Carmetrice White

BA590 – Organizational Behavior

Assignment 2

July 15, 2014

Case Study: Cooperating and Communicating Across Cultures

Globalization has become a trending strategy used by countless corporations where many people of various skill sets travel internationally to work on detail projects. Various cultures use numerous tactics and strategies in the efforts of creating successful outcomes in organizations. Yet, these varieties do not always register well within other cultures. In reading the Case Study: Cooperating and Communicating Across Cultures there were two scenarios give between Americans and Germans that proved that although the workers on the project were very qualified the American way and the German way of working on the project varied tremendously.

Since companies have merged to work globally managing diverse cultures has been one of the main challenges. This is pointed out in the case study when the American Jim, in the situation 1 dominated by the Germans, mentioned that he did not like the how the team was a self-managing team and that they seem annoyed when questions were asked. He stated this was not what he was used to since he normally worked sequentially on a clear set of broken down targets and through the process he was able to gather information from his colleagues(Hitt, Miller, Colella, 2011, p 123). When the German, Klaus, came to work in America in situation 2, he stated that he felt American workers were obsessed with working reaching specific targets. (Hitt, Miller, Colella, 2011, p 126). Another challenge the organizations faced with globalization was culture shock. Klaus stated while working for the American company he mentioned how he hand an issue with the informalities such as joking around at work. He stated that he felt this was unacceptable. He also mentioned how the woman at the organization was not receptive of the special courtesy. (Hitt, Miller, Colella, 2011, p 126). The American perspective was vastly different from Klaus’s. It was stated that Klaus was a bit uptight and should loosen up a bit, and that many times he was too serious and came across to his other coworkers as unfriendly. The American perspective also included that the female colleagues felt uncomfortable around Klaus because they perceived his courtesy acts to be a bit sexist (Hitt, Miller, Colella, 2011, p127.)

There were several different cultural aspects of organization behavior exposed in reading the case study. Yet, these differences could have disclosed and discussed with effective communication. Before each person began the project it the manager could have taken the time to learn the cultural differences to make the team members aware of the challenges they may be facing with the new visiting member. Also speaking with the visiting member to explain the culture of the organization and the worker would also have been ideal. Taking the time to open the lines of communication along with being more open to different cultural activities would have been helpful in many situations in the case study. Overall, the case study proves that cultural diversity can cause conflict within and organization; although with the proper communication and understanding the issues caused can be solutioned for more favorable results.

Work Cited

Hitt, M. A., Miller, C. C., & Colella, A. (2011). Organizational Behavior (3rd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.