Cultural Differences Between the Poles and the U.S. Expatriates Paper Example

What are Some Important Cultural Differences between the Poles and the U.S. Expatriates?

Some of the main cultural differences are portrayed in the perception of a single individual and the company. For instance in Hofstede's individualism, the Polish view success and failure of a firm to be entirely personal. It is because the workforce of a company is entirely entrusted with the success and failure of a company. If their performance is high enough, then a company is likely to perform and succeed in the end. On the other side, if the workforce is reluctant to achieve the company's goals and objectives, then failure is reflected in the end (Cengage Learning 173). Therefore, all positives and negatives of a company are directly connected to the interests of an individual; in this case the management team and the entire workforce.

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The Polish, however, entrust its culture and traditions in giving or awarding the older people more credit as compared to the younger people. It is because according to their experience, they believe that the older people have been in the game for a long time and this reflects more experience. The younger people, however, are not associated with much skill, and this shows that they have limited knowledge of how business operations run (Cengage Learning 175). Therefore, the Polish have a cultural aspect whereby they associate the older people with more experience than the younger ones. On the other hand, the U.S expatriates associate the old to lack of creativity and knowledge, and this means that they are less productive as compared to the younger generation.

However, the young people have new knowledge with them because they are just from school and this means that they are more creative and have more energy to perform better in the general company and business operations. Additionally, the rise of technology, innovations, and inventions are created every day, and therefore it means that the old people's ideas are outshined by those of the younger people (Cengage Learning 176). The younger generation of the workforce in America is more creative and innovative, and this means that they have the potential to come with fresh ideas and knowledge every day which are useful in a company's success.

On the same note, another difference is seen whereby the Americans like to associate higher knowledge with higher positions while Polish associates higher understanding with older people. Americans believe that the higher a person is at a particular position, the higher their level of experience. Also, it means that they have worked hard to reach the position and therefore they are more knowledgeable, and that is why they can be entrusted with such a high position (Cengage Learning 178). There are also some uncomfortable assumptions of the Polish where they do not feel that their culture fully accepts people in more senior positions to have a higher level of knowledge. It is because they believe that the more a person works in a particular position or role, the more they gain new experience with time.

Using Hofstede's and the 7D Cultural Dimension Models, Explain Some of the Cultural Differences Noted in the Case

Considering Hofstede's and the 7D cultural dimension models, some of the cultural differences noted in the case entailed the U.S managers and the Polish managers. The U.S managers believed in the power of direct speaking. It is because they did not tolerate ambiguity at all and therefore this required transparency in how business operations were run or how the company's decisions were made. On the contrary, the Polish managers did not value openness in how they run their business operations. As a result, they ended up engaging in indirect communication most of the times which meant that they did not consider any form of natural or direct forms of communications (Cengage Learning 174). This type of culture was evident especially when an employee in Polish would have a problem. First of all, there would be a challenge communicating it to the mangers because it was not encouraged or rather practiced at all. Most of the workers also entailed an absolute unwillingness to talk more about their problems, and this meant that one would not even try to share a problem they encountered while working.

Secondly, another cultural difference is evident in how the Polish managers tried to adopt the American's means of communication. This was helpful and challenging for them as they could not adopt the method quite easily. Also, the Poles started criticizing things amongst themselves, but they could not do it in front of the American managers. It is because their business culture was more interior and they did not believe in the power of sharing their business prospects. On the other hand, the American managers felt free to air their views and opinions about how their business operations were carried out (Cengage Learning 176). This meant that they believed in the power of criticism as they perceived it as a way of showing that they are competitive enough to the rest of their business partners or associates.

The Hofstede's cultural dimensions argue that a company that feels less powerful should accept their condition and feel free to share with the rest of the world. However, only the American managers dared to take their challenges as well as their operations which showed or portrayed less power when looked from the bigger perspective. On the other hand, the Polish managers did not dare to accept that they were powerless and this was because they did not feel comfortable airing their weaknesses and problems to the rest of the world (Cengage Learning 174). They did not believe in this form of culture, and therefore they preferred keeping their problems to themselves as they sought how best to solve them.

The 7D cultural dimensions show that business operators in a society should have the courage to accept their ambiguous and uncertain situations so that they can move forward and make new decisions that are progressive enough to lead to their success. In this case, the American managers had an easy time sharing their difficult moments through the open and direct communication, and this showed that their cultural power is bestowed in their ease of public communications (Cengage Learning 178). On the other hand, the Polish managers only believed in the culture of keeping such information and problems to themselves, and this shows that there are no hopes for them to be helped by other business operators.

What are Some Institutional Explanations for how the Polish Workers are Reacting to U.S. Management Style?

The Polish workers have sought to reach or instead adopt the U.S management style because they perceive it as effective enough. However, their reactions are shown negatively as they do not like their management styles. For example, the U.S managers believe in the culture of open communication amongst the workers while the Polish workers think that it is not necessary for their business operations. A perfect example is whereby Polish workers perceive the American's ability to recognize their achievements both privately and publicly as motivating to them (Cengage Learning 175). Therefore, they decide to adopt this culture because they see its benefits from the application by the American managers. Also, the Polish workers accept to recognize the hard work of their workforce by sending positive criticisms to them openly and in front of the other workers. This is a culture that American managers apply and it highly motivates many workers to work towards achieving their set targets and improving their performance as well.

How Can the Joint Venture Take Advantage of the Initial Enthusiasm of the Polish Managers to Build a Stronger Organization?

The joint venture can take advantage of the initial enthusiasm of the polish managers to build a stronger organization by applying a similar culture to that of the American managers because it considers the current business dimensions. For example, polish workers should work more on adopting business culture for the American managers because it is more attractive to other managers who are interested in pursuing the joint ventures (Cengage Learning 173). Hence, the Polish and the American managers should work more eliminating both of their cultural differences so that they may have a common culture which can attract more managers to the joint venture.

What Cultural Adaptations Would you Suggest to the U. S Expatriate Managers Regarding their Management Styles?

I would suggest the U.S expatriate managers to consider cultural adaptations to their management styles such as improving their means of solving employee problems and accepting their position in the competitive market. These cultural adaptations would bring them closer to the world market as they would be in a position to manage the performance of their employees as well as considering their ideas and opinions in making solid business decisions. This kind of culture would motivate the workers more to work towards achieving their goals and objectives as the company outshines its outside competitors (Cengage Learning 177). Also, managers are more attracted to joint ventures that consider the performance of their employees and ensure that their competition level keeps on improving.

Work Cited

Cengage Learning. "Foundations of Multinational Management." Cengage Learning.2013.