GCB2033 INTRODUCTION TO MANAGEMENT

ASSIGNMENT 2
Title : Managing Across The Globe: Challenges and Its
Factors in Cross-Cultural Diversity
Lecturer : Dr Zullina binti Shaari

Group Members:

MUHAMMAD SHAFIQ B SHAHRIL 18234

RABIATHUL ELEENA BINTI MOHD ZAINI 18260
NURUL AISHAH BT MOHD NOR 18429
SITI KHALEEDA BT ABDUL HAMID 18064
NURUL FARAHANA BT SUBAKER 18128

Managing Across The Globe: Challenges and Its Factors in Cross-Cultural Diversity

Table of Content
No

Title

Page

Abstract

Introduction

Literature Review

Methodology

Results

Discussion

Conclusion

12

References

13

Attachment

15

Managing Across The Globe: Challenges and Its Factors in Cross-Cultural Diversity

Abstract
Nowadays, global organizations management is a struggle to be adapted by the
employees and the managers. Leaders of global organizations have spent a lot of time in trying to
address the issues and challenges faced by the employees under their management. Clearly, there
is no available organizational model that can fit all companies since the workers themselves are
unique and the objective of the company differs from each other. The working ethics of the
company depends on the companys model business and the global footprint. Globalizations
need the management of the company to be rapidly grows along in emerging markets and the
round-clock global communications. Developing and deploying talents across the globe is also
needed to achieve the objective of globalization across the geographical boundaries.

Managing Across The Globe: Challenges and Its Factors in Cross-Cultural Diversity

Introduction
Managing global organizations has become a challenge which has been encountered for
centuries by many people. Global organizations are widely spread with its main objective; to
carry businesses with participating countries. Economic growth occurs when high demands by
the consumers are present for agricultural, manufacturing and other services sectors. Many
companies have taken one step further to operate across the continents to expand their business
in the foreign country. Due to globalization, the economic activity accelerates causes the
organizations to grow fast in the emerging markets. Continuing advancements in technology
have made communications between global companies in internationals coordination a possible
thing to do. This welcomes the opportunity for the company to manage their global operations
better in order to flourish and expand in the fast-growing markets.
However, global organization is a struggle as it involves people from all over the world to
work together as one team. This cross-cultural diversity organization must be carefully handled
since it interfere the success or failure in reaching the organizational goals. Cullen and
Parvoteeah (2008) have reported that culture behavioral spheres cannot be separated from global
business management and organization since culture is diversified in terms of values, norms and
beliefs among those who preach it. Therefore, it is vital to understand the issues and challenges
faced by the employees and managers line-up in the cross cultural diversity organization. Based
on the issues and challenges identified, the managers will be able to understand the factors that
cause the issues. Better understanding in the factors leading to the challenge encountered by the
employees will encourage the managers to learn the employees behavioral in adapting to
challenging situation and issues while working.

Managing Across The Globe: Challenges and Its Factors in Cross-Cultural Diversity

Literature Review
Globalization gave birth to multicultural organizations as trading and investments is done
in multiple countries. Handling operation in more than one country is not an easy task as it is
more challenging than managing a local and small company. Singh (2010) has suggested that it
is important to understand the diversitys culture in a multinational organization first before
stating the issues and challenges of cross cultural diversity. According to Singh, a community is
said to be diversely cultured if the people are unique based on their language, ethnicity,
nationality, sexual orientation and religion. Employing employees from a wide array of
backgrounds can be constructive and at the same time, destructive. Singh believes that diversity
in culture in a global organization causes attitudes toward ambiguity since every nationality has
different level of toleration in facing ambiguity. This leads to difficulty to fit into some cultures
when the employees is expected to be independent and is given with little guidance by the
managers. Besides that, he finds that cultural shock has become a challenge for the employees in
the cross-cultural diversity organizations. Cultural shock happens when the employee feels
insecure and disoriented in adapting a new culture causing them to lose confidence and become
emotionally upset. This is usually due to different management philosophies, separation from
family and attitude towards work and productivity.
Wisma (2011) states that challenges and issues associated with global business
management brings negative impact to the performance and productivity of the multinational
corporations. He suggests that a comprehensive engagement in understanding the factors leading
to the challenge needs to be done. According to Wisma (2011), cultural compatibility is one of
the factors that cause challenges in adapting in global management company. Cultural
compatibility measures to which people from different cultures are likely to accommodate the
cultural differences. He reports that the management is so focused to keeping costs down and
fulfill; the needs of the customer; that the management fails to consider the factor that causes the
challenges in the organization faced by the people involves in the businesses operation. Global
organization need to be aware of the factors contribute to the challenge despite of the global
competition, changing markets and uncertainties in economic.

