Importance of Cultural Training to the employees of the Company before Expansion

Culture entails the divers ways of living or doing things by people or organizations. Various scholars have carefully checked the effect of culture on doing businesses. The consequences of culture on the various businesses is becoming more apparent with the reconstruction of the world into a global village through the several processes of globalization and the expansion of companies into the various countries of the world. Regarding the available literature and experience, cultural differences are real, and they influence the businesses world in various ways. Therefore, companies need to guide their staff before expansion to acertain that they are knowledgeable and therefore suited to work in culturally different environments. Culture includes, but is not limited to the religious beliefs of people, their ways of dressing, the food they eat and the houses they live. Therefore, culture covers the way relate to each other, what they do and how they behave towards each other and the nature surrounding them.

Several scholars have studied and therefore ascertained that cultural variations are real in today’s world. One of them is Geert Hofstede. Hofstede came up with cultural dimensions that are used to describe different peoples of the world and their behaviors in business. The theory of Hofstede is a framework of cross-cultural communication that was based on research that the author conducted in various countries of the world. The theory describes how the cultures of the societies of the world affect the values of the people within the societies as well as how the values affect the behaviors of the citizens. The theorist used factor analysis to data collected from a survey by IBM between 1967 and 1983 (Rallapalli & Montgomery, 2015). According to the theory, five cultural dimensions exist. They include individualism-collectivism, masculinity-feminity, uncertainty avoidance, and indulgence versus self-restraint and power distance.

Another scholar that talks about culture and the behaviors of people are Piaget. The scholar developed a psychological theory of development that has been used by countries such as the United Kingdom to direct their education (Demetriou, Shayer & Efklides, 2016). Even though the theory only talks about how learners develop through mental stages to develop their behaviors, the interaction of the children and their environment which includes the culture of the surrounding people is significant and may direct business. According to Piaget, the thinking of children is addressed by their picture of the world which the author calls schemata. Schemata are the plural of the schema. Culture, being part of the environment of children, may play a role in directing their perception of the environment and therefore their behavior. Mangan (1978) studied the impacts of culture on value-based methods of cognition. According to the author, non-western cultures showed very slow acquisition of skills to conserve their resources or the inability to conserve. The author said that conservation is not just dependent on modern education, but also the cultures of the people.

Based on the studies by the three scholars among others, business people can apply the knowledge of culture to their expansion to different countries. Using the Hofstede cultural dimensions, business managers and owners can classify people from different cultures into different categories and therefore know how to treat them. For instance, the power distance index is used to estimate how the inferior members of institutions accept the unequal distribution of power and resources among them (Gholipour & Tajaddini, 2014). In cultures where the power distance index is high, people clearly accept the hierarchy of the organizations and the followers accept the leadership of their leaders without much resistance. The USA has a low power distribution index as compared to many countries of Asia.the power distribution index of China is 80 while that of the USA is 40. Therefore, leaders in Chinese organizations have an easier time leading their followers who easily follow protocol as compared to employees in the USA.

Individualism vs. collectivism is another dimension that matters according to Hofstede. Cultures like the one of the United States of America are characterized by a high degree of individualism as compared to collectivism. People in the USA value their individual achievement, and therefore, they are very competitive in the places of work. In places like Russia, the people work in more collective organizations and therefore are better motivated as a team rather than an individual. Collective cultures are common in countries that are communist in nature such as China and Latin America. Capital countries like the USA are usually very individualistic according to the survey of Hofstede. Therefore, in communist countries like China, motivating groups of people that took part in achievement is more fruitful as compared to motivating individuals. The information directs how organizations in the country work in teams and therefore affects relations between people in organizations.Another dimension is uncertainty avoidance index. According to Hofstede, some cultures embrace risks more easily as compared to others. Such countries have a low uncertainty avoidance index (Rallapalli & Montgomery, 2015). People of such cultures are very dynamic, and they like change. The United States of America is among the countries whose people have low uncertainty avoidance index according to Hofstede’s theory. The uncertainty avoidance index of the USA is 46. The index for China is 30. Therefore, the Chinese are more risk-taking as compared to the Americans and are more likely than Americans to invest in new ideas. The other dimensions are also important in deciding how to manage and lead people in the difer5ent countries of the world.

The ideas of Piaget are also important in determining the values of people in organizations. Depending on the cultural environments of individuals, the way they develop their schemata may affect their behaviors. The idea is further supported by the test done by Mangan (1978).Mangan (1978) says that non-western cultures do not learn the ideas of conservation easily. The reason is that of their cultures that encourage the wastage of resources and therefore the development of schemata that make the learning of conservation hard. For example, in an institution that fails to embrace technology because the management trusts paperwork may waste many papers. However, the people of the western countries easily associate the use of many papers with the wastage of resources and therefore embrace digitization to reduce the cost of doing business (Reinhard, 2015).

It is important to train employees of the company to enable the expansion into East Asia and Latin America successful because the regions are culturally different from the United States of America. The training programs will equip the employees with not only leadership skills that are required to operate businesses in the outside areas, but also help them know how to interact and communicate in cross-cultural environments and therefore make businesses associations respectively. For example, when doing business in China, the advertising techniques used in the countries avoid the use of language or presentations that attack competitors (De Mooij, 2013). Such knowledge may help a foreign company operating in the country to avoid lawsuits and negative publicity. Knowledge of the values and norms of the societies may also be necessary for avoiding culturally disrespectful moments. For instance, in some countries, it is important to use particular types of greetings and titles for different occasions. The use of wrong practices in occasions may be perceived as disrespectful. Other cultures make decisions fast, while others take the time to think about the decisions before giving answers. The training will also be valuable in information about the working days based on the religious beliefs of the people of the different countries. For example, in Latin America, the majority of the people are Roman Catholics. Therefore, it may be very hard to find people to work during Sundays. Also, people will commonly associate success with the work of God (Shockey, 2016).In East Asia on the other hand, people are Buddhists and therefore may work on Sundays.

Even though it may cost the company extra money to train employees, the failure to conduct the training may lead to the inability of the business to do business in the East Asian countries and the Latin American countries. Issues such as business etiquette should be taught before working in China. In the country, people believe in the confusion philosophy and therefore value humility and respect to one another (Sethi, 2016). During business interactions, one should consider such aspects as how to greet people with respect and the use of the right non-verbal skills during communication. In other countries, it is disrespectful to show the Nazi salute in some counties. Therefore, knowledge of the culturally disrespectful signs and postures should be given to avoid misunderstandings.

Several resources are available for the training sessions. Among the most important ones in the present day is the World Wide Web. The internet has a large pool of information that may be crucial in offering training. For example, YouTube offers video tutorials for training on various subjects including culture and communication skills (Rennie & Morrison, 2013). Other resources that may help include handbooks that the employees may read to understand more about other cultures. The training may be done in conferences or privately over the internet. Therefore, the methods of training are so diverse that they cannot be the excuse for entering markets without understanding them.

In conclusion, cultures are real, and they differ in different places of the world. The issue has been ascertained by several scholars such as Hofstede and Piaget among others. The cultures affect the way organizations run their businesses and activities all over the world. Therefore, before expanding to different countries, it is relevant to understand the cultures of the countries and train the employees to help them work efficiently and in harmony with other people and organizations in the different environments.