lot of promises but they don’t always fulfill them, which means that they lack commitment. On the contrary, the Germans are always the ones that are working ”by the book” and get things done properly, so managers and employees can always count on them. One more problem related to the cultural differences is that not every manager is ready to accept challenges. Some of the managers, for example the Germans, must work according to rules and do things perfect; whereas on the other side, French are lacking punctuality, which is irritating for the other managers and employees.All this differences lead to problems. If the company wants to be successful, then these cultural issues must be solved. It is crucial for a company to know what to expect from professionals from different nationalities, from their communication styles, way of conducting interviews, meetings, events etc. The company must respect the diverse cultures that are part of it, whilst giving them tools and explaining what is expected from them, so that both sides can feel comfortable in their business environment at the same time properly informed.

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