Managing Across The Globe: Challenges and Its Factors in Cross-Cultural Diversity

Methodology
Source of data
Data were collected from two sources which were through questionnaire and simple
interview. Data collected from all general workers and managers that were above 21 years old.
This research was focused on this range of workers because professional managers are more
likely to face the issues and challenges in cross cultural diversity organization. The number of
males and females are almost the same. Information was general and did not specific to
respondents position as a manager in the company either in high board or general manager. The
questionnaire in was divided into 5 section which covered their basic background and basics
work background, cultural adaptation, communication, teamwork/individualism and expatriate
adjustment. Additional questions were asked to managers who are expatriates more than ten
years. The extra questions were simple and more to learning and collecting information based on
their personal experiences.
Methods
Interviews were held in person at their office and also through online video call through
Skype, Oovoo and Facebook Video Call, or any place that were convenient for the respondents.
Interviews and questionnaire were conducted by data collectors who are the students of
Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, third year first semester. Data were sent out from 20th July
2015 3rd August 2015 which was around 14 days. Facts were collected into analysis for 3 days
later. Overall, the process takes about 17 days to complete. A total of 30 questionnaire where
distributed around the world mainly Asia, and all 30 were collected. This clearly shows that
100% of the managers responded and the results were valid and reliable. All information then
was converted into percentage for an easy understanding.

Managing Across The Globe: Challenges and Its Factors in Cross-Cultural Diversity

Result
Managing across the Globe: Challenges and Its
Factors in Cross-Cultural Diversity Organization.
5%
23%
48%

24%

Cultural Adaptation

Expatriates Adjustment

Communication issue

Teamwork issue

Figure 1: Pie chart representing challenges in cross-cultural diversity organization among

managers
Based on the survey, it is concluded that the biggest issues and challenges faced by most
of the expatriates is cultural adaptation which covered around 48% from the total survey that has
been sent out. This figure is followed by expatriate adjustment by 24%, communication by 23%
and lastly teamwork by only 5%.

Managing Across The Globe: Challenges and Its Factors in Cross-Cultural Diversity

Discussion
Cultural Adaptation
This issue is believed to be the biggest challenge in global organization. Krishna, Sahay and
Walsham (2006) agreed that in this cultural adaptation issue, such cultural norms of social behavior,
attitudes to authority and language differences also need to be deal with other than the need to adapt to
different ways of working. The example of different ways of working can be seen in relationship between
Indian software companies with US and Japanese client in which US client companies would prefer an
extensive written agreements and informal electronic contact such as e-mail. On the other hand, Japanese
clients favor verbal communication with formal use of electronic media. In addition, Singh, (n.d) believed
those people who join any organization will bring such their own beliefs and values. However these
beliefs and values are generally insufficient to help them to succeed within the organization. They need to
learn and adapt that how the particular organization functions. Managers need to take action in order to
solve this issue as the productivity in a global organization of depends on how well the employees can
tolerate each cultures. Singh also suggested for the managers to gain sufficient knowledge about the
beliefs and values of foreign counterparts. However, there are several barriers towards cultural
adaptations. Singh mentioned on parochialism, cultural distance and cultural shock as those barriers.
Similarly, culture is a vital role in influencing international operation of business in China (Wu,
2008) as the fact that different countries have different traditions and attitudes towards business.
Foreigners who want to invest business in China, must initially to understand the fundamentals of
Chinese business culture. Fang (2006) stated that apart from widely known for its Great Wall of China,
their people basically practice three philosophy traditions in their daily life, for instance, Confucianism,
Taoism, and Buddhism. Chinese practiced dominantly practiced philosophy instead of religion since
thousands of years ago ever since dynasty of Han. Other than Confucianism, local people also believe
with the philosophy of Taoism which commonly engaged with Yin Yang principle of dualism. Tsang
(2004) described that this philosophy introduced the concept of feng shui which correlate the
environment and the position of building can affect fortune of people. He further explained that position
of building in related to physical environment, interior layout and arrangement of furniture can affect
what to occur towards the occupants in the building. As these philosophy traditions have been practiced
since the ancient time, they become the roots of Chinese culture which would affect greatly in business
behavior and decision-making. This will throw a big challenge to the foreigners as China has its unique

Managing Across The Globe: Challenges and Its Factors in Cross-Cultural Diversity

business values adopted from different belief which are centrally different from other growing countries
across the globe.
Expatriates Adjustment
This area discusses the adjustments that are needed to be experienced by the workers in a
particular organization. Several major adjustments are classified as work adjustment which refer to the
comfortability of the workers with their jobs, general adjustment; workers comfortability to non-work
factors including spoken language, daily consumption, transportation and entertainment and interaction
adjustment which refer to the comfort associated with interaction of expatriates with host country
nationals inside and outside the workplace (Black, 1988). Work adjustment is only related to work which
differ to the cultural adjustment; norm activities shown by a group of society where as interaction
adjustment is related to both work and non-work environments (Shaffer et al., 1999). Also, Kraimer et al,
(2003) found that expatriate adjustment is positively related to job performance and when expatriates
properly adjust to the host country general environment, their job performance will be similar to such
performance in the home country (Lee and Sukoco; 2010)
From a research which was conducted by Tahir (2013), she found that majority of

the

expatriates in Malaysia face the problem with local people with their norms of being indirect and nonconfrontational in terms of expressing their personal opinions towards others. Betty (2013) who was
one of the respondents expressed that Malaysians will always not say something that might hurt other
people. Similarly, they will avoid from expressing something that might sound like criticizing. Asma
(1992) revealed that even if someone in the senior rank says something, the rest from junior level will
remain silent and prefer not to counter anything which is basically in the pursuit to respect seniors or
elders. It is relatively to avoid embarrassment to others by the practice of "saving face". Most Malaysian
practiced this non-confrontational behavior in order to avoid conflict when interacting with others,
especially when a solution is required to solve certain problems. Hence, they prefer to be positive or
detached with the issue arose.
Communication Issue
Communication issue is one of the issue that we need to be highlighted in the study. Global
Issues in Management Research starters eNotes.com, Inc.eNotes.com, 2015 stated that even if the
foreign employee in the host company can speak the same language, communication can still be
ineffective. The differences in nuances of idiom, dialect and vocabulary can be misinterpreted and the

10

Managing Across The Globe: Challenges and Its Factors in Cross-Cultural Diversity

messages will not be delivered. For example, Asian people is more polite in communication. On contrary,
the Westerners tend to speak more directly or straight-forward. This differences will cause problem in the
organization unless the employees are well-informed with each other ways of communication. According
to Widhiastuti (2012), communication in hierarchical organizational structure that also existed in global
organization, is not efficient. This is due to the long bureaucracy system that resulted in where the
message or task cannot be received on time. This issue can be solved using communication through
technology faster and easier. Beaner emphasized on the understanding of messages, sharing of meanings,
interpersonal adjustments and adaptations to affect the performance in a global organization with diverse
cultures (as cited in Okoro & Washington,2012).
Social formalities were very crucial when it comes to interact with the locals in Malaysia (Tahir,
2008). People in western countries commonly interact through direct way and informality thus they felt
really different when it comes to Malaysia culture of acknowledging with whom they are talking or
addressing to in terms of the person's title for instance, Tan Sri, Dato and Professor. Local people
are so particular with the title without realizing this social formality may create a communication barrier
which will lead to an awkward social interaction. Jacque (2008) expressed that it is a norm in the west to
address other people simply by their middle name without having to add Doctor, Professor or Sir at the
first place.
Teamwork Issue
These issues arise when host workers and expatriates are unable to corporate in a particular
organization. Expatriates may find it difficult to invest his or her working power to a certain host worker
due to their different backgrounds and cultures. Extra attentions are needed for the expatriates to enable
themselves to break the barriers among the teams and this is highly energy and time consuming. This
issue may not be specifically experienced in a teamwork job context but also may be experienced as an
individual. Individual with attitudes may be troublesome to work with. Some individuals are low selfefficacy, the perceptions about their ability to accomplish certain tasks. . Claus et al, (2011) argue that
individuals having low self-efficacy leads to poor performance, absenteeism and high intention to search
for the other job, whereas individuals having high self-efficacy leads to better performance and high
organizational commitment. In addition, Bandura (1997) explained that individuals high on self-efficacy
tend to be more proactive on initiating tasks, and make consistent efforts to achieve tasks and are
persistent with problems and in the face of failure. Some organizational goals may not be achieved if the
issues persist.

11

Managing Across The Globe: Challenges and Its Factors in Cross-Cultural Diversity
Prior to that, Ballow (2005) collectively described that most Asians have strong collectivism

behavior as they are more dependable on groups in finding alternatives and making decision that they are
so loyal towards the institutions. They are more likely to cooperate with others to avoid risks and reduce
responsibilities. Their value systems appreciate duty to the group and harmony among its members while
pursuing personal goals is viewed rather negatively in Asia. In contradiction to Asians, Bellow stated that
Americans have high value of individualism. From his findings, he studied that majority of Americans are
very assure with their own view especially in determining what they should do. They prefer to work
individually and are reluctant to cooperate with othera because they believe that cooperation in general is
a sign of weakness and place a high value on independence and control.

12

Managing Across The Globe: Challenges and Its Factors in Cross-Cultural Diversity

Conclusion
As the research completed, based on the results, we can conclude that when talking about
managing across the globe or when a manager started to involve in business with different
country other than their native land, managers will likely have to face issues and challenges
especially on their first few years of working. Most of the managers are struggling to adapt with
local culture in workplace and somehow this affects their work performance as well. Other than
that, managers found to be having problem with everyday life adjustment and also having hard
time in creating or keeping good conversation and communication with coworkers. Lastly, we
can say that most managers having fewer problems with working in a team despite their poor
communication.

13

Managing Across The Globe: Challenges and Its Factors in Cross-Cultural Diversity

References
Aguinis H, 2002. "The Search for Universals in Cross-Cultural Organisational Behaviour".
Organisational

Behaviour: The state of the science Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum

Associates.
Aida H. Mohd Tahir., Maimunah I. (2007). Cross-Cultural Challenges and Adjustments of
Expatriates: A

Case Study in Malaysia. Alternatives Turkish Journal Of International

Relations,6 , 73-97.
Brian N, Sundeep S. (2001). Some political and cultural issues in the globalisation of software
development: case experience from Britain and India. Information and organization.
www.elsevier.com/locate/infandorg . 25-43.
Dennis G. Ballow, Sr., MAED, PMP (2004-2005).Globalization and Cross-Cultural Issues in
Project Management. Project Management Knowledge Transfer, 1-5.
Diwakar S. Managing Cross-cultural Diversity: Issues and Challenges in Global Organizations.
Journal of Mechanical and Civil Engineering. www.iosrjournals.org. 43-50
Ephraim A. Okoro, Melvin C. Washington. (2012). Workforce Diversity and Organizational
Communication: Analysis of Human Capital Performance and Productivity. Journal of Diversity
Management. Ed 2, Vol 7 , 57-62
Hardani W.(2012, May). The Effectiveness of Communications in Hierarchical Organizational
Structure. International Journal of Social Science and Humanity, ed 2, 3, 185-190.
Ivete R, Roberto S. (2013, February 11). The Cultural Challenges of Managing Global Project
Teams: a Study of Brazilian Multinationals. Journal of Technology Management and Innovation.
Vol 8, 38-52
Muhammad A. Bhatti, Veera P.K. Sundram, Hoe C. Hee, (2012). Expatriate Job Performance
and Adjustment: Role of Individual and Organizational Factors. Journal of Business &
Management. Science and Education Centre of North America. Vol 1, Issue 1, 29-39.

14

Managing Across The Globe: Challenges and Its Factors in Cross-Cultural Diversity

S. Krishna, Sundeep Sahay, and Geoff Walsham. Managing Cross-Cultural Issues in Global
Software Outsourcing. Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, India; Department of
Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway; and Judge Institute of Management, University of
Cambridge, UK.

15

Managing Across The Globe: Challenges and Its Factors in Cross-Cultural Diversity

Attachment
QUESTIONNAIRE

This questionnaire is about issues and challenges in cross cultural diversity organization.
Please place a tick (/) in selected box:
1. Gender

: Male

Female

2. Age

: 21-30

31-40

3. Nationality

: _________________________________________________

4. Work

: _________________________________________________

5. Type of company : Domestic

41-50

International

51 and above

Multinational

6. How long you have been working there : 1-5 years

Transnational

5-10 years

7. Do you find the culture in your workplace is different:

more than 10 years

Yes

No

8. If yes, what you find most hard for to adapt?

__________________________________________________________
9. Why?
__________________________________________________________
10. Mother tongue : ____________________________________________
11. Other languages proficiency : English

Malay

Tamil

Other
12. Is it hard for you to communicate in your workplace : Yes

No

13. If yes, with which group of people you find hard to communicate
_________________________________________________________
14. Why?
_________________________________________________________
15. Do you have to do works in a team or group : Yes
16. Which one you prefer: Individual work

No
Teamwork

17. Is it hard for you to work in a team in your workplace : Yes

No

18. If yes, why? Please state your reason

___________________________________________________________

Mandarin

16

Managing Across The Globe: Challenges and Its Factors in Cross-Cultural Diversity

19. Are you living outside your native country : Yes

No

20. If yes, does living away from home distract your work endurance? State your reason
____________________________________________________________
21. Are you comfortable working in different country than your hometown : Yes

No

22. If No, why? please state your reason

_____________________________________________________________
23. What you wish your company make changes or provides in the workplace so you feel
more comfortable?
Food
Languages

Transportation

Entertainment

Other: _____________________________________

Thank you for taking the time to complete this questionnaire

17

Managing Across The Globe: Challenges and Its Factors in Cross-Cultural Diversity

Turnitin Originality Report

Managing Global by Khaleeda Hamid
From itm (itm)

Processed on 12-Aug-2015 12:11 AM CDT

ID: 560822416
Word Count: 3053

Similarity Index
10%
Similarity by Source
Internet Sources:
8%
Publications:
9%
Student Papers:
N/A

sources:
1
5% match (Internet from 31-Jan-2014)
http://www.todayscience.org/JBM/v1/JBM.2291-1995.2012.0101003.pdf

2
2% match (Internet from 28-Apr-2010)
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Cross-cultural+challenges+when+doing+business+in+China.a0112585267

3
2% match (publications)
Wu, Jianlian. "An Analysis of Business Challenges Faced by Foreign Multinationals Operating the
Chinese Market", International Journal of Business and Management, 2009.

4
1% match (publications)

18

Managing Across The Globe: Challenges and Its Factors in Cross-Cultural Diversity

International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, Volume 62, Issue 7 (2013-0907)

5
1% match (Internet from 28-Sep-2009)
http://ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/ass/article/viewFile/64/52

6
< 1% match (publications)
IJBM, Editor. "International Journal of Business and Management, Vol. 3, No. 12, December 2008",
International Journal of Business and Management, 2009.

paper text:
Abstract Nowadays, global organizations management is a struggle to be adapted by the
employees and the managers. Leaders of global organizations have spent a lot of time in trying to
address the issues and challenges faced by the employees under their management. Clearly, there
is no available organizational model that can fit all companies since the workers themselves are
unique and the objective of the company differs from each other. The working ethics of the company
depends on the companys model business and the global footprint. Globalizations need the
management of the company to be rapidly grows along in emerging markets and the round-clock
global communications. Developing and deploying talents across the globe is also needed to
achieve the objective of globalization across the geographical boundaries. Introduction Managing
global organizations has become a challenge which has been encountered for centuries by many
people. Global organizations are widely spread with its main objective; to carry businesses with
participating countries. Economic growth occurs when high demands by the consumers are present
for agricultural, manufacturing and other services sectors. Many companies have taken one step
further to operate across the continents to expand their business in the foreign country. Due to
globalization, the economic activity accelerates causes the organizations to grow fast in the
emerging markets. Continuing advancements in technology have made communications between
global companies in internationals coordination a possible thing to do. This welcomes the
opportunity for the company to manage their global operations better in order to flourish and expand
in the fast-growing markets. However, global organization is a struggle as it involves people from all
over the world to work together as one team. This cross-cultural diversity organization must be
carefully handled since it interfere the success or failure in reaching the organizational goals. Cullen
and Parvoteeah (2008) have reported that culture behavioral spheres cannot be separated from
global business management and organization since culture is diversified in terms of values, norms
and beliefs among those who preach it. Therefore, it is vital to understand the issues and challenges

19

Managing Across The Globe: Challenges and Its Factors in Cross-Cultural Diversity

faced by the employees and managers line-up in the cross cultural diversity organization. Based on
the issues and challenges identified, the managers will be able to understand the factors that cause
the issues. Better understanding in the factors leading to the challenge encountered by the
employees will encourage the managers to learn the employees behavioral in adapting to
challenging situation and issues while working. Literature Review Globalization gave birth to
multicultural organizations as trading and investments is done in multiple countries. Handling
operation in more than one country is not an easy task as it is more challenging than managing a
local and small company. Singh (2010) has suggested that it is important to understand the
diversitys culture in a multinational organization first before stating the issues and challenges of
cross cultural diversity. According to Singh, a community is said to be diversely cultured if the people
are unique based on their language, ethnicity, nationality, sexual orientation and religion. Employing
employees from a wide array of backgrounds can be constructive and at the same time, destructive.
Singh believes that diversity in culture in a global organization causes attitudes toward ambiguity
since every nationality has different level of toleration in facing ambiguity. This leads to difficulty to fit
into some cultures when the employees is expected to be independent and is given with little
guidance by the managers. Besides that, he finds that cultural shock has become a challenge for the
employees in the cross-cultural diversity organizations. Cultural shock happens when the employee
feels insecure and disoriented in adapting a new culture causing them to lose confidence and
become emotionally upset. This is usually due to different management philosophies, separation
from family and attitude towards work and productivity. Wisma (2011) states that challenges and
issues associated with global business management brings negative impact to the performance and
productivity of the multinational corporations. He suggests that a comprehensive engagement in
understanding the factors leading to the challenge needs to be done. According to Wisma (2011),
cultural compatibility is one of the factors that cause challenges in adapting in global management
company. Cultural compatibility measures to which people from different cultures are likely to
accommodate the cultural differences. He reports that the management is so focused to keeping
costs down and fulfill; the needs of the customer; that the management fails to consider the factor
that causes the challenges in the organization faced by the people involves in the businesses
operation. Global organization need to be aware of the factors contribute to the challenge despite of
the global competition, changing markets and uncertainties in economic. Methodology Source of
data Data were collected from two sources which were through questionnaire and simple interview.
Data collected from all general workers and managers that were above 21 years old. This research
was focused on this range of workers because professional managers are more likely to face the
issues and challenges in cross cultural diversity organization. The number of males and females are
almost the same. Information was general and did not specific to respondents position as a

20

Managing Across The Globe: Challenges and Its Factors in Cross-Cultural Diversity

manager in the company either in high board or general manager. The questionnaire in was divided
into 5 section which covered their basic background and basics work background, cultural
adaptation, communication, teamwork/individualism and expatriate adjustment. Additional questions
were asked to managers who are expatriates more than ten years. The extra questions were simple
and more to learning and collecting information based on their personal experiences. Methods
Interviews were held in person at their office and also through online video call through Skype,
Oovoo and Facebook Video Call, or any place that were convenient for the respondents. Interviews
and questionnaire were conducted by data collectors who are the students of Universiti Teknologi
PETRONAS, third year first semester. Data were sent out from 20th July 2015 3rd August 2015
which was around 14 days. Facts were collected into analysis for 3 days later. Overall, the process
takes about 17 days to complete. A total of 30 questionnaire where distributed around the world
mainly Asia, and all 30 were collected. This clearly shows that 100% of the managers responded
and the results were valid and reliable. All information then was converted into percentage for an
easy understanding. Result Managing across the Globe: Challenges and Its Factors in CrossCultural Diversity Organization. 5% 23% 48% 24% Cultural Adaptation Expatriates Adjustment
Communication issue Teamwork issue Figure 1: Pie chart representing challenges in cross-cultural
diversity organization among managers Based on the survey, it is concluded that the biggest issues
and challenges faced by most of the expatriates is cultural adaptation which covered around 48%
from the total survey that has been sent out. This figure is followed by expatriate adjustment by 24%,
communication by 23% and lastly teamwork by only 5%. Discussion Cultural Adaptation This issue
is believed to be the biggest challenge in global organization. Krishna, Sahay and Walsham (2006)
agreed that in this cultural adaptation issue, such cultural norms of social behavior, attitudes to
authority and language differences also need to be deal with other than the need to adapt to different
ways of working. The example of different ways of working can be seen in relationship between
Indian software companies with US and Japanese client in which US client companies would prefer
an extensive written agreements and informal electronic contact such as e-mail. On the other hand,
Japanese clients favor verbal communication with formal use of electronic media. In addition, Singh,
(n.d) believed those people who join any organization will bring such their own beliefs and values.
However these beliefs and values are generally insufficient to help them to succeed within the
organization. They need to learn and adapt that how the particular organization functions. Managers
need to take action in order to solve this issue as the productivity in a global organization of depends
on how well the employees can tolerate each cultures. Singh also suggested for the managers to
gain sufficient knowledge about the beliefs and values of foreign counterparts. However, there are
several barriers towards cultural adaptations. Singh mentioned on parochialism, cultural distance
and cultural shock as those barriers. Similarly, culture is a vital role in

21

Managing Across The Globe: Challenges and Its Factors in Cross-Cultural Diversity

3international operation of business in China

influencing

that

(Wu, 2008) as the fact

3different countries have different traditions and attitudes towards business.

Foreigners who want to invest business in China, must initially to understand the
fundamentals of Chinese

business culture. Fang (2006) stated that apart from widely

known for its Great Wall of China, their people basically practice three philosophy traditions in their
daily life, for instance, Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. Chinese practiced dominantly
practiced philosophy instead of religion since thousands of years ago ever since dynasty of Han.
Other than Confucianism, local people also believe with the philosophy of Taoism which commonly
engaged with Yin Yang principle of dualism. Tsang (2004) described that this philosophy introduced
the concept of feng shui which correlate the environment and the position of building can affect
fortune of people. He further explained that position of building in related to physical
environment,

3interior layout and arrangement of furniture can affect what

to occur towardsthe occupants in the building.

practiced since the ancient time, they become

would

affect greatly

As these philosophy traditions have been

6the roots of Chinese culture which

3in business behavior and decision-making. This will throw a

big challenge to the foreigners

as China has its unique business values adopted from

different belief which are centrally different from other growing countries across the globe.
Expatriates Adjustment This area discusses the adjustments that are needed to be experienced by
the workers in a particular organization. Several major adjustments are classified as work
adjustment which refer to the comfortability of the workers with their jobs, general adjustment;
workers comfortability to non-work factors including spoken language, daily
consumption,

4transportation and entertainment and interaction adjustment which

22

Managing Across The Globe: Challenges and Its Factors in Cross-Cultural Diversity

refer to thecomfort associated with interaction of expatriates with host country

nationals inside and outside the workplace (Black, 1988).

Work adjustment is only

related to work which differ to the cultural adjustment; norm activities shown by a group of society
where as

1interaction adjustment is related to both work and non-work

environments (Shaffer et al., 1999). Also, Kraimer et al, (2003) found that
expatriate adjustment is positively related to job performance and when
expatriates properly adjust to the host country general environment, their job
performance will be similar to such performance in the home country (Lee and
Sukoco; 2010)

From a research which was conducted by Tahir (2013), she found that

majority of the expatriates in Malaysia face the problem with local people with their norms of being
indirect and non- confrontational in terms of expressing their personal opinions towards others. Betty
(2013) who was one of the respondents expressed that Malaysians will always not say something
that might hurt other people. Similarly, they will avoid from expressing something that might sound
like criticizing. Asma (1992) revealed that even if someone in the senior rank says something, the
rest from junior level will remain silent and prefer not to counter anything which is basically in the
pursuit to respect seniors or elders. It is relatively to avoid embarrassment to others by the practice
of "saving face". Most Malaysian practiced this non-confrontational behavior in order to avoid conflict
when interacting with others, especially when a solution is required to solve certain problems.
Hence, they prefer to be positive or detached with the issue arose. Communication Issue
Communication issue is one of the issue that we need to be highlighted in the study. Global Issues
in Management Research starters eNotes.com, Inc.eNotes.com, 2015 stated that even if the foreign
employee in the host company can speak the same language, communication can still be ineffective.
The differences in nuances of idiom, dialect and vocabulary can be misinterpreted and the
messages will not be delivered. For example, Asian people is more polite in communication. On
contrary, the Westerners tend to speak more directly or straight-forward. This differences will cause

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Managing Across The Globe: Challenges and Its Factors in Cross-Cultural Diversity

problem in the organization unless the employees are well-informed with each other ways of
communication. According to Widhiastuti (2012), communication in hierarchical organizational
structure that also existed in global organization, is not efficient. This is due to the long bureaucracy
system that resulted in where the message or task cannot be received on time. This issue can be
solved using communication through technology faster and easier. Beaner emphasized on the
understanding of messages, sharing of meanings, interpersonal adjustments and adaptations to
affect the performance in a global organization with diverse cultures (as cited in Okoro &
Washington,2012). Social formalities were very crucial when it comes to interact with the locals in
Malaysia (Tahir, 2008). People in western countries commonly interact through direct way and
informality thus they felt really different when it comes to Malaysia culture of acknowledging with
whom they are talking or addressing to in terms of the person's title for instance, Tan Sri, Dato and
Professor. Local people are so particular with the title without realizing this social formality may
create a communication barrier which will lead to an awkward social interaction. Jacque (2008)
expressed that it is a norm in the west to address other people simply by their middle name without
having to add Doctor, Professor or Sir at the first place. Teamwork Issue These issues arise when
host workers and expatriates are unable to corporate in a particular organization. Expatriates may
find it difficult to invest his or her working power to a certain host worker due to their different
backgrounds and cultures. Extra attentions are needed for the expatriates to enable themselves to
break the barriers among the teams and this is highly energy and time consuming. This issue may
not be specifically experienced in a teamwork job context but also may be experienced as an
individual. Individual with attitudes may be troublesome to work with. Some individuals are low selfefficacy, the perceptions about their ability to accomplish certain tasks. .

1Claus et al, (2011)

argue that individuals having low self-efficacy leads to poor performance,

absenteeism and high intention to search for the other job, whereas individuals
having high self-efficacy leads to better performance and high organizational
commitment.1In addition, Bandura (1997) explained that individuals high on selfefficacy tend to be more proactive on initiating tasks, and make consistent

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Managing Across The Globe: Challenges and Its Factors in Cross-Cultural Diversity

efforts to achieve tasks and are persistent with problems and in the face of
failure.

Some organizational goals may not be achieved if the issues persist. Prior to that,

Ballow (2005) collectively described that most Asians have strong collectivism behavior as they are
more dependable on groups in finding alternatives and making decision that they are so loyal
towards the institutions.

2They are more likely to cooperate with others to avoid risks

and reduce responsibilities. Their value systems appreciate duty to the group
and harmony among its members while pursuing personal goals is viewed
rather negatively in Asia. In

contradiction to Asians, Bellow stated that Americans have high

value of individualism. From his findings, he studied that majority of Americans are very assure with
their own view especially in determining

2what they should do. They prefer to

work individually and are reluctant to cooperate with othera because

that

they believe

5cooperation in general is a sign of weakness and place a high value on

independence and control. Conclusion As the

research completed, based on the results,

we can conclude that when talking about managing across the globe or when a manager started to
involve in business with different country other than their native land, managers will likely have to
face issues and challenges especially on their first few years of working. Most of the managers are
struggling to adapt with local culture in workplace and somehow this affects their work performance
as well. Other than that, managers found to be having problem with everyday life adjustment and
also having hard time in creating or keeping good conversation and communication with coworkers.
Lastly, we can say that most managers having fewer problems with working in a team despite their
poor communication.

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Managing Across The Globe: Challenges and Its Factors in Cross-Cultural Diversity